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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:46:49 GMT -5
Since Ken and I are both posting summaries, I decided that it makes more sense to have two separate topics, one for his and one for mine. I think this will make everything less cluttered and make it easier to read through and find a particular part of the notes.
As such, I will be deleting my summaries from the other topic and posting them here. Hopefully this improves the site for all of us.
Questions, comments, and additions are, as always, not only allowed but encouraged.
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:47:57 GMT -5
Session 1: Sunday, March 22, 2009
It is 1375 DR, the last day of Tarsakh, the fourth month. Tomorrow is the Greengrass festival to mark the beginning of spring, and the planting of crops. As part of the festivities the day before, the Silver Shield Mercenary Guild hosts a sort of job fair for prospective Guild members to meet and form groups.
Tyrrox comes to Darromar to sign up for the guild, coming north from Calimshan where he left his family to make his own name. On his way into town, he gets a lot of strange looks, because most of the people have never seen a centaur before, especially in the city. One little boy musters the courage to come out and touch Tyrrox’s flank. He’s cool with it, and the boy’s mother thanks him for it as she scoops up the kid. The people who see it are put at ease since they see how friendly the centaur is.
He makes his way to the town square, where adventurers are segregating by profession, and finds the signup sheet for warriors. The clerk is shocked to the point of almost being speechless to see a centaur there, but Tyrrox is able to put his name on the list and then go looking for people to group with.
Meanwhile, Vanemune has come to Darromar to join the Guild as well. He looks around for a place to stable his horse, but can’t find one. So he takes the horse with him toward the town square. Eventually the press of people makes it nearly impossible for him to go any further. Someone stops him, and tells him he can’t take the horse into town square. They give him directions to a stable, where he is charged 20 gold to keep his horse in the already full stable. He doesn’t realize how much he’s being overcharged, and pays the 20 gold before going to look for the signup area.
Vanemune heads to the place where casters are gathering, and the clerk doesn’t believe that he’s a caster. So Vanemune displays a simple spell, and is allowed to sign up. He’s then directed to sign up in the warriors area as well, so he does.
At the same time, Goroc and his gorilla companion Patrick are heading into the city. They’re being followed by Zook, a gnome riding a crocodile. Goroc has left the druid grove in the Wealdath to look for his father, an orc reputed to be a great warrior. He plans to join the Guild to support himself while he searches. Zook… just seems to be following him for fun.
They start to bring their animals into town, then Goroc realizes how many funny looks he’s getting, and tells Patrick to wait for him outside town if he likes. Patrick immediately turns around and heads out of town. Zook continues riding the crocodile, but the people nearby are near to panicking, so Goroc is able to convince him to leave the croc outside the city limits. He then carries the gnome on his shoulders while they search the town square for a place to sign up. They sign their names, then start looking around for people to meet up with.
Leonard Letum, who already lives in Darromar because he freelances practicing law there, heads to the town square where people are gathering. He already knows his way around because he saw the whole thing being set up over the last couple of days. First he heads to the area for casters, and he sees a blue-haired elf wearing armor and a sword walking away from the counter. He mutters something about a blue-haired freak and then approaches the clerk himself.
The clerk gives him a hard time because he’s a lawyer and a caster. He mentions something about how it seems like just anyone can cast magic these days. Leonard ignores him, signs his name, and leaves. He heads to an alley, then through a halfling-sized door into a seedy-looking area where the thieves and such are signing up. Inside he recognizes many faces of people he’s either defended or prosecuted, sometimes both. One of them is the clerk, whom Leonard remembers successfully sending to jail about six months ago. He asks for the sign-up sheet, so the clerk hands it over. He says that they ran out of ink, so he hands Leonard a knife. Leonard takes it, stabs the clerk in the hand, and signs with his blood.
As the injured clerk curses him out, Leonard walks out the door, back through the alley, and bumps into somebody. Thinking it’s someone trying to rob him, he quickly checks his pockets and discovers nothing missing. As he does so, he sees the back side of a horse immediately in front of him, and realizes that’s what he ran into. As he continues looking, he realizes that it’s not in fact a horse, but a black centaur. Immediately thinking that the big, strong centaur would make a great partner, Leonard sets about convincing Tyrrox to partner up with him.
Shortly thereafter, Goroc and Zook spot the centaur off to one side talking to somebody, so they head over to check it out. Seeing the tough-looking half-orc, Leonard invites him to partner up as well. It’s not long before Vanamune comes over to see what all these people are doing with a centaur, and he completes the group. They decide to all partner up and join the Guild together.
Since he knows exactly where the Silver Shield Guild outpost is located, Leonard leads the way over there. The Guild clerk tells them that the normal Guild entrance test has been closed for examination, but they have a low-level mission they can use to serve as a test for this group. He explains that there is a cave located in the foothills of the eastern Starspire Mountains. Inside that cave is a dragon statue said to hold magical healing properties. This statue is needed to heal a sick woman in a small town near Darromar, so he wants the group to head to the cave and bring back the statue. Upon bringing the statue to the Guild outpost, they will receive their Guild licenses.
Leonard thinks there’s something not right about this explanation. For starters, why would a dragon statue have healing magic? The clerk insists that it does, and Leonard lets it go when the others want to get started.
They accept the Guild mission, and start to head for the edge of town. Vanemune retrieves his horse from the stable, and Leonard and Goroc both decide to rent horses for the trip. The man they rent from requires a 150 gold deposit for each horse, and charges 10 gold for every day until they return. If they don’t bring back the horse after fifteen days, he keeps the entire deposit and the horse is theirs. Goroc tries to argue the price down, even trying to intimidate the man into lowering it, but he won’t back down. Leonard hands him a business card and says that if the man wants to sue for being intimidated like that, to get in contact with him.
On the way out of town, they are joined by Patrick and the crocodile. Zook starts riding the croc again. By this time they only have an hour or two of daylight left, so they are forced to stop and camp about 5 miles outside of town. Since Vanemune only requires four hours of rest, they decide to have him keep watch while the others sleep. Eventually he wakes Goroc to take the last watch, who grudgingly does so, but conjures some water to rudely awaken Vanemune when it’s time to go.
They set off, and Goroc takes the lead, as he knows where the general area is located. The group quickly realizes that Zook is falling behind. His crocodile just can’t keep up with the horses. So the group borrows Tyrrox’s lean-to, and with an hour or so of work, converts it into a sled with which to pull the crocodile along. Tyrrox and the horses take turns pulling the sled to keep them from getting too tired. Patrick the gorilla now has to struggle to keep up, but the group makes better time.
As they travel, Vanemune broaches a slightly uncomfortable subject with Tyrrox. His horse is getting slightly up there in years, and he'd like her to have children before she gets too old to do it. He asks Tyrrox if he would consider being the father. Tyrrox tries to explain that he isn't compatible with horses despite appearances, and that it really wouldn't be any different than Vanamune trying to mate with the druid's gorilla (at which Goroc takes some offense). Vanamune is persistent, and it takes quite awhile to make him understand that not only is Tyrrox unwilling and unable to do so, but that he really isn't a horse and doesn't care to be thought of as such.
Later that day, as Goroc reaches the top of a small hill, he sees a pair of large figures coming down the next hill. As the others catch up to him and look, they realize it’s a pair of ogres, trying (and failing) to be sneaky. Leonard decides to fire a warning shot at them with his eldritch blast, but it succeeds only in attracting the attention of the brutes. The confident ogres eagerly start heading toward them.
In their first fight as a group, they work pretty well together. Tyrrox is struck full in the face with one of the ogres’ huge clubs. Vanemune rushes to his rescue, and although he is injured as well, Tyrrox is able to regroup and get healed by one of the druids, while Leonard delivers the knockout blow with his eldritch blast. Meanwhile, Goroc and his gorilla work together to hold off the other ogre, and eventually take it down.
Patrick and Leonard make sure the ogres won’t be getting up again, then Leonard starts checking the bodies. They find a bag containing about 600 gold. On the bag is embroidered the name Jimbo. The group divides up the gold, and they continue northward.
After some more travel, they see smoke off to the west. After heading closer to check it out, they discover a burned farmhouse. There seem to be ogre tracks all around the area, which eventually lead southward. The group searches the area for survivors, even though the smell of burnt flesh is in the air. They discover a wine cellar with the door cracked open. As they approach, the door closes the rest of the way.
They try to coax out whoever is in there. Eventually Leonard is able to get the occupant, a small boy of about six or seven years, to come out. He identifies himself as Fred, and asks where his father is. He promised to come back. They ask what his father’s name is, and he says Jimbo. Zook is brutally honest and says his father isn’t coming back, but the others hush him up and say that Jimbo went to town for help. They quickly discuss among themselves, and decide that someone has to take the boy to town. Tyrrox volunteers.
He hoists the boy up onto his back, and starts southward. The others remain in the area, deciding to make camp in the defensible wine cellar for the night, and enjoy the wine while they wait. But after only five hours or so of riding, young Fred tells Tyrrox that his grandparents live over the next hill. Although it’s getting dark by this time, Tyrrox takes the boy there, and explains to the boy’s grandfather what happened. The grateful grandfather allows Tyrrox to stay the night inside the house, and Tyrrox gives him Jimbo’s bag, in which the group has put a substantial amount of gold for the boy to live on. The next morning, Tyrrox heads back to the farmhouse, where he finds the others suffering from painful hangovers.
They push on anyway, and eventually come to the Sulduskoon River. Zook gets on his crocodile and crosses easily. Goroc wades out into the river, which is about 100 feet wide at this point, and tries to see how far he can make it across without having to swim. He’s about in the center before being swept off his feet by the current, but he’s able to swim back to safety. Goroc takes some rope, swims to the other side and holds it secure at that end. While Tyrrox holds the other end, the rest of the group uses it to cross the river. When everyone else is across, Tyrrox ties the rope around his waist, and everyone grabs the rope to hold it steady while he tries to cross.
Tyrrox promptly slips as soon as he gets into the water, and the others are forced to largely haul him across the river. Eventually they get him across, and resume the journey. By the time they camp that night, Goroc estimates they only have a few miles to travel the next day. And sure enough, when the sun rises the next day, the Starspire Mountains loom in the distance.
Using the extinct volcano of Mount Thargill as a landmark, they head into the foothills. After a brief search, they find the cottage that was also listed as a landmark. A few more minutes of searching the immediate area, and they find the cave. As the group approaches, they hear the sound of a dog barking at the mouth of the cave. But nobody can see a dog there. Leonard recognizes this as some kind of spell, but doesn’t know how it works well enough to explain it to the others.
As the phantom dog keeps barking at them, Zook decides to try rushing into the cave. He takes a nasty bite on the leg, but is able to get through. Seeing this, the others get behind Patrick and rush the cave entrance. The phantom hound takes a snap at Patrick but misses. Not long after they all get into the cave, the barking stops.
The cave is lit by torchlight, with torches surrounding the cave in brackets. In the center of the cave is a pedestal, on top of which sits the dragon statue, made of a polished green stone with yellow jewels for eyes. Leonard and Zook head toward it, and although Zook can barely reach the top of the pedestal, he tries to knock over the statue. It doesn’t budge.
As Leonard starts to take hold of the statue, a hell hound appears from nowhere behind him. Recognizing it as a creature of the lower planes, Leonard tries to talk to it in Infernal. It cocks its head as though it understands, but doesn’t back down. Zook tries to coax it to back down, but again it doesn’t. He whaps it across the nose, and the hell hound breathes fire on him and Leonard. Some faint whispering is heard at the back of the cave, and a giant centipede appears behind Tyrrox. He quickly smashes it, but it’s not long before four small fire elementals appear at various points in the cave.
The hell hound is quickly dealt with, but the fire elementals prove to be trouble. They keep igniting people’s clothes on fire. Shortly thereafter, a pair of giant celestial bees appear as well, and one of them stings Leonard, who is poisoned by the sting. Fortunately, the bee dies when trying to pull out its stinger.
By this time, those near the back of the cave have heard enough whispering to suspect that someone is summoning these creatures to attack them. As the fight rages on, Goroc thinks he hears where it’s coming from, and sends Patrick back there to try and sniff out the summoner’s exact location. He does so, and points it out to the others. Leonard hits the invisible summoner with an eldritch blast, but the summoner somehow gets away from Patrick. Then an imp appears and attacks, stinging Zook before flying up toward the ceiling.
Goroc orders Patrick to climb the wall and grab the imp. Although the wall is nearly smooth and there are barely any handholds, the gorilla climbs it easily, lunges at the imp, and slams them both into the ground, the imp crushed beneath the big ape. Just as the others kill the last summoned creatures, a halfling woman appears in another corner of the cave and asks them to release her familiar. She tells them the test is over.
Although Goroc and some of the others aren’t inclined to believe her, the halfling identifies herself as Milia and claims to be a Guild agent here to test them. She takes eight potions out of her bag, and offers to let them drink them. She says they are healing potions, but if they don’t believe her, she will drink one. A couple of them drink potions, then the rest of them are pocketed.
Milia tells them that she has dismissed the spell sticking the dragon statue to the pedestal, and they can take it. Goroc grabs it. She tells them the statue is not magical, but Leonard still sees a magical aura on the statue. She offers to let them rest in her cabin before heading back, and the party accepts. Leonard hands a business card to the imp, advising him to sue Milia. The imp takes the card.
XP Awarded: 600 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:49:19 GMT -5
Session 2: Saturday, March 28, 2009
While staying the night at Milia’s cabin, Leon examines the dragon statue. He deduces that the magical aura surrounding it is false, the result of a simple illusion spell. He throws the statue at Goroc’s sleeping form in disgust, then goes to sleep himself. Tyrrox decides to remain outside for the night, and the others to go sleep as well.
When they wake up the next morning, Goroc discovers hot food laid out in the kitchen, although Milia is nowhere to be seen. He takes some out to Tyrrox and Patrick. Leon is suspicious of the food, and discovers that while the food itself is nonmagical, it was magically created. When he sees the others eating it with no adverse effects, he decides to eat some himself.
When everyone has finished eating, Milia walks in. She tells them that she would teleport them, but there are too many of them for her to carry with one spell, especially with their horses. She wishes them good travel, and bids them farewell as she has work to do. Goroc decides to get moving, and hitches up the improvised sled to his horse so Patrick can ride.
Zook tells them to go on ahead, promising to catch up later since his crocodile can’t keep up on foot. The others set off after Goroc, but soon there is a disagreement as to which way they need to go. Goroc points in one direction, saying that way is south, but Tyrrox points another direction and insists that’s the right way. Leon decides he’d rather trust Tyrrox’s judgment, and Vanemuine is also more inclined to follow the centaur.
Goroc decides that if they want to head off in the wrong direction it’s their problem, and sets off southward with Patrick. He sets a fairly slow pace to allow the horse some rest, and has Patrick walk whenever possible. As he approaches the Sulduskoon River after some hours of travel, Goroc stops to think and remembers that there is a wooden bridge a few miles to the east. After slapping his forehead and cursing his inability to remember this on the way north, Goroc starts heading that way.
But before he gets too far, Goroc spots a trio of large hulking figures down by the river. One of them spots him and comes closer. It’s an ogre. Realizing that he would do well to avoid a fight, Goroc tries to talk his way past the ogre. But unfortunately, they don’t share a language. He tries giving the ogre a few coins to satisfy him, but the greedy ogre just wants more. Eventually, he’s forced to do battle. Patrick is injured, and the other two ogres’ attention is caught. Thinking quickly, Goroc conjures up some fog, then uses the cover to slip back to his horse and ride away before the wind disperses it. He and Patrick make a clean getaway, as the ogres throw their javelins after him but fall short.
Meanwhile, the others head west through the foothills, thinking that they’re going south. It takes only a few hours of wandering before Tyrrox realizes that he’s going the wrong direction. He turns them southward, and they reach the Sulduskoon quite a ways west of where Goroc crossed it. They search the bank for awhile, but find no bridge. The best crossing they can find is a series of rocks jutting from the river’s surface. It’s a difficult crossing, and they all end up in the water at one time or another, but thanks to some clever thinking involving grabbing onto the rocks while swimming, using rope to secure themselves, and using Leon’s earthen grasp invocation to catch anyone who starts to get swept away by the current, they eventually make the crossing, bone-weary and soaked.
Gorog travels until sundown, then finds a farmhouse at which the owners allow him to sleep in the barn with his horse and Patrick. He then sets off the next day, and after another long day of peaceful travel, he reaches the outskirts of Darromar. Goroc books himself a room and stable for the horse, then heads over to the Silver Shield Mercenary Guild office.
He explains the situation, how he got separated from his allies but expects they’ll show up within the next couple of days. He tries to present the dragon statue, but the guild clerk tells him to hold onto it until they can present the statue as a group. He does so, and goes back to his room at the Moneybags Hotel, and his Park Place suite.
The others make camp south of the river, and spend the entire next day setting a brisk pace on the way south to Darromar. After a forced march of nearly 18 hours, they arrive in the city exhausted and sore from their travels. Leon and Vanemuine get rooms at an inn, and Tyrrox spends the night outdoors.
The next morning, Goroc discovers that Zook stayed in the next room over from him, having arrived in Darromar first thanks to being teleported by Milia. The two of them quickly run into the others outside, and they all go over to the Guild office together.
The clerk tosses the dragon statue into a box filled with identical statues, and presents them with their Guild licenses. He informs them that they are now able to take on Guild missions.
They look at the available missions, and select two missions: one that would take them to Myratma (Riverboat Security), and another that requires bringing something back from Myratma (Handle With Care). First, they visit the headquarters of the Champions Vigilant in the palace district to get details on the package that the client, a squire named Mordecai, wants them to bring back from Myratma. He explains to them that it’s a griffon egg, and he’d like them to bring it back before it hatches if possible. He cautions them to be extremely careful with it, because it’s no good to him broken.
Following that, they travel to the client for the other mission, Roundtree Furniture, Inc. It turns out to be a halfling-owned business. He wants them to ride along as guards on a barge headed for Myratma carrying a cargo of furniture to be exported from the port there. The barge is going to leave tomorrow. So they have time to spare in town tonight.
Goroc decides that he needs to have female companionship. He finds an upscale brothel called the Pearl Palace, and sleeps with a few of the girls there. He catches some sort of venereal disease there, and wakes up the next morning with horrible itching and swelling. Discovering that there is a small altar to the goddess Sharess at the Pearl Palace, he goes back there and persuades the priestess to cure his disease, which she does for a substantial donation.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox decides he wants to buy himself a sword of great quality to wield when he grows older. He goes to see a weaponsmith to buy one, and with help from Leon and Vanemuine is able to negotiate the price down a bit, in exchange for his promise to spread the word of the fine quality of Moe the blacksmith’s weapons.
The next morning, Moe somehow has the sword ready already, so they pay for it and pick it up. Everyone meets down at the dock, and they get aboard the barge.
The first two days of the barge trip are uneventful, but the second night the barge is attacked by nine sahuagin. Most of them are killed, and the last few are driven off. They don’t have too much treasure, but one of them is carrying a few gems, which are divided up between the party.
The next day is uneventful, as everyone recovers from the battle of the previous night. On their fourth day out from Darromar, they spot an obstruction on the river ahead. A pair of hill giants have stretched a massive chain across a choke point on the river. As the barge slows to a stop while they wait, four ogres come swimming from the south shore to attempt to board the boat. While the others fight off the ogres, Leon tries to shoot first the chain, then one of the giants with his eldritch blast. The giants respond by hurling boulders at the barge, striking Leon and several others pretty hard. It’s all Zook and Goroc can do to keep themselves and the others healthy with healing magic.
Eventually the group kills most of the ogres, but not before Goroc and Patrick end up in the river. They get back aboard, and Goroc conjures some fog, which spreads out and engulfs the entire area. Leon is able to use his earthen grasp invocation pull the chain into the river away from one of the giants, who was distracted while hurling boulders at him. Zook’s croc and an octopus summoned by Goroc are able to help get the chain out of the way so that the fog-enshrouded barge can make it through before the hill giants can find them again.
XP Awarded: 1,140 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:49:52 GMT -5
Session 3: Saturday, April 18, 2009
After escaping the giants’ chain on the river, the rest of the day passes uneventfully. However, on the fifth day of the barge’s travel, things get messy. First, four more sahuagin swim up to the barge and climb aboard.
While the party quickly dispatches them, a boat approaches from the front. An ogre is rowing the boat upstream toward them, while five goblins chuck javelins at the people on the barge. Most of the javelins fall short, but one or two find their mark. Tyrrox points behind the ogre and calls out a false warning about a kraken. The stupid ogre turns around, causing his boat to start drifting back down the river. While he’s looking the other way, Leon blasts him in the back of the head with an eldritch blast.
When the boat gets close enough to the barge, Patrick and Goroc leap across to the little boat, though not before Patrick takes a dip in the river. Meanwhile, Zook and his crocodile slip off the side of the barge and swim behind the boat, where they start attacking as well. The croc eats no fewer than three goblins over the course of the fight.
However, in the heat of battle, another boat catches up to the barge from behind. Five more goblins and an ogre disembark from it, as Tyrrox and Vanemuine turn to engage them. A couple of the goblins make their way over to Leon, and he takes them down.
While Vanemuine weakens the ogre and Tyrrox combats it, Goroc, Patrick, and Zook’s croc gang up on the other one and take it down. This leaves Leon as the only one who notices a hooded figure emerge from the water and step onto the barge. But Tyrrox and Vanemuine quickly notice the figure moving into flanking position as well.
Once all three of them can see it, the figure removes its hood, revealing the horrid visage of a sea hag. None of them are frightened by it, but the hag gives the Evil Eye to both Leon and the returning Goroc, dazing them and taking them out of the fight. But the overmatched hag is quickly forced back to the corner of the barge, where it leaps back into the water and tries to swim to safety. It casts its last Evil Eye attack at Zook’s crocodile, but the croc shakes off the effects and continues chasing after her, inflicting a painful bite on the hag.
The hag actually manages to outdistance the croc at first, until Vanemuine hits from afar with a fire spell, ending the hag once and for all. Zook’s croc retrieves the body and brings it back to the barge. The bodies of the hag and her minions are looted, revealing various kinds of coins, a scroll, a potion, and some gems. The unfortunate Leon and Goroc are still dazed from the fight, but they are sat down and fed by the others, especially Patrick who mashes up some bananas to feed to them.
Thankfully, the rest of the trip is uneventful and the barge arrives safely in Myratma the next day. While Zook and Tyrrox help unload the furniture and see it aboard the outbound ship, Vanemuine finds a cleric to cure Leon and Goroc of their condition. After this, the loot is divided. Leon pockets the scroll. The boats the ogres used are sold to the captain of an old merchant vessel for use as lifeboats. The gems (including the hag’s eye in a necklace) are sold to a dwarven jeweler named Chuglor Deepdraft. The platinum pieces found on the goblins are traded in for gold at the moneychanger next door, owned by Chuglor’s sister Chuglette. The weapons and armor are sold in bulk to an armory in town. And lastly, the group heads over to the Guild outpost to pick up their reward for the Riverboat Security job.
With his share of the money, Leon goes looking for a magic store. Since arcane magic is at a premium in Myratma, it takes him awhile before he finds a small shop. Inside, he is able to purchase a pair of magical gloves that boost his eldritch blast and allow him to add a small bit of elemental power to it as well.
Zook takes his leave of the others, choosing to remain in Myratma and do some missions on his own, especially since the group doesn’t give him a share of the gold.
Goroc finds a leatherworking shop, and orders up a custom suit for Patrick. The leatherworkers take Patrick’s measurements, and Goroc is able to get a leather wrestling outfit, complete with mask, for the gorilla.
When everyone has completed their various chores in town, they head to the address provided by Mordecai and pick up his gryphon egg. The merchant warns that he’s not sure when it might hatch, and tells them to keep it warm. Leon recommends they hire a carriage back to Darromar, as it would be a smoother ride than horseback. The others agree, and hire a carriage to take them.
Barely an hour outside of town, the carriage is attacked by a group of five goblins. One of them tries to steal one of the carriage horses, but the group makes short work of them. The next night, a rust monster wanders into camp and noses its way into Leon’s bag. There it munches on his flint and steel, and is about to start in on his few remaining gold coins when Leon wakes up, kills it with his eldritch blast, then tells the others they’re useless before going back to sleep.
The trip progresses uneventfully for nearly a week after that, until on the seventh day out of Myratma, the egg hatches. Tyrrox and Goroc debate what the baby gryphon would eat, and finally Tyrrox begins hunting small animals for it to feed on.
They reach Darromar after the eleven-day trip and turn the baby gryphon over to Mordecai. He is disappointed that he was unable to be present at the egg’s hatching, but thanks them anyway. They collect the reward from the Guild outpost, then separate and agree to meet up the next day.
Leon heads home and goes to sleep. Goroc returns to the Pearl Palace and gets another girl for companionship. This time he is fortunate enough not to contract any infections. He then retires to the Moneybags hotel for the night, and stays in their most expensive suite.
Tyrrox heads to town square, wanting to practice his dancing skills. He is able to persuade a woman to dance with him in the square, and she compliments his skills after the dance. One of the spectators takes up a collection and gives Tyrrox some silver after the performance. Vanemuine decides to catch a show, and finds a dinner theater called Modern Times, where the performers put on a futuristic show of what the world might be like in a few hundred years. Vanemuine finds the guns, horseless carriages, and such to be completely ridiculous, and laughs at the spectacle.
The next day, they all meet up at the Guild office. Two of the same quests are available, but they both involve tracking someone down and the trail is likely to have gone cold by now. So the group takes one of the other quests, a challenge by a fellow Guild member to a duel.
After accepting the duel, Tyrrox finds Cius Rahal, the wood elf who posted the request, waiting for him in the alley behind the Guild outpost. They square off, and Cius quickly defeats Tyrrox with lightning-quick slashes of his katana. Goroc challenges Cius, but he is unwilling to fight both the druid and his gorilla at the same time. So Leon challenges him as well. He is also quickly defeated by the wood elf.
Finally, Cius agrees to face Goroc and Patrick if he can receive some healing first. Goroc heals Cius’s wounds, then squares off. Patrick blocks Cius’s path to Goroc, and then grapples the elf to keep him from getting past. The combination proves too much for Cius, who hands over 1,000 gold each to Tyrrox and Leon, and double that to Goroc for his victory.
With that out of the way, the group heads back inside and takes another Guild mission, to assist a local wizard in his spell research. They are escorted by a man named Wilfred to the laboratory of a wizard named Egbert Mourgram. He has Tyrrox begin at one end of the room and charge at Wilfred (who has been dressed up in a thick, padded suit) with his lance. Before he can strike, the lance is hit by Egbert’s spell, and bends around to strike Tyrrox in the back.
Goroc decides to harass the wizard, and conjures some water to fall on him, which messes up the wizard’s notes. Egbert responds by getting Goroc to open a book, inside which is an explosive rune that blows up in the half-orc’s face. The druid responds by creating an obscuring mist to interfere with the experiment. Egbert digs around a desk until he finds a wand, with which he creates a gust of wind to disperse the fog.
The experiment continues, with Egbert giving Tyrrox various weapons to attack Wilfred with, testing on what kinds of weapons the Backbiter spell does and does not work. After awhile, a bruised and battered Tyrrox is happy when the experiment ends, and he receives a small blue crystal that, when attached to his weapon, causes it to deal a small amount of cold damage.
XP Awarded: 1,163 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:50:31 GMT -5
Session 4: Saturday, April 25, 2009
After leaving Egbert Mourgram’s laboratory, the group agrees to call it a night and meet up the next day. Tyrrox decides to get out of town and camp in the plains outside of town. Vanemuine accompanies him. Leon heads home for awhile to practice with his eldritch blast, then stops by the office of an acquaintance of his to get news of what’s been happening in town lately. Goroc heads back to the Guild outpost to see what’s available there.
When Goroc gets back to the Guild outpost, he learns that two missions which have been available for awhile now have been changed to open for all agents. He decides to work on the You Burn It, You Bought It mission, and heads to the Verdant Spiral tavern to meet with its owner, Haleth Weiss.
Weiss tells Goroc that he had hired three Guild agents to provide additional security during the spring festival. Although Weiss himself didn’t see the incident that started the fire, he briefly relays the events as they were told to him later.
Apparently there was a drunken half-orc, boasting about the battles he had fought. As people sometimes do when retelling stories, he started to reenact his movements in the battle, and got a little carried away. He started to swing his big warhammer around as he told the story, and it lit up in flames. The hammer struck a few things, and before anyone could react, there was a table, some chairs, and a wall on fire.
The three Guild agents cleared the patrons out of the tavern and helped put out the firem but by the time that was done the half-orc was long gone. Haleth Weiss suggests that Goroc track down the three agents and get some information from them. He provides their names and descriptions.
The three Guild agents are a human named Yorick, a half-orc named Scrugg, and a dwarf named Boz Stoneblaster. From asking around and checking back with the Guild, Goroc learns that Yorick is still employed at the Verdant Spiral as a guard, and is due to be back there that night. Scrugg left town recently on another Guild mission and probably isn’t back yet. As for Boz, he is supposed to be staying at an inn on the southeast side of town called the Gemcutter, a place that caters specifically to dwarves.
Goroc decides to visit the Gemcutter and talk to Boz. When he squeezes through the door into the poorly-lit establishment, Goroc notices that all eyes are upon him, with the various dwarves in the bar looking at him with expressions ranging from disinterest to contempt. He quickly picks out Boz sitting at the bar, from the description of a dwarf with a mohawk.
Outside the city, Vanemuine gathers firewood while Tyrrox goes hunting. He catches a rabbit and a badger, and brings them back to cook on the fire.
As he walks to the bar, Goroc passes a table with two dwarves. One has a warhammer propped up against his leg while he drinks a mug of ale. The other, who has the dirtiest beard and squeakiest armor that Goroc has ever seen, gives Goroc a look of barely concealed hostility while he drinks from a bucket of ale.
Goroc approaches Boz and explains that he’s trying to track down the perpetrator that set the Verdant Spiral on fire. Boz says that the half-orc was named Morg, and that he was talking about a time when he fought gnolls in the Wealdath forest. Boz thinks he remembers Morg saying something about going back there to fight some more, shortly before the fire broke out.
For some reason, Goroc bops Boz on the head as he leaves, after buying Boz a few drinks to pay for the information. That’s provocation enough for the dwarf that was watching, who stands up, adjusts his horned helmet, and asks Goroc if he’s looking for a fight. Goroc doesn’t back down from the confrontation, so the dwarf walks up and smacks him in the knee with his bucket, splashing ale all over his leg. They get into a brief tussle, as Patrick squeezes his way through the front door.
When Goroc happens to mention that the big gorilla is a wrestler, the rowdy dwarf forgets all about him and pounces on the gorilla. As the two of them roll back and forth, each gaining the advantage but unable to hold it, the other dwarf at the table shakes his head, palms his face, then stands up and walks over to Goroc.
This dwarf explains that the one wrestling with Patrick is his brother, and says he’d like some help breaking up the fight. He and Goroc manage to get the other dwarf off of Patrick, and the dwarf with the warhammer suggests Goroc leave. He does so.
Goroc stops back at the Verdant Spiral to talk to Yorick. All that Yorick can tell him is that the burly half-orc was wearing animal skins and a helmet with a big spike on top. Goroc thanks him for the information and leaves.
Goroc decides to track down this Morg himself, and leaves word at the Guild office for the others of where he’s gone. He then retrieves his horse from the stable and heads out, not even stopping to rest and refresh his spells, despite his injuries.
Meanwhile, Vanemuine and Tyrrox are attacked by a group of hobgoblins, whom they fight off without too much trouble. As the last one dies on the point of Tyrrox’s lance, he cries out “For the masters!” The centaur and the elf look at each other, then go back to their campfire, eat their food, and get some sleep.
After finishing his talk with his former co-worker, Leon returns home and continues practicing his eldritch blasts on the wooden practice dummies he has set up. After awhile he gets some sleep as well.
The next morning, everyone meets up at the Guild outpost as planned, and learns that Goroc has gone off on his own. They are unhappy with the abandonment, but decide that if that’s the way he wants to be, they aren’t going to go after him. Leon even brings up the idea of hiring someone to replace him.
They take a look at a few newly posted Guild missions, and decide to take one called Runaway Bride. They visit the client, a man named Bruno McDougall, who explains that his fiancée Hilda went to visit her sister, who lives in a small town called Podunk, a half day’s ride east of Darromar. That was four days ago, and he’s quite sure that she should have been back by now, since the wedding is in three days.
McDougall is concerned that either she’s run out on him, or something happened to her. He wants to know if she’s okay, and for her to be brought back if she’s willing.
The three of them set off eastward for Podunk, encountering no one on the road. They arrive five hours later, and head to the address provided by McDougall. They are met by Helga, sister of Hilda. She was unaware that Hilda was missing, because Hilda never arrived. Since the town is relatively close to Darromar, there would be no point in Hilda sending a message that she was coming because she would arrive almost immediately afterward.
Helga says that if they find out what happened to Hilda, to please let her know. She also expresses her opinion that Bruno McDougall can’t be trusted, because he’s no good for her sister.
Leon suggests they head back toward Darromar, examining the road as they go for evidence of what might have happened. As they leave Helga’s house, Tyrrox and Vanemuine spot a man watching them from around a corner. By the time they get there, the man is gone.
Meanwhile, Goroc is driving a cart, with Patrick riding in back. The horse is beginning to get tired, when Goroc hears some howls off in the distance. He decides to press on. The howls continue to get closer for a couple of hours, until he sees a pack of creatures that look like a cross between wolves and hyenas chasing after the cart.
As they gain on the cart, the creatures’ faces peel back, revealing the flesh beneath. This sends both Patrick and the horse into panic. Goroc decides to hold off the attacking krenshars by jumping off the cart to engage them. Goroc is quickly overwhelmed, and in danger of being killed and eaten until Patrick leaps off the cart and returns to rescue him.
The horse is abandoned to its fate as Patrick kills most of the krenshars. He then drags the unconscious Goroc to a clump of bushes, where he sets the druid down to rest.
On the road back to Darromar, the group finds signs of a scuffle. They decide to check out a nearby barn, and try to approach stealthily. They push open the barn door, and see no one inside. As the group checks the stalls, they find a woman tied up and gagged inside one.
Just then, a man swings down from the rafters on a rope and stabs Leon in the back with a knife. Tyrrox and Vanemuine recognize him as the man that was spying on them in Podunk. Shortly thereafter, a tiefling comes racing across the tops of the stalls, drops down behind Tyrrox, and attacks with a rapier while proclaiming his love for the woman.
In the confusion, Vanemuine is hit by a magic missile spell, and realizes there is a wizard up in the rafters. The group has more immediate problems, however. The man with the knife attacks Leon again, then backs off to throw knives. Leon responds with his earthen grasp invocation, but the stone hands can’t catch the wily rogue. The tiefling wounds Tyrrox fairly badly, who then backs off and charges the swashbuckler with his lance.
Eventually Vanemuine spots the wizard hiding up in the rafters, and shoots a firebolt at him. The wizard responds with an illusion, the sound of the barn door opening behind Vanemuine. While the elf is distracted, the wizard takes cover and hides.
The battle eventually turns against the human and tiefling, as first the rogue surrenders, then the swashbuckler. He apologizes to the woman for not fighting harder for her. Up in the rafters, the wizard curses his ill luck before climbing down and joining the others.
As Leon unties the woman, he learns that she is Hilda, the woman they’re looking for. The rogue and swashbuckler are knocked out, then tied up. Just then, the barn door opens for real this time. A half-elf comes in, muttering about how difficult it is to go to the bathroom in full plate. He stops upon seeing the scene in front of him, then curses. He provides a bit of healing to his companions and their captors.
Hilda chimes in that her captors’ horses are tied outside somewhere, that the rogue hid them out there when they spotted the elf approaching. Tyrrox goes outside and collects the horses, noticing the unique brand on their shoulders.
The four kidnappers are searched, and their gear confiscated by Leon for later dividing up and selling. He notices that there are a few magical items among the loot, and makes a mental note to have them identified later.
Somewhere to the northwest, as Patrick tries to nurse the severely wounded Goroc back to health, he accidentally causes him to choke to death while trying to feed him.
The group returns to Darromar, and marches the four men to the Guild. Hilda is happily reunited with her husband-to-be, and the Guild official turns over the reward, a magical waterskin. Bruno McDougall explains that it slowly refills a couple hours after being emptied.
As the four kidnappers are turned over to the proper authorities, the Guild official promises to look into whether their horses are indeed the ones that were stolen from Elmer’s Fine Horses, the client for the Catch the Horse Thief mission. The group decides to get some much-needed sleep and return in the morning.
The next morning, they find out that those were indeed the stolen horses, and collect the reward for returning them. Since there is still no sign of Goroc, Leon suggests they hire someone to replace him. But first, they sell the loot they’ve accumulated and split the rewards.
The group visits a shop called Lance’s Lance Emporium. The shopkeeper, whose name is of course Lance, demands to know whether they’ve come from Vance, the shopkeeper across the street. When they deny it, he warms up to them and explains that Vance would give them a terrible deal and is completely untrustworthy. He buys their extra loot, and sells Tyrrox and Vanemuine magical weapons.
While this deal is being conducted, Leon slips out the door and goes across the street to Vance’s Vancian Magic Emporium. He sells Vance the wizard’s spellbook, and somehow ends up convincing Vance that he is the book’s owner, but has no further use for it because he was the subject of a feeblemind spell.
With that done, Leon decides they need to post flyers to attract a new traveling companion. He heads to Phoenix Wright’s Print Shop, the business from which he bought his business cards. Phoenix Wright is a high-powered attorney, who owns this print shop on the side to take care of his own printing needs.
Leon has some flyers printed up, which reads: “Leon's Adventuring Troupe is now looking to recruit a single member, who is interested in massive amounts of treasure, and exotic places and women... and men, if that's what you're into. Location: the town square. Be prepared to show your skills. 30th of Mirtul.”
The group waits for four days for the word to get around.
One person who sees the flyers is Torgath Deepdraft, a Gold Dwarf turned Dragonborn of Bahamut. Having returned to Darromar without his previous traveling companions (whom he turned on after they killed a young dragon), he is looking for someone else to travel with. Torgath likes the look of these flyers, and starts asking around for the location of this Leon guy.
Torgath is led to the office Kingston Moonshadow, a half-elf attorney who worked with Leon in the past on occasion. In fact, Kingston is the man whom Leon visited just a few days before. Torgath tries to bully Leon’s location out of Kingston, who professes no knowledge of his former colleague’s whereabouts. He eventually convinces Torgath to wait outside his office while he tries to find Leon himself.
Kingston heads straight to Leon’s house, where he informs him that there’s this crazy kobold-looking guy trying to find him. Leon tells him not to say anything. So Kingston returns to his office and tells Torgath that Leon is apparently en route to Darromar from Myratma, and not expected to be back until the 30th. Torgath reluctantly waits until then, but first he accepts a mission to duel with someone named Cius Rahal. Cius defeats him handily, but Torgath still gets his gold for accepting the duel.
On the last day of Mirtul, the group has a table set up in the town square. Torgath tries to cut in line, but is stopped by a druid wearing dragonhide plate. The group interviews a diverse cast of characters, including a scythe-wielding, blue-haired elf, a man dressed in a yellow shirt named James T. Kirk, a cowardly man who hides underneath the table when someone says the police are coming, a muscular woman named Mook who fights with a pair of short swords, a dancer with a parasol (who proceeds to start dancing in the town square after Leon rejects her), the druid with the dragonhide plate, and a crazy-looking man with pale skin and bright red dreadlocks, who keeps talking about chaos.
Finally they agree to let Torgath join, provided he get rid of the man hiding under the table and the crazy one talking about chaos. He manages to do so, and Leon gives him a contract to sign. When Torgath is able to identify the magical items in their loot, Leon agrees to lend him a few hundred gold, which Torgath uses to buy a magical cloak from Vance’s shop. Leon also sells the rest of the loot.
XP Awarded: 1,925 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:52:42 GMT -5
Session 5: Sunday, May 24, 2009
Momentarily forgetting that he already has a Guild license, Torgath tries to scam the Guild office and convince them that he is his own brother, a licensed Guild member whose license was stolen. The Guild clerk tells him he will have to visit the Guild President’s office to clear that up. On the way there, Torgath finds his license in his pocket, and returns to the others at the Guild office.
Together, they take a look at the posted missions, and choose two, called Find Me a Lawyer and Substitute Testers. The group decides to split up to deal with both missions. Leon heads to the city jail to see Shane Turlington, the client who posted the Find Me a Lawyer mission. Meanwhile, the others are told that in order to be accepted for the Substitute Testers mission, they must meet the Guild President at his office. Since Torgath has already been given directions, he leads the others there.
Leon visits the city jail, where he greets the bailiff at the desk, whose name is Joe. Joe gives him directions to Shane’s cell. Leon is surprised to discover that Shane Turlington is one of the four men whom Leon and the others brought in for kidnapping Hilda and stealing the horses from Elmer’s Fine Horses. In fact, Shane dealt Leon a crippling wound during the battle to capture them.
Leon takes some pleasure in taunting Shane, and tells him that while he is a licensed lawyer, he cannot take the case because he will probably be called as a witness in the trial, which is scheduled to start on the 1st of Flamerule, 31 days from now. So Leon leaves and pays a visit to his friend Kingston, to try and convince him to take the case.
Meanwhile, Torgath leads Tyrrox and Vanemuine to the Guild President’s office, where they present a piece of paper given to them by Dante Hicks, the clerk at the Guild office. The receptionist, an elven woman, shows them in to meet Matthias Youngblood, founder and President of the Silver Shield Mercenary Guild.
Matthias looks at the records of Torgath, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine. He asks after their companions, and they explain that Goroc left them, and Leon is engaged in another mission. Matthias explains that in order to be accepted for this mission, they must agree to abide by three rules. First, under no circumstances are they allowed to kill a prospective Guild member. Second, they are not to tell the prospective Guild members that the test is staged until after the test is completed, if at all. And third, they are not to loot the Guild members.
The three of them agree to these conditions. Matthias then explains that they will be given two scrolls of the message spell. They are to send a message after each of the two parties they will be testing completes the test, reporting the success or failure of the test, and giving impressions of the groups if space permits. Unfortunately, none of them are capable of using a scroll, so Tyrrox volunteers to go and find Leon.
Leon, as it happens, manages to convince Kingston to take on Shane’s case despite his heavy workload. Kingston makes sure that Leon understands what a favor this is, and says that Leon owes him big. With that, Kingston heads to the city jail to speak to Shane, and Leon heads back to the Guild office just as Tyrrox arrives looking for him.
They head back to the President’s office, and Leon is briefed on the details of the mission. Once all four of them are ready to go, Milia Greenleaf walks in. She explains that she needs time off for family business, and so they will be filling in her job. Milia tells them that they can stay in her house, but she will be leaving her familiar Neko to keep an eye on them. Milia also reminds them that they are obligated to let the Guild candidates stay the night and rest in her cabin, a fact which she says Matthias often forgets about.
Since they have no last-minute business to take care of, Milia teleports the whole group to her cabin in the foothills of the Starspire Mountains. She reminds them that Neko is going to keep an eye on them, then hands them two dragon statues and teleports away.
The group stays the night in her cabin, then posts a watch for the first of the two adventuring groups that will be taking the test. For this test, the group believes a dragon statue was stolen by a group of bandits, and they have been sent to bring it back. Embracing their role as bandits, the group decides that Tyrrox and Vanemuine will wait outside the cave, acting as guards, while Leon and Torgath wait inside. Neko the imp volunteers to help them, and he is stationed inside as well.
Torgath decides to conduct an ambush from above, so with an impressive vertical leap (aided by his draconic wings), he leaps to the ceiling, grabs onto some handholds, and braces himself until they come.
Eventually the first group arrives. In the lead is a heavily armored dwarf, followed by a human woman with greenish-tinged skin, a fire genasi with hair of flame, and an elf with a bow. Their approach is straightforward, with no attempt at stealth. The dwarf charges forward to engage Tyrrox in combat, and Tyrrox finds it nearly impossible to land blows through the dwarf’s impenetrable plate.
Seeing the commotion outside, Leon fires an eldritch blast at the dwarf while ordering Neko to light a few of the everburning torches in the cave, which had been doused earlier for strategic purposes.
Vanemuine launches fire bolts at the enemies, while the fire genasi does the same at him and Tyrrox. The woman, whom Torgath recognizes as a fellow dragon shaman, charges in with a longspear and attempts to jab Tyrrox. Tyrrox effortlessly grabs the spear from her hands and throws it behind him.
The elf hangs back and fires arrows at them, while Leon and Torgath come out to join the battle. When the fire genasi is injured, he falls back, and the elven ranger moves to protect him. Eventually Tyrrox is wounded enough that he fakes being defeated. Vanemuine and Leon are not far behind, leaving just Torgath and Neko.
Torgath retreats into the cave, then emerges holding the dragon statue. He tells the advancing party that he will destroy the statue if they don’t back off. They refuse to allow it, until he tells them that it was a test. Only the dwarf believes him, but the others look to the dwarf and reluctantly lower their weapons as well. Torgath then tosses them the statue, and explains the deception. They are then extended the offer to rest in Milia’s cabin before returning with the statue.
After the battle, everyone introduces themselves. The dwarf’s name is Garak. The woman’s name is Shula, the fire genasi’s name is Rand, and the elf is Kirkis. Torgath suspiciously asks Shula what god she worships, since he is a sworn opponent of all followers of Tiamat. Luckily, she is a worshipper of Astilabor, goddess of wealth, so there is no problem.
The groups spend the night exchanging combat stories, with some exaggeration on both sides. The next morning, Garak and his group set off to return the statue to the Guild, and the others set about preparing for the next group. But the next group doesn’t show up that day, or the next. Three whole days pass before anyone shows up, which allows the battered and bruised group to fully recover from the previous battle.
On the fourth day, Tyrrox begins to worry that they should have arrived by now. So he decides to scout out through the foothills and see if he can find any sign of them. After about two hours, he spots a group of four headed in the direction of the cave. Tyrrox notes their descriptions, then calls out “oh no!” in mock alarm and retreats back to the cave.
Tyrrox quickly tells the others what he saw: a female gnome carrying a double-ended hammer, a burly but unarmed half-orc, a feral-looking elf carrying a big axe, and a human woman bringing up the rear.
Everyone takes up their positions. This time, Leon joins Tyrrox outside, and Vanemuine stays inside with Neko, while Torgath once more takes up an ambush position on the ceiling.
When the group arrives, the wild elf charges directly at Tyrrox, whipping himself into a battle rage and recklessly opening himself to attack. Tyrrox jabs the elf with his lance, but he shrugs off the blow and comes in, landing a powerful blow with his greataxe. The woman draws a scimitar, and weaves it about menacingly as she slowly circles around to the side, looking for an advantageous position.
The gnome is nowhere to be seen, but the halforc charges past Tyrrox toward Leon, as he fires a spear-shaped blast of energy at the woman. Seeing that Tyrrox and Leon are hard pressed, Vanemuine breaks with the battle plan and runs to the mouth of the cave, where he shoots an enfeebling ray at the wild elf to help Tyrrox.
Unfortunately, this leaves Leon by himself, facing both the woman and the half-orc. The half-orc lands a powerful blow to Leon’s chest, and the woman circles behind him and strikes a vital spot with her sword. Leon crumples, badly wounded but still conscious. Torgath sees this and glides out into the combat on his wings, dropping heavily behind the woman and felling her with a blow from his axe. She lands right on top of Leon, who quietly slips a blessed bandage out and uses it to stabilize her.
The gnome charges out from hiding, trying to flank Tyrrox, but he meets her charge with a powerful kick of his hind legs, sending her sprawling. Realizing that soon either he or the wild elf (who seems past the point of reason and unwilling to stand down despite his many injuries), is about to be seriously hurt or even killed, Tyrrox reveals that it’s all a test.
The half-orc, who was moving into position to fight Torgath, hears this and asks what test. The others confirm what Tyrrox said. The wild elf collapses in exhaustion, as the gnome charges in one more time. But the battle is broken up, and the statue handed over.
Torgath heals all of them to partial health with his draconic aura, and introductions are made. The half-orc identifies himself as Garm, the wild elf as Faelar, the gnome woman as Bobo, and the human woman as Helena.
A bond quickly forms between Leon and Helena, and the two apologize for wounding each other. It doesn’t take long before the two are knocking boots in Milia’s bedroom. Neko flies in, stings Leon, and warns that Milia won’t be pleased. Leon responds by reaching down, grabbing the tanglefoot bag out of his pack, and throwing it at the surprised imp, who is caught in it and falls out the window.
The next day, everyone decides that there’s safety in numbers, and they start back for Darromar together. When they reach the treacherous Sulduskoon River, they do not find a bridge to get across. Torgath discovers that he can glide most of the way across, so he takes off his armor, gets Tyrrox to boost him up as high into the air as he can, and glides over the river. When he’s about to hit the water, Torgath puts his shield under his feet and actually manages to surf most of the rest of the distance to the far shore, only slogging through the last few feet to dry land.
On the far side, Torgath finds an abandoned rowboat, which he uses to ferry the others to the south bank. Tyrrox is left for last, because of his large size and considerable weight. In order to spread the weight out over a greater surface area, Leon suggests that Torgath freeze the water around the boat with his cold breath. He does so, and discovers that the oars can no longer reach the water. So he gets the boat moving as fast as he can, then tries to push it through the water by beating his wings against the air.
It’s a long, painful journey across the river for Torgath, and his wings are abused to the point of exhaustion and past it. By the time they reach the far bank, the boat is creaking and the wood has begun to crack. In fact, Tyrrox puts a hoof through the bottom of the boat as he’s stepping off.
The group has an uneventful journey back to Darromar, where they part ways. Helena and her group get their Guild licenses, and the others collect their rewards. Leon holds onto the magical rod, but splits the cash with the others. He also takes the diamond he received in payment for getting Shane Turlington a lawyer, and sells it in the dwarven district for half again the amount of gold that it’s worth. He splits the extra take with his traveling companions, and Torgath pays back the money he owes to Leon.
With his money, Leon returns to Vance’s Emporium and commissions a custom magic item, a Chasuble of Fell Power in the form of a necktie. Vance informs him that it will take about ten days to be ready.
Leon then returns to his house, where he practices trying to wield hellfire for awhile. The process is very painful to him, and he ends up with badly burned hands that he bandages up. Helena eventually comes over, and they spend more time together.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine head for the town square. Vanemuine chooses to practice his battle dance in an empty section of the square, while Tyrrox invites a mysterious redheaded woman to dance with him. She makes eye contact with a pair of women across the square before agreeing to dance with him. When the dance is over, she refuses Tyrrox’s offer of money, and departs. The two women follow her, and Tyrrox realizes from their demeanor that they are her bodyguards.
Afterward, Tyrrox heads to the Moneybags Inn and decides to experiment a bit with alcohol, with which he is largely unfamiliar. Despite his considerable fortitude, Tyrrox does not handle the alcohol well, and Vanemuine takes advantage of his condition to convince the centaur to visit Modern Times with him. They find the spectacle ridiculous and confusing, although amusing as well.
The next day, the group realizes that there is still the better part of a month before the trial of Shane and the others will begin. So they decide to take on a mission to kill some time. Since the You Burn It, You Bought It mission is now available to anyone for the taking, the group investigates that.
They follow in the footsteps of Goroc in speaking to Haleth Weiss at the Verdant Spiral, who in turn directs them to Yorick and Boz Stoneblaster. Torgath heads to the dwarven district to look for Boz, and he meets some dwarves with which he spent the previous night getting drunk. He again goes drinking with them.
Meanwhile, the others interview Yorick and get a physical description of the perpetrator. They then learn of Boz’s typical hangouts, and arrive in the Gemcutter saloon just as Torgath discovers that his drinking buddy is in fact Boz Stoneblaster. Boz tells them what he told Goroc, about how the half-orc Morg probably set off for the Wealdath to battle the gnolls there.
Leon explains to Helena where they’re going, and then he and the others set off to the north. As they travel, the group realizes that there has been no rain for more than a month, and the nation’s crops are suffering for it. The group wonders what could be causing the drought, but presses on. When they reach the Sulduskoon River again, they choose to follow it eastward until they find a stone bridge crossing it, which they take.
XP Awarded: 1,600 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:53:20 GMT -5
Session 6: Sunday, June 7, 2009
As the party starts crossing the stone bridge over the river, Vanemuine happens to glance back over his shoulder and spot a hobgoblin watching him from behind some shrubbery. He remarks on this to the others, and since Tyrrox remembers having seen other hobgoblins following them before, the group discusses what they know about hobgoblins.
Leon decides to take a shot at it with his eldritch blast, and kills the hobgoblin. But suddenly, more of them burst from cover and charge the bridge. Two hobgoblins in the rear each have two krenshars on leashes, and let them loose before following their comrades into battle.
As Tyrrox and Vanemuine prepare to face them at the edge of the bridge, Leon and Torgeth discover that a pair of hill giants are approaching from the other side of the bridge. Torgeth calls out to them in Giant, hoping that they aren’t part of the fight, but Leon suspects that they’re the same giants that fought with the sea hag that attacked them on the barge, and attacks them. The giants respond by throwing boulders at them.
Leon is hit hard by a boulder, but takes cover behind it to avoid further hits. A roar, followed by a cracking sound, come from underneath the bridge. Leon figures out that they’re illusory, and warns the others. Something invisible comes out of the water, and attacks. It turns out to be a green hag.
While Tyrrox and Vanemuine kill the hobgoblins and krenshars, Leon and Torgeth hold off the giants and injure the hag. One giant is killed, and when the hag tries to run away, the other giant (who is badly wounded) drops his weapons, curls up in the fetal position, and starts crying. Leon puts an eldritch blast into the giant’s head, killing him.
Unfortunately, the green hag is able to escape by becoming invisible and covering her tracks with her magic. The wounded party loots the bodies, and finds some nice treasure in the giants’ bags. They rest for awhile, then continue on to the Wealdath, which they reach early the next morning.
With no idea where in the forest to go, Tyrrox picks a direction and leads the others in. Eventually they stumble onto a gnoll hunting party. Torgeth, who actually happens to speak Gnoll, tells them he’s looking for a half-orc named Morg. The gnolls tell him that Morg went to the elves’ scouting post, and Torgeth persuades them to lead the group there.
Torgeth knows that alliances with gnolls are temporary, and shaky at best. He quietly warns the others about this, but there’s not much they can do since they’re outnumbered. Leon decides to intimidate one of the gnolls by firing a blast at his feet, but succeeds only in making the gnoll glare at him in anger.
Eventually the gnoll leader stops the group, and tells Torgeth that the elves are just on the other side of this copse of trees. Torgeth tries to pay the gnoll for his help, but the gnoll leader tells him that they will be taking the money off his corpse.
Outnumbered and surrounded in close quarters, the party is at a distinct disadvantage. Vanemuine is the first to fall. Leon picks him up and puts him on Tyrrox’s back, then Tyrrox takes off running for the elves’ outpost. Leon falls not long after, and Torgeth soon joins him.
Some of the gnolls begin to try and eat them alive, but are interrupted by the arrival of elves from the scouting post, led by a male with a bow and a female, some sort of lightly armored mage. Even those two are wounded, but the rest of the elves are able to beat back the gnolls, and the wounded are brought into the scouting post for some recuperation.
While the others rest, Tyrrox discovers that the elves will not discuss anything with him until the others reawaken. Vanemuine is the first to do so, and they use his last healing potion to rouse Torgeth. The dragonborn uses his healing aura to bring the others back to some semblance of health. Leon discovers that, thanks to the bite wound on his leg, he has trouble walking unsupported, and asks the elves for a walking stick. One is provided.
Some time after, the two elves that led the reinforcements come in to speak with them. Their attitudes are cold but not completely hostile. The male introduces himself as Runloth, and the woman as Sharmista. At this point, the group realizes that Sharmista is in fact only half-elven, living among elves notoriously intolerant of half-breeds.
After they explain their purpose in the forest, Runloth tells them that Morg was indeed here. The scouts had found him fighting gnolls, and the careless half-orc had started a forest fire in the process. They subdued the half-orc and brought him in, where they planned to hold him while awaiting orders from the council on what to do with him.
Unfortunately, Morg escaped, killing two elves before grabbing his gear, getting back on his bull, and riding off into the forest. Unfortunately, one of those killed was the outpost’s only skilled tracker. Runloth is not yet a skilled enough tracker to find Morg.
The group explains that they need Morg to pay for the damage he caused to the Verdant Spiral tavern, but Runloth and Sharmista insist that Morg will be tried for his crimes and probably executed by the elves. A deal is struck: they will work together to track down Morg, and the party will take his gear to sell and pay for the damage to the inn, while Morg himself will remain behind for trial.
After a bit more rest, the six of them set off into the forest looking for signs of Morg’s passage. Torgeth and Runloth climb trees to get better vantage points. Torgeth eventually spots a plume of smoke some distance away, and when he points it out, Runloth takes the lead toward it. About ninety minutes later, they find the aftermath of a battle.
While Torgeth and Sharmista go to work putting out the fires with their respective abilities, the others search the scene. They find gnoll bodies, and a trail through the brush so wide that even they can follow it. Eventually the trail leads to a small stream, where they see a bull drinking from the water.
With a quick look around they spot Morg, who is sitting up against a tree drinking from a flask. Torgeth freezes Morg’s hammer to the ground while they try to take him peacefully, but Morg won’t go without a fight. He rips the hammer loose from the ground and it bursts into flame, but Morg is severely outnumbered and soon overwhelmed. Vanemuine saps the half-orc’s strength to the point of paralysis, and explains to Runloth that it will be many days before Morg is back to full strength.
The elves thank the group for their assistance, but make it clear they expect them to leave the forest by the shortest route. They are escorted to the border, and make their way back south to Darromar. By now, Leon’s special necktie is ready at Vance’s shop, so he buys it. He sells Morg’s hammer at Lance’s, although he begins to suspect that Lance is ripping him off when the dealer accepts his price without a moment’s hesitation.
Torgeth heads off to the dwarven section of town to get drunk at the Gemcutter, and he drinks enough gutbusters to put him out for the night. Tyrrox looks for a dancing partner in the square but isn’t able to find anyone at this late hour, so he and Vanemuine to go the Moneybags and start drinking there. The elf drinks moderately, but Tyrrox passes out after drinking a smoking blue drink called Genie Juice.
Leon returns to his home and spends more time with Helena. He tells her about his adventures, and says that he’s planning to head to Myratma for awhile to look for more work there. Helena tells Leon of her own group’s adventures around town, and tells him that Guild missions have been sparse around Darromar, and are immediately snapped up by one group of Guild agents or another. They decide to talk to her adventuring partners the following day and see if they want to go to Myratma as well.
The next day, Tyrrox wakes up with a nasty hangover, and goes berserk when the slightest noise is magnified to the point of being painful. He slams right through the wall and runs through town, screaming for everyone to be quiet.
Torgeth, who was searching the town for signs of the others, sees this happening and decides to try and jump on Tyrrox. The centaur ends up knocking him into a cart full of hay before running straight out of town, where he spends almost the entire day, having finally found peace and quiet.
Torgeth, whose entire body is in pain from some sort of crazy concoction that the bartender at the Gemcutter made for him, decides to just lay there for awhile.
Leon and Helena arrive at the Moneybags to find Vanemuine, who explains the hole in the wall. They wait for Helena’s friends Garm, Faelar, and Bobo to wake up, and they agree to come along to Myratma.
Leon gives Vanemuine his share of the reward money, and when Torgeth arrives he gets his as well. Leon takes Vanemuine to Vance’s to have his sword upgraded. Although he has to borrow money from Leon, Vanemuine has Vance turn his sword into a +1 shocking longsword. It will take Vance six days to complete the enchantments though, so they decide to wait for awhile.
Leon and Vanemuine head for the docks, where they find only a single barge heading for Myratma. It happens that the barge is planning to leave in six days, so Leon convinces them to hire his group on as guards, for the price of free passage to Myratma.
Each member of the group spends the next six days in their own way, whether it be drinking, whoring, or whatever. Vanemuine picks up his sword from Vance’s.
XP Awarded: 3,050 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:55:17 GMT -5
Session 7: Saturday, June 20th, 2009
Leon decides to stop by his house one more time before leaving town, to check for mail or anything like that. He arrives to find a man outside, knocking on his door. Leon recognizes the man as a law clerk, though he can’t remember his name.
The man hands him an envelope, which Leon opens to find a subpoena. He is being called to testify at the trial of Shane Turlington, the man for whom he hired his friend Kingston as a lawyer. The clerk has Leon sign a piece of paper indicating that he has received the subpoena, then asks him where he might find Tyrrox Zym and Vanemuine Kuu. Leon takes the clerk along with him in search of the other two.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine receive their subpoenas, and sign the clerk’s paper to indicate that they have received them. Since the trial is to begin on the 1st of Flamerule, the group quickly realizes that there is no way they could get to Myratma and back in time. Tyrrox is apparently feeling a bit stir-crazy in town, so he heads back into the woods.
Leon goes looking for Helena to give her the bad news, and finds her shopping with her group. Helena suggests that maybe she will stay with Leon until after the trial, then they can catch up to the others in Myratma.
This ends up being the solution the group takes. Since his presence is not required at the trial, Torgeth goes along with Garm and Bobo (the half-orc and gnome that Helena travels with) on the barge that Leon had planned them all to ride with. Unfortunately, they forget Faelar (the wild-elf), who is outside the city as well.
Outside of Darromar, Tyrrox sees a naked elf running around, swinging his pants in the air, screaming “I’m free! I’m free!” over and over again. When the elf comes running up, Tyrrox discovers that it’s Faelar. Apparently the wild elf, like many of his people, hates to wear clothes, and does so only as a concession to his traveling companions. Tyrrox tries very hard to get the creepy naked elf to leave him alone.
A few days pass in this way, and early on the 1st of Flamerule, the group heads to the courthouse where the trial is to be held. They discover that witnesses are not allowed to sit in the courtroom until after their testimony, in order to prevent their accounts from being influenced by what they hear in the courtroom. So Helena goes in and saves Leon a seat.
The trial begins with the introduction of the magistrate, Edmure Samar. After him, the prosecuting attorney, Perrault Llanistaph, is introduced, as is Kingston Moonshadow, attorney for the accused, Shane Turlington. Shane is accused of stealing four horses from Elmer’s Fine Horses on the day of the Guild job fair, and of kidnapping Hilda McDougall.
Leon, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine miss the early part of the trial, in which each side gives their opening statements. The first witness called is Elmer, owner of the horses. Llanistaph also introduces three pieces of evidence: the brand Elmer uses to mark his horses, the horses themselves, and Elmer’s sales records for that day to show that the horses were not sold. On cross-examination, Kingston gets Elmer to reveal that he did not see the defendant at all, so has no way of knowing it was Shane that stole the horses.
Next, Leon is called to the witness stand. He and Llanistaph exchange unfriendly looks, because they’ve met before and don’t like each other. Llanistaph tells Leon to relate events starting from his accepting the Runaway Bride mission.
Leon tells the story of how he, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine traveled to meet Hilda’s sister, learned that Hilda never got there, and searched the road back to Darromar until finding signs of a struggle. He relates discovering Hilda tied up in a barn nearby, the fight against Shane and his associates, and the later discovery of the stolen horses nearby after the fight.
On cross-examination, Leon admits that he didn’t see Shane steal the horses, and they could possibly have been bought from someone else as the accused claims. Kingston also manages to get Leon to say that Verus Thorn, the tiefling that was fighting with Shane, was acting smitten with Hilda and calling her his “beloved.” Kingston also tries to imply that Leon holds a grudge against Shane for the injury he sustained in that fight, and that the grudge might be influencing his testimony.
After Leon’s testimony is over, he goes to sit with Helena as Tyrrox is called to testify next. He tells much the same story as Leon did, but also includes the part where they spotted Shane watching them as they left Hilda’s sister’s house.
On cross-examination, Tyrrox also says he didn’t see the accused actually steal the horses, and confirms that the tiefling was seemingly smitten with Hilda. Kingston tries to suggest that Tyrrox’s testimony is unreliable due to his limited experience with human civilization, but stops short of actually saying so.
After his testimony is over, Tyrrox leaves and goes back outside the city to relax.
Next on the stand is Vanemuine. His testimony confirms that of Leon and Tyrrox. On cross-examination, Kingston again points out that they didn’t actually see the accused steal anything, and continues to suggest that it was primarily Verus the tiefling that kidnapped Hilda. He also brings up the racial tension between humans and elves in Tethyr, even though Vanemuine is not from Tethyr.
After Vanemuine’s testimony, Hilda herself is called to the stand. She relates the story of her kidnapping. Kingston tries to make it seem as though his client was not really involved in the kidnapping, which was primarily the tiefling’s crime.
After the last prosecution witness, Kingston calls each of Shane’s traveling companions to the stand: Liukan Innisfarne the wizard, Garrick Shulen the cleric of Garagos, and Verus Thorn the tiefling swashbuckler. They each tell their side of the story. On cross-examination, though, Perrault Llanistaph is able to point out that Garrick’s god is the god of plunder, and partially discredit their testimony based on that.
Unfortunately, Verus proves very damaging to the prosecution’s case, because he once again shows how smitten he is with Hilda. In his version of events, he had to take Hilda away so he could find enough time to convince her of the mistake she was about to make in marrying Bruno McDougall, and try to win her over himself.
Finally, Shane Turlington takes the stand himself. He claims to have purchased the four horses on the road from a traveler wearing a hooded cloak. He also claims that he didn’t discover that Verus had kidnapped Hilda until just before Leon, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine arrived, and didn’t have time to free her before being forced to fight for his life. Shane insists that he would have freed Hilda when he got the chance.
When Llanistaph gets to cross-examine Shane, he tears up that testimony. He manages to point out an inconsistency between Shane’s account of buying the horses, and that of the others; the timing of when they claim to have gotten the horses.
Finally, magistrate Samar retires to his chambers to debate the evidence. Half an hour later, he renders his verdict, finding Shane guilty of stealing the horses, but not guilty of kidnapping Hilda. However, for his failure to free Hilda when he discovered her kidnapping, the magistrate finds him guilty as an accomplice. All in all, he is fined 2,200 gold, to be paid to Elmer’s Fine Horses, and imprisoned for 10 days because of the kidnapping.
Leon knows that the penalties could have been much more severe: had Shane been found guilty on all counts, he could have been thrown into the stocks for up to 30 days, and then imprisoned for up to a year. He could even have been forced to pay up to 1,000 gold to Hilda for his part in her kidnapping.
When the trial finally wraps up late that day, Leon and Helena decide to head down to the docks to try and find another barge heading for Myratma. They luck out, finding one boat leaving that very night. Leon and Helena split up to tell the others about the boat.
Tyrrox, of course, is still outside the city. Since Faelar seems to have been left behind by the others, they decide to bring him along as well, though they force him to put his pants back on first.
Vanemuine, meanwhile, has resumed visiting various wells throughout the city, a project which he had been amusing himself with before the trial as well. He sees young boys throwing coins into the wells, apparently making wishes. At a huge well in the Palace District, large enough to swim in, Vanemuine actually lowers himself down into the well with the “bucket,” which is actually the size of a washtub. Inside, Vanemuine manages to gather a small fortune in platinum coins.
Vanemuine emerges from the well soaking wet, and meets up with Helena not long after. She tells him about the boat, and promises not to tell anyone she saw him taking coins out of the well.
At sunset, everyone is massed on the dock. They get aboard the boat, having once again traded their services as guards for free passage to Myratma. Since the ship is leaving under cover of darkness, Tyrrox and the two elves take the first few watches. Vanemuine in particular is helpful on watch, because he is able to warn the boat crew before they run the boat up on shallows in the river, which is especially low due to the lack of rain.
Because this is a small sailboat rather than a big flat barge, they make considerably faster progress. As the boat gets closer to the ocean, the river becomes deeper and the danger of running aground on the riverbank passes.
Leon takes first watch after the sun comes up. He sees some water splashes downriver, and freaks out, thinking sahaugin are attacking again. Tyrrox fires his bow at the splashes. At first nothing happens, but eventually a large squid-like monster emerges from the water to menace the ship. It’s the dreaded River Kraken, a creature known only in rumors before now.
While Tyrrox continues firing arrows at it, Faelar grabs his axe and leaps straight into the water after the River Kraken. Leon passes his wand of melf’s acid arrow to Helena, but she fails to activate it. The River Kraken grabs Faelar with several tentacles and nearly crushes the raging wild elf. Not long after, it grabs both Tyrrox and Leon off the deck as well, and starts to retreat downriver away from the boat.
By this time, the River Kraken has been wounded pretty badly from Tyrrox’s arrows and Leon’s eldritch blasts, and its tentacles are no longer gripping its prey as tightly because of Vanemuine’s weakening spells. Vanemuine launches a fire bolt at the retreating River Kraken, wounding it even further. Leon manages to maneuver into a position to fire his eldritch blast right into its face, and the Kraken dies, letting them go.
Helena and Vanemuine manage to haul up first Leon, then Tyrrox onto the boat, although getting the big, heavy centaur onto the ship proves to be no easy task. Faelar, meanwhile, has grabbed onto the Kraken’s tentacles and started swimming back toward the boat. He grips the rope thrown to him in his teeth and tries to haul the entire massive carcass onto the boat, although even his raging strength and the help of everyone on the boat is not enough. Faelar finally loses his grip on the slippery Kraken tentacles and it slips beneath the river, where the boat soon leaves it behind.
As soon as he’s safely aboard, Faelar collapses from exhaustion. He does not regain consciousness again that day. The rest of the day proves uneventful as Leon finishes his watch, and Helena takes the next watch. The night is also uneventful. Late in the next day, Faelar awakens, but is still weak, sore, and unable to do much. Shortly after sundown on the second day of travel, the boat arrives in Myratma, passing through the open gates on the river into the port city.
As a thank-you for saving the boat from the River Kraken, the grateful captain presents the group with an ornate box, which he explains to Tyrrox is able to produce food and water with which to feed quite a few people. The captain assures the group that he will be able to replace it and feed his own crew, because he knows a guy that can get him another one.
After getting off the boat, the group finds a map of Faerun and looks at it. Leon asks a passing sailor about the Moonshae Isles, and receives a bit of information about the place. He also asks about the isle of Lantan to the south, but the sailor isn’t able to tell him much about that place.
Leon also asks Vanemuine to train his girlfriend Helena in the art of swordplay, to make her a more competent swordswoman so he can be confident in her ability to take care of herself. In return, he forgives some of Vanemuine’s debt to him.
The group splits up again, with Vanemuine and Helena looking for Torgeth and the others while Leon, Tyrrox, and a still-wounded Faelar look around for lodgings for the night. Leon and Tyrrox hear about a place called the Efreetium that sounds interesting. Leon relates what he knows about efreets – that they are evil genies from the Elemental Plane of Fire that can grant wishes if one can catch them and force them to do so, and that they once ruled the kingdom of Calinshan to the south in the distant past. Although the Efreetium’s décor is interesting, and their food and services are said to be beyond compare, they decide that the place is too pricey for their tastes, and look elsewhere.
They also hear of a place called the Gambling Ghost Inn, whose food and lodging are said to be almost as good as the Efreetium (some even say just as good), but whose prices are substantially lower. They decide to check it out. Outside they meet up with Vanemuine and Helena, who have learned that Torgeth, Garm, and Bobo are supposed to be staying here as well.
The five of them enter the crowded inn and look around. Tyrrox spots a waitress hanging a sign on the wall that says “20 minutes.” Leon spots Torgeth and the others at a table in the back and heads over. The group follows. It turns out that they’re so used to Faelar running off on his own that they hadn’t even realized they left him behind. They ask Torgeth what the sign on the wall is about, but he tells them to wait and see.
Tyrrox buys rooms for the group, for two nights. While grumbling about having to pay for them all, he hands the keys to Helena and tells her that Leon’s cheating on her with his wife Sue before walking away. In response to her angry question, Leon explains how Tyrrox has been confused by human society and when Leon talks about suing someone, the centaur somehow got the idea that he was talking about a person named Sue. Relieved, Helena asks if he’d like her to play along with the deception, but Leon tells her that isn’t necessary.
Leon then talks to Faelar about the culture of the Moonshae Isles. From what he heard, they are fierce warriors who wear kilts. He tries to convince the wild elf that he should try this kilt thing, especially since he might not find it as confining as pants. Faelar seems interested.
The waitress replaces the sign at the 10 minute and 5 minute marks. A few minutes before the time runs out, the whole common room (which is now full up to capacity of about 100 people) quiets down in anticipation.
Slowly, an empty chair slides from a neighboring table and comes to rest directly across from Vanemuine. A deck of cards appears on the table, followed by a large bar of solid platinum. Slowly the cards shuffle, and the top card floats off, coming to rest face down in front of the empty chair.
Vanemuine sits there for a moment, not comprehending. Torgeth tells him that he’s supposed to match the wager and then draw a card. The elf puts some coins on the table, then picks up the whole deck of cards as if to pick one. Torgeth quickly tells him he’s supposed to take the top card. Vanemuine nods, puts the deck down, and draws the top card face down.
The card in front of the empty chair then flips over, revealing the Queen of Clubs. An audible gasp is heard around the room, as all eyes are now on Vanemuine. He flips over his card, revealing the King of Clubs. The entire table shakes as if pounded by an angry fist, then the cards disappear. The chair slides back to where it came from, and every mug in the room is suddenly filled with brackish water. Most people empty their cups into bowls on the tables, which seem to be there for just this purpose. Torgeth, on the other hand, drinks his right down.
Torgeth then explains to Vanemuine that he is now expected to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the room. The dragonborn knows this because he was the one chosen by the ghost to play last night, although he refuses to say whether he won or lost the game. Weighing the large bar of platinum left in front of him, Vanemuine realizes that he will have plenty of winnings left over even after buying drinks for this many people, and buys a round for everyone.
As the quiet passes and people go about their business again, the group splits up, retiring to their rooms for the night one by one. Vanemuine asks at the front counter for an appraisal of the platinum bar, which is stamped with a date well over 100 years old. The innkeeper informs him that the bar weighs eight points, and is worth about 4,000 gold pieces. They know this because the ghost gambles with the same wage every night, and so they have plenty of experience in this area.
Leon and Helena order a bottle of Genie Juice before heading back to their room for the night. One drink is enough to knock out Helena, but Leon instead experiences strange hallucinations.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox (who came back in time to witness the ghostly display) decides to try some of the inn’s strange drinks. He skips over the Slimy Wight, and decides to try the Filibuster. He discovers that the drink got its name because it tastes nasty, and people drink it so slowly that it seems to go on forever. He orders a drink called a Flip, and finds it so gross that he goes back to the Filibuster. He also notices a drink called the Crackling Kraken. Tyrrox is wise enough not to mess with the Genie Juice this time.
Eventually Tyrrox heads up to bed, slightly intoxicated. By this time all the others have gone to bed except for Torgeth, who is still drinking at the table in the corner. Tyrrox mistakenly heads to Leon and Helena’s room, and discovers that his key doesn’t fit in the lock. He pounds on the door until Leon opens it up, then throws them out of “his” room and gives them the key to the room where he was actually supposed to sleep.
In his Genie Juice-induced trip, Leon sees Tyrrox as some kind of freakish octopus monster or something, and decides not to mess with it. Forgetting the Genie Juice in the room he’s just been evicted from, Leon carries the sleeping Helena to the other room and opens the door. But due to his hallucinations, he sees the bed in there as resembling a giant toadstool. He hears a deep voice seeming to come from the toadstool, telling him “come to sleep,” but the terrified Leon huddles in the corner, holding Helena close and staring at the bed in fear.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox drops onto the bed in the room he kicked the others out of. While the stairs and upper floor were strong enough to support his considerable weight, the bed is not. All four legs snap under the weight of the centaur, but he passes out and goes to sleep anyway.
The next morning, Vanemuine wakes up, feeling perfectly refreshed. In the hallway he passes Faelar, who is proudly marching down the hallway with a bed sheet wrapped around his waist. He informs the bewildered Vanemuine that he’s a fierce warrior, and continues past him down the stairs. Vanemuine continues on to Tyrrox’s room, where he wakes up the groggy centaur.
Tyrrox isn’t feeling too great this morning, but when he discovers that he broke Leon’s bed he decides to have some more fun. First he goes back to his own room and forces Leon (who hasn’t slept a wink yet) to take Helena and go back to his own room. Despite the broken bed, Leon lays Helena down and then wearily flops down into the bed and falls asleep instantly.
Tyrrox then tries to persuade the innkeeper that it was Leon, not himself, who broke the bed, but he’s not convincing. He agrees to pay for the repairs, and sticks around the inn until the carpenter can come and give an estimate. While the carpenters work, Leon and Helena are gently moved back to Tyrrox’s room again.
Heading downstairs, Tyrrox and Vanemuine find that Torgeth is still at the table in the corner, though whether he rose early or simply never left the table they aren’t sure. They leave him in peace for the moment, and Vanemuine tries to teach Tyrrox how to play cards.
Helena awakens before Leon and leaves him alone, going out with Faelar, Garm, and Bobo into the city. When Leon wakes up, he finds himself in the bed that looked like a toadstool the previous night (although at least now it looks like a normal bed). He gets up, grabs the bottle of Genie Juice from his own room where the bed is still being repaired, and heads downstairs.
Leon opens the bottle and splashes it into Tyrrox’s face, but the centaur is able to move so that it misses his face and only splashes his chest. His clothing stains, and the stain is either blue or pink depending on how the light hits it. He looks around and discovers that the others have gone out already, and it’s only Leon, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Torgeth in the common room right now.
XP Awarded: 2,000 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:55:56 GMT -5
Session 7.5: Monday, June 22, 2009
Once Torgeth decides to go with the barge in Helena’s place, he spends the rest of the day drinking at the Gemcutter again. He again mixes various drinks until he comes up with something thoroughly disgusting but very potent.
Finally, he heads down to the dock to meet the barge, and discovers it’s already leaving the dock. Torgeth takes a running leap, extends his wings, and glides toward the barge. But he overshoots it and lands in the water. As Bobo and Garm try to figure out whether he needs help, Torgeth manages to swim his way over to the boat and climb in.
Bobo takes the first watch as the barge leaves the dock. After that is Garm, and then finally Torgeth, who has by this time sobered up well enough to keep watch. At one point he sees a large shape fly past the moon high in the sky, but nothing else happens.
The next day, Bobo breaks out a fishing pole and tries to catch some fish for food. Torgeth tries to impress Bobo by jumping into the water and trying to catch fish with his hands. He scares all the fish away, but manages to find both a crab and a trident in the water.
Later that day, the group sees something following them. Torgeth thinks maybe it’s after the trident, so he throws it into the water. But whatever is back there continues coming after them
It turns out to be a group of sahaugin, who climb onto the barge one and two at a time. All in all, twelve sahaugin attack the barge. Bobo and Garm are both wounded, but they kill all but one of the sahaugin. It leaps off the barge and starts to swim away, but Torgeth goes after it.
He manages to drop onto the sahaugin from the sky above. The sahaugin flies into a blood frenzy when it’s wounded, biting and clawing at the dragonborn, but Torgeth is able to kill it. He grabs onto the dead sahaugin and tries to swim back to the barge, but he quickly discovers that it’s gone off downriver farther than he can see, so he instead tries to swim for shore.
Unfortunately, encumbered by the dead weight of the sahaugin, Torgeth can’t reach the shore. He is forced to drop the body and swim for shore by himself. From there, he follows the river and heads after the barge.
Meanwhile, Garm and Bobo get the barge crew to pull over to the side of the river and wait to see if Torgeth comes back. Eventually he does, but he’s on the opposite side of the river from them. So Torgeth takes a running leap and glides over most of the river, then swims the rest of the way.
When Torgeth falls into the water, a fish gets stuck in between his armor, so he grabs hold of it and presents it to Bobo when he gets onto the barge. The gnome laughs and takes the fish to cook. They make a dinner of the fish and crab, then take turns on watch as the barge resumes its journey to Myratma.
Torgeth searches the bodies of the sahaugin on the barge, and finds some coins and a well-crafted harp. He divides the coins with Bobo and Garm, dumps the bodies overboard, and starts to serenade Bobo with the harp. She’s surprised to find that he doesn’t play that badly.
Fortunately, the rest of the journey to Myratma is pretty uneventful. The most exciting thing that happens is that Torgeth tries to serenade Bobo at nighttime, and she takes the harp away from him and says he can have it back when they reach the city, because she wants to sleep.
Once they reach the city, Torgeth separates from the others to go looking for his cousin Chuglor Deepdraft. Torgeth arranges to meet Bobo and Garm at the Efreetium, which they’ve heard is the best place to eat in all of Myratma.
Torgeth asks around and actually finds the location of Chuglor’s shop. He heads over to the Efreetium, but is discouraged by the long line of waiting people outside. When an attempt to bribe the doorman proves unsuccessful, Torgeth decides to head over to Chuglor’s shop instead.
By the time he gets there, Chuglor has closed up and gone home for the night, so Torgeth goes to sleep right there outside the door. He is awakened the next morning by a boot nudging his chest, and finds Chuglor wanting to know who he is. Although it takes some convincing, Torgeth is able to persuade Chuglor that they are cousins, and he explains his transformation into a dragonborn of Bahamut to avenge the brutal massacre of their family in Icewind Dale by agents of Tiamat.
The two of them go out drinking, and Chuglor is so drunk that he asks Torgeth to watch the store for him while he recovers. Chuglor is soon asleep, and so Torgeth tries to appraise jewels that are brought in by some adventurers. He buys some of them (sometimes for more than they’re worth) and turns away others.
Around lunchtime a female dwarf enters the shop. Torgeth hits on her, and then discovers to his chagrin that she is Chuglette, Chuglor’s sister and therefore Torgeth’s cousin as well. He makes his exit, mumbling excuses while trying to hide his embarrassment.
Eventually Torgeth finds Bobo and Garm shopping. They ask why he didn’t show up at the Efreetium last night, and he tells them he was turned away by the long line and was unable to bribe his way in. The three of them shop for awhile, then Torgeth offers to buy them a drink. They head to a place called the Whale’s Belly. Torgeth orders them all Genie Juice. Bobo and Garm are soon out cold, but Torgeth experiences a strange sequence of events.
First, the bar and all the people in it slowly fade from view. Torgeth finds himself floating in an odd place with clouds made of cotton candy. He tries to eat the cotton candy but finds it intangible. He drifts through the strange place for what seems like hours, before coming face to face with a strange being. Its upper body seems to be that of a man, but twice the size. He’s musculat, bald, and bearded. But the bottom half of his body is nothing more than a swirl of air.
The djinni reaches out, touches Torgeth’s head, and suddenly he finds himself back on his barstool. He feels completely sobered up, and he also feels stronger, more limber, healthier, even smarter than before. Torgeth tries to wake up Bobo, but when that fails he buys her a room to sleep in, leaving Garm sleeping at the bar. Torgeth leaves them there while he wanders the city for awhile.
Eventually Torgeth comes back. They stay the night at the Whale’s Belly, then the next day Torgeth goes to see Chuglor again. He ends up having lunch with both his cousins, then meeting back up with Bobo and Garm. They tell him of a place called the Gambling Ghost that they’ve heard has food as good as the Efreetium, but better prices and not so long a wait. But they’ve been told that they should only go at nighttime.
So that evening, the three of them head to the Gambling Ghost. Torgeth sees a sign on the wall saying “1 hour.” He orders them some food and drinks, which live up to their reputation. For once, Bobo seems to warm up to Torgeth, although he can’t tell if she’s simply treating him as a friend, or actually returning his interest.
Periodically the sign is replaced as the countdown begins. By the time the count is down to five minutes, the common room is packed, and everyone is quiet, as if waiting for something. Torgeth asks what’s going on but is shushed.
When the countdown finishes, everyone goes silent. Slowly an empty chair slides over from another table, coming to rest directly across from Torgeth. A bar of platinum appears, followed by a deck of cards. Torgeth sits there in confusion for a moment before someone whispers that he’s supposed to match the bet.
Not sure how much the platinum bar is worth, Torgeth puts out his bag of coins. But apparently that’s not enough, because invisible fingers begin to drum on the table. Torgeth feels a tug at the clasp of his cloak. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but the tug happens again. Bobo suggests that the ghost is telling him to put up his cloak as a bet. Torgeth doesn’t want to, but reluctantly undoes the cloak and lays it on the table.
A card slowly floats off the top of the deck and comes to rest face down on the table in front of the empty chair. Torgeth takes a card as well. The other card turns over, revealing the Ace of Spades. Torgeth’s card… is also an ace. The ghost draws another card, so Torgeth does the same. The cards are turned over, and both are nines.
The ghost draws a third card, and so does Torgeth. This time, the ghost’s card is the Queen of Clubs. Torgeth turns over his card to reveal the King of Spades. An invisible fist pounds the table, as every cup in the room fills with brackish water. The cards disappear and the chair slams back into place, but the platinum bar remains. Torgeth is told that he has to buy a round for the entire establishment, and so he does.
Torgeth and his temporary companions spend the night at the Gambling Ghost. The following night, they are joined by Leon, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, Helena, and Faelar. An embarrassed Bobo confides to Torgeth that she and Garm are so used to Faelar going off on his own for prolonged periods that they hadn’t even realized they left him back in Darromar.
XP Awarded: 2,000 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:56:50 GMT -5
Session 8: Saturday, July 11, 2009
When he emerges from his room, Leon looks very different. His eyes have changed color, and now the irises are black, and his pupils have turned red. Shadowy, insubstantial wings have sprouted from his shoulders, and he smells faintly of brimstone.
Tyrrox confronts Leon about these changes, which Leon doesn’t seem to have been aware of up until now. Leon inspects his new wings in surprise.
Torgeth, it turns out, has been awake all night, drinking well past last call. He now decides he’d better start catching up on lost sleep, and passes out at the table.
Leon looks for Helena, and discovers that she and her friends have gone out for the day, so he goes looking for them. He also remembers wanting to take Faelar shopping to look for a kilt.
Tyrrox decides to head to Chuglor’s shop, and then go looking for the Guild office and find some work. As usual, Vanemuine decides to go along with him.
As they wander through Myratma and get their first good look at the city, all three of them notice that it looks different from other places in Tethyr. There’s a heavy Calishite influence in terms of fashion, architecture, and culture.
Leon walks through a bazaar, asking around for the location of the Silver Shield Guild outpost. In the meantime, he is swarmed by vendors in the bazaar, trying to sell him all sorts of things. Most of them, he has no doubt, are fakes.
Eventually Leon manages to reach the Myratma Guild outpost, which is actually an outdoor open tent. He asks after Helena and the others, and learns that they had been there a few hours ago, and accepted a Guild mission. Leon decides that they would be too busy with that for him to bother them, so he takes a look at the available missions. He accepts a mission called Catch Me A Monster 2. The client, Ripley’s Traveling Monster Extravaganza, wants some owlbear young, or eggs. Leon is impressed with the price offered for the young, so he takes the mission for his group and goes looking for the others.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox and Vanemuine head over to Chuglor Deepdraft’s jewelry store, and arrive to find that the store has been broken into. A furious Chuglor is storming about, and Chuglette is there as well, brandishing an axe. From Chuglor they learn that someone smashed in the window while he was away for lunch, and stole the hag’s eye necklace that was here, as well as a handful of other jewels. Chuglor then points to a message on the wall that reads “Come outside the Eastgate.” Chuglor asks them to do something about it since they are the ones that sold him the hag’s eye.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine go and find Leon, who is looking for them as well. Leon tells them about the mission he has signed them up for, but Tyrrox says they have to take care of this thing for Chuglor first. They head back to the Gambling Ghost to try and wake up Torgeth. Torgeth doesn’t want to be bothered, but when he hears about the reward for the Guild mission he perks right up. Torgeth starts heading off to get the mission done, before realizing he doesn’t know where he’s going and returning to the others.
The group heads for the Eastgate of Myratma, which stands wide open. Along the way, someone throws a dagger at Torgeth’s head. It misses, embedding itself in a wall nearby. Nobody sees where the knife came from, so Torgeth yanks it out of the wall, throws it on the ground, and destroys it with his axe.
As they head out of the Eastgate, the group starts looking around suspiciously. As it’s getting fairly late in the afternoon by this time, traffic on the road into the city is starting to dry up. They pass a few people on the road, including a man in a hooded cloak driving a wagon. As Tyrrox takes up the front guard position, he spots a woman and a shorter man walking down the road toward them.
As they get closer, Tyrrox realizes that the man is not in fact short; rather, the woman is exceptionally tall. Closer up, he can see that the woman is at least eight feet tall, with plain features, while the man is of average height and wearing a hooded cloak low over his face. The most Tyrrox can see of him is a glimpse of yellowish skin. He also sees that this man has a large sword strapped to his waist. Leon also detects a faint aura of illusion about the woman.
Tyrrox steps aside to allow them to pass. The others follow suit, except for Torgeth, who hails the woman and asks her business. The woman silently points down the road from the direction she came, and as he looks in that direction, Torgeth sees half a dozen hobgoblins walking toward them with weapons drawn.
Another dagger flies past Leon’s face and hits Torgeth in the back, thrown by someone hidden in the grass near the road. The sound of wings flapping up in the air is heard, as a harpy flies in to join the fight. The tall woman starts to laugh as her companion draws his bastard sword.
Tyrrox charges into the hobgoblin force to the east, and impales the first one through the eye. He continues making short work of the hobgoblins, before the last few get smart and start throwing javelins instead of trying to come in close. However, even those mostly glance off his armor instead of penetrating.
Vanemuine approaches the hobgoblin with the sword and slashes at his face. He cuts off an ear, and the tattered hood falls to reveal the face of another hobgoblin. The elf and the hobgoblin trade blows, although the hobgoblin’s strikes start to become wild and easily dodged by the agile Vanemuine.
Leon discovers that his shadowy wings are good for something, as he takes to the air to fight the harpy. The harpy bursts out with a captivating song, but everyone resists it except for the hobgoblins that Tyrrox is fighting, so the harpy quickly stops singing. She swoops in at Leon and takes a swing with a club, but he shoots her down with an eldritch blast.
Torgeth heads toward the tall woman, who has been watching the battle and laughing. He hits her once, and she drops her illusion, revealing herself to be an annis, the largest of the three common varieties of hag. The annis attacks Torgeth with her vicious claws, digging them into his shoulder and holding him fast. Although he responds with his breath weapon and struggles mightily, Torgeth is unable to break free of her grip.
Even after Vanemuine shoots the annis with an enfeebling ray, Torgeth is unable to break free. Eventually the hag claws at him until he passes out, then she flings him aside and goes after the others.
The hobgoblin that threw the knife tries to hide again, but Vanemuine spots him. He points the hobgoblin out to Leon, who gives chase in the air. Tyrrox finishes off five of the six hobgoblins he is fighting, and lets the sixth run for his life. The centaur joins back into the main battle, helping Vanemuine and confronting the annis.
The annis turns her attention to Tyrrox. Although he has grown quite big, the annis towers over even him. She attacks with her vicious claws, and grapples Tyrrox as well. Leon shoots an eldritch blast at her, but it seems to affect the hag not at all. In desperation, Vanemuine shoots a couple of fire bolts, then wades into melee with the dangerous hag to draw her attention off of Tyrrox. Up close, Tyrrox drops his lance and fights with his greatsword.
Leon pursues the fleeing hobgoblin with the knives, trying to shoot him from the air, but having remarkably poor luck in doing so. Eventually he kills the hobgoblin.
Finally the annis decides she has had enough, and throws up a bank of fog to try and escape. But Tyrrox pulls out his fan and conjures up a magical wind to disperse the fog. He and Vanemuine make sure that the hag doesn’t escape.
Leon shoots down the last fleeing hobgoblin, then returns to the others. They loot the bodies, taking back the hag’s eye gem and other jewels stolen from Chuglor, as well as some money and the weapons of the fallen hobgoblins. Leon picks up the hag’s eye necklace and points it at the slain annis, then looks right into it and tells whoever is watching not to come after them. He then throws the necklace to Tyrrox.
The unconscious Torgeth is piled on Tyrrox’s back, and the group heads back to Chuglor’s shop. Chuglor tells them there is a small church of Moradin not far away, and gives Tyrrox directions. Tyrrox takes Torgeth over there and gets him healed up.
The hag’s eye and gems are returned to Chuglor, who tells them that he was going to post a mission at the Guild. So he gives them the 2,000 gold he was going to put up for a reward. When he sees that Torgeth is alright, he takes Torgeth aside and gives him a hammersphere, a magical item that he received as a family heirloom. He tells Torgeth that to activate it, he must speak the words “Oi laddie!”
Vanemuine and Torgeth sell their platinum bars to Chuglette, and Leon and Tyrrox go off to sell the assorted weapons they’ve been collecting. They also sell the magical helm that they found before. From there, Leon and Tyrrox go to an armorsmith to order a custom set of mithral full plate for the centaur. They order it big enough for him to grow into, so the smiths take his measurements and tell him that they will need to subcontract with some dwarven smiths to get the mithral and take on a job as complicated as this. They give him a claim check for the armor and tell him to check back.
Torgeth goes looking for Bobo, intending to serenade her with his harp, but is unable to find her. So he picks another gnome woman and plays the harp for her, but his performance is poor and she leaves. Some passing people ask him to stop playing.
With regard to the mission about the owlbears, Tyrrox says that some of them can be found in his home forest, the Forest of Mir in Calimshan. That’s quite a distance away, so Leon decides to leave word at the Gambling Ghost for Helena that he will be off on a Guild mission for several days.
Torgeth and Vanemuine return to the inn as well, and Leon tells them it’s almost time to leave. Torgeth wants to stay for one drink, and Leon agrees reluctantly. Torgeth buys the last half bottle of Genie Juice, and takes a drink. He seems to find himself floating through a world made of nothing but rock candy. Torgeth eats greedily, until he finds himself in front of a large man made of solid rock candy. The rock candy man eats Torgeth, and he passes out.
Meanwhile, the others decide to buy a carriage. They get some strong heavy warhorses to pull the carriage, and head back to the inn while discussing plans for upgrading the carriage. They enter to find Torgeth out cold on the floor, blue smoke pouring from his mouth and rock candy mysteriously on his tongue. Leon and Vanemuine carry the unconscious dragonborn to the carriage and load him inside, then set off for the Forest of Mir.
By the time they leave Myratma, it’s late and the sun is almost down. The group presses on as long as they can, with Tyrrox walking alongside the carriage while the others ride inside. Because the pace is slow and the distance is long, Tyrrox and the horses conduct a forced march, walking for sixteen hours a day despite the heavy toll it takes on them.
When he awakens, Torgeth is able to help a bit by providing a speed boost with his draconic auras. When Tyrrox and the horses start to get fatigued, Torgeth switches his aura to one that invigorates them and helps minimize the pain.
The trip is a long and uneventful seven days. Periodically, Torgeth hunts for food despite the magical rations box the group carries. After four days of travel, Leon calls a halt and suggests they spend the entire fifth day resting to let the horses (and the centaur) relax a little and regain their strength. Nobody has a problem with this, so they stay encamped.
On the sixth night, a massive shape flying through the sky momentarily blocks out the moon. Whatever it is, it continues on and doesn’t bother anyone.
Finally, the carriage reaches the edge of the Forest of Mir. Soon, the trees and undergrowth become too thick for the carriage to pass through, so Leon decides to stay with the carriage and tells the others to go on ahead.
Tyrrox leads Torgeth and Vanemuine into the forest, and they find a cave where he thinks there might be owlbears. Inside, they do indeed find three young owlbears fast asleep. They try to subdue the owlbears without a fight, but it doesn’t work. Tyrrox knows that owlbears are vicious, cannot be domesticated, and attack with a single-minded ferocity anything they think they might be able to eat (which includes just about any living creature that crosses their path).
Eventually the three young owlbears are subdued, and tied up. Torgeth uses his manacles to shackle two of them together. As they start to leave the cave, the mother shows up. Tyrrox manages to knock it out without killing the creature, despite the not inconsiderable risk to himself. The three of them then set off back for the carriage with their captives.
XP Awarded: 1,813 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:57:34 GMT -5
Session 9: Saturday, July 18, 2009
While he waits for the others to come back to the carriage, Leon busies himself with attaching loops to the carriage to hold weapons and such. Every once in awhile, he seems to see movement out of the corner of his eye, but whenever he goes looking, he can’t find anything.
Finally, Leon feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns around to see a centaur woman standing there, arms folded. She is wearing black studded leather armor and a pair of magical swords. The centaur demands to know what he’s doing there.
Leon explains that his friends are in the forest hunting owlbears, and he is guarding the carriage. She asks who his friends are and he briefly describes Torgeth, Vanemuine, and Tyrrox. She seems disinclined to believe his story, and tells him to come with her. Leon points out that he could just fly away, and she looks at him and asks if he really wants to try. Leon goes with her.
Meanwhile, Torgeth and Vanemuine try to puzzle out how to transport the captured owlbears while waiting for Tyrrox to come back from dealing with the mother. Torgeth decides to create a trail of ice with his breath so they’re easier to drag. When Tyrrox rejoins them, they set off for the carriage.
When they return, they find the carriage undisturbed, but Leon is nowhere to be seen. Torgeth is left to keep charge of the owlbears while Tyrrox and Vanemuine try to find out where Leon has gone. Torgeth decides to use the Hammersphere given to him by his cousin Chuglor to knock out the owlbears whenever one of them starts to wake up.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine look around. Tyrrox finds a couple of hoof prints, and a couple of boot prints, but because Leon was mostly flying his prints don’t go anywhere. And Tyrrox can easily think of several members of his own centaur tribe who never leave tracks unless they choose to. He quickly realizes that they can’t follow the trail of Leon and this centaur, and all they can do is wait for him to come back.
Leon is taken through the forest to a clearing, where he sees several dozen centaurs, who seem to be living in simply constructed lean-tos. He is taken before a somewhat older centaur, his humanlike half appearing as a man in his fifties or sixties. The female centaur addresses this one and says that the human claims to know his son. Leon is confused.
The older centaur introduces himself as Kezzryn Zym. He is the father of Tyrrox, and leader of this tribe of centaurs. Kezzryn tells the female centaur to return to the carriage and find the others that were with Leon. She does so, casting one last suspicious glance at him before going.
Kezzryn apologizes for the inconvenience to Leon, but says he’ll have to remain in the clearing until his friends come. Leon cracks a joke, asking if they have a chair he could sit down in. Kezzryn looks at him quizzically until Leon explains the joke and walks away, finding a tree to lean up against and wait.
As the others wait back at the edge of the forest, the female centaur approaches Tyrrox without his even realizing she was near. He recognizes her as Tanis, one of his tribe’s best rangers. She’s about five years older than him. Tanis gives Tyrrox a brief scolding for not visiting his father when he returned to the Forest of Mir. She tells him the name of the clearing where the tribe is currently camped, and tells Tyrrox and Vanemuine they can recover their human there. Without waiting for them, she leaves.
Although Vanemuine doesn’t recognize the name of the clearing, when the group gets there he discovers that he knows the place as well; the elves simply call it something different. They arrive to find that Tyrrox’s tribe, about sixty in total, is encamped in the clearing. They spot Leon off to one side, sulking by himself. Leon doesn’t seem to notice them yet.
Tyrrox heads over to Leon, who asks him what he wants now. Leon doesn’t seem to realize yet that it’s Tyrrox. In his own words, he says the centaurs all look alike. But he quickly realizes his mistake as he recognizes Tyrrox and the others.
After that, Tyrrox looks around for anyone else he knows, and spots his younger cousin Timoth. He talks to Timoth, who berates him for leaving and says he’s going to be a druid like Tyrrox was supposed to. Timoth proudly shows off the latest thing he learned; how to summon a squirrel.
Tyrrox sees his father speaking to Tanis. He heads over and his father embraces him. Kezzryn asks after his son, and invites him and his companions to spend the night with the tribe. Kezzryn tells Tyrrox he has something he wants to talk to him about, but it can wait until morning.
After a bit, Tyrrox notices that the tribe’s rangers seem to be guarding the clearing more diligently than usual, with organized patrols and everything. He asks Tanis what’s going on, and she tells him that a group of driders have moved into the area. Tanis speculates briefly that they must have been driven to the surface out of the Underdark. Whatever the cause, they have proved themselves dangerous to the centaurs.
Tyrrox goes back to his father and asks about the driders. Kezzryn says that they appeared only about ten days ago. Hunting parties are going to go out the next day to try and exterminate the driders, so Tyrrox’s father asks him if he and his friends would join in and help. Tyrrox says that they will, and Vanemuine pledges his help as well.
When morning comes, the group discovers that many of the hunting parties have left already. But at least there were no attacks in the night. Kezzryn heals all their remaining wounds from old battles before they set out.
Torgeth, once again, has to stay behind and keep the owlbears under control. He is enjoying making use of his Hammersphere, but he is starting to miss alcohol, since the centaurs don’t have any. Before they go, he tells the others what he knows of driders. He explains that driders are drow who were cursed by their goddess and turned into monstrous spidery creatures. They are resistant to magic, but usually also possess magic of their own. Being creatures of the Underdark, they prefer dark places, and they have a poisonous bite as well. They usually attack from ambush.
Armed with those bits of knowledge, the others set out into the forest. As they head out, it occurs to Tyrrox and Vanemuine for the first time that this forest does not seem to be suffering from the lack of rainfall that has been plaguing Tethyr for the past couple of months.
After some time searching, the group finds the desiccated corpse of what appears to be a badger, wrapped up in thick webs and hanging from a tree. They look around cautiously, and spot movement among the higher branches. Tyrrox fires with his bow but misses. Leon takes to the air and fires an eldritch blast at the drider, wounding it. The drider climbs around to the far side of the tree, putting the trunk between itself and its attackers, then climbs down toward the ground.
Tyrrox drops his bow, pulls out his greatsword, and charges. As he passes the tree, he swings with his sword and wounding it further. One more blast from Leon and the drider is finished. They search the area and find a sizable amount of gold.
The three of them continue their search, coming to a cave that seems a likely hideout for such a creature. Tyrrox takes the lead and goes inside, but runs into Tanis coming out. Her swords are covered in black ichor, and she tells Tyrrox she has already dealt with the drider inside.
Some time later, they find another cave, and inside this one is another drider hiding on the ceiling. Tyrrox is the only one who spots its hiding place, and he tries to knock it loose with his wind fan. The blast of wind fails to dislodge the spider-like creature, though. The creature then turns invisible to hide itself from Tyrrox.
Although Leon’s newest powers include the ability to see invisible creatures, he still can’t find its hiding place, so he takes a shot with his blast but doesn’t know if he hit anything. Eventually he discovers it though, and flies up next to it to give the others something to aim for. The angry drider tries to attack Leon with its bite, but misses him. Vanemuine blasts it with a fire bolt, and Tyrrox knocks it down with his lance.
Searching the drider’s lair, the group finds a small bag of dust, a spoon, and a belt, all of which Leon confirms as magical.
They emerge from the cave and continue their search. They run into a centaur, one whom Tyrrox does not recognize. He identifies himself as Ralos. When asked, he says he’s out looking for driders too. They ask Ralos if he has seen any owlbears, and he points off in the direction he came from. He wishes them luck, pats Tyrrox on the back, and Tyrrox feels something seem to drain his awareness and willpower.
Ralos runs off, pursued by an eldritch blast and a fire bolt. Tyrrox tries to chase him down, but Ralos is faster than him and gets away. They decide to investigate the direction he pointed, even though he was apparently not trustworthy. They discover another web-wrapped carcass, except this one was an elf. Vanemuine realizes he knew this elf, whose name was Mourn. Mourn was a reasonably competent woodsman, but apparently he was no match for a drider.
The group looks around for the drider that did this, and they find a cave nearby. Heading inside, Tyrrox sees nothing. He starts to come out to tell the others, but is hit in the back by a magical ray, which saps some of his strength. Seeing the ray that hits Tyrrox, Leon recognizes it as the same spell that Vanemuine puts to such good use.
Following the direction the ray came from, Leon spots the drider that fired it and returns fire with his eldritch blast. It’s a direct hit, but it seems to just disperse harmlessly over the creature’s body. Tyrrox and Vanemuine charge forward to attack the drider, but it evades both of their attacks, before entrapping the both of them with a web spell.
As Vanemuine and Tyrrox struggle to free themselves, Leon realizes he can burn some of the webbing by using his gloves to add fire to his eldritch blast. However, his gloves have enough charge left for only one more blast, so he can only free one of them. He decides to free Tyrrox, hoping that Vanemuine can free himself with a fire bolt spell.
Tyrrox is burned a bit by the flames, but the flames do free him from the webbing. He shakes loose and goes after the drider again, but he misses again. It fires back at him with a bolt of lightning. Leon comes up, pulls out the magical rod of bodily restoration, and uses it to restore Tyrrox’s lost strength. Tyrrox continues fighting but still can’t pin down the elusive drider.
Meanwhile, Vanemuine struggles to free himself from the web, but unfortunately his arms are stuck, so he can’t cast the fire bolt spell. His only choice is to try and pull free by sheer strength, but he is unable to do so.
Tyrrox lines up a charge on the drider, scoring the first hit on it. He and Leon move to flank it. The drider steps away from Tyrrox, trying to cast a spell. Leon sees an opening and whacks it with his cane, which is heavily weighted on one side. Tyrrox comes in for the kill, slashing the drider across the belly and opening it right up.
Leon lights a torch and burns the webs off of Vanemuine, then the three of them search the cave and find some gold. They head back outside, and discuss what to do about the body of Mourn. Leon suggests burying it, and asks Vanemuine whether they should attempt to notify the elves of his death. Vanemuine says burial is enough for now.
Deciding they’ve had enough of driders, the group continues searching, hoping this time to find owlbears instead. They find what appears to be a massive burrow in the ground. Leon takes the lead this time, both because he can see invisible creatures and because Tyrrox is wounded.
This time, they find an owlbear inside. Leon lets loose with an eldritch blast, attracting the creature’s ire. It comes after him, but fails to score a hit. Tyrrox attacks but misses. Leon hits it again, and Vanemuine stabs it in the back. When his sword catches in the owlbear’s spine, electricity leaps from the sword and fries its spinal cord, killing it. A quick search of the burrow reveals three owlbear eggs. The group takes the eggs and leaves. Deciding they’ve had enough for today, they head back to the centaur camp.
Tyrrox reports to his father that they have killed three driders. Kezzryn tells him that the other hunters killed another nineteen in total. Tyrrox realizes that he and his companions have done significantly better than some of the other hunting parties.
Leon approaches Tanis, and asks about Ralos. At first she thinks it was him that was brain-drained, but he explains that it was Tyrrox. She tells him there is no centaur named Ralos in their tribe. His description is vague enough that it could apply to at least ten different centaurs, so she asks him to look around and see if this “Ralos” is present in the clearing. He’s not.
Tyrrox joins in the conversation, and somehow it turns into arguing between Leon and Tyrrox about the various shenanigans that went on between them in the Gambling Ghost in Myratma. Hearing this, Tanis pronounces her conclusion that Tyrrox has spent too much time among humans. Tyrrox also gives a description of Ralos, but Tanis still has no idea who it could be.
The three of them decide to speak to Kezzryn about the incident. Tyrrox’s father seems agitated, and mentions that young Timoth is late for his lesson. Timoth had stayed in the grove all day, because he wasn’t old enough to go out with the hunting parties, but now Kezzryn can’t find him. They ask Kezzryn about Ralos, but he doesn’t know who it could be either.
With a sinking feeling that the two events could be related, they start looking around for Timoth, but they don’t find him. Asking Tanis to join in the search, they discover some prints at the edge of the clearing, where Kezzryn had said the boy was playing earlier. Tanis finds paw prints, and says she has an idea what might have done this.
Once again leaving the increasingly grumpy Torgeth to guard the owlbears, Leon, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Tanis set off following the tracks. Tanis announces that Timoth apparently walked off with the creature. The two of them apparently have at least two hours’ head start, so Tanis starts following the tracks.
After some time Timoth’s tracks disappear. It becomes apparent that the catlike creature wanted to travel faster, as its tracks get farther apart. Tanis continues tracking, but announces after awhile that they are losing time; their quarry is moving faster than they are and is at least three hours ahead now. Tanis starts tracking at her fastest speed, and urges the others to pick up the pace and keep up with her.
While Tyrrox had thought Ralos was pretty fast since the “centaur” had outrun him, he quickly realizes that was nothing compared to the pace that Tanis sets. He now remembers how proud she was a few years ago when she became an adult and received a set of magical horseshoes that made her faster, but she seems even faster now than she was then.
Even Tyrrox has to struggle to keep up with Tanis, which means that Leon and Vanemuine are even harder pressed. Luckily for Leon, his magical flight allows him to move quickly without the physical exertion the others have to go through. The hours of running at full speed take their hardest toll on Vanemuine, who has to sprint to keep up with the two centaurs.
The trail heads straight south, up into the Marching Mountains. These mountains still have heavy foliage, as the forest proceeds right up the side of the mountain range, so the going is still rough, especially since the group is now traveling uphill constantly.
Leon puts the pieces together in his head, and tells the others that it might have been a lamia, a creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a lion. Tanis nods agreement, saying that’s what she suspected as well. Leon tells the others what he knows of lamias: in addition to being able to drain wisdom with their touch, lamias are fairly competent close-range combatants, although they prefer not to fight up close. They have some magical abilities, mostly enchantment and illusion, which explains how it was able to disguise itself as a centaur. They aren’t particularly resistant to magic, and their preferred climate is desert, which means that it’s likely headed for the desert south of the mountains.
Even though the group has been traveling all day and is now getting tired, they keep up Tanis’s fast pace. It takes a toll on them, particularly Vanemuine, but by the time they reach a crest on the mountains and look down to see the fleeing lamia, even Tanis is getting tired. By this time night has fallen, and they have only the moonlight to see by.
Leon takes to the air, hoping to get in front of the lamia and force it to change direction, but it spots the group following them. As Tanis charges down the mountainside, her swords appear in her hands, without her ever seeming to draw them. Tyrrox is right there as well, charging at full speed. Vanemuine is quickly left behind. He shoots a fire bolt at the lamia, scoring a direct hit.
Tyrrox and Leon hit the lamia as well. It throws Timoth aside, then runs away from them and casts a mirror image spell. Seven duplicate lamias appear, allowing the real one to hide among them. The group’s only choice is to try and destroy the mirror images to find the real one before it escapes.
Vanemuine destroys one image with another fire bolt. Tanis and Tyrrox charge into the other mirror images, destroying two more with their weapons. Leon takes a guess at one of them and shoots it, only he happens to have picked the real lamia. It falls to the ground, dead, and the mirror images all waver and disappear.
The group checks the lamia’s body and finds a flask of some magical oil, and a small ball of gnarled root and vine. The ball is handed to Tyrrox. They check on Timoth, who is crying and saying he can’t remember any of his spells. Tyrrox reassures him that Kezzryn can help him.
They set off back to the Forest of Mir, setting a slower pace because everyone is tired by this time. Realizing they can’t make it back in one night, the group makes camp and sets off the next morning. Neither Tyrrox nor Timoth are feeling any better from the wisdom drain, which seems like it isn’t going to go away on its own.
They return to the forest clearing where the centaur tribe is encamped, and tell Tyrrox’s father what happened. He tries to heal them, but his restoration spell doesn’t work. He explains to his son that this mental damage is beyond the ability of druidic magic to heal, and only clerics and very powerful paladins can cure this. Unfortunately, his tribe has neither.
Tyrrox decides that the best thing for them to do is take Timoth up north to Tethyr and seek a cleric there to help. Fortunately, Darromar is much, much closer than Myratma, and can be reached in only a couple of days. Timoth is not old enough to make the journey by himself, so Tyrrox talks Tanis into coming along. She reluctantly agrees, having no desire to visit human lands or abandon her role protecting the tribe, even temporarily.
The entire group, now consisting of Leon, Vanemuine, Tyrrox, Timoth, Tanis, Torgeth, and the three captured owlbears (whom Torgeth is still keeping mostly incapacitated) sets off for Darromar. When they reach the city, Torgeth wants to go off and drink, but Leon makes him continue to guard the owlbears, promising to have alcohol brought to him at the carriage.
Meanwhile, Leon goes home to check his mail, and discovers some replies to the business cards he has been handing out. Tyrrox and Vanemuine lead the other two centaurs to a church of Ilmater, the god of suffering (or rather, the relief thereof). Vanemuine explains to the cleric there what happened to Timoth and Tyrrox, managing to make it sound like something dirty.
The cleric says that clearly he has not suffered enough, if there is still suffering enough to go around that something like this could happen to them. He begins to smash his hand with a hammer, until Tyrrox manages to stop him and convince him that what they need is for him to heal them. He tries a lesser restoration spell, which doesn’t work. Tyrrox explains that was already tried, and they need a more powerful restoration spell. The cleric casts one each on Timoth and Tyrrox, and finally their mental faculties are back to full strength.
Tyrrox leaves a donation of 100 gold for the church. Tanis, who is eager to get back home, takes Timoth and leaves Tyrrox and Vanemuine. They meet back up with Leon and Torgeth and set off for Myratma along the road.
They set a fast pace on the road, continuing a forced march for sixteen hours a day much like they did to reach the Forest of Mir from Myratma. By the time they reach Myratma, it is now the 20th of Flamerule, sixteen days since they left.
The exhausted Tyrrox decides to get some rest outside the city. Torgeth immediately hands off the owlbears to Leon and Vanemuine and goes to get drunk, since Leon never delivered on his promise to bring booze for the dragonborn. So Leon and Vanemuine take the three owlbears and the three eggs and go in search of Ripley’s Traveling Monster Extravaganza, the client who wanted them.
It takes some asking around, but they finally find the traveling zoo. With a quick look around, it’s obvious why this place has been posting Guild missions to expand its attractions; all they have is a monstrous centipede, some riding dogs, a hyena, a few bats, a toad, and a shocker lizard, the star attraction.
They easily spot Ripley, who is a gnome dressed in a flamboyant outfit consisting of blue and white striped pants, a bright red jacket with coattails, and a top hat. Custody of the owlbears and the eggs is handed over to the gnome, who thanks the two of them and hands Leon a receipt to present to the Guild office in the city. Ripley asks them if they would be interested in finding him a cockatrice or two, but Leon says no. Ripley calls them cowards under his breath, but thanks them anyway. As Leon and Vanemuine leave, they see Ripley changing the price on his sign from one silver to two.
From there, Leon and Vanemuine head back into the city and go to the Guild office. The clerk there takes the receipt and gives them 18,000 gold for the mission. He then shows them the available missions. Leon accepts two: Backup Dancers, and Protection for a Lady. He intends for Tyrrox and Vanemuine to serve as the backup dancers, and for himself and Torgeth to handle the protection job.
They then go looking for the others. Leon stops by the Gambling Ghost to see if Helena is there, but she isn’t. The clerk tells Leon that his girlfriend was getting mad that he was gone so long, and advises him to buy her something nice. Leon tells the man he doesn’t need his advice. They go looking for Tyrrox and tell him about the missions. Leon also advises Tyrrox to appreciate his family more.
XP Awarded: 2,340 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 15:58:03 GMT -5
Session 10: Friday, July 31, 2009
Leon and Vanemuine find Torgeth inside the Gambling Ghost Inn, well into his cups already. At first Leon doesn’t find Torgeth because he’s hidden behind a small mountain of empty mugs that he’s stacked on top of each other.
Leon explains to Torgeth the missions he accepted for the group, and then convinces Torgeth to give him some money to purchase an item for him. Torgeth hands him a pouch with several thousand gold in it, and Leon heads for the bazaar.
Although the hour is fairly late, Leon finds the bazaar still quite busy. He ignores the peddlers pushing folk remedies, charms, and false magical items, and tracks down a vendor selling a small selection of magical gear. Although the man’s selection is limited, Leon lucks out in finding that the item he had in mind for Torgeth is available – a magical sash that strengthens the dragonborn’s breath weapon.
Leon thinks that the vendor is charging more than the item is worth, but the vendor explains that he has to make a profit. First he says something about having to pay rent for his booth in the bazaar, but when pressed he admits it’s actually because he has to pay protection money to someone. Leon decides that since it’s not his money and it’s still well within the amount given to him by Torgeth, he’ll pay the price asked by the vendor.
Meanwhile, Vanemuine and Tyrrox follow the directions to the location specified for their Backup Dancers mission. They find themselves outside a small dance studio, and enter to find a tall, muscular half-orc apparently punching some background scenery from a play or something.
Vanemuine speaks up and introduces himself, saying he’s there for the Guild mission. The half-orc introduces himself as Og! the Smasher. He asks Vanemuine and Tyrrox to show off their dancing. They do, and Tyrrox in particular dances very gracefully. Vanemuine, on the other hand, dances much poorer than usual.
Surprisingly, Og! likes Vanemuine’s dancing much better, and tells Tyrrox he’s doing it wrong. They quickly discover that the type of dancing Og! wants of them is not graceful at all, and is not what most would consider especially good dancing.
As for his own part, Og! tells them that they will have to wait and see what his dance is going to be like. For now, he wants to get them dancing the way he prefers, so they do a little work on choreography. Finally, Og! tells them that’s enough for tonight. Vanemuine returns to the Gambling Ghost, but Tyrrox decides to spend the night outside the city.
At the bazaar, Leon also buys a silk cloak for Helena, and has it gift wrapped. The vendor enchants the box to play a sound when it is first opened. Leon returns to the Gambling Ghost as well. He hands over the rest of Torgeth’s money, along with the sash. Around this time, Vanemuine arrives as well.
The three of them sit and watch as the common room fills up. At the usual time, the inn’s ghost gambles with one of the other patrons, and the ghost wins. The man’s money vanishes, and the ghost refills the mugs of everyone in the room. After this, Vanemuine goes to bed.
Leon waits up, waiting for Helena and her friends to return. Not until the hour is very late do they show up, looking exhausted, bedraggled and somewhat the worse for wear. Leon greets them, and Helena punches him in the shoulder for making her worry by being gone so long.
Leon explains that he and his companions were hunting owlbears in the Forest of Mir. Bobo chimes in that this would probably be a bad time to tell him that owlbears could be found in the foothills just north of Myratma. Leon shakes his head. He also presents Helena with the silk cloak, which she adores.
Everyone goes to bed. The next day, Vanemuine returns to the dance studio and meets Tyrrox there. They enter to see Og! arguing with someone, but that someone is on the other side of a doorway so they can’t see whoever it is. Vanemuine catches a glimpse of a large, round shadow before Og! closes the door. When Vanemuine asks what the problem was, Og! explains that he was having a dispute with his special effects man over money.
They begin to rehearse their dances. Vanemuine has gotten the hint that Og! doesn’t want them to dance like they normally would, and deliberately starts dancing in the manner that Og! wants. Tyrrox, however, still insists on trying to dance well, and is scolded for it.
Leon and Torgeth travel to meet their client for the Protection For a Lady mission. They find the woman, whose name is Okuni. Leon recognizes her from a couple months ago, when his group was holding tryouts for Goroc’s replacement in the group. Torgeth seems immediately smitten with the exotic and alluring Okuni, but she seems more interested in Leon, much to his chagrin. Leon tells Okuni he’s taken, but rather than being turned away, she seems to want to know more about his girlfriend.
The two of them guard Okuni while she practices her dance, to the tune of a man playing the shamisen (rather poorly). Torgeth eventually convinces the man to stop playing. Later on, Okuni asks where they’re staying, because she’d like to stay close to her bodyguards in case some miscreants come after her in the night. Torgeth tells her that they’re at the Gambling Ghost, but can move to another inn if she likes. She decides to take a room at the Gambling Ghost as well.
When they return to the inn, Helena is unhappy to see how beautiful Okuni is. She approaches Leon to scold him, but Leon tries to explain that he really doesn’t like Okuni and wants to get away from her. They all sit down to have a drink together, and at first Okuni is making eyes at Leon. However, her attentions soon shift to Helena instead, after which point she mostly ignores Leon and the others.
After Okuni goes to bed, Torgeth decides to guard her room for awhile. Immediately after they leave, Helena confesses to Leon that Okuni makes her uncomfortable. Leon tells her that’s how he feels as well.
The next day, Okuni decides she wants to take a walk through the city, and wants her bodyguards to accompany her. She seems to wander the city aimlessly, although eventually she comes to a building and decides to go inside. Leon decides to remain outside and keep an eye out for anyone that might be after Okuni, but Torgeth follows her in.
Inside, Torgeth finds himself in a rehearsal hall. There is a pretty girl dancing on the stage, with a small group of spectators sitting in the front row of seats, including a dancing coach. The dancing girl doesn’t seem to notice either Okuni or Torgeth as she continues her dance.
Torgeth comments to Okuni in a low voice, asking if she’s scouting the competition. She responds that it’s something like that. After the girl finishes her practice, she talks to the coach for a bit and then goes backstage. Okuni asks Torgeth to look in on the girl, because she “wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to her before the competition.”
Torgeth agrees to look in on the girl, but first he takes Okuni back outside to wait with Leon. While Torgeth goes back inside, Okuni talks to Leon, asking if he and Helena (whom she thinks is named Sue since Torgeth told her) have ever thought of trying something… different with their relationship. Leon declines, saying he and “Sue” are perfectly happy the way they are.
Meanwhile, Torgeth heads backstage and looks for the girl. He finds her in a dressing room, doing some cool-down stretches before changing back into her normal clothes. Torgeth enters the girl’s room and says he’s been asked by another dance competitor to check up on her.
The girl panics, thinking that Torgeth is there to take her out, and tells him she won’t be bullied into quitting. Torgeth tries to explain that’s not what he’s there for, but she screams. So Torgeth grabs a piece of clothing and gags her with it. He quickly realizes that taking the girl out is probably exactly what Okuni wanted him to do. He uses his Hammersphere on the girl, but stops when he realizes that will kill her.
Thinking for a moment, Torgeth makes the girl promise not to scream again, then ungags her and asks her what the prize for the competition is. She tells him the prize is a flying carpet plus 20,000 gold. Torgeth offers her a pouch of his own money, telling her to take it and get out of town. He also tells her in no uncertain terms that if she sticks around, bad things will happen. The terrified girl takes the money and runs out of the building, not even stopping to grab her change of clothes.
Okuni decides to continue her stroll, but Torgeth insists on stopping for a drink first. Okuni asks after the girl, and Torgeth tells her that all is well. She slips him a money pouch, although he doesn’t notice at the time. After the drink, Okuni goes walking again, and this time she finds another dancer practicing in a secluded area of a public park.
Once again, she gets Torgeth to go after the girl, so Torgeth runs right up, takes to the air with his wings, and scoops up the girl in front of a totally shocked Leon. Torgeth flies off with the girl, and when she finally stops screaming he tells her that she has two choices: drop out of the competition or get dropped by him, and fall to her death. She immediately agrees to drop out, so Torgeth lands on top of a building and lets the girl go. He tells her that he will kill her if she enters the dance competition, then starts back to the clearing.
Vanemuine and Tyrrox return to Og! the Smasher’s dance studio and discover that Og! is in a bad mood. Nothing they do seems to be able to satisfy him, so Vanemuine tries to talk to the half-orc and see what’s bothering him. Og! avoids the questions and tells them to keep dancing. Eventually, he dismisses them for the day.
As they’re leaving, Vanemuine hears the sound of a door bursting open on the far side of the building from where they are. He and Tyrrox return to the stage area and see a hideous abomination floating in the air: a large, round creature with a fang-filled mouth, a single prominent eye, and half a dozen stalks with smaller eyes on them. The creature is a Gauth, a smaller, somewhat less dangerous version of a Beholder.
Og! tells them that this is his special effects man. The Gauth attacks, firing beams from its eyes at the three of them. One ray puts Tyrrox to sleep, while another burns Vanemuine with scorching fire. Another ray saps Og!’s energy, leaving him exhausted. The Gauth then flies up near the ceiling of the stage to get out of the way of their attacks.
Vanemuine wakes up Tyrrox, who charges at the Gauth with his lance but misses. Og! produces a shot put from somewhere and throws it at the Gauth, hitting it dead center. The Gauth fires more of its rays at them, burning Vanemuine again and exhausting Tyrrox. It then flies a little higher.
Vanemuine charges forward, leaps into the air, and with the very tip of his outstretched blade cuts the Gauth. Tyrrox charges in again and tries one more time to hit, but misses. The Gauth fixes the gaze of its main eye on Og!, stunning him in place.
Vanemuine leaps up again, slashing the Gauth with his sword. It starts to lose altitude, as its eyes glaze over and it seems to struggle just to keep from falling out of the air. Tyrrox charges in one more time with his lance, and jams the lance in through its mouth to the Gauth’s brain.
When Og! recovers from being stunned, he cries out in anguish at seeing the Gauth die. He explains that although they were fighting, he considered the Gauth a friend and didn’t want it to come to this. The stricken Og! takes the body of the Gauth and leaves with it. Vanemuine and Tyrrox decide to leave.
Before heading back to the inn, Okuni decides she wants to do some shopping at the bazaar, even though it’s getting late. Leon and Torgeth look at her like she’s crazy, but they go along. Okuni proceeds to a distant corner of the bazaar, where there are fewer people shopping.
As they’re looking around, a knife flies out from somewhere, just missing Torgeth’s face and burying itself in the wall of a nearby stall. Torgeth and Leon look around and find the culprit, a small, lean human man with tanned skin and black hair tied back in a ponytail. The man leaps out at them, wielding a rapier and main-gauche. He attacks Torgeth but doesn’t do much damage to the hardy dragonborn.
Just as it seems like the man is about to be overwhelmed by Leon and Torgeth, he vanishes. Leon is surprised at first, since he can still see invisible things, but the man isn’t there. They quickly puzzle out that he’s teleported somewhere. Keeping Okuni between them, the two of them search around the nearby stalls. Leon takes to the air for a better vantage point, and finds the man hiding behind one of the merchant stalls. He fires an eldritch blast but misses.
The man vanishes again, shortly before Torgeth blasts the entire stall with his ice breath. Leon spots the man one more time, but he vanishes again, this time making a clean getaway. They search the area again, but to no avail. Torgeth, who has had a knife thrown at him from cover before, wonders if this is connected to that. Okuni decides she’s had enough excitement for one day and goes back with them to the inn.
That evening, Leon finds out from Garm and Bobo that Helena is feeling ill, and has gone to bed early. Also, they seem to have misplaced Faelar again. Leon goes to check on her, and finds her already asleep. He decides to use his Rod of Bodily Restoration, just in case it helps her.
When he unpacks his gear for the night, Torgeth finds two pouches full of gold in among his things. Each pouch contains 500 gold pieces, of coins minted in a foreign land that he has never seen before.
The next morning, Okuni decides that she’s not going to go out today. Tyrrox and Vanemuine return to the dance studio, and discover that Og! the Smasher isn’t there. They wait around for awhile, but Og! doesn’t show. Vanemuine decides to have a look outside the door that the Gauth came through, and finds that it lets out into an alley. He sees nothing around except for a patch of freshly turned earth just outside the door.
With nothing else to do, Tyrrox and Vanemuine return to the Gambling Ghost. Everyone spends the day there in relative peace. Helena is still feeling ill, so Leon decides that if she hasn’t recovered by the next day he’s taking her to a cleric.
The next day is the 24th, the day before the dance competition. Okuni decides she wants to check out the main square outside the Efreetium, where the competition will be held. Torgeth, not wanting to chase off any more competitors, tries to get out of going along, but Leon refuses to let him out of it. So they both accompany her.
Vanemuine and Tyrrox return to Og! the Smasher’s dance studio again, and this time they find him there. Og! seems to be in a somewhat better mood today, as he praises both of their dances. Tyrrox has finally given up trying to dance in his usual manner, and goes along with the elf in dancing poorly to meet the half-orc’s standards.
When Okuni and her bodyguards reach the Efreetium, they see that a large stage with a seating area is being built outside the building. There is a small crowd gathered there, although the area is far from full. Leon and Torgeth spot a familiar face in the crowd: the man that attacked them the other day.
Leon makes his way through the crowd, trying to sneak up on the man. When he gets close, he tries to grab the man by the shoulder, but he wriggles free. Seeing this, Torgeth leaps into the air and glides toward them. When he gets close enough, Torgeth fires his ice breath at the man, aiming to miss Leon but heedless of the innocents in the area. Four civilians are caught in the ice blast.
Their quarry once again teleports a short distance away, then takes off running at full speed. Leon fires an eldritch blast at the fleeing man, hitting him square in the back. Then he and Torgeth both take to the air in pursuit. They catch up to the man, who immediately surrenders. Torgeth knocks him out with the butt of his spear. Leon tells Torgeth to get back to Okuni, and says he will find the proper authorities and turn over this man.
Leon takes the unconscious man over his shoulder and walks off, asking directions to the nearest constabulary. He finds a station, and turns over the unconscious man. The officers take down Leon’s statement about running into this man, and ask him for a description of the locations of the two battles and a list of witnesses. They then take the man’s weapons and armor, and put him in a cell. Leon leaves.
Torgeth gets back to where he left Okuni, only to discover that she is no longer there. He finds his shield, which he had given to her to protect herself, lying on the ground. Nobody in the area seems able to tell him what happened to Okuni.
XP Awarded: 1,200 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:00:14 GMT -5
Session 11: Sunday, August 23, 2009
After asking around and being unable to locate Okuni, Torgeth returns to the place he left her and stands there to wait for Leon to return from hauling the thug off to the authorities. When Leon gets back, Torgeth informs him that Okuni is missing.
The two of them spread out to search for her, with Leon flying in the air while Torgeth searches on the ground. Leon quickly ascertains that she is not among the people gathered in the square. Unfortunately, the roofs of many of the buildings in the area obscure his view of the nearby streets, making it difficult to search them from above.
Torgeth heads down a back alley and finds Okuni lying on her back, unconscious and bleeding from a stab wound in the neck. He heals her with a touch and his healing aura, closing the wounds and bringing her back awake.
Okuni tells Torgeth that Sue did this to her. Torgeth shouts out Leon’s name, bringing the ex-lawyer flying in to see what’s going on. Okuni tells Leon his wife Sue tried to kill her. Leon responds that he’s not married. After some arguing it becomes clear that she’s talking about Helena, whom Torgeth told her was named Sue.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox and Vanemuine are heading for the square where the dance contest is going to be held the following day, because Og! the Smasher wants to see the stage. They hear Torgeth’s shout and run over to check it out, and arrive a minute or so after Leon. When he hears what Okuni is saying, Tyrrox demands to know why Leon’s wife would try to kill Okuni. Leon again protests that he’s not married.
Og!, who has followed his backup dancers into the alleyway, tries to remind them that the dance stage is in the other direction, but when they don’t immediately leave with him, he throws up his hands and walks away.
Leon and Torgeth continue arguing, until Leon calls the dragonborn a dirty digger. Torgeth responds by pulling out his Hammersphere and summoning the spiritual hammer, but he stops shy of attacking with it once he stops to think, and decides that Leon has never given him reason to doubt his word before.
Meanwhile, Leon continues to doubt Okuni’s story because Helena does not normally fight with daggers, but with a scimitar. Although Okuni’s wounds have healed without leaving any scars, from the way they are described they can’t have come from a scimitar.
The group notices that Okuni’s clothes have burn marks where she suffered other wounds. Everyone does a quick inventory of all their possible enemies, to remember who had flaming weapons. Morg, the barbarian they fought in the Wealdath, had a flaming warhammer, but not only was he left behind in the custody of the elves, but the group took his warhammer and sold it. There’s also Milia, the Guild member who conducts the membership tests. She was able to summon fire elementals, but they wouldn’t use daggers. None of Leon’s, Tyrrox’s, Torgeth’s, or Vanemuine’s other enemies have used flaming weapons before.
While this is going on, Okuni heals the rest of her wounds with bardic magic, since she had also suffered wounds to both hands, her chest, and one hamstring. She continues adamantly insisting that it was Sue, or whatever her name really is, that attacked her. Leon looks her right in the eyes, and realizes that she either really believes this or is a much better liar than previously thought.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine leave to go catch up with Og! the Smasher. Leon realizes that Okuni might well try to take revenge on Helena even though he still believes she’s innocent, so he decides to go off and find her. But before leaving, he warns Okuni that if she comes after Helena, he will kill her. He then flies off, leaving Torgeth alone with Okuni.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine emerge from the alley and return to the square, where they find Og! arguing with some people. The argument has gotten quite heated, and mostly degenerated to cursing and swearing at each other. Og! stomps off, and when the centaur and elf catch up he tells them they must practice before tomorrow’s contest. So the three of them head back to Og!’s studio.
Meanwhile, Okuni thinks about going back to the inn to rest, but decides instead to return to the square. She and Torgeth go up to the stage and scope out the signup sheet for tomorrow’s dance contest. Okuni asks her lone remaining bodyguard if he would mind “checking up on” one more contestant for her. At first he refuses, but when she angrily starts walking away, he agrees to do it.
Leon goes looking for Helena to warn her about Okuni. He discovers that she and her party are no longer at the Gambling Ghost, but the innkeeper there tells him that he overheard them talking about taking a Guild mission that would take them to the coast. So Leon flies that way and goes up and down the beaches until he spots Helena, Garm, Bobo, and Faelar.
The four of them have taken on a Guild mission to help a fisherman find his lost engagement ring. After explaining to Helena that Okuni is looking for her because she believes Helena tried to kill her, Leon tells Helena that he’s off that mission now. He decides to stick around her just in case Okuni tries something, and since he’s here, Leon helps with their mission.
Leon questions the fisherman, who explains that he took off his ring to keep it clean while he was fishing and cleaning his catches. The fisherman shows Leon where he was sitting, and the big flat rock next to him where he put the ring. After a quick look around, Leon doesn’t find the ring in the cracks of the rock, the nearby sand, or on the beach below (the tide is currently low, so part of the beach is exposed that was covered at the time).
Leon asks the man to cast his line, and he does. Leon watches the fishing hook come pretty close to where the ring was sitting, and thinks that perhaps the hook snagged the ring. Hearing that, Helena and Bobo swim out and look around where the fisherman’s line cast, but they don’t find the ring in the water there either.
Leon tells the fisherman that he has a theory: the fishing hook caught the ring, and it was swallowed by the fish he caught. Then when he ate the fish, he must have swallowed the ring. Leon suggests going through the fisherman’s stool to see if he passed the ring. The fisherman says he’ll show them where his bedpan was emptied, but he hired Guild members to find his ring so it’s their job to go through it.
Torgeth gets the name and address of the dancer whom Okuni wants him to take out, then he finds someone to take him to the area. After that, he buys flowers at a local shop and goes to the inn where the woman (an elf named Tamuril) is staying. Posing as a flower delivery man, he listens at the door and hears two voices talking to each other. Torgeth knocks, and an elf in plate mail answers the door. Torgeth tells him about the flowers, but the elf refuses them and closes the door on Torgeth.
Torgeth kicks down the door and throws the flowers at the man. Inside the room he can see that the other occupant is an elven woman who looks to be the sister of the elf in plate mail. She must be Tamuril. Her brother points a glaive at Torgeth and tells him to leave, while Tamuril stays behind him and hides in the corner.
Instead, Torgeth breathes his cold blast at them. Tamuril hides underneath the bed, and her brother demands to know why Torgeth is attacking them as he fights back. Torgeth ignores the question and continues fighting.
At one point, Torgeth tries to get to the dancer hiding under the bed. He lifts up the bed and pushes it away, but it rebounds off the wall and falls on him, pinning him under the bed as Tamuril hurriedly crawls out. The dragonborn lifts up the bed with him as he stands up and hurls it at Tamuril’s brother, knocking him to the floor. When he gets back up, he is hit by another blast of Torgeth’s breath, which takes him out of the fight.
With the battle over, Torgeth takes his axe and brutally butchers both brother and sister. He then quickly loots their corpses, improvising a bag out of a bed sheet to carry the glaive, plate armor, and gold they had, as well as a bow and quiver of arrows that were leaning up against a wall. He then leaps out the window and flies away, just before people burst into the room to investigate the ruckus.
Back at the beach, Helena and her friends argue about who’s going to go through the fisherman’s waste to look for the ring. They finally force Faelar to do it. He searches through the mess but doesn’t find the ring. He then wipes off his hands on the bed sheet he has been using as a kilt, and throws the sheet away, leaving him naked from the waist down.
At Og! the Smasher’s dance studio, the practice is interrupted by thugs breaking down the door. Tyrrox and Vanemuine recognize some of the men that Og! was arguing with at the dance stage, except now they are armed. The first two men into the room are armed with a greatsword and flail, but they are quickly followed by two more men, wielding a glaive and a greataxe. Most of them go straight for Og!, but Vanemuine and Tyrrox also have their own opponents.
Suddenly, from the door a blast of energy strikes Tyrrox. It looks similar to Leon’s eldritch blast, but the beam is a sickly green instead. Tyrrox looks to the door and sees a well-dressed man wearing strange blue eyeglasses. The centaur charges at this warlock, and shortly afterward another warlock appears in the middle of the room. He attacks the one still standing in front of him, and although it reacts to his attack as if struck, he feels no resistance when his weapon passes through. Tyrrox deduces that this is an illusion, meaning the other warlock is the real one.
The warlock touches one of the dead bodies, causing it to rise up as a skeleton. He then teleports again, leaving another illusion behind him that Vanemuine attacks, only to have his weapon similarly encounter no resistance even though he appears to have hit.
By this time, all four of the original men have been killed, although one of them is now a skeleton. The warlock reappears at the door and runs out, drawing a scroll from his coat in the process. Tyrrox pursues, and sees yet another warlock appear on a rooftop. Tyrrox discovers that the one on the ground is yet another illusion.
The real warlock, who is on the rooftop, uses his scroll and creates a wall of ice to trap Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Og! in the studio. They kill the skeleton, which explodes in a burst of dark energy, leaving nothing but dust and bone fragments behind.
Og! immediately starts trying to smash through the ice, and Vanemuine also starts melting his way through with fire bolts, but by the time they break through the wall of ice, the man with the blue glasses is long gone.
Og!, who is gravely wounded, tells Tyrrox and Vanemuine to take the rest of the day off, but to meet back at the studio two hours before the dance contest begins so they can get one more practice session in. The half-orc then leaves to go to sleep and recover from his wounds.
At the beach, Helena, Garm, and Bobo put their heads together and talk while Faelar annoys Leon by presenting his naked privates as revenge for making him dig through feces. Helena then walks over to Leon and asks him if he’s able to carry somebody when he flies. Leon says he’s not sure, but he thinks so. Helena asks him if he would mind carrying Bobo to the top of a tall rock face at the far end of the beach, where some of the seagulls are nesting. Leon is reluctant, but Helena promises to make it worth his while, so he does.
Up on top of the rock face, he and Bobo search around and find the ring. They return it to the fisherman, then Garm buys somebody’s beach towel so Faelar can cover himself up. Leon tells Faelar it’s time for them to go and get him a proper kilt.
The five of them search around the city until they find a shop named MacAngus’s, which is a specialty store selling gear and fashions from the Moonshae Islands, where the kilted warriors that Faelar wants to dress like live. The proprietor measures Faelar for a kilt, and sells a magical claymore to the wild elf in exchange for his greataxe and a small payment of gold. He tries to interest Faelar and Leon in some haggis. Leon doesn’t want any, but Faelar tries it and likes it. They also buy a jar of blue face paint for the elf.
After that, Leon and the others return to the Gambling Ghost, as do Torgeth and Okuni, and Tyrrox and Vanemuine. When Okuni arrives, she shoots a hateful look in Helena’s direction, and Helena decides to just go to bed instead of dealing with it. Torgeth heads back out to sell off the weapons and armor he took from Tamuril’s brother, and then tells Okuni what happened. Finally, everyone goes to sleep.
The next day is the 25th of Flamerule, the date of the dance competition. Tyrrox and Vanemuine are up early to head back to Og!’s studio for one last practice before they head over to the competition. Torgeth escorts Okuni to her dressing room backstage at the amphitheater, which is set up behind the Efreetium (who is hosting the competition).
Helena informs Leon that she and her friends are going to accept a mission outside the city today to get far away from Okuni. With nothing else to do, he decides that he might as well go and watch the dance competition.
Once the contest starts, the emcee comes out and reminds everyone of the prize at stake: a magic flying carpet and a purse of 20,000 gold pieces. Leon notices that a great many people in the crowd are armed, and groups of them are glaring at each other in poorly concealed hatred.
Backstage, a catolk named Larin, who is one of the contestants, witnesses an exchange: a nervous-looking man with a rapier and main-gauche strapped to his waist handing a pouch of money to one of the judges. Larin decides that two can play that game, and bribes one of the other judges with his own gold.
The first competitor announced is Tamuril, who of course does not show up. The emcee calls her name a couple more times, but to no avail. He announces that apparently they have a no-show, so they will move on to the next contestant, Tanya. Tanya is absent as well (being one of the women Torgeth ran off for Okuni). The emcee wonders aloud whether any of the contestants are present.
The third contestant called is Erisha, who does indeed come out onstage. Erisha is a woman dressed in a belly-dancer’s costume. Her dance involves some belly dancing and a lot of graceful whirling, leaping movements. Her dance gets rave reviews from the judges. In the crowd, Leon notices that one segment of the armed folks seems to be cheering loudly for Erisha, while others are remaining silent.
The next contestant called is named Mizuki. She comes out wearing a red kimono. Mizuki is an Oriental-looking girl, and Leon notices a small gemstone gripped in one of her hands. As she starts her dance, it vanishes from her hand. Her dance, which is accompanied by a girl playing the lute who is obviously her identical twin, is also very good, and well-received by the crowd (especially her own partisans), but the judges don’t score it quite as highly as Erisha’s.
The fifth dancer called is named Auric. He is the first male called, and although he dances respectably well, his performance is clearly not in the same league as the previous two. But this does not dissuade one of the armed factions from cheering and praising his dance. The next dancer called is Summer, who is yet another no-show (again thanks to Torgeth).
The seventh dancer is named Millie. Her dance is awful, although she is cheered by the same faction that supported Auric. Some people in the crowd whisper that she must be a ringer, signed up in order to fill one of the spots in the contest. The next dancer is named Don Flamenco, who comes out with a rose in his teeth and wearing boxing gloves. His dance is a breath of fresh air after Millie, but it definitely does not compare to Mizuki or Erisha, who is still in first place so far.
As the emcee comes back onstage to announce the next contestant, a man runs up and hands him a note. The emcee reads the note and then announces to the crowd that they have a last-minute surprise entrant, named Maegor. Maegor comes out, a tanned young man wearing a vest and shorts. Although his dance is quite obviously not good enough to compare with some of the other dancers, he seems to be genuinely enjoying himself onstage and clearly is dancing just for fun.
Next is an elf named Veldred. Leon, still watching from the crowd, sees that Veldred has makeup on his skin, and his eyes look faintly red. He surmises that Veldred is probably a drow, but that doesn’t bother him. After Veldred, the next dancer is a catfolk named Larin. Both Veldred and Larin dance respectably, but still none of the dances have come close to the first two in scoring.
The next dancer is a halfling woman named Chantal. Her dance is scored the same as Larin’s, meaning she is not in the running for the prize. After her is a woman named Raina. Her dance is also decent but not good enough to be in the running.
The fourteenth is a woman named Candace. She doesn’t have a crowd of armed supporters, and is visibly nervous during her dance, obviously intimidated by the armed people in the crowd and the strong showing of support some of the other dancers are getting.
Finally, it is time for Okuni to dance. Torgeth moves to a position in the rafters above the stage, so that he can drop down to her aid should something happen, but it proves unnecessary. Okuni’s dance is a slow, suggestive dance with her parasol. It’s about as sensual and suggestive as a dance can be without any clothes coming off.
The judges are impressed and charmed. Her dance is agreed to be better than Mizuki’s and the perfect equal of Erisha’s. There remain but two more contestants before the winner will be decided. The first of those two contestants is Og! the Smasher, and his backup dancers Tyrrox Zym and Vanemuine Kuu.
The secret dance that Og! has been working on is something he calls “break dancing.” It consists of Og! running around the stage and breaking all the scenery and things while Tyrrox and Vanemuine do the dance that he showed them. Og! then runs off the stage into the crowd to continue his “break dancing,” grabbing chairs regardless of whether there is anyone seated in them and breaking them, throwing them around and smashing anything he can get his hands on.
As the crowd starts stirring in confusion, Leon catches a glimpse of a familiar face: the man he turned over to the authorities just yesterday. Up on the stage, Tyrrox and Vanemuine notice the people in the crowd with weapons for the first time. They also spot the man with the blue glasses.
As Og! the Smasher continues living up to his name, the confusion turns into a full-blown riot. Chairs are thrown around and overturned, and the various armed factions in the crowd draw their weapons and turn on each other. The judges run for the safety of backstage, and as they run past, one of them drops some gold coins from his pocket, but is too afraid to stop and pick them up. Tyrrox glances at one of the coins and recognizes it as coming from Calimshan.
Backstage, Torgeth is guarding the door to Okuni’s room, where she awaits the outcome of the contest. He notices the final candidate, a man dressed in a white suit with a white hat, looking out through the curtain and shaking his head before walking away.
As the riot escalates out among the crowd, several of the dance contestants head out there. Torgeth sees Erisha run out there, still clad in her belly-dancer’s outfit, but now carrying a pair of ornate scimitars. Not far behind her are Mizuki and her twin sister, each drawing small wakizashi as they run. In their red kimonos they look exactly the same, except for the lute hanging from Mizuki’s sister’s back. After them comes Auric carrying a sword of his own. Maegor, the young man wearing the vest, casually strolls out to see what the commotion is about, a longspear propped over his shoulder. He seems unconcerned by the violent scene.
Okuni sticks her head out the door of her dressing room and asks what all the noise is. Torgeth explains that the contest seems to have degenerated into a riot, and she asks him to be a dear and go fetch the prize for her. He agrees, leaving her behind in her dressing room.
Meanwhile, Larin has taken up his bow and called his leopard companion to him. They stealthily take up a position at the far end of the stage and keep an eye on the flying carpet and money prize, which are on a pedestal at the rear of the stage.
As the armed dancers come out onto the stage, Erisha runs down into the crowd as her two scimitars ignite with flames. Tyrrox watches her, wondering whether she was the one that really attacked Okuni in the guise of Helena. But he doesn’t have much time to watch, as Torgeth comes out and heads for the pedestal holding the prize.
Just as Torgeth gets there, Mizuki and her twin sister chase after him. Her sister leaps onto the pedestal, and the two of them attack him in unison, scoring hits with their poisoned swords. The hardy dragonborn shakes off the effects of the poison, and fights back. Tyrrox and Vanemuine join in, so the sisters break off their attacks on Torgeth and turn to face the new threats. One of them pulls an orb from her kimono and points it at them. The orb emits a blindingly bright flash of light.
Tyrrox gets a hand up in front of his face in time to block the ray, but Vanemuine is not so fortunate. The elf is blinded temporarily by the bright flash. The other sister leaps into the air, landing atop Tyrrox’s shoulder, and throws some black powder in his face. The powder erupts into a cloud around the centaur, but he is still able to strike at the young girl as the leaps away from him back to her sister.
With the aid of Tyrrox and Vanemuine, the twins are quickly forced into a retreat, one of them seriously wounded. Her sister covers for her as they retreat backstage. Tyrrox grabs the flying carpet and hands it off to Vanemuine, while Torgeth swipes the bag of gold. Larin spots Torgeth taking the gold, and fires an arrow at him. The arrow glances off the dragonborn’s shield and continues flying, striking Maegor in the chest. Maegor looks down at the arrow, breaks off the shaft, and decides to go out and join the battle. Torgeth takes to the air with the prize money.
Meanwhile, chaos has erupted near Leon’s position. He heads straight for the man he arrested the previous day, but after one good shot the man uses his magical boots to vanish from sight. Leon doesn’t have much time to worry about him though, as he has gotten fairly close to where Og! the Smasher is still happily breaking anything and anyone that comes too close to him.
A green ray flies right past Leon’s shoulder and strikes one of the many people fighting. Leon recognizes an eldritch blast when he sees one, and turns around to find the man with the blue glasses. The two slowly get closer to one another as the battle rages around them. Once they are adjacent, the man in the glasses asks Leon about how he added fire to his eldritch blast. Leon responds with some explanation of the workings of magic, but says that ultimately it comes down to his gloves. He turns down the man’s offer to buy the gloves from him, and they continue fighting.
Back on the stage, Torgeth lands in the rafters and starts heading back toward the area where Okuni’s dressing room is located. As he gets over the backstage area, he sees a figure in a dark blue cloak on the floor backstage, some thirty feet below him. The figure looks up, then in one leap lands atop the rafters in front of Torgeth, shedding his cloak in mid-jump.
Torgeth finds this pale-skinned, heavily-scarred Oriental man with a long black topknot ponytail won’t move from his path. “Can’t let you do that,” he tells Torgeth. Torgeth, who takes the man for a ninja, blasts him with cold breath before heading back the other way. The freezing ice forming on the ninja’s bare skin and pants slows him enough that Torgeth is able to get quite a lead, but the ninja is able to nearly keep up thanks to an impressive leap of more than twenty feet before charging after him.
Down on the stage, Vanemuine is no longer blinded. He unfurls the carpet and steps onto it, then tries to figure out how to make it fly. He knows that it will be activated by a command word, so he tries guessing activation commands, but with no luck.
Seeing that the elf is trying to steal the carpet, Larin fires an arrow at the elf. Down in the crowd, Leon sees this and takes to the air, firing at the catman with an eldritch blast. The blast misses the agile catfolk, but it succeeds in drawing his attention away from Vanemuine. He sends his leopard to try and yank the carpet out from underneath the elf, but Vanemuine pins it to the ground with his foot.
Leon and Larin exchange fire, while below them the riot continues to rage. Tyrrox decides to go after Erisha, who has been whirling and spinning among the other combatants, cutting down several at a time with her flaming swords. He runs to the edge of the stage and leaps down atop Erisha, jabbing her with his lance on the way down.
The agile woman tries her whirling attacks on Tyrrox, but they are unable to penetrate his mithral plate armor. He manages to land several telling blows on her, and eventually the dancer retreats to a safe distance, points a sword at him, and warns him “We will finish this later” before running off into the crowd.
In the air, Leon takes several more arrow wounds. The swirling field of entropy created by one of his dark invocations turns some of the arrows, but plenty more find their mark. Up on the rafters, Torgeth sees Leon getting peppered with arrow shafts and leaps from the rafters to fly over there. In midair, he reaches out and claps the warlock with his hand, using the same healing touch with which he saved Okuni’s life the previous day.
After that, Leon flies over to land by Vanemuine. He is quickly able to figure out the trick to flying the carpet, and he gets aboard. Torgeth quickly flies over to land on the carpet too. The leopard again tries to yank the carpet, but now that it’s up in the air he succeeds only in pulling it somewhat closer to Larin.
Tyrrox watches the retreating Erisha and lets her go. He heads over toward the warlock with the blue glasses, who has by now animated some of the fallen as zombies and skeletons to protect him. Og! the Smasher is still breaking faces in earnest with his fists.
Tyrrox arrives to find that a halfling is also fighting the man in the blue glasses, flinging daggers in groups of two and three. Several of them stick into the man’s chest, but just like in the battle the day before, he does not bleed. Not even when Tyrrox drives his lance deep into the man’s chest does it draw blood.
The man in the glasses steps back, yanking the lance out of his chest, and draws a scroll. As he uses it, he vanishes. This time he does not leave any illusions behind.
Leon starts getting the flying carpet to move away from the stage, but from the rafters, the ninja leaps and lands lightly on the carpet, some thirty or forty feet away from where he leapt. His twin wakizashi, one on fire and the other covered in frost, stab and slash at Torgeth, but after a couple of attacks he loses his balance and topples to the ground. Leon quickly flies the carpet away, shouting down to Tyrrox as they pass to meet them back at the inn.
With most of the remaining people dead or wounded, except for Og! the Smasher, the halfling that was throwing knives, and the ninja, Tyrrox decides that there’s no reason for him to stay here and starts to leave as well.
XP Awarded: 3,000 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:01:31 GMT -5
Session 12: Sunday, September 6, 2009
When the flying carpet gets away from the scene of the riot, Leon steers it toward the Gambling Ghost. Tyrrox also heads that way when he outdistances any pursuit from the area of the contest.
After meeting up at the inn, Leon tells the others to hit the road for Darromar, and promises to catch up as soon as he can, after he takes care of some business north of the city first. The unconscious Torgeth is positioned safely on the flying carpet, and Vanemuine is taught how to control the carpet. Then the carpet sets off flying, high enough to avoid being seen too easily. Tyrrox heads for the city gates as well.
Once they’re gone, Leon flies north of the city into the hills north of Myratma, where Helena and her group are on a mission for the Guild. It takes him several hours of searching, and Leon eventually finds them much closer to the city than he had thought they would be.
When he gets there, Leon finds Garm, Bobo, and Faelar, but Helena is nowhere to be seen. Garm informs him that she is a short distance away “doing her business,” but that she has been gone for a few minutes. Leon decides to go looking for her, and tells Bobo to come with him.
Leon and Bobo head over in the direction Garm indicated, and finds two Helenas, glaring at each other. Seeing his approach, each tries to convince him that the other one is an impersonator. Leon asks the two Helena what he and the real Helena saw at the Modern Times exhibit in Darromar. One answers correctly, and the other one tries to claim that her mind was read by the impersonator.
Leon doesn’t believe the second Helena, and fires an eldritch blast at him. She screams at him “What did you do that for?” but then pulls a knife and attacks the other Helena. Now satisfied that he picked out the impersonator, he fires more blasts at her as she and the real Helena fight, with Bobo joining in.
Leon shouts for Garm and Faelar, and the two come running. They are confused at the scene they discover, and hesitate to join in. Both Helenas are wounded, as is Bobo. Leon gets the real Helena to back off, but the imposter turns invisible and teleports behind the real Helena, putting a knife to her throat.
Nobody but Leon can tell why Helena is suddenly hauled backward a half step, with a panicked look on her face. But Helena elbows her invisible attacker in the gut and slips free, before Leon puts another eldritch blast in the invisible impostor.
Reappearing, the impersonator throws her dagger down into the dirt and puts her hands up. Leon looks to the real Helena for her to tell him what to do, and she makes a cutting motion across her throat. Leon fires one more eldritch blast, and the impersonator falls to the ground. As she hits, a comb falls out of her hair, and turns into a hat as the illusion surrounding her drops.
The illusion gone, they see a blond woman whom none of them recognize. Leon takes the hat, and the woman’s magical studded leather and dagger are taken as well.
Finally, Leon is able to tell Helena and her friends the reason he came out here. He tells them about the riot that broke out at the dance contest, and how his group ended up with the prize for the competition, resulting in a lot of people being after them. He also tells them that they aren’t safe, because his new enemies might come after them as well (like the one that just did).
Helena berates him and his group for stealing the prize like they did, but Leon protests his innocence, saying that they stole the prize and he only tried to help them escape alive. She tells him that they’re going to have to talk more about this later.
The four of them haven’t yet finished their Guild mission, but Leon convinces them that it isn’t safe to remain here, and that they should come with him and his friends back to Darromar.
Leon puts on the woman’s hat and figures out how to activate it. He disguises himself as Mordecai, the knight for whom he and his group completed one of their very first Guild missions. Then he heads back to Myratma with Helena and her group.
They return to the Gambling Ghost, where Leon spots a halfling loitering by the front door. He recognizes the halfling as one of those in the crowd at the riot. Leon tells Helena and the others that he’s giving them the carriage his group had bought, and the five of them pile in.
When the carriage takes off, the halfling jumps in surprise and briefly runs toward it, but makes no serious attempt at chasing them because he can’t catch up. Leon sees this and realizes that the people from the riot must already be looking for them. The carriage quickly heads for the city gates.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox and Vanemuine head out of the city on the road back towards Darromar, with the unconscious Torgeth riding on the carpet with Vanemuine. At one point, Vanemuine sees something fly overhead, far too high in the sky for him to make out what it is, except that it had wings. About fifteen minutes later, Tyrrox spots a man standing in the middle of the road, leaning on a spear and seeming to wait for them to approach.
Tyrrox stops a good seventy feet away from the man. Vanemuine doesn’t see the man at first, but circles back when he realizes that Tyrrox has stopped. They both recognize the figure as a young man they saw at the riot. He had been wounded once during the riot by an arrow, but seemed totally unconcerned about it. Even now, the arrow wound is visible on his chest, which is bare except for a vest. The youth has tanned skin, yellow eyes, and black hair.
The young man introduces himself as Maegor, and puts out a hand to shake, but neither Tyrrox nor Vanemuine takes him up on it. Maegor explains that he needs to speak to Torgeth, but since the dragonborn is still unconscious from his wounds, they won’t let him near despite Maegor’s promise that he will not harm Torgeth.
Maegor explains that he has a message for Torgeth, a matter of life and death for his ears alone. He promises to bring Torgeth back to them, fully healed, when he has finished talking to him, but they are still unwilling to trust him.
Finally, after several minutes of arguing, Maegor convinces them to come with him to a cave 20 miles north Myratma so he can heal Torgeth and have them wait while he speaks to Torgeth. Maegor hands over his spear as collateral, shrinking it down to the size of a toothpick before handing it over.
It takes about two hours for them to reach the location Maegor leads them. He brings them to a beach, and informs them that the cave is underwater. Both Tyrrox and Vanemuine balk at the idea of going underwater, especially with Tyrrox being so heavily armored. Finally, Maegor casts a spell on each of them that will improve their fortitude and allow them to hold their breath a bit longer to reach the cave.
He then leads them into the water, where they find a path along the ocean floor that leads to an opening. The inside of the cave is actually dry and full of air, so they are able to breathe. This underwater cavern contains a large circular platform to one side, and a veritable mountain of gold coins near the other side. Shelves on the walls contain various items.
Maegor directs the others to lay Torgeth on the circular platform, but they make him use it himself first. Maegor demonstrates the platform for them, and only then do they lay Torgeth on it. The platform glows white for a moment, and Torgeth awakens, all his wounds perfectly healed.
Tyrrox and Vanemuine explain to Torgeth what has been going on, even including their suspicions that Maegor is some kind of sea hag or merman or something. Once the explanations are over, Torgeth agrees to hear what Maegor has to say. Maegor retrieves a horn from one of the wall shelves and blows it, causing a table full of food to appear. He takes some food to show that it isn’t harmful, and directs everyone to chow down while he speaks to Torgeth. But first, Torgeth grabs some ale from the table.
Maegor leads Torgeth over near the pile of coins to talk. The others try to listen in but can’t make out what is being said, but they do watch. Maegor does most of the talking, but Torgeth appears indignant at some of the things that are said. At one point, Maegor looks over at Tyrrox and Vanemuine, then leads Torgeth behind the mountain of coins, out of sight.
Suddenly, a large scaly tail sticks out from behind the pile of coins, before disappearing again. Maegor and a much quieter Torgeth come out from behind the pile of gold. Neither of them has a tail.
Maegor leads the three of them back out of the cave to the beach, where Tyrrox finally gives back the spear. Then Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Torgeth head east again, back to the road. When the others continue to talk about Maegor and their suspicion that he was a sea hag or a merman or something, Torgeth tells them that Maegor was actually a bronze dragon. As they travel for awhile, they catch sight of a carriage ahead on the road.
Riding in the carriage, Leon and the others spot someone coming up behind them. Fearing pursuit from the city, Leon tells Faelar to go back and deal with it. The wild elf eagerly jumps down from the carriage, draws his claymore, and runs back toward whoever is following them, screaming “FREEDOM!”
But when he gets there, Faelar sees that it is only the centaur, elf, and dragonborn. He seems almost disappointed, but leads them back up to the carriage. Now reunited, all eight of the two groups’ members continue following the road north, where it will turn east and head for Darromar.
Eventually the group stops for the night and sets up watches. The first two watches are uneventful, but the third watch, which is taken by Garm and Vanemuine, proves otherwise. Vanemuine spots a white dragon circle overhead before starting to head down toward the camp. He points it out to Garm, and the two of them quickly wake Leon and Helena, the closest people to them.
When Leon sees the dragon up in the sky, the color drains from his already pale face. The dragon shouts down to them, its booming voice demanding that they hand over Torgeth.
When they refuse, the dragon descends down toward the group, breathing its freezing breath down on them. Leon and Vanemuine fire back, with Leon using his gloves to add some fire to his blasts and Vanemuine using his fire bolt spell. The others are quickly woken up, but there’s not much they can do with the dragon still up in the air.
But soon the dragon dives at Leon, biting him and skimming along the ground. Now that the dragon is only about five feet off the ground, Tyrrox grabs his lance and charges at it. As he charges by, Bobo leaps up onto Tyrrox’s back, and as he charges past the dragon, she leaps up to attack with her hooked hammer.
The gnome’s attack is foiled when the white dragon bites her right out of the air and holds her in his teeth. Bobo tries frantically to push the dragon’s mouth open enough for her to wriggle free, but she is simply not strong enough.
The dragon, clearly wounded, turns to face the group, holding the gnome in his maw. When they show no sign of backing down, he bites down, and Bobo goes limp. He then flies higher into the air, and circles back above the group. He opens his mouth, letting Bobo fall, and blasts another cone of cold breath down on everyone. By the time she hits the ground, Bobo is already dead.
As the dragon begins to circle away again, Vanemuine activates the flying carpet and starts to give pursuit. Garm (his usual even temperament given way to blind fury) tries to leap onto the carpet with him but can’t jump high enough. However, before they can catch up, Leon’s eldritch blast knocks the dragon to the ground. To make sure it’s dead, Vanemuine blasts it with one more fire bolt.
Torgeth goes up to the dragon and hacks at it furiously, calling it a Tiamat worshipper. He is joined by Garm. A few minutes later, Helena and Faelar (who were frightened off by the dragon) come back, and discover Bobo’s death.
Someone suggests burying Bobo, but Garm and the others refuse. Instead, they decide to head for Zazesspur, which is much closer than Darromar, and look for a cleric to resurrect their fallen friend. Leon, Torgeth, Tyrrox, and Vanemuine agree, and decide to come along.
But first, the dead dragon is skinned. The hide is draped over the carriage, and the head is mounted on top of the carriage. Then the group rides the carriage in to Zazesspur, which takes most of the day.
The carriage causes quite a stir in Tethyr’s largest city. People give wary looks at people riding in and escorting a carriage with the hide of a dragon on it. The group passes through the southern half of the city and crosses to the northern half, which is larger and more populous. The two halves of the city are separated by the Sulduskoon River, which even here at its widest point is much lower because of the drought.
Tyrrox stays with the carriage while the others go looking for a church. Leon and Helena find a church of Tyr with a cleric capable of raising the dead. Vanemuine also finds a church of Helm, and Faelar finds a church of Eilistraee, the goddess of good drow. After a brief conference, everyone decides to take Bobo’s body to the church of Tyr.
The cleric at the church of Tyr performs the rite, but first insists on hearing a list of the deceased’s deeds to determine that it would be just for her to be granted life. The church requires a donation of 5,000 gold for this, which Torgeth pays out of the prize money from the dance contest.
Bobo is brought back to life, although she does not remember the fight with the dragon at all. The others explain to her what happened, and show her the head and hide of the dragon. She thanks them for killing it and for bringing her back.
After leaving the church, everyone decides to go their own way for now. Garm takes Bobo to find rooms for the night. Faelar wanders off, and Torgeth goes to get drunk. That leaves Tyrrox, Leon, Vanemuine, and Helena, who decide to go shopping.
First, they head to a leatherworker’s shop, where they hand over the dragon’s hide and ask the workers there to create suits of studded leather out of it. They order two sets, and give the rest of the hide to the shop along with the money to pay for the work. The two sets of armor will take about sixteen days to be finished, but fortunately the shop will deliver anywhere in Tethyr for an appropriate fee.
Leon wants to look for someone able to sell him some magical gear, and the leatherworkers give him the name of the man they contract to for orders of magical leather. So Leon and the others visit this man, whose name is Laffy Kilos, who turns out to be an eccentric man who is dressed like a clown without makeup.
Using the rest of the prize money, they buy five healing belts, one each for Leon, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, Torgeth, and Helena. They also buy Vanemuine a magically enhanced mithral breastplate, some scrolls for Leon, and place an order for magical horseshoes for Tyrrox similar to the ones his tribe-mate Tanis has. Tyrrox hands over his armor to have an enchantment placed upon it that will not only let him sleep in his armor, but let him travel longer before needing to rest. Finally, Leon orders a wand of healing, which Laffy has to acquire elsewhere since he cannot make them himself.
Laffy Kilos has the belts, the breastplate, and the scrolls all on hand for sale, but it will take him a few days to procure the rest of it.
XP Awarded: 2,000 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:02:19 GMT -5
Session 13: Sunday, September 27, 2009
Having gone off to find a place to drink, Torgeth wanders into the Lower City, the portion of Zazesspur located south of the river. There he finds a tavern called the Smiling Centaur and decides to check it out.
It turns out that the Smiling Centaur is in fact run by a centaur. The tavern caters to non-humanoids and creatures that find a standard bar inconvenient. There are differently sized and shaped chairs for various types of creatures, and higher or lower tables to accommodate different sizes.
Torgeth spots a tentacled creature in the corner, sitting in an open tank amid some clear liquid that may or may not be water. He decides to go up to the bar, and asks the centaur behind the bar for his strongest drink.
Torgeth is given something called a Sickly Wraith, which comes in a tall glass called a yard. The drink is a pale gray color, and although potent, tastes very bland. Torgeth drinks it anyway, and then asks the bartender for something that’s still strong but tastes better. He receives another drink called a Sizzling Succubus.
About this time, Tyrrox enters the tavern. He is surprised to find that the place is owned by a centaur, but even more surprised to see the tentacled creature over in the corner. He heads over and has a chat with the tavern kraken. After a bit of a talk, Tyrrox goes over to one of the tables that is designed for centaurs and sits down in a chair that resembles a hammock.
Torgeth comes over, bringing Tyrrox a Sickly Wraith to drink. Tyrrox drinks it down without a problem. Torgeth drinks his Sizzling Succubus, and a few minutes later starts to feel amorous. He pays his bill and then leaves the tavern, finds a whorehouse, and spends the rest of the day (and night) there.
Tyrrox approaches the bar and talks to the other centaur, whose name is Berdak. Berdak explains that he opened the establishment because he used to be an adventurer, and he was always frustrated by the difficulties he encountered at taverns which were designed only for humanoid patrons. Tyrrox tries to convince Berdak that he should expand the establishment to include an inn as well as a tavern, but Berdak is content the way things are.
Eventually everyone (except Torgeth) finds rooms at a large, four-story inn called the Winsome Repose. They remain there for a few days, until Laffy Kilos completes the rest of the items that were ordered from him.
Tyrrox takes his new horseshoes to a blacksmith, and has them put on. He then heads for the gate outside the city and decides to wait there for the others. Eventually Torgeth comes by as well, and harasses the centaur by throwing pebbles at him from a tree.
Helena and her friends accept a mission at the local Guild office that will take them to the Lower City, so she bids Leon farewell for the day. Leon goes looking for his own group, and finds them hanging around at the city gates. Leon tries to ask why they are outside the city, but Tyrrox and Torgeth start arguing with each other, causing Leon to shake his head and walk away.
Once they finally notice he’s gone, Torgeth and Tyrrox race to catch up with Leon, but actually Vanemuine gets there first, using the carpet. Finally, all the horseplay done for the moment, the group heads for the Guild outpost to look over the available missions.
There are only two missions at the moment. One is an open mission that anyone is allowed to try, and the other is a mission looking for multiple Guild agents to combat some pirates. That mission description is worded very strangely, but the group takes it anyway.
The Guild clerk informs the group that they are to meet the others who have signed up for the mission in about five minutes. So they head around behind the building like the clerk tells them, and see an assembled group already there.
First, there is a man carrying a scythe and standing off to the side with a hooded, silent companion. There is also a young elf speaking to what appears to be a small earth elemental, and a portly man who seems dressed like a merchant or traveler, rather than any kind of adventurer. There is also an elf with blue hair and a scythe, a half-elf who walks with a limp and carries a pair of short swords, and a nondescript man wearing druid robes and riding a bison.
As the various people assembled look each other over, they hear music playing somewhere not far off. Around the edge of the building comes a large white horse, with a pink mane. On its back is a rider, in pink full plate armor, playing a lute and singing. He takes off his helmet, revealing a long mane of blond hair, and introduces himself as Rodney Lockhart. Everybody looks at him uncomfortably and avoids conversation with him.
Not long after, a puff of smoke erupts amid the assembled adventurers, and a tiny gnome appears. He appears to be incredibly ancient, and so thin and feeble-looking that it’s a wonder he can even hold up the weight of his own robe and cloak. The gnome introduces himself as Zingnoff Kaliesis Tarralin, the one who posted their Guild mission.
Zingnoff, or Zing for short, explains the details of the mission. The little gnome has a very odd pattern of speech – he mixes up tenses a lot, speaking of the future as if it has already happened, the present as if it is going to happen, and so on. But what the group manages to piece together is that a coastal village north of Zazesspur, on the other side of the Starspire Mountains, is going to be attacked by pirates. Many people will die if the attack is not repelled, and that’s what this group is here for.
Zingnoff tells the group that he will see them there, and teleports away. The assembled group, which now numbers eleven (plus the elemental and the bison) leaves Zazesspur and heads north.
Along the way, some conversation takes place. The man with the scythe introduces himself as Thallatos. His companion remains silent, simply keeping pace with him.
The elf with the earth elemental introduces himself as Nym. He is also dressed like a druid, and explains to no one in particular that he’s not very good with plants or animals, and is more interested in the primal forces of nature like the elements. After that, he spends most of the trip conversing with the other druid.
The portly man introduces himself as Arthur Greywood. He still appears to be nothing more than a merchant or traveler, although he has a large sack full of food that he regularly munches on during the trip.
Eventually, Thallatos realizes that the group is being shadowed. He points this out to Tyrrox, and the two of them keep an eye out. Eventually they spot the figure – a hobgoblin. The hobgoblin continues following alongside them, but never actually comes out to attack. At one point a second hobgoblin joins the first, but still no attack comes.
When night falls, the group stops and organizes a watch. Having been warned that there are hobgoblins about, everyone sleeps lightly. Torgeth climbs up onto a ledge above the others, to give him the high ground in the event of an attack.
A few hours into the night, a group of fifteen or so hobgoblins attacks the camp. Everyone is quickly roused, and the group easily beats back the hobgoblin force. After that, everyone goes back to sleep, and the rest of the night passes uneventfully.
The next day, the group resumes their journey and eventually comes down out of the mountains. They find a town where Zingnoff had told them, but there are no pirates in the area that anyone can see. The town appears to be totally peaceful.
The group fans out, looking for signs of anything unusual. Nobody sees any sign of Zingnoff the gnome either. Thallatos decides to approach the mayor of the town and find out what’s going on. He finds the mayor, whose name is Pillsbury, and confronts him about the pirate attack that’s supposed to be going on.
Mayor Pillsbury thinks Thallatos is playing a bad joke on him, because of course there are no pirates, and he’s never seen this elderly gnome either.
Torgeth decides to go to the tavern and get drunk instead of searching with the others. The bartender there is terrified of him, but serves him anyway.
Thallatos and Tyrrox take up positions on the beach by the town’s only dock, and watch the sea for any signs of incoming ships. Everyone else finds something else to do, whether it be patrolling the village, going shopping, or (in Torgeth’s case) drinking at the bar.
Some hours later, in the late afternoon, Thallatos and Tyrrox see a ship come into the cove and start heading toward the village. The ship is flying a red flag, on which it has a white skull, and below that a crossed golden sword and hammer. A few smaller ships appear behind the larger ship as it gets closer. So Thallatos and Tyrrox start rounding up the others that they can find.
Eventually they get Leon, Torgeth, Arthur Greywood, Thallatos’s companion, and the blue-haired elf to join them on the beach. Leon takes a shot with his eldritch blast at the ship, but it’s still out of range.
Tyrrox has the best view of the ship, and he picks out a couple of individuals on the deck. There’s a woman wearing a red and gold coat, who seems to be issuing orders to the others, and standing off to one side is a blue-skinned woman with white hair and wearing a white dress that is blowing in the wind.
As the ship gets closer, Leon takes another shot and hits it this time. A large, bulky figure with something sticking up behind it emerges onto the deck and stands near the woman giving orders. Leon continues firing eldritch blasts at the ship, and then the blue woman points a trident at the dock where Leon and the others are standing, and a fireball blasts the deck.
Leon changes tactics, using his gloves to make his eldritch blast burn the ship’s mainsail and set it on fire. Meanwhile, Torgeth gets onto Vanemuine’s flying carpet, and they start heading toward the pirate ship, gaining altitude along the way.
The captain rallies her pirates, and has them draw bows and rain arrows on the people on the dock. Under her guidance, the pirates manage to wound Arthur, who reveals himself to be a wizard as he fires spells back at them. Arrows also strike Thallatos’s companion, which reveals that it is a skeleton.
Seeing that one of the smaller ships has detoured off to land further up the coast, Thallatos takes his skeleton and starts heading that way. The blue-haired elf heads that way as well, and Arthur goes that way after leaving behind an illusory image of himself to draw enemy fire.
Tyrrox decides that he’s got to get close in order to do anything. Leon used a scroll on him earlier allowing him to breathe water, so Tyrrox takes a running start and leaps off the pier into the water. After trading shots with the blue woman a bit more, Leon flies toward the ship as well.
When the carpet gets close enough to the ship, Vanemuine shoots a ray of enfeeblement at the captain to sap her strength, and then Torgeth swoops down and snatches her right off the deck. In the process, the giant, muscular orc smashes Torgeth with his hammer, which is easily large enough that it would take Tyrrox two hands to wield. Torgeth manages to hold onto the captain though, and flies up into the air with her.
Torgeth is blown back by a sudden gust of wind, but uses that momentum to change direction and heads for the carpet again. Once he lands on the carpet, Torgeth has Vanemuine grab hold of the captain while he shackles her hand and foot. He then tells her to call off her pirates or else.
Meanwhile, the blue elven woman turns herself into a gaseous form and floats upward. Then when she draws level with the carpet, she rematerializes and demands that they let the captain go. When they don’t, she blasts Vanemuine with a bolt of lightning.
Leon dives into the water and chases down Tyrrox, who has been moving along the ocean floor toward the pirate ship. Leon’s hand, inside his bag, is holding a scroll of the fly spell. When he gets close enough to use it on Tyrrox, Leon realizes that he can’t speak the words of the spell while underwater, so he sticks his head inside his bag and uses the limited air supply inside to speak the words and cast the spell.
Up in the air, Torgeth and Vanemuine are able to kill the blue elf.
Now that he can “fly” underwater, Tyrrox heads for the surface and flies up into the air. Then, he draws his lance, aims at the deck of the pirate ship, and charges. The flying centaur strikes the deck at full speed, smashing through and continuing through the bottom of the ship, leaving a sizable hole behind. Water starts gushing in through the hole.
Seeing this, the pirate captain yells out for her crew to abandon ship, and then leaps off the flying carpet into the water. Torgeth flies after her.
Leon comes up out of the water and flies toward the area where the pirates from another ship are landing by the beach. But he sees that Thallatos and the others are about to get there, so he doesn’t worry about hurrying over to join the battle.
The burly orc dives off the ship into the water after his captain. But Torgeth gets to her first, grabbing hold of the captain again. She head-butts him in the face. Tyrrox charges over, drawing off the orc’s attention. The orc’s giant hammer is hampered by the water, but he still hits Tyrrox pretty hard. Still, it’s not enough, as eventually Tyrrox drives his lance through the orc’s eye, killing him.
Pirates swarm out of the boat that has made landfall up the coast, but Thallatos summons a pair of owlbear skeletons and sends them after the pirates. Arthur Greywood shoots a fireball at the pirates as well. The elf moves up to attack with his scythe, but is hit by one of them and goes down. The owlbear skeletons make short work of most of the pirates, and Thallatos then moves up and finishes off the last of them with a burst of negative energy.
Torgeth hauls the pirate captain back out of the water onto the carpet, where Vanemuine is still waiting for him.
XP Awarded: 3,150 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:03:02 GMT -5
Session 14: Sunday, October 11, 2009
The battle at the docks and over the water comes to an end. Torgeth brings the pirate captain back out of the water and holds her custody on the flying carpet, being careful this time not to let her jump off again.
Leon lands over by Thallatos on the beach, and they quickly see that the elf with the scythe is dead. The two of them quickly search the smaller pirate ship there for survivors or loot, and find that the hold was basically empty. Not surprising, since the pirates had come to raid the village.
The wizard, Arthur, believes Thallatos to be a sorcerer, which Thallatos encourages to hide his true nature. Leon decides to convince them that he is a psion, and manages to do it.
The survivors of the battle all gather near the dock, and only then do they hear the sounds of battle coming from the direction of the town. The group, now consisting of Tyrrox, Leon, Vanemuine, Thallatos, Torgeth (with the pirate captain held prisoner), and Arthur, starts heading toward the sounds.
As they travel through the town, those who can fly gain altitude for better perspective. They encounter a group of pirates at an intersection, breaking windows and looting. The group quickly sets upon the pirates, and makes short work of them. Thallatos continues summoning skeletons of various shapes and sizes to fight for him, while Leon dispatches enemies with eldritch blasts. Vanemuine fights from the flying carpet, loosing firebolt after firebolt from a safe altitude.
Arthur uses up the last of his spells, and is forced to fall back on his crossbow for offense. After this group of pirates is dispatched, he excuses himself to help Torgeth guard the prisoner. Thallatos drags off a couple of the pirate corpses, promising to catch up to the others.
That leaves Tyrrox, Leon, and Vanemuine to continue forward. A little further down, they find another melee where two of the other expedition members are fighting off a much larger force of pirates. Nym, the young elven druid with his earth elemental companion, and Cassius, the half-elf with the knee brace, are fighting off about a dozen pirates.
Nym is incapacitated in the fight, but his earth elemental stands over him and beats back the pirates until Tyrrox, Leon, and Vanemuine are able to close in and turn the tide.
Meanwhile, Thallatos returns to the area on the dock where he had cast a desecration spell before. Here, he raises the corpses of the pirates as skeletons; in the desecration zone, the undead that he raises become more powerful. He quickly covers them up with borrowed garments from the other corpses, to disguise their undead nature, and leads them back toward the others.
By the time Thallatos catches up, the group has dealt with the latest group of pirates. Nym is taken back to Torgeth for healing, and the others press on.
At the edge of town, the group finds one more, even larger battle. Amid a veritable sea of pirates, they can just make out Rodney Lockhart by his bright pink armor, and Biff Cliff, the other druid, atop his bison.
Behind the assembled pirate forces, one lone figure stands out. The figure is dressed in black and blue, with a scarf and wide-brimmed hat obscuring all facial details except for glowing blue eyes. He is wrapped in a gray cloak, but his breastplate is still visible. On his hands are metal gauntlets with long blades on them, and he carries a falchion. Although this person is clearly an enemy, even the pirates seem to be giving him a wide berth. For his own part, he seems not to even acknowledge the existence of the pirates.
While the others try to fight their way into the melee, the man with the hat picks out his first target: Biff Cliff. He heads over toward the druid and first decapitates the bison, then knocks out Cliff soon after. It’s not long after that before Tyrrox finally gets close enough to engage the figure in battle.
After a few exchanges back and forth, the figure turns insubstantial, and Tyrrox’s attacks begin to mostly pass through harmlessly. Fortunately, this seems to make his opponent’s own attacks just as likely to pass through the centaur without effect.
Eventually, as the rest of the pirates are dealt with, the others begin to converge on Tyrrox and his insubstantial opponent. Under their combined onslaught, he is forced to retreat. He vanishes from view, except for Leon who can still see him. He sees the now ethereal opponent sink into the ground to escape.
As the survivors of the battle regroup, Rodney Lockhart tries to heal some of Thallatos’s minions. Thallatos has to quickly convince the pink paladin that healing them is no good, because they have a “grave disease.” Rodney tries to cure their disease, but to no avail. Thallatos manages to conceal the true identity of his “allies.”
After a minute or so of this, the escaping man re-emerges from the ground. This is pointed out to Rodney, who quickly hops aboard his horse, charges, and smites the enemy, who drops to the ground and doesn’t get up.
Thallatos strips the man’s possessions, and discovers that under the scarf is a face clearly undead, though of no type he has ever seen before. He takes the creature’s gear.
The druid Biff Cliff is found to be alive, if only just barely. They load him onto Rodney’s horse and bring him into town.
The group prepares to leave town, when the gnome, Zingnoff, appears. Once again everybody has great trouble understanding what the gnome is saying since he mixes up his past, present, and future tenses a lot. Eventually Tyrrox runs away, screaming at how insane everyone is.
In his garbled language, Zingnoff asks whether they ever thought to wonder why such a large pirate force would attack such a small, unimportant town. He leads Leon and Thallatos to a warehouse near the edge of town, and motions for them to go inside.
Inside they discover a caravan of wagons and horses. Upon closer observation, the horses’ hooves and the wagons’ wheels are all covered in cloth. There are people moving around inside as well.
It turns out that this caravan is bringing food from Waterdeep up north, to aid the people of Tethyr in the drought, which will inevitably lead to famine since the summer crops are ruined. They were traveling in secret at nighttime in order to avoid bandits. How the pirates discovered the caravan’s existence is a mystery.
In fact, the caravan only stopped in this town in order to repair some damage to wagons which had broken down from traveling at night with poor visibility. Somehow their secret was compromised, though.
Thallatos proposes that the caravan hire some of their rescuers on as guards to help see them safely to Darromar, where the food will be presented to Queen Zaranda Star-Rhindaun. The caravan leader says he will talk the idea over with the others, and for Thallatos to come back later for his answer.
Leon tries to counterspell Zingnoff’s attempt to teleport away, but is unsuccessful. He also talks to Thallatos’s imp familiar, who has remained invisible except for a brief moment of assistance in battle. He tries to convince the imp to sue Thallatos, just as he did with another imp familiar some time ago.
XP Awarded: 3,100 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:03:38 GMT -5
Session 15: Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tyrrox runs out of the town, once again claiming that everyone there is crazy. Once outside, he starts to wonder why the pirates were attacking such a small town with apparently little going on.
Nym, the half-elven druid, approaches Tyrrox with his earth elemental companion in tow. Nym asks whether Tyrrox knew a half-orc named Goroc. When Tyrrox says that Goroc used to be part of his party, Nym says that he knew Goroc and asks Tyrrox about him.
Tyrrox relates stories of when Goroc was a member of his party, and ends with Goroc taking a Guild mission by himself and leaving Darromar, never to be seen again.
Meanwhile, Vanemuine is merrily frolicking on the edge of town. He is approached by Cassius, the half-elf with the knee brace. Cassius asks Vanemuine where the rest of his party is, so they can divide the loot from the pirates. Vanemuine takes Cassius with him as they go looking for the others.
Thallatos’s bag suddenly feels lighter, so he looks inside to discover that all the gear he took off of the undead man has disappeared. The rest of the group converges, and Cassius asks them about loot. Thallatos mentions the disappearance of his loot, and asks Tyrrox if he took it.
Tyrrox takes offense, believing himself accused of thieving, and leaves town again. Thallatos shakes his head and quietly walks away.
Leon talks to Torgeth about what they should do with the captured pirates. Torgeth insists that it would be worth converting the pirate captain to working with them. Leon talks about cooking the other pirate and feeding him to Tyrrox, within earshot of the man.
The pirate actually thinks Leon is serious, and begs to avoid that fate. Leon takes the opportunity to interrogate the pirate, and tricks him into agreeing (or at least thinking that he agreed) to give his soul to Leon, thus becoming his property. It turns out that the pirate doesn’t know anything about why they came here – the captain did not share her reasons with him.
Meanwhile, Torgeth returns to watching the pirate captain, and tries to convince her to join them. She refuses and insults him, and Torgeth tries to use his Hammersphere on her. Unfortunately, it’s used up for the day, so he instead punches her in the face with his shield. The captain spits out a mouthful of blood and laughs at him, so he hits her again.
Some of the other members of the expedition begin to filter in, wanting their share of the pirates’ booty. Leon tells them that Tyrrox is carrying it all. Outside of town, Tyrrox meets Nym again, this time with Cliff in tow. The other druid is distraught over the death of his bison, and isn’t in the mood for conversation. Nym obtains a treasure from Tyrrox: the horn that the pirate captain was carrying. He then tells Tyrrox that he is welcome in Mosstone, the location of Tethyr’s largest druid grove, which is up the road to the north of this town. The two druids leave.
Leon eventually gets rid of the other expedition members by giving them some of the loot. To Cassius he gives the armor taken from the orog. To Arthur he gives the woman’s hat he took from Helena’s impostor. Arthur asks what it does, and instead of telling him, Leon insults Arthur’s weight. Arthur takes the hat anyway and leaves.
Rodney Lockhart comes by, playing the same song on a new lute he just purchased. Leon destroys this one with an eldritch blast as well, and hands Rodney gold to pay for it. Rodney refuses any loot, but tells the “bigot” Leon that they will meet again. He then summons his horse and rides out of town.
Thallatos begins getting a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It seems to get stronger whenever Leon is around. When he talks to Leon, Thallatos finds his eyes unconsciously drawn to Leon’s briefcase. He mentions this feeling, and Leon mentions that there are a few items in that he has acquired recently (specifically, what he took from the orog, and the rod he found on the ocean floor).
Eventually word comes back from the caravan that they will indeed accept guards. They can afford to pay up to six people to guard the caravan for a fee of 1,000 gold each. However, by this time there are only five people remaining from the group: Thallatos, Leon, Vanemuine, Tyrrox, and Torgeth. And of course, Thallatos’s “diseased” followers, but he assures the caravan guards that they work for him and he will see to their needs himself.
All five accept the job of guarding the caravan, which leaves the town that evening, continuing to travel under cover of darkness.
Leon tries on the bracers that the orog was wearing. They’re an ugly shade of green and covered in metal studs, but when he wears them, Leon finds that his cane seems lighter. Eventually he figures out that the bracers allow the wearer to wield larger weapons. He gives them to Tyrrox.
Thallatos ends up taking charge of the pirate captain from Torgeth. He talks to her and learns that her name is Raina Scarlett. She seems surprised that he has not heard of her before. Neither have any of the others, since the group has not spent much time on the coast.
When the caravan is ready to depart, everyone takes up positions. There are twenty-two wagons in all. Tyrrox takes a position at the head of the caravan, occasionally going on ahead. Leon and Vanemuine take to the air, allowing them to see farther and cover the entire caravan on patrol. Initially Torgeth moves to the rear of the caravan, leaving Thallatos and his minions in the middle. However, since Thallatos is still using the cover story that his skeletons are actually lepers, the caravan’s people are not comfortable with having them in their midst, so Thallatos moves with them to the rear. He still has Raina travel under guard.
Thallatos talks to Raina occasionally. He asks her about the mysterious undead that attacked from the other side of town. She says he was not part of her crew, merely an ally of convenience. She knew him only as “the stray,” and she blames him in part for the failure of her attack because he did not break through to the town quickly enough.
Raina further reveals that she sailed from the Nelanther Isles, which are located northwest of Tethyr. She refuses to divulge how she knew about the caravan, or how she met “the stray.” Thallatos chooses not to press the point.
When she discovers that the reward for their mission was whatever they took from the pirates, Raina tells Thallatos and the others that they’re no better than she is – all that separates them from her is a piece of paper. Leon tells her that they don’t target innocents.
The caravan continues traveling at night, making a very slow pace. Although it was said back in the town that the caravan might reach Darromar in two weeks, by the second night of travel they are still crossing the Starspire Mountains.
Suddenly, two huge creatures approach the caravan from the side, which seem to be large serpent-like monsters covered in armored plates, between 30-40 feet long. As they slither down the incline to the level path, from beneath they unfold a dozen or so legs and skitter forward on them.
As the two creatures (which are called behir) reach the caravan, they separate. They seem to possess some intelligence, as they pick out the dangerous people quickly enough. The first moves toward Tyrrox at the head of the caravan and opens its mouth, letting loose a powerful lightning blast that strikes him dead on.
Seeing that a commotion is going on up ahead, Thallatos sets off at a dead run toward the source of the disturbance. His skeletons keep the pace as well, herding along Raina (who is now bound only by her hands). As they get close enough to see what’s going on, Raina tries to convince Thallatos to unshackle her so she can help. He finally decides that he can trust her not to run off, and unshackles her. Despite having no weapons, Raina runs into the middle of the fight and starts shouting orders and tactics, providing assistance and morale to the group. However, his “lepers” continue to keep pace with her just in case.
Tyrrox charges the first behir, jabbing his lance into a weak point between its armor plates before riding past. Thallatos summons a wyvern zombie to attack the second behir. It attacks for a bit, then the behir grabs it with its bite and begins raking the zombie with its front legs.
Vanemuine at first remains airborne on the carpet, loosing firebolts at the behirs. However, after Tyrrox is snatched by the first behir’s bite and raked just like the wyvern, Vanemuine flies the carpet down to attack with his sword. The tactic works – the behir releases its hold on Tyrrox. However, it grabs the elf with its jaws instead.
While the stunned Tyrrox activates his Healing Belt to heal some of the significant injuries he received, the behir actually swallows Vanemuine entirely. He finds himself inside the creature’s gullet, being crushed in from all sides and burned by its digestive juices. Tyrrox tries to fight the thing and is knocked out.
Leon rains eldritch blasts down on the two behirs, eventually focusing on the one that has incapacitated Tyrrox and eaten Vanemuine. Vanemuine manages to cut his way out through the behir’s gullet, dropping to the ground as the behir dies from the combined onslaught.
Meanwhile, Thallatos summons a pair of troll skeletons, which begin tearing into the second behir while its attention is occupied with the wyvern zombie. After awhile, the second behir dies as well. Not for the first time, Thallatos wishes he had the material components to cast an animate dead spell.
After the battle, Tyrrox is resuscitated, the group heals up, and Torgeth is located, passed out drunk in one of the wagons. Raina argues to Thallatos that she upheld her end of the bargain in helping with the battle, so she deserves to have the manacles taken off. He relents, but leaves his minions to guard her just in case.
The weary group continues on with the caravan, and is grateful when day breaks and the caravan stops. They get some much-needed rest before the caravan travels for a third night, arriving at the gates of Zazesspur in the early morning.
While the caravan rents a warehouse to remain hidden during the day, the group leaves Torgeth to mind them and heads into the city on their own business. The rest of the group, including Thallatos (who in turn brings his minions and Raina) heads to Laffy Kilos’s shop, to sell off their loot. Before they get there, Raina Scarlett tries to get her gear back from Leon, but he refuses to give it back to her.
Thallatos leaves Raina outside, guarded by his minions that still look like lepers.
Laffy Kilos identifies all the items as Leon pulls them from his briefcase one by one. Thallatos, who is still awaiting his own payment for the Guild mission, watches eagerly. He is also hoping to finally learn what the heck has been nagging at his mind. When Leon pulls out the rod he found on the ocean floor, Thallatos immediately recognizes it as what has been calling to him. He says this, and Leon gives it to him. Laffy Kilos identifies it as a Rod of Wonder.
Thallatos quickly discovers that this is more than a mere Rod of Wonder, though. Through its random magic, he is able to channel his own charnel touch into a sort of random warping touch.
Raina’s longsword proves to be similar to Vanemuine’s own sword, but more powerful. So he is given that, and he sells back his own sword. The rest of Raina’s gear proves to be mostly useless to the group, except for her cape, which Leon keeps for himself.
Tyrrox commissions an order from Laffy Kilos for a magical lance, as large as he can now wield with the bracers. Leon also orders an enhancement made to his cane. The work will take eight days, which unfortunately the caravan does not have. Options are discussed for direct delivery, but the party decides that they are too expensive. So Tyrrox decides to remain behind in Zazesspur until the weapons are ready, and then try to catch the caravan.
Thallatos heads outside to discover that the city guard has been attracted by the presence of the “lepers.” He is told in no uncertain terms that the lepers are to leave the city immediately. Leon gives Raina some non-magical weapons and armor to replace what was taken from her, and tells her that she will have to earn better.
Thallatos, however, decides to let her go. She says that she didn’t summon the guard’s attention, but Thallatos would never know if she was lying. Enraged by that simple statement of fact, he uses his new rod to warp touch her, but she resists it. She leaves, muttering under her breath.
Tyrrox heads back to the Smiling Centaur Tavern, hoping to find lodging. Evidently he has forgotten his argument with the proprietor, because the tavern does not offer any lodging. However, Tyrrox is able to work out an arrangement with Berdak to allow him to sleep in the tavern for the next eight days in exchange for doing some work such as cleaning the floors.
Thallatos leaves the city with his minions in order to comply with the city guard’s command. Leon, on the other hand, decides to pay a visit to Helena, with whom he has been communicating via their journey books. Only, when he arrives, Leon finds Helena missing. On her bed is a note, which reads:
“You took something of mine, now I took something of yours. Come to Castle Tethyr, and don’t bring your friends. I’ll be watching for them. -- Irea”
Leon realizes that he has no idea who this Irea is. However, he’s quite sure that this is a trap. He goes looking for the rest of Helena’s party, and finds them in Faelar’s room, where the elf is laid out in the bed with bandages around his head.
Leon uses his curing wand to awaken Faelar, and asks what happened. Faelar says that he heard someone sneaking into Helena’s room, but could not see anything. Then he was hit over the head and that’s the last thing he remembers. Leon decides that Faelar, Garm, and Bobo will be no help, and leaves.
He tracks down Tyrrox, and tells him what’s going on. He says that he is heading for Castle Tethyr (which happens to be along the road to Darromar), and that if nobody hears from him in 48 hours, he is probably dead. He then finds Thallatos and Vanemuine and tells them that he will be going on ahead, and that he will catch back up to them when he can.
XP Awarded: 1,600 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:04:17 GMT -5
Session 16: Sunday, November 15, 2009
Flying for Castle Tethyr at top speed, Leon covers the many miles from there to Zazesspur in less than four hours. He finds the castle standing crumbled, in ruins, the state it has remained in since the Reclamation War.
Making himself invisible, Leon finds a way in through a hole in the second floor, and begins searching the keep. The upper floors show signs of animal passage, but no recent human occupancy. However, when he moves down to the ground floor, he sees boot prints in the dust.
Eventually Leon finds himself outside a pair of tall wooden doors, which seem to be the entrance to the main hall. He attempts to blast them open with a fiery eldritch blast, but his shot misses. However, it ignites an old torch set in a wall bracket and knocks the torch to the floor, where it soon catches the doors on fire.
Leon waits for the old, dry wood to be taken up by the flames, and makes himself invisible again. He then flies into the room beyond, which looks like it was once a throne room. Inside he sees two familiar faces: Helena, and the woman who once impersonated her, whom Leon killed. The impersonator must be Irea. Behind Helena (who is gagged, and has her hands bound behind her back) stands a tall man-shaped construct of stone, wood, and metal, which Leon recognizes as a Shield Guardian.
Irea, with her knife drawn, starts looking around warily, and calls out for Leon to show himself. Instead, he flies behind Helena and quietly unties her hands, then places his punching dagger into her hand. Then he flies directly behind Irea and shoots her point blank with an eldritch blast.
Irea immediately attacks with her dagger. The Shield Guardian comes to life and attacks Leon with his fists. Helena joins in the battle, going after Irea with the punching dagger.
Leon hits Irea with another blast, which seems to cause her to slow temporarily. She pulls out a Calishite-style lamp and rubs it, causing a genie called an efreet to come out. She tells the efreet that her last wish is for him to take Leon down.
Leon takes to the air again, using a scroll to allow Helena to fly as well. The efreet catches them both in a wall of fire, but Leon catches Helena when she starts to fall. He also notices that the Shield Guardian seems to be taking damage even though it hasn’t been struck in combat, and theorizes that it is somehow protecting Irea by taking some of her wounds onto itself.
Eventually Leon is forced to activate his fiendish resilience, making his appearance more demonic and granting him some rapid healing power. He tells Helena to get away, and she takes off flying for the door. The Shield Guardian pursues on foot.
Leon is grabbed in midair by the efreet, who holds him tightly while the heat of its body burns him. While he is still held, Irea bludgeons him with the handle of her dagger, knocking him out.
He regains consciousness a short time later, and hears Irea arguing with the efreet. The efreet is saying that its job is done, wish fulfilled, and it is now released. Irea, on the other hand, is saying that its job is not done until Leon is secured and taken into custody. Leon turns himself invisible again and heads back into the air.
Irea curses, and the efreet turns to look for him. Irea vanishes, and with his magical sight Leon is able to tell that her boots were the source of her teleportation magic. The efreet continues to search for him, following the lingering magic of his aura as he tries to get around it and head for the door. Just as he reaches the doorway, the efreet figures out where he has gone and throws up a wall of fire, blocking his path.
Leon tries to dispel the wall, but is unable to do it. So he pulls out his healing wand, cures himself a bit, and then hurtles through the wall of flame before the efreet can catch up to him.
As he takes off down the hallway looking for a way out, the castle begins crumbling around him. He dodges some falling stones, and when he sees sunlight streaming through a hole in the ceiling he flies toward it – only to slam into solid stone and fall back. As it turns out, the collapsing castle is an illusion.
Leon continues flying through the halls, looking for a way out. Eventually he moves past the radius of the illusion, and the castle returns to its normal state of dilapidated, but not falling apart.
Meanwhile, Thallatos and Vanemuine meet back at the warehouse where the caravan has waited out the day in Zazesspur. They know that Leon will not be joining them, though the exact details of where he has gone and why have not been shared with them. Since Tyrrox is waiting for the magical gear at Laffy Kilos’s shop to be completed, the two of them are the only guards left for the caravan, except of course for Torgeth. The dragonborn, however, seems to have disappeared. It is believed he is somewhere in one of the wagons, drinking or passed out.
Thallatos takes up the rearguard of the caravan again alongside his “lepers.” Vanemuine flies back and forth over the wagon train, trying to keep watch on the entire thing. However, the front and sides are no longer protected.
Eventually the caravan stops. Vanemuine makes his way to the front and discovers a woman dressed in dancer’s clothing, standing in the middle of the road blocking the way. Alongside her are a pair of archers. The woman is wearing a pair of sheathed scimitars. Vanemuine fails to recognize her as one of the other contestants from the dance contest in Myratma.
Realizing that this is trouble brewing, Vanemuine flies lower and tells one of the caravan drivers, “We need help. Pass it back.” Word is passed back through the caravan to Thallatos, but along the way the message becomes garbled. What Thallatos is actually told is, “Send Hell. Massive attack.” So he and his skeletal minions set off running for the front of the caravan at top speed.
Back up front, the dancer motions for the archers to aim at the elf on the flying carpet, and then calls for the caravan to surrender to her. Vanemuine replies that that’s not in the plan, so the archers fire at him. Both miss, and he returns fire with his magic. The dancer draws her scimitars, which alight with blazing fire.
While Thallatos and his minions are running to the front, they are attacked from nowhere. A man pops from cover and stabs Thallatos with a rapier. Two more men come out of hiding with similar attacks on the “lepers.” The skeletons attack the men with their claws, and Thallatos releases two bursts of negative energy, both to reenergize his undead minions and to harm his attackers. The man who attacked him runs away, but the others are overwhelmed and killed.
More archers appear alongside the caravan. They take a couple of potshots at Vanemuine, then change targets and start firing into the caravan. When the dancer realizes that Vanemuine is hesitant to come down, she instead attacks the horses leading the first wagon. The archers divide their attacks between the elf and the horses.
Eventually Vanemuine flies down to attack the archers. He kills one of them, but then the dancer runs and leaps onto the carpet. There she attacks him with her twirling scimitars, circling around him as she probes his defenses and cuts at him with burning slashes.
However, she proves to be no match for Vanemuine’s own graceful style of fighting, in part because his armor protects him while she wears nothing more than silk. She eventually falls to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
Thallatos and his minions arrive at the archers attacking the caravan. He summons a pair of troll skeletons to deal with them, and his own skeletons help. Then he moves on toward the front, where his minions help clean up the fight there. Eventually they trap the last remaining archer, and Thallatos calls for him to surrender.
This archer, who has had remarkably poor accuracy for most of the fight, drops to the fetal position and starts crying. Meanwhile, there is no sign of the man that attacked Thallatos, and the woman is now missing as well.
Thallatos eventually calms the prisoner down enough to question him. The man’s name is Oz. He seems to be somewhat… slow, for lack of a better word. Thallatos asks how Oz knew about the caravan, and he says his boss, Erisha (the dancer woman), told him. He also says that the man who attacked Thallatos was named Yoren. He’s a coward but he’s mean. Yoren threatened to cut out Oz’s kidneys if he stepped out of line, asked questions, or didn’t do as he was told.
Thallatos asks where the headquarters of those who attacked the caravan is located. Oz describes a location in Myratma, close enough that Thallatos and Vanemuine think they could probably find the place or at least the general area. Thallatos convinces Oz that he will not be harmed, and that if he stays with the caravan he will be kept safe from Yoren. Oz agrees, and is allowed to keep his bow.
However, the caravan now has a problem. Both of the horses on the lead wagon were killed, as was the driver. Further checking reveals that several of the other drivers were killed as well. The caravan head says that he can spread out the people in order to replace the slain drivers, but the dead horses are a problem.
Seeing no other solution, Thallatos reveals his true nature to the caravan leader, and to Vanemuine. He offers to raise the horses as undead to pull the cart. The caravan leader is disgusted by the very idea, and searches for other options. However, he finds none.
It is decided that the rest of the caravan will move a short distance down the road and then make camp. Meanwhile, Thallatos will gather what he needs for the ritual. He desecrates the area, then raises the horses as skeletons. He then drapes the hides of the horses over the bones and stuffs them to look more or less like real horses from a distance. Thallatos himself takes over driving this wagon, which is moved to the rear of the caravan with the “lepers.” A cover story is concocted about finding some horses to buy.
The caravan leader does not like this solution, and makes no secret of his distaste for the whole business and for Thallatos in general, but agrees that for now at least, it’s the only option they have because the caravan must keep moving, and it’s already overloaded so much that the wagon’s load cannot be redistributed to the other wagons.
Somehow in all this business, Thallatos picks up a nickname, the “Leper Shepherd.”
After hours of searching, Leon finds Helena sitting atop the highest point of Castle Tethyr. Her fly spell has long since run out, and she has been perched here with nothing but the punching dagger, because Irea took all of her equipment, including the journey book with which Leon was keeping in touch with her.
Leon takes Helena and flies back to Zazesspur again, returning to the Smiling Centaur just barely within 48 hours. There they find Tyrrox earning his keep by doing various jobs. Leon fills him in on what happened, and warns that there may be a genie after him.
Helena says that Irea said something about “the benefits of a wealthy backer.” She has had some time to think about it, and believes that Irea is probably working for a noble somewhere. Leon tells her and Tyrrox to go fetch her friends from where they’re staying, while he tries to uncover the noble’s identity.
Leon goes to some upscale places in Zazesspur, buying drinks for people and cautiously asking questions. Eventually he finds out from one wealthy government employee that a woman more or less matching Irea’s description has occasionally been seen in the company of Dario Forel, son of the Duke of Zazesspur.
Coincidentally, the Duke of Zazesspur is someone Leon has been looking to get revenge on for years, though he tried and failed to do it by legal means once before. Leon makes sure his informant is good and drunk before heading back.
In the meantime, Tyrrox and Helena discover that Garm, Faelar, and Bobo are no longer at the inn where they were staying before. They checked out in a hurry not long after Leon left there, and haven’t been back since. He reasons that they probably set off for Castle Tethyr themselves.
When Leon comes back, he tells the others what he has learned. Helena excuses herself because she isn’t feeling well. When she comes back, they decide to take her to a church for healing. Not too far off, they find a church of Siamorphe, the demigoddess of nobility and royalty. Helena receives some healing, and seems to improve.
Leon tries to contact Irea through the journey book. The message he receives back indicates that she doesn’t seem to understand the function of the book, as she seems confused.
After that, Leon, Tyrrox, and Helena set off for Castle Tethyr. They are most of the way there when they meet Garm, Bobo, and Faelar heading back to Zazesspur. They had reached the castle and found nobody there. All six of them decide to return to Zazesspur to plan their next move.
When they come back, Berdak hands a box to Tyrrox. He says that it was delivered for him while he was out, by a man with strangely-shaped eyes. Tyrrox opens it up to find a white lotus flower inside, stained red with drops of blood. He thoroughly examines the box, but finds nothing else inside it.
Leon sends another message to Irea through the journey book, telling her that he will meet her at Castle Tethyr and end their rivalry once and for all. He receives no reply.
XP Awarded: 2,550 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:05:07 GMT -5
Session 17: Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tyrrox goes around town talking to people, trying to figure out the meaning behind the bloodied lotus that was given to him. After several hours of this, he learns little. However, he does speak to someone who has heard rumor of this sort of thing in Myratma. Supposedly whoever receives the lotus dies soon afterward, often in their sleep.
Once that’s done, Tyrrox joins up with Leon, and with Helena and her friends Garm, Bobo, and Faelar. The six of them head for Castle Tethyr for a showdown with Irea. The group decides to camp for the night before getting to the castle, just to be rested and ready for a fight. Tyrrox makes arrangements for Faelar to stay awake and guard the centaur while he sleeps, just in case. Thankfully, the night passes uneventfully.
In the morning, they reach Castle Tethyr and head inside. At first they try to be stealthy, but Tyrrox makes that impossible, so for the most part they give it up (except for Leon, who goes invisible).
Tyrrox takes up the lead position, and when he reaches the open doorway to the throne room, he sees the shield guardian standing in the room, with a woman seated on the throne waiting. As they move into the room, Tyrrox, Bobo, and Garm are suddenly engulfed by an exploding fireball with no visible source.
Only then do they notice that Irea has half a dozen bowmen against the walls of the room, waiting in ambush. The bowmen draw and fire, raining arrows on the group.
Tyrrox couches his lance and charges straight at the shield guardian, landing a direct blow. Leon flies toward Irea and temporarily dispels the enchantment on her boots, preventing her from using them. However, she doesn’t realize this immediately, and tumbles into position to attack Tyrrox, striking a vital point with her dagger.
Leon fires an eldritch blast at Irea’s feet, destroying one of her temporarily non-magical boots. Since they operate as a set, they will no longer function. She is shocked, but keeps up the assault on Tyrrox.
Meanwhile, Helena and her friends deal with the bowmen. Bobo is wounded, and she and Helena retreat out the door. They trick some of the bowmen into following, and take them out one by one as they come out the door.
Faelar tries to join in the fight against the shield guardian, but it goes badly for him. So in a rare display of good sense, he switches tactics and goes after the bowmen as well. Unfortunately his wounds pile up and he is knocked out. Meanwhile, Garm deals with three of the archers all by himself, hitting one of them so hard that he is practically knocked through the wall.
Suddenly, Tyrrox is killed. His falling body knocks over the shield guardian, temporarily pinning it to the ground. Leon is killed moments later by Irea, still stunned by the sudden death of his friend.
Tyrrox becomes aware of himself again, in a place of endless gray. His weapons, armor, and even clothes are gone. With nothing to see by looking around, he picks a direction and starts off walking in that direction. As he continues on, he notices other people headed in more or less the same direction. They seem to be paying no attention to him or to each other. Tyrrox asks one of the people what’s going on, but learns nothing useful.
Leon finds himself in the same place of endless gray. Thanks to his knowledge about the various planes of existence, he reasons that this must be the Fugue Plane, a kind of holding area where dead people gather to wait for their deities to transport them to their eternal afterlife. This, of course, means that Leon himself is dead. He looks around the world of endless gray and, seeing no identifying features of any kind, picks a direction and starts walking.
As Tyrrox continues walking, eventually the various people coalesce into a line, which Tyrrox gets into. He asks the person in front of him, an old man, what the line is for. The man’s answers are not helpful, so Tyrrox smacks him in the head. The man complains a bit, but then turns and faces forward again.
Leon also finds himself in a line eventually, but rather than stand in it, he steps out of line and tries walking around. Suddenly, he spots a door. It isn’t in a wall or anything, so he walks around to the other side, and still sees only the door. He decides to open it, and sees a dark hallway. Figuring that this is as good as anywhere else, Leon walks through the door into the dark hallway.
As he walks down the hall, the walls around seem to pulse like a heartbeat, as if the whole place is alive or as if he’s inside of something living. He travels down the hallway for an indeterminate amount of time, and eventually finds himself in a circular room. The only thing in the room is a giant hourglass, trimmed in gold and filled with what looks like blood.
A deep, malevolent voice issues from no visible source. It identifies itself as Leon’s fiendish ancestor, and tells him that it is not yet time for Leon to be here. The voice tells Leon that he can return to the world of the living, and with his friend as well. It will not be without cost, however. All he has to do is take the hourglass and turn it over.
Leon considers for a moment, and turns over the hourglass. Blood starts to flow a drop at a time, until it stops after a small amount of it has gone into the bottom of the hourglass. Suddenly, he feels something yank him from behind, and as he seems to fly backward at incredible speed, he blacks out.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox is grabbed out of line by an unseen force and yanked into the air. He manages to strike the old man one more time on the way out, as he is yanked upward before also blacking out.
Both Tyrrox and Leon awaken, back in their own bodies in Castle Tethyr, to find that no time at all has passed. The shield guardian has pushed Tyrrox off and stood up, so Tyrrox gets up and renews his attack on the guardian.
Leon also gets up and blasts a very surprised Irea. She fights back and wounds him again, but is also wounded herself. Her situation looks even worse when Tyrrox finally succeeds in destroying the shield guardian, so she runs toward the back of the room. Her outline goes blurry, and she turns invisible. Leon can still see her, of course, although her outline is still blurred even to him. He fires an eldritch blast at the invisible Irea, knocking her out. When she reappears moments later, Tyrrox walks over and stomps on her until he’s quite sure that she’s dead.
Meanwhile, Garm and Helena deal with the last of the bowmen, as an injured Bobo tends to the unconscious Faelar. Eventually Helena and Garm head over there, and Garm gives Bobo and Faelar healing potions.
Leon takes Irea’s magical gear, but is dismayed to see that most of Helena’s own belongings are not on her person. He gives some of Irea’s things to Helena, and keeps some for himself as well.
It is decided that Tyrrox will hit the road and try to catch up with the caravan before it reaches Darromar. Leon will return to Zazesspur with Helena and her friends and wait for their magic items to be completed by Laffy Kilos.
Meanwhile on the road to Darromar, the caravan is moving again now that Thallatos has raised the slain horses, disguised them as living horses, and hitched them to the wagon. He now drives the wagon in the rear of the caravan, leaving Oz to drive the first wagon and Vanemuine to patrol the entire caravan from the air.
However, after some time the caravan stops again. Vanemuine heads to the front to check it out, and discovers that a herd of mountain goats is blocking the road. Considering the drought that has plagued the land for the past couple of months and killed all the crops, these goats seem surprisingly well-fed.
Vanemuine tells Oz to go up and shoo the goats off the road so they can pass through, but when Oz attempts to do so, the goats won’t move. Oz tells Vanemuine that he doesn’t like the way the goat is looking at him, and moments later the goat opens its mouth and spews a gout of flame at the hapless Oz. Although he tries to get away, the angry goat also headbutts him once or twice.
A signal is sent to Thallatos at the rear of the caravan, who comes up to the front with his undead minions. He notices that these goats have lizardlike eyes and somewhat scaly skin beneath their hair. However, he does not want to fight the goats, even if they do breathe fire. So he forms his skeletons into a defensive line to protect Oz, and orders Oz not to fight back.
The angry goat tries to smash through the line of skeletons, and with a powerful headbutt nearly destroys one of them. It also unleashes another gout of flame. So Vanemuine fires an enfeebling ray at the goat and also a firebolt, which seems to have no effect at all. He does, however, succeed in drawing the goat’s attention away from Thallatos and his skeletons.
The goat tries to give chase, but since Vanemuine is up in the air it quickly gives up. From the safety of his carpet, Vanemuine flies over the herd looking for a shepherd or somebody else in the know about what is going on here. It takes him a long time, during which he tries to count the goats and loses count after awhile. Eventually though, he does find a shepherd.
The shepherd has the same slitted, lizardlike eyes as the goats, and his skin also has a somewhat reddish scaly appearance. The shepherd explains that these goats are all half-red dragon goats, all descended from one legendary half-dragon goat that might still be alive somewhere, though he does not know.
While Vanemuine privately wonders why a dragon would mate with a goat, the shepherd explains that his herd has come down out of the mountains looking for food, because there is no more to be found there. However, he discovered that there is little of anything to find here because of the drought. The shepherd also mentions that the ice caps in the mountains are melting.
He agrees to move his herd off the road if Vanemuine can help him to feed the goats, either by providing food or pointing him toward where he can obtain the means to feed his herd.
Vanemuine returns to Thallatos and discusses what he has learned. They approach the caravan leader and explain the situation. They decide to take the share of horse feed that would have belonged to the horses which are now undead, and offer that to the shepherd. However, since that will not be enough to feed his entire herd, they also decide to suggest he take his goats back over the mountains to the Wealdath forest, which are probably much more lush than the plains here.
The shepherd accepts these conditions and moves his herd off the road to let the caravan through. He then turns his herd northward again and sets off for the Wealdath.
The caravan continues traveling through the night, rest the next day, and travel again the next night. Towards the end of that night, Tyrrox catches up to the caravan, having run at top speed from Castle Tethyr along the road.
Tyrrox exchanges stories with Thallatos, who decides to inform the centaur that he’s a necromancer since Tyrrox would probably find out from Vanemuine anyway. Tyrrox doesn’t seem to take issue with the revelation, and heads to the front of the caravan to take up his place there.
Back in Zazesspur, Leon collects the gear from Laffy Kilos, and also sells of some of Irea’s gear. He uses some of the proceeds to buy a scroll to teleport to the caravan, but Laffy Kilos points out that Leon doesn’t know where the caravan is. So he convinces Leon to buy a scroll of scrying, which Laffy Kilos then uses to locate the caravan for Leon so that he can teleport there.
Leon teleports to the caravan, arriving not too long after Tyrrox. He hands over Tyrrox’s new lance, which is incredibly large even for a centaur, and magically enchanted as well.
Tyrrox and especially Leon take a little pleasure in frightening poor Oz, who runs back to Thallatos and hides there from the “demon” and the centaur. Leon decides to take up driving the lead wagon, which is a nice change of pace from flying everywhere.
During the night, the caravan runs afoul of four large, metallic-looking bulls, which Leon identifies as Gorgons. They snort green smoke from their nostrils, and can spew it at foes as well, which can turn people caught in it to stone. Leon warns Tyrrox, the only one within range, about the breath weapon.
The four Gorgons do not present much of a challenge to the reunited group, although they do significant damage to one of the wagons in the middle of the caravan. Three of the bodies are left mostly intact, while the fourth is destroyed beyond any sort of use that Thallatos could make of it.
XP Awarded: 2,875 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:06:16 GMT -5
Session 18: Sunday, January 3, 2010
In the aftermath of the battle with the gorgons, the group tosses around ideas about how to deal with the damage that was done to several of the caravan’s wagons. One idea is for Tyrrox to pull one of the broken wagons like an oversized sled, a prospect which promises to be both tiring and humiliating for the proud centaur. Another idea is for as much cargo as possible to be loaded aboard Vanemuine’s flying carpet. Eventually it is decided to do both, to lessen the amount that Tyrrox will have to drag.
Tyrrox speaks to the caravan leader, Rando McMook, and asks for additional compensation for this extra labor he is taking on. Rando agrees to pay Tyrrox a greater share of the caravan’s limited budget.
Meanwhile, a few horses have been freed up thanks to the wrecked wagons. These horses are hitched to Thallatos’s wagon so that he no longer has to have skeletal horses pulling the wagon. Thallatos also takes advantage of the delay to animate the three intact gorgon bodies, two as skeletons and one as a zombie. He is careful to keep his necromantic rituals private to avoid the notice of most of the caravan crew. As has become fairly standard practice for him, Thallatos tries to mask the skeletons’ undead nature by draping the hides of the creatures over their bodies and stitching them in place.
Finally, the caravan resumes traveling the long road to Darromar. Two nights out from the city, Tyrrox is on watch when he spots a winged, vaguely humanoid figure pass high overhead, silhouetted against the moon. After some observation, he concludes that it is not Torgeth (who has been unaccounted for during most of the trip), because the figure is too thin and does not appear to be wearing metal armor.
Tyrrox continues to watch as the winged figure takes a few more passes over the caravan, and then lands about a hundred feet away. Tyrrox begins to hear a hauntingly beautiful melody sung on the wind, and before he can think about what he’s doing, his hooves start moving as he heads toward the winged creature.
Caught in the creature’s spell, Tyrrox still maintains enough awareness to recognize it as a harpy when he gets closer. Even so, he continues walking forward, captivated by its song. Suddenly, he makes out more creatures waiting in ambush: four hobgoblins, two crouched hill giants, and a familiar green hag.
Realizing that he is walking into a trap, Tyrrox shakes himself free of the enchantment and draws his weapon. The green hag declares that she will now take revenge for the death of her sisters, and vanishes. The giants start toward Tyrrox, one taking a swing with its giant club. Tyrrox falls back and shouts to the caravan, trying to alert the others that there is an attack.
Thallatos is awoken not by Tyrrox’s shout, but by his imp familiar and by Oz, who heard the shouting. The necromancer stirs himself and begins trying to figure out where the attack is coming from.
The four hobgoblins lob their javelins at Tyrrox, and the second hill giant lobs a boulder at the centaur as well, which falls just short and bounces past harmlessly.
Thallatos awakens Vanemuine, and they discover another force sneaking up on the caravan from the south, consisting of a trio of ogres and more hobgoblins. As Thallatos moves toward Leon to wake him up, another harpy starts singing. Thallatos and Leon do not fall prey to its enchanting song, however. Nor does Vanemuine.
The hill giant continues tossing boulders at Tyrrox, but misses badly and takes out one of its hobgoblin allies instead. Tyrrox feels a touch on his shoulder, and feels the strength begin to drain from his body as the hag reappears next to him. Tyrrox shakes off the effects of the draining touch, and steps back as a fiery blast from Leon (who took to the air to come help Tyrrox) strikes the hag from the side, causing her rag garments to catch fire.
More boulders continue to crash to the ground around Tyrrox, but none strike him. He pays no more attention to the falling rocks than he does the hobgoblins, who come in with sword and shield drawn and slash ineffectively at his armor. Instead, he strikes back at the green hag, who has not had the opportunity to disappear again yet, and lands a glancing blow.
Meanwhile, Vanemuine also takes to the air, shooting fire bolts down at the hobgoblins in his area. They respond by throwing javelins up at him, and a couple do strike the elf for minor wounds. Thallatos and Oz fall captive to the enchanting song of the second harpy, and leave the battle as they start heading toward the sound. However, Thallatos’s undead minions continue to act on their last orders.
The first harpy draws a shortbow and fires an arrow into Tyrrox’s arm. As one hobgoblin explodes into flame from one of Vanemuine’s fire bolts, Tyrrox and Leon look find that the various fire spells have caused patches of dry grass to catch fire around the battlefield, throwing up smoke and impeding visibility.
Nonetheless, Leon is able to pick out the green hag, who has turned invisible again, and blasts her again. Tyrrox follows the path of the beam, and charges at the spot where he saw the beam of eldritch energy stop in the air. He cannot see what he is charging at, but the shudder of impact up his arm tells the centaur that his lance has struck true.
However, with his attention focused on the hag, Tyrrox almost doesn’t see the boulder hurtling in his direction, and barely gets his head out of the way in time. As the massive rock passes within an inch of him, Tyrrox thinks that he can actually feel it graze his helmet.
With the scare of the near miss, Tyrrox fails to notice the extra weight he’s carrying, until the green hag materializes in his view, impaled through the chest. In her death throes, the hag turns her hideous visage to the sky and reaches upward with both hands. She manages to moan the words “Big Sister” with her final breath, then slumps over dead.
Leon pulls out a scroll and reads the arcane words of an ice storm spell. The vicious blizzard erupts around the hill giants and hobgoblins, killing one of the goblins outright and pelting the remaining ones with painful freezing hail.
Suddenly, a powerful impact knocks Tyrrox off his hooves. It’s one of the hill giants, who has tackled the centaur to the ground. It shouts “Football!” right in his face, which seems nonsensical under the circumstances. The giant slams Tyrrox’s head off the ground, shouting its strange battle cry in his face over and over.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group mops up the harpies, the remaining hobgoblins, and the other hill giant. Finally the last hill giant is killed as well, much to Tyrrox’s satisfaction.
After the group’s wounds are patched up, Tyrrox suggests to Thallatos that he use one of his undead to replace one of the wheels on a wagon, which was broken during the fight. Instead, however, Leon persuades the centaur to travel ahead of the caravan and get a new wagon wheel in Darromar. Thallatos also asks the centaur to pick up some more material components for his spells.
While Tyrrox is gone, Thallatos and Leon swap stories, each revealing some of the secrets of their power, and stories of their past adventures.
Tyrrox returns, having discovered that Darromar is not far from the caravan’s current encampment. After picking on Oz for awhile longer, the group gets the caravan moving again and heads for the city.
Near the outskirts of Darromar, a figure appears in front of the caravan in a puff of smoke. But rather than yet another attack, it is Milia Greenleaf, who conducted the test for the group’s Silver Shield Guild licenses. She tells the group that the Guild president has a message for them regarding events in Myratma, and asks them to stop at the head office before going on to the palace, the caravan’s ultimate destination.
After conducting a search of the caravan, the group finds Torgeth asleep in one of the wagons in the middle of the caravan. He seems to have been drinking himself into a stupor for most of the trip. The groggy dragonborn is pulled to his feet, as Thallatos is left to guard the caravan by himself. Leon, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Torgeth all head into Darromar, to the head office of the Silver Shield Mercenary Guild.
When they reach the office, the four of them are ushered into the office of Guild president Matthias Youngblood. Matthias tells them that thanks to their escapade at the dance contest in Myratma, warrants have been issued there for all their arrests. He tells them that by all rights, he should revoke their Guild memberships for the trouble they have caused there, but because of their good track record in previous missions he will not.
But aside from that, Matthias has a problem of his own. He informs the group that he believes someone in Myratma is stealing from the Guild. Payments are often short, and shipments of gold have a suspiciously high rate of bandit attacks. Matthias suspects an inside job, and needs someone to figure out who has infiltrated the company and eliminate that influence.
Matthias offers to use his connections to make the group’s arrest warrants go away if they will help him. He tells them that if they do not accept, he will not go to the police. However, he believes it is just a matter of time until they are tracked back to the Guild, and Matthias promises that he will cooperate fully with the law should they come to him.
Should they agree to his terms, Matthias wants the group members to sign contracts to ensure that they keep their word. Leon examines the magical contracts and discovers that should the terms be violated, the subject will be rendered deaf, blind, and mute by its power. Matthias tells them to think about it, and come back to him after they have concluded their mission at the palace.
The group returns to the caravan and fills in Thallatos on the details of the meeting. The caravan then sets off for the royal palace in Darromar. Word is sent ahead to the palace, and by the time the wagons begin to arrive, a formal reception has been thrown together.
As the group draws to a halt in front of the reception, a big, burly orc in plate armor steps forward. Tyrrox recognizes it as the same type of orc as the one from the pirate crew, though obviously not the same orc. This orc proclaims the arrival of Her Highness Queen-Monarch Zaranda Star-Rhindaun and His Highness King Haedrak III Rhindaun.
Surprisingly, both of the monarchs appear to be far younger than expected, each seeming about fifteen years of age. Though appearing too young for their reputed ages, both seem perfectly confident in who they are. The Queen thanks the caravan leader and the workers who brought much-needed food all the way from Waterdeep. She then asks the caravan guards to step forward one by one and give their names.
Tyrrox, Vanemuine, Thallatos and Leon do so, though Leon reluctantly. When Torgeth identifies himself, Queen Zaranda places him under arrest, proclaiming that he is arrested for the murders of Tamuril and Terinor Brightblade. The others are shocked at the charges, but wisely choose not to interfere as a silent Torgeth is shackled and led away by guards.
Queen Zaranda apologizes to the others assembled, and proclaims that there will be a celebration held in their honor tonight. She explains that ordinarily there would be a feast, but due to the crop failure this year food is scarce and so the fare will be modest.
The celebration will be in the evening, so for now the group members are free to do what they will. Tyrrox asks to speak to the queen for a moment, and explains to her the fiasco at the dance contest in Myratma. He asks Queen Zaranda to cancel the arrest warrants, but she tells him that if they did actually take the carpet then technically they did steal it. If they took the prize just to protect it, then she is willing to take custody of it and have it returned to the contest organizers.
Once away from the palace, Thallatos and Leon discuss their pasts some more. Each mentions that they have some connection to the archdevil Mephistopheles, strangely enough.
Leon heads to Vance’s shop, where he trades in the cloak he took from the pirate captain for a magical vest with much the same enchantments, and has his magical tie upgraded.
Thallatos travels to Darromar’s small wizard academy, and visits the office of his sister, who is a faculty member there. He inquires after her, hoping to bring her to the palace, but she is not there at the moment.
XP Awarded: 1,723 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:07:25 GMT -5
Session 19: Sunday, May 9, 2010
The group members complete whatever errands they want to do before heading back to the palace for the party. Leon buys himself a new suit of clothes and meets up with Kingston Moonshadow, whom he has invited to the party as his guest. Tyrrox thinks that he should bring a guest, but doesn’t know anybody in Darromar, so he finds a random homeless person named Patches.
Patches seems depressed, and Tyrrox wants to cheer her up by bringing her to the party. He dances for Patches to show her how much fun she could have, and Patches agrees to go along with him. When Tyrrox meets up with the others, they are surprised to see that he has a hobo along with him, and try halfheartedly to convince him that it isn’t a good idea.
At the palace, there is time for just a bit of mingling done while the preparations in the hall are completed. When they enter, the group sees a huge dining room, with tables lined up parallel to one another. Perpendicular to them, on the far side of the room on a raised dais, is the high table for the guests of honor, including themselves.
The caravan workers sit at the common tables, where they intermingle with palace staff, off-duty guardsmen, and townspeople of middling importance. The high table has twenty-six place settings, and is for the royal family, the party members and their guests, the caravan head Rando McMook, nobles that are in town, and other important personages.
One by one, the people at the high table are introduced. In addition to Queen Zaranda, King Haedrak, Tyrrox, Thallatos, Vanemuine, and Leon, guests include Rando McMook, Patches the hobo, and Kingston Moonshadow, Leon’s attorney friend. Others at the table include the three royal children Princess Cyriana, Prince Coram, and Crown Princess Sybille (all three of whom are identical triplets), the children’s tutor Tabitha Manchune, Lord-Mayor Ternan Grannox of Darromar and his wife Brenna, Lady Harlaa Assumbar (Queen’s Minister and High Lady Scion of Siamorphe), Lord Tardeth Llanistaph the Duke of Suretmarch, his wife the Lady Llanistaph and nephew Perrault Llanistaph (also a lawyer of Leon’s acquaintance), Arkaneus Silvermane the Archdruid of Mosstone and his attendant Nym Laertian, Lord Llachior Blackthorn the Duke of Cape Velen, Count Godfrey Dumone of Darromar and his daughter Alisandra Dumone, Vander Stillhawk (the captain of the palace guard), and Shield of Innocence (the Queen’s herald and personal bodyguard).
Among these are quite a few people known to some of the party members. Thallatos is quite surprised to learn that his sister Tabitha is apparently the tutor of the royal children. Leon recognizes not only Perrault Llanistaph but also his uncle Lord Tardeth, who presided over a case that Leon brought before the high court some years ago. And of course the half-elf Nym Laertian is one of the many who signed up for the Guild mission in Zazesspur that led to the discovery of the food caravan.
Lady Assumbar says a brief blessing after the food is served, and then dinner begins. The food is modest but good, as the palace tries to balance propriety and necessity in celebrating while there is famine in the country.
Tyrrox is pleasantly surprised to discover that he has a special sling-chair to sit in, made specifically for centaurs. He has seen these only once before, in the Smiling Centaur tavern in Zazesspur. Tyrrox soon learns the reason for this accommodation, as Queen Zaranda asks him whether he knows of a centaur named Timoth. This Timoth is a hero of Tethyr, who personally saved Zaranda from captivity during the Reclamation War and is a close personal friend of the crown. As it happens, this Timoth is a member of Tyrrox’s tribe, who left to seek his own fortune in the world. Tyrrox’s own young cousin is named after this same Timoth, who was well-known and respected within the tribe before he left.
The Queen then tries to speak to Leon, who is minimally polite due to his personal dislike for the Queen, whom he had never met before today. The conversation turns to Leon’s pas, and he alludes to the fact that he had a home burn down once. Queen Zaranda offers her sympathy and hope that no one was harmed, and Leon says no, not in the first fire anyway. The Queen seems to have no knowledge of the events, and a moment of awkward silence passes as she searches for something to say.
While these conversations are going on, Thallatos looks around the table and observes some of the others. The mayor spends most of the time agreeing with whatever his wife says as she chats with Lady Assumbar. King Haedrak makes the occasional witty joke, but spends most of the time slipping food to something behind the table. Thallatos is eventually able to spot a platinum-colored pseudodragon, which he and Leon figure must be the King’s familiar.
Surprisingly, Rando McMook seems to be quite at ease in the company of nobles and royalty, and chats amiably and respectfully with them. Thallatos makes a mental note to ask Rando about that later. He exchanges occasional brief looks with his sister, but Tabitha is seated at the far end of the table near the children and he is not able so speak with her during the meal.
Eventually Thallatos gets a chance to speak with the Queen, and he asks about the drought. Although not particularly eager to discuss such unpleasant business at dinner, the Queen tells him that whatever is causing it must be magical in nature. The druid’s circle at Mosstone has been trying nonstop to bring the rain, but even the most powerful druids present are finding their weather-controlling spells completely ineffective. It seems that whatever is causing the drought is powerful enough to resist any of their efforts. A quick look at the Archdruid shows that he is tired and haggard-looking, as if he has been spending a great deal of time working and not enough time resting.
Queen Zaranda mentions that she is looking into hiring some Silver Shield Guild agents to investigate the cause of the drought, but she has no information to even give them a starting place to look, so she has not yet posted a mission.
Down at the far end of the table, Lord Llanistaph seems to be trying his best to ignore his nephew Perrault, who is trying to schmooze the various lords sitting near him. Duke Blackthorn and Count Dumone make pleasant conversation with him, while Count Dumone’s daughter Alisandra looks bored and almost as uncomfortable at the table as Leon. Nym Laertian also looks quite unhappy, as he has only the Archdruid to talk to.
Thallatos notices that Vander Stillhawk is occasionally approached by uniformed men, who speak to him briefly before leaving. He tries to overhear what is being said but can’t make anything out.
After everyone is finished eating, the tables are removed to the far wall of the room, and there is music and dancing. Tyrrox boldly asks Queen Zaranda to dance the first dance with him. She warns him that she is a terrible dancer, but Tyrrox persists and she agrees. Tyrrox does his best to try and make her look good dancing, but even his excellent dancing is not enough to make her look anything but clumsy and graceless.
Tyrrox asks others to dance, including the orc Shield of Innocence, but Shield says that he must stay near the children. Alisandra Dumone approaches Tyrrox and reveals that she was the cloaked stranger with whom he danced in town once upon a time. They dance again, and Alisandra proves to be a much better dancer than the Queen.
As Leon begins getting drunker than he has ever been without the aid of Genie Juice, Thallatos finally finds a moment to speak to his sister Tabitha. While she keeps one eye on the royal children, Tabitha catches up with her brother.
Tabitha tells Thallatos that she was hired as the royal children’s tutor fairly recently. She does still teach at the arcane college where Thallatos went looking for her early in the day, but she also tries to teach the young heirs the basic principles of arcane magic and a few simple cantrips to work with. Currently she is trying to teach them the prestidigitation spell.
When Thallatos mentions to her that he noticed Vander Stillhawk receiving messages during the dinner, Tabitha tells him that she managed to overhear most of them even though she was at the far opposite corner of the table. They were nothing more than routine reports of patrols and other goings-on in the palace. She then decides to impress her brother and reveals to him that she read Stillhawk’s mind as well. Unfortunately, his thoughts were even less interesting than his conversation.
Thallatos asks his sister what she knows about the drought, and mostly all she is able to do is confirm what he heard from the Queen. As the tutor to the royal children, Tabitha is not exactly privy to the King and Queen’s councils, but she does hint that she knows a bit more than she can reveal, due to the classified nature of the information. Tabitha then excuses herself, saying that she must put the children to bed. She leaves and the children follow, escorted by Shield of Innocence.
Nym Laertian approaches Vanemuine to talk. Finding the elf uncommunicative, Nym instead approaches Thallatos. Leon wanders into the conversation periodically as well.
Nym reveals that he was assigned as the Archdruid’s administrative assistant after returning to Mosstone with Biff Cliff, the other druid from the battle with the pirates. While Cliff was sent to therapy because of the loss of his animal companion, Nym took the blame for the perceived failure and was assigned back to his old job as little more than a glorified gofer, as he puts it.
However, being so close to the Archdruid means that Nym is fairly well-informed about what’s going on with the drought. He explains that Archdruid Silvermane is plenty powerful enough to control the weather under normal circumstances, and is not the only druid in the grove who can do so. However, even their combined efforts are not enough to break the hold of whatever is causing the drought.
Nym reveals that the druids are sustaining their grove and the surrounding forest by magically creating water and manually distributing it, but even if every single druid did nothing else they could not produce enough food and water to save the nation on their own. He says that the elves of the Wealdath seem to be preserving the forest fairly well, but Nym knows little of what they are doing, because the elves are secretive even to a half-elf like himself.
Thallatos approaches Rando McMook and asks how it is that he got along so well with the nobles, and Rando explains that in his job in Waterdeep he had fairly frequent dealings with the upper class, despite being a commoner himself. Because of this business connection, he knows the proper manners and ways to address people of higher station and is able to get along pleasantly with most of them.
After more conversations, more singing, and more dancing, the night eventually concludes. Leon, who had dismissed his invocations to avoid making a strange impression at dinner, recreates his shadowy wings, flies out of the room, and returns to his house in the city. Thallatos also leaves, while Tyrrox and Vanemuine accept the hospitality of the crown and take rooms in the palace.
The next morning, Leon (sporting a painful hangover) heads to Vance’s store and picks up his magical vest. His tie, which strengthens the power of his eldritch blast, is still being upgraded and will not be ready for nine more days. Fortunately, Leon has made arrangements for it to be teleported directly to him when it is completed, so he does not need to wait for it.
Leon joins the rest of the group at the Silver Shield Guild’s main office, and together they brainstorm ideas for how they are going to find out what is going on with the Guild office in Myratma and eliminate the corruption. One major hurdle is that Tyrrox, as a centaur, will be easily recognizable and extremely difficult to disguise. The idea of polymorphing him into another creature is brought up, but turns out to be prohibitively expensive.
Going inside to meet with Guild President Matthias Youngblood, Leon and the others explain most of their plan to him. First, they need Thallatos to be hired as a clerk at the Myratma office, so he can be the inside man and try to spot out what’s going on. It has to be Thallatos because he is the only one whose face is not recognized there.
Matthias first tests Thallatos’s mathematical aptitude to make sure that he can do the job he is being “hired” for, and Thallatos proves plenty capable. So Matthias produces paperwork for Thallatos to sign, and he does. Matthias stamps it with his official seal, which glows with magic when he uses it, and gives Thallatos a letter (also stamped) to deliver to the Myratma Guild office.
Matthias explains that taking care of the warrants against them will require, among other things, that he make “gifts” to the appropriate people, including the legal authorities and the owners of the Efreetium, who hosted the contest. To partially fun these “gifts,” Matthias says the Guild must claim the rewards from the two missions in Myratma that the group completed but never collected, the Backup Dancers mission with Og! the Smasher and the Protection For a Lady mission with Okuni. However, they will not have to give the flying carpet back, as the Guild will cover the remaining costs as reward for the mission that the group is now undertaking.
Meanwhile, Leon is to follow one of the gold shipments leaving Myratma and see what happens to it. The Guild office is reporting a suspiciously high rate of bandit attacks on the gold shipments, so Leon will follow to see what really happens. Tyrrox and Vanemuine are apparently going to stay back in reserve, far enough to be out of sight but close enough to see Leon’s signals.
Because Tyrrox had explained the whole situation to Queen Zaranda the previous day, the Queen decides to have a royally appointed agent sent out to Myratma to investigate the claims and help the group as necessary. That agent turns out to be Tabitha Manchune, who joins her brother and his friends as they leave the Guild office.
Accompanied by Tabitha, the group hits the road back to Myratma, first stopping at the barn where Thallatos left his imp familiar and his undead minions. Although using a different last name than Thallatos and not making it public that she is his sister, Tabitha is unsurprised by her brother’s necromancy, which she has long known about and grown largely accustomed to.
Because Tyrrox can run very quickly and go for a long time without tiring, Leon and Vanemuine can fly, and Thallatos can ride one of his skeletal horses which will never tire, the group is able to travel remarkably fast. Tabitha, with her normal, living horse, would be the slowest, but upon learning this she leaves her horse behind in Darromar and rides on the carpet with Vanemuine.
The first day of travel is uneventful, and the group covers about one fourth of the distance to Myratma. Tabitha joins in the night watch, and proves to have very keen eyes and ears (especially in comparison to her brother, who relies upon his invisible familiar to help him keep watch). The night passes without incident, as does the second day of travel.
After two days of rapid travel, the group beds down having covered half the distance to Myratma. As per usual, Tyrrox takes the first watch, in which nothing happens. As Thallatos takes the second watch, his imp locates two large figures in the distance, and returns to report that they might be giants.
Thallatos has some of his skeletal minions awaken the others. Leon warns the others to keep an eye out for a hag, as the hags the group fought in the past tended to use much the same tactics, sending in giants before coming in with their other minions. The group quickly gears up, and attacks the surprised giants before they can get close enough to attack the party in the campsite. Vanemuine is left behind to guard the group’s belongings.
Leon takes to the air and turns invisible, while Tabitha does the same from the ground. Thallatos sends his undead soldiers straight in at the giants, who turn out to be stone giants, slightly larger and more powerful than the hill giants that the group has faced before.
The stone giants, clearly offended at seeing the skeletal giants at the forefront of the attack, quickly recover from their surprise and start hurling boulders at the undead monsters. Tyrrox charges in at the closer of the two, but misses with his lance and continues on past. For now, the giants ignore him and continue treating the skeletons as the primary threat.
Leon fires a brimstone eldritch blast at the same giant that Tyrrox charged, striking it full in the chest. The giant quickly beats out the flames that threaten to ignite his clothing, and draws his greatclub as the skeletons begin to close over him.
The two stone giants focus their attacks on one giant skeleton, raining blows on it and cracking the bones with their boulders and clubs. However, their preoccupation with the skeletons leads the giants to underestimate Tyrrox, who comes thundering back into the fray and impales the first giant with his massive lance. The huge pike stabs clean through the giant, who collapses to the ground in pain, clearly out of the fight.
Leon sends another brimstone blast at the remaining stone giant, but then finds himself engulfed in burning hot smoke. He manages to hold his breath and avoid inhaling the smoking cinders or letting them get in his eyes, and then finds what appears to be a jet black horse with hooves and mane of pure fire, galloping through the air. Riding the Nightmare is a shriveled, purple-skinned female creature that Leon identifies as a Night Hag. He deduces that this must be the “Big Sister” that the green hag called out to with her dying breath.
The Nightmare gallops right through the air next to Leon, and as the Night Hag leans in to bite him with her disease-infested teeth, Leon swings his cane right into her face. It cracks her right across the nose, but seems to have no visible effect. Belatedly, Leon recalls that it takes a magically enchanted weapon made of cold-forged iron to pierce the Night Hag’s damage-resistant body. The hag snaps her teeth at Leon, biting him squarely on the backside.
Leon quickly runs through what else he knows about these two creatures. Both the Night Hag and the Nightmare come from a plane called the Gray Wastes of Hades, and despite its fearsome appearance the Nightmare is not immune to fire. The Night Hag is resistant to magic, and also has magical abilities of her own. Both the Nightmare and the Night Hag can become ethereal at will, though the Hag requires the aid of an item called a heartstone to do so, and the Nightmare can also enter the Astral Plane.
Deciding to focus his efforts on the Nightmare, Leon empties all the daily power of his magical cane to augment his brimstone blast, which strikes the Nightmare as it rides past him. Both Nightmare and rider respond by moving into the Ethereal Plane, beyond the reach of most magics and all physical attacks. But first, the Hag calls forth her remaining minions for the battle: a dozen allips, tormented undead souls that, while incorporeal, still pose a threat to the living.
Meanwhile, the undead minions of Thallatos converge on the remaining stone giant. The giant bravely tries to focus on the damaged skeleton, raining punishing blows with his greatclub, but Tyrrox charges through the undead and lands a direct blow with his lance. The giant is not felled, but is severely wounded and is quickly overwhelmed by the skeletons.
The allips fly into the group, their maddening whispers and moans hypnotically enchanting the living. Tyrrox and Leon are too far to hear the babble, but Thallatos and Tabitha are close enough. Thallatos proves too strong for the maddening whispers, but Tabitha nearly succumbs before shaking them off.
Having entered the Ethereal Plane, the Night Hag is no longer visible to the naked eye, though thanks to his invocations Leon can still see her. He cannot, however, actually affect her so long as she remains ethereal. He watches as she surveys the battle.
Tyrrox charges into the allips, his magical lance killing one of them instead of passing through harmlessly. Two of the allips try to pursue Leon, but he is too far away and fast enough to stay away from them. The others close in on the closest living things, which are Tabitha and Thallatos.
Thallatos doesn’t know much about allips, but he does know they are undead. He also finds that their touch, while insubstantial and inflicting no physical wound, drains the spirit of the living. He and his sister both suffer a few of these touches, and Thallatos uses some of his magic to freeze them in place, a few at a time.
Realizing that the others are in danger of being overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and that Thallatos’s skeletons are completely useless in this fight, Leon pulls a scroll out of his briefcase. A great ball of fire rains down on the allips, affecting some but not all, as their insubstantial nature causes them to flicker in and out of material being. Unfortunately, some of the skeletons are also caught in the blast, and three of them explode into shards. None of the allips are actually destroyed, though the ones that are affected by the fireball seem severely weakened.
As Tyrrox rounds and prepares to charge back through the allips, the Night Hag appears in front of him astride her Nightmare, and bites Tyrrox on the arm. He strikes out at the Nightmare, but misses thanks to the wound on his arm. However, Leon (who was waiting for her to reappear) immediately blasts the Nightmare, which winks out of existence as it is banished back to its home plane.
Tabitha strikes at the nearest allip with her rapier, but although it is magical she finds that she can do very little against them. While clearly out of her element in this battle, she decides that she can be of slightly more use helping Tyrrox, and turns invisible to start moving toward him.
The Night Hag quickly becomes ethereal again. Tyrrox swings his lance around trying to find her, and nearly hits Tabitha, who manages to move out of the way just in time. Realizing that they cannot catch the hag, they return to help fight the allips.
While Thallatos continues immobilizing the allips two and three at a time, Leon uses more scrolls to rain another fireball and then an ice storm on them. This kills many of the allips and leaves the others even weaker.
By this time Thallatos has suffered many of the allips’ draining touches, and is desperate to end the fight before his mind gives out entirely. He manages to rebuke the last remaining allip that is able to move, and causes it to fight one of the others to buy himself time. That keeps him up and moving long enough for Leon and Tyrrox to mop up the rest.
The Night Hag retreats, remaining ethereal to avoid all attacks. Leon thinks about pursuing, and decides that for now it’s better to stay with the group. After all, the threat is ended for now and the hag is clearly unwilling to fight them alone.
XP Awarded: 2,083 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:08:23 GMT -5
Session 20: Saturday, June 12, 2010
After the attack by the night hag and her allips is over, Thallatos examines the two fallen stone giants. He animates one as a skeleton, but leaves the other behind because it would be one too many undead for him to control.
The others go back to sleep, save for Vanemuine who has had enough rest. Thallatos amuses himself by having his human skeletons mount the horse skeletons and then fight each other. Vanemuine notices that Thallatos is acting funny, almost as though he was drunk.
The following morning, the group sets off again toward Myratma. Thallatos continues acting strangely, but mostly in small harmless ways. It seems to be the aftereffects of the allips impairing his judgment.
After a few hours of travel, the party finds a large dead tree blocking the road. Leon, who is busy writing to Helena in his journey book, flies on by without noticing, but everyone else pulls up to a stop.
Thallatos decides to have his undead minions lift the tree out of the way, and Tyrrox decides to get in on it. They lift the tree up, only to find half a dozen armored men crouched behind it (two of them are dwarves, the rest are human). They stand up, draw their swords, and lock shields together in a miniature phalanx.
A voice shouts from one of the rises off the road for the group to drop their weapons, and hand over their gold and food, and promises that no one has to be hurt. Thallatos shouts back for them to give him one good reason not to order his skeletons to throw the tree at the men in the phalanx. In response, an arrow flies at him from the hill, piercing his shoulder and continuing through to strike the skeleton next to him. Whoever fired the arrow remains hidden.
After the arrow strikes him, Thallatos seems to be stuck in temporary slow-motion.He orders his minions to chuck the tree at the phalanx. The six men and dwarves take the brunt of the impact on their shields, but are still forced back by the massive tree trunk. The voice from the hill shouts out once more that no one will be hurt if they lower their weapons.
Leon finally notices what’s going on and shouts out a counter-proposal: these bandits surrender and give up their own weapons. They aren’t willing to do so, and battle commences.
The man on the hill turns out to have two more archers with him, though they aren’t nearly as proficient with their bows as he. Two more archers are on another rise on the far side of the road.
Tyrrox charges one of the men on the egde of the phalanx, but his lance glances off the shield wall as he thunders past. Thallatos summons magical black tentacles to entangle the phalanx. A couple of them break free, but most are ensnared. The two that get free climb over the dead tree to engage Thallatos’s undead minions, even as arrows continue to rain down on Thallatos and his skeletons.
Vanemuine flies his carpet over the fallen tree and lowers it to the ground, where he attacks one of the men on the edge of the phalanx. Tabitha Manchune casts a spell on Vanemuine to make him move more quickly, then hops down to the ground and turns invisible.
Leon shoots a fiery blast at one of the archers on the hill, who shoots a few arrows back at him. But after dropping off Tabitha, Vanemuine leaves his carpet behind and goes running up the hill, forcing the archers to focus on him instead.
Meanwhile, Tyrrox charges toward the two archers on the opposite hill. In response to his approach they scatter, but he runs down first one, then the other, impaling them on the point of his lance.
The leader continues sniping with his arrows until Thallatos, finally recovered from the slowing effect he experienced the first time, traps him with another set of magical tentacles.
Vanemuine wounds one of the archers on the hill and sends him running away, then turns to confront the other one, who had escaped the tentacles that ensnared his boss.
The two phalanx soldiers that escaped the first tentacles close ranks as best they can, but are no match for the combined onslaught of several large skeletons. Eventually they are defeated.
One more phalanx soldier slips free of the tentacles grappling him, only to be caught up by Tabitha, who becomes visible again with the point of her sword at his throat.
The surviving bandits surrender one by one, except for the one sent running by Vanemuine, who is still running. Once free of the tentacles, he leader walks down the hill and proclaims that these vile villains have bested him with their evil magic, and he has no choice but to submit to their will.
Leon laughs and encourages this belief, but Thallatos resents being stereotyped as evil. The bandit leader, whose name turns out to be Robin, says that they would not have been harmed. He only wanted to take their food and some of their gold so he could feed the starving poor of the area, who are suffering from the drought and the loss of their crops. He explains that his men steal from adventurers, who are wealthy and can afford to buy food for themselves, to feed those who cannot help themselves.
Thallatos insists he will prove Robin wrong, and convinces the others to take Robin and his men prisoner. He wants to bring them to Myratma so he can prove that he’s not evil by buying them food to distribute to the starving poor. Robin and his men have their weapons confiscated, but not their other gear.
Robin is allowed to write a note for the rest of his men, whom he assures Thallatos will be coming as reinforcements. He asks that the dead and injured be left behind so that his friend Tuck can revive them. The dead are left but the wounded are taken along, carried by the skeletons. Robin writes his note, telling the rest of his men not to pursue him yet.
That night, the group stops to make camp, less than a day’s travel from the city. Thallatos has his skeletons surround Robin and his men so that they don’t try to escape.
Leon’s sleep is troubled, tormented by dreams of being chased through a nightmare landscape by a night hag, certain of his painful death if he were to be caught. Everyone else sleeps relatively peaceably.
In the morning, Leon recalls his dreams well enough that he believes he knows what happened. He knows that night hags can haunt the dreams of their enemies, causing some degree of real harm to their bodies. This explains why he feels weaker and slightly sickly this morning.
The group begins traveling once more. When they reach the fork in the road near Castle Tethyr, it is decided that Tyrrox and the skeletons must remain behind. Vanemuine suggests holing up in the castle – since it’s abandoned, why not take it over and start to rebuild it? Tyrrox agrees to see what can be done, and Thallatos commands his undead to guard the main entrance from the inside.
The rest of the group takes the south road for Myratma. Thallatos warns Robin not to try anything, because he can summon more undead with his magic. Besides, they still have the prisoners’ weapons stored in Leon’s magical briefcase.
Tyrrox explores the castle ruins, attempting to determine the damage that was caused by nearly four decades of neglect. He finds crumbling walls, smashed and burned doors and furniture, countless places where animals, bugs, and vermin have nested, and everything else that could expected of a place so long empty.
Tyrrox then sets off for nearby farms, looking to hire people to come work on restoring the castle. The first farm he visits is deserted, save for an old woman that says her sons have all gone to the city to find work because they can’t grow crops. She directs him to nearby farms, where Tyrrox is able to find a few people to work.
Realizing that farmhands alone will not be enough, he sends a couple of them into the city to hire more workers, including masons, carpenters, and other skilled labor.
While this is going on, the others complete the last leg of the journey to Myratma. Thallatos goes to buy food to give to Robin’s men, and finds that the shortages brought on by the drought have driven up the price of food drastically. Food now costs about ten times what it did just a few months ago.
Nonetheless, Thallatos manages to buy enough food to feed about a thousand people one meal each. After being set free to begin handing it out, Robin apologizes to Thallatos and to Vanemuine (but not Leon), saying he misjudged them. He is given his weapons back, and takes his leave to continue helping those who need it.
Tabitha tells the party that she will be renting a room at the Gambling Ghost inn, and that she will begin investigating the situation in the city immediately. Leon takes Thallatos in search of a cleric to heal the mental wounds caused by the allips (and his own problems, caused by the night hag). He finds a church of Sune, and decides to play a prank.
Leon finds the priestess, explains that Thallatos needs a restoration spell, and pays for the healing, as well as a “happy ending” with two of the temple’s courtesans. For himself he also gets a restoration spell, but without the extra. Thallatos, his judgment still impaired, happily accepts the attentions of the human and sun elf women that escort him to receive his “treatment.”
Later that day, a mortified Thallatos gets directions from Leon to the Guild outpost in the city bazaar, where he presents his letter from Matthias. The letter identifies him as a trainee, who is to be taught the ways of the Silver Shield Mercenary Guild so that he can open an outpost in distant Velen, which is hundreds of miles away and currently has no Guild presence.
The guild clerk on duty leaves to get the manager, who inspects the paper and welcomes Thallatos to the job. The boss’s name is Bill Lumbergh, and the two clerks on duty are Pablo and Akmed. Thallatos is shown the ropes of how the job works, taught about the security system guarding the deposits, and given a magical bracelet that will allow him to access the safe without setting off its magical wards.
When the shift changes, Thallatos meets two more of the outpost’s employees, Rasputin (who cackles maniacally to himself when he’s not speaking, which he claims is a medical condition) and Samir.
While Thallatos is working, Leon writes up a few drafts of a proposal to purchase Castle Tethyr from the government and move in. Eventually, Thallatos rejoins him and they check in to the Gambling Ghost.
Thallatos, who has never been to the Gambling Ghost before, is chosen by the ghost to gamble against him. When the platinum bar appears on the table, Leon tells Thallatos he has to match the wager, so Thallatos ends up putting his armor up as his own wager. Unfortunately, he loses the game and his armor vanishes along with the platinum bar. The entire bar gets free drinks for the night, which Thallatos uses to drown his sorrows and ill luck.
That evening, Vanemuine heads back to Castle Tethyr to help Tyrrox with the arrangements there. The next morning Leon flies out to confer with them, and also gets a message from Helena that she has something she wants to tell Leon next time they’re together in person.
The next day, Thallatos meets the fifth of his co-workers at the Guild outpost, a female half-sun elf named Keira. As he always does when he meets a half-elf (or anybody, really), he inquires after his missing girlfriend but Keira has never met her.
Lumbergh comes along, slurping his coffee as is his habit, and makes Thallatos work a sixteen-hour day. Leon tries to sneak into the outpost invisibly behind Thallatos but sets off some kind of alarm and is forced to back off.
With free time on his hands, Leon travels back to Castle Tethyr to update the others on what’s going on, and to hand over some money to the fund for fixing up the castle.
That night, a weary Thallatos is met outside his room by his sister. Tabitha tells him some of the things she has learned from her investigations. First, there have been five thieves’ guilds warring in Myratma lately. They have been at each other’s throats for a long time, but the occasional fights, stabbings, and stealing didn’t escalate into open war until the riot that was touched off at the dance contest.
Within the past two weeks, one of the five guilds was crushed. The Shadow Thieves, who for years had been the dominant thieves’ guild in Myratma, were smashed by another guild. Tabitha has yet to find out which guild did it or what happened to the survivors.
When Thallatos shows up for work the next day, Lumbergh tells him to come back and work the night shift instead. Thallatos uses the time to help Leon research more about the night hag, so they can find out exactly what’s going on and how to stop it. They look for some sort of public library, but discover that there is no such thing here – all known collections are in private hands. Also, there aren’t many known wizards in the city, because they find much more lucrative employment down in Calimshan or in other big cities.
So the two of them split up. Leon finds a church of Deneir, god of knowledge, and gains access to their collection of books in exchange for a donation. Using their books, Leon learns that a night hag has the power to haunt the dreams of their foes using an item called a nightstone, with which they can turn ethereal and ride their victims’ backs as they sleep, causing them painful nightmares. The nightstone is said to have healing properties, and can be sold on the open market.
Meanwhile, Thallatos finds a church of Tyr and browses their archives (also after a small donation). He learns that night hags can only invade the dreams of evil folk, or those of a particularly chaotic bent. He meets up with Leon and they share their discoveries before Thallatos goes back in to work the late shift.
Thallatos asks Samir, who is also on duty that evening, where he was yesterday, because he had to work two shifts to cover for Samir. Samir replies that it was a family emergency, but the evasive way he answers leads Thallatos to think he might be hiding something. Thallatos tells Samir that if it comes up again, maybe he can help.
XP Awarded: 3,000 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:09:08 GMT -5
Session 21: Saturday, June 19, 2010
Vanemuine and Tyrrox discuss how they are going to manage the crew they have hired to work on restoring Castle Tethyr. In particular, feeding them will be a problem. They decide to try and hire a cleric who can magically create food and water, and decide to look around Zazesspur because it’s a larger city and because they would be much more conspicuous in Myratma.
Castle Tethyr is roughly equidistant from Myratma and Zazesspur, but actually lies a few miles closer to Zazesspur. So Tyrrox and Vanemuine, moving at top speed, manage to reach the former capital in just under four hours. They begin asking passerby where they might find a church.
Tyrrox speaks to a young girl (whom he mistakes for a young boy), and is directed to the nearest church of Tyr. Unfortunately, the priest there says that they have all they can handle keeping the people of this city fed. He advises them to try the temple of Ilmater, which is a short distance away.
Vanemuine and Tyrrox reach the area described, but discover that the church of Ilmater is located in the upper floor of a building, with a wooden staircase up to it the only access. Tyrrox decides that it’s not safe for him and waits outside while Vanemuine goes inside to inquire.
This church of Ilmater has only two priests, a middle-aged human and an elf. When Vanemuine explains the situation, they are surprised that anyone would want to restore the cursed castle, but the elven cleric, whose name is Nym Eveningfall, decides to come along.
Later that in Myratma, Thallatos prepares for his evening shift at the Guild outpost. He asks Leon to tail Samir, whose story regarding his absence the previous day seems suspicious. Leon turns invisible and tails Samir, who leaves the Guild outpost after the early shift just as Thallatos takes over for the evening shift.
Leon follows Samir to a residence, presumably his own, where Samir eats a brief dinner before throwing on a cloak, arming himself with a dagger, and leaving. Leon, while still remaining invisible, follows.
He tries to tail Samir, but loses track of him several times. Leon follows what he thinks is Samir, and then when he tries to get a good look at him discovers that he’s following the wrong person. Eventually he gets back on track, and follows Samir from the central part of the city to the Efreetium, which is more toward the northwest. Samir goes up the steps and into the Efreetium, the most exclusive, famous restaurant in all of Myratma.
Leon decides that he needs a disguise. Using the newest of his warlock abilities, he touches a random passerby on the strip outside the restaurant (which seems to be mostly fixed from the damage caused by the riot after the dance contest), and assumes the appearance of that person. Remaining invisible, Leon then heads into the Efreetium.
He finds Samir at a table, drinking a Filibuster. Leon hovers above the table and watches Samir, who seems to be waiting for someone. The wait continues for several hours, and eventually notices that the sun has gone down. Beyond that, Samir has finished his Filibuster (which is famous for taking a long time to drink), and ordered a second one.
Finally, someone shows up. Their face is completely obscured, and all Leon can tell is that they have a slight build, are just over five feet tall, and have pink eyes. A hat is pulled down over the person’s face, obscuring all but the eyes, and Leon also finds it hard to focus on this mostly nondescript newcomer, as his eyes seem to naturally drift past him or her as if they aren’t there.
The newcomer sits down across from Samir, who appears to be nervous. He offers to buy him or her a drink, but she refuses. Her voice identifies the newcomer as a woman, though Leon still has no idea what she looks like except for the pink eyes.
Although her demeanor remains light and affable, the woman seems annoyed with Samir for failing to provide something. He says that he doesn’t know, can’t find out, and won’t know until the day of. She sighs and tells him that’s not good enough, and a clearly worried Samir promises that he will have something for her tomorrow. She seems willing to accept that for now, and leaves. Samir breathes an audible sigh of relief, then slumps down in his seat and seems to need time to collect himself.
Leon touches Samir, copying his appearance, and then follows the woman outside. He dispels his invisibility, then calls out to the woman and catches up to her. He says that he wasn’t being quite truthful before, and that he actually knows the gold caravan will be passing Castle Tethyr three days from now.
The woman gives no sign that she is surprised, but Leon is unsure if she has bought the deception. For now he’s willing to settle for that though, and she walks away. Leon hurries back to the Gambling Ghost, because he has further business this night.
Meanwhile, back at Castle Tethyr, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Nym arrive and find Red Forman yelling at the workers. He informs Tyrrox and Vanemuine that they have been at work cutting back the overgrowth that has covered what used to be the gardens and practice field. Tyrrox introduces Nym, and Red explains that two of the workers have gone missing. They are overdue back at their posts but haven’t been seen for some time.
Tyrrox sets off to look for them while Vanemuine completes the introduction of Nym to the workers. Tyrrox decides to check an area of the castle where he has not yet been, an administrative building the workers have been calling the Small Hall, to differentiate it from the Grand Hall (where Leon and Tyrrox have been before, and where Thallatos currently has his skeletal minions stashed).
Tyrrox takes one look inside the Small Hall and decides to call Vanemuine over to help him search it. Nym comes along as well, curious to see the inside of the so-called cursed castle.
The interior of the Small Hall is completely dark, save for a few cracks and holes in the ceiling. However, the front hallway leads directly to an interior courtyard which, while overgrown with weeds, is surrounded by windows (now broken) which let some light stream through into the hallways.
The first room just off the main hallway appears to have been a reception area or security guardhouse when the Castle was inhabited. There are old bloodstains on the walls, indicating that violence was done here years ago. A few shattered fragments of chairs remain as well, though there is no sign of any bodies.
The three of them continue to explore the deserted halls, seeing nothing more than occasional signs of animal habitation such as waste or bits of nesting. The room next to the guardhouse seems to have been an old dining room. The murals on the walls are smoke-stained, and the paint is chipped and peeling. What furniture was in the room was mostly destroyed by fire, though a few chairs look like they might be safe to sit in.
Continuing down the hallway, the group finds what looks to have been a children’s playroom. The walls are painted with faded images of cute animals and so on, and there is a broken down old chest in the corner of the room. Nym roots through it and discovers a pair of lion figurines, which he decides to hold on to.
Connected to this room is another, which may have been a nursery. Vanemuine sees a black cloak hanging on a peg on the wall, but as he moves to look at it, the cloak floats up into the air and unfurls, revealing a tail, a pair of glowing red eyes, and a toothy maw. This creature, known as a cloaker, tries to envelop Vanemuine but he shakes it off.
As the others come into the room behind Vanemuine, the cloaker flies upward to move into better attack position. Nym fires a searing light spell at the cloaker, but his ray misses and splashes off a wall. Tyrrox lands a blow with his lance, but then the cloaker flies up beyond his reach.
The cloaker starts issuing a terrifying moan, but it’s not enough to scare any of the seasoned adventurers. The pitch of the moan changes, and it seems to make Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Nym feel a little queasy, but again they shake off the ill effects.
Nym decides to hold off casting any more spells at this creature in case they run into something more dangerous, but readies her morningstar in case it comes within reach. Vanemuine tries to leap upward to slash at it, and while he jumps an impressive eight feet straight up, his attack misses the cloaker. He decides to try blasting it with magic instead, and hits it with a fire bolt.
Tyrrox draws his bow and fires a few arrows at the creature, causing it to fly even higher. It seems to separate into five cloakers once it reaches the ceiling.
Eventually, by process of elimination the group destroys most of the illusions, and the cloaker makes a last-ditch attempt at saving itself by flying directly at Nym. The elf smashes it in the face with his morningstar, and it crumples to the ground and remains still.
That battle over, the three of them continue to explore the ruined halls. They find a pair of fairly large chambers, decorated with murals of glory and battles, but now faded to ruin. Tyrrox also discovers a pair of small, smelly rooms that he can’t identify the purpose of. Vanemuine and Nym realize that he’s found the bathrooms. Tyrrox is confused about why anybody would do that indoors.
Nym briefly looks through the courtyard, forcing the wooden door so that he can get out there, but finds nothing particularly interesting among the weeds and trees. While he and Vanemuine continue toward the rear of the Small Hall, Tyrrox starts to wander down another of the hallways.
Passing through what looks to be another guardhouse, Vanemuine and Nym find themselves in a storage room. Vanemuine discovers a secret door from the storage room that leads back into one of the two audience chambers. Nym, who continues into the room beyond the storage room, finds himself in a stairwell, but also finds a secret door connecting to the other audience chamber. But more interesting at the moment are the noises that Nym hears from coming up the stairs.
As the cleric starts to move up the stairs to investigate, the source of the noise comes down to meet him. It’s a small, featherless creature that sort of resembles a chicken. Nym recognizes it as a cockatrice, though he can’t remember exactly what’s special about them. Nym calls out to Vanemuine, and powers himself up with a divine spell before attacking with his morningstar.
Vanemuine comes in and joins the battle, shooting a fire bolt at the cockatrice. Tyrrox, off squeezing his large body through narrow hallways a distance away, is unable to hear the sounds of battle and remains blissfully unaware.
The cockatrice bites at Vanemuine but misses. Nym finishes off the cockatrice with his morningstar. From further upstairs he hears sounds that could be more of them, so the two elves decide to go and find Tyrrox. They find him all the way on the opposite side of the Small Hall, where he has discovered what appears to be a janitor’s closet.
Tyrrox has found a mop, but doesn’t know what it is. He thinks it might be a weapon of some sort, but the elves explain its true purpose and he seems disappointed. The group crosses the hallway and leaves the closet behind.
Next, they find a room with what appears to be a small altar. Nym recognizes the symbol of Siamorphe, the goddess of nobility, and deduces that the king must have prayed here. The altar is long abandoned and no longer consecrated, however. But behind the altar the group discovers yet another secret door, this one leading into an office. Nym and Vanemuine go through the desk and discover nothing but a broken old quill pen, a bottle of ink, and some official documents that are decades old. Vanemuine takes the paperwork on a whim.
The three explorers exit the office through its front door and head into the next room. This room contains stairwells that head both upward and downward, and is in the far opposite corner of the Small Hall from where the other stairs were located. As they enter, the group hears the rumble of something large moving below.
Tyrrox carefully heads down the stairs, taking the lead since he can see in the dark. Meanwhile, Nym casts a light spell on his morningstar so he and Vanemuine can see, and they follow the centaur down into the basement.
Down there, the group finds a huge creature resembling a serpent, made up entirely of bones. But rather than being a simple giant serpentine skeleton, it seems to be a collection of bones from all over, bound together magically into the form of this serpentine creature which they now face.
With its huge, powerful jaws, the creature has the same reach as Tyrrox, but he charges at it anyway and attacks. The mass of bone seems to shrug off much of the damage it receives, and heals many of the wounds that are inflicted on it.
The serpentine, skeletal creature follows Tyrrox around the room, its giant jaws snapping at him until finally it connects. Tyrrox feels an incredibly painful sensation as if his very bones were dissolving, and to make matters worse he feels weaker. The creature tries to grip him in its jaws and engulf him, but the powerful centaur (his strength restored by Nym) forces the jaws back and gets free.
Vanemuine joins the battle as well, drawing attention off of Tyrrox. When the serpentine creature snaps him up in his jaws, Vanemuine also experiences the sensation of his bones seeming to dissolve out of his body.
Meanwhile, a series of bones drop from the bottom of the creature and coalesce themselves into large skeletons, much like the troll skeletons that Thallatos is known to summon. They approach Nym and Vanemuine to attack, but Nym presents the holy symbol of Ilmater and turns the skeletons. Presented with such divine power, the skeletons are forced to flee until they reach the edge of the room and cannot go farther, at which point they cower helplessly. Nym likewise tries turning the large creature, but it seems beyond the cleric’s ability to force it to leave as well.
Unfortunately, even with a magical boost to his strength from Nym, Vanemuine is not strong enough to free himself from the grasp of the mighty jaws. Even as Tyrrox tries frantically to draw the undead monstrosity’s attention back to himself, the creature pins Vanemuine to the ground and draws his bones out. The fleshy bits of Vanemuine sag to the ground, his entire skeleton subsumed into the massive creature.
Witnessing his friend’s death, Tyrrox becomes enraged and redoubles his efforts to destroy the creature. He is wounded badly, but Nym keeps him alive with healing magic, and together they finally destroy it. With its destruction, the creature explodes into thousands of bones, which scatter all over the room. The two skeletons also collapse into their component parts once more.
Nym examines the boneless remains of Vanemuine and realizes that without his skeleton, not enough remains of him to be raised from the dead, at least not with the power that Nym has. It would take a more powerful resurrection spell than Nym is capable of casting to restore Vanemuine to life from this state.
In Myratma, as night is falling a group of adventurers approaches the Guild outpost. They consist of a female gnome, a wild elf, an unarmed half-orc, and a human woman that the others seem to be doting on and protecting.
The half-orc approaches Thallatos and inquires after someone. He gives a description that Thallatos realizes is probably Leon. He says that he cannot give that information out. The half-orc tries to persuade him that they are friends and mean Leon no harm, but Thallatos remains unconvinced. The woman butts in, saying that she’s tired and sore and doesn’t want to put up with this crap anymore. She tells him to come up with the man’s location. Thallatos says that maybe he will be back in a couple of hours. The group decides to wait, stationing the gnome across the street to keep watch on the Guild outpost while they scope out the surrounding area.
Eventually Leon does come along, and discovers that these adventurers asking after him are Helena, Bobo, Garm, and Faelar. He explains the situation to Thallatos, and then briefly fills in Thallatos on what he found out, while keeping the details away from Helena and the others. He tells them it’s a mission that his group has, and doesn’t want to involve them in it.
Helena and her friends head over to the Gambling Ghost with Leon, while Thallatos finishes his shift. At the inn, the ghost gambles against someone else and wins, buying drinks for everyone in the house as is the custom. Leon asks why Helena and her friends have come to Myratma, and she explains that they had run out of things to do in Zazesspur. Besides, the city was starting to lose its “zazz.” Leon asks what she wanted to talk to him about, and Helena says she’d rather talk about it in the morning, as she wants to go to bed. Leon starts to follow until he realizes that she means to sleep, then he returns to his table.
Not too long after, Thallatos arrives. When he arrives, Leon explains that he has a plan for dealing with the night hag. First, he heads up to the front desk and buys a deck of souvenir playing cards. He then asks about the history of the establishment, trying to learn everything he can about the ghost.
The cashier explains that the ghost has been here for decades, maybe more than a hundred years. The legend goes that a sailor, whose name has been lost to history, used to gamble at the establishment all the time. He would celebrate his victories, sharing his wealth with everyone in the bar. One day after he won a substantial amount of money, his opponents killed him in his room that night. The next night all their belongings disappeared, including their money, their weapons, and even their clothes. Soon afterward, the ghost began gambling with random strangers in the common room, and the rest is history.
Leon moves to an empty table in the far corner of the rapidly emptying room. He then calls out to the ghost, challenging it to a game of cards. He lays out his healing wand as stakes, and tells the ghost that he doesn’t want money – if he wins, he wants a favor from the ghost. No words are spoken, but the deck of cards is cut, so Leon assumes the wager has been taken.
Leon draws a card, and the ghost does as well. Both cards are revealed, and Leon is relieved to learn that he has won. He quietly explains to the ghost what he wants done, and then goes to bed shortly after. Thallatos goes into the same room, since they are sharing, and goes to bed but only pretends to be asleep.
Not long after Leon goes to sleep, his regular nighttime visitor shows up. Now, Leon’s trap springs.
Leon knows that ghosts exist on the Ethereal plane, the same plane where the night hag is mounting him to torment his dreams. Leon wants the Gambling Ghost to attack the night hag and recover its Heartstone, the item that allows it to become ethereal.
The ghost chooses to do battle in the best way it knows how – a card game. In a confrontation witnessed by no one because it takes place on another plane of existence, the Gambling Ghost challenges the night hag to a card game, offering who knows what as stakes, but playing against the hag’s Heartstone. Somehow, he persuades the hag to accept the terms.
The hag loses the card game, and the Ghost takes the Heartstone despite the hag’s resistance. The Heartstone appears in the hands of the sleeping Leon, and the hag, no longer able to remain in the Ethereal plane, appears in the room nearby.
Thallatos, who has been awaiting this moment, springs into action instantly. He leaps out of bed and jabs the surprised hag with his Rod of Wonder, using his necromantic powers to create a disfiguring warp touch effect. Not even he knows what sort of strangeness this could cause.
The hag grows vestigial wings, too small to be of any use. The night hag attacks Thallatos, biting him on the hands as he fends her off long enough to begin summoning. First he summons a pair of vampire spawn, which attack the night hag. She shakes them off and continues pursuing Thallatos, who wakes up Leon with a shout as he begins summoning troll skeletons.
Eventually the night hag is boxed in by the summoned undead, and is no longer to chase after the wounded Thallatos. Leon can’t get a clear shot at the hag, so he flies up to the ceiling and then unleashes an eldritch blast. Unfortunately, the hag is resistant to magic and the blasts dissipate when they strike her.
Unable to fight her way out through the undead, the hag instead chooses to use her magic. Dodging between the skeleton’s grasping claws and the vampire spawn’s violent slams, she throws magic missile spell after magic missile spell at Thallatos. The missiles swerve around, through, and between the skeletons to strike at the necromancer unerringly, and he is forced to go on the defensive and heal himself as best he can with his dark magics.
Leon finally breaks through the hag’s magic resistance, and unleashes the full powers of his brimstone blast, remembering only too late that the hag is completely immune to damage from fire. Fortunately, the flames sputter out quickly enough that the inn does not catch on fire.
The commotion begins attracting attention, as the sounds of battle wake up the other patrons. Fortunately, no one seems to know what is going on yet and the battle remains contained within this one room.
It takes a long time, but eventually the hag is overwhelmed. Leon finally breaks through her magic resistance one more time, and the blast kills the hag. Thallatos hurriedly dismisses his remaining summons, and the night hag’s body vanishes back to whatever dark plane she came from.
Leon and Thallatos stop to catch their breath, realizing that they have attracted attention as noises can be heard from outside the room.
XP Awarded: 3,550 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:09:55 GMT -5
Session 22: Saturday, July 10, 2010
Tyrrox lets out an anguished scream at the death of Vanemuine. When his lungs finally give out, he and Nym figure out what they’re going to do with what’s left of the body. Nym is not yet powerful enough to resurrect someone unless their body is fully intact, and Vanemuine’s skeleton is missing. So they need to find a more powerful cleric.
It is decided that they will to go Zazesspur. Nym knows that her colleague at the temple of Ilmater is also not strong enough to cast the needed spell, so they will have to go elsewhere. In order that they will reach the city faster, Tyrrox throws dignity to the wind and allows Nym to ride him.
When they reach Zazesspur, Tyrrox and Nym (carrying Vanemuine’s remains), search for someplace they can get him revived. Tyrrox asks a merchant for directions, but the merchant doesn’t know. As they continue up the road, the two of them hear the sound of music getting closer. Tyrrox recognizes the familiar tune.
Riding down the road in the opposite direction is a white horse with a pink mane. Astride that horse is one familiar-looking man in pink armor, whom Tyrrox remembers as Rodney Lockhart, a paladin. Tyrrox asks Rodney for help, and explains what happened. Rodney exclaims that it would be unforgivable to let one who dances as elegantly and beautifully as Vanemuine to leave this world before his time, so the pink paladin escorts them to the local church of Sune, the goddess that Rodney serves.
Upon entering the church Tyrrox freaks out, as he recognizes it to be the same faith that Torgeth once lured him into a church of in Darromar, as a joke. Rodney is offended, assuring the centaur that Sune is a goddess of beauty, love, and passion, not harlots and whores. Tyrrox reluctantly puts aside his discomfort and enters.
The priestess there has never seen a case like Vanemuine’s before, but she is able to cast the necessary resurrection spell. However, the material components for this spell are expensive – about 10,000 gold. Tyrrox realizes he doesn’t have that much on hand, but decides he can sell the magic carpet for the needed funds. He persuades the priestess to store Vanemuine’s body until they return.
Tyrrox and Nym leave the church of Sune, looking for a merchant who could pay for the carpet. Unfortunately the hour is late, and most businesses are closing for the night. Nym returns to her rooms at the church of Ilmater, and convinces Tyrrox to stay in the stable nearby because it will accommodate him.
The following morning, they locate a store called Akbar’s Emporium. The proprietor warns them about a trap on the floor as they enter the store, which is designed to deter thieves. A brief debate ensues where the store owner (presumably Akbar) insists that the trap is good because it keeps out thieves, and he warns the actual customers about it so they don’t get hurt.
After some negotiation, Akbar buys the carpet for less than its market price (he does need to make a profit after all), but more than its typical trade-in value. Knowing that Vanemuine will not be happy that the carpet was sold, Tyrrox buys a smaller one, large enough to carry Vanemuine but not really large enough for passengers.
Nym and Tyrrox then return to the church of Sune, wait for the service in progress to finish, and then hand over the money for the components. The priestess brings out Vanemuine’s remains, and casts her spell. The ritual takes about ten minutes, during which the wait is extremely tense, but then suddenly the body inflates as a new skeleton forms inside, and Vanemuine awakens.
Tyrrox wraps his friend up in a great big hug, then gives him back his belongings and explains what happened. He also explains about selling the carpet, and although he’s disappointed to learn that it’s gone, Vanemuine understands and accepts it, especially after being given the smaller carpet.
However, the journey back from the afterlife is very taxing (when one does not have a powerful Archdevil to speed the process along, anyway), and Vanemuine still feels weak and a bit sickly. It is decided to give him a couple of days rest in Zazesspur before they return to Castle Tethyr, which may not be safe yet since the process of cleaning out the denizens was interrupted.
A few nights earlier in Myratma, Thallatos and Leon have just finished defeating the Night Hag. Realizing that the other patrons of the inn are gathering outside, drawn by the noise, Leon grabs Thallatos and flies them outside just as people burst into the room.
Outside, Leon flies over to Thallatos’s window, hoping that they can sneak in there and then act like they were there all along, but the window is locked so they can’t get in. Leon instead sets down on the ground, and notices that there is some fog tonight despite the dryness.
Thallatos ducks into an alley and starts applying a disguise. Leon heads back into the inn, feigning ignorance about what was going on. The innkeeper, though unable to prove that Leon is lying, remains a little suspicious and asks that Leon clear out in the morning. He goes upstairs to see what people are doing.
After about ten minutes, Thallatos’s disguise is finished. He has dressed himself up as an elf. He heads into the inn, gets a drink in the common room, and then innocently remarks on the lack of people. The innkeeper explains that there was a commotion upstairs, and Thallatos goes upstairs to take a look. The innkeeper warns him to come back down since he isn’t paying for a room.
Upstairs, Leon still acts surprised that something happened in his room. Bobo, however, whispers that she spotted him flying out the window. Leon quietly explains about the Night Hag, and Bobo agrees not to say anything.
The next day, Leon sits down with Helena and asks what she wanted to talk about. She tells him that she is with child. She’s about two months into the pregnancy, although she wasn’t sure until just a couple of weeks ago. Leon is extremely surprised, but decides that it’s good news. He tells her about what he and the others are doing with Castle Tethyr, and they decide that maybe it’s a good place to raise the child. Leon can tell that Helena is still holding something back, so he asks and she says that she’s just nervous about him meeting her family.
After that, Leon flies back to Castle Tethyr while Thallatos goes to work at the Guild outpost. Upon reaching the castle, Leon meets Red Forman and introduces himself. He identifies himself as Tyrrox’s boss, and Red explains that Tyrrox went to Zazesspur to get Vanemuine brought back from the dead. Leon is mortified to learn of the elf’s death.
Leon leaves a message with Red about the plan he has concocted to deal with the thieves, and says he will be back in a couple days. He then flies back toward Myratma.
In the meantime, Thallatos works his normal shift, and then Lumbergh asks him to stay longer when Samir doesn’t show up for his shift. Thallatos reluctantly stays, but after a few hours Lumbergh lets him leave.
When he gets back to the Gambling Ghost, Leon talks to Helena, who has a strange craving for a pickle and egg sandwich. He offers to get it for her, only to learn that the inn has no more eggs. So Leon sets off ot get some, and meets Thallatos on his way back. They exchange information, and Leon convinces Thallatos to go and get the eggs while he checks out Samir’s house again.
Thallatos returns to the market and buys a pair of eggs for a seriously inflated price, then brings them back to the Gambling Ghost so the sandwich can be made. Helena thanks him, then downplays the odd craving by claiming that’s what her mother used to make.
Meanwhile, Leon flies back to Samir’s house. He turns invisible, then sneaks inside. The house is dark, but in the darkness Leon sees Samir sitting in a chair. When he gets closer, he finds that Samir is dead, with a hole in his throat. Leon disguises himself as Samir then returns to the Gambling Ghost. He explains to Thallatos what he found, and asks if Thallatos can speak to the dead. Thallatos says he can ask them a few questions, and so Leon takes him over there.
When they get there Thallatos casts his spell, and he is able to ask the body five questions. First, he asks how Samir died. The answer: crossbow. He asks who did it. The corpse gives the name Lualin, which means nothing to either Thallatos or Leon. Next, Thallatos asks who has been raiding the gold shipments from the Guild outpost, and Samir’s body replies Eyes of Night.
Deciding that the Eyes of Night must be a thieves’ guild, Thallatos asks (with advice from Leon) where the Eyes of Night headquarters can be found. Samir says somewhere in Myratma, but has no more specific information than that. For his final question, he asks whether the Eyes of Night will be coming to Castle Tethyr in the next couple of days, but Samir does not know.
Unfortunately, Thallatos cannot cast the spell again – speak with dead spells automatically fail if the same spell has been cast on a given corpse within the past week, regardless of who cast the previous spell. If they want any more information from him, Thallatos and Leon decide they will have to have Samir raised from the dead. Leon asks Thallatos to remain here, disguises himself as Samir once more, and heads out the door.
When he gets a block or two away from Samir’s house, Leon is hit hard in the chest by a crossbow bolt. It seems to be coated with something, but Leon shakes off the effects of whatever it is. Realizing that the shot came from above, Leon flies up into the air and starts searching for magical auras. While taking several more shots to the chest, Leon eventually spots a cluster of magical auras hidden on a rooftop, and flies toward them. When another crossbow bolt flies at him from there, he realizes that it is indeed his attacker.
Leon starts to return fire with his eldritch blasts, and his attacker stops trying to hide. He sees that it’s the woman with the pink eyes that Samir was meeting with the other day.
Hurting pretty badly from the four or five crossbow bolts that have struck him, Leon tries to turn invisible so that he can escape and perhaps get away or attack from another angle. But he finds himself outlined in pink flames as the woman targets him with a faerie fire spell.
Leon calls out to her, asking why she killed Samir. She replies that he got sloppy and allowed himself to be found out. He slowly retreats from her, and she backs away as well. The two of them disappear into the night, moving in different directions.
Leon continues on to the local church of Tyr, asking for some help in raising Samir. The priest with whom he speaks replies that they will need to evaluate the man to be raised, to determine whether Tyr would look favorably upon such a man being restored to life. Leon decides it’s not worth the hassle and goes looking for someone else to do it.
He searches around and finds a small shrine dedicated to Kossuth, the elemental god of fire. The shrine is tended by a single man, whom Leon asks to raise Samir. The man asks if there will be fire involved. Leon replies by showing him a fiery eldritch blast. The Kossuth worshipper is sold, and asks Leon to lead the way.
They return to Samir’s house, where the follower of Kossuth proceeds not to resurrect, but to reincarnate Samir (meaning that he is a druid, not a cleric). He is born into another human body, rather than that of another species which was equally possible. The druid of Kossuth then takes his leave, as Leon explains to Thallatos about the attack outside.
Samir (who has no recollection of being questioned by Thallatos because that was his body, not his soul) remembers being killed by Lualin, and readily tells what else he knows about the Eyes of Night, which isn’t much. Leon informs Samir that he’s coming with them, both for his own protection and to be turned over to Matthias in Darromar. Samir decides that that’s better than being caught by the Eyes of Night again.
Leon stays with Samir (who is very uncomfortable being in the same room with his own corpse), while Thallatos heads back to the Gambling Ghost to get Helena and the others (as well as their carriage which they inherited from Leon, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Torgeth) to head for Castle Tethyr tonight.
Unfortunately the carriage travel will be too slow, so the carriage is put into storage and horses are acquired. Thallatos leads them to Samir’s house, where they meet up with Leon and Samir. Thallatos animates the corpse as a zombie, but then realizes that Tabitha is still in town. He tells the others to go on ahead, and promises to get there when he can. They leave, and he heads back to the inn once more to wait for his sister.
It is several more hours before Tabitha comes back to her room, where she sneaks in invisibly. Thallatos explains what happened, and tells her that he is going to Castle Tethyr. Tabitha is chagrined to learn that they are tangled up with the Eyes of Night, whom she explains is currently the most powerful thieves’ guild in Myratma. She tells Thallatos that she must remain in town a bit longer, and wishes him luck.
Tabitha also tells her brother that she can help him along his way. She leads him out of the inn, down some side streets and alleys, and knocks on a door in an alley. The man who opens the door and apparently owes her a favor, which she is calling in. The man casts a phantom steed spell, allowing Thallatos to travel fast enough to catch up to the others despite their having several hours’ head start.
When they reach Castle Tethyr, Leon discovers that Tyrrox and the others are still not back yet. So they collect Thallatos’s minions (who have still remained hidden despite the presence of the workers), and hole up in the throne room for the night. Thallatos orders the skeletons to protect the people in the room.
In the morning, Thallatos discovers that two of his skeletons are missing. After a moment he realizes that Faelar and Bobo are also gone. After some frantic searching he finds the skeletons standing in a hallway, and orders them back to the throne room.
The day passes slowly, as Leon and Thallatos wait anxiously for the others to return. After all, their planned ambush of the Eyes of Night is the very next day. They take what preparations they can, borrowing a couple of the workers’ wagons and dressing them up to look like official Silver Shield Mercenary Guild transport wagons. When the night falls though, the others are still not back.
Early the next afternoon, Nym, Vanemuine, and Tyrrox finally return. Leon quickly fills them in on the plan. Tyrrox reveals that he has some extra gold thanks to selling the carpet, so they put that in the wagons to add to the illusion. They set up the wagons outside the castle, with the appearance of having made camp for the day.
Leon asks Helena to remain out of the battle, and she promises to stay on the castle wall and give support with a bow, despite her not being a very good archer. Garm, Bobo, and Faelar join the others in the campsite, and Thallatos stashes his skeletons inside the wagons.
After a few hours of waiting, a small group of armed men comes along. One of them, wearing plate mail and carrying a mace, calls out to them to surrender and no one will be hurt. In response, they launch their attack.
The battle is pitched, with the human soldiers soon joined by drow armed with crossbows. The crossbow bolts are poisoned, but the only one in the battle to fall victim to the drow poison is one of the drow who accidentally cuts his hand on a bolt when his bow jams.
After that, a pair of drow wizards show up, taking to the air to combat Leon. Helena provides him what support she can from the distant castle wall. Erisha, the dancing girl from the contest, and who also led the attack on the food caravan, joins in the battle as well, carving up the Samir zombie before turning her attention to fighting Tyrrox.
Lualin, the woman who killed Samir and whose face remains concealed except for her pink eyes, is also in the battle. She wounds several of the participants, including Nym, Thallatos, and Vanemuine, before disappearing when the battle starts going against the Eyes of Night. Someone also throws a dagger at Thallatos which hits him fairly hard. He never sees who threw it.
One by one the Eyes of Night forces are defeated. The warriors, the two clerics, the two wizards are all killed. All but two of the drow crossbowmen are killed – one of them surrenders to Thallatos and one to Vanemuine. Erisha tries to retreat, but Tyrrox runs her down and impales her on his lance, then stops to celebrate finally getting rid of her.
With their enemies dead or fled, the group rounds up their survivors and starts to treat each other’s wounds, before trying to decide what to do next.
XP Awarded: 2,475 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:10:38 GMT -5
Session 23: Saturday, July 24, 2010
With the Eyes of Night forces almost totally obliterated, Leon and Thallatos start gathering the weapons, armor, and other gear from the fallen with the help of Garm and Bobo. When it’s all together, Leon checks it over and discovers that the only magical gear came from Erisha.
After that, Thallatos animates most of the dead. He is able to animate only fourteen of the bodies, so he sets his minions to the task of digging a mass grave for the rest of them, as well as the remains left behind when the skeletons are raised. He takes particular care to animate Erisha’s corpse as a skeleton, so that it cannot be used to resurrect her.
After talking it over for a bit, the group decides that the Eyes of Night will probably attack again, and in greater force. Since the group considers their obligations met (Leon even shouts it out to the heavens, to see if the magical contract takes effect), it is decided they will set off for Darromar to turn over Samir and their two captured drow.
Since the group will be away, Tyrrox approaches Red Forman and informs him that work will be stopping for a bit. He sees to the workers being paid, and tells Red that he wants them all to be reachable to come back in a couple of weeks.
Leon wants to get the magical loot sold off, so he and Tyrrox head for Zazesspur along with Garm and Bobo. Thallatos, Vanemuine, and Nym hit the road for Darromar with the prisoners in tow, and Thallatos’s undead minions to guard them.
By the time they reach Zazesspur the hour is late, but they find a small shop run by a gnome which is still open. The gnome spends several hours identifying the items, and Leon then distributes them. Erisha’s ring and armor (which was magically hidden from view) are given to Garm for distribution among his own party. Erisha’s gauntlets are given to Vanemuine, along with one of the augment crystals from her swords. The swords themselves, along with the other crystal, are sold to the gnome. Leon uses the proceeds to buy a magical headband for Vanemuine and some gems for Thallatos.
Meanwhile, the others decide to wait for the next morning before setting out to Darromar. After a few hours into their trip, a pair of huge, spidery creatures approaches on the road from behind them, making no attempt at stealth.
Nym creates a small quake, catching both of the spider monsters and knocking them flat. As one struggles back to its feet it fires a blast of fiery energy from one of its eyes, striking the stone giant skeleton. Thallatos heals the skeleton, and sends his more powerful minions to battle the threats.
The undead giants and gorgons prove to be effective combatants, dealing massive damage to the two creatures. However, the smaller humanoid skeletons prove largely ineffective, so Thallatos holds most of them back in reserve.
The huge monsters prove to be formidable combatants as well, though. They show no reaction to the wounds inflicted on them, and indeed those wounds slowly heal over the course of the battle. In addition to the fiery beams that they shoot from one of the eyes, the creatures also use their bladelike forelimbs to slice and strike. Several of Thallatos’s minions, including the stone giant skeleton and some of the gorgons, are destroyed before one of the spiders goes down.
Meanwhile, Nym and Vanemuine hang back and provide magical support. Vanemuine shoots firebolts at the spiders, and Nym fires some blasts of searing light.
The remaining spider creature demonstrates another unknown ability, when it shoots a different kind of beam from another of its eyes. The beam strikes Thallatos, who had come forward to heal one of his skeletons, and turns him to stone even as he sits astride a skeletal horse. Neither the steed, nor the hapless drow prisoner tied and thrown across the back, are petrified by the blast.
Vanemuine and Nym realize that without Thallatos, no one is controlling the undead. Vanemuine has Nym get aboard his carpet, and they set off flying back for Castle Tethyr (albeit at reduced speed because this smaller carpet is not designed to carry multiple passengers).
The remaining creature disengages from combat, circles around the skeletons attacking it (taking several hits in the process), and latches on to one of the inert skeletons in the reserve line with its mandibles. Trapping the skeleton with its pincers, the spider takes off running at full speed. The horde of skeletons sets off in pursuit, still trying to carry out their last command. The rest of the undead begin milling about, looking for something to attack.
About halfway back to the castle, Vanemuine and Nym encounter Tyrrox and Leon, who are headed out to catch up to them. The two elves explain what happened.
From their description of the spider-like creatures, Leon identifies them as Retrievers – magical constructs from the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, created for the sole purpose of seeking out a person or item, taking it, and bringing it back to their master. Whoever sent the Retrievers was looking for something specific, or someone, and had the means to bring these creatures out of the Abyss to do so. Based on that, Leon concludes that the skeleton taken was most likely that of the dancer Erisha.
Vanemuine leads the others back to the scene of the battle, several hours down the road. By the time they get there, most of the skeletons are gone. The defeated Retriever is still lying on the road, as are the fragments of the destroyed undead. Comically, one undead horse is circling, trying to reach the drow still hogtied on its back. Tyrrox destroys the skeletal horse, and the drow is loaded onto his back for transport.
Examining the scene, Tyrrox manages to isolate the set of hoof prints likely belonging to Thallatos’s horse, which made heavier indentations in the ground because of the weight of a stone statue still on its back (held in place by its legs being clamped around the skeletal creature when Thallatos was petrified). He follows the trail for a couple of hours before losing it. Unable to find the trail again, Tyrrox returns to the scene of the battle and picks up the trail of the last horse. After following it for a bit, he finds ropes on the ground, indicating that the other drow has escaped his bonds and gotten away. Samir’s presence is unaccounted for.
With the hour growing late, the group realizes they have no realistic chance to find Thallatos now. The undead horse has hours and hours of head start and will never tire, whereas Tyrrox must move at half speed to track effectively, and every time he loses the trail, the skeleton gains ground. It is decided to continue on to Darromar, hand off the remaining prisoner, and attempt to locate Thallatos through magical means.
Fortunately, the next few days of travel are largely uneventful. On the day before reaching Darromar (the 1st of Eleint, as it turns out), the group passes an odd-looking pair of dwarves on the road. One is in gleaming, polished plate mail bearing the symbol of Tyr, and carrying a great hammer over his shoulder. The other is wearing rusty, spiked plate mail that squeals and creaks as he walks, and a horned helmet on his head. He carries a barrel underneath one arm, and smells as if he hasn’t bathed in decades. The two dwarves greet the party amicably and pass by on the road.
Finally, the group reaches Darromar. Since Nym has no involvement in the Silver Shield Mercenary Guild, he decides to find something to do while the others take care of Guild business. Vanemuine recommends Modern Times, and Nym goes there to have some soda.
When they reach the Guild head office, the group is shown right in. Matthias is somewhat surprised to see them, but receives their explanation of events. Upon hearing of the discovery of Samir, the Eyes of Night guild, and the escape of prisoners after the attack of the Retrievers, Matthias has only one question. He asks how, if they had the mole along with them, was a caravan hit just hours before they arrived in his office?
Matthias reveals that he just received communication from Lumbergh that a caravan was hit on its way to Darromar that very morning. He takes Leon at his word for what happened, but says that there must still be another mole.
After some debate about the nature of the contracts signed, Matthias concludes that the bargain remains unfulfilled, but not broken. The contracts are magic items, and he does not control the way they work now that they are activated. Leon argues that the party cannot reasonably be expected to take on the most powerful thieves’ guild in Myratma, probably in all of Tethyr, and Matthias sympathizes.
However, since the terms of the contracts stated that the party members must locate the influence in the Guild office and remove it, then it’s still in force. Matthias suggests that locating the second mole and removing them, through violence or arresting them or whatever, should be enough to fulfill the terms.
Leon suggests that the mole is probably Lumbergh, who seems to keep information about the next shipment to himself, and in any case never seems to do any actual work. He suggests to Matthias that he find a way to remove Lumbergh from the Myratma office, possibly station him somewhere else, and see what happens. Matthias says he will consider it.
With regard to Thallatos, Matthias says that if they can find a way to locate their petrified companion, he will have Milia teleport them to the location if it is safe for her to do so. He suggests they come back to see him when they’ve got something worked out for that.
Leaving the Guild office, Leon asks Tyrrox to find them a mage who can cast the proper divination spells while he goes to the palace and seeks an audience with the Queen regarding Castle Tethyr. Although he has less-than-fond memories of the place, Tyrrox decides to visit the laboratory of a wizard he once did a Guild job for, acting as a test subject during spell research.
Tyrrox makes his way to the laboratory of the wizard Egbert Mourgram and knocks on the door, which is answered by Egbert’s manservant Wilfred. Wilfred explains that Egbert is occupied with spell research, but that if Tyrrox can catch him the following morning before he gets engrossed in his research, he might be able to convince the wizard to help. Wilfred suggests that Tyrrox will be more likely to get Egbert’s help if he can provide help or a service of some kind in exchange, as the wizard doesn’t care much about money.
Meanwhile, Leon seeks audience with the Queen, but discovers that she is busy with petitioners that day. He is able to get into her schedule for the following day though, in late afternoon.
XP Awarded: 3,000 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:11:22 GMT -5
Session 24: Sunday, August 22, 2010
With nothing left to do that day but wait, Leon goes home to prepare for his audience with the Queen the following day.
Vanemuine decides that he wants to bathe, but since water is scarce thanks to the drought he is unable to simply get a bath. Instead, he goes looking for a well to go diving in again. The first well he checks has apparently run dry, but when he checks the well in a wealthier part of town he finds that the water, while lower than before, is still there. Vanemuine disrobes and goes into the well. He finds some coins at the bottom, and enjoys a relaxing soak for awhile.
Vanemuine’s bath in the town’s drinking water is rudely interrupted when a wooden bucket falls on his head. It seems some woman is trying to get some water from the well. When the woman notices Vanemuine down there, he claims to be a water sprite, and surprisingly the woman believes him. Ever helpful, he dips the bucket in the water and sends it back up to her.
When Vanemuine eventually emerges from the well, he finds that his gold has been stolen. After asking around and searching, he finds a pair of children terrorizing a cat in an alley. He stops one, and the other runs off. The boy that Vanemuine caught tells him the other one stole his gold, and so Vanemuine goes to the boy’s house to reclaim it.
The door is answered by the woman who came to get water from the well. She forces the boy to return the stolen gold, and apologizes to “the water sprite” for the boy’s actions, and scolds him for it, saying his mother would be ashamed of him.
The next day, Leon heads to the palace for his audience with Queen Zaranda and King Haedrak. As in the past, Haedrak seems content to let his Queen do all the work as he sits there barely listening and playing with his pseudodragon familiar.
Leon outlines the proposal to rebuild and repair Castle Tethyr, and make it into a safe waypoint on the crossroads between Tethyr’s major cities. Although Queen Zaranda says she will need time to consider the offer, she makes it clear that taking possession of the castle would not be free. She does however acknowledge the debt that Tethyr owes Leon and the others for their assistance in escorting the food caravan, and promises to take that into account.
Leon also briefly explains the situation in Myratma. The Queen is somewhat alarmed at the firsthand account of affairs there, and also by the apparent ease with which Matthias is able to make legal troubles go away.
Lastly, Leon mentions the unfortunate fate of Thallatos. The Queen offers to locate the petrified Thallatos through scrying, so Leon leaves and finds Vanemuine while she gets ready to cast the spell. Leon and Vanemuine also fetch Milia Greenleaf, who is going to teleport them to Thallatos’s location on Matthias’s orders. Unfortunately, Milia is able to bring only three people along with her teleportation, and larger people count for more, so Tyrrox cannot come.
Queen Zaranda casts her scrying spell, and the mirror reveals the petrified Thallatos, still on the back of his skeletal steed, in some hills. The horse skeleton seems to be heading steadily in one direction. Milia pipes up that she recognizes that area as the foothills of the Omlarandin Mountains, in the east of Tethyr. This means that Thallatos has crossed nearly all of Tethyr in just a few short days.
Milia casts her teleportation spell, and she, Leon, and Vanemuine appear in the hills. Each takes to the sky through their own methods, and they fan out to look for Thallatos. After a few minutes, they find him. The skeletal horse is battling a creature that looks like an emaciated panther, with a pair of tentacles coming from its back – a displacer beast.
As they close in to help, more displacer beasts start to show up in answer to the call of the one already on the scene. Leon uses a scroll given to him by the Queen to restore Thallatos to flesh, and the surprised necromancer is immediately thrown from his mount.
Despite the sudden disorientation, Thallatos quickly recovers mental control of his skeletal horse and remounts it. And not a moment too soon, as the fight now includes not only six normal displacer beasts, but the much larger, more powerful pack lord as well.
Leon, Vanemuine, Thallatos, and Milia manage to eventually take down the group of displacer beasts, though not without some difficulty. As Milia prepares to cast her return teleportation spell, Thallatos announces that he wants to animate the displacer beasts to begin replenishing his depleted horde. Milia tells him that the city of Saradush is not far to the west of the hills, and that he can find the spell components he needs there. Vanemuine gives Thallatos enough gold to buy the required number of gems.
Leon decides to send Vanemuine back to Darromar with Milia to find Tyrrox and let him know what is going on. Leon will stay with Thallatos, and after the displacer beasts are animated they will hit the road back to Darromar. Everyone says their farewells, then Milia and Vanemuine teleport out.
Thallatos is able to buy the gems he needs in Saradush without incident, and animates the seven displacer beasts. However, in the meantime he discovers a strange phenomenon that had escaped his notice during the battle: although he is able to control his skeletal horse without any more effort than usual, it now tries to continue heading east through the hills whenever his concentration lapses and he is not actively directing it.
XP Awarded: 1,800 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:12:14 GMT -5
Session 25, Part 1: Sunday, September 5, 2010
After explaining to Leon the strange phenomenon of his skeletal horse trying to walk off on its own whenever he doesn’t actively control it, they decide to see what the deal is. But first, they get some rest. Thallatos uses a length of chain and a lock to tie the skeletal horse in such a way that it cannot walk, which will allow him the two hours he needs to sleep.
Once his rest is over, Thallatos animates the displacer beasts as skeletons. It turns out that they also are affected by this strange phenomenon where they try to walk off on their own if he doesn’t actively restrain them. So Thallatos uses them to help keep watch while Leon gets some sleep. Once Leon is rested, they set off.
While keeping control of the displacer beasts, Thallatos lets the horse go. It starts heading east back into the foothills. Thallatos and Leon follow. The horse skeleton continues to make its way through the foothills into the Omlarandin Mountains, and they follow.
After a few hours of navigating the low mountains, the horse skeleton enters a cave. Thallatos, Leon, and the rest of the skeletons follow. Leon can see fine in the blackness, but Thallatos is blind in the dark. Fortunately, Leon has a couple of everburning torches in his briefcase, and gives one to Thallatos.
As they head deeper into the cave and the underground tunnels that connect to it, Thallatos finds that the pull on his skeletons is getting stronger. Leon finds that there is an aura of necromancy permeating the area like a mist – very thinly dispersed at the moment, but of an incredible power in spite of that.
Thallatos decides to cast a spell that will hide the group of them from the sight of undead. This has the somewhat amusing side effect of making it so that his various skeletons cannot see one another, nor him. Fortunately, they do not need to see him directly to receive his commands.
They continue on into the dark tunnels, and soon lose all sense of direction. Fearing what they could find in the tunnels, Thallatos decides to hide his light and rely upon Leon to guide his steps in the darkness. This causes them to travel very slowly, and their progress is impeded even more as the tunnel slowly grows smaller and tighter. At one point, it gets so tight that the skeleton of the displacer beast pack lord has to be left behind. Once Thallatos looses it from active control it tries to come with them, but it cannot fit any further into the tunnel.
As they walk through the tunnels, Leon finds some letters carved into the rock wall. Although they are very difficult to make out even with his darkvision, he recognizes the alphabet as a dwarven dialect, though not one he is familiar with. Despite that, his ever-evolving warlock abilities compensate for the archaic dialect and allow him to comprehend it clearly. The sign informs passerby that the city of Iltkazar lies a couple of miles ahead.
A short distance ahead, Leon and Thallatos begin to hear, and also to feel, rumbling somewhere nearby. Thallatos tries to detect the presence of undead, but finds nothing other than those brought with him. They decide to continue proceeding, but a little more cautiously.
They get only about fifty feet further down the tunnel when something bursts through the tunnel wall behind them. It is a large, hulking creature with a head like a giant beetle, an Underdark predator known as an umber hulk. Leon is able to make out the shape of a second Umber hulk emerging behind the first.
In the tight quarters of the tunnel, Thallatos cannot bring his crowd of minions to bear, and the Umber hulk trades blows with the rearmost displacer beast, trying to make its way past. Leon flies as high as he can (not high at all) in order to get a clear shot on the creature, and fires some eldritch blasts at it.
The second Umber hulk moves back into the tunnel it emerged from, and the sound of further rumbling can be heard as it burrows through the rock. Thallatos waits, expecting it to burst out closer to him, but the moment never comes.
The first Umber hulk breaks off its attack and tries to retreat back up the passage, but it continues to burn from the hellfire that was inflicted upon it, and it collapses in death. Recognizing the value of an undead capable of burrowing through rock, Thallatos animates the fallen creature and laments the escape of its fellow.
Thallatos has the Umber hulk skeleton move back up the passage and widen it so that the displacer beast pack lord can rejoin the others. While that is going on, Leon scouts a little ways ahead, though not too far. He travels only about sixty feet, allowing him to keep Thallatos just at the edge of the range of his darkvision.
While scouting ahead, Leon hears guttural voices echoing from the tunnels ahead. He takes a look (turning himself invisible just in case), and finds a strange sight – half a dozen surface trolls, carrying manufactured weapons and armor. Although he is no expert on trolls, Leon knows that it is most unusual for them to use manmade weapons.
Leon heads back to Thallatos to discuss what he saw, and they decide that the best thing for them to do is try and talk to the giants. So Thallatos goes ahead, with Leon invisible at his side and some of the skeletons behind him.
All attempts to communicate with the trolls fail. Whatever language they are speaking, neither Thallatos nor Leon understands it, nor do the trolls respond to any of the variety of languages the two of them speak. Interestingly, one of the trolls seems to be doing some writing on a piece of paper. Leon flies over to look, and sees that it appears to be a crude map and very clumsy writing. He deduces that the trolls are exploring this area.
Finally, Thallatos is able to pantomime that his intentions toward the trolls are not hostile, and that he merely wishes to move past them up the tunnel. Whether they understand him or not, the trolls move aside and allow him and his menagerie to pass through. It is a tight squeeze, especially for the pack lord skeleton, but they all get through and the trolls simply watch them go.
Continuing on for several more hours, Thallatos and Leon eventually find that the tunnel they are in connects to another tunnel. This one has ruts in the stone indicating that carts have passed through it, probably mining carts. They must be getting close to Iltkazar.
By periodically loosing the horse skeleton from his control, Thallatos is able to confirm that they are still heading toward the source of whatever is drawing his undead. Leon also notices a steady increase in the concentration of necromantic energy.
It comes to a head when they reach the city of Iltkazar. The necromancy aura here is so thick that it permeates the entire city like a mist, overwhelming in strength and intensity. On the road ahead of them, Leon does spot a dwarf who is staggering a bit as he walks into the city. Leon decides to fly closer and take a look, to see whether the dwarf is a zombie, or merely drunk.
The dwarf turns out to be a zombie. In fact, a look around reveals that everything in the city appears to be undead of some sort, mostly zombies but with some skeletons as well. Although the majority appear to be dwarves, there are some larger humanoid undead and even a few other things.
Thallatos finds that it has become a constant effort of will to maintain control over his undead. He releases control of the horse to see where it goes (he believes it will head toward the center of the city), only to find that it seems to mill about aimlessly in the town.
Thallatos decides to take one of the patches off of his Robe of Bones, and uses it to create a human zombie. The human zombie shambles off, and Leon follows it while Thallatos stays behind and waits for him, working hard to keep his minions reined in.
The zombie heads into an area that looks like it was once a marketplace, the equivalent of an open-air bazaar in a surface city. Much to Leon’s astonishment, the zombie moves in such a way that it appears to be, of all things, browsing the marketplace. Leon takes a quick survey of the area, and realizes that it is not alone – all of the zombies and skeletons here seem to be performing some hideous mimicry of everyday life.
Curious to see whether this strange phenomenon is taking place elsewhere, Leon heads into one of the ubiquitous taverns in the area. Inside, he is greeted by the macabre scene of dwarven zombies pouring alcohol into their decaying throats, and in many cases leaking out of rotted innards and spilling to the floor. Leon (no doubt troubled and perhaps unnerved) returns to Thallatos to report this.
The two of them decide to head for the palace at the center of Iltkazar, reasoning that whatever caused this awful event would probably be located there. The palace has zombie dwarf guards outside, but thanks to Thallatos’s magic they cannot perceive the intruders.
Once inside, it is a simple matter to locate the throne room. While Thallatos finds a place to wait, still fully concentrating on keeping control of his undead, Leon takes a peek inside.
And reflexively pulls his head back, because the throne room is filled near to bursting with a gigantic zombie silver dragon (it has too much flesh remaining to be a dracolich, he believes). After processing that, he looks again and notices a few more details. For one, what was once the throne of Iltkazar is crushed beneath the bulk of the zombie dragon. From this, Leon concludes that the dragon was probably disguised in the form of the dwarven king, and his sudden death caused him to revert to his true form, crushing the throne beneath him.
Leon decides to fly into the throne room to have a closer look. Thallatos warns him that intelligent undead can potentially pierce the spell that keeps them hidden from the eyes of mindless undead, so it’s a gamble. Fortunately, the zombie dragon does not react when he flies in.
Leon sees that the tapestries on the wall look to be fairly clean and well-maintained. This would seem to indicate that the mass killing and reanimation of Iltkazar is recent. There are also some other dwarven undead in the room, but they are crushed up against the wall thanks to the sheer size of the dragon zombie.
Thallatos briefly considers trying to magically command the zombie dragon, but decides against it since the dragon is too large to fit through the entryway, and attempting to break through the walls would possibly attract attention (to say nothing of the structural damage it might cause). Worst of all, casting the spell would break the spell that renders him and Leon invisible to the other undead.
Instead, they quietly retreat from the throne room and look around the rest of the castle. Leon finds the library, and while Thallatos remains in a secluded area, Leon goes looking for rare books.
Passing a couple of undead dwarf librarians (one zombie even periodically puts its finger to its lips as it shambles back and forth through the stacks of books), Leon locates the section that contains the official histories of Iltkazar. He locates the most recent volume, dated 1374 DR, and browses through it.
The book contains references to King Mith Barak the Clanless now being eight years overdue to awaken. It seems that the Regency Council ruled in his absence, but in the absence of the King’s leadership they were timid and afraid to make important decisions, which was leading Iltkazar into a slow economic and social decline.
There is also plenty of information regarding local matters such as veins of mithral in the mines running dry, but there is no reference to any artifacts or objects of mysterious power being found. If there was any mysterious object that might have caused this, the official histories contain no record of it. Leon puts the most recent volume of the histories into his briefcase, then continues exploring.
Next, he locates the area where the rare arcane volumes are located. Judging by the titles, he locates quite a few books that are likely rare and valuable. Leon conducts his search by looking for the oldest, rarest volumes, and from these he selects the ones he believes to be the most valuable or worth preserving. He also locates a trio of clearly little-used, mostly forgotten books of necromancy, and takes those as well. Leon crams as many books into his briefcase as can fit, and decides to take out the only remaining contents of any size (his bottles of rum) to fit more books. He reluctantly leaves the rum sitting on a table.
Leon returns to Thallatos, and they begin searching for the vaults, where the royal treasures were kept. It’s a simple matter to locate the vault; however, the huge mithral door blocking the way proves to be a more difficult obstacle. Leon begins trying to burn through with his eldritch blast, which takes several minutes of concentrated hellfire blasting.
During this time, the voices of the trolls can be heard outside. It seems they have come into the city proper, and are discussing something outside. Once he has finished melting a hole through the door, Leon flies to a window and peers out at them. The trolls seem to have a few minor wounds, and though they quickly heal it becomes clear that the trolls fought their way in.
Turning his attention to the vault, Leon finds a mostly empty room, with a rope dangling from a hole in the ceiling. It seems that someone narrowly beat him to the room.
Leon and Thallatos decide to check out what’s left. There are four sturdy-looking treasure chests, and a few scattered items on the ground. Thallatos has one of his displacer beasts pull open the lids of the chests, triggering whatever traps there may be.
The first chest triggers a magical trap. A cage of pure force energy encompasses the displacer beast, and then a Hamatula (also known as a barbed devil) appears. The summoned devil is compelled to fight the displacer beast.
Fortunately, the forcecage is made of bars rather than a solid wall, so Leon is able to aim eldritch blasts through the bars to strike the barbed devil. He tries to warn the Hamatula to leave, but its only reply is “would that I could,” and it keeps battling, though it does focus all its efforts on the displacer beast skeleton within the cage. Thallatos does what he can to support the skeleton from outside the cage, having it come over to him to receive healing when it becomes necessary.
The barbed devil is defeated, and when it is banished back to the hell it came from the forcecage disappears as well. The contents of the chest are looted, as are the other three chests. They are trapped as well, but the only effect of any note is the last chest, which contains a Symbol of Pain spell. Thallatos is affected by it, and his body is wracked with pain. He manages to keep control of his undead anyway, and quickly they gather up what’s left and leave.
Leon recognizes one of the items found as a Bag of Holding. He gives the bag to Thallatos, but for now he wants to use it to carry out more of the books in the library. So Leon returns there, while Thallatos grits his teeth against the constant waves of pain wracking his body.
Leon quickly takes more history books, beginning with the five most recent years, and then the oldest available volumes. He takes a last look around, and notices that the zombie librarians have taken some of his rum already.
Leon vows to come back here sometime, to investigate further and to try and rescue more of the precious knowledge and history that is here. Thallatos says that’s all well and good, but he wants to get out of Iltkazar right now. Something deep down within his body (which has been slowly becoming so attuned with the undead that it even shares some of their natural resistances and immunities) feels at home here, even welcomed. And that makes him very nervous and uncomfortable. Leon says that he understands, because if they ever end up in the Nine Hells he expects to feel something similar.
After renewing the spell to hide them from undead eyes, they leave the palace and head straight back out of Iltkazar the way they came in. They manage to avoid any further confrontation with the trolls, and once safely back in the tunnels they begin to relax just a bit. It takes about an hour for Thallatos’s pain to subside, and the further they get from the doomed dwarven city, the easier it becomes to retain control over his minions.
Finally, after what seems like days underground, the two of them emerge from the cave on the mountainside and discover the starlit night sky.
XP Awarded: 2,500 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:12:38 GMT -5
Session 25, Part 2: Monday, September 6, 2010
With nothing else to do during the remainder of the day, Tyrrox decides to find people to dance with in town. He finds a one man band to play some music to accompany his dance, and although Tyrrox himself dances well, none of his dance partners can keep up with him very well.
Nym visits a local church of Ilmater, and asks the head priest there for his advice. Nym explains that he has been traveling with a necromancer. The necromancer’s intentions seem to be good, and he has witnessed no evil acts that have been perpetrated, and Nym asks whether he should do any penance or something. The priest advises Nym to give himself some light flogging for penance, and to wear uncomfortable clothing (and possibly shoes a bit too small) to prevent himself from getting comfortable around the necromancer.
The rest of the day they spend relaxing and waiting. The next day, Tyrrox brings Nym along with him to visit Egbert’s tower. Egbert is having breakfast, and Tyrrox explains to the wizard that they want him to find a friend of theirs.
Egbert asks the two of them to fetch a scroll of the scrying spell from his collection, but Tyrrox and Nym both quickly realize that they are unable to read arcane scrolls even enough to determine what spell is written on them. Fortunately, Egbert’s manservant Wilfred is able to find the scroll by referencing an index that he keeps.
Next, Egbert asks Wilfred to fetch his scrying mirror, but Wilfred reports that Egbert smashed it after the last time he used it, because he didn’t like what the scrying spell revealed. Egbert informs Tyrrox that he will need a new scrying mirror if he is to cast the spell, so he has Wilfred give Tyrrox and Nym some money, and sends them out to buy one.
Tyrrox and Nym get a mirror, but they discover that it is too big to carry easily, and end up having to pay out of their own pockets to have it delivered to Egbert’s tower..
Egbert asks Tyrrox and Nym if they have a lock of Thallatos’s hair, or something that belongs to him, or anything that would help establish a personal connection to him. They do not, so Egbert asks them to describe Thallatos as best they can. Unfortunately, neither can provide many details regarding his appearance other than the fact that he’s currently made of stone. Egbert tries to locate him with the spell anyway, but warns that their imprecise description could cause a problem.
Unfortunately, Egbert’s scrying spell finds a different man that has been turned to stone, this one acting as an impromptu support pillar for a tavern somewhere. Egbert explains to Tyrrox that he cannot try again for at least a day, because the spell will fail automatically. Also, scrolls of scrying do not come cheap. Tyrrox thanks him for his help, and then he and Nym leave.
The two of them head to the Moneybags Inn (where Tyrrox stayed the night before). Due to his drunken rampage that once smashed down the front wall of the inn, Tyrrox was required to put down a fairly sizeable deposit before being allowed to rent out a room here. He and Nym relax there for awhile and discuss their options. A few hours later, Vanemuine comes in.
Vanemuine explains to them that Thallatos has already been rescued, thanks to help from Queen Zaranda and Milia Greenleaf. He also explains that Leon and Thallatos are making the trip back to Darromar the old-fashioned way because Thallatos needs to rebuild and transport his horde of minions.
The three of them decide to stay the night in town, and then head back to Castle Tethyr the following day. The following morning they leave word for Leon of where they have gone, both at his house and at the Moneybags, and then hit the road bright and early.
Later that morning, Tyrrox receives a magical message that only he can hear. He instinctively recognizes the voice of Queen Zaranda, who tells him that she has word of his friends and would like to discuss it with him. The spell allows a return message, so Tyrrox informs the Queen that he will be at the palace in a few hours. So they turn around and head back to Darromar.
Upon reaching the palace the three of them are escorted inside where they meet the Queen, who is alone unlike the previous times they have met her. Nym is introduced to the Queen for the first time, and Zaranda replies that the clergy of Ilmater are always welcomed. The Queen is also surprised to see that Vanemuine has returned.
Zaranda tells Tyrrox about how she cast the scrying spell to locate Thallatos, and then Leon and Vanemuine were teleported to his location. She says that she grew curious about them this morning, since there was no word of whether they were successful in retrieving their friend, and cast another scrying spell. She learned that Leon and Thallatos were underground somewhere in dark tunnels, and that Thallatos was quite well. However, she did not see Vanemuine. She is relieved to learn that it is simply because he has returned to Darromar already.
Zaranda also explains that Leon has outlined for her their plans regarding Castle Tethyr. She briefly explains that it will take time to analyze their request and determine whether it is feasible and allowable, as well as a selling price for the land and the castle since they cannot simply give it away.
The Queen also offers the help of another crown-appointed agent on their travels and to help clear the monsters out of the castle. Tyrrox accepts the aid, and the Queen has a man brought into the room whose name is Lhaeo. He is a fairly ordinary-looking man, with short brown hair and a goatee, wearing a sword on his belt but no armor.
Since the trip to Castle Tethyr will take several days, Nym needs a horse. Lhaeo provides one for him, a light horse that can travel quickly, and has his own horse as well. With Lhaeo as escort, Tyrrox, Vanemuine, and Nym hit the road once more.
The day’s travel is peaceful enough, and some small talk is made. That night, Tyrrox takes the first watch. He notices something very strange – there appears to be some fog on this night, despite the fact that the country is in the midst of a devastating drought and there is little if any moisture to be found in the air. Tyrrox decides to try and disperse the fog using his Wind Fan. It blows the fog away, but after a few minutes the fog settles in once more.
What Tyrrox fails to notice, however, is that something has approached the camp in the darkness. Something big. And so Tyrrox is startled when beams of light in all colors of the rainbow start swirling around in the darkness, illuminating the outline of a huge creature that appears to be some sort of grotesque hybrid of an ape and a boar, with tiny wings that nonetheless manage to lift its bulk off the ground.
The swirling lights explode outward in a huge burst of bright light. Though Tyrrox is able to shield his eyes, the bright blast of light catches all the others. Though everyone is awakened by it, Vanemuine and Lhaeo are dazed and temporarily unable to react to anything.
For the moment, only Tyrrox is able to do anything, so he takes his lance in hand and charges, striking a powerful blow on the creature’s bulk. The man-bear-pig creature responds by gesturing at him and making some sort of grunting noise. Suddenly, Tyrrox’s mind is completely enfeebled, leaving him with approximately the awareness and mental acuity of a small lizard.
Although complex thought is now beyond him, Tyrrox can at least still tell friend from foe. He takes the big pointy thing in his hand and runs at the monster, striking another powerful blow before the monster flies up out of his reach.
Nym casts a healing spell on Vanemuine, which not only frees him from his dazed condition but also cures any lingering wounds or other problems he had. Vanemuine boards his carpet and takes to the air to battle it.
Without the means to restore Tyrrox’s mind at the moment, Nym tries to go on the attack with his magic, but the creature proves unnaturally resistant to magic. Everything Nym tries seems to fizzle out and do nothing when it strikes the monster.
As the battle starts to go against them, Nym and Vanemuine notice that the fog, which has mostly been hanging low to the ground, begins to thicken and rise toward the creature. When it reaches the monster, it coalesces on top of him into the form of a man with a sword. While balancing on the creature’s back, he stabs downward with a sword, but the monster shrugs him off and he topples to the ground.
The mysterious figure turns into fog again and rises up to the monster’s level once more, as Vanemuine continues flying by the monster and slashing at it. Lhaeo finally shakes free of his dazed state and joins the battle, running toward the creature and then casting a spell that turns him into gaseous form as well.
The monster charges up its attack with the light beams again, and this time the light burst dazes both Vanemuine and his mysterious ally, who falls to the ground hard. The monster then dispels Lhaeo’s spell, causing him to rematerialize and fall to the ground as well.
The monster lashes out at Vanemuine, who quickly recovers from his dazed state this time and flies lower. Lhaeo casts a spell that makes Vanemuine move more quickly, and Nym provides a bit of healing. The stranger also recovers and gets back into the battle.
Eventually, the creature is wounded badly enough that it flees by teleporting away. This gives the group time to recover and to try and process all that has happened in the brief, frenzied battle. With a moment to think, Nym realizes that this creature, whatever it is, is a demon from the lower planes called a Nalfeshnee. If it is here, it was summoned by someone very powerful, probably the same someone who sent the Retrievers after them.
Unfortunately, Tyrrox’s condition does not wear off on its own. Unable to do anything about it for now, Nym decides to take the opportunity to feed Tyrrox sugar cubes and treat him like a horse. Vanemuine has a little fun at Tyrrox’s expense as well, calling him a horsey. They decide that they will have to put him on a leash for now.
Once they’ve done what they can to tend to their wounds and Tyrrox’s diminished mental state, Nym and Vanemuine turn their attention to the mysterious stranger, who is waiting patiently and watching them…
XP Awarded: 2,500 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:13:34 GMT -5
Session 26, Part 1: Sunday, October 17, 2010
After defeating the Nalfeshnee and doing what they can to tend their injuries, Vanemuine, Nym, and Lhaeo turn their attention to the mysterious stranger who aided them in battle. Tyrrox, his mind essentially shut down by the demon’s magic, waits complacently for his friends to do whatever they’re going to do.
The stranger, who is dressed all in black except for a shiny breastplate over a purple shirt of some fine material, introduces himself as Seth. He explains that he is from the Bone Claws, and that he has been keeping an eye on them for a few days now. He also comments that they appear to have made the Matron mad at them.
When Vanemuine and Nym ask who “the Matron” is, Seth seems incredulous that they don’t know. He explains that the Eyes of Night guild is partially composed of drow (a fact of which the party has recently become aware), and that the leader of the drow faction is a priestess of Lolth, and matron of her clan. Evidently, she is binding demons and sending them after the group.
Seth seems unwilling to reveal too much more than that, but says that they may contact him by leaving a message with a man named Dyne at the Council House in Myratma. With that, he turns to mist and disperses, leaving the group alone with the night.
Tyrrox is in no condition to take watch, so he is secured to make sure he doesn’t wander off, and the two elves and Lhaeo trade off watching for the rest of the night. In the morning, Nym casts a healing spell to restore Tyrrox to his normal self.
The group sets off, continuing to head for Castle Tethyr. After another day’s progress, they make camp again. Once more, they are attacked during the night.
This time, the attack is led by a hulking demon called a Hezrou, which is covered in spines and barbs, with powerful arms and a mouth filled with sharp teeth. The Hezrou leads a cadre of smaller demons called Dretches, which are short, blubbery, pale creatures with fat bellies, gangly arms that drag on the ground, and small mouths full of fangs.
The battle begins with some of the Dretches creating magical stinking clouds, the awful stench of which quickly spreads to encompass most of the area as the Dretches spread out to engage the group in combat. Although most of the group is able to either hold their breath or simply grit their teeth and bear the awful stench, Lhaeo is visibly nauseated. While retching and heaving, he tries to make his way outside the ever-expanding clouds of stench.
Whenever someone gets close to the Hezrou, its most distinguishing feature proves to be its own horrible stench, which is both more potent and more pronounced than the stinking clouds created by the Dretches. Merely coming near the demon is enough to trigger spasms of gagging, and Tyrrox discovers this when he charges the creature with his lance.
The Dretches prove to be fairly weak, as several are killed off quickly. Even more are obliterated when Nym conjures a massive barrier of spinning blades, which completely encircles the Hezrou and traps it within. Rather than try to force its way out between the blades, however, the Hezrou summons another of its kind outside the barrier, which continues the battle even as some of the Dretches attempt to summon more of their own kind. Most fail, but one or two more Dretches do appear.
One lone Dretch outside the barrier of blades swipes furiously at first Vanemuine, then Nym. As its scrabbling claws fail to find a gap in the armor of either elf, they both choose to ignore its futile attempts to wound them, for now.
Lhaeo, who has finally recovered from his nausea, casts a spell that reshapes the very earth outside the barrier of blades, creating a massive ramp that extends from the ground up to the top of the blade barrier. He then runs up the ramp, leaping over the blades to come crashing downward, sword-first on top of the Hezrou. Lhaeo finds himself alone inside the blades against the Hezrou and a handful of surviving Dretches until Vanemuine flies over the blades on his carpet and joins the battle.
The lone Dretch attacking Nym eventually finds a gap between the plates of the cleric’s armor and stabs through, causing Nym to scold the demon as if it were a misbehaving dog. Nym then returns its attention to the greater threat of the other Hezrou.
Eventually all the demons are defeated, even the persistent but ineffectual Dretch that was attacking Nym. The group tends to their wounds before setting up camp for the night again (a little farther away from the lingering stench of the battle).
XP Awarded: 3,960 + petition
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Post by Velaryon on Nov 8, 2010 16:14:03 GMT -5
Session 26, Part 2: Sunday, October 17, 2010
After emerging from the tunnels back into the open air of night, Leon and Thallatos decide to rest for awhile. Thallatos worries that his minions will wander back toward the ruins of Iltkazar while he rests, so he has his umber hulk skeleton dig a trench in which to trap them. Then he binds the Umber Hulk so that it cannot get away on its own, and rests. After Thallatos gets his two hours of needed rest, he takes over watching so Leon can sleep.
The following morning, the Umber Hulk digs an exit for the rest of Thallatos’s undead from the pit where they were stowed, and then they set off in what they think is the direction of Darromar. Although Thallatos does not need to eat or drink (thanks to the magical ring that also lets him sleep for only two hours at a time), Leon finds that he is quite hungry. So, with encouragement from Thallatos, Leon flies around and eventually spies an eagle. He shoots down the bird with an eldritch blast, cooks it with the fire of his blast, and devours the bird. Thallatos animates the bird as a skeleton and has it ride his shoulder.
It is not long before the group is set upon by a trio of wyverns looking for a quick meal. Although they attempt to carry off an easy meal, the three wyverns are instead quickly killed and reanimated as zombies by Thallatos, giving him his first flying undead.
After some more travel time, it becomes clear that something is wrong. Leon and Thallatos find themselves in a place where the grass is still green, and there is still life in the countryside. For a moment they wonder if the drought has ended, but quickly realize that things would not be back to normal so quickly. Wherever they are, it seems they have taken a wrong turn.
Fortunately, they find a river fairly soon afterward, and follow its course to look for a settlement of some kind. They travel the remainder of the day and make camp. Thallatos finds that he can now trust his undead not to leave on their own, as they are now beyond range of the mysterious force that calls them toward Iltkazar.
The following morning they set off again, and around midday find a city. But something is clearly wrong in this city, as people are fleeing the streets and screaming. Leon and Thallatos try to stop a couple of people to get some answers, but many people take one look at them (and the undead with which they are traveling) and run the other way. Even those few people to whom they can get close to speak are so terrified that they provide no help.
With nothing else to do, they continue into the city. In the town streets, the source of the people’s panic becomes clear. It seems this city is under attack by a force of aquatic creatures that look like some sort of fish-frog hybrid, known as Kuo-Toa. The Kuo-Toa soldiers are pursuing a group of fleeing people through the city street as Leon, Thallatos, and the undead come up from the other direction. They witness the Kuo-Toa mow down a few people, as others duck down alleyways or continue running toward them.
Trying to save those who still live, they engage the Kuo-Toa. While the creatures fight mostly with short spears, they occasionally gather into groups to generate a bolt of lightning, which they fire at Leon or Thallatos. Nonetheless, the Kuo-Toa are killed quickly.
Heading in the direction from which the invaders came, Leon and Thallatos discover an invasion force of Kuo-Toa have landed at the coast of whatever city in which they have found themselves. However, in addition to their own vast numbers, the Kuo-Toa have large monsters that appear to be gigantic crabs with four claws.
Seeing a small group of the city’s defenders grouped together nearby, Leon and Thallatos move to assist them. While once again mowing down the Kuo-Toa rather quickly, they find that the giant blue crab is quite formidable indeed.
Furthermore, on occasion magic spells appear to be coming from the crab’s underside, sometimes balls of fire and sometimes blasts of lightning.
As they get closer, a man jumps out from the crab’s underside holding a pair of swords. Leon and Thallatos are able to see that the crab, while indeed a living creature, is hollow and has people riding inside it.
The battle is long and brutal, and one of Thallatos’s undead wyverns is destroyed. However, the man with the two swords is eventually defeated, as are two more people who come out from inside the crab. One is a man who seems to specialize in fire-based magic, and the other is a woman wearing armor, bearing a sword shaped like a bolt of lightning, and wielding lightning magic herself. The crab itself is also killed.
Once their particular area of the battle dies down, Leon revives one of the wounded survivors, and asks where they are. The soldier replies that they are in the city of Mintar, on the Lake of Steam. Meanwhile, Thallatos raises the giant crab as a skeleton.
XP Awarded: 3,960 + petition
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