Vult 5 - Vult 8, YK 998
Part Three - Ruins of the Giants:
After resting overnight, the Wolves emerged to eat breakfast and see what they could work out about the murder of the ambassador from Thrane and the scribe from Karrnath. Pel used a locate object spell to try and find Gunter based on his robes, but after walking through all three levels of the ship, was able to confirm that the scribe's body was not aboard.
The Golden Dragon was relatively quiet now that so many passengers were either dead, confined to their quarters or laying low to avoid the chaos of the previous day. The Wolves pretty much had the run of the ship, and with the rain subsiding, they were able to spend some time up on the deck as well as in the reception hall. They spent a lot of time trying to figure out the truth of the assassinations, and investigating any remaining suspects on board.
That mostly meant Torren Blackfingers, the gnome artificer who had taken up long-term residence in the luxury suite. After trying to work out a way to infiltrate his room without the House Medani sentries getting wise, Pel and Lysander finally realized it was too much risk for too little reward, and marked Torren off the suspects list without any more information to go on.
They did come up with a theory that perhaps Gunter had faked his death and left the ship, and even that he might have been Emerald Claw. This would turn out to be dead on, although they wouldn't learn this until days later. A major clue to confirm this hypothesis came the next morning, when Pel used his locate object and found an empty poison packet inside the coffin that had held Gunter, and now held Cardinal Bethenade's body.
In addition, they were approached by Halas Martain, who was planning to go out into Xen'drik and investigate a Ruined Giant Citadel he had been searching for. He asked the Wolves to come along, given how they had proved their mettle during the voyage. Lysander was intrigued by the possibility of stories, and Tworock by the potential for killing giants, and so they agreed quickly to his proposal.
Early in the morning on Vult 6, the Golden Dragon sailed over the city of Stormreach. As they docked at the Lyrandar tower, Captain Alastair presented each member of the Wolves with a letter of credit for 1,000 gp. "The Last War may have sparked as a result of what went on here, but I can't help but think things would have been much worse without you on board."
As they boarded a skiff on loan to Halas Martain, the captain told them that the ship would depart in about two weeks, on the afternoon of Vult 20.
The journey into Xen'drik, roughly 12 miles into the jungle according to Martain's maps and directions, took two days aboard the airborne skiff. During that journey, Martain pointed out numerous flora and fauna and regaled the Wolves with tales of his adventures. His storytelling was a bit blustery and obnoxious, but Tworock was convinced that whatever else was true of him, Halas Martain had clearly spent a lot of time in Xen'drik and knew a great deal about it.
On the morning of Vult 8, Martain turned the skiff and coasted free of the jungle canopy, revealing a massive ruined giant temple that existed inside of a cliff face. A waterfall spilled down the face of the cliff and into a hole in the temple, forming a stream that poured down the stairs of the temple and met the hot ground, creating a field of hot mud and clouds of steam in front of the entrance.
Halas Martain set the skiff down just clear of the mud, grabbed his pack and began moving forward. The Wolves joined him, and soon they were wading into the hot red and brown mud, which came up to just above their waists. The mud was hot, heated by underground geysers that would occasionally spurt mud into the air, but it wasn't damaging. As the Wolves began swimming through the mud, though, the geysers began venting their steam and mud more violently, and they realized that they were being surrounded by segmented wormlike creatures, glowing with orange-white heat, that emerged from underneath the mud.
"Move through them!" Halas yelled as he tried to swim past the monsters. Tworock manifested his force screen and moved forward, but as he did, one of the creatures sprung out of the mud and slammed into him, and the creature was hot enough to burn even the fire resistant half giant. As Pel swam through the mud, he recognized the creatures from his studies in the library as Thoqqua, creatures from the plane of elemental fire. Lysander and Luggoth began swimming through as well, and the creatures began springing out at everyone, striking both Luggoth and Halas Martain.
As the Wolves and Halas moved towards the steam, the Thoqqua continued to attack, burning each of the adventurers at least once. Tworock was the first to reach the steam, and he discovered that it was not unoccupied. He was swarmed by Steam Mephits, who scalded him with their hot steam breath weapons before unleashing a rain of boiling water on the adventurers as everyone made their way into the steam clouds.
Once inside the steam, the adventurers could see that there were stairs pouring water down into the mud fields. Halas swam toward the stairs, yelling out "Get to the stairs!" Tworock had suffered enough, and swung his greatsword at one of the Mephits, easily cutting it down. The Thoqqua and Mephits continued to harry the adventurers, who climbed up the giant sized stairs, as Tworock psionically enlarged himself to block the path behind them.
Tworock suffered a number of attacks from the Thoqqua, blinded and scalded as he was by the Mephits, but he gave the others time to climb the stairs, and finally climbed up himself. After killing another Mephit, the rest of them fled into the steam cloud, and the Thoqqua sunk back beneath the mud.
After washing some of the mud off themselves and giving Tworock some healing, the Wolves moved forward. Standing at the lip of the entrance, they saw three bronze statues of trolls in full battle regalia. Halas Martain stepped forward and yelled in Giant a pass phrase. Tworock, who spoke Giant, used his autohypnosis to memorize the pass phrase for the future.
The massive chamber was 100 feet tall, and carved out of obsidian. Standing about 50 feet down the hall, there was a massive obsidian statue of a great cyclopean king, itself about 40 feet tall. Halas Martain asked Pel to advance, keeping a "wary eye out for traps, my friend." Pel kept an eye out and detected a massive pressure plate surrounding the statue. Given the immense size of the pressure plate and the sheer walls, there was no easy way around, and so he attempted to temporarily disarm the trap, but his attempt succeeded in activating the trap, and a ray of enervation blasted out from the king, striking Pel and draining some of his life energy.
Pel moved back and used the scroll of restoration on himself. Rather than attempt to disarm again, Tworock used his psionic levitation, pulling himself along the wall and carrying two people at a time past the statue and the pressure plate. Once past the pressure plate, they had entered the main chamber, which was hundreds of feet wide and long. The roar of the waterfall pouring through the ceiling drowned out all noise, and the Wolves moved cautiously forward. Halas Martain looked down into the pool and spotted a glint of silver, but no one was willing to swim down through the crushing waterfall to see what it was.
As they all began looking around the waterfall and staring at the giant pillars which ran up to the ceiling, Luggoth spotted giant-sized skeletal tracks, and thought he heard something, even through the noise of the waterfall. Seconds later, he realized what he saw as the skeletons of an Ettin and three trolls advanced on the party.
Lysander began singing, his voice cutting clearly through the sound of the waterfall and inspiring the Wolves. The Ettin and two of the trolls moved in on Luggoth, with the Ettin landing a solid club blow on the shifter, who responded by shifting into his animal form and tearing into one of the nearby troll skeletons.
Tworock once again psionically enlarged himself, and the Wolves joined in battle. The Ettin skeleton engaged Tworock and Luggoth, while the trolls attacked Luggoth and Pel. Luggoth was tearing into the skeletal trolls, but his sharp weapon wasn't the best tool for use against the skeletons. Tworock's flail, however, was a handy weapon and he began bashing chips out of the Ettin skeleton. He also yelled for Halas Martain to join the fight, as he noticed the treasure hunter hanging back.
Halas pulled out his bow, running to join Pel at the rear of the fight. As Lysander, Tworock and Luggoth engaged the Ettin and two of the trolls, the other troll skeleton charged at Halas and Pel. Pel pulled out his magic missile wand while Halas fired mostly ineffective arrows, as Luggoth slashed his sword and shattered one of the trolls to bits.
The Ettin and trolls landed more solid blows on Tworock, who responded by smashing the Ettin to bits with his flail. Pel blasted away at the troll with magic missiles as it clawed at him, while Tworock battled with another troll until Luggoth moved in and finished it off with his greatsword.
Badly damaged from this fight and the previous one, Tworock ran up the pillar and out of reach, and Lysander moved in to attack the troll on his own. Luggoth moved to join him, but slipped in the water as he was charging and failed to connect with his sword. Halas concentrated his arrow fire on the troll, doing some minor damage, and as Lysander pulled back, Luggoth regained his footing and smashed the last remaining troll.
Angry with Halas for his ineffectivenes and for nearly hitting him with an arrow, Luggoth rushed at the treasure hunter. Halas offered a potion of cure moderate wounds as a peace offering, but he still found himself threatened by the angry shifter, who called him both cowardly and incompetent.
Moving forward into the chamber, Pel and Halas discovered a chamber filled with bats. It looked like it had once been a shrine to some forgotten god, but now it was empty except for broken stone and bats. Moving along the wall, Pel began searching for traps and found instead an illusory wall. While his hand was through, something swung at him but missed.
Tworock levitated up to what he thought would be a safe distance and poked his head in. There he saw several things. For one thing, he saw row upon row of sarcophagi containing the skeletons of trolls, ettins and giants. For another, he saw Gunter Hegerin, very much alive and wearing the robes of a necromancer of the Blood of Vol. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he saw four troll skeletons, and one Cloud Giant skeleton. The latter swung its morningstar hard at Tworock, who was very much inside the massive undead's reach, and it connected its morningstar solidly with Tworock's head.
The troll skeletons rushed out of the illusory wall and swarmed Halas Martain, cutting him and knocking him, bleeding and unconscious, to the floor. Gunter, covered in defensive magics including mirror image and stoneskin, fired a ray of enfeeblement that missed Tworock, who quickly ducked back out and levitated 40 feet up, trying to get clear and heal himself from the many wounds he had suffered.
Lysander, seeing the forces arrayed against them, turned invisible and moved towards Pel, who was now under attack from the trolls. Before they could kill him, Lysander cast invisiblity on Pel as well. Luggoth shifted once more, flew into a rage and leaped through the wall, attacking the Cloud Giant skeleton for a mostly negligible effect. In return, the Cloud Giant swung its morningstar and smashed Luggoth twice, dealing an amount of damage that would have killed most other men.
Gunter cast improved invisibility upon himself, and then, to complete the chain of invisibility, Halas stopped feigning unconsciousness and drank his own potion of invisibility. Badly wounded, Luggoth fled out of the room, though not before Pel could cast a cure moderate wounds on him.
What then ensued was something similar to modern sub warfare, as most of the combatants were invisible to the others. Tworock and Luggoth, as the visible members of the party, were to draw the most attacks.
As the Cloud Giant and trolls roamed the massive chamber looking for Luggoth, Gunter cast Evard's Black Tentacles on the area, nearly trapping Lysander and Pel. However, they managed to move out of the area without giving away their location. Gunter began taunting them, claiming that he would add them to his army of the undead, and Tworock picked up on this as a way to find the arrogant necromancer and began trying to draw him out.
Gunter continued to yell out threats, which allowed Pel to guess at his location and move toward him. However, Gunter also continued to fire off spells, hitting Tworock with magic missiles, a ray of exhaustion and a ray of enfeeblement. As Lysander also moved toward where he thought Gunter was, drinking his last potion of heroism, Luggoth dodged between some of the trolls and caught the attention of the Cloud Giant skeleton.
Tworock began firing his bow at the Cloud Giant for minimal effect as it moved in and once again smashed Luggoth with its morningstar. The trolls disengaged, moving to block the exit, as Lysander cast a scroll of haste to empower everyone but Tworock, who was on the ceiling and out of range. Pel used his oil of keen edge on his rapier, struck at where he'd guessed Gunter was, and was pleased to hear the necromancer cry out in pain. Gunter struck back at the now visible Pel, though, leeching his energy with a vampiric touch, and as Pel crumpled to the floor, Lysander realized that the spell had probably healed Gunter's damage.
The Cloud Giant continued to swing at Luggoth, who dodged once thanks to his haste, but then suffered another solid blow, very nearly knocking him unconscious. Before fleeing the fight, he managed to hit Gunter as well. Lysander tried to use a vial of ink to spot Gunter, but he missed, and a splat of ink appeared on the wall. Meanwhile, Tworock used his dorje of skate and began moving quickly down the wall to where they thought the necromancer was.
Gunter responded with another ray of enfeeblement, this time draining much of Lysander's strength, but he suffered an attack of opportunity from Luggoth as a result. Tworock dropped his bow and drew his flail, psionically summoning animal affinity to make up for his lost strength.
As the Cloud Giant chased Luggoth around the room, Lysander healed Pel back up to consciousness, and Luggoth shifted back to his human form. The Cloud Giant moved in and attacked Tworock, who had now reached the ground, hitting the half-giant with a solid blow of his morningstar. Everyone then ran away to get clear of the Cloud Giant, knowing that any one of them would be killed by another hit from the massive undead creature.
Then Gunter's invisibility ended, and he stood revealed. Pel began trying desperately to activate his magic missiles, but the stress of the situation and the life-threatening damage he'd sustained made it nearly impossible for him. Luggoth began firing arrows, destroying mirror images, and Tworock used his psionic stomp to knock both Gunter and the Cloud Giant down for a brief time, giving the Wolves time to regroup and focus their attacks on the necromancer.
Gunter stood up and used a vampiric touch on Tworock, and Lysander activated his dragon mark to summon a shadow wall of flame around the Cloud Giant, as Luggoth moved in and struck Gunter again.
As the Cloud Giant swung and narrowly missed Lysander, and Gunter missed him with a ghoul's touch, Lysander struck back with his rapier and destroyed what remained of Gunter's stoneskin. Luggoth fired three more arrows, destroying the remaining mirror images and putting Gunter down with an arrow in his chest. The Cloud Giant turned on the creatures who had defeated its master, and things looked fairly dire for the wounded and exhausted Wolves.
Then Halas Martain emerged from the other chamber, carrying some sort of stone tablets, and he spoke words in the Giant tongue that froze the Cloud Giant in place. He apologized for his seeming cowardice, and told them that he had been searching for a way to stop the skeletons, and he found it amongst the sarcophagi in the back room. The Wolves weren't entirely buying this, but they did owe Halas their lives at this point, so they didn't push it.
After Pel stabilized Gunter with a cure minor wounds, he bound and gagged the still unconscious necromancer. Then they all turned to Halas and asked him what else he had found. He reluctantly produced a Khyber dragonshard from his bag, claiming that he had found two, but Pel knew he was lying, and pushed at him. Halas handed two more out and admitted that there were six. He argued that he should keep half, since he had discovered the Ruined Citadel, and no one was much in the mood to fight about it.
In the shadow of the inert Cloud Giant skeleton, the Wolves and Martain camped and rested for 8 hours, taking turns at guard. They made sure the troll skeletons, who had left the citadel during the fight, weren't coming back. They watched the Cloud Giant to make sure it didn't come back to active life. They made sure that whenever Gunter stirred, he was knocked back unconscious. And they made sure that Halas didn't make off with anything.
After resting, they emerged in the late afternoon to find four dead half-orc Tharask bounty hunters, clearly killed in a pitched battle with the troll skeletons. Before they had fled into the jungle, the skeletons had also destroyed the skiff. Fortunately, the Tharask bounty hunters had left behind four warhorses. Unfortunately, the Wolves were now stuck deep in the Xen'drik jungle, and they had to get back to Stormreach in less than two weeks to produce Gunter and prevent the Last War from breaking out all over again.
XP:
Luggoth 2400
Lysander 2400
Pel 3000
Tworock 3000
Saturday, October 14, 2006
XP, Backup Characters, General Rules Notes
Since we'll have some time between now and the next Eberron session (I'm guessing December at the earliest, and with the holidays, probably January), it might be a good time to make sure everybody has at least one backup character built. Not that I'm *planning* on killing anyone, but... well, after that last fight, and a couple fatalities in the party, you all know Eberron is a dangerous place.
So... first off, my general ruling on XP for sessions: If your character is there, but you are not, that character will gain 1/2 XP for the session. This reflects a lighter usage of your character (mostly door opener and combat monster) when he's in someone else's hands, and also rewards folks for coming out to the game.
Backup characters will always be built one level behind the average level of the party, which as of the last adventure is now level 9. This does mean that resurrection, even though it costs a level, is just as viable an option as a backup character, *if* you can find someone to resurrect you. You will have the XP in the middle between the level you are and the level of the rest of the party.
So currently, if you build a backup character, that character is level 8, and has 32,000 XP. You can spend as much of that XP as you want on building magic or psionic items if you have Crafting feats, as long as you don't exceed the cash limits for those items.
Which are: You will start with the wealth indicated on the Character Wealth by Level table (DMG, p. 135). Currently, that is 27,000 gp. At least 20% of that wealth (5400 gp, in this case) must come into the campaign in liquid form, either as gold/platinum pieces, bags of gems or letters of credit from House Kundarak. Of the rest, you can spend no more than 9000 gp on any one item. This means that practically speaking, you're limited to +2 weapons and armor. In addition, any wondrous item that costs more than 2500 gp, or any item that comes from a source other than the main Eberron book or the DMG, is subject to GM approval. You'll probably get it, but I reserve the right to say no.
Also, on the store-related front: I'm making a change to the amount of money you get from selling magic items in the store. Since it's going to be harder to sell anything more unique or powerful, you're not going to get that cash as quickly. So what I'm going to do is, when you sell any item that is worth 5000 gp or less, you'll get 75% of its cost. When you sell an item that costs more than that but less than 10,000 gp, you'll get 60% of its cost. And when you sell an item that costs 10,000 gp or more, you'll get 55% of its cost.
This basically represents a longer time that your money is held in the Bank of Kundarak before you get a cash influx from somebody buying a magic item. If I wanted to get real complicated, I'd do something like put the items in a pool, roll randomly to see if someone bought them, give you the money for those then, but that would be a huge pain in the ass and it's easier to do it more abstractly like this. Seem fair to everyone?
Oh, and since we're most likely using FUDGE for Call of Cthulhu, I added a link to the FUDGE site and a PDF of the FUDGE rules (it's a free game) to the sidebar links.
So... first off, my general ruling on XP for sessions: If your character is there, but you are not, that character will gain 1/2 XP for the session. This reflects a lighter usage of your character (mostly door opener and combat monster) when he's in someone else's hands, and also rewards folks for coming out to the game.
Backup characters will always be built one level behind the average level of the party, which as of the last adventure is now level 9. This does mean that resurrection, even though it costs a level, is just as viable an option as a backup character, *if* you can find someone to resurrect you. You will have the XP in the middle between the level you are and the level of the rest of the party.
So currently, if you build a backup character, that character is level 8, and has 32,000 XP. You can spend as much of that XP as you want on building magic or psionic items if you have Crafting feats, as long as you don't exceed the cash limits for those items.
Which are: You will start with the wealth indicated on the Character Wealth by Level table (DMG, p. 135). Currently, that is 27,000 gp. At least 20% of that wealth (5400 gp, in this case) must come into the campaign in liquid form, either as gold/platinum pieces, bags of gems or letters of credit from House Kundarak. Of the rest, you can spend no more than 9000 gp on any one item. This means that practically speaking, you're limited to +2 weapons and armor. In addition, any wondrous item that costs more than 2500 gp, or any item that comes from a source other than the main Eberron book or the DMG, is subject to GM approval. You'll probably get it, but I reserve the right to say no.
Also, on the store-related front: I'm making a change to the amount of money you get from selling magic items in the store. Since it's going to be harder to sell anything more unique or powerful, you're not going to get that cash as quickly. So what I'm going to do is, when you sell any item that is worth 5000 gp or less, you'll get 75% of its cost. When you sell an item that costs more than that but less than 10,000 gp, you'll get 60% of its cost. And when you sell an item that costs 10,000 gp or more, you'll get 55% of its cost.
This basically represents a longer time that your money is held in the Bank of Kundarak before you get a cash influx from somebody buying a magic item. If I wanted to get real complicated, I'd do something like put the items in a pool, roll randomly to see if someone bought them, give you the money for those then, but that would be a huge pain in the ass and it's easier to do it more abstractly like this. Seem fair to everyone?
Oh, and since we're most likely using FUDGE for Call of Cthulhu, I added a link to the FUDGE site and a PDF of the FUDGE rules (it's a free game) to the sidebar links.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Eberron Adventure Journal: Voyage of the Golden Dragon (2)
Vult 1 - Vult 5, YK 998
Part Two - Cloak, Dagger and Spell:
The Golden Dragon was scheduled to leave for Xen'drik on Vult 3, so the Wandering Wolves had a few days to relax or work in Sharn before they left. Tworock and Luggoth both spent their time exploring the surrounding wilderness in Breland, sleeping out under the stars and connecting with the wilds. For Tworock, of course, the wilds of Breland still appeared remarkably civilized, but it was good to see a little more of the lands Traega had told him about.
Lysander and Pel both threw themselves back into information-gathering, in both high and low society.
Lysander took a break on Vult 1 to attend the Tain Gala with Arenydee, where the two spent a large amount of time amongst Sharn's social elite. Lysander made important contacts and heard several interesting rumors, including many people talking about a gang war brewing in the depths of Dura between the Boromars, the Tyrants and the Daask, and how such a war might affect those living in the high towers. There was also much talk about the hostage situation on the Golden Dragon, and Lysander received many compliments (and one indecent proposition) from grateful dignitaries.
Pel divided his time amongst his role as a half-elf member of the Wolves, his half-orc beggar in Lower Dura and Malfiore LeQuande. The half-orc bought up Dreamlily on a regular basis, which Pel began storing in Malfiore's apartment. In his role as Pel, he went and visited councilor Sava Kharisa to further talk to her about the corruption of the Watch. All of this was geared towards general information gathering as well as determining who had caused the Watch to raid the Six Stones event.
While neither of the two determined anything conclusive, all the rumors they had gathered pointed toward the Boromar Clan as the guilty party. They also discovered a few relevant details about the situation on the Golden Dragon. They discovered that Telgin Char was a notorious criminal who had up until recently been held in the Lhazaar prison Dreadhold, although they weren't able to determine with any certainty how he got out. They found out that the silver spheres had belonged to a sorcerer noble, also from the Lhazaar area, who had been slaughtered, along with his crew, a few months before.
Early in the morning on Vult 3, with a crisp, cold air holding sway over the city of Sharn, the Wandering Wolves boarded the Golden Dragon. The enormous airship now had both of its elemental rings lit, and any damage done during the scuffles of the past week had been repaired, so that the ship looked magnificent and new. Pel counted 18 House Medani sentries aboard the ship, notably on edge after the near-disaster of the Dragon's first outing.
The ship was considerably less crowded than it had been during its christening, but it was hardly empty. Up on the deck, the captain, first mate and bosun were making final preparations, along with deckhands, for the airship to set sail. Velgram, the half-orc bosun, made a point of cheerily greeting the Wolves, and the half-elven Lieutenant Mazzia also greeted them and thanked them for their bravery in defending the ship. Lysander noticed that Mazzia clearly had a crush on Velgram, but her position probably prevented her from acting on it.
Up on the observation deck, a thin man with a wispy goatee was feeding the birds who settled on the golden rails. Tworock went up and spoke with the man, who introduced himself as Gunter Hegerin, scribe to Karrnath Ambassador Sedge Avadarrn. Gunter told Tworock that Ambassador Avadarrn was onboard, along with a delegation from Thrane, to work out some details on the way to a conference in Xen'drik, as well as hopefully smoothing over some of the tension between the two nations. Gunter was a gentle and pleasant man, and he and Tworock made arrangements to meet, feed the birds and talk the next morning of the journey as well. Little did Tworock know that Gunter would not be making this meeting.
Down in the House of Chance, Pel and Lysander discovered that things were quite busy already. Sea Baron Paldrith Malinko, along with four of his crew, were enjoying games of Three Dragon Ante, while Nicolette, one of the elvish bards, cozied up to them. Lysander joined them for some generally pleasant, but un-enlightening conversation. Pel was engaged in conversation by Kalibar Jenks, the halfling owner of the bar, and they talked about a number of criminal enterprises, including the Boromar Clan, Tyrants and the Daask. Each was clearly holding something back and trying to learn more about the other, and Pel left with the strong impression that Jenks was deep in criminal activity. Also gambling in the House of Chance was legendary adventurer and Xen'drik explorer Halas Martain and Logar Veriscrost, a half-elven House Orien courier who seemed to have a great love for the game of dragonwheel.
Most everyone went to the top of the ship to watch the crowds bid farewell to the Golden Dragon, as it embarked on its first historic voyage. A cheer went up as the massive airship cast off from the Lyrandar docks and took to the skies, sailing away from the cold of a Brelish winter to the tropical warmth of Xen'drik. The first day of travel was cool but pleasant, with clear skies, and the ship would occasionally drop below the clouds so that the travelers could see dolphis frolicking in the Thunder Sea, or witness an exchange of goods between Brelish sailors and sahuagin caravans.
As the first day of travel began to come to a close, those on the upper deck could see storm clouds up ahead, and as Velgram went amongst the passengers announcing dinner, rain drops began to fall on the Golden Dragon's deck.
The Wolves were delighted to discover that the food aboard the Golden Dragon was as delicious in flight as it had been for the specially catered gala. Elaydren's words of praise for the cooking of Jaeden Kovane were clearly not mere flattery, and the guests dined on a meal of Karrnathi blood sausage and cheese, Brelish spiced pork and orange peppers and a Thrane beesh-berry sorbet, all served with a variety of ale and Aundarian wines.
As the Wolves entered the dining hall, they heard a clatter of crockery and witnessed a tense exchange between the Thrane ambassador, Cardinal Menasos Bethenade and Ambassador Avadarrn. Before the tension could erupt into something more between the Cardinal's paladin bodyguards and Avadarrn's skeletal protectors, Tworock walked over and introduced himself, the other Wolves close behind, and defused the tension. The Cardinal and his bodyguards stalked out of the room, bumping roughly into Gunter Hegerin on their way out and scattering his papers on the floor.
Ambassador Avadarrn invited the Wolves to sit with him as he signed a few papers for Gunter and sent him on his way. He introduced the head of his personal skeletal bodyguards as Skarad, and chatted comfortably with the Wolves about the politics between Thrane and Karrnath, which mostly revolved around the Karrnathi use of undead and the Thrane's disdain for the practice, but also included no small amount of bad blood from the Last War. Pel also tried to get some information about the soul blades, and learned that they had been created for the kings of Karrnath during the Last War, but some of them had gone missing from the nation after the war.
After dining for about an hour, with the rain and thunder becoming ever-louder outside, Captain Alastair approached the table and asked if the Wolves would accompany him. He took them back to the room where Ambassador Avadarrn and his entourage were staying, and showed them what he had found... Gunter Hegerin lay dead on the floor, his spilled cup of wine beside him, obviously dead.
Nervous about the House Medani sentries, fearing they might be overly eager to prove themselves in the wake of the attempted bombing of the ship, the captain asked if the Wolves could investigate discreetly. They agreed, just in time for the ambassador and his skeletons to return to the room and discover what had happened. Ambassador Avadarrn was angry and grief-stricken, but he agreed to keep things quiet as long as the Wolves promised a thorough investigation. "He was a good man, a gentle and kind man... find out who murdered him."
Pel suggested that perhaps it was the ambassador, not Gunter, who had been the target. While the ambassador didn't assign blame, it was hard for the Wolves to miss Skarad hissing "Thrane treachery" under his breath. Luggoth, using his enhanced senses and training, discovered that there was dark reaver powder in the wine glass, more than enough to kill a normal man.
In order to smoke out the murderer, Pel decided to adopt the identity of Gunter Hegerin. They hid his changeling nature from the ambassador, instead claiming a mastery of disguise. When the captain announced that he was closing off the upper decks until the storm abated, and serving warm spiced wine in the reception area, the Wolves decided this was the perfect time for "Gunter" to make an appearance.
While Lysander used his dragonmark to create an illusion of conversing with Pel, Luggoth and Tworock moved into the House of Chance to keep an eye on the many people there. "Gunter" came into the room, keeping an eye out for any reactions, but the only one he could see was a slight annoyance on the Cardinal's face, which could easily have been an honest reaction of distaste for the Karrnathi scribe. Realizing that there were many people in the House of Chance, he went there as well, but could see no unusual reactions from anyone there. He did spot that Sea Baron Malinko was gambling with silver spheres very similar to the ones that the Wolves had taken from Telgin Char.
While he was in the room, however, another problem broke out. The House Orien courier, Logar Vericrosst, was gambling when a goblin servant spilled a tray of ale on him. He began brushing the liquid from his waistcoat and then realized that the documents he had been carrying were missing! Angrily, he grabbed the goblin by the throat and accused him of stealing from him. Then he threw him across the room and into the bar.
Tworock, sitting near Sea Baron Malinko, manifested a force screen in preparation as the seamen reached for blades behind their backs. The sentries moved in to subdue the fight before it got started, one of them trying to hit Logar with the pommel of his sword, but then all the goblins piled onto Logar and the brawl was well and truly underway. Logar grabbed a steel mug from the table and smashed the Medani guard who had tried to subdue him in the face, breaking his nose. Luggoth picked up his own tankard and threw it, hitting Logar solidly in the head and dazing him for a moment. Just as he started to recover, Halas Martain, sitting at the table with Luggoth, threw his mug and clocked Logar as well.
Tworock rushed over and grabbed Logar, but the Medani sentry whose face was now pouring out blood wasn't willing to let things go and he punched the Orien half-elf across the face. The goblins, now in the midst of a melee, stumbled around the bar, one of them crashing into the table of Sea Baron Malinko and his men. Sea Baron Malinko knocked the goblin out and his men drew their blades. Luggoth, seeing that things were getting out of hand, shifted forms, leaped onto the bar and roared, cowing the goblins and sentries, at least momentarily. He did not bother Halas Martain, who merely yelled "While you're up there, my furry friend, can you get me another mug?"
Logar threw Logar up onto the stage and quickly followed after him, while the sentries began calling for reinforcements from the reception area. Pel, trying to get out of the line of fire, "stumbled" onto the stage and into Nicolette, bringing them both to the floor. Logar swung a fist at Tworock, but missed the surprisingly agile half-giant, and was rewarded with another mug in the face, thrown by Luggoth. Before Logar could do anything else, Halas Martain stood up, took careful aim and threw another mug, smashing Logar in the face and knocking him out cold.
Captain Alastair arrived a few moments later, and with the help of the sentries, restored order and began demanding to know what happened. Logar, who awakened quickly, apologized and explained that his diplomatic pouch had been stolen, and he assumed it had been the goblin. After Lysander searched the goblin at the captain's request and found no pouch, the Wolves agreed to discreetly investigate this matter as well, and the captain restrained Logar to his quarters for the duration of the journey.
Lysander, alerted to the silver spheres by Pel's use of the circle of communication, climbed onto the stage with the three elven women and asked to perform with them. Using dancing lights and other minor magic, he set the audience up to expect magical enhancements of his act, and then cast a detect magic spell. While neither Lysander nor Pel could spot the spheres from their vantage point, they did see them glow, and saw one of the seamen quickly shove them into a pouch to hide them.
Before the House of Chance was closed down, Kalibar Jenks spoke with Pel, who had left the bar as Gunter and returned in his own half-elf guise. Amongst other topics of conversation, Kalibar suggested that he had seen Jackrin, one of the Sea Baron's men, slip the Orien pouch into his jerkin during the melee.
Shortly thereafter, Luggoth retired to bed. The rest of the Wolves were relaxing in the mostly empty reception chamber when the two paladins of the Silver Flame, Sir Gedavin Brant and Dame Hollia Keln, came in to get food from the table to take back to their room. They brushed off polite attempts at conversation from Lysander, who then headed back toward his room to retire as well. On his way, he was nearly run over by five angry Karrnathi skeletons, on their way into the reception hall to accuse the paladins of murder.
As Lysander rushed to wake the Karrnathi ambassador, the skeletons rushed in and attacked the paladins, who defended themselves with their shields and then drew their own weapons. The House Medani sentries also entered the fray, destroying one of the skeletons before Pel could call upon the Traveler to send them all running. Before they could regroup, Ambassador Avadarrn and Captain Alastair both showed up and calmed things down. Frustrated, Alastair growled that he might be forced to send everyone to their quarters for the duration of the journey if things continued along this way. He confined both the skeletons and the paladins to their quarters for the rest of the journey. Tworock offered that he and Luggoth could serve as bodyguards for the ambassadors if they so desired. Naturally, he suggested that Luggoth guard the Karrnathi ambassador.
Though Luggoth went off to bed, the rest of the Wolves wouldn't be so lucky. Pel was approached by Darius Lightstep, the half-elf who ran the Serenity Above the Clouds massage room, and told not to confront Sea Baron Malinko about the accusations. After they went to Serenity Above the Clouds to talk privately, Pel tried to get Darius to open up, but he wouldn't offer up reasons. After a few moments, Pel realized that Darius was in disguise, a changeling like himself, and flashed a Tyrants sign to him.
Darius paled and started begging Pel not to kill him. It soon became clear that Darius was in fact Zan, the changeling who had defected from Vadis' service, and that he was hiding out from the Tyrants aboard the Golden Dragon, preparing to escape to Xen'drik. The reason he had warned Pel against confronting Malinko was that one of Malinko's men, Azango, was actually a doppleganger and a member of the Tyrants, and Zan had recognized him.
As for why he was on the run, Pel found out that Zan had found some sort of plans in Cord's office planning a coup against the Tyrant council. On that list were several names, most of which Pel didn't know, but the two he did recognize were his own and Xain. Zan wasn't sure who he could trust, was unsure why those names would be on a list of Cord's, unless they were double agents working against Vadis. Unsure who he could trust, Zan fled.
Pel filled Lysander in on this via the circle of sound, just in time for Lysander to notice Manten Dramgrin heading upstairs, against the captain's orders to stay belowdecks. He cast invisibility on himself and followed Manten, watching as he went to the unlocked artificer laboratory. Before Manten could close the door behind him, Lysander dove in.
He watched as Manten assumed his true form, that of the doppleganger Azango, and then set about releasing gas into the air from one of the barrels and setting tindertwigs by the door. Realizing he didn't have much time, Lysander downed a potion of heroism and moved in to attack Azango. The doppleganger heard Lysander trip over some tools on the floor and avoided the attack, and a battle was joined.
The two exchanged sword blows for a few seconds, but Lysander found an opening and stabbed Azango through the chest, critically wounding him. Azango fled out into the storm, running around the bridge just as Pel came running up the stairs on the other side. The storm was bad for visibility, but Lysander spotted a form near the bridge and threw a dagger, striking it and hearing a female voice cry out in pain and surprise.
As Pel and Lysander converged, they saw that the being Lysander had struck was Lieutenant Mazzia, who was furious and confused. When asked, she said that she had seen someone dash down the stairway, and Lysander and Pel both charged that way. Fortunately, Pel realized it was a trick as he reached the stairway and turned around, engaging "Mazzia" who was revealed as Azango. Pel stabbed Azango with his sword, putting him down and then cast a cure minor wounds to stabilize him, unconscious but alive.
After that, the real Mazzia, along with Velgram, came out of the bridge to find out what was going on, and they accompanied Azango, Pel and Lysander back to the lab to get out of the storm. Manten Dramgrin also stopped in, and informed them that the gas and tindertwigs would definitely have done some major damage, possibly even crippling the ship.
Though the interrogation didn't get far at first, Lysander used a charm spell to sway Azango, at which point the newly friendly doppleganger revealed everything. He told them that Sea Baron Malinko had been working on a luxury airship of his own, the Cloud Dancer, and that he had been behind this sabotage attempt as well as the one organized by Telgin Char and the hobgoblin Brimstone Brakker. After setting the trap, he was supposed to rejoin Malinko down in their stateroom, and they were all going to get off the ship in the skiffs. After Lysander convinced his new friend to go to sleep, Pel assumed Azango's form and prepared to lead Malinko and his men into a trap.
Unfortunately, on his way, he ran into a battle outside Ambassador Avadarrn's door. The paladins, apparently on orders from Ambassador Bethenade, had come to attack the skeletons, and a battle was joined in the hallway. As Pel called for help using the circle of sound, the paladins attacked and killed several of the skeletons.
Pel tried to subdue Gedavin, the male paladin, using hold person and fear, but was unable to get through the paladin's defenses, and he instead kept attacking the last remaining skeleton, Skarad. Hollia, the female paladin, covered him from the back.
Tworock and Luggoth, responding to Lysander's calls for help, ran out to try and restrain the paladins. As Lysander tried to sing and persuade both sides to avoid the atrocities of the Last War, Skarad and Gedavin continued attacking each other, and Hollia swung at Luggoth, viewing him as an abomination and an interloper in this fight.
Given Luggoth's animosity toward the Silver Flame, this was all the excuse he needed, and he went into a rage and attacked the paladin. Pel enhanced Tworock's strength with bull's strength to aid him in grabbing Gedavin as Luggoth and Hollia continued to battle. Luggoth swung a vicious blow that nearly killed the female paladin, but Lysander tumbled past the angry Skarad and healed her, keeping her unconscious but alive.
With one paladin down and the other restrained, Pel was able to calm Skarad by threatening him with a cure spell that would surely destroy him. Luggoth went up to get the captain and Medani sentries, and they confined the paladins to their quarters and Skarad into a different set of quarters.
In order to keep out of the way of the trap, as well as making sure everyone stayed in their rooms, Captain Alastair ordered all of the Medani sentries to guard those two rooms, plus the ambassadors.
Tworock, Lysander and Luggoth moved down to the cargo hold to wait in ambush, but when they got there they found that Gunter Hegerin's body was missing. There was little time to puzzle it out, however, as Pel led Baron Malinko, Jackrin, Skrakes and Meldin into a trap.
Jackrin spotted some of the Wolves waiting in hiding, but not quickly enough to escape, and Luggoth charged into action, raging and slashing the pirate with a wicked gash that nearly split his chest open. Sea Baron Malinko tumbled down the stairs and behind Luggoth, but he was unable to hit the nimble and well-armored shifter. Lysander drew his bow and put an arrow into Skrakes, but the pirates still knew the threat was Luggoth, and they all swung at him, doing some damage that the raging Luggoth mostly ignored.
Tworock rushed in, taking a minor scratch from an opportunistic attack by Meldrin, but he paid Sea Baron Malinko back for it with a gash across the chest. As Luggoth killed both Skrakes and Jackrin, the Sea Baron tried to run for one of the skiffs, but he didn't get far before Tworock moved in and cut him down. Before Meldrin could surrender, Luggoth killed him as well, and once again, Pel put his healing magics to use keeping a prisoner alive, stabilizing and awakening Sea Baron Malinko.
Malinko owned up to everything, explaining that his motivation was not merely jealousy at wanting his own Cloud Dancer to be the best in the sky but also anger because his family had held aberrant dragonmarked, and he still held a great deal of anger against the Dragonmarked Houses that ran Golden Dragon and ships like them. He tried to make deals with the Wolves, but found them willing only to throw him in prison.
He vehemently denied having anything to do with the theft of the pouch, even though it was found in Jackrin's vest, and he also denied causing the strife between the ambassadors. Pel, a good judge of when someone was lying, believed him. Pel deciphered the magical code in the documents inside the pouch and found that they were orders for House Orien to essentially "pull up stakes" on all development in Xen'drik.
It had been a long night, but it wasn't quite over yet. The Wolves went up and found out that one of the House Medani sentries had discovered Cardinal Bethenade dead in his room, poisoned by his own hand using dark reaver powder and leaving behind a confession that he had attempted to poison Ambassador Avadarrn. Pel and Lysander both checked for forgeries and confirmed that the confession was in Bethenade's handwriting, but they weren't entirely sure they believed it. What they were sure of was that acts of war between Thrane and Karrnath had taken place aboard the Golden Dragon, and once the news got out, as it surely would, those acts might spark a new conflict in Khorvaire.
After interrogating Zan for any more information, he confessed to Pel that he had overheard Kalibar telling him about the pouch, but that he had seen Kalibar slip the pouch into Jackrin's jerkin during the brawl. The Wolves went to confront the slippery halfling in the now-closed House of Chance. Tarla, Nicolette and Desrida were still there, but they refused Lysander's request to leave.
Jenks offered up a story about stealing the House Orien pouch and replacing it with the forgeries. He claimed that he had been hired to do so by the Boromar Clan, and that he had been making the switch when the goblin alerted Logar to the switch. Jenks had to try a misdirect, and so he slipped the forgery into Jackrin's vest during the brawl. Pel quickly realized that Jenks was mostly telling the truth, but he wasn't working for the Boromar Clan. It was the one part of his story that didn't ring true.
When confronted, Jenks reluctantly admitted that he was an agent of the King's Dark Lanterns, and called upon the loyalty of the Wolves to Breland to keep the secret. He knew that they had worked for the Dark Lanterns in pursuing Lucan, and hoped that they held a loyalty to the Brelish crown. Fortunately for him, they did, and they agreed to keep the secret.
After a long night and a series of exhausting events, the Wolves finally returned to their staterooms for some well-deserved rest.
XP:
Lysander 3000
Luggoth 1500
Pel 3500
Tworock 3500
Part Two - Cloak, Dagger and Spell:
The Golden Dragon was scheduled to leave for Xen'drik on Vult 3, so the Wandering Wolves had a few days to relax or work in Sharn before they left. Tworock and Luggoth both spent their time exploring the surrounding wilderness in Breland, sleeping out under the stars and connecting with the wilds. For Tworock, of course, the wilds of Breland still appeared remarkably civilized, but it was good to see a little more of the lands Traega had told him about.
Lysander and Pel both threw themselves back into information-gathering, in both high and low society.
Lysander took a break on Vult 1 to attend the Tain Gala with Arenydee, where the two spent a large amount of time amongst Sharn's social elite. Lysander made important contacts and heard several interesting rumors, including many people talking about a gang war brewing in the depths of Dura between the Boromars, the Tyrants and the Daask, and how such a war might affect those living in the high towers. There was also much talk about the hostage situation on the Golden Dragon, and Lysander received many compliments (and one indecent proposition) from grateful dignitaries.
Pel divided his time amongst his role as a half-elf member of the Wolves, his half-orc beggar in Lower Dura and Malfiore LeQuande. The half-orc bought up Dreamlily on a regular basis, which Pel began storing in Malfiore's apartment. In his role as Pel, he went and visited councilor Sava Kharisa to further talk to her about the corruption of the Watch. All of this was geared towards general information gathering as well as determining who had caused the Watch to raid the Six Stones event.
While neither of the two determined anything conclusive, all the rumors they had gathered pointed toward the Boromar Clan as the guilty party. They also discovered a few relevant details about the situation on the Golden Dragon. They discovered that Telgin Char was a notorious criminal who had up until recently been held in the Lhazaar prison Dreadhold, although they weren't able to determine with any certainty how he got out. They found out that the silver spheres had belonged to a sorcerer noble, also from the Lhazaar area, who had been slaughtered, along with his crew, a few months before.
Early in the morning on Vult 3, with a crisp, cold air holding sway over the city of Sharn, the Wandering Wolves boarded the Golden Dragon. The enormous airship now had both of its elemental rings lit, and any damage done during the scuffles of the past week had been repaired, so that the ship looked magnificent and new. Pel counted 18 House Medani sentries aboard the ship, notably on edge after the near-disaster of the Dragon's first outing.
The ship was considerably less crowded than it had been during its christening, but it was hardly empty. Up on the deck, the captain, first mate and bosun were making final preparations, along with deckhands, for the airship to set sail. Velgram, the half-orc bosun, made a point of cheerily greeting the Wolves, and the half-elven Lieutenant Mazzia also greeted them and thanked them for their bravery in defending the ship. Lysander noticed that Mazzia clearly had a crush on Velgram, but her position probably prevented her from acting on it.
Up on the observation deck, a thin man with a wispy goatee was feeding the birds who settled on the golden rails. Tworock went up and spoke with the man, who introduced himself as Gunter Hegerin, scribe to Karrnath Ambassador Sedge Avadarrn. Gunter told Tworock that Ambassador Avadarrn was onboard, along with a delegation from Thrane, to work out some details on the way to a conference in Xen'drik, as well as hopefully smoothing over some of the tension between the two nations. Gunter was a gentle and pleasant man, and he and Tworock made arrangements to meet, feed the birds and talk the next morning of the journey as well. Little did Tworock know that Gunter would not be making this meeting.
Down in the House of Chance, Pel and Lysander discovered that things were quite busy already. Sea Baron Paldrith Malinko, along with four of his crew, were enjoying games of Three Dragon Ante, while Nicolette, one of the elvish bards, cozied up to them. Lysander joined them for some generally pleasant, but un-enlightening conversation. Pel was engaged in conversation by Kalibar Jenks, the halfling owner of the bar, and they talked about a number of criminal enterprises, including the Boromar Clan, Tyrants and the Daask. Each was clearly holding something back and trying to learn more about the other, and Pel left with the strong impression that Jenks was deep in criminal activity. Also gambling in the House of Chance was legendary adventurer and Xen'drik explorer Halas Martain and Logar Veriscrost, a half-elven House Orien courier who seemed to have a great love for the game of dragonwheel.
Most everyone went to the top of the ship to watch the crowds bid farewell to the Golden Dragon, as it embarked on its first historic voyage. A cheer went up as the massive airship cast off from the Lyrandar docks and took to the skies, sailing away from the cold of a Brelish winter to the tropical warmth of Xen'drik. The first day of travel was cool but pleasant, with clear skies, and the ship would occasionally drop below the clouds so that the travelers could see dolphis frolicking in the Thunder Sea, or witness an exchange of goods between Brelish sailors and sahuagin caravans.
As the first day of travel began to come to a close, those on the upper deck could see storm clouds up ahead, and as Velgram went amongst the passengers announcing dinner, rain drops began to fall on the Golden Dragon's deck.
The Wolves were delighted to discover that the food aboard the Golden Dragon was as delicious in flight as it had been for the specially catered gala. Elaydren's words of praise for the cooking of Jaeden Kovane were clearly not mere flattery, and the guests dined on a meal of Karrnathi blood sausage and cheese, Brelish spiced pork and orange peppers and a Thrane beesh-berry sorbet, all served with a variety of ale and Aundarian wines.
As the Wolves entered the dining hall, they heard a clatter of crockery and witnessed a tense exchange between the Thrane ambassador, Cardinal Menasos Bethenade and Ambassador Avadarrn. Before the tension could erupt into something more between the Cardinal's paladin bodyguards and Avadarrn's skeletal protectors, Tworock walked over and introduced himself, the other Wolves close behind, and defused the tension. The Cardinal and his bodyguards stalked out of the room, bumping roughly into Gunter Hegerin on their way out and scattering his papers on the floor.
Ambassador Avadarrn invited the Wolves to sit with him as he signed a few papers for Gunter and sent him on his way. He introduced the head of his personal skeletal bodyguards as Skarad, and chatted comfortably with the Wolves about the politics between Thrane and Karrnath, which mostly revolved around the Karrnathi use of undead and the Thrane's disdain for the practice, but also included no small amount of bad blood from the Last War. Pel also tried to get some information about the soul blades, and learned that they had been created for the kings of Karrnath during the Last War, but some of them had gone missing from the nation after the war.
After dining for about an hour, with the rain and thunder becoming ever-louder outside, Captain Alastair approached the table and asked if the Wolves would accompany him. He took them back to the room where Ambassador Avadarrn and his entourage were staying, and showed them what he had found... Gunter Hegerin lay dead on the floor, his spilled cup of wine beside him, obviously dead.
Nervous about the House Medani sentries, fearing they might be overly eager to prove themselves in the wake of the attempted bombing of the ship, the captain asked if the Wolves could investigate discreetly. They agreed, just in time for the ambassador and his skeletons to return to the room and discover what had happened. Ambassador Avadarrn was angry and grief-stricken, but he agreed to keep things quiet as long as the Wolves promised a thorough investigation. "He was a good man, a gentle and kind man... find out who murdered him."
Pel suggested that perhaps it was the ambassador, not Gunter, who had been the target. While the ambassador didn't assign blame, it was hard for the Wolves to miss Skarad hissing "Thrane treachery" under his breath. Luggoth, using his enhanced senses and training, discovered that there was dark reaver powder in the wine glass, more than enough to kill a normal man.
In order to smoke out the murderer, Pel decided to adopt the identity of Gunter Hegerin. They hid his changeling nature from the ambassador, instead claiming a mastery of disguise. When the captain announced that he was closing off the upper decks until the storm abated, and serving warm spiced wine in the reception area, the Wolves decided this was the perfect time for "Gunter" to make an appearance.
While Lysander used his dragonmark to create an illusion of conversing with Pel, Luggoth and Tworock moved into the House of Chance to keep an eye on the many people there. "Gunter" came into the room, keeping an eye out for any reactions, but the only one he could see was a slight annoyance on the Cardinal's face, which could easily have been an honest reaction of distaste for the Karrnathi scribe. Realizing that there were many people in the House of Chance, he went there as well, but could see no unusual reactions from anyone there. He did spot that Sea Baron Malinko was gambling with silver spheres very similar to the ones that the Wolves had taken from Telgin Char.
While he was in the room, however, another problem broke out. The House Orien courier, Logar Vericrosst, was gambling when a goblin servant spilled a tray of ale on him. He began brushing the liquid from his waistcoat and then realized that the documents he had been carrying were missing! Angrily, he grabbed the goblin by the throat and accused him of stealing from him. Then he threw him across the room and into the bar.
Tworock, sitting near Sea Baron Malinko, manifested a force screen in preparation as the seamen reached for blades behind their backs. The sentries moved in to subdue the fight before it got started, one of them trying to hit Logar with the pommel of his sword, but then all the goblins piled onto Logar and the brawl was well and truly underway. Logar grabbed a steel mug from the table and smashed the Medani guard who had tried to subdue him in the face, breaking his nose. Luggoth picked up his own tankard and threw it, hitting Logar solidly in the head and dazing him for a moment. Just as he started to recover, Halas Martain, sitting at the table with Luggoth, threw his mug and clocked Logar as well.
Tworock rushed over and grabbed Logar, but the Medani sentry whose face was now pouring out blood wasn't willing to let things go and he punched the Orien half-elf across the face. The goblins, now in the midst of a melee, stumbled around the bar, one of them crashing into the table of Sea Baron Malinko and his men. Sea Baron Malinko knocked the goblin out and his men drew their blades. Luggoth, seeing that things were getting out of hand, shifted forms, leaped onto the bar and roared, cowing the goblins and sentries, at least momentarily. He did not bother Halas Martain, who merely yelled "While you're up there, my furry friend, can you get me another mug?"
Logar threw Logar up onto the stage and quickly followed after him, while the sentries began calling for reinforcements from the reception area. Pel, trying to get out of the line of fire, "stumbled" onto the stage and into Nicolette, bringing them both to the floor. Logar swung a fist at Tworock, but missed the surprisingly agile half-giant, and was rewarded with another mug in the face, thrown by Luggoth. Before Logar could do anything else, Halas Martain stood up, took careful aim and threw another mug, smashing Logar in the face and knocking him out cold.
Captain Alastair arrived a few moments later, and with the help of the sentries, restored order and began demanding to know what happened. Logar, who awakened quickly, apologized and explained that his diplomatic pouch had been stolen, and he assumed it had been the goblin. After Lysander searched the goblin at the captain's request and found no pouch, the Wolves agreed to discreetly investigate this matter as well, and the captain restrained Logar to his quarters for the duration of the journey.
Lysander, alerted to the silver spheres by Pel's use of the circle of communication, climbed onto the stage with the three elven women and asked to perform with them. Using dancing lights and other minor magic, he set the audience up to expect magical enhancements of his act, and then cast a detect magic spell. While neither Lysander nor Pel could spot the spheres from their vantage point, they did see them glow, and saw one of the seamen quickly shove them into a pouch to hide them.
Before the House of Chance was closed down, Kalibar Jenks spoke with Pel, who had left the bar as Gunter and returned in his own half-elf guise. Amongst other topics of conversation, Kalibar suggested that he had seen Jackrin, one of the Sea Baron's men, slip the Orien pouch into his jerkin during the melee.
Shortly thereafter, Luggoth retired to bed. The rest of the Wolves were relaxing in the mostly empty reception chamber when the two paladins of the Silver Flame, Sir Gedavin Brant and Dame Hollia Keln, came in to get food from the table to take back to their room. They brushed off polite attempts at conversation from Lysander, who then headed back toward his room to retire as well. On his way, he was nearly run over by five angry Karrnathi skeletons, on their way into the reception hall to accuse the paladins of murder.
As Lysander rushed to wake the Karrnathi ambassador, the skeletons rushed in and attacked the paladins, who defended themselves with their shields and then drew their own weapons. The House Medani sentries also entered the fray, destroying one of the skeletons before Pel could call upon the Traveler to send them all running. Before they could regroup, Ambassador Avadarrn and Captain Alastair both showed up and calmed things down. Frustrated, Alastair growled that he might be forced to send everyone to their quarters for the duration of the journey if things continued along this way. He confined both the skeletons and the paladins to their quarters for the rest of the journey. Tworock offered that he and Luggoth could serve as bodyguards for the ambassadors if they so desired. Naturally, he suggested that Luggoth guard the Karrnathi ambassador.
Though Luggoth went off to bed, the rest of the Wolves wouldn't be so lucky. Pel was approached by Darius Lightstep, the half-elf who ran the Serenity Above the Clouds massage room, and told not to confront Sea Baron Malinko about the accusations. After they went to Serenity Above the Clouds to talk privately, Pel tried to get Darius to open up, but he wouldn't offer up reasons. After a few moments, Pel realized that Darius was in disguise, a changeling like himself, and flashed a Tyrants sign to him.
Darius paled and started begging Pel not to kill him. It soon became clear that Darius was in fact Zan, the changeling who had defected from Vadis' service, and that he was hiding out from the Tyrants aboard the Golden Dragon, preparing to escape to Xen'drik. The reason he had warned Pel against confronting Malinko was that one of Malinko's men, Azango, was actually a doppleganger and a member of the Tyrants, and Zan had recognized him.
As for why he was on the run, Pel found out that Zan had found some sort of plans in Cord's office planning a coup against the Tyrant council. On that list were several names, most of which Pel didn't know, but the two he did recognize were his own and Xain. Zan wasn't sure who he could trust, was unsure why those names would be on a list of Cord's, unless they were double agents working against Vadis. Unsure who he could trust, Zan fled.
Pel filled Lysander in on this via the circle of sound, just in time for Lysander to notice Manten Dramgrin heading upstairs, against the captain's orders to stay belowdecks. He cast invisibility on himself and followed Manten, watching as he went to the unlocked artificer laboratory. Before Manten could close the door behind him, Lysander dove in.
He watched as Manten assumed his true form, that of the doppleganger Azango, and then set about releasing gas into the air from one of the barrels and setting tindertwigs by the door. Realizing he didn't have much time, Lysander downed a potion of heroism and moved in to attack Azango. The doppleganger heard Lysander trip over some tools on the floor and avoided the attack, and a battle was joined.
The two exchanged sword blows for a few seconds, but Lysander found an opening and stabbed Azango through the chest, critically wounding him. Azango fled out into the storm, running around the bridge just as Pel came running up the stairs on the other side. The storm was bad for visibility, but Lysander spotted a form near the bridge and threw a dagger, striking it and hearing a female voice cry out in pain and surprise.
As Pel and Lysander converged, they saw that the being Lysander had struck was Lieutenant Mazzia, who was furious and confused. When asked, she said that she had seen someone dash down the stairway, and Lysander and Pel both charged that way. Fortunately, Pel realized it was a trick as he reached the stairway and turned around, engaging "Mazzia" who was revealed as Azango. Pel stabbed Azango with his sword, putting him down and then cast a cure minor wounds to stabilize him, unconscious but alive.
After that, the real Mazzia, along with Velgram, came out of the bridge to find out what was going on, and they accompanied Azango, Pel and Lysander back to the lab to get out of the storm. Manten Dramgrin also stopped in, and informed them that the gas and tindertwigs would definitely have done some major damage, possibly even crippling the ship.
Though the interrogation didn't get far at first, Lysander used a charm spell to sway Azango, at which point the newly friendly doppleganger revealed everything. He told them that Sea Baron Malinko had been working on a luxury airship of his own, the Cloud Dancer, and that he had been behind this sabotage attempt as well as the one organized by Telgin Char and the hobgoblin Brimstone Brakker. After setting the trap, he was supposed to rejoin Malinko down in their stateroom, and they were all going to get off the ship in the skiffs. After Lysander convinced his new friend to go to sleep, Pel assumed Azango's form and prepared to lead Malinko and his men into a trap.
Unfortunately, on his way, he ran into a battle outside Ambassador Avadarrn's door. The paladins, apparently on orders from Ambassador Bethenade, had come to attack the skeletons, and a battle was joined in the hallway. As Pel called for help using the circle of sound, the paladins attacked and killed several of the skeletons.
Pel tried to subdue Gedavin, the male paladin, using hold person and fear, but was unable to get through the paladin's defenses, and he instead kept attacking the last remaining skeleton, Skarad. Hollia, the female paladin, covered him from the back.
Tworock and Luggoth, responding to Lysander's calls for help, ran out to try and restrain the paladins. As Lysander tried to sing and persuade both sides to avoid the atrocities of the Last War, Skarad and Gedavin continued attacking each other, and Hollia swung at Luggoth, viewing him as an abomination and an interloper in this fight.
Given Luggoth's animosity toward the Silver Flame, this was all the excuse he needed, and he went into a rage and attacked the paladin. Pel enhanced Tworock's strength with bull's strength to aid him in grabbing Gedavin as Luggoth and Hollia continued to battle. Luggoth swung a vicious blow that nearly killed the female paladin, but Lysander tumbled past the angry Skarad and healed her, keeping her unconscious but alive.
With one paladin down and the other restrained, Pel was able to calm Skarad by threatening him with a cure spell that would surely destroy him. Luggoth went up to get the captain and Medani sentries, and they confined the paladins to their quarters and Skarad into a different set of quarters.
In order to keep out of the way of the trap, as well as making sure everyone stayed in their rooms, Captain Alastair ordered all of the Medani sentries to guard those two rooms, plus the ambassadors.
Tworock, Lysander and Luggoth moved down to the cargo hold to wait in ambush, but when they got there they found that Gunter Hegerin's body was missing. There was little time to puzzle it out, however, as Pel led Baron Malinko, Jackrin, Skrakes and Meldin into a trap.
Jackrin spotted some of the Wolves waiting in hiding, but not quickly enough to escape, and Luggoth charged into action, raging and slashing the pirate with a wicked gash that nearly split his chest open. Sea Baron Malinko tumbled down the stairs and behind Luggoth, but he was unable to hit the nimble and well-armored shifter. Lysander drew his bow and put an arrow into Skrakes, but the pirates still knew the threat was Luggoth, and they all swung at him, doing some damage that the raging Luggoth mostly ignored.
Tworock rushed in, taking a minor scratch from an opportunistic attack by Meldrin, but he paid Sea Baron Malinko back for it with a gash across the chest. As Luggoth killed both Skrakes and Jackrin, the Sea Baron tried to run for one of the skiffs, but he didn't get far before Tworock moved in and cut him down. Before Meldrin could surrender, Luggoth killed him as well, and once again, Pel put his healing magics to use keeping a prisoner alive, stabilizing and awakening Sea Baron Malinko.
Malinko owned up to everything, explaining that his motivation was not merely jealousy at wanting his own Cloud Dancer to be the best in the sky but also anger because his family had held aberrant dragonmarked, and he still held a great deal of anger against the Dragonmarked Houses that ran Golden Dragon and ships like them. He tried to make deals with the Wolves, but found them willing only to throw him in prison.
He vehemently denied having anything to do with the theft of the pouch, even though it was found in Jackrin's vest, and he also denied causing the strife between the ambassadors. Pel, a good judge of when someone was lying, believed him. Pel deciphered the magical code in the documents inside the pouch and found that they were orders for House Orien to essentially "pull up stakes" on all development in Xen'drik.
It had been a long night, but it wasn't quite over yet. The Wolves went up and found out that one of the House Medani sentries had discovered Cardinal Bethenade dead in his room, poisoned by his own hand using dark reaver powder and leaving behind a confession that he had attempted to poison Ambassador Avadarrn. Pel and Lysander both checked for forgeries and confirmed that the confession was in Bethenade's handwriting, but they weren't entirely sure they believed it. What they were sure of was that acts of war between Thrane and Karrnath had taken place aboard the Golden Dragon, and once the news got out, as it surely would, those acts might spark a new conflict in Khorvaire.
After interrogating Zan for any more information, he confessed to Pel that he had overheard Kalibar telling him about the pouch, but that he had seen Kalibar slip the pouch into Jackrin's jerkin during the brawl. The Wolves went to confront the slippery halfling in the now-closed House of Chance. Tarla, Nicolette and Desrida were still there, but they refused Lysander's request to leave.
Jenks offered up a story about stealing the House Orien pouch and replacing it with the forgeries. He claimed that he had been hired to do so by the Boromar Clan, and that he had been making the switch when the goblin alerted Logar to the switch. Jenks had to try a misdirect, and so he slipped the forgery into Jackrin's vest during the brawl. Pel quickly realized that Jenks was mostly telling the truth, but he wasn't working for the Boromar Clan. It was the one part of his story that didn't ring true.
When confronted, Jenks reluctantly admitted that he was an agent of the King's Dark Lanterns, and called upon the loyalty of the Wolves to Breland to keep the secret. He knew that they had worked for the Dark Lanterns in pursuing Lucan, and hoped that they held a loyalty to the Brelish crown. Fortunately for him, they did, and they agreed to keep the secret.
After a long night and a series of exhausting events, the Wolves finally returned to their staterooms for some well-deserved rest.
XP:
Lysander 3000
Luggoth 1500
Pel 3500
Tworock 3500
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Upcoming Schedule - October/November
Everyone is coming this Friday, right? Nate, if you're going to be out, let me know as soon as possible, and I'll see if Dave can fill in on Luggoth. Hopefully you can make it, though, as it'll be the last Eberron session for a while!
Charles, do you want to play the Call of Cthulhu game in November? I wasn't sure what your availability was, and whether or not you were up for gaming every week or whether you still had your other group.
As for how long Cthulhu will go, I don't really know... last time it took us longer than expected. My guess is that we'll get back to Eberron in January.
October 13th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 3
October 20th - Poker Game
October 27th - D&D miniatures, movies, casual hang-out day for anyone who wants to come
November 3rd - Gaming off, but Borat movie opens (anyone who wants to come along is welcome)
November 10th - Gaming off (Wizard World Texas)
November 17th - Poker Game
November 24th - Call of Cthulhu game starts
Charles, do you want to play the Call of Cthulhu game in November? I wasn't sure what your availability was, and whether or not you were up for gaming every week or whether you still had your other group.
As for how long Cthulhu will go, I don't really know... last time it took us longer than expected. My guess is that we'll get back to Eberron in January.
October 13th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 3
October 20th - Poker Game
October 27th - D&D miniatures, movies, casual hang-out day for anyone who wants to come
November 3rd - Gaming off, but Borat movie opens (anyone who wants to come along is welcome)
November 10th - Gaming off (Wizard World Texas)
November 17th - Poker Game
November 24th - Call of Cthulhu game starts
Monday, October 02, 2006
Out this Friday
Sorry guys. Shawna and I are making an honest attempt at sobriety. I'm going to stay home this Friday so we can help each other along the straight and narrow. I'll probably be back next weekend.
Wish us luck!
Wish us luck!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The Weight of Money
I noticed that y'all have been carrying around a pretty good amount of liquid gold. I haven't been playing too hard with the encumbrance rules, but... 50 pieces of coin adds up to a pound, and so I think most of you would be better off putting any loose gold you've got into your letters of credit. If you carry 50 pp, it weighs about a pound and is the equivalent of 500 gold, so you might consider doing that kind of coin conversion instead.
Alternatively, you can put your individual sacks of gold into the bag of holding, but that's going to take up a fair amount of your carrying space, and make it harder to carry all the new gold you'll be finding. :P
I've updated Luggoth on the site... everybody else has their own character sheet, do me a favor and update your characters on the blog if you get a chance, and especially do any money conversion so you aren't carrying around 50 lb. sacks of gold.
Alternatively, you can put your individual sacks of gold into the bag of holding, but that's going to take up a fair amount of your carrying space, and make it harder to carry all the new gold you'll be finding. :P
I've updated Luggoth on the site... everybody else has their own character sheet, do me a favor and update your characters on the blog if you get a chance, and especially do any money conversion so you aren't carrying around 50 lb. sacks of gold.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Eberron Adventure Journal: Voyage of the Golden Dragon
Aryth 27 - Aryth 28, YK 998
Part One - Dragon's Fall:
As dusk fell on an unusually clear day in Sharn on Aryth 27, the Wandering Wolves, decked out in finer clothes than their usual adventuring gear, made their way to the docking towers of Lyrandar Tower to attend the christening gala for the Golden Dragon, the largest airship ever built.
As they started to see the crowds of people, they got their first glimpse of the impressive airship. Floating 200 feet off the ground alongside the tower, it was near 200 feet long and 60 feet across at its thickest. Enormous enough to require two elemental rings, one of them was burning with flame while the other was dormant and dark. The Wolves made their way up the gangplank, ascending to the front deck and marveling at the immense and elaborately crafted ship.
The crowd was fairly large; Lysander estimated just over 50 guests, including themselves but not including the House Medani sentries that stood watch or the crew, who were mostly mingling with the crowds themselves. Amongst the crowd, Pel and Lysander spotted Kessler the famous gnome bard, Ravvan Mollac the maitre 'd of the fine Azure Gateway restaurant, a half-dozen of Sharn's city councilors and even the lord mayor himself.
The food onboard the ship was exquisite, prepared by Golden Dragon chef Jaeden Kovane, and the wine and spirits were provided by the fine restaurant Sannid's. Waiters from Sannid's and several other restaurants, moonlighting as the Golden Dragon's service staff, walked amidst the crowds making sure everyone had their fill of fine food and drink. From belowdecks, the singing of talented female bards could be heard, and the starry sky provided a breathtaking view for the open deck, especially for those who stood at the stern of the ship and took advantage of its observation deck.
While they mingled, the Wolves were greeted by a jovial half-orc named Velgram Linntorm, who introduced himself as the ship's bosun. He gave them a quick tour of the ship, showing them the locked area that served as the bridge as well as telling them that there was an artificer's laboratory onboard. As he showed them, the Wolves watched Manten Dramgin, the dwarvish ship's artificer, arguing with a halfling until both stalked into the lab. Velgram explained that the halfling, Torren Blackfingers, was currently renting the luxury suite and was an artificer who had been granted access to the laboratory as a result, which didn't sit well with Manten.
Velgram continued the tour by taking them down to the second level so they could see the staterooms, the dining area and the House of Chance. The House of Chance was the source of the music they had heard, and they could also hear the shouts of excitement and disappointment from patrons engaging in games of Three Dragon Ante, dragonwheel and other games of fortune. As they entered the House of Chance, Lysander saw that the three women singing were elves, sisters who were former members of House Phiarlan named Tarla, Desrida and Nicolette. Lyrander had encountered the sisters some thirty years previous, and had enjoyed a brief romantic relationship with Tarla. A halfling came around from behind the bar and introduced himself as Kalibar Jenks, owner of the casino. He tried to invite the Wolves to play some Three Dragon Ante, but they begged off and, minding the earlier words of Velgram, watched their purses when Kalibar was around.
After that, the Wolves split up to mingle and enjoy the party for a few hours. Pel sought out Sava Kharisa, the councilor for Lower Central Sharn, and engaged her in conversation about the corruption of the Watch, the dangers of the Boromar clan and other such matters. Sava's idealistic and fiery rhetoric struck Pel as something that might be of use later. Luggoth, meanwhile, mostly kept to himself and glared at the others, until he was approached by Josilian Kan d'Tiarlan, a gnome who worked for House Sivis in Clifftop. Josilian introduced himself as the finest barrister in Sharn and explained that his enclave specialized in helping adventurers in legal trouble and translating text and other materials from Xen'drik. He gave Luggoth his card, believing due to the Wolves' reputation that they might have need of one or both services in the future.
Tworock was amazed by all of the spectacle, as he had never seen anything like it in Xen'drik. He spent a great deal of time in the reception hall, talking to everyone he could and enjoying a great deal of Jaeden Kovane's food. Lysander made a point of speaking to the captain, an elf named Alastair d'Lyrander, who seemed nervous, but presented a brave face. His nervousness made Lysander suspicious, and he resolved to keep an eye on the captain.
Just after midnight, as the party was peaking and about to start winding down, Tworock was witness to the beginning of a hijacking. The hobgoblin work crews emerged from the steam room and began eating from the servant's meal table. One of the hobgoblins threw a thunderstone against the wall to get everyone's attention. The other hobgoblins drew weapons and grabbed the few other people remaining belowdecks, then moved with them up to the top deck. Tworock was too big for them to risk trying to take him hostage, but they threatened the hostages to get him to move above decks with them. Three minotaurs rushed out of the steam room, sealed it behind them and followed up onto the deck.
The lead hobgoblin announced himself as Brakkar and revealed his hostages, as a pair of harpies flew in and provided air cover. He announced that there was a bomb capable of destroying the ship onboard, and demanded a ransom of 200,000 gold. "For people such as yourselves, this is a minor issue! I'll need it in untraceable gold bars."
The Wolves kept an eye on what was going on, waiting for an opportunity. Pel and Luggoth both noticed Brakkar speaking into a circle of sound, seemingly agitated with whoever was on the other end of the line. Lysander, who had swallowed a potion of invisibility at the first sign of trouble, slipped down the stairs to see if he could find the bomb. He found the sealed steam room, and heard someone working inside, but couldn't easily get in, and so he made his way back up onto the deck before his potion wore off.
The Medani sentries and private security encouraged everyone to remain calm, and seemed predisposed towards paying the ransom rather than getting anyone killed. The dignitaries arranged messages to be sent out to get them the money quietly, and while the situation was tense, it didn't seem particularly dangerous.
Until a half hour had passed, and a desperate looking hobgoblin ran up and started talking to Brakkar. Pel's trained senses and Luggoth's bestial hearing picked up on what was being said, which was "He don't care about no ransom. Says you'll be spendin' it in Dolurrh."
The hobgoblins released their hostages to go up to the observation deck with the rest of the crew and attending dignitaries, clearly in preparation for heading to the escape skiffs, and this was all the Wolves needed to spring into action. Tworock manifested his force screen and charged down the stairs toward the first group of hobgoblins and the minotaur with them.
Luggoth shifted, leaped down and killed one of the hobgoblins with his sword. Lysander summoned his bow from his glove of storing and began firing arrows at the hobgoblins and minotaurs, as Pel moved in front of Kava to protect her and opened fire with his crossbow.
Brakkar cast mage armor on himself and lit the noxious smokesticks wound into his beard to give himself a cloud of choking smoke, as his minotaurs and hobgoblins moved in to engage and his harpies began flying down, trying to strike the Wolves. The Medani sentries pulled out their crossbows and began firing at the harpies as well.
The hobgoblins were pretty much ineffective except as nuisances, and Luggoth would kill them casually on his way to attacking the minotaurs. The minotaurs were another story, swinging their deadly axes at the Wolves' two front-line fighters, Luggoth and Tworock. In fact, Tworock went down early in the fight, almost mortally wounded by an axe strike, although his psionic discipline allowed him to stabilize himself.
Luggoth killed one of the minotaurs attacking him and then focused on the other, which landed an axe blow of its own. Lysander continued to provide crossbow support, firing at the minotaur, Brakkar and the hobgoblins, and Pel provided back-up in the form of a Bless spell and a Command spell, which caused one of the minotaurs to temporarily retreat.
As Brakkar gave up on spellcasting and went into a rage, swinging his adamantine warhammer, a somewhat foppish looking man appeared from the stairs with a young woman in tow. "You see, dear, I told you that wasn't just you screaming!" He announced himself as Diarmand d'Deneith, challenged the hobgoblins and then sprung forward and attacked Brakkar with a rapier before moving deftly to another position.
The harpies continued to fly by and attack, exchanging attacks with the Medani sentries, Diarmand engaged in melee with Brakkar. Luggoth killed the minotaur he was facing, just in time for the other minotaur to shake off Pel's command and come charging back.
Luggoth moved in to help Diarmand with Brakkar, and the minotaur went up onto the deck after Pel, killing the sentry standing nearest him. Lysander moved over to the captain and got the key for the steam chamber, and the harpies, wounded, withdrew to the side of the ship and began screeching out their song, hypnotizing most of the crew, guest and even the remaining hobgoblins.
Diarmand was also under the spell of the harpies, and he walked off the side of the ship and began plummeting. The hobgoblins, Brakkar, Luggoth and the remaining minotaur likewise walked toward the edge. Pel killed the screeching harpy with his crossbow as he ran towards the bridge, but the other one immediately began screeching, causing two of the hobgoblins to fling themselves to their doom.
Free of the screeching, Diarmand saved himself by casting a feather fall spell and began drifting the long 200 feet down towards the ground. Luggoth, seeing an opportunity with Brakkar so near the railing, tried to bull rush him off the side, but Brakkar resisted and swung an unsuccessful attack at Luggoth in return. After Lysander sang to stop the harpy's screeching effect and Pel fired another bolt into it, the creature realized the battle was lost and flew away at top speed.
Unhappy with his lot but realizing it was time to engage, Lysander fired his bow at the remaining minotaur. Pel tried to draw off its attention by firing his wand of magic missiles, but the minotaur went for the closer target. Fortunately, Lysander was able to protect himself with mirror image long enough for Brakkar to fall out of his rage and succumb to the wounds Luggoth had inflicted. This freed Luggoth up to run up and engage the minotaur, as Pel moved to Tworock and healed him, waking him up. The half-giant took his revenge, charging the minotaur that had nearly killed him and running it through with his large greatsword.
Lysander, still worried that the captain was in on it somehow, asked Luggoth to stay up and keep an eye on him while the rest of the Wolves went downstairs to find the bomb. When they got downstairs and got to the steam room, they found a minotaur in the corridor guarding it. They yelled for Luggoth and took up positions, and Luggoth came down the other stairs to flank the beast.
Tworock, still wounded, drank his potion of cure serious wounds and then psionically enlarged himself, growing even larger than the minotaur as a result. However, after Luggoth charged in, the minotaur turned and attacked him, burying his horns in Luggoth's side. Luggoth responded by stabbing the minotaur with his greatsword, and Tworock charged in and attacked with his greatsword as well. The beast was reeling, and Luggoth finished it off with another deadly sword stroke.
Lysander used the key he had gotten from the captain and opened the door to the steam room. Though the pipes and mesh blocked a clear view, he could see that there were several hobgoblins in there, and he cast a sleep spell to deal with most of them. Pel moved in and saw a scarred, whip-thin human along with two more hobgoblins, standing near a mithril disk that he identified as the bomb.
The human drank a potion and turned into a mist, fleeing along the pipes, and the Wolves had no trouble killing the remaining hobgobllins. However, they were still faced with the bomb, a mithril disk with multicolored gemstones counting down in a spiral pattern. Pel, using his trapmaking and disarming skills, managed to slow the countdown to give them a little over a minute, and Tworock, based on his knowledge of arcana and psionic effects, realized that if they moved the bomb, it would detonate sooner, perhaps as soon as six second later. Lysander reasoned that if they moved the bomb to the elemental water chamber in the room, the bomb would be absorbed rather than destroying the elemental ring and causing the ship to plummet.
Nervous about their chances but not seeing any other choice, Pel moved the bomb over to the chamber. There was a flash of white light, and then superheated steam began pouring out of the pipes, which creaked and groaned ominously. The Wolves rushed out of the chamber to avoid being further burned and held their breath, but the ship didn't tumble out of the sky.
Back atop the ship, Captain Alastair thanked the Wolves for saving the ship. When prodded by Lysander, he admitted that his nervousness had been due to previous accidents in his career. The Golden Dragon, he explained, was his last chance at a big commission, and the Wolves had just saved it. "The Wandering Wolves will always be welcome on the Golden Dragon, as long as I'm captain."
The first mate, an elven woman named Mazzia, ran up to the captain and told him that one of the skiffs had disembarked. Pel wasn't surprised, saying "It was probably the human we chased out of the steam chamber." Captain Alastair grinned and explained that the human was in for a surprise... they could recall the lifeboats using a control on the bridge. The Wolves went down to the lifeboat bay to prepare for the return of the would-be saboteur, resolving to take him alive if they could so they could interrogate him. While they waited, Tworock prepared by engaging most of his psionic powers.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one preparing for the combat. The human was not alone in the skiff, he was accompanied by Kray, a warforged with a wicked battleclaw for one hand. And the human was an artificer, so he provided a few enhancements for the warforged before they landed. When they arrived back in the Golden Dragon's belly, the battle was joined.
Lysander tried to charm the human, who resisted, and Tworock and Luggoth both moved in to battle Kray, who snapped his battleclaw and slashed at Tworock, trying to grab him in the process but failing to hold on.
Lysander and Pel both tried using spells on the human, trying to wrap him in animated rope or stop him with hold person, but he resisted, and both noted that he was moving at supernatural speed as a result of a haste spell. He also infused his crossbow with flaming bolts, revealing his artificer abilities wihtout a doubt. Tworock landed a blow against Kray, but Kray responded with another wicked slash of his battleclaw, and this time he was successful in grabbing the half-giant and lifting him about a foot off the floor, revealing the level of enhanced strength he currently had.
Luggoth flew into a barbarian rage as Lysander drew his longsword and began a battle song. Pel jumped onto the skiff behind the human and slashed him with his scimitar, scoring a flesh wound on the villain's arm. Tworock continued to struggle, keeping Kray from crushing him but failing to break the grip until Luggoth scored a hit on the warforged, distracting him long enough for Tworock to break free.
Dropping his crossbow, the human drew his rapier and stabbed at Pel, who dodged and said "I suggest you surrender." The human sneered and growled "I'll die first." Pel responded with "Very well" and stabbed with his rapier, but the human parried him, and the two were joined in battle.
Pel needled the human verbally, wanting to know who he was "before he died," but the human would not give up his identity. "You'll die not knowing" he snarled.
Seeing his human master in trouble, Kray rushed over and snapped twice with the battleclaw, cutting across Pel's chest and face. Luggoth followed the warforged and continued attacking, as did Tworock, who was landing several punishing blows on the warforged. As Pel moved into position with Lysander to flank the human, Kray tried to withdraw to drink a potion, but Tworock slashed again with his greatsword and the warforged fell, his potion of repair spilling out onto the floor.
Luggoth, well and truly angry by now, tried to bite the human, who dodged thanks to his supernatural speed, but it was clear that his speed was wearing off. Lysander moved in, and now the human was surrounded by the Wandering Wolves, and suffered several wounds. Then he abandoned his defensive posture and rushed through their line, causing all of the Wolves to strike with full force. They killed him easily, but as their battle lust faded, they realized that the human had tricked them into killing him rather than capturing him.
On his person, they found some silver spheres, and when they cast detect magic to examine everything that their opponents had, they determined that they had an arcane mark on them. Unfortunately, even with the wealth of knowledge among them, they weren't sure what the marks meant.
As they recovered from their injuries and the battle, they were approached by Manten Dramgrin, chief artificer of the Golden Dragon. He expressed his thanks for their actions, commended them for their bravery and said that his professional opinion is that their actions in the steam room without a doubt saved the ship from doom. He then told them that he feared that due to the sophistication of the attack, it had to have been an inside job. His suspicion was that Torren Blackfingers, the halfling artificer, was the one involved, but he didn't have any proof. He asked if the Wolves would be willing to accompany the Golden Dragon on its maiden voyage to Xen'drik and help ferret out the traitor. He wouldn't tell anyone else why they were there, save the captain, because he wasn't sure who he could trust.
Manten could only promise 1,000 gold, the extent of his savings, as payment, but when he went and talked to the captain, Alastair said that Lyrandar could do better than that. In addition to giving them free staterooms for the journey, he said that he would pay them 1,000 gold each. Not ones to turn down money or adventure, the Wolves agreed.
XP: 2975 (EL 7)/4163 (EL 5)
Part One - Dragon's Fall:
As dusk fell on an unusually clear day in Sharn on Aryth 27, the Wandering Wolves, decked out in finer clothes than their usual adventuring gear, made their way to the docking towers of Lyrandar Tower to attend the christening gala for the Golden Dragon, the largest airship ever built.
As they started to see the crowds of people, they got their first glimpse of the impressive airship. Floating 200 feet off the ground alongside the tower, it was near 200 feet long and 60 feet across at its thickest. Enormous enough to require two elemental rings, one of them was burning with flame while the other was dormant and dark. The Wolves made their way up the gangplank, ascending to the front deck and marveling at the immense and elaborately crafted ship.
The crowd was fairly large; Lysander estimated just over 50 guests, including themselves but not including the House Medani sentries that stood watch or the crew, who were mostly mingling with the crowds themselves. Amongst the crowd, Pel and Lysander spotted Kessler the famous gnome bard, Ravvan Mollac the maitre 'd of the fine Azure Gateway restaurant, a half-dozen of Sharn's city councilors and even the lord mayor himself.The food onboard the ship was exquisite, prepared by Golden Dragon chef Jaeden Kovane, and the wine and spirits were provided by the fine restaurant Sannid's. Waiters from Sannid's and several other restaurants, moonlighting as the Golden Dragon's service staff, walked amidst the crowds making sure everyone had their fill of fine food and drink. From belowdecks, the singing of talented female bards could be heard, and the starry sky provided a breathtaking view for the open deck, especially for those who stood at the stern of the ship and took advantage of its observation deck.
While they mingled, the Wolves were greeted by a jovial half-orc named Velgram Linntorm, who introduced himself as the ship's bosun. He gave them a quick tour of the ship, showing them the locked area that served as the bridge as well as telling them that there was an artificer's laboratory onboard. As he showed them, the Wolves watched Manten Dramgin, the dwarvish ship's artificer, arguing with a halfling until both stalked into the lab. Velgram explained that the halfling, Torren Blackfingers, was currently renting the luxury suite and was an artificer who had been granted access to the laboratory as a result, which didn't sit well with Manten.
Velgram continued the tour by taking them down to the second level so they could see the staterooms, the dining area and the House of Chance. The House of Chance was the source of the music they had heard, and they could also hear the shouts of excitement and disappointment from patrons engaging in games of Three Dragon Ante, dragonwheel and other games of fortune. As they entered the House of Chance, Lysander saw that the three women singing were elves, sisters who were former members of House Phiarlan named Tarla, Desrida and Nicolette. Lyrander had encountered the sisters some thirty years previous, and had enjoyed a brief romantic relationship with Tarla. A halfling came around from behind the bar and introduced himself as Kalibar Jenks, owner of the casino. He tried to invite the Wolves to play some Three Dragon Ante, but they begged off and, minding the earlier words of Velgram, watched their purses when Kalibar was around.
After that, the Wolves split up to mingle and enjoy the party for a few hours. Pel sought out Sava Kharisa, the councilor for Lower Central Sharn, and engaged her in conversation about the corruption of the Watch, the dangers of the Boromar clan and other such matters. Sava's idealistic and fiery rhetoric struck Pel as something that might be of use later. Luggoth, meanwhile, mostly kept to himself and glared at the others, until he was approached by Josilian Kan d'Tiarlan, a gnome who worked for House Sivis in Clifftop. Josilian introduced himself as the finest barrister in Sharn and explained that his enclave specialized in helping adventurers in legal trouble and translating text and other materials from Xen'drik. He gave Luggoth his card, believing due to the Wolves' reputation that they might have need of one or both services in the future.
Tworock was amazed by all of the spectacle, as he had never seen anything like it in Xen'drik. He spent a great deal of time in the reception hall, talking to everyone he could and enjoying a great deal of Jaeden Kovane's food. Lysander made a point of speaking to the captain, an elf named Alastair d'Lyrander, who seemed nervous, but presented a brave face. His nervousness made Lysander suspicious, and he resolved to keep an eye on the captain.
Just after midnight, as the party was peaking and about to start winding down, Tworock was witness to the beginning of a hijacking. The hobgoblin work crews emerged from the steam room and began eating from the servant's meal table. One of the hobgoblins threw a thunderstone against the wall to get everyone's attention. The other hobgoblins drew weapons and grabbed the few other people remaining belowdecks, then moved with them up to the top deck. Tworock was too big for them to risk trying to take him hostage, but they threatened the hostages to get him to move above decks with them. Three minotaurs rushed out of the steam room, sealed it behind them and followed up onto the deck.
The lead hobgoblin announced himself as Brakkar and revealed his hostages, as a pair of harpies flew in and provided air cover. He announced that there was a bomb capable of destroying the ship onboard, and demanded a ransom of 200,000 gold. "For people such as yourselves, this is a minor issue! I'll need it in untraceable gold bars."
The Wolves kept an eye on what was going on, waiting for an opportunity. Pel and Luggoth both noticed Brakkar speaking into a circle of sound, seemingly agitated with whoever was on the other end of the line. Lysander, who had swallowed a potion of invisibility at the first sign of trouble, slipped down the stairs to see if he could find the bomb. He found the sealed steam room, and heard someone working inside, but couldn't easily get in, and so he made his way back up onto the deck before his potion wore off.
The Medani sentries and private security encouraged everyone to remain calm, and seemed predisposed towards paying the ransom rather than getting anyone killed. The dignitaries arranged messages to be sent out to get them the money quietly, and while the situation was tense, it didn't seem particularly dangerous.
Until a half hour had passed, and a desperate looking hobgoblin ran up and started talking to Brakkar. Pel's trained senses and Luggoth's bestial hearing picked up on what was being said, which was "He don't care about no ransom. Says you'll be spendin' it in Dolurrh."
The hobgoblins released their hostages to go up to the observation deck with the rest of the crew and attending dignitaries, clearly in preparation for heading to the escape skiffs, and this was all the Wolves needed to spring into action. Tworock manifested his force screen and charged down the stairs toward the first group of hobgoblins and the minotaur with them.
Luggoth shifted, leaped down and killed one of the hobgoblins with his sword. Lysander summoned his bow from his glove of storing and began firing arrows at the hobgoblins and minotaurs, as Pel moved in front of Kava to protect her and opened fire with his crossbow.
Brakkar cast mage armor on himself and lit the noxious smokesticks wound into his beard to give himself a cloud of choking smoke, as his minotaurs and hobgoblins moved in to engage and his harpies began flying down, trying to strike the Wolves. The Medani sentries pulled out their crossbows and began firing at the harpies as well.
The hobgoblins were pretty much ineffective except as nuisances, and Luggoth would kill them casually on his way to attacking the minotaurs. The minotaurs were another story, swinging their deadly axes at the Wolves' two front-line fighters, Luggoth and Tworock. In fact, Tworock went down early in the fight, almost mortally wounded by an axe strike, although his psionic discipline allowed him to stabilize himself.
Luggoth killed one of the minotaurs attacking him and then focused on the other, which landed an axe blow of its own. Lysander continued to provide crossbow support, firing at the minotaur, Brakkar and the hobgoblins, and Pel provided back-up in the form of a Bless spell and a Command spell, which caused one of the minotaurs to temporarily retreat.
As Brakkar gave up on spellcasting and went into a rage, swinging his adamantine warhammer, a somewhat foppish looking man appeared from the stairs with a young woman in tow. "You see, dear, I told you that wasn't just you screaming!" He announced himself as Diarmand d'Deneith, challenged the hobgoblins and then sprung forward and attacked Brakkar with a rapier before moving deftly to another position.
The harpies continued to fly by and attack, exchanging attacks with the Medani sentries, Diarmand engaged in melee with Brakkar. Luggoth killed the minotaur he was facing, just in time for the other minotaur to shake off Pel's command and come charging back.
Luggoth moved in to help Diarmand with Brakkar, and the minotaur went up onto the deck after Pel, killing the sentry standing nearest him. Lysander moved over to the captain and got the key for the steam chamber, and the harpies, wounded, withdrew to the side of the ship and began screeching out their song, hypnotizing most of the crew, guest and even the remaining hobgoblins.
Diarmand was also under the spell of the harpies, and he walked off the side of the ship and began plummeting. The hobgoblins, Brakkar, Luggoth and the remaining minotaur likewise walked toward the edge. Pel killed the screeching harpy with his crossbow as he ran towards the bridge, but the other one immediately began screeching, causing two of the hobgoblins to fling themselves to their doom.
Free of the screeching, Diarmand saved himself by casting a feather fall spell and began drifting the long 200 feet down towards the ground. Luggoth, seeing an opportunity with Brakkar so near the railing, tried to bull rush him off the side, but Brakkar resisted and swung an unsuccessful attack at Luggoth in return. After Lysander sang to stop the harpy's screeching effect and Pel fired another bolt into it, the creature realized the battle was lost and flew away at top speed.
Unhappy with his lot but realizing it was time to engage, Lysander fired his bow at the remaining minotaur. Pel tried to draw off its attention by firing his wand of magic missiles, but the minotaur went for the closer target. Fortunately, Lysander was able to protect himself with mirror image long enough for Brakkar to fall out of his rage and succumb to the wounds Luggoth had inflicted. This freed Luggoth up to run up and engage the minotaur, as Pel moved to Tworock and healed him, waking him up. The half-giant took his revenge, charging the minotaur that had nearly killed him and running it through with his large greatsword.
Lysander, still worried that the captain was in on it somehow, asked Luggoth to stay up and keep an eye on him while the rest of the Wolves went downstairs to find the bomb. When they got downstairs and got to the steam room, they found a minotaur in the corridor guarding it. They yelled for Luggoth and took up positions, and Luggoth came down the other stairs to flank the beast.
Tworock, still wounded, drank his potion of cure serious wounds and then psionically enlarged himself, growing even larger than the minotaur as a result. However, after Luggoth charged in, the minotaur turned and attacked him, burying his horns in Luggoth's side. Luggoth responded by stabbing the minotaur with his greatsword, and Tworock charged in and attacked with his greatsword as well. The beast was reeling, and Luggoth finished it off with another deadly sword stroke.
Lysander used the key he had gotten from the captain and opened the door to the steam room. Though the pipes and mesh blocked a clear view, he could see that there were several hobgoblins in there, and he cast a sleep spell to deal with most of them. Pel moved in and saw a scarred, whip-thin human along with two more hobgoblins, standing near a mithril disk that he identified as the bomb.
The human drank a potion and turned into a mist, fleeing along the pipes, and the Wolves had no trouble killing the remaining hobgobllins. However, they were still faced with the bomb, a mithril disk with multicolored gemstones counting down in a spiral pattern. Pel, using his trapmaking and disarming skills, managed to slow the countdown to give them a little over a minute, and Tworock, based on his knowledge of arcana and psionic effects, realized that if they moved the bomb, it would detonate sooner, perhaps as soon as six second later. Lysander reasoned that if they moved the bomb to the elemental water chamber in the room, the bomb would be absorbed rather than destroying the elemental ring and causing the ship to plummet.
Nervous about their chances but not seeing any other choice, Pel moved the bomb over to the chamber. There was a flash of white light, and then superheated steam began pouring out of the pipes, which creaked and groaned ominously. The Wolves rushed out of the chamber to avoid being further burned and held their breath, but the ship didn't tumble out of the sky.
Back atop the ship, Captain Alastair thanked the Wolves for saving the ship. When prodded by Lysander, he admitted that his nervousness had been due to previous accidents in his career. The Golden Dragon, he explained, was his last chance at a big commission, and the Wolves had just saved it. "The Wandering Wolves will always be welcome on the Golden Dragon, as long as I'm captain."
The first mate, an elven woman named Mazzia, ran up to the captain and told him that one of the skiffs had disembarked. Pel wasn't surprised, saying "It was probably the human we chased out of the steam chamber." Captain Alastair grinned and explained that the human was in for a surprise... they could recall the lifeboats using a control on the bridge. The Wolves went down to the lifeboat bay to prepare for the return of the would-be saboteur, resolving to take him alive if they could so they could interrogate him. While they waited, Tworock prepared by engaging most of his psionic powers.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one preparing for the combat. The human was not alone in the skiff, he was accompanied by Kray, a warforged with a wicked battleclaw for one hand. And the human was an artificer, so he provided a few enhancements for the warforged before they landed. When they arrived back in the Golden Dragon's belly, the battle was joined.
Lysander tried to charm the human, who resisted, and Tworock and Luggoth both moved in to battle Kray, who snapped his battleclaw and slashed at Tworock, trying to grab him in the process but failing to hold on.
Lysander and Pel both tried using spells on the human, trying to wrap him in animated rope or stop him with hold person, but he resisted, and both noted that he was moving at supernatural speed as a result of a haste spell. He also infused his crossbow with flaming bolts, revealing his artificer abilities wihtout a doubt. Tworock landed a blow against Kray, but Kray responded with another wicked slash of his battleclaw, and this time he was successful in grabbing the half-giant and lifting him about a foot off the floor, revealing the level of enhanced strength he currently had.Luggoth flew into a barbarian rage as Lysander drew his longsword and began a battle song. Pel jumped onto the skiff behind the human and slashed him with his scimitar, scoring a flesh wound on the villain's arm. Tworock continued to struggle, keeping Kray from crushing him but failing to break the grip until Luggoth scored a hit on the warforged, distracting him long enough for Tworock to break free.
Dropping his crossbow, the human drew his rapier and stabbed at Pel, who dodged and said "I suggest you surrender." The human sneered and growled "I'll die first." Pel responded with "Very well" and stabbed with his rapier, but the human parried him, and the two were joined in battle.
Pel needled the human verbally, wanting to know who he was "before he died," but the human would not give up his identity. "You'll die not knowing" he snarled.
Seeing his human master in trouble, Kray rushed over and snapped twice with the battleclaw, cutting across Pel's chest and face. Luggoth followed the warforged and continued attacking, as did Tworock, who was landing several punishing blows on the warforged. As Pel moved into position with Lysander to flank the human, Kray tried to withdraw to drink a potion, but Tworock slashed again with his greatsword and the warforged fell, his potion of repair spilling out onto the floor.
Luggoth, well and truly angry by now, tried to bite the human, who dodged thanks to his supernatural speed, but it was clear that his speed was wearing off. Lysander moved in, and now the human was surrounded by the Wandering Wolves, and suffered several wounds. Then he abandoned his defensive posture and rushed through their line, causing all of the Wolves to strike with full force. They killed him easily, but as their battle lust faded, they realized that the human had tricked them into killing him rather than capturing him.
On his person, they found some silver spheres, and when they cast detect magic to examine everything that their opponents had, they determined that they had an arcane mark on them. Unfortunately, even with the wealth of knowledge among them, they weren't sure what the marks meant.
As they recovered from their injuries and the battle, they were approached by Manten Dramgrin, chief artificer of the Golden Dragon. He expressed his thanks for their actions, commended them for their bravery and said that his professional opinion is that their actions in the steam room without a doubt saved the ship from doom. He then told them that he feared that due to the sophistication of the attack, it had to have been an inside job. His suspicion was that Torren Blackfingers, the halfling artificer, was the one involved, but he didn't have any proof. He asked if the Wolves would be willing to accompany the Golden Dragon on its maiden voyage to Xen'drik and help ferret out the traitor. He wouldn't tell anyone else why they were there, save the captain, because he wasn't sure who he could trust.
Manten could only promise 1,000 gold, the extent of his savings, as payment, but when he went and talked to the captain, Alastair said that Lyrandar could do better than that. In addition to giving them free staterooms for the journey, he said that he would pay them 1,000 gold each. Not ones to turn down money or adventure, the Wolves agreed.
XP: 2975 (EL 7)/4163 (EL 5)
Friday, September 29, 2006
Eberron Character: Tworock
Name: Tworock
Race: Half-Giant
Class: Psychic Warrior/Warmind
Level: 6/1
Experience: 25,188
Alignment: Neutral Good
Religion: The Dragon Above
Homeland: Xen'drik
Age: 33 Height: 7'10" Weight: 382 lbs.
Statistics: STR 20, DEX 13, CON 22, INT 15, WIS 18, CHA 14, BAB +5, Fort +7 (+13), Ref +4 (+5), Will +2 (+6), Init +1 (+1), AC 16/20 w/Force Screen (+5 armor, +1 Dex), HP 82
Skills: Autohypnosis +8 (+14), Concentration +10 (+14), Craft: Armorsmithing +1 (+3), Craft: Weaponsmithing +1 (+3), Knowledge: History +2 (+4), Knowledge: Psionics +10 (+14), Psicraft +3 (+7), Ride +1 (+2), Swim +1 (+2)
Psionic Power Points: 27
Psionic Powers: 1 - Biofeedback, Expansion, Force Screen, Grip of Iron, Mind Thrust; 2 - Animal Affinity, Body Adjustment, Levitate (Psionic)
Racial Abilities: +2 on saving throws vs. Fire, +2, Immune to "person" spells, Low-light Vision, Powerful Build (Treat as Large when beneficial), Naturally psionic, Stomp 1/day
Class Abilities: Bonus Feats, Chain of Personal Superiority +2
Weapons/Attacks: +11 (3d6+8, Large Greatsword +1), +10 (2d8+7 Large Heavy Flail), Masterwork Adamantine Warhammer +11 (1d8 +7), +6 (1d8+4, Composite Longbow: STR +4 w/20 arrows)
Equipment:
(1) Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Dorje of Skate (49 charges), Bag of Holding II, Amulet of Health +4, Large Greatsword +1, Chain Shirt +1, Psionic Tattoo (Expansion: 1st), Psionic Tattoo (Force Screen: 1st), Psionic Tattoo (Mind Thrust: 2d10/2nd), (2) Feather Fall Talisman, Composite Longbow (+4 Str), 20 arrows, Large heavy flail, Masterwork Adamantine Warhammer, Large Dagger, Flint & steel, Fishhook and line, (2) Belt pouch, (2) Days trail rations, Waterskin, (2) Sunrod, Traveler's outfit, 0 CP, 9 SP, 26 GP, 2 PP
Feats: Psionic Meditation, Rapid Metabolism, Speed of Thought, Up the Walls, Scribe Tattoo, Expanded Knowledge (Mind Thrust)
Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, all armor, all shields (except tower shields)
Languages: Common, Giant, Draconic
History: Tworock's mother, Allista d'Tharashk, was a skilled monk and esteemed bounty hunter. During the Last War, Allista pursued a dangerous fugitive deep into the heart of Xen'drik. Allista followed a false trail leading her right into the hands of a ruthless tribe of Fire Giants. As was their tradition, every male in the clan raped Allista so that none would know her child's true father. Allista died in childbirth, providing the tribe with a new Half-Giant slave. Though Tworock was raised a slave, he never failed to question his masters. In the scant hours between his backbreaking chores and brief opportunities to sleep, Tworock would learn everything he could from his fellow slaves. As the years went by, Tworock's frequent attempts to escape earned him many beatings. However, Tworock learned that if he focused his rage inward, the beatings didn't hurt quite as much as they had before. One of the other slaves, a Duergar slave known as Fireforge who was kept as a smith for the giants, took notice of this fact. Fireforge was a psychic warrior/warmind who becamae a slave to the giants in exchange for the freedom of his daughter. Fireforge began training Tworock to focus his psionic abilities. During this time, Fireforge was secretly creating a greatsword for Tworock to use to gain his freedom. Fireforge cleverly inscribed the secrets of the Talariic Texts into each fold of the metal as he forged Tworock's sword so that as Tworock's self awarness and power grew, he would be able to "see" within the blade's layers and learn the secrets of the Warmind. As his powers grew, Tworock continued inciting rebellion and attempting escape. Many believe that his name comes from the time he brained a fire giant guard with two rocks, but the truth is that he earned it because the other slaves said he had two stones between his legs where other men have only flesh.
After many years of striving for freedom, Tworock's chance came when Traega d'Orien was taken captive by the giants. Tworock nursed Traega back to health, enjoying the world traveller's stories of a faraway land across the sea. It was not long before Tworock learned that Traega had magical powers of transport that made his jail cell laughable. Traega had been impressed by Tworock's kindness, insistence on doing the right thing and above all, his thirst for freedom. Determined to free Tworock and all of the slaves from the cruel giants, Traega allied himself with Tworock and forged a plan. With the help of Fireforge and the other slaves, Traega and Tworock slew several of the giants and then led the rest of them into a series of traps Traega had laid in the jungle thanks to his teleportation abilities. Finally free after a lifetime of slavery, Tworock followed Traega to the shore nearby, laying his eyes upon the ocean for the first time in his nearly half a century of life. For three days, Tworock stood silently on a reef, ankle deep in the surf on sharp coral. He stared out at the ocean and swore to himself that one day he would travel across it to see the wide world Traega had described to him. In the meantime, however, he vowed to stay in Xen'drik with Traega, protecting from harm the man who gave him his freedom.
Personality:
Tworock is the calm at the center of a storm. In his studies, he has learned to focus all of his rage and emotion inward, ready to burst free as psionic energy. As a result, Tworock is wise and serene, unruffled by dangerous events and harrowing situations. However, when he enters into battle Tworock releases all of his pent up emotion in brief moments of pure rage that can give him bull-like strength, blast the mind of an enemy, or even cause him to break free of his body's limitations and grow larger in size. He longs to travel the world and see all of the things denied to him as a slave.
Also, Tworock has a strongly developed sense of right and wrong. He cares little about the laws of men, though he respects their usefulness when the laws are just. For Tworock, it is easy to see what is the right thing to do and though the right path is usually a difficult one, it would be a disrespect to the gift of a free life for him to follow any other road. That said, he does take special pleasure in destroying Fire Giant males whenever possibile, always wondering if the one he is slaying participated in his mother's rape and hoping that this one might be his true father.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Eberron Adventure Journal: Return to Sharn
Aryth 11 - Aryth 18, YK 998
Part One - Big News:
After Pel's return to life, he and Lysander went back to the Chapter House to gather up Kanatash and Luggoth and head back out to the Sea Dart. When they arrived, however, they were met by a new face. A half-giant, almost eight feel tall and wearing a rune-carved greatsword on his back, walked over to them and handed them a letter, with a wax seal bearing the mark of the Wandering Wolves.
Breaking the seal, Lysander saw that the letter was from Brand. It read:
Tworock then handed them another gift from Brand, the fully charged wand of cure light wounds that he had inadvertantly taken from them when his father had teleported them away. When Pel asked, Tworock briefly explained his history to the Wolves, how he had been a slave to a tribe of fire giants until Brand's father had saved him, and how he had joined Brand's father after that, but had always wished to see more of the lands that this new stranger told him about. Brand's arrival gave him the opportunity to do just that, and so he sought out the Wolves at Brand's behest, but also so that he could find adventure and excitement across the seas he had never crossed. The Wolves also greatly enjoyed hearing the origins of his name.
With their new large friend in tow, the Wolves walked back down the shore and boarded the Sea Dart for a five day journey back to Sharn. Tworock spent much of his time in the observation dome, marveling at the first of many wonders he would see in his journeys away from Xen'drik.
Part Two - Conclusions and Transitions:
On Aryth 16, the Wolves arrived back in Sharn. They went immediately to Lady Elaydren's home to give her the creation pattern. Elaydren was delighted to see them and the creation pattern. She expressed worry at Brand's absence, but was relieved to hear that he was alive, at the least. She gave each of them their reward of 2,500 gold in gems.
As dictated by the Wandering Wolves charter, Tworock took half of the gems for Brand's mother, and left the other half for the Wolves' party treasure. He explained that Brand had bid him to please take Whitehearth back to the Eldeen Reaches, and asked how he could get there. Luggoth, who had traveled with Brand before, offered to take him back. In the meantime, they arranged for Tworock to stay at the Clifftop Adventurers Guild Hall.
While in the vicinity of the Hall, they wandered over to the Drunken Dragon to get a drink and relax briefly. The bartender, Mira d'Ghallanda, told them that several members of the guild had expressed interest in joining the Wolves, and that their reputation was growing. She then began asking them how the tryouts went, and making other enigmatic comments, until they confronted her and asked her what she was talking about.
As it turned out, a pair of young warriors, not even Clifftop members, had come into the Dragon about a week ago and had said they had some sort of "audition" for the Wolves in Dura. Mira had found this odd, and she hadn't seen the warriors since, so she assumed they had failed the test and left town.
Kanatash chose this time of rest to announce that he was going to retire from his time with the Wolves and take up more permanent residence at the temple of il-Yannah. He expressed that traveling with the Wolves had been "interesting" and told them that he hoped their paths would cross again in the future.
After Kanatash left and Tworock had headed up to his room, a House Orien courier approached the table. The Wolves were cautious, especially when he came with another summons to see Lady Elaydren, whom they had just seen mere hours before, but they soon realized he was on the level. When they returned to Elaydren's home, she admitted that she had forgotten something, and handed them four invitations to the Aryth 27 christening party for the Golden Dragon, the world's largest airship.
Elaydren explained that she and her betrothed were going to be in Thrane attending a party in their honor at the Cannith Enclave, and she wished to offer these passes as thanks to the Wolves for all the work they had done for her. The food and drink should be excellent, she said, as Chef Jaeden Kovane, the cook for the Golden Dragon, used to be one of King Boranel's cooks and she had enjoyed his food before.
After dealing with various errands relating to their last adventure, the Wolves decided to travel to Gareth's Gear to deal with the various magical items and weapons they had accrued in their journey. Pel and Lysander decided to tell Luggoth the true nature of "Gareth" and bring him fully into partnership in owning the store. When they arrived, they found Tock and Jalis ir'Mroranon hard at work. Jalis reported that the store was still doing well, and handed "Gareth" another 50 gold for the month of Sypheros.
The treasure they had gained in Xen'drik was rich indeed, and the highest priced item was the Cloak of Minor Displacement, which carried a price-tag of 18,000 gold. Realizing that this item could earn a reputation for the shop as well as attracting burglars, the group invested in a new vault, one guarded by House Kundarak runes and built with a sturdy hidden lock.
With this money, each of the adventurers found something they wished to buy, and they also expended some of their personal money on equipment. Pel made his stop in at the Cracked Mirror to check in with Xain, and while the changeling was acting shifty, Pel couldn't determine exactly what had happened. He suspected that Xain was involved in the theft of the creation pattern, but he wasn't entirely sure. Xain passed along information that Zan, a spy inside Cord Lanner's inner circle for Pel's father Vadis, had vanished. Vadis believed that Zan had been discovered and had run away as a result.
After their conversation had ended, a frantic half-elf rushed over to their table and discreetly flashed them the sign that he was with the Tyrants before rushing back out the door. Xain and Pel left separately, adopted different guises, and met up with the half-elf outside. He revealed himself as Fortunel, a changeling in service to Vadis. He explained that he had been with Vadis when he went to a Six Stones match in the Dura Cogs to try and broker a peace with Moloch and the Daask.
Unfortunately, while they were there, The Watch broke up the event, and the cockatrices from the event got away. Moloch blamed Vadis for tipping off the Watch, and Fortunel was barely able to escape, hoping to come and find Xain or Pel. Fortunel handed Pel a hastily scrawled map back to the Six Stones arena and then left.
Pel left and went back to Luggoth and Lysander, both at the Drunken Dragon, to tell them of what had occurred. They did some thinking about who could be behind it, considering not just Cord Lanner but also the Boromar Crime Family, who also had conflicts with the Daask as well as influence with The Watch enough to get them to break up a Six Stones event. Lysander agreed to use his contacts to try and get more information, including looking for who had tipped off the Watch.
Meanwhile, Luggoth and Pel needed to hire a wizard who could help them with Stone to Flesh scrolls in case they ran afoul of the cockatrices while they were attempting to deal with them. They purchased the scrolls from The Dragon's Hoard, and then returned to the Drunken Dragon to hire someone to cast them. They found Elias Volan, a young wizard who agreed to come along, in a noncombat capacity, in exchange for pre-payment of his 275 gold tuition for the semester to Morgrave University.
Part Three - To Catch A Cockatrice:
While Luggoth accompanied Lysander on an information-gathering journey into the city for about four hours, seeking out everything they could find out about the Six Stones, a missing cocktrice or two and who might have tipped off The Watch, Pel and Elias went down to meet with Moloch.
After getting past the gnoll security, Pel went to meet with Moloch, a surprisingly intelligent and well-spoken ogre. Moloch laid out what he (and Renchar, the ogre organizer of the Six Stones event) wanted: A return of the two highly-trained cockatrices, alive, with a minimum of information getting out about their escape or about the Six Stones events. If this were to happen, Vadis would be released unharmed. If it weren't, he would be killed.
Pel attempted to sweeten the deal, offering to find out who tipped off the Watch, and Moloch agreed that if Pel could pull this off, he might be open to future negotiations at some point. He even offered up four potions of Bear's Endurance to help ward off the effects of the cockatrice if one of the Wolves was bitten.
Luggoth and Lysander arrived, and Luggoth was able to find, even after hours of rain, a set of tracks leading one of the cockatrices deeper into the Cogs. After following them for a short while, they found a tenement building in the Khyber's Gate district. Pel investigated and found goblins within, turned to stone, and realized he was in the right place. He turned a corner towards an open door and was met by an angry cockatrice, which had clearly heard him come in.
Luggoth downed his potion and discovered that it had been laced with the addictive drug Dreamlily, but was unable to warn Pel before he drank his. Pel warned the others, in a somewhat stoned manner, that the potions were poisoned, and was bitten by the cockatrice, but he managed to shake off the paralytic effects of its beak.
Lysander's sleep spell had no effect on the beast, but Luggoth managed to slam down one of the crates that the Wolves had purchased on top of it, and they had captured the beast. After checking the rest of the house, they found that the other cockatrice wasn't there.
On their way back to Renchar's arena to pick up another trace, they were stopped by a goblin who claimed to have seen the other cockatrice. They followed the goblin down into the sewers, and soon found themselves in a familiar setting: The sewers beneath Dorasharn Tower, and the valve cluster where they had been ambushed by shifters on their first adventure together.
Another ambush awaited, as well as another reminder from their first adventure. As they walked in, the valves shut, closing Elias outside and the rest of the Wolves in. The voice of William d'Deneith emerged from a cloud of mist, and he formed, revealing himself to be a vampire in service to The Emerald Claw. Two other misty forms revealed themselves as well, vampire spawn who had clearly been the "recruits" mentioned by Mira earlier.
After William accused the Wolves of leaving his body to be desecrated by the Claw and it was clear that there would be no talking, Lysander pulled out his bow and fired, but missed the supernaturally-enhanced William. Luggoth shifted and charged into combat with William, as Pel opened fire with his newest wand of magic missiles and three missiles streaked out and struck the vampire.
William and his spawn tried to dominate some of the Wolves, but they failed, and the combat continued. Pel continued to pepper William with magic missiles as Luggoth engaged him in melee, and the vampire spawn continued trying to dominate the others.
With their domination abilities failing, William and the spawn turned to physical attacks. He drained life energy from Luggoth as the spawn tried to grab at Pel and prevent him from firing any more missiles. Luggoth changed targets and quickly reduced one of the vampire spawn to gaseous form. As he flew off, William and the other spawn also took gaseous form and fled. As they did so, however, the valves opened. The angry clucking of a cockatrice heralded the arrival of the other bird, and William called back "I'll see you again another time."
After defeating two vampires, it was little trouble for the Wolves to cage one more Cockatrice. After Pel put a crossbow bolt into the treacherous goblin that had lured them into the sewers, the Wolves emerged from the sewers with both cockatrices successfully captured.
The Wolves returned their captives to Moloch, and true to his word, the ogre released Vadis. After a brief, somewhat unemotional reunion between Vadis and his son, the Tyrant leader and the Wolves went their separate ways. Both Luggoth and Pel had to spend two days getting rid of their potential addiction to Dreamlily, but they succeeded without needing another dose of the drug.
XP: 1300 XP (EL 6)/1000 XP (EL 7)
Part One - Big News:
After Pel's return to life, he and Lysander went back to the Chapter House to gather up Kanatash and Luggoth and head back out to the Sea Dart. When they arrived, however, they were met by a new face. A half-giant, almost eight feel tall and wearing a rune-carved greatsword on his back, walked over to them and handed them a letter, with a wax seal bearing the mark of the Wandering Wolves.
Breaking the seal, Lysander saw that the letter was from Brand. It read:
Since I know you all to be a paranoid lot (not without justification, obviously, or we would not be in Xen’drik in the first place), let me begin by convincing you that this letter does in fact come from a member of the pack. First, you’ll notice that this letter is sealed with the mark of my signet ring and a twist of Whitehearth’s hair in the wax. Secondly, I remind you that a dragonmark of the House Orien can be especially useful when facing wall crawling vampires and is equally effective in the gullet of a giant shark. And third, if the above is not yet proof enough that I am indeed your friend, I will warn you to ‘ware ensorcelled gnomes. They are easily underestimated and can lead to the loss of dear companions.
I am certain that you can guess the identity of my savior. He has powerful friends capable of curing even the devastating rotting disease carried by mummies, such as the one we faced so recently together. Through these friends I know that you have achieved our goal and I applaud you. I shall be staying here in Xen’drik for a time, exploring my roots as it were. In my stead, please accept my savior’s friend Tworock into the pack. His sword is tolerably long and he is well acquainted with its use. Ask him where his name comes from (but not in mixed company).
I remain a wolf at heart and hope to see you all soon.
Good journeys,
Brand
Tworock then handed them another gift from Brand, the fully charged wand of cure light wounds that he had inadvertantly taken from them when his father had teleported them away. When Pel asked, Tworock briefly explained his history to the Wolves, how he had been a slave to a tribe of fire giants until Brand's father had saved him, and how he had joined Brand's father after that, but had always wished to see more of the lands that this new stranger told him about. Brand's arrival gave him the opportunity to do just that, and so he sought out the Wolves at Brand's behest, but also so that he could find adventure and excitement across the seas he had never crossed. The Wolves also greatly enjoyed hearing the origins of his name.
With their new large friend in tow, the Wolves walked back down the shore and boarded the Sea Dart for a five day journey back to Sharn. Tworock spent much of his time in the observation dome, marveling at the first of many wonders he would see in his journeys away from Xen'drik.
Part Two - Conclusions and Transitions:
On Aryth 16, the Wolves arrived back in Sharn. They went immediately to Lady Elaydren's home to give her the creation pattern. Elaydren was delighted to see them and the creation pattern. She expressed worry at Brand's absence, but was relieved to hear that he was alive, at the least. She gave each of them their reward of 2,500 gold in gems.
As dictated by the Wandering Wolves charter, Tworock took half of the gems for Brand's mother, and left the other half for the Wolves' party treasure. He explained that Brand had bid him to please take Whitehearth back to the Eldeen Reaches, and asked how he could get there. Luggoth, who had traveled with Brand before, offered to take him back. In the meantime, they arranged for Tworock to stay at the Clifftop Adventurers Guild Hall.
While in the vicinity of the Hall, they wandered over to the Drunken Dragon to get a drink and relax briefly. The bartender, Mira d'Ghallanda, told them that several members of the guild had expressed interest in joining the Wolves, and that their reputation was growing. She then began asking them how the tryouts went, and making other enigmatic comments, until they confronted her and asked her what she was talking about.
As it turned out, a pair of young warriors, not even Clifftop members, had come into the Dragon about a week ago and had said they had some sort of "audition" for the Wolves in Dura. Mira had found this odd, and she hadn't seen the warriors since, so she assumed they had failed the test and left town.
Kanatash chose this time of rest to announce that he was going to retire from his time with the Wolves and take up more permanent residence at the temple of il-Yannah. He expressed that traveling with the Wolves had been "interesting" and told them that he hoped their paths would cross again in the future.
After Kanatash left and Tworock had headed up to his room, a House Orien courier approached the table. The Wolves were cautious, especially when he came with another summons to see Lady Elaydren, whom they had just seen mere hours before, but they soon realized he was on the level. When they returned to Elaydren's home, she admitted that she had forgotten something, and handed them four invitations to the Aryth 27 christening party for the Golden Dragon, the world's largest airship.
Elaydren explained that she and her betrothed were going to be in Thrane attending a party in their honor at the Cannith Enclave, and she wished to offer these passes as thanks to the Wolves for all the work they had done for her. The food and drink should be excellent, she said, as Chef Jaeden Kovane, the cook for the Golden Dragon, used to be one of King Boranel's cooks and she had enjoyed his food before.
After dealing with various errands relating to their last adventure, the Wolves decided to travel to Gareth's Gear to deal with the various magical items and weapons they had accrued in their journey. Pel and Lysander decided to tell Luggoth the true nature of "Gareth" and bring him fully into partnership in owning the store. When they arrived, they found Tock and Jalis ir'Mroranon hard at work. Jalis reported that the store was still doing well, and handed "Gareth" another 50 gold for the month of Sypheros.
The treasure they had gained in Xen'drik was rich indeed, and the highest priced item was the Cloak of Minor Displacement, which carried a price-tag of 18,000 gold. Realizing that this item could earn a reputation for the shop as well as attracting burglars, the group invested in a new vault, one guarded by House Kundarak runes and built with a sturdy hidden lock.
With this money, each of the adventurers found something they wished to buy, and they also expended some of their personal money on equipment. Pel made his stop in at the Cracked Mirror to check in with Xain, and while the changeling was acting shifty, Pel couldn't determine exactly what had happened. He suspected that Xain was involved in the theft of the creation pattern, but he wasn't entirely sure. Xain passed along information that Zan, a spy inside Cord Lanner's inner circle for Pel's father Vadis, had vanished. Vadis believed that Zan had been discovered and had run away as a result.
After their conversation had ended, a frantic half-elf rushed over to their table and discreetly flashed them the sign that he was with the Tyrants before rushing back out the door. Xain and Pel left separately, adopted different guises, and met up with the half-elf outside. He revealed himself as Fortunel, a changeling in service to Vadis. He explained that he had been with Vadis when he went to a Six Stones match in the Dura Cogs to try and broker a peace with Moloch and the Daask.
Unfortunately, while they were there, The Watch broke up the event, and the cockatrices from the event got away. Moloch blamed Vadis for tipping off the Watch, and Fortunel was barely able to escape, hoping to come and find Xain or Pel. Fortunel handed Pel a hastily scrawled map back to the Six Stones arena and then left.
Pel left and went back to Luggoth and Lysander, both at the Drunken Dragon, to tell them of what had occurred. They did some thinking about who could be behind it, considering not just Cord Lanner but also the Boromar Crime Family, who also had conflicts with the Daask as well as influence with The Watch enough to get them to break up a Six Stones event. Lysander agreed to use his contacts to try and get more information, including looking for who had tipped off the Watch.
Meanwhile, Luggoth and Pel needed to hire a wizard who could help them with Stone to Flesh scrolls in case they ran afoul of the cockatrices while they were attempting to deal with them. They purchased the scrolls from The Dragon's Hoard, and then returned to the Drunken Dragon to hire someone to cast them. They found Elias Volan, a young wizard who agreed to come along, in a noncombat capacity, in exchange for pre-payment of his 275 gold tuition for the semester to Morgrave University.
Part Three - To Catch A Cockatrice:
While Luggoth accompanied Lysander on an information-gathering journey into the city for about four hours, seeking out everything they could find out about the Six Stones, a missing cocktrice or two and who might have tipped off The Watch, Pel and Elias went down to meet with Moloch.
After getting past the gnoll security, Pel went to meet with Moloch, a surprisingly intelligent and well-spoken ogre. Moloch laid out what he (and Renchar, the ogre organizer of the Six Stones event) wanted: A return of the two highly-trained cockatrices, alive, with a minimum of information getting out about their escape or about the Six Stones events. If this were to happen, Vadis would be released unharmed. If it weren't, he would be killed.
Pel attempted to sweeten the deal, offering to find out who tipped off the Watch, and Moloch agreed that if Pel could pull this off, he might be open to future negotiations at some point. He even offered up four potions of Bear's Endurance to help ward off the effects of the cockatrice if one of the Wolves was bitten.
Luggoth and Lysander arrived, and Luggoth was able to find, even after hours of rain, a set of tracks leading one of the cockatrices deeper into the Cogs. After following them for a short while, they found a tenement building in the Khyber's Gate district. Pel investigated and found goblins within, turned to stone, and realized he was in the right place. He turned a corner towards an open door and was met by an angry cockatrice, which had clearly heard him come in.
Luggoth downed his potion and discovered that it had been laced with the addictive drug Dreamlily, but was unable to warn Pel before he drank his. Pel warned the others, in a somewhat stoned manner, that the potions were poisoned, and was bitten by the cockatrice, but he managed to shake off the paralytic effects of its beak.
Lysander's sleep spell had no effect on the beast, but Luggoth managed to slam down one of the crates that the Wolves had purchased on top of it, and they had captured the beast. After checking the rest of the house, they found that the other cockatrice wasn't there.
On their way back to Renchar's arena to pick up another trace, they were stopped by a goblin who claimed to have seen the other cockatrice. They followed the goblin down into the sewers, and soon found themselves in a familiar setting: The sewers beneath Dorasharn Tower, and the valve cluster where they had been ambushed by shifters on their first adventure together.
Another ambush awaited, as well as another reminder from their first adventure. As they walked in, the valves shut, closing Elias outside and the rest of the Wolves in. The voice of William d'Deneith emerged from a cloud of mist, and he formed, revealing himself to be a vampire in service to The Emerald Claw. Two other misty forms revealed themselves as well, vampire spawn who had clearly been the "recruits" mentioned by Mira earlier.
After William accused the Wolves of leaving his body to be desecrated by the Claw and it was clear that there would be no talking, Lysander pulled out his bow and fired, but missed the supernaturally-enhanced William. Luggoth shifted and charged into combat with William, as Pel opened fire with his newest wand of magic missiles and three missiles streaked out and struck the vampire.
William and his spawn tried to dominate some of the Wolves, but they failed, and the combat continued. Pel continued to pepper William with magic missiles as Luggoth engaged him in melee, and the vampire spawn continued trying to dominate the others.
With their domination abilities failing, William and the spawn turned to physical attacks. He drained life energy from Luggoth as the spawn tried to grab at Pel and prevent him from firing any more missiles. Luggoth changed targets and quickly reduced one of the vampire spawn to gaseous form. As he flew off, William and the other spawn also took gaseous form and fled. As they did so, however, the valves opened. The angry clucking of a cockatrice heralded the arrival of the other bird, and William called back "I'll see you again another time."
After defeating two vampires, it was little trouble for the Wolves to cage one more Cockatrice. After Pel put a crossbow bolt into the treacherous goblin that had lured them into the sewers, the Wolves emerged from the sewers with both cockatrices successfully captured.
The Wolves returned their captives to Moloch, and true to his word, the ogre released Vadis. After a brief, somewhat unemotional reunion between Vadis and his son, the Tyrant leader and the Wolves went their separate ways. Both Luggoth and Pel had to spend two days getting rid of their potential addiction to Dreamlily, but they succeeded without needing another dose of the drug.
XP: 1300 XP (EL 6)/1000 XP (EL 7)
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Handy Haversacks, Kundarak & Bags of Holding
As discussed in the last session, the Wolves have converted most of their liquid cash (or at least their gold) into a House Kundarak bank account. If you opened it with the cash you had left, the 1% fee to open the account came to 198 gp, and you've now got a balance of 19,600 gp. We can figure the exact amount later after you buy whatever else you want to buy in Sharn. You can choose to have letters of credit (authorized with arcane marks) from Kundarak in any amount, and carry that with you, where you can trade it for cash at any Kundarak enclave (most cities have them) or use it to purchase from most civilized shops. I'd suggest that each member of the Wolves gets a letter worth 4,000 gp, which at your current membership of four (if you give Tworock a letter) leaves 3,600 gp in the Sharn bank for later.
Also and more importantly... I finally checked on the weight capabilities of the Haversack. It holds 20 lbs. in each side pocket (there are 2), and 80 lbs. in the main pocket. Or 120 lbs. total. You currently have 166 lbs. worth of gear in there, minus the masquerade costumes and Emerald Claw disguises, which aren't going to fit. My suggestion would be to look into a bag of holding. The smallest one holds 250 lbs, and the disadvantage is that it takes a full-round action to get anything out of it, unlike the Haversack. It would cost you 2500 gp. Or you can go 500 lbs. (5000 gp), 1000 lbs. (7400 gp) or 1500 lbs. (10000 gp).
No, you cannot put the bag of holding *into* the Haversack. Unless you and everyone within 10 feet would like an instant trip to the Astral Plane, with the destruction of both bags as a side effect.
I would also remind you that you are lacking a restock on healing potions (or scrolls), restoration scrolls, etc.
Also and more importantly... I finally checked on the weight capabilities of the Haversack. It holds 20 lbs. in each side pocket (there are 2), and 80 lbs. in the main pocket. Or 120 lbs. total. You currently have 166 lbs. worth of gear in there, minus the masquerade costumes and Emerald Claw disguises, which aren't going to fit. My suggestion would be to look into a bag of holding. The smallest one holds 250 lbs, and the disadvantage is that it takes a full-round action to get anything out of it, unlike the Haversack. It would cost you 2500 gp. Or you can go 500 lbs. (5000 gp), 1000 lbs. (7400 gp) or 1500 lbs. (10000 gp).
No, you cannot put the bag of holding *into* the Haversack. Unless you and everyone within 10 feet would like an instant trip to the Astral Plane, with the destruction of both bags as a side effect.
I would also remind you that you are lacking a restock on healing potions (or scrolls), restoration scrolls, etc.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Eberron Adventure Journal: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (3)
Aryth 3 - Aryth 10, YK 998
Part Six - Xulo:
Shaken from the sudden loss of their companion, the remaining Wolves reasoned that Brand's father must have been the one who rescued him, and clearly, he wasn't coming back any time soon. Realizing that they didn't have much time, and goaded gently by Muroni's insistence on the Prophecy, they decided to move on, despite being battered, tired and down a man.
All except one. Whitehearth refused to leave the site of his master's disappearance, and managed to convey to Luggoth that he wanted to stay there. Luggoth carried Whitehearth up to the level that held the globe of invulnerability and reluctantly, the Wolves left Whitehearth behind, secure behind the powerful spell.
Following the theory that they should be heading up, the Wolves passed through dusty rooms that had obviously once been quarters for drow slaves and the chamber of the slaves' overseer, full of chains and manacles and stained with blood. They emerged into a hallway and saw that there were exits to the ledges outside. Pel peered outside and saw that they were about 150 feet up, roughly halfway to the top. Had he remained a minute longer, he would have seen some of the dire apes walking along the ledges, guarding the temple that they had made their home.
As it happened, the Wolves did encounter the dire apes when the next door they opened turned out to be the apes' lair, holding their leader, a Girallon. The Girallon immediately bellowed with rage and attacked, smashing Pel with one of its fists. Kanatash opened fire with rays of cold from his dorje as Pel moved out into the hallway to draw the Girallon out. When it emerged, Luggoth and Pel both moved in to engage while Kanatash and Lysander fired dorje rays and arrows at it.
After the Girallon grabbed Luggoth with all four arms and nearly tore him in two, Lysander dropped his bow and moved into combat with his sword, but Pel cut the Girallon down with his scimitar before Lysander could really engage. Muroni began using her wand to cure Luggoth even as he downed a potion.
However, the fight was not as finished as the Wolves thought. Lysander, walking over to pick up his bow, saw two dire apes charging down the hallway, having come in from outside when they heard the cries of their leader. He began firing arrows at the charging dire apes, and Luggoth joined him to throw an axe and kill one of the apes. The other leaped at Luggoth, claws swinging, but Luggoth ducked the blow and came up with greatsword in hand, stabbing through the beast's shoulder. The ape swung a vicious claw into Lysander, but it was the last attack it would make, as Lysander struck back with his sword and Kanatash finished the beast off with two more rays of cold.
As the last bars of Lysander's song faded, the noise was replaced with the howls of two more dire apes! Lysander and Kanatash once again opened fire with their ranged weapons, Pel joining in with his crossbow, and Luggoth killed another with his throwing axe. He then climbed on top of the dead dire ape and attacked the other one, which already bore the scars of a cold ray, an arrow and a crossbow bolt. Enraged, the ape managed to sink its claws into Luggoth's right shoulder and left thigh and shake him, nearly tearing him apart, but Kanatash blasted the creature to death with another ray of cold before it could finish Luggoth off.
Moving down the hallway, healing Luggoth as best they could with the few remaining spells and charges of cure light wands, the Wolves found an empty room, closed the door and took a few moments to rest.
Realizing that they didn't have time to fully rest, the Wolves emerged and checked a few doors until they found a staircase leading up. They went up and found a room filled with crates of recent supplies, and quickly realized that the Emerald Claw must have already gone this way. Their suspicions were confirmed when they opened the door and found themselves facing four Emerald Claw soldiers standing guard outside the supply room. Despite their depleted magic and wounds, the Wolves managed to make quick work of the Emerald Claw, with only Luggoth suffering one minor hit from a flail in return.
The next obvious door contained a powerful glyph of warding, which Pel discovered and decided not to disturb. The Wolves then found a staircase in a room full of webbing, and they set torches to the webs, burning out the spiders who had been living there. A quick jaunt up the stairs discovered drow-sized attics, long abandoned and undisturbed, so the Wolves reasoned that the Claw had not been up there yet.
Moving down the hall to another door, several of the Wolves heard voices talking from the corridor in front of them. Pel and Lysander silently led the way, as Luggoth, Kanatash and Muroni followed from a distance. Eventually, they came out into a large room which was not the source of the voices, but which did contain something vitally important.
The room had walls extending up over a hundred feet high, with gauzy webs at the height of about sixty feet shielding it from the sunlight above. At the center of the room was a mammoth throne of stone and metal sitting on an inscribed disk of unblemished iron. Around the periphery of this disk were wooden crates, a few barrels and a wooden table strewn with a clutter of paper, pens, measuring devices and other items. A rotund female in work clothes worked around the inscribed disk, and didn't seem to notice Lysander and Pel as they came in.
The two moved out into the chamber, and the female worker turned around. "Oh, thank the Sovereign Host!" she said. "The Emerald Claw has been forcing me to decipher these runes!" Her ruse quickly faded, however, as she moved back around the throne and then yelled, in a masculine and familiar voice, "Guards! They're here! Take them!" before drinking a potion and vanishing.
From another nearby entryway, the Wolves saw the warforged Scimitar and eight Emerald Claw soldiers charge in, and the battle was joined. Lysander began an inspiring song as Scimitar engaged Pel in combat and Muroni, Luggoth and Kanatash ran toward the room to join in.
Lysander began firing his bow, killing one of the soldiers, as Luggoth joined the battle between Scimitar and Pel. Muroni rushed to engage the Emerald Claw soldiers, supported by Lysander's bow from a short distance away. Kanatash used the last of his psychic reserve to unleash a fiery energy missile on Scimitar and four of the Emerald Claw soldiers, killing all but one of them and severely wounding Scimitar as well.
While Lysander picked off two more of the Emerald Claw soldiers, Luggoth and Pel slashed away at Scimitar, rendering him inert. From there, it was easy for the Wolves to dispatch the remaining Emerald Claw soldiers.
As the battle wound down, Pel looked and noticed that a pattern of lights had emerged on the throne, one that had definitely not been there before the fight. The Wolves pondered what this might mean, trying to find clues in the notes on the worktable and recognizing the names "Scorpion's Eye" and "Garyx's Eye" as the names the giants had for stars. Then Muroni stepped up to the throne, trying to get a closer look, and vanished.
The Wolves realized that she had been either teleported or destroyed, and after some small discussion, Lysander led the way by jumping onto the throne. They were then transported to a chamber deep below the earth. They found themselves standing atop a giant-sized set of steps, fifty feet high and descending into a great vault filled with hulking, dimly glowing pillars of stone. They could see cords extending from each pillar, some made of metal, some of more organic material, all leading to great draperies covering something massive at the other side of the chamber.
At the foot of the stairs, they saw the figure of the rotund woman writhing and twisting in pain. As they watched, she twisted and took on other forms: Rarwog, the half-elf captain of the Jade Fury. Then, the pale and scarred form of Garrow, the vampire they had faced in the Mournland. "Fine!" he screamed. "Take it and be gone from my mind!" And with that, he flung the creation pattern in his hand deep into the chamber.
The Wolves wasted no time engaging their enemy, as Lysander fired his bow and Kanatash unleashed a fiery energy missile. Pel cast Protection from Evil on Luggoth, who began leaping down the massive, 10 foot stairs. Garrow, realizing he was no longer alone, called out to the Blood of Vol and healed himself as Kanatash, Pel and Lysander continued firing at him.
Garrow called out to the Blood of Vol once more and became infused with divine power, withstanding another blast of fire from Kanatash and an arrow fired from Lysander as Luggoth quaffed a potion of bull's strength and continued moving in.
Garrow drank a potion to heal himself further and moved toward the nearest stair, cutting off line of sight from the Wolves. Lysander, believing the vampire to be an immense danger, produced a scroll of haste and cast it on the party, which gave Luggoth the burst of speed he needed to jump down and begin attacking Garrow in earnest, slashing a wickedly powerful rent in his flesh with his greatsword.
Garrow responded by reaching out and touching Luggoth with the power of the Blood of Vol, draining some of his life but not killing him. Luggoth responded with another powerful sword blow and killed Garrow. Even as the Wolves were reaching for their stakes, they realized that Garrow was not what he had seemed. He didn't become gaseous upon death, but instead took on a pale white sexless form. Garrow had never been a vampire... he had been a changeling.
Lysander walked back into the draperies and cords and found both the creation pattern and the fourth schema, the only part not currently plugged in. Before he could do anything, he felt a strong compulsion to complete the pattern, which he resisted.
Now wary of the pattern, the Wolves began to look around. They saw that what was hidden beneath the draperies, and connected to the cords, was an enormous, primitive warforged, about thirty feet high.
The Wolves argued back and forth about what to do with the creation pattern. Natural curiosity and a potentially great story was compelling Lysander, but the compulsion he had felt made him nervous about putting the pattern together. Luggoth was indifferent, but leaned towards leaving it incomplete. Pel felt that the Traveler's will would have been to put it together, but he was also nervous about its potential for evil. Muroni stayed out of the argument, but her presence reminded the Wolves that this event was clearly meant to be, in some way, a playing out of the Prophecy. If they didn't complete the pattern, maybe they were failing to continue along the path destiny had provided for them, and they could prevent some good thing from happening to the world.
Finally, Lysander offered up "Can it be any worse than falling out of the sky on an airship?" Pel agreed, and he put together the fourth schema and the creation pattern.
The pattern rose into the sky of its own accord, levitating up to the massive warforged and melding into its chest. A terrible voice filled the minds of all present, speaking at once no language and every language. "I... am... complete! Xulo... is... whole! And now, Xulo has a body!"
With that, the warforged began moving, and its intentions were clearly hostile. Pel, Luggoth and Lysander began hacking away at the cords, hoping to shut down the power to the warforged, which was unleashing not only physical might but some sort of psychic attacks of despair and confusion. Luggoth fell prey to one of these, trying to escape but being prevented by Xulo's elimination of the teleportation effect that had brought them here.
Xulo smashed Kanatash into the ground, and Kanatash decided to feign death to avoid future attacks. The other Wolves quickly realized that there were too many cords to effectively sever before they were all killed, and then Kanatash hit upon the idea of firing his dorje at the creation pattern itself, which seemed to work.
Xulo brought both of the warforged's mighty fists down on Pel, breaking the changeling's body and leaving him dead on the floor of the chamber. Desperately, Kanatash and Lysander fired at the creation pattern, and finally Kanatash managed to shut it down. The creation pattern clattered to the floor, undamaged but temporarily intert, and Lysander quickly separated the parts out to the different Wolves, dropping the creation pattern itself into the Heward's Handy Haversack.
Lysander picked up Pel's body, and he walked with Kanatash, Luggoth and Muroni up to the throne, which was working once more. They quickly and quietly backtracked, stopping to pick up Whitehearth, who after several hours had decided that his master was not returning here. They emerged from the giant temple and found Chinxero waiting for them.
The travel by riverboat took five more days, depositing them in Stormreach on Aryth 8. Lysander knew that he had only a few more days to find someone to bring Pel back to life before his soul would be gone beyond the reach of most priests, and so he called upon Muroni to use her local contacts to help him. Together, they found two things: One was that there was a Cleric of the Sovereign Host who could help, but he was out in the jungles of Xen'drik for at least three more days. The other was that there was another priest who could help, but he was definitely of a... darker religion.
The priest didn't identify himself by name as he met with Lysander in one of Stormreach's alleys. He said only that he worshipped the same pantheon as the Traveler. Lysander, desperate to get his friend revived but worried about consequences, managed to convince the priest to reveal that he was a worshipper of the Keeper, the god of death. He agreed to revive Pel in exchange for a favor owed by the Wandering Wolves at some point in the future. "If you refuse this favor, my god will take back the gift he is about to imbue your friend with. And punish the rest of you as well."
Reluctantly, Lysander made the deal on the behalf of the Wolves. After two days of preparation, they gathered in a private ceremony and watched as the priest called upon The Dark Six to raise Pel from the dead. The priest smiled as he left the makeshift temple he had created. "Feel free to stay here for a while, it's quite safe. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."
XP: 4575 (EL 6)/3763 (EL 7)
Part Six - Xulo:
Shaken from the sudden loss of their companion, the remaining Wolves reasoned that Brand's father must have been the one who rescued him, and clearly, he wasn't coming back any time soon. Realizing that they didn't have much time, and goaded gently by Muroni's insistence on the Prophecy, they decided to move on, despite being battered, tired and down a man.
All except one. Whitehearth refused to leave the site of his master's disappearance, and managed to convey to Luggoth that he wanted to stay there. Luggoth carried Whitehearth up to the level that held the globe of invulnerability and reluctantly, the Wolves left Whitehearth behind, secure behind the powerful spell.
Following the theory that they should be heading up, the Wolves passed through dusty rooms that had obviously once been quarters for drow slaves and the chamber of the slaves' overseer, full of chains and manacles and stained with blood. They emerged into a hallway and saw that there were exits to the ledges outside. Pel peered outside and saw that they were about 150 feet up, roughly halfway to the top. Had he remained a minute longer, he would have seen some of the dire apes walking along the ledges, guarding the temple that they had made their home.
As it happened, the Wolves did encounter the dire apes when the next door they opened turned out to be the apes' lair, holding their leader, a Girallon. The Girallon immediately bellowed with rage and attacked, smashing Pel with one of its fists. Kanatash opened fire with rays of cold from his dorje as Pel moved out into the hallway to draw the Girallon out. When it emerged, Luggoth and Pel both moved in to engage while Kanatash and Lysander fired dorje rays and arrows at it.
After the Girallon grabbed Luggoth with all four arms and nearly tore him in two, Lysander dropped his bow and moved into combat with his sword, but Pel cut the Girallon down with his scimitar before Lysander could really engage. Muroni began using her wand to cure Luggoth even as he downed a potion.
However, the fight was not as finished as the Wolves thought. Lysander, walking over to pick up his bow, saw two dire apes charging down the hallway, having come in from outside when they heard the cries of their leader. He began firing arrows at the charging dire apes, and Luggoth joined him to throw an axe and kill one of the apes. The other leaped at Luggoth, claws swinging, but Luggoth ducked the blow and came up with greatsword in hand, stabbing through the beast's shoulder. The ape swung a vicious claw into Lysander, but it was the last attack it would make, as Lysander struck back with his sword and Kanatash finished the beast off with two more rays of cold.
As the last bars of Lysander's song faded, the noise was replaced with the howls of two more dire apes! Lysander and Kanatash once again opened fire with their ranged weapons, Pel joining in with his crossbow, and Luggoth killed another with his throwing axe. He then climbed on top of the dead dire ape and attacked the other one, which already bore the scars of a cold ray, an arrow and a crossbow bolt. Enraged, the ape managed to sink its claws into Luggoth's right shoulder and left thigh and shake him, nearly tearing him apart, but Kanatash blasted the creature to death with another ray of cold before it could finish Luggoth off.
Moving down the hallway, healing Luggoth as best they could with the few remaining spells and charges of cure light wands, the Wolves found an empty room, closed the door and took a few moments to rest.
Realizing that they didn't have time to fully rest, the Wolves emerged and checked a few doors until they found a staircase leading up. They went up and found a room filled with crates of recent supplies, and quickly realized that the Emerald Claw must have already gone this way. Their suspicions were confirmed when they opened the door and found themselves facing four Emerald Claw soldiers standing guard outside the supply room. Despite their depleted magic and wounds, the Wolves managed to make quick work of the Emerald Claw, with only Luggoth suffering one minor hit from a flail in return.
The next obvious door contained a powerful glyph of warding, which Pel discovered and decided not to disturb. The Wolves then found a staircase in a room full of webbing, and they set torches to the webs, burning out the spiders who had been living there. A quick jaunt up the stairs discovered drow-sized attics, long abandoned and undisturbed, so the Wolves reasoned that the Claw had not been up there yet.
Moving down the hall to another door, several of the Wolves heard voices talking from the corridor in front of them. Pel and Lysander silently led the way, as Luggoth, Kanatash and Muroni followed from a distance. Eventually, they came out into a large room which was not the source of the voices, but which did contain something vitally important.
The room had walls extending up over a hundred feet high, with gauzy webs at the height of about sixty feet shielding it from the sunlight above. At the center of the room was a mammoth throne of stone and metal sitting on an inscribed disk of unblemished iron. Around the periphery of this disk were wooden crates, a few barrels and a wooden table strewn with a clutter of paper, pens, measuring devices and other items. A rotund female in work clothes worked around the inscribed disk, and didn't seem to notice Lysander and Pel as they came in.
The two moved out into the chamber, and the female worker turned around. "Oh, thank the Sovereign Host!" she said. "The Emerald Claw has been forcing me to decipher these runes!" Her ruse quickly faded, however, as she moved back around the throne and then yelled, in a masculine and familiar voice, "Guards! They're here! Take them!" before drinking a potion and vanishing.
From another nearby entryway, the Wolves saw the warforged Scimitar and eight Emerald Claw soldiers charge in, and the battle was joined. Lysander began an inspiring song as Scimitar engaged Pel in combat and Muroni, Luggoth and Kanatash ran toward the room to join in.
Lysander began firing his bow, killing one of the soldiers, as Luggoth joined the battle between Scimitar and Pel. Muroni rushed to engage the Emerald Claw soldiers, supported by Lysander's bow from a short distance away. Kanatash used the last of his psychic reserve to unleash a fiery energy missile on Scimitar and four of the Emerald Claw soldiers, killing all but one of them and severely wounding Scimitar as well.
While Lysander picked off two more of the Emerald Claw soldiers, Luggoth and Pel slashed away at Scimitar, rendering him inert. From there, it was easy for the Wolves to dispatch the remaining Emerald Claw soldiers.
As the battle wound down, Pel looked and noticed that a pattern of lights had emerged on the throne, one that had definitely not been there before the fight. The Wolves pondered what this might mean, trying to find clues in the notes on the worktable and recognizing the names "Scorpion's Eye" and "Garyx's Eye" as the names the giants had for stars. Then Muroni stepped up to the throne, trying to get a closer look, and vanished.
The Wolves realized that she had been either teleported or destroyed, and after some small discussion, Lysander led the way by jumping onto the throne. They were then transported to a chamber deep below the earth. They found themselves standing atop a giant-sized set of steps, fifty feet high and descending into a great vault filled with hulking, dimly glowing pillars of stone. They could see cords extending from each pillar, some made of metal, some of more organic material, all leading to great draperies covering something massive at the other side of the chamber.
At the foot of the stairs, they saw the figure of the rotund woman writhing and twisting in pain. As they watched, she twisted and took on other forms: Rarwog, the half-elf captain of the Jade Fury. Then, the pale and scarred form of Garrow, the vampire they had faced in the Mournland. "Fine!" he screamed. "Take it and be gone from my mind!" And with that, he flung the creation pattern in his hand deep into the chamber.
The Wolves wasted no time engaging their enemy, as Lysander fired his bow and Kanatash unleashed a fiery energy missile. Pel cast Protection from Evil on Luggoth, who began leaping down the massive, 10 foot stairs. Garrow, realizing he was no longer alone, called out to the Blood of Vol and healed himself as Kanatash, Pel and Lysander continued firing at him.
Garrow called out to the Blood of Vol once more and became infused with divine power, withstanding another blast of fire from Kanatash and an arrow fired from Lysander as Luggoth quaffed a potion of bull's strength and continued moving in.
Garrow drank a potion to heal himself further and moved toward the nearest stair, cutting off line of sight from the Wolves. Lysander, believing the vampire to be an immense danger, produced a scroll of haste and cast it on the party, which gave Luggoth the burst of speed he needed to jump down and begin attacking Garrow in earnest, slashing a wickedly powerful rent in his flesh with his greatsword.
Garrow responded by reaching out and touching Luggoth with the power of the Blood of Vol, draining some of his life but not killing him. Luggoth responded with another powerful sword blow and killed Garrow. Even as the Wolves were reaching for their stakes, they realized that Garrow was not what he had seemed. He didn't become gaseous upon death, but instead took on a pale white sexless form. Garrow had never been a vampire... he had been a changeling.
Lysander walked back into the draperies and cords and found both the creation pattern and the fourth schema, the only part not currently plugged in. Before he could do anything, he felt a strong compulsion to complete the pattern, which he resisted.
Now wary of the pattern, the Wolves began to look around. They saw that what was hidden beneath the draperies, and connected to the cords, was an enormous, primitive warforged, about thirty feet high.
The Wolves argued back and forth about what to do with the creation pattern. Natural curiosity and a potentially great story was compelling Lysander, but the compulsion he had felt made him nervous about putting the pattern together. Luggoth was indifferent, but leaned towards leaving it incomplete. Pel felt that the Traveler's will would have been to put it together, but he was also nervous about its potential for evil. Muroni stayed out of the argument, but her presence reminded the Wolves that this event was clearly meant to be, in some way, a playing out of the Prophecy. If they didn't complete the pattern, maybe they were failing to continue along the path destiny had provided for them, and they could prevent some good thing from happening to the world.
Finally, Lysander offered up "Can it be any worse than falling out of the sky on an airship?" Pel agreed, and he put together the fourth schema and the creation pattern.
The pattern rose into the sky of its own accord, levitating up to the massive warforged and melding into its chest. A terrible voice filled the minds of all present, speaking at once no language and every language. "I... am... complete! Xulo... is... whole! And now, Xulo has a body!"
With that, the warforged began moving, and its intentions were clearly hostile. Pel, Luggoth and Lysander began hacking away at the cords, hoping to shut down the power to the warforged, which was unleashing not only physical might but some sort of psychic attacks of despair and confusion. Luggoth fell prey to one of these, trying to escape but being prevented by Xulo's elimination of the teleportation effect that had brought them here.
Xulo smashed Kanatash into the ground, and Kanatash decided to feign death to avoid future attacks. The other Wolves quickly realized that there were too many cords to effectively sever before they were all killed, and then Kanatash hit upon the idea of firing his dorje at the creation pattern itself, which seemed to work.
Xulo brought both of the warforged's mighty fists down on Pel, breaking the changeling's body and leaving him dead on the floor of the chamber. Desperately, Kanatash and Lysander fired at the creation pattern, and finally Kanatash managed to shut it down. The creation pattern clattered to the floor, undamaged but temporarily intert, and Lysander quickly separated the parts out to the different Wolves, dropping the creation pattern itself into the Heward's Handy Haversack.
Lysander picked up Pel's body, and he walked with Kanatash, Luggoth and Muroni up to the throne, which was working once more. They quickly and quietly backtracked, stopping to pick up Whitehearth, who after several hours had decided that his master was not returning here. They emerged from the giant temple and found Chinxero waiting for them.
The travel by riverboat took five more days, depositing them in Stormreach on Aryth 8. Lysander knew that he had only a few more days to find someone to bring Pel back to life before his soul would be gone beyond the reach of most priests, and so he called upon Muroni to use her local contacts to help him. Together, they found two things: One was that there was a Cleric of the Sovereign Host who could help, but he was out in the jungles of Xen'drik for at least three more days. The other was that there was another priest who could help, but he was definitely of a... darker religion.
The priest didn't identify himself by name as he met with Lysander in one of Stormreach's alleys. He said only that he worshipped the same pantheon as the Traveler. Lysander, desperate to get his friend revived but worried about consequences, managed to convince the priest to reveal that he was a worshipper of the Keeper, the god of death. He agreed to revive Pel in exchange for a favor owed by the Wandering Wolves at some point in the future. "If you refuse this favor, my god will take back the gift he is about to imbue your friend with. And punish the rest of you as well."
Reluctantly, Lysander made the deal on the behalf of the Wolves. After two days of preparation, they gathered in a private ceremony and watched as the priest called upon The Dark Six to raise Pel from the dead. The priest smiled as he left the makeshift temple he had created. "Feel free to stay here for a while, it's quite safe. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."
XP: 4575 (EL 6)/3763 (EL 7)
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Upcoming Schedule - September/October
Matt is planning on running Call of Cthulhu, but probably more late October, so I've got some more Eberron scheduled before then. Here's the schedule as I see it, please chime in if you aren't available for a given week.
September 15th - Poker Game
September 22nd - Eberron: Sharn City Life (buying/selling, city adventure, building backup characters)
September 29th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 1
October 6th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 2
October 13th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 3
October 20th - Poker Game
October 27th - Gaming off (Halloween parties, etc.)
September 15th - Poker Game
September 22nd - Eberron: Sharn City Life (buying/selling, city adventure, building backup characters)
September 29th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 1
October 6th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 2
October 13th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 3
October 20th - Poker Game
October 27th - Gaming off (Halloween parties, etc.)
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