A little weirdness in March and April, because of STAPLE!, birthdays, Houston Comics-palooza and all that surrounds that. So... tentatively:
February 19th - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 4 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, Paul)
February 26th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
March 5th - No Gaming - STAPLE!
March 12th - Wandering Wolves: What Waits In The Dark Part 1 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
March 19th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
March 26th - Dominion (Randy, Ben, Dave, Jason?, Dan?)
April 2nd - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
April 9th - Wandering Wolves: What Waits In The Dark Part 3 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
April 16th - D&D Circle of Love (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
April 23rd - Wandering Wolves: What Waits In The Dark Part 4 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
April 30th - D&D Circle of Love (Dan, Ben, Randy, Joe & Jamie, Max)
The 16th is tentative. There may be a LEOG trip to New Orleans, and if so I'll be out for that. But you guys could play without me.
Btw, the first week of May is a no-go for gaming as well. Free Comic Book Day and all that entails. We will probably do a Rock Band get together that Friday with the FCBD guests.
How does this look for everybody?
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath (1)
Zarantyr 2 - Zarantyr 15, YK 1000
Having driven off the attack by Cavoletta and her allies, the Wolves turned their attentions to Breyten d'Orien and Url, who were in deep trouble with House Tharashk and House Orien. Brand sent a Sivis message to his father, who was arrested immediately upon entering the Orien enclave in Passage, as he'd expected. However, it took only a few hours for that to change.
Aeromus d'Orien was arrested and taken into custody by House Orien security, and a trial was scheduled for him and Traega, to determine the truth of what was going on with both of them. House Orien requested that Breyten and Url be sent back to Passage for the trial, and the Wolves decided that, in addition to security from Houses Orien, Tharashk and Deneith, they would send Luggoth with them to make sure the two of them arrived in Passage and were incarcerated. They made arrangements for Luggoth to come and meet them in Karrnath when he was done.
The rest of the Wolves went to their linked portals on Silver Lake Isle and traveled to Korth, where they were met by a House Orien coach that was to take them to Karrlakton to meet with General Gustavus Karlach, commander of Karrnathi military forces in that city.
Karrnath was in the throes of the worst blizzard that anyone could remember, colder than many of the Wolves had ever been. William thoroughly enjoyed the chance to revisit his homeland... the rest of the Wolves weren't so fond of being without their creature comforts of Sharn or the Wolves' Reward.
The travel took a few days, but it was uneventful. Throughout most of the journey, the windows on the coach had a view of the Mournland, which was unsettling to say the least. Freezing weather and the dead, gray mist of the Mournland left most of the Wolves with a less-than-pleasant first impression of Karrnath.
After two days of travel, they had a brief stop in the town of Vurgenslye, and then they traveled for another day and a half, reaching Karrlakton late in the day. The coach deposited them at the headquarters for Karrlakton's military, and they were greeted by Corporal Hanish Viett, who took them in to General Karlach's office.
Karlach, a man in his early sixties, was dressed in his full military uniform, complete with a number of medals and ribbons, and wearing the ring of the Order of Rekkenmark, as well as a fur hat in the Karrnathi style. William quickly recognized that Karlach was a highly-decorated officer.
Karlach offered the Wolves some vedbread (crusty bread with sharp ved cheese) and lamb and vegetable stew, and then proceeded to tell them why he had asked to see them.
"I was an officer in the Karrnathi military during the Last War. I saw action in the Talenta Plains and the Mror Holds, but for most of the war I battled against Thrane. Just after I was promoted to lieutenant, I met Count Werner ir'Orlok. It was in 961, during the Siege of Shadukar, under the command of General Horacht. We took Shadukar and pillaged it completely, with necromancers reviving the bodies of their foes to bolster the ranks of their armies. When we were finally forced out by Thranish troops a year later, Horacht ordered them to shut the gates of the city and put it to the torch, leaving the city an utter ruin, filled with dead and undead."
"It was a horrible thing, but much as I disliked them, I followed my orders. I didn't like Orlok, though... he was creepy, even for a necromancer, and I got the sense that he was sizing him up for some kind of horrible projects."
"I was very nearly your uncle, William, and I should have been. I met your aunt Hannah when I was home visiting family in Karrlakton. She was 19, and had just begun work as a Blademark, and I was was 37, and had just been promoted to Major. We shared a long distance courtship throughout the war, never in one place long enough to spend more than few days together. I proposed to her after a few years, but both of us knew that nothing would come of it until after the war was over."
"When Cyre was destroyed, we both knew the war was coming to an end, and we both transferred back to Karrlakton. I took over command of the forces here, and Hannah took a job training Sentinel Marshals instead of going on active missions so frequently. We made plans to marry as soon as the war was officially over. Just after these plans were made, Hannah had to go out to rescue some of her students who had disappeared on a mission into the Shadow Marches, chasing rumors that Count Orlok had been risen from the dead. She never came back."
"I've always assumed that Orlok killed her, but I've been searching for him ever since. I've hired House Tharashk scouts and inquisitors, as well as my own scouts, and one of them came to me a few weeks ago to tell me he spotted activity in Iceridge Tower in the Icetop Mountains, which was one of Orlok's labs during the war."
"If it is Orlok, my scouts will need stronger support to handle him. If the Wolves will go up to the base and rendezvous with my scouts, I'm willing to pay each of you. In addition, I have some pull with the Sentinel Marshals, and I know, William, that you have petitioned to become one. If you can capture or kill Orlok, I think I can get them to make you a Sentinel Marshal."
Karlach handed each of the Wolves a small pouch, with an extra one for Luggoth. Inside was gold, platinum and a gem for expenses.
He then asked if William would indulge him in a game of Conqueror. William hadn't played the game since he was a boy, and after an early lead, the general began dominating his game. The Wolves decided to help, with Lysander engaging the general in talk of stories and history from the region, while Brand spotted weaknesses in the general's game and imparted them to William, and Pel tried to convince the general that William's game was stronger than it looked.
The combined efforts of the Wolves won the game, although William wasn't entirely happy to have, in his mind, cheated. Karlach accepted the loss with a smile and told William that he should practice, making it clear that he thought the Wolves' help was a fair counterbalance to his much greater experience with the game.
After doing a little shopping in Karrlakton, and spotting a number of doomsayers in the Mournland-adjacent city, the Wolves boarded the Orien coach again. They traveled for 3 days to Vedykar, then 3 and a half more days to Vulyar, where they boarded the Eastern Line lightning rail. After about 15 hours of travel, they arrived in the small mining town of Irontown.
There they were met by a House Vadalis representative who gave them four magebred horses to take out to the base. The horses had camping and cold weather gear on them, and the Wolves bundled up to head into the freezing weather. It helped a little, but they still found the weather absolutely chilling, and travel was extremely tiring.
After two days in the blizzard, exhausted from the cold, they realized that they were lost, and that the white, mostly featureless landscape offered few clues which direction to go. Fortunately, William was able to recall some elements of the Karrnathi wilderness from his school days that pointed them in what they thought was the northeast, and Brand was able to discern from the way the snow fell that they were nearing Lake Dark, which was the correct way to go. Lysander recalled a story he had heard about a soldier lost in a blizzard, and some of the things he had done to survive, and finally all of the Wolves were able to spot the faintest trail leading to a cottage, with light in the windows.
The cottage belonged to Kravitz and Hestia Bonne. Kravitz was a one-legged veteran of the Last War, and it was clear to the Wolves from the symbols in their home that they were worshipers of the Blood of Vol. This, they explained, was why they lived in isolation away from the town, and they also said that they held no love for the Emerald Claw and its bastardization of their religion. The Bonnes were smithys, and they sold armor and weapons to Irontown from time to time.
After serving some food to the Wolves, they told them that they had recently celebrated Revelation Day at their temple, but that their priest, a mummy, and the rest of the followers had betrayed them. They had used the blood from the ritual to create a blood elemental that they intended to take with them to the Mror Holds for some kind of Emerald Claw operation. When that time came, they would come down from the temple to get Hestia and Kravitz, and they would either have to go with them or be killed as traitors to the cause.
Kravitz asked if the Wolves, in exchange for a safe place to sleep and rest, would go to the temple and deal with the Vol cult. The Wolves were all too eager to do this anyway, and so, after a night of sleep and warmth that got them back to their fully rested and ready selves, they followed Hestia out into the snow once more to find the Blood of Vol temple.
The temple was a few hours away from the cottage, and it was a fairly impressive structure, built of stone with stain-glass windows and only one entrance. William, never once for ceremony, kicked open the doors and charged in.
The mummy was overseeing a ceremony in the candle-lit temple, surrounded by close to a dozen cultists, and a blood elemental and blood amniote, a kind of ooze, stood in the center of the temple.
William moved in to draw both the elemental and the amniote to him, and managed to keep their focus on him throughout the battle. Pel, Brand and Lysander spread out throughout the temple in preparation for the battle.
Two of the cultists revealed themselves as warlocks, firing desiccating curses at Brand and William, and following up with deadly curses that scoured the flesh more quickly from their foes. As William continued to battle the amniote, the elemental and the occasional cultist, Brand and Lysander made quick work of some of the cultists, and Pel engaged the mummy.
His opening salvo was to blast it with the scourging radiant light of the Traveler, then he pulled out his scimitar and began hacking at him, as Brand moved in to help. Lysander, with help from Whitehearth, engaged two of the more brutish cultists.
The mummy focused attacks with his skull-headed mace on Pel, and before long, all of the Wolves had plenty of scrapes and bruises. The desiccating curses were taking their toll on Brand, who was barely able to remain on his feet, and the elemental and the amniote had been pounding relentlessly on William.
With most of the cultists dealt with, the wounded Wolves focused their attacks on the mummy and his blood elementals. Pel called down a flame strike that set the mummy on fire and damaged the last remaining cultist, who fell under the sway of Lysander's persuasion and found himself marching toward the snow outside, firing his bow back at his tormentors without much effect.
The mummy, on fire and dying, stumbled into William's reign of steel stance, and William swung Terminus and cleaved the undead priest's head from his shoulders. A wave of necrotic energy swept out from him, infecting all of the Wolves with the curse of mummy rot. William turned back to attack the elemental and the amniote, and Pel moved in to join him. Brand teleported in and finished the elemental with a flurry of his blades, right after it managed to smash William into unconsciousness.
The Wolves focused their attacks on the amniote, and Lysander finished it off with a song powerful enough to cause deathly fear in the barely sentient ooze. As Pel moved to bandage William, Brand charged outside and finished off the last remaining cultist before he could return to cause more trouble.
Searching the blood-soaked temple, the Wolves found a couple of rooms where they could rest, shielded from the elements. They also found the cult's treasury, which included valuable gems and gold, as well as a blood red potion of vitality brewed from the blood of the cultists and the mummy's herbs. In addition, William found a letter from Count Orlok, clearly addressed to the mummy. It read:
"I have word that our operation in the Mror Holds has encountered some difficulties. The resistance at the mining operation is more severe than anticipated, and I have a request to provide some reinforcements. As you are the nearest Blood of Vol cult available, and my own forces are busy providing security here at the tower, I need you to take as much force as you can muster to the ir'Mroranon mining operation as soon as possible. Perhaps the ritual you had been working on to create constructs of blood would be useful to this purpose.
Lady Vol will look on your assistance quite favorably. The dragonshards we are procuring at the mining colony are crucial to Operation: Ascendance."
Lysander ministered to each of the Wolves to deal with the after-effects of the mummy's curse, and with his help, all of them managed to shake off mummy rot. Unfortunately, Lysander himself didn't, and the next morning, the hale and hearty Wolves saw that their elven companion looked sallow, sickly and near-death. They realized that in order to save him, they'd have to journey for two days across the blizzard conditions without resting, for fear of Lysander taking a turn for the worse.
Having driven off the attack by Cavoletta and her allies, the Wolves turned their attentions to Breyten d'Orien and Url, who were in deep trouble with House Tharashk and House Orien. Brand sent a Sivis message to his father, who was arrested immediately upon entering the Orien enclave in Passage, as he'd expected. However, it took only a few hours for that to change.
Aeromus d'Orien was arrested and taken into custody by House Orien security, and a trial was scheduled for him and Traega, to determine the truth of what was going on with both of them. House Orien requested that Breyten and Url be sent back to Passage for the trial, and the Wolves decided that, in addition to security from Houses Orien, Tharashk and Deneith, they would send Luggoth with them to make sure the two of them arrived in Passage and were incarcerated. They made arrangements for Luggoth to come and meet them in Karrnath when he was done.
The rest of the Wolves went to their linked portals on Silver Lake Isle and traveled to Korth, where they were met by a House Orien coach that was to take them to Karrlakton to meet with General Gustavus Karlach, commander of Karrnathi military forces in that city.
Karrnath was in the throes of the worst blizzard that anyone could remember, colder than many of the Wolves had ever been. William thoroughly enjoyed the chance to revisit his homeland... the rest of the Wolves weren't so fond of being without their creature comforts of Sharn or the Wolves' Reward.
The travel took a few days, but it was uneventful. Throughout most of the journey, the windows on the coach had a view of the Mournland, which was unsettling to say the least. Freezing weather and the dead, gray mist of the Mournland left most of the Wolves with a less-than-pleasant first impression of Karrnath.
After two days of travel, they had a brief stop in the town of Vurgenslye, and then they traveled for another day and a half, reaching Karrlakton late in the day. The coach deposited them at the headquarters for Karrlakton's military, and they were greeted by Corporal Hanish Viett, who took them in to General Karlach's office.
Karlach, a man in his early sixties, was dressed in his full military uniform, complete with a number of medals and ribbons, and wearing the ring of the Order of Rekkenmark, as well as a fur hat in the Karrnathi style. William quickly recognized that Karlach was a highly-decorated officer.
Karlach offered the Wolves some vedbread (crusty bread with sharp ved cheese) and lamb and vegetable stew, and then proceeded to tell them why he had asked to see them.
"I was an officer in the Karrnathi military during the Last War. I saw action in the Talenta Plains and the Mror Holds, but for most of the war I battled against Thrane. Just after I was promoted to lieutenant, I met Count Werner ir'Orlok. It was in 961, during the Siege of Shadukar, under the command of General Horacht. We took Shadukar and pillaged it completely, with necromancers reviving the bodies of their foes to bolster the ranks of their armies. When we were finally forced out by Thranish troops a year later, Horacht ordered them to shut the gates of the city and put it to the torch, leaving the city an utter ruin, filled with dead and undead."
"It was a horrible thing, but much as I disliked them, I followed my orders. I didn't like Orlok, though... he was creepy, even for a necromancer, and I got the sense that he was sizing him up for some kind of horrible projects."
"I was very nearly your uncle, William, and I should have been. I met your aunt Hannah when I was home visiting family in Karrlakton. She was 19, and had just begun work as a Blademark, and I was was 37, and had just been promoted to Major. We shared a long distance courtship throughout the war, never in one place long enough to spend more than few days together. I proposed to her after a few years, but both of us knew that nothing would come of it until after the war was over."
"When Cyre was destroyed, we both knew the war was coming to an end, and we both transferred back to Karrlakton. I took over command of the forces here, and Hannah took a job training Sentinel Marshals instead of going on active missions so frequently. We made plans to marry as soon as the war was officially over. Just after these plans were made, Hannah had to go out to rescue some of her students who had disappeared on a mission into the Shadow Marches, chasing rumors that Count Orlok had been risen from the dead. She never came back."
"I've always assumed that Orlok killed her, but I've been searching for him ever since. I've hired House Tharashk scouts and inquisitors, as well as my own scouts, and one of them came to me a few weeks ago to tell me he spotted activity in Iceridge Tower in the Icetop Mountains, which was one of Orlok's labs during the war."
"If it is Orlok, my scouts will need stronger support to handle him. If the Wolves will go up to the base and rendezvous with my scouts, I'm willing to pay each of you. In addition, I have some pull with the Sentinel Marshals, and I know, William, that you have petitioned to become one. If you can capture or kill Orlok, I think I can get them to make you a Sentinel Marshal."
Karlach handed each of the Wolves a small pouch, with an extra one for Luggoth. Inside was gold, platinum and a gem for expenses.
He then asked if William would indulge him in a game of Conqueror. William hadn't played the game since he was a boy, and after an early lead, the general began dominating his game. The Wolves decided to help, with Lysander engaging the general in talk of stories and history from the region, while Brand spotted weaknesses in the general's game and imparted them to William, and Pel tried to convince the general that William's game was stronger than it looked.
The combined efforts of the Wolves won the game, although William wasn't entirely happy to have, in his mind, cheated. Karlach accepted the loss with a smile and told William that he should practice, making it clear that he thought the Wolves' help was a fair counterbalance to his much greater experience with the game.
After doing a little shopping in Karrlakton, and spotting a number of doomsayers in the Mournland-adjacent city, the Wolves boarded the Orien coach again. They traveled for 3 days to Vedykar, then 3 and a half more days to Vulyar, where they boarded the Eastern Line lightning rail. After about 15 hours of travel, they arrived in the small mining town of Irontown.
There they were met by a House Vadalis representative who gave them four magebred horses to take out to the base. The horses had camping and cold weather gear on them, and the Wolves bundled up to head into the freezing weather. It helped a little, but they still found the weather absolutely chilling, and travel was extremely tiring.
After two days in the blizzard, exhausted from the cold, they realized that they were lost, and that the white, mostly featureless landscape offered few clues which direction to go. Fortunately, William was able to recall some elements of the Karrnathi wilderness from his school days that pointed them in what they thought was the northeast, and Brand was able to discern from the way the snow fell that they were nearing Lake Dark, which was the correct way to go. Lysander recalled a story he had heard about a soldier lost in a blizzard, and some of the things he had done to survive, and finally all of the Wolves were able to spot the faintest trail leading to a cottage, with light in the windows.
The cottage belonged to Kravitz and Hestia Bonne. Kravitz was a one-legged veteran of the Last War, and it was clear to the Wolves from the symbols in their home that they were worshipers of the Blood of Vol. This, they explained, was why they lived in isolation away from the town, and they also said that they held no love for the Emerald Claw and its bastardization of their religion. The Bonnes were smithys, and they sold armor and weapons to Irontown from time to time.
After serving some food to the Wolves, they told them that they had recently celebrated Revelation Day at their temple, but that their priest, a mummy, and the rest of the followers had betrayed them. They had used the blood from the ritual to create a blood elemental that they intended to take with them to the Mror Holds for some kind of Emerald Claw operation. When that time came, they would come down from the temple to get Hestia and Kravitz, and they would either have to go with them or be killed as traitors to the cause.
Kravitz asked if the Wolves, in exchange for a safe place to sleep and rest, would go to the temple and deal with the Vol cult. The Wolves were all too eager to do this anyway, and so, after a night of sleep and warmth that got them back to their fully rested and ready selves, they followed Hestia out into the snow once more to find the Blood of Vol temple.
The temple was a few hours away from the cottage, and it was a fairly impressive structure, built of stone with stain-glass windows and only one entrance. William, never once for ceremony, kicked open the doors and charged in.
The mummy was overseeing a ceremony in the candle-lit temple, surrounded by close to a dozen cultists, and a blood elemental and blood amniote, a kind of ooze, stood in the center of the temple.
William moved in to draw both the elemental and the amniote to him, and managed to keep their focus on him throughout the battle. Pel, Brand and Lysander spread out throughout the temple in preparation for the battle.
Two of the cultists revealed themselves as warlocks, firing desiccating curses at Brand and William, and following up with deadly curses that scoured the flesh more quickly from their foes. As William continued to battle the amniote, the elemental and the occasional cultist, Brand and Lysander made quick work of some of the cultists, and Pel engaged the mummy.
His opening salvo was to blast it with the scourging radiant light of the Traveler, then he pulled out his scimitar and began hacking at him, as Brand moved in to help. Lysander, with help from Whitehearth, engaged two of the more brutish cultists.
The mummy focused attacks with his skull-headed mace on Pel, and before long, all of the Wolves had plenty of scrapes and bruises. The desiccating curses were taking their toll on Brand, who was barely able to remain on his feet, and the elemental and the amniote had been pounding relentlessly on William.
With most of the cultists dealt with, the wounded Wolves focused their attacks on the mummy and his blood elementals. Pel called down a flame strike that set the mummy on fire and damaged the last remaining cultist, who fell under the sway of Lysander's persuasion and found himself marching toward the snow outside, firing his bow back at his tormentors without much effect.
The mummy, on fire and dying, stumbled into William's reign of steel stance, and William swung Terminus and cleaved the undead priest's head from his shoulders. A wave of necrotic energy swept out from him, infecting all of the Wolves with the curse of mummy rot. William turned back to attack the elemental and the amniote, and Pel moved in to join him. Brand teleported in and finished the elemental with a flurry of his blades, right after it managed to smash William into unconsciousness.
The Wolves focused their attacks on the amniote, and Lysander finished it off with a song powerful enough to cause deathly fear in the barely sentient ooze. As Pel moved to bandage William, Brand charged outside and finished off the last remaining cultist before he could return to cause more trouble.
Searching the blood-soaked temple, the Wolves found a couple of rooms where they could rest, shielded from the elements. They also found the cult's treasury, which included valuable gems and gold, as well as a blood red potion of vitality brewed from the blood of the cultists and the mummy's herbs. In addition, William found a letter from Count Orlok, clearly addressed to the mummy. It read:
"I have word that our operation in the Mror Holds has encountered some difficulties. The resistance at the mining operation is more severe than anticipated, and I have a request to provide some reinforcements. As you are the nearest Blood of Vol cult available, and my own forces are busy providing security here at the tower, I need you to take as much force as you can muster to the ir'Mroranon mining operation as soon as possible. Perhaps the ritual you had been working on to create constructs of blood would be useful to this purpose.
Lady Vol will look on your assistance quite favorably. The dragonshards we are procuring at the mining colony are crucial to Operation: Ascendance."
Lysander ministered to each of the Wolves to deal with the after-effects of the mummy's curse, and with his help, all of them managed to shake off mummy rot. Unfortunately, Lysander himself didn't, and the next morning, the hale and hearty Wolves saw that their elven companion looked sallow, sickly and near-death. They realized that in order to save him, they'd have to journey for two days across the blizzard conditions without resting, for fear of Lysander taking a turn for the worse.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Wandering Wolves: The Opening of the Wolves' Reward
Vult 27, YK 999 - Zarantyr 2, YK 1000
With only a few days until the opening of the Wolves' Reward, Brand gathered the Wolves in the war room and told them that he had received a communication from his father.
Brand and Traega had done some exploring in the Shadow Marches and found a rich dragonshard field, which they offered to House Orien as a way to buy Traega some favor with the House again. Traega arranged to have the map sent to the Orien enclave in Passage, where one of his contacts would get it to the higher-ups so it could be sold to House Tharashk, who would pay handsomely for another field in the area.
Traega's contact stole the map and passed it off to Aeromus, Brand's uncle, who immediately made plans to sell it directly to House Tharashk, cutting Orien (and Traega) out entirely. This sale was to take place at the gathering of the Houses for the opening of the Wolves' Reward, where no one would think anything of high-ranking scions of the House meeting.
Fortunately, Traega had anticipated something like this, and had sent a false map to his contact. He sent the real map to Brand and instructed him to watch Aeromus's agent during the opening of the Wolves' Reward, and to put the real map into House Tharashk's hands immediately after Aeromus's agent handed over the false map. The result would be Tharashk's anger at nearly being sold a fake map and House Orien's anger at being cut out of a deal, and with Traega heading to Passage as soon as the switch was made, the hope was that Traega would be reinstated and Aeromus arrested.
Counseled by Pel and Lysander, Brand determined that the best thing to do was make sure that the representatives from House Orien and House Tharashk didn't see each other until the gala on opening night, and to make sure they were in the semi-private dining room on that night, more or less assuring the time and place of the hand-off.
On the morning of Vult 27, the Wolves gathered with the ambassadors from Galifar's Hope to greet the Daughters of Sora Kell, making a rare appearance outside Droaam. They came walking up to the casino entrance with an Oni mage, Crezyan Rrac, in tow. The Wolves couldn't say anything about Crezyan Rrac's role in the plot, nor his ties to the Lords of Dust, without implicating themselves, and they weren't happy to hear that Crezyan was being appointed the Droaam ambassador to Galifar's Hope.
They were even less happy when Sora Teraza declared "This place will be baptized in blood." She then stared at Luggoth and said "I would speak with you" before heading inside and up to Galifar's Hope.
With that nerve-rattling meeting over, the Wolves went back inside the casino to deal with various business. Lysander was running all over the casino making sure that the opening night festivities, including performances in the Wolfsong Hall, The Wanderers' Prospect and Rorsa's Den were going according to plan. Brand was coordinating with Chance, the casino manager, and Diarmand, the casino's head of security, on the House Orien/House Tharashk intrigues, and Pel, William and Luggoth went up to visit the Daughters of Sora Kell.
While Pel and William stood in the hallway talking with the beautiful Sora Katra with Sora Maenya and Crezyan Rrac looking on, Luggoth went in to speak with Sora Teraza, the oracle. She told him of her interpretation of the Prophecy, that his murder of Jaela Daran was preordained, but that she believed that it would be done to save the world from plunging into darkness. She also explained that some of the Chamber, and the Lords of Dust, did not believe this, and thought that Luggoth was to be responsible for plunging the world into darkness. In addition, she revealed that the Prophecy indicated that Luggoth was going to kill Ttemmal the Rakshasa, which was why he had sometimes disobeyed his masters' wishes and tried to murder Luggoth instead of corrupting him.
Luggoth insisted that he didn't care what the Prophecy said, that he was going to do what he could for his friends and loved ones, and the Prophecy be damned, but Sora Teraza insisted that the Prophecy would determine what happened to Luggoth and his friends, and that he therefore cared very much. In addition, she told him that his role in the Prophecy made him important, and that many would seek to curry favor with him. Sora Teraza was no different, and she told Luggoth that if she had further information for him in the future, she might send for him.
As Luggoth had a thoroughly uncomfortable meeting with Sora Teraza, William and Pel had an equally, if differently, uncomfortable meeting outside. William did his best to stare down Crezyan Rrac, remembering his attempts to kill the Wolves. Pel engaged in verbal repartee with Sora Katra, and was surprised and discomfited to learn that her skill with diplomatic double-speak and hidden meanings surpassed his. Without directly saying anything, Pel was able to discern that the Hags knew all about the Wolves' involvement in Breland's attempted assassination coup, and that they knew as well that Crezyan Rrac was an agent of the Lords of Dust. He was also able to learn that Sora Katra preferred to know the secret agenda of their ambassador, rather than to have someone whose betrayal might be unpredictable.
Fully convinced that the Daughters of Sora Kell were formidable opponents, the Wolves descended by air skiff back down to the casino, where they were met by Brand, who informed them of what had been going on while they had their meeting.
The House Orien contingent had shown up at midday, and in addition to a dozen Orien representatives, they were led by Aeromus's son, Brand's cousin, the weaselly Breyten d'Orien, with the bestial Url Conaway accompanying him as security. Url had come to Brand and informed him that his scouts had seen a group of fey creatures advancing out of the Whitehorn Wood, moving to rendezvous with a larger army in the Eldeen Reaches, which was almost certainly planning an assault on the Wolves' branch of civilization in what they considered their wild. He counseled sending the most powerful agents the Wolves could manage to deal with these leaders before larger trouble resulted.
Even though they knew it was a distraction, the Wolves couldn't afford to ignore it. They left Lysander and Chance to make sure that the House Tharashk and House Orien groups didn't meet up early and took magebred horses to the south to deal with this enemy force.
The enemy force was made up of a unicorn, a firbolg hounder, a centaur hunter, a shifter representing the Children of Winter and four cyclops.
The unicorn charged and impaled William, who was suddenly forced to take it much more seriously as a foe, as Pel engaged the Firbolg by calling down a flame strike on him and his allies. Brand, in a blur of speed and teleportation, rushed across the river to engage the centaur archer in melee, as Luggoth flew into his frost rage and attacked the other shifter.
None of the Wolves present understood the elven that their foes spoke, but they were able to discern their motives when the centaur barked out a command and the cyclops turned to attack Brand, using the flat of their blades. Clearly, they had been told to capture a House Orien scion at least, quite possibly Brand specifically.
William maintained his reign of steel stance, keeping the Firbolg and Unicorn close to him as Luggoth stayed with and killed the Children of Winter Doomspeaker. Pel used all his deceptive talents and martial talents to cut the Firbolg and leave him bleeding, finishing him off by cutting off one leg and then, when he had fallen to the ground, slicing his throat open.
Brand kept at the centaur with his blades as the centaur responded with arrows, until Whitehearth was able to finish it off, bringing it down and tearing out his throat. The Wolves had hoped to capture one of the attackers, but the unicorn put on a burst of speed and fled down the river.
It was an eight hour trip back to the casino, and it was the middle of the night when they arrived. The Deneith blademark at the door told them that Diarmand had been looking for them, and had a few things to tell them, so they went to wake him up. They found him in his room with a giggling young woman in his bed, which did not amuse William at all.
Fortunately, they also learned that while matters of interest had occurred while they were away, none of them were terribly urgent, at least as far as the Wolves were concerned. A female-identified warforged named Scabbard had arrived, claiming to represent the Lord of Blades and wanting a seat at the table at Galifar's Hope to represent their new nation, formed in the Mournland, which had caused quite a stir with the ambassadors. In addition, Josilian d'Tiarlan of House Sivis and a Blood of Vol priestess named Ermena Dorn had both requested an audience with Pel. He resolved to meet with them in the morning.
Brand went to talk with Lysander, and learned that the House Tharashk contingent had arrived and immediately been taken to Rorsa's Den for some bawdy entertainment that they were now sleeping off, and they hadn't had any interaction with Breyten, whom Chance had plied with booze and whores, or Url, who had spent a fair amount of time "casing" the casino as if looking for weak spots in its security.
The next morning, Pel spoke first with Ermena Dorn, a soft-spoken woman who explained that the Blood of Vol, like worship of the Traveler, was associated with evil because of bad elements, but that the religion itself wasn't wholly evil. She explained that it was about worshiping the divinity within one's self, and choosing life over death, and that some viewed undeath as one way to avoid death, which Seekers of the Blood of Vol considered unwelcome, and even unnatural. She argued that allowing a temple of the Blood of Vol in The Wolves' Reward would go a long way towards showing people that the religion wasn't violent or dangerous, and would help to undercut the damage done (and the influence over many religious adherents) by the Emerald Claw.
Pel wasn't convinced that it was a good idea, nor that the other Wolves would go for it, but he did agree to talk with Ermena again in a few days before she left to go back to Karrnath.
Pel's visit with Josilian, the gnomish barrister for House Sivis, was less difficult, although no less surprising. It turned out that Sava Kharisa, Councilor in Sharn, had willed her art gallery to Pel upon her death, and now that the Pel who had taken possession was revealed to be a fraud, Josilian had papers for Pel to sign so that he could take possession of it.
The Wolves then took a journey up to Galifar's Hope to find out what had happened with Scabbard, and they overheard that she had indeed been granted a seat on the table, non-voting at present, over the strenuous objections of the four remaining Five Nations of Karrnath, Thrane, Aundair and Breland, and over the furious anger of non-voting Cyre. The tie-breaking vote had come from Maechen, on behalf of Argonnessen, which caused no end of discussion and frustration amongst the ambassadors.
The discussion got even more heated when Ambassador Neya ir'Krell of Aundair and Ambassador Valtar ir'Wynarn of Thrane began arguing about the rightful possessor of Thaliost. The city was to have gone back to Aundair when the war with Droaam was over, and in return Thrane was to get a larger chunk of conquered Droaam, but since the war ended in peace rather than conquest, things were still being hashed out, and it didn't sound like the decisions were going to be made easily.
William took some time to talk to Karrnathi ambassador Sedge Avadarn, laying out any number of plans for aggressive military action by Karrnath. Avadarn patiently explained to William that there was more to his home culture than warfare, and that he should experience the art, the food and the other culture of Karrnath, rather than looking for targets which might ignite the Last War again.
The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the gala opening, which was held in The Wanderer's Prospect restaurant, with entertainment provided by House Phiarlan. During the event, the Wolves chatted with several friendly faces, including the very pregnant Lady Elaydren d'Cannith, who expressed worry about her Uncle Merrix and concern for the head of her House, Jorlanna d'Cannith, who was experiencing criticism due to her relationship with Kalen d'Orien.
William was flagged down by Lieutenant Vorik Taggert, a Karrnathi soldier who presented a message from General Gustavus Karlach, whom William knew from his teen years when General Karlach was dating his Aunt Hannah. He asked that William come to see him in Karrlakton as soon as he was able.
Brand, meanwhile, had a chat with a scarred gentleman named Ari Romhaar, an Aundarian lightning mage with a lightning-themed "traveling carnival of wonders." He explained that he had gotten the scars thanks to an attempt to capture a Behir in Xen'drik for his circus, because the adventurers he hired were not up to the task. Once Brand determined that the adventurers he spoke of were not the Young Wolves, he agreed to consider Ari's offer to come down to Xen'drik with him and capture the beast, although Pel expressed that they definitely wanted to do some research on Romhaar before agreeing to anything.
And then it was showtime for Traega d'Orien's plot. Brand watched as Breyten d'Orien exchanged his map for money with the House Tharashk operative, and Brand rushed in to give him the real map. As the House Tharashk contingent was beginning to ask pointed questions, however, a loud, brusque female voice rang out.
The voice belonged to Cavoletta, werewolf servant of the Lords of Dust, who announced that she was there to kill Luggoth. She transformed into her werewolf form, a handful of patrons revealed themselves to be cultists of the Lords of Dust and, to the horror of everyone there (and the intense anger of William) the House Deneith Blademarks drew their weapons and revealed themselves to be working for Cavoletta.
Or so it would seem. In fact, William quickly spotted that they were not fighting in the Deneith style, and given that he knew several of the men to be Deneith, he quickly realized that they were suffering fiendish possession. With a yell to "Take them alive! They're possessed!" he waded into the fray.
Luggoth, for his part, snarled at Cavoletta "I've been waiting for this" and charged into battle. Pel cracked his cousin across the face, activating his dimensional bond and told him to "stay put" before pulling both of his swords and leaping into battle as well.
William, Pel and Brand made short work of the cultists, even though they were emboldened by Cavoletta's bloodcurdling howl. The Blademarks split between supporting Cavoletta in her battle against Luggoth and trying, unsuccessfully, to keep William out of the fight.
While Pel, William and Brand did their best to knock out the Blademarks, Luggoth and Cavoletta tore into each other. Cavoletta began to look unsteady on her feet, and Pel moved into heal Luggoth, giving him just enough strength to land a final blow on Cavoletta, who responded by tearing into Luggoth twice more, but the frost covering his body, combined with the grievous wounds he had dealt her, took its toll, and she collapsed to the ground, mere seconds before Luggoth himself had to stumble to a chair to fight off the moon frenzy coursing through his veins as a result of her bite.
No one ever accused the Wolves of throwing a dull party.
With only a few days until the opening of the Wolves' Reward, Brand gathered the Wolves in the war room and told them that he had received a communication from his father.
Brand and Traega had done some exploring in the Shadow Marches and found a rich dragonshard field, which they offered to House Orien as a way to buy Traega some favor with the House again. Traega arranged to have the map sent to the Orien enclave in Passage, where one of his contacts would get it to the higher-ups so it could be sold to House Tharashk, who would pay handsomely for another field in the area.
Traega's contact stole the map and passed it off to Aeromus, Brand's uncle, who immediately made plans to sell it directly to House Tharashk, cutting Orien (and Traega) out entirely. This sale was to take place at the gathering of the Houses for the opening of the Wolves' Reward, where no one would think anything of high-ranking scions of the House meeting.
Fortunately, Traega had anticipated something like this, and had sent a false map to his contact. He sent the real map to Brand and instructed him to watch Aeromus's agent during the opening of the Wolves' Reward, and to put the real map into House Tharashk's hands immediately after Aeromus's agent handed over the false map. The result would be Tharashk's anger at nearly being sold a fake map and House Orien's anger at being cut out of a deal, and with Traega heading to Passage as soon as the switch was made, the hope was that Traega would be reinstated and Aeromus arrested.
Counseled by Pel and Lysander, Brand determined that the best thing to do was make sure that the representatives from House Orien and House Tharashk didn't see each other until the gala on opening night, and to make sure they were in the semi-private dining room on that night, more or less assuring the time and place of the hand-off.
On the morning of Vult 27, the Wolves gathered with the ambassadors from Galifar's Hope to greet the Daughters of Sora Kell, making a rare appearance outside Droaam. They came walking up to the casino entrance with an Oni mage, Crezyan Rrac, in tow. The Wolves couldn't say anything about Crezyan Rrac's role in the plot, nor his ties to the Lords of Dust, without implicating themselves, and they weren't happy to hear that Crezyan was being appointed the Droaam ambassador to Galifar's Hope.
They were even less happy when Sora Teraza declared "This place will be baptized in blood." She then stared at Luggoth and said "I would speak with you" before heading inside and up to Galifar's Hope.
With that nerve-rattling meeting over, the Wolves went back inside the casino to deal with various business. Lysander was running all over the casino making sure that the opening night festivities, including performances in the Wolfsong Hall, The Wanderers' Prospect and Rorsa's Den were going according to plan. Brand was coordinating with Chance, the casino manager, and Diarmand, the casino's head of security, on the House Orien/House Tharashk intrigues, and Pel, William and Luggoth went up to visit the Daughters of Sora Kell.
While Pel and William stood in the hallway talking with the beautiful Sora Katra with Sora Maenya and Crezyan Rrac looking on, Luggoth went in to speak with Sora Teraza, the oracle. She told him of her interpretation of the Prophecy, that his murder of Jaela Daran was preordained, but that she believed that it would be done to save the world from plunging into darkness. She also explained that some of the Chamber, and the Lords of Dust, did not believe this, and thought that Luggoth was to be responsible for plunging the world into darkness. In addition, she revealed that the Prophecy indicated that Luggoth was going to kill Ttemmal the Rakshasa, which was why he had sometimes disobeyed his masters' wishes and tried to murder Luggoth instead of corrupting him.
Luggoth insisted that he didn't care what the Prophecy said, that he was going to do what he could for his friends and loved ones, and the Prophecy be damned, but Sora Teraza insisted that the Prophecy would determine what happened to Luggoth and his friends, and that he therefore cared very much. In addition, she told him that his role in the Prophecy made him important, and that many would seek to curry favor with him. Sora Teraza was no different, and she told Luggoth that if she had further information for him in the future, she might send for him.
As Luggoth had a thoroughly uncomfortable meeting with Sora Teraza, William and Pel had an equally, if differently, uncomfortable meeting outside. William did his best to stare down Crezyan Rrac, remembering his attempts to kill the Wolves. Pel engaged in verbal repartee with Sora Katra, and was surprised and discomfited to learn that her skill with diplomatic double-speak and hidden meanings surpassed his. Without directly saying anything, Pel was able to discern that the Hags knew all about the Wolves' involvement in Breland's attempted assassination coup, and that they knew as well that Crezyan Rrac was an agent of the Lords of Dust. He was also able to learn that Sora Katra preferred to know the secret agenda of their ambassador, rather than to have someone whose betrayal might be unpredictable.
Fully convinced that the Daughters of Sora Kell were formidable opponents, the Wolves descended by air skiff back down to the casino, where they were met by Brand, who informed them of what had been going on while they had their meeting.
The House Orien contingent had shown up at midday, and in addition to a dozen Orien representatives, they were led by Aeromus's son, Brand's cousin, the weaselly Breyten d'Orien, with the bestial Url Conaway accompanying him as security. Url had come to Brand and informed him that his scouts had seen a group of fey creatures advancing out of the Whitehorn Wood, moving to rendezvous with a larger army in the Eldeen Reaches, which was almost certainly planning an assault on the Wolves' branch of civilization in what they considered their wild. He counseled sending the most powerful agents the Wolves could manage to deal with these leaders before larger trouble resulted.
Even though they knew it was a distraction, the Wolves couldn't afford to ignore it. They left Lysander and Chance to make sure that the House Tharashk and House Orien groups didn't meet up early and took magebred horses to the south to deal with this enemy force.
The enemy force was made up of a unicorn, a firbolg hounder, a centaur hunter, a shifter representing the Children of Winter and four cyclops.
The unicorn charged and impaled William, who was suddenly forced to take it much more seriously as a foe, as Pel engaged the Firbolg by calling down a flame strike on him and his allies. Brand, in a blur of speed and teleportation, rushed across the river to engage the centaur archer in melee, as Luggoth flew into his frost rage and attacked the other shifter.
None of the Wolves present understood the elven that their foes spoke, but they were able to discern their motives when the centaur barked out a command and the cyclops turned to attack Brand, using the flat of their blades. Clearly, they had been told to capture a House Orien scion at least, quite possibly Brand specifically.
William maintained his reign of steel stance, keeping the Firbolg and Unicorn close to him as Luggoth stayed with and killed the Children of Winter Doomspeaker. Pel used all his deceptive talents and martial talents to cut the Firbolg and leave him bleeding, finishing him off by cutting off one leg and then, when he had fallen to the ground, slicing his throat open.
Brand kept at the centaur with his blades as the centaur responded with arrows, until Whitehearth was able to finish it off, bringing it down and tearing out his throat. The Wolves had hoped to capture one of the attackers, but the unicorn put on a burst of speed and fled down the river.
It was an eight hour trip back to the casino, and it was the middle of the night when they arrived. The Deneith blademark at the door told them that Diarmand had been looking for them, and had a few things to tell them, so they went to wake him up. They found him in his room with a giggling young woman in his bed, which did not amuse William at all.
Fortunately, they also learned that while matters of interest had occurred while they were away, none of them were terribly urgent, at least as far as the Wolves were concerned. A female-identified warforged named Scabbard had arrived, claiming to represent the Lord of Blades and wanting a seat at the table at Galifar's Hope to represent their new nation, formed in the Mournland, which had caused quite a stir with the ambassadors. In addition, Josilian d'Tiarlan of House Sivis and a Blood of Vol priestess named Ermena Dorn had both requested an audience with Pel. He resolved to meet with them in the morning.
Brand went to talk with Lysander, and learned that the House Tharashk contingent had arrived and immediately been taken to Rorsa's Den for some bawdy entertainment that they were now sleeping off, and they hadn't had any interaction with Breyten, whom Chance had plied with booze and whores, or Url, who had spent a fair amount of time "casing" the casino as if looking for weak spots in its security.
The next morning, Pel spoke first with Ermena Dorn, a soft-spoken woman who explained that the Blood of Vol, like worship of the Traveler, was associated with evil because of bad elements, but that the religion itself wasn't wholly evil. She explained that it was about worshiping the divinity within one's self, and choosing life over death, and that some viewed undeath as one way to avoid death, which Seekers of the Blood of Vol considered unwelcome, and even unnatural. She argued that allowing a temple of the Blood of Vol in The Wolves' Reward would go a long way towards showing people that the religion wasn't violent or dangerous, and would help to undercut the damage done (and the influence over many religious adherents) by the Emerald Claw.
Pel wasn't convinced that it was a good idea, nor that the other Wolves would go for it, but he did agree to talk with Ermena again in a few days before she left to go back to Karrnath.
Pel's visit with Josilian, the gnomish barrister for House Sivis, was less difficult, although no less surprising. It turned out that Sava Kharisa, Councilor in Sharn, had willed her art gallery to Pel upon her death, and now that the Pel who had taken possession was revealed to be a fraud, Josilian had papers for Pel to sign so that he could take possession of it.
The Wolves then took a journey up to Galifar's Hope to find out what had happened with Scabbard, and they overheard that she had indeed been granted a seat on the table, non-voting at present, over the strenuous objections of the four remaining Five Nations of Karrnath, Thrane, Aundair and Breland, and over the furious anger of non-voting Cyre. The tie-breaking vote had come from Maechen, on behalf of Argonnessen, which caused no end of discussion and frustration amongst the ambassadors.
The discussion got even more heated when Ambassador Neya ir'Krell of Aundair and Ambassador Valtar ir'Wynarn of Thrane began arguing about the rightful possessor of Thaliost. The city was to have gone back to Aundair when the war with Droaam was over, and in return Thrane was to get a larger chunk of conquered Droaam, but since the war ended in peace rather than conquest, things were still being hashed out, and it didn't sound like the decisions were going to be made easily.
William took some time to talk to Karrnathi ambassador Sedge Avadarn, laying out any number of plans for aggressive military action by Karrnath. Avadarn patiently explained to William that there was more to his home culture than warfare, and that he should experience the art, the food and the other culture of Karrnath, rather than looking for targets which might ignite the Last War again.
The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the gala opening, which was held in The Wanderer's Prospect restaurant, with entertainment provided by House Phiarlan. During the event, the Wolves chatted with several friendly faces, including the very pregnant Lady Elaydren d'Cannith, who expressed worry about her Uncle Merrix and concern for the head of her House, Jorlanna d'Cannith, who was experiencing criticism due to her relationship with Kalen d'Orien.
William was flagged down by Lieutenant Vorik Taggert, a Karrnathi soldier who presented a message from General Gustavus Karlach, whom William knew from his teen years when General Karlach was dating his Aunt Hannah. He asked that William come to see him in Karrlakton as soon as he was able.
Brand, meanwhile, had a chat with a scarred gentleman named Ari Romhaar, an Aundarian lightning mage with a lightning-themed "traveling carnival of wonders." He explained that he had gotten the scars thanks to an attempt to capture a Behir in Xen'drik for his circus, because the adventurers he hired were not up to the task. Once Brand determined that the adventurers he spoke of were not the Young Wolves, he agreed to consider Ari's offer to come down to Xen'drik with him and capture the beast, although Pel expressed that they definitely wanted to do some research on Romhaar before agreeing to anything.
And then it was showtime for Traega d'Orien's plot. Brand watched as Breyten d'Orien exchanged his map for money with the House Tharashk operative, and Brand rushed in to give him the real map. As the House Tharashk contingent was beginning to ask pointed questions, however, a loud, brusque female voice rang out.
The voice belonged to Cavoletta, werewolf servant of the Lords of Dust, who announced that she was there to kill Luggoth. She transformed into her werewolf form, a handful of patrons revealed themselves to be cultists of the Lords of Dust and, to the horror of everyone there (and the intense anger of William) the House Deneith Blademarks drew their weapons and revealed themselves to be working for Cavoletta.
Or so it would seem. In fact, William quickly spotted that they were not fighting in the Deneith style, and given that he knew several of the men to be Deneith, he quickly realized that they were suffering fiendish possession. With a yell to "Take them alive! They're possessed!" he waded into the fray.
Luggoth, for his part, snarled at Cavoletta "I've been waiting for this" and charged into battle. Pel cracked his cousin across the face, activating his dimensional bond and told him to "stay put" before pulling both of his swords and leaping into battle as well.
William, Pel and Brand made short work of the cultists, even though they were emboldened by Cavoletta's bloodcurdling howl. The Blademarks split between supporting Cavoletta in her battle against Luggoth and trying, unsuccessfully, to keep William out of the fight.
While Pel, William and Brand did their best to knock out the Blademarks, Luggoth and Cavoletta tore into each other. Cavoletta began to look unsteady on her feet, and Pel moved into heal Luggoth, giving him just enough strength to land a final blow on Cavoletta, who responded by tearing into Luggoth twice more, but the frost covering his body, combined with the grievous wounds he had dealt her, took its toll, and she collapsed to the ground, mere seconds before Luggoth himself had to stumble to a chair to fight off the moon frenzy coursing through his veins as a result of her bite.
No one ever accused the Wolves of throwing a dull party.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Alternate Games in 2010
I'm starting this as a list to keep track of games that folks have expressed an interest in running/playing in this year. There are quite a few already, and I figure we'll be adding more, so we can edit this post when we do. I'll put down the general details below, and if I know when someone's planning on running, how many sessions, who's playing, etc. I'll put that as well. If you're interested in playing in one of these games, drop a line in the comments!
1. Western Cthulhu - May?
A Cthulhu horror game set in the Wild West
GM: Nate Southard
Players: Randy, Chris, Dan, Jason Jones, Jamie, Paul
System: Savage Worlds
Time/Date: Uncertain
2. D&D Dark Sun Game - September
Definitely want to run (or play in) a new game in this post-apocalyptic fantasy world when WOTC re-releases it this summer.
GM: Randy
Players: Nate, Ben, Chris, Dan, Paul
System: D&D 4.0
Time/Date: Probably run as an alternate Friday or Saturday game, open for up to 5 players, probably the first module released for Dark Sun
3. Pulp Superhero Sequel - Undecided
Sequel to the Shadow of the Spectres! game, featuring the return of some characters and a couple new ones, taking a Flash Gordon approach as they head off to save an alien planet
GM: Randy
Players: Nick, Ben, Jason Jones, Paul
System: Savage Worlds
Time/Date: Probably a Saturday game, one-shot
4. Deadlands Sequel? - October
GM: Randy & Ben
Players: Chris, Dave L., Jamie, Jason M., Nate, Jason Jones, Paul
System: Deadlands
Time/Date: TBD, but probably a one-shot game on the Friday or Saturday nearest Halloween
1. Western Cthulhu - May?
A Cthulhu horror game set in the Wild West
GM: Nate Southard
Players: Randy, Chris, Dan, Jason Jones, Jamie, Paul
System: Savage Worlds
Time/Date: Uncertain
2. D&D Dark Sun Game - September
Definitely want to run (or play in) a new game in this post-apocalyptic fantasy world when WOTC re-releases it this summer.
GM: Randy
Players: Nate, Ben, Chris, Dan, Paul
System: D&D 4.0
Time/Date: Probably run as an alternate Friday or Saturday game, open for up to 5 players, probably the first module released for Dark Sun
3. Pulp Superhero Sequel - Undecided
Sequel to the Shadow of the Spectres! game, featuring the return of some characters and a couple new ones, taking a Flash Gordon approach as they head off to save an alien planet
GM: Randy
Players: Nick, Ben, Jason Jones, Paul
System: Savage Worlds
Time/Date: Probably a Saturday game, one-shot
4. Deadlands Sequel? - October
GM: Randy & Ben
Players: Chris, Dave L., Jamie, Jason M., Nate, Jason Jones, Paul
System: Deadlands
Time/Date: TBD, but probably a one-shot game on the Friday or Saturday nearest Halloween
Monday, December 21, 2009
Game Schedule January - February
January 1st - Wandering Wolves: Gala Opening of the Wolves Reward (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 8th - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 1 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 15th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
January 22nd - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 2 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 29th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
February 5th - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 3 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
February 12th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
February 19th - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 4 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
February 26th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
No crazy schedule stuff for me, at least for a little while. Anybody else have scheduling issues for the next couple months?
January 8th - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 1 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 15th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
January 22nd - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 2 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 29th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
February 5th - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 3 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
February 12th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
February 19th - Wandering Wolves: Scars of Karrnath Part 4 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
February 26th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
No crazy schedule stuff for me, at least for a little while. Anybody else have scheduling issues for the next couple months?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Two Months Pass
Sypheros 18, YK 999 - Vult 26, YK 999
The Layout of the Wolves' Reward:
The Wolves' Reward grand opening is planned for the eve of the new millennium, the night before Zarantyr 1, YK 1000. The opening will include a gala party event and the first performance in the theater. The facilities are open to a limited guest list starting in the last two weeks of Vult, to make sure everything is up and running smoothly, but it's not open to the general public until New Year's Eve.
The ambassadorial city above The Wolves' Reward is named Galifar's Hope, and is due to be finished in the middle of 1000 YK. However, it will be open at the beginning of the year, still under construction but functional enough to house ambassadors and their staff.
House Orien and House Deneith create an island in the center of Silver Lake where linked portals in Sharn (Breland), Passage (Aundair), Flamekeep (Thrane), Trolanport (Zilargo) and Korth (Karrnath) can be reached. Arrival is in a heavily secured area, to prevent anyone from using the linked portals to assault Wolves' Reward or Galifar's Hope. Ferries run by House Lyrandar are used to transport from the island to the casino's dock.
The basic layout of the Wolves Reward is as follows:
The ground floor is made up largely of two casino floors, separated in the middle by the House Ghallanda restaurant, which has a large common area and several private dining rooms, one of which is permanently reserved for the Wolves. The House Phiarlan theater is connected off one of the casino floors, and the other casino floor connects to the House Kundarak bank and the House Orien office. A series of 200 standard rooms surround the casino, with access to the casino floors. The House Deneith barracks for the Protectors security detail surrounds those, and makes up the defensible exterior of the casino.
Upstairs, on the second floor, is the House Jorasco hospital and the new Gareth's Gear, and 100 more standard rooms.
Third level has 100 deluxe rooms, each the size of two standard rooms.
Fourth level has 25 deluxe suites, each the size of five standard rooms.
Fifth level has 25 private rooms and offices for permanent residents of the casino (the Casino Manager, Head of Security, etc.)
Sixth level has 10 private rooms (the size of ten standard rooms), one for each of the Wolves and five extras for any of their guests.
Seventh level is the House Lyrandar docking tower, with stairs descending through the center of the hotel, with exits on levels one through four. A separate emergency staircase is accessible on the fifth and sixth levels, and only exits on the first level.
The ability to construct so high comes from enchantments based on the elemental plane of air, influenced by the construction in Sharn and on Arcanix, and drawing on the same magic that keeps Galifar's Hope aloft.
Underground, accessible by secret doors in the Wolves' personal chambers, is the Wolves' War Room. The key installation here is the Teleportation Disk that the Wolves found in Count Orlok's lair, transported and installed by a few trusted House Orien magewrights.
The Houses at The Wolves' Reward:
Ghallanda-approved restaurant. Phiarlan-approved theater. A House Sivis Message Station & Notary, linked with a House Kundarak bank. House Jorasco hospital. House Lyrandar docking tower. House Orien has an office here, staffed with security and magewrights for the linked portals.
Gareth's Gear opens in the Wolves' Reward, with Tock as its in-house artificer, now a full-fledged member of House Cannith thanks to Lord Kor and Lady Elaydren. The new Gareth's Gear is part of the Fabricators Guild & Tinkers Guild of House Cannith, and has two dragonmarked heirs and several non-dragonmarked operatives of the House employed there as well. "Gareth" is "revealed" to have been a longstanding member of House Cannith as well, this also set up through Lord Kor and Lady Elaydren (both of whom will have to know the truth about Gareth for this to work.)
Josilian Kan d'Tiarlan is a gnome who runs the House Sivis office at the casino. Luggoth met him once, at the opening ceremony for the Golden Dragon. He's a somewhat arrogant, but very sharp, lawyer and translator. He isn't dragonmarked, but is obviously well-respected and powerful in the House, and has two dragonmarked associates.
Rochus d'Kundarak is put in charge of security and operations for House Kundarak at the Wolves' Reward. He doesn't actually run the bank day-to-day, but everyone there ultimately answers to him. He's also responsible for the security systems throughout the casino and in Galifar's Hope. He is the guy who knows every secret passage and every trap in both locations.
The head of the theater at the Wolves' Reward is appointed, a male Brelish dragonmarked elf named Hannet d'Phiarlan. He trained with the Demesne of Shadow, and he is a skilled actor, orator and illusionist, as well as a secret member of the Serpentine Table. He asks Lysander to help create the opening performances, particularly in the realm of music. He has three department heads below him: Glennara d'Phiarlan (Aundarian female elf from the Demesne of Memory, a writer), Colle d'Phiarlan (Brelish female elf from the Demesne of Motion, a dancer/acrobat and another spy), and Byron d'Phiarlan (Thranish male elf, a composer from the Demesne of Music). Each of these departments has a staff of a half-dozen performers or writers, and they will also bring in other Phiarlan performers from time to time for specific performances.
Security by the Deneith Protectors Guild, who have posted fifty trained soldiers at the disposal of the Head of Security for the casino. This is in addition to the private security personnel who work for the ambassadors and House officials.
Galifar's Hope:
The ambassadorial city above The Wolves' Reward is named Galifar's Hope, and is due to be finished in the middle of 1000 YK. However, it will be open at the beginning of the year, still under construction but functional enough to house ambassadors and their staff.
As expected, six nations have assigned ambassadors to Galifar's Hope.
Breland's ambassador is Cersi Kemble, a female half-elf (and Pel knows she is secretly a King's Dark Lantern).
Karrnath's ambassador is Sedge Avadarrn, a male human that the Wolves met on the Golden Dragon, and his skeletal bodyguard Skarad is with him.
Thrane's ambassador is Prince Valtar ir'Wynarn, a male human who is a cousin to the Queen of Thrane.
Aundair's ambassador is Neya ir'Krell, a female human that the Wolves met in Zilargo while chasing Lucan, and both Pel and Lysander suspect she is secretly one of the Royal Eyes of Aundair.
The Mror Holds have assigned Moris ir'Mroranon, a male dwarf who was the father of Jalis ir'Mroranon, who ran Gareth's gear until she was murdered, and the Wolves (especially William) pick up some mild hostility from Moris as a result.
The Eldeen Reaches have appointed Arden Thea, a female half-orc druid. And Zilargo has sent Borton Malek, a male gnome career politician.
There are four other ambassadors in Galifar's Hope as well.
The Lhazaar Principalities have sent Lady Damia Valisa, a female human who dresses and acts more like a pirate captain than an ambassador.
Though not officially recognized, Cyre has sent an "observer" to look out for their destroyed nation's interests, a successful artist and jeweler named Medyev Celian.
The biggest surprise is that one of the dragons of Argonessen has sent an ambassador at the Galifar's Hope - Maechen Eyre, former member of the Wolves, with Muroni, another ally, as his bodyguard and aide.
In addition, rumor has it that Droaam will have a permanent ambassador attached, although no one knows who it is yet.
Events in the last two months:
Rumors surface of an assassination attempt against the Daughters of Sora Kell, and of secret meetings between the Daughters and ambassadors from the Sigilstar Alliance (brokered through Aundarian ambassador Neya ir'Krell from Zilargo). The result is a truce, with a more formal agreement to end the war in the works at a summit to be held during the first of the year.
Of course, the assassination was a setup, part of the deal between Breland and the Daughters, as suggested by Pel, William and Lysander to Lord Kor. Best not to ask who the assassins were and how they had earned their death at the hands of Sora Maenya when their "attempt" failed. In addition, the Wolves are officially asked, in the name of peace, not to mention anything relating to Crezyan Rrac, Neshar or any of their activities in Droaam. Officially, none of it happened, because if it did, they would have to explain that Breland was considering an assassination attempt against the Hags.
William:
Some political capital burned for William due to the death of Vadis. William's inability to capture a dangerous fugitive has not helped him in his goal to become a Sentinel Marshal. However, William's stronger ties to the House continue to help him, as he visits Karrnath frequently to connect with members of the House.
Luggoth:
Savannah and her brother want to stay permanently at the Wolves' Reward. Savannah can work as a waitress or hostess. In addition, Savannah has been praying daily to the Flame for guidance about what Luggoth has told her. She has told him every day that the dragons are liars and manipulators, that she doesn't believe he could ever hurt Jaela, and asks him for permission to talk to Prophecy scholars in the church about their interpretation of Luggoth's destiny. But it's his private business, so she won't do that unless he tells her it's okay.
Brand:
Brand visits the Eldeen Reaches frequently during this time, visiting his mother, but his father is nowhere to be found. He will occasionally send messages via Brand's mother, cryptic puzzles that Brand has to decipher before he can read them. It seems clear that he's no longer in the Reaches, Xen'drik or the Shadow Marches, and that he's planning some kind of gambit to discredit Aeromus and restore himself to the House. He doesn't tell Brand exactly what it is, but always closes the messages with a reminder to "Be ready. What we've waited for for so long is almost prepared."
Pel:
Pel also lost a bit of political capital with the death of Vadis. Pel was supposed to bring in Vadis for information and to give Breland a potential patsy for their gambit with the Daughters of Sora Kell.
Kalibar Jenks makes frequent visits to the casino under construction with his elven bard companions. When he does, he always spends some time talking to Pel, passing along information to Viorr. The Boromar Clan has consolidated its hold on the council now that the Tyrants are in a bit of disarray, and they have more political influence than ever. The Daask were also a bit shattered by Vadis's plot to destroy them, and by being cutoff from Droaamish reinforcements by the war. They've been laying low, and the Boromars more or less have the run of Sharn as far as organized crime goes right now. The bad news is, they're more powerful than ever. The good news is, without rivals and gang wars to speak of, they're more of a corrupt political force than a criminal gang at the moment.
The Tyrant Council has fallen under the temporary leadership of a woman, quite probably Yelena, one of Vadis's former lovers and someone who Pel did not have a great relationship with. She has spread the word that Pel is no longer to be trusted. He is more or less out as a member of the Tyrants. Not that it really matters, as he now has eyes inside the organization and more power than even being head of the Tyrants would have given him. At any rate, the Tyrants, deeply affected by Vadis's failed ambitions, have cut back their operations to more contained prostitution, blackmail and information-brokering, rather than trying to start and maintain dangerous gang wars.
Questions:
1. Given the Wolves' adventuring natures, they're going to need a head of operations that they trust for the casino. Someone who knows how to run the place, someone that they trust. They might be able to get someone appointed by folks they trust, maybe someone from House Deneith or House Phiarlan, although they might have secondary agendas you don't know about.
Looking over the various folks you know, the obvious choice is Chance, who runs a casino in Sharn and might be convinced to come run The Wolves' Reward instead. He's a known loyal quantity, and the only secondary loyalty he has is to the Traveler, which is probably a net positive for Pel but might not be so welcome to William.
Other suggestions?
2. Along similar lines, you're going to need a Chief of Security, who will have to be from House Deneith. The obvious possibility here (a recommendation from William's mother) would be Diarmand d'Deneith, William's swashbuckling cousin. He's more light-hearted than most Karrnathi, which would suit someone running security for a casino.
3. Name of the Theater? The Restaurant?
4. What does Pel tell Captain Vron, his superior in the King's Citadel, about what happened with Vadis? Keeping in mind that if he wants to substitute a new Vadis in with the Tyrants, Vron is going to have to know about it.
If there are layout changes or things you'd like to have in the casino that I haven't enumerated above, add them in the comments. The Wolves had input into Cannith's building of the casino, so you can definitely change things if you want to move them around. Also, y'all might want to look through Adventurers' Vault 2, pages 79-82, for magic Lair items, next time we get together.
The Layout of the Wolves' Reward:
The Wolves' Reward grand opening is planned for the eve of the new millennium, the night before Zarantyr 1, YK 1000. The opening will include a gala party event and the first performance in the theater. The facilities are open to a limited guest list starting in the last two weeks of Vult, to make sure everything is up and running smoothly, but it's not open to the general public until New Year's Eve.
The ambassadorial city above The Wolves' Reward is named Galifar's Hope, and is due to be finished in the middle of 1000 YK. However, it will be open at the beginning of the year, still under construction but functional enough to house ambassadors and their staff.
House Orien and House Deneith create an island in the center of Silver Lake where linked portals in Sharn (Breland), Passage (Aundair), Flamekeep (Thrane), Trolanport (Zilargo) and Korth (Karrnath) can be reached. Arrival is in a heavily secured area, to prevent anyone from using the linked portals to assault Wolves' Reward or Galifar's Hope. Ferries run by House Lyrandar are used to transport from the island to the casino's dock.
The basic layout of the Wolves Reward is as follows:
The ground floor is made up largely of two casino floors, separated in the middle by the House Ghallanda restaurant, which has a large common area and several private dining rooms, one of which is permanently reserved for the Wolves. The House Phiarlan theater is connected off one of the casino floors, and the other casino floor connects to the House Kundarak bank and the House Orien office. A series of 200 standard rooms surround the casino, with access to the casino floors. The House Deneith barracks for the Protectors security detail surrounds those, and makes up the defensible exterior of the casino.
Upstairs, on the second floor, is the House Jorasco hospital and the new Gareth's Gear, and 100 more standard rooms.
Third level has 100 deluxe rooms, each the size of two standard rooms.
Fourth level has 25 deluxe suites, each the size of five standard rooms.
Fifth level has 25 private rooms and offices for permanent residents of the casino (the Casino Manager, Head of Security, etc.)
Sixth level has 10 private rooms (the size of ten standard rooms), one for each of the Wolves and five extras for any of their guests.
Seventh level is the House Lyrandar docking tower, with stairs descending through the center of the hotel, with exits on levels one through four. A separate emergency staircase is accessible on the fifth and sixth levels, and only exits on the first level.
The ability to construct so high comes from enchantments based on the elemental plane of air, influenced by the construction in Sharn and on Arcanix, and drawing on the same magic that keeps Galifar's Hope aloft.
Underground, accessible by secret doors in the Wolves' personal chambers, is the Wolves' War Room. The key installation here is the Teleportation Disk that the Wolves found in Count Orlok's lair, transported and installed by a few trusted House Orien magewrights.
The Houses at The Wolves' Reward:
Ghallanda-approved restaurant. Phiarlan-approved theater. A House Sivis Message Station & Notary, linked with a House Kundarak bank. House Jorasco hospital. House Lyrandar docking tower. House Orien has an office here, staffed with security and magewrights for the linked portals.
Gareth's Gear opens in the Wolves' Reward, with Tock as its in-house artificer, now a full-fledged member of House Cannith thanks to Lord Kor and Lady Elaydren. The new Gareth's Gear is part of the Fabricators Guild & Tinkers Guild of House Cannith, and has two dragonmarked heirs and several non-dragonmarked operatives of the House employed there as well. "Gareth" is "revealed" to have been a longstanding member of House Cannith as well, this also set up through Lord Kor and Lady Elaydren (both of whom will have to know the truth about Gareth for this to work.)
Josilian Kan d'Tiarlan is a gnome who runs the House Sivis office at the casino. Luggoth met him once, at the opening ceremony for the Golden Dragon. He's a somewhat arrogant, but very sharp, lawyer and translator. He isn't dragonmarked, but is obviously well-respected and powerful in the House, and has two dragonmarked associates.
Rochus d'Kundarak is put in charge of security and operations for House Kundarak at the Wolves' Reward. He doesn't actually run the bank day-to-day, but everyone there ultimately answers to him. He's also responsible for the security systems throughout the casino and in Galifar's Hope. He is the guy who knows every secret passage and every trap in both locations.
The head of the theater at the Wolves' Reward is appointed, a male Brelish dragonmarked elf named Hannet d'Phiarlan. He trained with the Demesne of Shadow, and he is a skilled actor, orator and illusionist, as well as a secret member of the Serpentine Table. He asks Lysander to help create the opening performances, particularly in the realm of music. He has three department heads below him: Glennara d'Phiarlan (Aundarian female elf from the Demesne of Memory, a writer), Colle d'Phiarlan (Brelish female elf from the Demesne of Motion, a dancer/acrobat and another spy), and Byron d'Phiarlan (Thranish male elf, a composer from the Demesne of Music). Each of these departments has a staff of a half-dozen performers or writers, and they will also bring in other Phiarlan performers from time to time for specific performances.
Security by the Deneith Protectors Guild, who have posted fifty trained soldiers at the disposal of the Head of Security for the casino. This is in addition to the private security personnel who work for the ambassadors and House officials.
Galifar's Hope:
The ambassadorial city above The Wolves' Reward is named Galifar's Hope, and is due to be finished in the middle of 1000 YK. However, it will be open at the beginning of the year, still under construction but functional enough to house ambassadors and their staff.
As expected, six nations have assigned ambassadors to Galifar's Hope.
Breland's ambassador is Cersi Kemble, a female half-elf (and Pel knows she is secretly a King's Dark Lantern).
Karrnath's ambassador is Sedge Avadarrn, a male human that the Wolves met on the Golden Dragon, and his skeletal bodyguard Skarad is with him.
Thrane's ambassador is Prince Valtar ir'Wynarn, a male human who is a cousin to the Queen of Thrane.
Aundair's ambassador is Neya ir'Krell, a female human that the Wolves met in Zilargo while chasing Lucan, and both Pel and Lysander suspect she is secretly one of the Royal Eyes of Aundair.
The Mror Holds have assigned Moris ir'Mroranon, a male dwarf who was the father of Jalis ir'Mroranon, who ran Gareth's gear until she was murdered, and the Wolves (especially William) pick up some mild hostility from Moris as a result.
The Eldeen Reaches have appointed Arden Thea, a female half-orc druid. And Zilargo has sent Borton Malek, a male gnome career politician.
There are four other ambassadors in Galifar's Hope as well.
The Lhazaar Principalities have sent Lady Damia Valisa, a female human who dresses and acts more like a pirate captain than an ambassador.
Though not officially recognized, Cyre has sent an "observer" to look out for their destroyed nation's interests, a successful artist and jeweler named Medyev Celian.
The biggest surprise is that one of the dragons of Argonessen has sent an ambassador at the Galifar's Hope - Maechen Eyre, former member of the Wolves, with Muroni, another ally, as his bodyguard and aide.
In addition, rumor has it that Droaam will have a permanent ambassador attached, although no one knows who it is yet.
Events in the last two months:
Rumors surface of an assassination attempt against the Daughters of Sora Kell, and of secret meetings between the Daughters and ambassadors from the Sigilstar Alliance (brokered through Aundarian ambassador Neya ir'Krell from Zilargo). The result is a truce, with a more formal agreement to end the war in the works at a summit to be held during the first of the year.
Of course, the assassination was a setup, part of the deal between Breland and the Daughters, as suggested by Pel, William and Lysander to Lord Kor. Best not to ask who the assassins were and how they had earned their death at the hands of Sora Maenya when their "attempt" failed. In addition, the Wolves are officially asked, in the name of peace, not to mention anything relating to Crezyan Rrac, Neshar or any of their activities in Droaam. Officially, none of it happened, because if it did, they would have to explain that Breland was considering an assassination attempt against the Hags.
William:
Some political capital burned for William due to the death of Vadis. William's inability to capture a dangerous fugitive has not helped him in his goal to become a Sentinel Marshal. However, William's stronger ties to the House continue to help him, as he visits Karrnath frequently to connect with members of the House.
Luggoth:
Savannah and her brother want to stay permanently at the Wolves' Reward. Savannah can work as a waitress or hostess. In addition, Savannah has been praying daily to the Flame for guidance about what Luggoth has told her. She has told him every day that the dragons are liars and manipulators, that she doesn't believe he could ever hurt Jaela, and asks him for permission to talk to Prophecy scholars in the church about their interpretation of Luggoth's destiny. But it's his private business, so she won't do that unless he tells her it's okay.
Brand:
Brand visits the Eldeen Reaches frequently during this time, visiting his mother, but his father is nowhere to be found. He will occasionally send messages via Brand's mother, cryptic puzzles that Brand has to decipher before he can read them. It seems clear that he's no longer in the Reaches, Xen'drik or the Shadow Marches, and that he's planning some kind of gambit to discredit Aeromus and restore himself to the House. He doesn't tell Brand exactly what it is, but always closes the messages with a reminder to "Be ready. What we've waited for for so long is almost prepared."
Pel:
Pel also lost a bit of political capital with the death of Vadis. Pel was supposed to bring in Vadis for information and to give Breland a potential patsy for their gambit with the Daughters of Sora Kell.
Kalibar Jenks makes frequent visits to the casino under construction with his elven bard companions. When he does, he always spends some time talking to Pel, passing along information to Viorr. The Boromar Clan has consolidated its hold on the council now that the Tyrants are in a bit of disarray, and they have more political influence than ever. The Daask were also a bit shattered by Vadis's plot to destroy them, and by being cutoff from Droaamish reinforcements by the war. They've been laying low, and the Boromars more or less have the run of Sharn as far as organized crime goes right now. The bad news is, they're more powerful than ever. The good news is, without rivals and gang wars to speak of, they're more of a corrupt political force than a criminal gang at the moment.
The Tyrant Council has fallen under the temporary leadership of a woman, quite probably Yelena, one of Vadis's former lovers and someone who Pel did not have a great relationship with. She has spread the word that Pel is no longer to be trusted. He is more or less out as a member of the Tyrants. Not that it really matters, as he now has eyes inside the organization and more power than even being head of the Tyrants would have given him. At any rate, the Tyrants, deeply affected by Vadis's failed ambitions, have cut back their operations to more contained prostitution, blackmail and information-brokering, rather than trying to start and maintain dangerous gang wars.
Questions:
1. Given the Wolves' adventuring natures, they're going to need a head of operations that they trust for the casino. Someone who knows how to run the place, someone that they trust. They might be able to get someone appointed by folks they trust, maybe someone from House Deneith or House Phiarlan, although they might have secondary agendas you don't know about.
Looking over the various folks you know, the obvious choice is Chance, who runs a casino in Sharn and might be convinced to come run The Wolves' Reward instead. He's a known loyal quantity, and the only secondary loyalty he has is to the Traveler, which is probably a net positive for Pel but might not be so welcome to William.
Other suggestions?
2. Along similar lines, you're going to need a Chief of Security, who will have to be from House Deneith. The obvious possibility here (a recommendation from William's mother) would be Diarmand d'Deneith, William's swashbuckling cousin. He's more light-hearted than most Karrnathi, which would suit someone running security for a casino.
3. Name of the Theater? The Restaurant?
4. What does Pel tell Captain Vron, his superior in the King's Citadel, about what happened with Vadis? Keeping in mind that if he wants to substitute a new Vadis in with the Tyrants, Vron is going to have to know about it.
If there are layout changes or things you'd like to have in the casino that I haven't enumerated above, add them in the comments. The Wolves had input into Cannith's building of the casino, so you can definitely change things if you want to move them around. Also, y'all might want to look through Adventurers' Vault 2, pages 79-82, for magic Lair items, next time we get together.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Wandering Wolves: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye (3)
Sypheros 13 - Sypheros 18, YK 999
The Wolves decided to do some digging around to find out what they could about Vadis's operative in Rhukaan Draal before going through with the drop. While doing this, there was also some debate about whether they'd be using Nock for the bait, or if Pel would be taking her place. Nock was fairly adamant that it needed to be her, while Pel resisted the idea.
William, Lysander and Pel did some digging using their various skills and managed to find out that the operative they were looking for was named Bant, that he was a hobgoblin, and that he could often be found scoping out the various slave markets in the area.
With that information, the whole group went to the slave market. They assumed that Bant was actually a changeling, and that Pel would have the best chance of spotting him, and they were correct, as Pel pinned him down, although William moved up and shifted Pel out of the way right before Bant would have looked back and "made" him.
Given that Bant was an operative of Pel's father, the Wolves reasoned that he might have some way of spotting Pel, so they set Brand on Bant's trail, with Pel following Brand.
The rest of the Wolves returned to the Deneith enclave, and Luggoth had a heart-to-heart with Savannah about the Prophecy and what he'd been told. She told him that she was certain that it didn't mean what he thought, and asked him to put his faith in the Flame, which he made a half-hearted promise to consider. William spent his time networking with Deneith House members, while Lysander collected stories from the same.
A few hours later, having learned all they could about Bant's movements, Brand and Pel returned. Brand spent some time honing his combat skills in training with the Blademarks, while Pel went to have a talk with his mother, Nock. She was very convinced that he wasn't up to confronting Vadis, and that she was, and all but ordered Pel to let her go to the meet. Unfortunately for Nock, Pel wasn't taking orders from her, and whether it was concern for his mother, a desire to confront his father or something else, he decided to go on the mission.
Lysander disguised himself as the male assassin and dropped "Nock" off at the pre-arranged rendezvous spot in The Bloody Market. Brand waited nearby, and he followed Bant as he picked up the bundled-up "Nock" and began walking. Pel struggled slightly, trying to slow Bant down, which worked better than he had hoped. Bant put him down and fed him a dose of dreamlily, which he managed to vomit up, but then he decided to remain more still for the rest of the journey.
The journey was longer than the Wolves expected, as Bant headed out into the wilderness of Darguun. The rest of the Wolves followed Brand at a safe distance, as Brand used his ranger training and spotting help from Whitehearth to keep Bant in view without him realizing he was being followed.
After a somewhat tiring journey of about three and a half days, the Wolves reached a grove of scrawny trees in sight of the Seawall Mountains. In the distance, they could see a ruined fortress, with strange metal rods jutting up into the sky from what used to be the highest towers.
Bant left "Nock" on the ground, muttering to her that "it will all be over soon" and then he headed back toward Rhukaan Draal. The Wolves debated over whether or not to attack him, and ultimately decided it could blow their cover if they did.
The Wolves waited and watched for hours, camping overnight, and on the next day, Pel finally decided to climb out of the bag he had been transported in, still wearing the form of Nock, and head into the ruined fortress. The others followed him at a distance.
They descended down a long stairway, heading towards a flickering light, and soon found out what the light was coming from. An enormous entry chamber stood before them with eight batteries on the wall firing lightning across the room at each other, at metal statues in the middle of the room and at a giant set of adamantine doors in the back. Standing in the middle of these were two flesh golems who seemed rejuvenated each time the lightning struck them, and they moved up to attack.
William, Luggoth and Brand battled the golems while Pel and Lysander did their best to move in and try to disable the electrical grid without getting fried.
The first golem dropped after Luggoth hit it with a brutal howling strike, followed by a strike from William and a finish by Brand and Whitehearth. About that time, Lysander first got struck by the lightning trying to disable the trap.
With Pel having more luck turning off the electrical field, Lysander switched to healing William and assisting in the fight, and Luggoth was able to finish off the other golem that he'd been attacking along with Brand and William.
As Lysander and Pel began working on deciphering the arcane lock on the adamantine doors, William looked around and saw that while the original design was Dhakaani, a lot of the fortress had been retrofitted in a style that was Karrnathi, including the metal statues of famous necromancers and generals of the Last War era.
When the doors were opened, the Wolves saw that they led to a large gear-driven elevator, and after checking to make certain it wasn't a trap, they activated the gears and descended into the depths of the dungeon, which was clearly the only surviving part of the fortress.
At the bottom, they found another pair of arcane-locked adamantine doors, and thanks to the keen senses of Luggoth and Brand, they realized that there was an enormous amount of water pushing through from the other side. Several of the Wolves climbed to the top of the elevator while Brand followed Pel's instructions to open the doors.
The doors opened and a flood of dank water came spilling in, starting to fill the elevator almost immediately. In the nearly-flooded hallway beyond, they saw two Karrnathi skeletons and two Karrnathi zombies, who yelled that they wouldn't get into "Count Orlok's laboratory" before attacking.
They hear the water, try to decide what to do, Brand climbs to top of the elevator
The Wolves slid down ropes into the room and began attacking, but the zombies and skeletons put up a brutal fight, knocking Brand down and slashing into Luggoth as the water rose around them. William responded with a powerful attack that nearly cut one of the skeletons in half, and Lysander spotted inoperative pumps around the room which he began activating, causing the flow of water to slow down.
The skeletons were fast-moving and deadly, and the zombies protective and brutal, reminiscent of the fighting styles of Brand and William respectively. However, the Wolves worked together very effectively, and Pel finished the one that William had attacked almost immediately.
William dealt out damage to all the zombies and skeletons, and Luggoth shifted into his more bestial form to engage the other skeleton. As Lysander turned on the other pumps, causing the water to drain from the room, William finished off the other skeleton and then Brand and Pel struck the final blows to kill the remaining zombies.
After a brief rest, the Wolves cracked open the next set of doors to find that it opened into an enormous laboratory, clearly one that had belonged to Count Orlok, judging from the electrical machinery, the blood-stained cage, the brains in jars and the Karrnathi art throughout the room. Perhaps most notably, there was some sort of machine at the back that looked like it might be used for some kind of brain-swapping operation.
Standing at a large table was Vadis. He confirmed that his plan had been to use the device to steal Nock's knowledge and replace her, becoming effectively a House Medani agent, which would have served his masters well.
Vadis tried to convince the Wolves to join him, hinting broadly that he worked for the Lords of Dust and that they could provide temporary wealth and power, for a price that would be paid by, at best, their long-future descendants. He also revealed several tidbits of information, from the identity of Pel's mother to the fact that Xain was one of Pel's brothers, and offered up bribes of influence to Brand, Pel and William in turn.
Lysander tried to bluff that the Wolves were considering the offer, but Vadis saw through it. He did allow the Wolves to come in, though, and when they were close, he drew his rapier with a sigh and started the fight by stabbing Pel.
Brand dimensional bonded with Vadis immediately to keep him from getting away, and Pel responded to his father's attack by stabbing him deep in the heart, leaving him pouring blood that would make him easier to trail. Each attack on Vadis earned a response with his blade, and he was quite good with it.
Vadis very nearly killed Pel with his attacks, but Pel stepped back to recuperate and yelled to his father, "I've gained a few things you don't have, father. I've gained friends... and I've gained faith!" He blasted him with daunting light, but Vadis dodged out of the way and turned invisible, avoiding a few attacks from the Wolves before Brand used dimensional bond to teleport to him and attack, which caused Vadis to reveal himself with a counter-attack.
Seeing that the tide was turning, Vadis tried to bargain with the Wolves, offering up valuable information about Count Orlok and other tidbits if they would agree to let him surrender rather than die. Pel responded that they were going to use Orlok's machine to draw the memories out of his corpse.
He downed a potion to heal and then continued his attacks on Pel and Brand, as Luggoth flew into a rage and struck, allowing both Brand and Pel to follow up, including Pel stabbing Vadis in the thigh to slow him down.
Summoning reserves of strength, Vadis ran to the other side of the room despite his wound, drawing attacks from three of the Wolves that further injured him. He slashed the wires and destroyed the brain-reading device, and confidently said, "I suppose now you have to take me alive."
Luggoth and William immediately charged, serving notice to Vadis that surrender wasn't an option, and Pel, with encouragement from the two warriors, called down a flame strike on the three of them.
Vadis, growing weary from blood loss, tried to defend himself against the Wolves as they all moved in with melee weapons, but finally Pel was able to flank with William and stab his father again in the heart, causing him to fall.
The Wolves debated what to do with Vadis, as they could tell that he wasn't dead yet. The general consensus was that he was too dangerous to live, but they also realized that he had vital knowledge of a great many things. In addition, he was Pel's father, after all.
After much consideration, Pel made the decision, saying that he was too dangerous to live, and with a final rapier strike to the throat, the threat of Vadis was ended.
The Wolves decided to do some digging around to find out what they could about Vadis's operative in Rhukaan Draal before going through with the drop. While doing this, there was also some debate about whether they'd be using Nock for the bait, or if Pel would be taking her place. Nock was fairly adamant that it needed to be her, while Pel resisted the idea.
William, Lysander and Pel did some digging using their various skills and managed to find out that the operative they were looking for was named Bant, that he was a hobgoblin, and that he could often be found scoping out the various slave markets in the area.
With that information, the whole group went to the slave market. They assumed that Bant was actually a changeling, and that Pel would have the best chance of spotting him, and they were correct, as Pel pinned him down, although William moved up and shifted Pel out of the way right before Bant would have looked back and "made" him.
Given that Bant was an operative of Pel's father, the Wolves reasoned that he might have some way of spotting Pel, so they set Brand on Bant's trail, with Pel following Brand.
The rest of the Wolves returned to the Deneith enclave, and Luggoth had a heart-to-heart with Savannah about the Prophecy and what he'd been told. She told him that she was certain that it didn't mean what he thought, and asked him to put his faith in the Flame, which he made a half-hearted promise to consider. William spent his time networking with Deneith House members, while Lysander collected stories from the same.
A few hours later, having learned all they could about Bant's movements, Brand and Pel returned. Brand spent some time honing his combat skills in training with the Blademarks, while Pel went to have a talk with his mother, Nock. She was very convinced that he wasn't up to confronting Vadis, and that she was, and all but ordered Pel to let her go to the meet. Unfortunately for Nock, Pel wasn't taking orders from her, and whether it was concern for his mother, a desire to confront his father or something else, he decided to go on the mission.
Lysander disguised himself as the male assassin and dropped "Nock" off at the pre-arranged rendezvous spot in The Bloody Market. Brand waited nearby, and he followed Bant as he picked up the bundled-up "Nock" and began walking. Pel struggled slightly, trying to slow Bant down, which worked better than he had hoped. Bant put him down and fed him a dose of dreamlily, which he managed to vomit up, but then he decided to remain more still for the rest of the journey.
The journey was longer than the Wolves expected, as Bant headed out into the wilderness of Darguun. The rest of the Wolves followed Brand at a safe distance, as Brand used his ranger training and spotting help from Whitehearth to keep Bant in view without him realizing he was being followed.
After a somewhat tiring journey of about three and a half days, the Wolves reached a grove of scrawny trees in sight of the Seawall Mountains. In the distance, they could see a ruined fortress, with strange metal rods jutting up into the sky from what used to be the highest towers.
Bant left "Nock" on the ground, muttering to her that "it will all be over soon" and then he headed back toward Rhukaan Draal. The Wolves debated over whether or not to attack him, and ultimately decided it could blow their cover if they did.
The Wolves waited and watched for hours, camping overnight, and on the next day, Pel finally decided to climb out of the bag he had been transported in, still wearing the form of Nock, and head into the ruined fortress. The others followed him at a distance.
They descended down a long stairway, heading towards a flickering light, and soon found out what the light was coming from. An enormous entry chamber stood before them with eight batteries on the wall firing lightning across the room at each other, at metal statues in the middle of the room and at a giant set of adamantine doors in the back. Standing in the middle of these were two flesh golems who seemed rejuvenated each time the lightning struck them, and they moved up to attack.
William, Luggoth and Brand battled the golems while Pel and Lysander did their best to move in and try to disable the electrical grid without getting fried.
The first golem dropped after Luggoth hit it with a brutal howling strike, followed by a strike from William and a finish by Brand and Whitehearth. About that time, Lysander first got struck by the lightning trying to disable the trap.
With Pel having more luck turning off the electrical field, Lysander switched to healing William and assisting in the fight, and Luggoth was able to finish off the other golem that he'd been attacking along with Brand and William.
As Lysander and Pel began working on deciphering the arcane lock on the adamantine doors, William looked around and saw that while the original design was Dhakaani, a lot of the fortress had been retrofitted in a style that was Karrnathi, including the metal statues of famous necromancers and generals of the Last War era.
When the doors were opened, the Wolves saw that they led to a large gear-driven elevator, and after checking to make certain it wasn't a trap, they activated the gears and descended into the depths of the dungeon, which was clearly the only surviving part of the fortress.
At the bottom, they found another pair of arcane-locked adamantine doors, and thanks to the keen senses of Luggoth and Brand, they realized that there was an enormous amount of water pushing through from the other side. Several of the Wolves climbed to the top of the elevator while Brand followed Pel's instructions to open the doors.
The doors opened and a flood of dank water came spilling in, starting to fill the elevator almost immediately. In the nearly-flooded hallway beyond, they saw two Karrnathi skeletons and two Karrnathi zombies, who yelled that they wouldn't get into "Count Orlok's laboratory" before attacking.
They hear the water, try to decide what to do, Brand climbs to top of the elevator
The Wolves slid down ropes into the room and began attacking, but the zombies and skeletons put up a brutal fight, knocking Brand down and slashing into Luggoth as the water rose around them. William responded with a powerful attack that nearly cut one of the skeletons in half, and Lysander spotted inoperative pumps around the room which he began activating, causing the flow of water to slow down.
The skeletons were fast-moving and deadly, and the zombies protective and brutal, reminiscent of the fighting styles of Brand and William respectively. However, the Wolves worked together very effectively, and Pel finished the one that William had attacked almost immediately.
William dealt out damage to all the zombies and skeletons, and Luggoth shifted into his more bestial form to engage the other skeleton. As Lysander turned on the other pumps, causing the water to drain from the room, William finished off the other skeleton and then Brand and Pel struck the final blows to kill the remaining zombies.
After a brief rest, the Wolves cracked open the next set of doors to find that it opened into an enormous laboratory, clearly one that had belonged to Count Orlok, judging from the electrical machinery, the blood-stained cage, the brains in jars and the Karrnathi art throughout the room. Perhaps most notably, there was some sort of machine at the back that looked like it might be used for some kind of brain-swapping operation.
Standing at a large table was Vadis. He confirmed that his plan had been to use the device to steal Nock's knowledge and replace her, becoming effectively a House Medani agent, which would have served his masters well.
Vadis tried to convince the Wolves to join him, hinting broadly that he worked for the Lords of Dust and that they could provide temporary wealth and power, for a price that would be paid by, at best, their long-future descendants. He also revealed several tidbits of information, from the identity of Pel's mother to the fact that Xain was one of Pel's brothers, and offered up bribes of influence to Brand, Pel and William in turn.
Lysander tried to bluff that the Wolves were considering the offer, but Vadis saw through it. He did allow the Wolves to come in, though, and when they were close, he drew his rapier with a sigh and started the fight by stabbing Pel.
Brand dimensional bonded with Vadis immediately to keep him from getting away, and Pel responded to his father's attack by stabbing him deep in the heart, leaving him pouring blood that would make him easier to trail. Each attack on Vadis earned a response with his blade, and he was quite good with it.
Vadis very nearly killed Pel with his attacks, but Pel stepped back to recuperate and yelled to his father, "I've gained a few things you don't have, father. I've gained friends... and I've gained faith!" He blasted him with daunting light, but Vadis dodged out of the way and turned invisible, avoiding a few attacks from the Wolves before Brand used dimensional bond to teleport to him and attack, which caused Vadis to reveal himself with a counter-attack.
Seeing that the tide was turning, Vadis tried to bargain with the Wolves, offering up valuable information about Count Orlok and other tidbits if they would agree to let him surrender rather than die. Pel responded that they were going to use Orlok's machine to draw the memories out of his corpse.
He downed a potion to heal and then continued his attacks on Pel and Brand, as Luggoth flew into a rage and struck, allowing both Brand and Pel to follow up, including Pel stabbing Vadis in the thigh to slow him down.
Summoning reserves of strength, Vadis ran to the other side of the room despite his wound, drawing attacks from three of the Wolves that further injured him. He slashed the wires and destroyed the brain-reading device, and confidently said, "I suppose now you have to take me alive."
Luggoth and William immediately charged, serving notice to Vadis that surrender wasn't an option, and Pel, with encouragement from the two warriors, called down a flame strike on the three of them.
Vadis, growing weary from blood loss, tried to defend himself against the Wolves as they all moved in with melee weapons, but finally Pel was able to flank with William and stab his father again in the heart, causing him to fall.
The Wolves debated what to do with Vadis, as they could tell that he wasn't dead yet. The general consensus was that he was too dangerous to live, but they also realized that he had vital knowledge of a great many things. In addition, he was Pel's father, after all.
After much consideration, Pel made the decision, saying that he was too dangerous to live, and with a final rapier strike to the throat, the threat of Vadis was ended.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wandering Wolfish on December 11?
Circle of Love is off on 12/4 and 12/11 due to Randy/Joe/Jamie being lameasses. And Paul is out on 12/4. But the Wolves minus Randy could play on 12/11. You guys want to do a one-shot something? I was thinking about a one-off 4th Ed. game, knowing me probably in the Realms. Probably low-level to keep things moving along. Who's with me?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wandering Wolves: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye Interlude
Sypheros 11 - Sypheros 13, YK 999
Though they didn't reveal themselves, Lysander was fairly certain that the two lead assassins, the unnamed male and Hellena, were with House Tarkanan, and that the others were local hirelings. They told the Wolves that they had been hired to kidnap Nock (who they referred to by name) and bring her back to a specific place in the Bloody Market at Rhukaan Draal and leave her there, alive but unconscious. The person that hired them (a hobgoblin, but they are fairly sure it was actually a changeling) was very specific on that point, and also very specific that if he spotted anyone but Nock, they would not receive their money, and would be dead before the day ended. They believed it. Their suspicion is that their contact, and whoever he works for (probably Vadis) are working for a powerful benefactor, one that engenders a fanatical loyalty. It is clear that Vadis has deeper connections than those of the Tyrants.
After letting the assassins go, the Wolves made their way back to Wyvernskull, and found Pus One-Eye, who took them to the two shifter children he had been hiding, per "Canker's" request. Pel and Lysander made sure to find a captain of a ship they could trust who was going to Korranberg in Zilargo and paid him 150 gold to take the former slaves there, so that they could contact their loved ones and go back to their lives.
Upon Luggoth's insistence, after they had checked in with Failin d'Orien to make sure he was still waiting for them, The Wolves spent a day in Wyvernskull asking questions and trying to find the Emerald Claw that had purchased Savannah and the others. They were able to track down rumors of a group of shifters being smuggled to the Shadow Marches aboard a slave galleon, and they tracked it down before it could leave. The Emerald Claw put up a brave resistance, but they were no match for the Wolves, and Luggoth was reunited with Savannah. Stories of what exactly Cavoletta had done with them, or why she had sold them to the Eel, would have to wait for another day, but Savannah and the others did reveal that they had heard that the Claw was selling them to be used in experiments by someone named Count Werner Orlok.
This name struck a chord in William's memory. When he was a boy, he had heard tales from his aunt, a Sentinel Marshal named Hannah d'Deneith, of a Karrnathi Count Werner Orlok, who was a war criminal and member of the Emerald Claw who performed hideous experiments on enemy soldiers involving undeath. In fact, his experiments coming to light were no small part of the reason that Regent Moranna turned on and banished the Emerald Claw from service in the Karrnathi military.
Orlok had fled the country, but Hannah tracked him down and was forced to kill him some 15 years ago. His body was stolen by agents of the Emerald Claw, however, and every now and then rumors would arise that Orlok was somehow alive (or undead) once more, still performing experiments at the behest of the Emerald Claw and his own sick whims. Hannah disappeared five years ago while tracking a fugitive in the Shadow Marches, and many believe that she died at the hands of her resurrected foe there, although no one has ever been able to find her body.
The Wolves, along with Savannah, traveled with Failin back to Rhukaan Draal. They have two days' journey in which to decide what to do next. Nock has recovered somewhat from the effects of the Dreamlily, although she has taken enough that she has earned an addiction to it, one more powerful than the brief one that Pel and Luggoth had. She can maintain a waking (albeit unnaturally fearless and somewhat dazed) state by taking a dose of Dreamlily, or she can begin the process of recovery, but doing so will render her completely useless for at least a week.
Nock suggests that she feign unconsciousness and go with Vadis's contact in the Bloody Market, and that the Wolves can track them back to his lair. Interrogating Vadis's agent will do them no good, she tells them. This close to him, his agents will have a fanatical, possibly suicidal, loyalty, and if the agent manages to kill himself, they lose their only lead to Vadis.
She is also willing to let Pel impersonate her, and she will stay at the Deneith enclave in Rhukaan Draal and try to recover from her addiction and salvage what intelligence she can from her operation with the Eel, which is pretty much destroyed now that the slaver and his crew, as well as his Orien assistant, are all dead.
Either way, Nock suggests that they do some careful digging and asking around in Rhukaan Draal to see if they can find out the name of Vadis's contact, and maybe get a line on him or her before they hand Nock (or her carefully crafted replacement) over.
Everyone notices that Nock is a bit cold and methodical, and she very much seems to believe that this is now her operation. There's definitely a personal grudge against Vadis and a desire to bring him in, and a ruthlessness underlying her character that makes it easy enough to see how she could have spent months inside a slavery operation without her conscience gnawing at her.
Important Questions:
1. Is the party OK with spending 150 gold to send the slaves back to their loved ones? It will definitely add to your heroic rep, as 21 people spreading the word of their rescue at the hands of the Wolves will turn into a lot more. Also, do you want to give them any traveling money, or are they on their own once they get to Korranberg? Another 50-100 gold to the group would probably let them buy lightning rail passage to wherever they needed to go, or at least send Sivis messages to loved ones.
2. I presume everyone is OK with raiding the Emerald Claw's slave galleon on Luggoth's behalf? They don't have any useful information to offer other than what I gave you above, the destination (Shadow Marches) and the buyer (Count Orlok).
3. Is Luggoth OK with leaving Savannah and Borgath at the Deneith enclave? It seems a fairly safe place, and is entirely surrounded by soldiers. (Metagaming: Cavoletta will not sneak in and kidnap them again.)
4. And most importantly, what's the plan for finding Vadis? Interrogating his agent will almost certainly not work. The main question is whether you want to use Nock or use Pel impersonating Nock, but if you have other ideas/schemes you want to put into action, I'm of course willing to let you try them.
Though they didn't reveal themselves, Lysander was fairly certain that the two lead assassins, the unnamed male and Hellena, were with House Tarkanan, and that the others were local hirelings. They told the Wolves that they had been hired to kidnap Nock (who they referred to by name) and bring her back to a specific place in the Bloody Market at Rhukaan Draal and leave her there, alive but unconscious. The person that hired them (a hobgoblin, but they are fairly sure it was actually a changeling) was very specific on that point, and also very specific that if he spotted anyone but Nock, they would not receive their money, and would be dead before the day ended. They believed it. Their suspicion is that their contact, and whoever he works for (probably Vadis) are working for a powerful benefactor, one that engenders a fanatical loyalty. It is clear that Vadis has deeper connections than those of the Tyrants.
After letting the assassins go, the Wolves made their way back to Wyvernskull, and found Pus One-Eye, who took them to the two shifter children he had been hiding, per "Canker's" request. Pel and Lysander made sure to find a captain of a ship they could trust who was going to Korranberg in Zilargo and paid him 150 gold to take the former slaves there, so that they could contact their loved ones and go back to their lives.
Upon Luggoth's insistence, after they had checked in with Failin d'Orien to make sure he was still waiting for them, The Wolves spent a day in Wyvernskull asking questions and trying to find the Emerald Claw that had purchased Savannah and the others. They were able to track down rumors of a group of shifters being smuggled to the Shadow Marches aboard a slave galleon, and they tracked it down before it could leave. The Emerald Claw put up a brave resistance, but they were no match for the Wolves, and Luggoth was reunited with Savannah. Stories of what exactly Cavoletta had done with them, or why she had sold them to the Eel, would have to wait for another day, but Savannah and the others did reveal that they had heard that the Claw was selling them to be used in experiments by someone named Count Werner Orlok.
This name struck a chord in William's memory. When he was a boy, he had heard tales from his aunt, a Sentinel Marshal named Hannah d'Deneith, of a Karrnathi Count Werner Orlok, who was a war criminal and member of the Emerald Claw who performed hideous experiments on enemy soldiers involving undeath. In fact, his experiments coming to light were no small part of the reason that Regent Moranna turned on and banished the Emerald Claw from service in the Karrnathi military.
Orlok had fled the country, but Hannah tracked him down and was forced to kill him some 15 years ago. His body was stolen by agents of the Emerald Claw, however, and every now and then rumors would arise that Orlok was somehow alive (or undead) once more, still performing experiments at the behest of the Emerald Claw and his own sick whims. Hannah disappeared five years ago while tracking a fugitive in the Shadow Marches, and many believe that she died at the hands of her resurrected foe there, although no one has ever been able to find her body.
The Wolves, along with Savannah, traveled with Failin back to Rhukaan Draal. They have two days' journey in which to decide what to do next. Nock has recovered somewhat from the effects of the Dreamlily, although she has taken enough that she has earned an addiction to it, one more powerful than the brief one that Pel and Luggoth had. She can maintain a waking (albeit unnaturally fearless and somewhat dazed) state by taking a dose of Dreamlily, or she can begin the process of recovery, but doing so will render her completely useless for at least a week.
Nock suggests that she feign unconsciousness and go with Vadis's contact in the Bloody Market, and that the Wolves can track them back to his lair. Interrogating Vadis's agent will do them no good, she tells them. This close to him, his agents will have a fanatical, possibly suicidal, loyalty, and if the agent manages to kill himself, they lose their only lead to Vadis.
She is also willing to let Pel impersonate her, and she will stay at the Deneith enclave in Rhukaan Draal and try to recover from her addiction and salvage what intelligence she can from her operation with the Eel, which is pretty much destroyed now that the slaver and his crew, as well as his Orien assistant, are all dead.
Either way, Nock suggests that they do some careful digging and asking around in Rhukaan Draal to see if they can find out the name of Vadis's contact, and maybe get a line on him or her before they hand Nock (or her carefully crafted replacement) over.
Everyone notices that Nock is a bit cold and methodical, and she very much seems to believe that this is now her operation. There's definitely a personal grudge against Vadis and a desire to bring him in, and a ruthlessness underlying her character that makes it easy enough to see how she could have spent months inside a slavery operation without her conscience gnawing at her.
Important Questions:
1. Is the party OK with spending 150 gold to send the slaves back to their loved ones? It will definitely add to your heroic rep, as 21 people spreading the word of their rescue at the hands of the Wolves will turn into a lot more. Also, do you want to give them any traveling money, or are they on their own once they get to Korranberg? Another 50-100 gold to the group would probably let them buy lightning rail passage to wherever they needed to go, or at least send Sivis messages to loved ones.
2. I presume everyone is OK with raiding the Emerald Claw's slave galleon on Luggoth's behalf? They don't have any useful information to offer other than what I gave you above, the destination (Shadow Marches) and the buyer (Count Orlok).
3. Is Luggoth OK with leaving Savannah and Borgath at the Deneith enclave? It seems a fairly safe place, and is entirely surrounded by soldiers. (Metagaming: Cavoletta will not sneak in and kidnap them again.)
4. And most importantly, what's the plan for finding Vadis? Interrogating his agent will almost certainly not work. The main question is whether you want to use Nock or use Pel impersonating Nock, but if you have other ideas/schemes you want to put into action, I'm of course willing to let you try them.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wandering Wolves: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye (2)
Sypheros 10 - Sypheros 11, YK 999
As the Wolves continued to plan and rest, and dusk fell, Brand appeared from the brush to join his fellows. The Wolves were somewhat suspicious at first, thinking he might be a changeling agent of even Vadis himself, but Brand demonstrated his dragonmark and offered up some choice bits of information to confirm his identity.
He told them that when his business in the Shadow Marches concluded, he used a scroll of Shadow Walk to walk back through Dolurrh and get back to a linked portal in the Eldeen Reaches in only a day. He took the portal back to Sharn, found a note from the Wolves at the Drunken Dragon telling him where they were going and why, took the teleport circle offered to Rhukaan Draal, followed stories of the Wolves going to a sleazy bar to find the goblin known as Canker, who pointed him to Pus One-Eye, who pointed him into the jungle. From there, he followed the trail of the Wolves, came upon some freshly dead giants and an ettin, then followed their trail to catch up to them. He didn't see the shifter children on his way, but they probably wouldn't have passed him, as he was keeping to the deeper woods to avoid any confrontation.
They brought Brand up to speed while eating some journeybread, and as the plans began to take firmer shape over the course of several hours, it began to rain. It was a light sprinkle at first, but began pouring harder, with lightning and thunder joining in, and William reasoned that they might want to use the rain, along with the darkness, as cover.
Pel shifted form into one of the Hobgoblin soldiers and moved toward the two guards at the front as the rest of the Wolves awaited the other three on patrol on the other side of the camp. As Pel moved in and killed one of the guards, taking his form, Luggoth and Brand rushed out and killed the patrol without a sound, save Luggoth's howl, which any hobgoblin would have mistaken for a wolf, if they even heard it above the sound of the rain.
Pel, now wearing the other hobgoblin's form, turned his dynamic rapier into the shape of the fallen guard's longsword and moved up to stab his friend. Unfortunately, the other guard turned at the last moment, causing Pel to miss. He offered up a quick "I was just testing you" bluff, which confused the hobgoblin long enough for Pel to slide the rapier through his throat.
The other Wolves moved up, and Lysander used his veil spell to make them all appear as hobgoblin guards. Luggoth and Lysander moved in together, while Brand and Pel moved in separately. William came in, misjudged where everyone was in the heavy rain, and made his way over to the smallest tent in the camp.
Pel moved into one of the tents to kill three sleeping hobgoblins, but as he was doing so, William startled the human inside the smaller tent, causing him to teleport out and begin using his dragonmark of passage, in full view of Brand. Luggoth, meanwhile, was spotted by the hobgoblin patrol inside the walls, and they charged, along with the Umber Hulk.
As Brand engaged the Hand of Orien that William had attacked, knocking him unconscious with the flat of his blade, William moved to engage the Umber Hulk, and Luggoth and Lysander engaged the hobgoblin patrol.
The Eel came out of his tent to aide the hobgoblins, revealing himself to be not a mind flayer but a neogi, a slave race that both Brand and Pel were somewhat familiar with.
Brand and Pel continued killing hobgoblins with abandon while Luggoth, Lysander and William fought with the Umber Hulk and the Neogi. About 30 seconds later, they had killed the Neogi and destroyed the Umber Hulk as it tried to flee into the rainforest.
After a quick rest, the Wolves freed the slaves from the pens, and Luggoth discovered that one of them was Borgath, the younger brother of his girlfriend Savannah, last seen in the clutches of werewolf Cavoletta. He revealed that she had sold them to the Eel several weeks ago, but that Savannah, along with several other shifters, was taken to the market in Wyvernskull to be sold, so he had heard, to the Emerald Claw.
Brand and Lysander interrogated the Hand of Orien, named Nilh, to find out that he was working for Aeromus and that he was liasing with several slaving operations in the area, making sure their wagons and such worked and providing transportation help. Brand destroyed the papers in the cook fire to make sure nothing could be linked back to Orien, then they left him to be interrogated by Luggoth. When Luggoth realized that Nilh had nothing useful to offer about Savannah, he snapped the Orien slaver's neck.
The slaves gathered in the cage wagons, while Pel put Nock on Nilh's cot in the back of the supply wagon. He surrounded her with five of the most capable looking slaves, giving them the hobgoblin weapons and armor, to protect her.
They traveled on into the night, but they were stopped by a pair of archers, a human warrior with an axe and a dragonborn who looked like he might have been a gladiator.
"Halt! I am Cera Tak, and my men and I will not let you slavers pass so easily! Let your slaves go or face us in battle!"
The Wolves explained what was going on, and Cera Tak and his companion moved to talk to the slaves to confirm this. As they did, however, Pel and William heard the sound of combat coming from the supply wagon. When they burst in, they found that three of the armed slaves were dead, and they were under attack by a pair of assassins. Cera and his allies proved to be in on the ambush, and the fight was on!
The foes were formidable, and one of the assassins, named Hellena, was a vampire, as William quickly discerned. However, the Wolves focused their attacks on the male assassin, and he yelled out "Hellena! Too much resistance! Flee!"
The assassins began to break for the forest, but Brand teleported over to intercept the male assassin and Pel launched a flame strike that nearly killed him, and he yelled out "Stop! Stand down, promise to let us go, and we'll tell you who hired us and why! We're the only ones who know!"
The Wolves, sensing that a victory over the assassins might mean one of their deaths, as only the male assassin was really wounded at all, took the easy win and information, and accepted this conditional surrender.
As the Wolves continued to plan and rest, and dusk fell, Brand appeared from the brush to join his fellows. The Wolves were somewhat suspicious at first, thinking he might be a changeling agent of even Vadis himself, but Brand demonstrated his dragonmark and offered up some choice bits of information to confirm his identity.
He told them that when his business in the Shadow Marches concluded, he used a scroll of Shadow Walk to walk back through Dolurrh and get back to a linked portal in the Eldeen Reaches in only a day. He took the portal back to Sharn, found a note from the Wolves at the Drunken Dragon telling him where they were going and why, took the teleport circle offered to Rhukaan Draal, followed stories of the Wolves going to a sleazy bar to find the goblin known as Canker, who pointed him to Pus One-Eye, who pointed him into the jungle. From there, he followed the trail of the Wolves, came upon some freshly dead giants and an ettin, then followed their trail to catch up to them. He didn't see the shifter children on his way, but they probably wouldn't have passed him, as he was keeping to the deeper woods to avoid any confrontation.
They brought Brand up to speed while eating some journeybread, and as the plans began to take firmer shape over the course of several hours, it began to rain. It was a light sprinkle at first, but began pouring harder, with lightning and thunder joining in, and William reasoned that they might want to use the rain, along with the darkness, as cover.
Pel shifted form into one of the Hobgoblin soldiers and moved toward the two guards at the front as the rest of the Wolves awaited the other three on patrol on the other side of the camp. As Pel moved in and killed one of the guards, taking his form, Luggoth and Brand rushed out and killed the patrol without a sound, save Luggoth's howl, which any hobgoblin would have mistaken for a wolf, if they even heard it above the sound of the rain.
Pel, now wearing the other hobgoblin's form, turned his dynamic rapier into the shape of the fallen guard's longsword and moved up to stab his friend. Unfortunately, the other guard turned at the last moment, causing Pel to miss. He offered up a quick "I was just testing you" bluff, which confused the hobgoblin long enough for Pel to slide the rapier through his throat.
The other Wolves moved up, and Lysander used his veil spell to make them all appear as hobgoblin guards. Luggoth and Lysander moved in together, while Brand and Pel moved in separately. William came in, misjudged where everyone was in the heavy rain, and made his way over to the smallest tent in the camp.
Pel moved into one of the tents to kill three sleeping hobgoblins, but as he was doing so, William startled the human inside the smaller tent, causing him to teleport out and begin using his dragonmark of passage, in full view of Brand. Luggoth, meanwhile, was spotted by the hobgoblin patrol inside the walls, and they charged, along with the Umber Hulk.
As Brand engaged the Hand of Orien that William had attacked, knocking him unconscious with the flat of his blade, William moved to engage the Umber Hulk, and Luggoth and Lysander engaged the hobgoblin patrol.
The Eel came out of his tent to aide the hobgoblins, revealing himself to be not a mind flayer but a neogi, a slave race that both Brand and Pel were somewhat familiar with.
Brand and Pel continued killing hobgoblins with abandon while Luggoth, Lysander and William fought with the Umber Hulk and the Neogi. About 30 seconds later, they had killed the Neogi and destroyed the Umber Hulk as it tried to flee into the rainforest.
After a quick rest, the Wolves freed the slaves from the pens, and Luggoth discovered that one of them was Borgath, the younger brother of his girlfriend Savannah, last seen in the clutches of werewolf Cavoletta. He revealed that she had sold them to the Eel several weeks ago, but that Savannah, along with several other shifters, was taken to the market in Wyvernskull to be sold, so he had heard, to the Emerald Claw.
Brand and Lysander interrogated the Hand of Orien, named Nilh, to find out that he was working for Aeromus and that he was liasing with several slaving operations in the area, making sure their wagons and such worked and providing transportation help. Brand destroyed the papers in the cook fire to make sure nothing could be linked back to Orien, then they left him to be interrogated by Luggoth. When Luggoth realized that Nilh had nothing useful to offer about Savannah, he snapped the Orien slaver's neck.
The slaves gathered in the cage wagons, while Pel put Nock on Nilh's cot in the back of the supply wagon. He surrounded her with five of the most capable looking slaves, giving them the hobgoblin weapons and armor, to protect her.
They traveled on into the night, but they were stopped by a pair of archers, a human warrior with an axe and a dragonborn who looked like he might have been a gladiator.
"Halt! I am Cera Tak, and my men and I will not let you slavers pass so easily! Let your slaves go or face us in battle!"
The Wolves explained what was going on, and Cera Tak and his companion moved to talk to the slaves to confirm this. As they did, however, Pel and William heard the sound of combat coming from the supply wagon. When they burst in, they found that three of the armed slaves were dead, and they were under attack by a pair of assassins. Cera and his allies proved to be in on the ambush, and the fight was on!
The foes were formidable, and one of the assassins, named Hellena, was a vampire, as William quickly discerned. However, the Wolves focused their attacks on the male assassin, and he yelled out "Hellena! Too much resistance! Flee!"
The assassins began to break for the forest, but Brand teleported over to intercept the male assassin and Pel launched a flame strike that nearly killed him, and he yelled out "Stop! Stand down, promise to let us go, and we'll tell you who hired us and why! We're the only ones who know!"
The Wolves, sensing that a victory over the assassins might mean one of their deaths, as only the male assassin was really wounded at all, took the easy win and information, and accepted this conditional surrender.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
The Plan, proposed.
1. While Pel sneaks into a barracks tent to murder hobogoblins in their sleep, the others kill an exterior patrol, fairly near the entrance and then scramble in.
2. As they start in, a large illusory flying creature comes over the wall from a different direction, getting everyone's attention. can Lysander manage this?
3. We then move around the interior periphery, using the tents as cover, and make our way over to the cages and wagons. we'll probably encounter one of the interior patrols which we'll then need to kill.
4. Free the slaves. Kill the bad guys.
5. ?????
6. Profit.
any questions?
2. As they start in, a large illusory flying creature comes over the wall from a different direction, getting everyone's attention. can Lysander manage this?
3. We then move around the interior periphery, using the tents as cover, and make our way over to the cages and wagons. we'll probably encounter one of the interior patrols which we'll then need to kill.
4. Free the slaves. Kill the bad guys.
5. ?????
6. Profit.
any questions?
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Wandering Wolves: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye (1)
Sypheros 8 - Sypheros 10, YK 999
Enough circumstantial evidence had been gathered to charge Tyrant One with the attempted regicide of King Boranel, Lord Kor and the successful murder of Viorr Maelak. As a result, The King's Citadel raided the Tyrants and rounded up the council, all of whom disguised themselves as Tyrant One. House Deneith blademarks under the command of Erich d'Deneith were hired to guard the Tyrant Council while the King's Citadel, with help from Medani sentry Gaina d'Medani, interrogated them one by one. When the count came, they were short one changeling, and they found Erich's body alongside that of the Erich d'Deneith. Vadis had replaced him, used his identity to take a House Orien teleport circle to Rhukaan Draal, where House Deneith has an enclave and, more importantly, Brelish law will have a difficult time finding him.
Medani, Deneith and the King's Dark Lanterns all needed agents to go and find Vadis, whom they have confirmed as Tyrant One. The Wandering Wolves, minus Brand (who is in The Shadow Marches) and Pel (who told the Wolves he had a different meeting), were summoned once again to Viorr, who hired them under the auspices of House Deneith, House Medani and The Crown of Breland to bring in Vadis, who had committed numerous crimes against all three. He gave them what information he had, offered an operating budget of 4,000 gold, and told them that Gaina d'Medani would meet them at the Drunken Dragon to brief them further.
He never let on that he was in fact Pel, trying out his new identity with his closest friends to see if they could penetrate it. Even Lysander was fooled.
Gaina d'Medani met the Wolves, now joined by Pel, at the Drunken Dragon. She told them that House Medani suspected that the reason Vadis fled to Darguun, in addition to it making perfect sense for a Deneith heir to go there, was that they have an agent in the area. Nock, an agent of House Medani, has been operating in Darguun for some time, and Medani believes she can identify Vadis.
The reasons for these are two-fold: One, she's one of Medani's best operatives. Two, she's Pel's mother. It was during one of her earliest assignments that she met Vadis, then a young up-and-comer in the Tyrants, and she used him as her informant. Or so she thought. In fact, Vadis was using her to eliminate rivals and smooth his way into power. He seduced her before she could see this, and the two of them had a torrid, short-lived and ill-considered romantic relationship that resulted in Nock becoming pregnant. She gave up her child to stay with the House.
Medani believes that Vadis intends to kill Nock while he is there, and then disappear into a safe haven. They can't send a message to Nock, because she is undercover in a slaving/kidnapping ring that has been kidnapping dragonmarked heirs from Khorvaire and Xen'drik and selling them into slavery or ransoming them back to their house.
Gaina d'Medani gave the Wolves a dossier on the slavers that Nock was infiltrating. Their boss is called "The Eel." They trade heavily in "exotics" like dragonmarked individuals, shifters, goliaths, changelings, etc. They use local hobgoblin muscle, but the boss and his enforcer come from "somewhere else." Rumor has it they have dragonmarked operatives amongst their crew. They're mobile, but they have a base of operations in the jungle outside of Wyvernskull, the port city that gives Darguun access to the Thunder Sea.
After a brief shopping trip at The Dragon's Hoard to buy a Deep Pocket Cloak for Lysander, the Wolves took the teleport circle provided by Viorr to Rhukaan Draal. There, they wasted no time in tracking down Failin d'Orien and hiring his land cart again, just as they had on their first adventure outside of Sharn. They bartered him to a reasonable 130 gold to drive them to Wyvernskull and wait for two days.
It took two days to get to Wyvernskull, the hub of slavery in Darguun. Following information from the Medani dossier, the Wolves went to a goblin bar called the Ugly Bastard, bypassing the gimpy hobgoblin prostitute outside to step into the bar. It was filled with goblins who got very nervous when "big 'uns" like the Wolves stepped in, and watching Luggoth down their foul-smelling green drinks didn't do anything to make them feel welcoming.
They made their way to Canker, a goblin wearing a colorful ascot, whom they had heard was a contact for slavers in the area. He offered up some information about the Eel, nothing too specific, but a general direction to their camp in the Darguun rainforest. He asked 200 gold for this service, but was quickly bargained down to "5 gold and you get to keep your head" by William, Pel and Lysander.
He sent them to meet his scout, a one-eyed goblin with an empty eye-socket filled with pus (The Wolves appropriately, if not affectionately, named him "Pus One-Eye"). They gave One-Eye a piece of parchment marked with Canker's scrawl, and he told them that he had seen hobgoblins and slaves headed off into the rainforest and pointed out the direction. It was relatively easy for Pel to find the trail, and just as easy for Luggoth to track it.
At mid-day, tracking through the jungle, the group came upon an Ettin Spirit-Talker and two Hill Giants who had a pair of frightened shifter teens on a spit over an as-yet unlit campfire. They were arguing about who was going to get the largest portions when Luggoth charged out of the woods.
William moved up, stepped into his reign of steel stance, and kept the Hill Giants and Ettin as focused on him as he could. He was doing massive damage to the beasts with his axe Terminus, and then Luggoth joined in as well. Pel moved in to focus on the Ettin along with Lysander, and before long they had slain it, with Pel delivering the killing blow.
The other two Hill Giants, one bloodied and the other one mostly unwounded, tried to make a run for it, but Luggoth put on a burst of speed to chase them down, killing one of them immediately and then, with the help of the rest of the Wolves, putting the other one down as well.
The Wolves cut down the teens, who identified themselves as Savenn and Reryar, and told them that they had escaped from a slaver camp. They also gave them some information about what they had seen, including that the camp had about two dozen captives, and that it was mostly hobgoblins, but there was an umber hulk and a bearded human there as well.
Savenn and Reryar were unwilling to return to the camp, even under the protection of the Wolves, so William gave them his bow and a dagger, and then gave them Canker's mark and instructions to go to Pus One-Eye and tell him that Canker wanted them hidden until he came for them.
It took two hours for the Wolves to reach the camp. When they got there, they saw that it was surrounded by wooden walls and well-guarded, with the hobgoblins sending out patrols of five men at a time and circling the camp, and another five patrolling inside. They didn't see any sign of the Eel himself, but they guessed, from what they knew of Umber Hulks, that he might be a mind flayer.
With night falling soon, they continued to plan, trying to decide when the best time would be to launch their attack, and how exactly to do it.
Enough circumstantial evidence had been gathered to charge Tyrant One with the attempted regicide of King Boranel, Lord Kor and the successful murder of Viorr Maelak. As a result, The King's Citadel raided the Tyrants and rounded up the council, all of whom disguised themselves as Tyrant One. House Deneith blademarks under the command of Erich d'Deneith were hired to guard the Tyrant Council while the King's Citadel, with help from Medani sentry Gaina d'Medani, interrogated them one by one. When the count came, they were short one changeling, and they found Erich's body alongside that of the Erich d'Deneith. Vadis had replaced him, used his identity to take a House Orien teleport circle to Rhukaan Draal, where House Deneith has an enclave and, more importantly, Brelish law will have a difficult time finding him.
Medani, Deneith and the King's Dark Lanterns all needed agents to go and find Vadis, whom they have confirmed as Tyrant One. The Wandering Wolves, minus Brand (who is in The Shadow Marches) and Pel (who told the Wolves he had a different meeting), were summoned once again to Viorr, who hired them under the auspices of House Deneith, House Medani and The Crown of Breland to bring in Vadis, who had committed numerous crimes against all three. He gave them what information he had, offered an operating budget of 4,000 gold, and told them that Gaina d'Medani would meet them at the Drunken Dragon to brief them further.
He never let on that he was in fact Pel, trying out his new identity with his closest friends to see if they could penetrate it. Even Lysander was fooled.
Gaina d'Medani met the Wolves, now joined by Pel, at the Drunken Dragon. She told them that House Medani suspected that the reason Vadis fled to Darguun, in addition to it making perfect sense for a Deneith heir to go there, was that they have an agent in the area. Nock, an agent of House Medani, has been operating in Darguun for some time, and Medani believes she can identify Vadis.
The reasons for these are two-fold: One, she's one of Medani's best operatives. Two, she's Pel's mother. It was during one of her earliest assignments that she met Vadis, then a young up-and-comer in the Tyrants, and she used him as her informant. Or so she thought. In fact, Vadis was using her to eliminate rivals and smooth his way into power. He seduced her before she could see this, and the two of them had a torrid, short-lived and ill-considered romantic relationship that resulted in Nock becoming pregnant. She gave up her child to stay with the House.
Medani believes that Vadis intends to kill Nock while he is there, and then disappear into a safe haven. They can't send a message to Nock, because she is undercover in a slaving/kidnapping ring that has been kidnapping dragonmarked heirs from Khorvaire and Xen'drik and selling them into slavery or ransoming them back to their house.
Gaina d'Medani gave the Wolves a dossier on the slavers that Nock was infiltrating. Their boss is called "The Eel." They trade heavily in "exotics" like dragonmarked individuals, shifters, goliaths, changelings, etc. They use local hobgoblin muscle, but the boss and his enforcer come from "somewhere else." Rumor has it they have dragonmarked operatives amongst their crew. They're mobile, but they have a base of operations in the jungle outside of Wyvernskull, the port city that gives Darguun access to the Thunder Sea.
After a brief shopping trip at The Dragon's Hoard to buy a Deep Pocket Cloak for Lysander, the Wolves took the teleport circle provided by Viorr to Rhukaan Draal. There, they wasted no time in tracking down Failin d'Orien and hiring his land cart again, just as they had on their first adventure outside of Sharn. They bartered him to a reasonable 130 gold to drive them to Wyvernskull and wait for two days.
It took two days to get to Wyvernskull, the hub of slavery in Darguun. Following information from the Medani dossier, the Wolves went to a goblin bar called the Ugly Bastard, bypassing the gimpy hobgoblin prostitute outside to step into the bar. It was filled with goblins who got very nervous when "big 'uns" like the Wolves stepped in, and watching Luggoth down their foul-smelling green drinks didn't do anything to make them feel welcoming.
They made their way to Canker, a goblin wearing a colorful ascot, whom they had heard was a contact for slavers in the area. He offered up some information about the Eel, nothing too specific, but a general direction to their camp in the Darguun rainforest. He asked 200 gold for this service, but was quickly bargained down to "5 gold and you get to keep your head" by William, Pel and Lysander.
He sent them to meet his scout, a one-eyed goblin with an empty eye-socket filled with pus (The Wolves appropriately, if not affectionately, named him "Pus One-Eye"). They gave One-Eye a piece of parchment marked with Canker's scrawl, and he told them that he had seen hobgoblins and slaves headed off into the rainforest and pointed out the direction. It was relatively easy for Pel to find the trail, and just as easy for Luggoth to track it.
At mid-day, tracking through the jungle, the group came upon an Ettin Spirit-Talker and two Hill Giants who had a pair of frightened shifter teens on a spit over an as-yet unlit campfire. They were arguing about who was going to get the largest portions when Luggoth charged out of the woods.
William moved up, stepped into his reign of steel stance, and kept the Hill Giants and Ettin as focused on him as he could. He was doing massive damage to the beasts with his axe Terminus, and then Luggoth joined in as well. Pel moved in to focus on the Ettin along with Lysander, and before long they had slain it, with Pel delivering the killing blow.
The other two Hill Giants, one bloodied and the other one mostly unwounded, tried to make a run for it, but Luggoth put on a burst of speed to chase them down, killing one of them immediately and then, with the help of the rest of the Wolves, putting the other one down as well.
The Wolves cut down the teens, who identified themselves as Savenn and Reryar, and told them that they had escaped from a slaver camp. They also gave them some information about what they had seen, including that the camp had about two dozen captives, and that it was mostly hobgoblins, but there was an umber hulk and a bearded human there as well.
Savenn and Reryar were unwilling to return to the camp, even under the protection of the Wolves, so William gave them his bow and a dagger, and then gave them Canker's mark and instructions to go to Pus One-Eye and tell him that Canker wanted them hidden until he came for them.
It took two hours for the Wolves to reach the camp. When they got there, they saw that it was surrounded by wooden walls and well-guarded, with the hobgoblins sending out patrols of five men at a time and circling the camp, and another five patrolling inside. They didn't see any sign of the Eel himself, but they guessed, from what they knew of Umber Hulks, that he might be a mind flayer.
With night falling soon, they continued to plan, trying to decide when the best time would be to launch their attack, and how exactly to do it.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Game Schedule November - January
November 6th- D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
November 13th - Eberron: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye Part Two (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
November 20th - Eberron: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye Part Three (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
November 27th - Thanksgiving - Gaming Off
December 4th- Randy & Jamie out - Gaming Off
December 11th - Randy & Jamie out - Gaming Off
December 18th - D&D Circle of Love (Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
December 25th - Christmas - Gaming Off
January 1st - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
January 8th - Eberron: Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 15th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
January 22nd - Eberron: Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 29th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
So Jamie and I have been talking at various times, and I'm definitely out on the 11th (in Dallas for my sister's wedding) and Jamie probably will be too, so it's probably best to cancel our Circle of Love game for December. Which leaves only one week for gaming in December, and given how schedules fluctuate in that month, I think we'd be crazy to try and schedule a regular game.
So I propose this: Whoever can show on December 18th, we get together and play boardgames, Rock Band, etc. and just generally have a casual party with friends. We can do this at my place if anyone is interested. Alternatively, we can just skip gaming entirely in December. Or maybe do a one-off game for whoever wants to come from either group, and Ben and I can do the co-GM thing again. Chime in with thoughts on this in the comments.
January, obviously, is speculative at this point. I figure any New Year's Day hangovers should have passed by the 2nd, so I didn't put that as a non-gaming day. Everyone chime in with schedule stuff that you know of, though.
November 13th - Eberron: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye Part Two (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
November 20th - Eberron: Pursuit of the All-Seeing Eye Part Three (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
November 27th - Thanksgiving - Gaming Off
December 4th- Randy & Jamie out - Gaming Off
December 11th - Randy & Jamie out - Gaming Off
December 18th - D&D Circle of Love (Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
December 25th - Christmas - Gaming Off
January 1st - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
January 8th - Eberron: Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 15th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
January 22nd - Eberron: Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
January 29th - D&D Circle of Love (Randy, Dan, Max, Ben, Joe & Jamie)
So Jamie and I have been talking at various times, and I'm definitely out on the 11th (in Dallas for my sister's wedding) and Jamie probably will be too, so it's probably best to cancel our Circle of Love game for December. Which leaves only one week for gaming in December, and given how schedules fluctuate in that month, I think we'd be crazy to try and schedule a regular game.
So I propose this: Whoever can show on December 18th, we get together and play boardgames, Rock Band, etc. and just generally have a casual party with friends. We can do this at my place if anyone is interested. Alternatively, we can just skip gaming entirely in December. Or maybe do a one-off game for whoever wants to come from either group, and Ben and I can do the co-GM thing again. Chime in with thoughts on this in the comments.
January, obviously, is speculative at this point. I figure any New Year's Day hangovers should have passed by the 2nd, so I didn't put that as a non-gaming day. Everyone chime in with schedule stuff that you know of, though.
Deadlands: Coffin Rock Recap
Prologue:
ANTOINETTE
You're not sure how Denton found you all the way in New Orleans, but he did. You were following rumors of zombie labor on the railroads when a messenger came to you, spoke your name in perfect French and then handed you an envelope. Inside were a few train tickets and a short letter:
"Antoinette,
You'll find that passage has been paid for you to get to Denver, I reckon it'll take you about five days if you get started now, and since I've got folks planning to meet you in Denver at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon in six, you'd better get on those rails. I know you have your own business you're conducting, but remember that you owe me for that protection spell that kept the spirits off you. I imagine it's getting thin, and you're starting to hear the voices again... could be after you help me I can cast a fresh one on you.
Best,
Denton"
You were unhappy to have to give up your promising lead, but you had learned from brief experience that where Denton sent you, supernatural strangeness was sure to follow, and whatever you were supposed to be investigating for him was sure to be helpful for your research. Plus, the voices in your head have been getting especially loud lately, and you think another ward to protect you from spirits might be just the thing. So you packed up from the cottage in the swamps where you'd been staying, put a couple pounds of Ghost Rock, strapped on your gun belt and Colt Peacemaker and headed back West.
You suspect that Denton is a member of The Agency, the Union's secret agency for investigating the supernatural in the West. You heard about them, and their Confederate counterparts the Texas Rangers, about the same time you heard of The Reckoning, something that happened in July 1863, involving some kind of dark "gods" that returned magic and monsters to the world. You've met a few of those monsters in your time, including the Voodoo Houngan who cursed you in the first place.
COOTER
Another day, another busted claim. Of late, you'd been working with Hiram Duster IV, a former Union scout whose habits of drinking too much and talking about the war were easy to deal with, given your own love of whiskey and your dynamite-blasted hearing, which kept you from hearing more than one out of every five disgruntled words. You'd managed to get all the copper you could out of a claim in the Colorado Rockies when you had a visitor.
He looked familiar, a tall, muscular black man in a dark black suit and duster, flipping absent-mindedly through a deck of cards as he walked up. He had one milky eye with a scar running through the skin around it, and his hands and face showed signs of scarring as well. At his side, you spotted his pistol, one of those unusual new-fangled contraptions, and you remembered: Denton. You'd seen him fire gouts of lead from that weird pistol of his, and spin tricks of all kinds out of that deck of cards, when he had saved your life after some horrible thing collapsed your mine around you and ate everybody else working on the claim. He'd said to you then that he'd ask you for a favor in return someday, but that was... what? Ten years ago?
"Favor's come due, Aloiysus. You do remember me, right?"
You nodded, lit up your pipe and muttered "Not likely to forget, no matter how much I try."
A grim smile crossed Denton's face. "Need you to take your wagon to Denver. Give it about three days from now, you'll meet up there with some other folks at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon, one of them's a traveling preacher, and he'll have the rest of your instructions. Maybe bring that fella Hiram with you, too, once he's done pointing his Winchester at my head."
You weren't sure how Denton knew who Hiram was, or where he was, or that he was indeed aiming at his head just in case he was trouble, but you waved him off and then waved him down. Denton walked away, and you went to explaining what was going on and asking if Hiram was interested in staying with you for a mite longer.
HIRAM
Serving as bodyguard and scout for a crotchety prospector like Cooter McGee wasn't what you'd had in mind after the war ended, but the old man listened to your talk about the North and the South without complaint, paid every day and the two of you shared a love of whiskey. Plus, it was pretty easy, nobody really threated Cooter or tried to jump his claims.
Until yesterday, when you saw a a tall, muscular black man in a dark black suit and duster walk up to Cooter as if he was a member of his family. You saw that he had some kind of weird pistol in his holster, and you drew out your Winchester and took a bead, just in case.
The two men talked for a few minutes, and you relaxed a little when Cooter lit up his pipe. Then you saw the black man turn and fix his one good eye on you, from at least forty yards away. You weren't sure how, but you were sure he'd seen you, and maybe he knew you were there the whole time. He walked away, and you saw Cooter wave you off from shooting at him, and then wave for you to come down.
"Well, it seems I got a job to pay back an old favor. Not sure how the pay will be, and I'm guessing it might be a bit more dangerous than guarding ratty claims, but I could sure use your rifle to help me out. What do you say?"
What could you say? You're a loyal friend, and if Cooter was going to do this man's favor, reckon it was your job to make sure he didn't get kilt doing it.
ZHANG
You'd been following rumors of creatures in the Rockies for weeks now, but all you had to show for it was saddle sores from riding, a crick in your back from sleeping under the stars and not a single glimpse of anything weird. You were thinking of maybe taking on some work for the local rail lines when Denton walked right into your camp.
You remembered Denton. Tall, muscular black man in a dark black suit and duster, constantly flipping through that deck of cards of his. One milky eye with a scar running through the skin around it, and you'd seen that that was hardly the only scar he carried. He also carried that weird pistol of his, something the mad scientists whipped up. He hadn't used it when he had pulled you out and away from the thing that killed all of your co-workers and destroyed the rail lines you'd been laying. He had only said one thing that day: "Run!"
Later that day, he'd told you his name was Denton and that you owed him a favor. "There's a lot of things like that in the West, and men like you and me need to stand tall against them, or else they'll surely kill everything and everyone that we love. If I need your help, can I count on it?"
You nodded, and then he left. That was a couple years ago, but you'd been waiting for this return visit.
"Hello there Zhang. Got me a little bit of a situation in a town called Coffin Rock, thought you might want to join a posse I'm putting together to investigate it. If so, you can meet them in Denver in the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon in two days."
EFRAIM
You'd been having a pretty good run of things in Colorado. Talking in various towns, spreading the gospel, warning folks that the Devil himself walked the land, and that he'd laid his seeds all throughout the territories, monsters and demons sprouting up all around. Keep the Good Lord close and you needn't fear what walks in the night, you'd say. Folks treated you kindly, let you stay in local homes or in the chapel, brought you meals, you'd been doing pretty good.
Of course, children still shied away from your blackened arm, and women and men alike crossed the street to avoid getting too close to you, but when you were preaching, you felt like you were doing some good.
It's been nearly a year since you nearly lost your arm to that Sandworm. Nearly a year since Denton had used some kind of witchcraft to drive it back, to heal you from the brink of death, to explain that "The world needs people like you, Father. Your faith is a weapon, and don't you forget it."
He made you nervous, this Tall, muscular black man with the scarred, milky left eye and strange-looking pistol. You'd seen him use that deck of cards he was constantly fidgeting with to blast away at the critter and to heal your wounds, and you knew what that made him: Huckster. You'd heard of them, men and women who used cards to summon power. Some said it was good, and certainly Denton used it for good ends, but still... it seemed like devil magic to you.
While you healed up, Denton talked to you about The Agency. Asked if you'd heard of it, and you had. The Union's secret monster-hunting spies, you'd heard. Keeping folks safe and keeping them from knowing how unsafe they were. You'd guess Denton and his ilk weren't too keen on you preaching the truth of what was out there. But you got the sense that Denton wanted more than just the promise of the favor he extracted from you for saving his life.
When he thought you were asleep, you'd catch him coughing, sometimes two, three minutes at a time. A lunger, for sure. Or maybe his traffic with Satan had earned him an early ticket to the boneyard. One thing's for sure, you thought, this cuss may not live long enough to get this favor. He asked if you knew how to shoot a gun, and when you said no, he suggested you oughta learn. Soon. Also tried to get you to crack open some law books he had lying around in the hideout, but you didn't have much interest in that neither. Denton stopped short of saying it, but you got the sense he was looking for a replacement, and he hoped that man would be you.
After a week, you healed up enough to leave on your own, and you did just that. It was almost a year since that when Denton showed up again. He sat in the back for your sermon, listening and nodding, and came up after your preaching.
"You've still got it, Father. Given any more thought to some target practice and study?" He waited a second for the answer he knew he'd get, then shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Alright, alright. Listen, I need to call in that favor. Something strange is going on in a town called Coffin Rock, up in the northern part of the state, and I'd like you to lead a posse up out of Denver to look into it."
"I'm not sure what exactly is going on in Coffin Rock. Some kind of supernatural trouble, I expect. Just heard from my sources that it needed checking out, so I'm calling in a few favors. If you could make sure everybody gets there, do your best to keep the investigation on track, I'd sure appreciate it. This is a good bunch of folks. Couple ex-soldiers for muscle, a rail worker and a scientist who have both had some of the same experience with the supernatural as you and a miner named McGee. McGee might seem an odd fit at first, but Coffin Rock's a mining town, and if there's trouble in the mines, I expect he'll be able to help you there."
"Anyhow, you meet these folks at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon in Denver in three days, and take them on up to Coffin Rock, see what you can find out. Some bad things are going to happen out there, unless you good folks can stop it. Hope I can count on you."
SILAS
You'd been doing some security work onboard the Denver-Pacific lines, dealing with would-be train robbers and Rail Wars alike. On your last trip, headed back into Denver, you were making a pass through the cart when someone said your name. Soft, quiet, but certain, confident.
"Silas Call."
The man who said it looked familiar. Tall, muscular black man with a scarred, milky left eye, shuffling cards faster than your eyes could follow. You remembered him now... he had met you on that bloody job in Kansas, when the man you were working for turned out to be possessed by some kind of demon.
"Denton."
"It's time for me to call in my favor, Silas. I'm putting together a posse to investigate some trouble, and they could use your particular talents. So when you get back to Denver tomorrow, maybe you could stop in at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon."
You nodded, then went back to your patrols. You didn't have any other jobs waiting for you in Denver, and getting clear of a debt is always a good thing.
The Adventure:
Entry. Mid-day. Idea: going to tavern.
BARBERSHOP
----------
Passed by the brothel, resisted temptation. Passing by school, notice mirror in barber shop. Entered (abandoned) shop.
- Breaking and Entering, barber shop (Efraim)
- Theft (aftershave), barbershop (Cooter)
- Destruction of property, barber shop mirror (Efraim)
Saw a figure on top of the bluff staring down at them in the reflection. Efraim broke the mirror. Deputy showed up, demanded $2 for the mirror, got it from Efraim. He asked if they were staying, told them to go to the Crystal River Hotel.
---
TAVERN
------
They went to the tavern instead. In the tavern: Barkeep, piano player, poker players, Lizzie, mayor Wilford Hambley, assayer Ike Turnbull, a couple of deputies.
Zhang spoke to piano player and asked what happened to his arm. "Dr Osgood removed a canker from my arm."
Antoinette and Efraim both talked to Lizzie. She didn't take much of a liking to either. Needs a more sympathetic face to open up to.
Cooter went and talked to the miners.
---
HOTEL
-----
Hired four rooms for a night at the Crystal River. Carl told Cooter and Antoinette that the Marshal hasn't been good for business, and directed them to Deacon Plume or Mayor Hambley for more information about the trouble.
CHURCH
------
In the meantime, the other members of the posse went to talk to Deacon Plume, and took a copy of their Bible.
HOTEL
-----
Investigating the Church's "Bible," it seems to promise mortal eternal life.
CEMETERY
--------
Zhang and Silas investigate Daly's burned-down mansion, then went and busted into Daly's mausoleum (where they found his corpse).
---
JEWEL
-----
Next morning. Fix their own breakfast. Antoinette wants to go to the Jewel for breakfast. They go afterward instead. Two of the girls try to get Silas drunk, but he resists.
HILLS
-----
Antoinette defeated Blood Man with voodoo. Efraim attempted to heal Shelly after the fight, but was unsuccessful. The party talked to her and got her lowdown.
Heard bell: Lizzie has been sliced up by the doctor at her "complexion" appointment.
---
BLUFF
-----
Climb the cliff; meet with Laughs at Darkness. They all get high and pass out. They wake up in the evening, hear two bells. Inspecting the town through a spyglass, Hyram sees a miner flee the Six Feet Under and get gunned down -- and the bell tolls again. The posse heads to the mine (bell again) and enters, seeing an elevator.
MINE
----
Discovered initial elevator trap, and disarmed it. Encountered ghosts of miners, and Zhang engaged them in conversations. In the end, Efraim and Antoinette both agreed to possession by the ghosts.
After a long fight, the mine begins to collapse and squishes the last blood man, and the party flees to the portal.
---
CHURCH
------
Hiram kills Cheval in one shot immediately upon entering the church. Zhang destroys several more (including Dr. Osgood in a Lizzie-suit) with a stick of dynamite. Efraim manages to talk all but one out of their delusion (but that one goes apeshit on him).
Epilogue:
Efraim's sermon reduced the Fear Level in town to a more manageable level, and outlaw Shelly Pearl returned to town to run for Mayor of Coffin Rock, the city her father had founded.
Efraim decided to stay and minister to the flock that Cheval had corrupted and betrayed, as well as the rest of the town.
Hiram signed on as marshal after Marshal Bryce and his deputies fled town during the bloody craziness inspired by Cheval's ceremonies.
Cooter staked a claim on the Cooked Earth Mine, which, like all the other mines in the area, had begun producing again.
Antoinette vanished, along with one of the blood man corpses in the hills.
Silas and Zhang left to seek out more trouble in the Weird West.
ANTOINETTE
You're not sure how Denton found you all the way in New Orleans, but he did. You were following rumors of zombie labor on the railroads when a messenger came to you, spoke your name in perfect French and then handed you an envelope. Inside were a few train tickets and a short letter:
"Antoinette,
You'll find that passage has been paid for you to get to Denver, I reckon it'll take you about five days if you get started now, and since I've got folks planning to meet you in Denver at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon in six, you'd better get on those rails. I know you have your own business you're conducting, but remember that you owe me for that protection spell that kept the spirits off you. I imagine it's getting thin, and you're starting to hear the voices again... could be after you help me I can cast a fresh one on you.
Best,
Denton"
You were unhappy to have to give up your promising lead, but you had learned from brief experience that where Denton sent you, supernatural strangeness was sure to follow, and whatever you were supposed to be investigating for him was sure to be helpful for your research. Plus, the voices in your head have been getting especially loud lately, and you think another ward to protect you from spirits might be just the thing. So you packed up from the cottage in the swamps where you'd been staying, put a couple pounds of Ghost Rock, strapped on your gun belt and Colt Peacemaker and headed back West.
You suspect that Denton is a member of The Agency, the Union's secret agency for investigating the supernatural in the West. You heard about them, and their Confederate counterparts the Texas Rangers, about the same time you heard of The Reckoning, something that happened in July 1863, involving some kind of dark "gods" that returned magic and monsters to the world. You've met a few of those monsters in your time, including the Voodoo Houngan who cursed you in the first place.
COOTER
Another day, another busted claim. Of late, you'd been working with Hiram Duster IV, a former Union scout whose habits of drinking too much and talking about the war were easy to deal with, given your own love of whiskey and your dynamite-blasted hearing, which kept you from hearing more than one out of every five disgruntled words. You'd managed to get all the copper you could out of a claim in the Colorado Rockies when you had a visitor.
He looked familiar, a tall, muscular black man in a dark black suit and duster, flipping absent-mindedly through a deck of cards as he walked up. He had one milky eye with a scar running through the skin around it, and his hands and face showed signs of scarring as well. At his side, you spotted his pistol, one of those unusual new-fangled contraptions, and you remembered: Denton. You'd seen him fire gouts of lead from that weird pistol of his, and spin tricks of all kinds out of that deck of cards, when he had saved your life after some horrible thing collapsed your mine around you and ate everybody else working on the claim. He'd said to you then that he'd ask you for a favor in return someday, but that was... what? Ten years ago?
"Favor's come due, Aloiysus. You do remember me, right?"
You nodded, lit up your pipe and muttered "Not likely to forget, no matter how much I try."
A grim smile crossed Denton's face. "Need you to take your wagon to Denver. Give it about three days from now, you'll meet up there with some other folks at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon, one of them's a traveling preacher, and he'll have the rest of your instructions. Maybe bring that fella Hiram with you, too, once he's done pointing his Winchester at my head."
You weren't sure how Denton knew who Hiram was, or where he was, or that he was indeed aiming at his head just in case he was trouble, but you waved him off and then waved him down. Denton walked away, and you went to explaining what was going on and asking if Hiram was interested in staying with you for a mite longer.
HIRAM
Serving as bodyguard and scout for a crotchety prospector like Cooter McGee wasn't what you'd had in mind after the war ended, but the old man listened to your talk about the North and the South without complaint, paid every day and the two of you shared a love of whiskey. Plus, it was pretty easy, nobody really threated Cooter or tried to jump his claims.
Until yesterday, when you saw a a tall, muscular black man in a dark black suit and duster walk up to Cooter as if he was a member of his family. You saw that he had some kind of weird pistol in his holster, and you drew out your Winchester and took a bead, just in case.
The two men talked for a few minutes, and you relaxed a little when Cooter lit up his pipe. Then you saw the black man turn and fix his one good eye on you, from at least forty yards away. You weren't sure how, but you were sure he'd seen you, and maybe he knew you were there the whole time. He walked away, and you saw Cooter wave you off from shooting at him, and then wave for you to come down.
"Well, it seems I got a job to pay back an old favor. Not sure how the pay will be, and I'm guessing it might be a bit more dangerous than guarding ratty claims, but I could sure use your rifle to help me out. What do you say?"
What could you say? You're a loyal friend, and if Cooter was going to do this man's favor, reckon it was your job to make sure he didn't get kilt doing it.
ZHANG
You'd been following rumors of creatures in the Rockies for weeks now, but all you had to show for it was saddle sores from riding, a crick in your back from sleeping under the stars and not a single glimpse of anything weird. You were thinking of maybe taking on some work for the local rail lines when Denton walked right into your camp.
You remembered Denton. Tall, muscular black man in a dark black suit and duster, constantly flipping through that deck of cards of his. One milky eye with a scar running through the skin around it, and you'd seen that that was hardly the only scar he carried. He also carried that weird pistol of his, something the mad scientists whipped up. He hadn't used it when he had pulled you out and away from the thing that killed all of your co-workers and destroyed the rail lines you'd been laying. He had only said one thing that day: "Run!"
Later that day, he'd told you his name was Denton and that you owed him a favor. "There's a lot of things like that in the West, and men like you and me need to stand tall against them, or else they'll surely kill everything and everyone that we love. If I need your help, can I count on it?"
You nodded, and then he left. That was a couple years ago, but you'd been waiting for this return visit.
"Hello there Zhang. Got me a little bit of a situation in a town called Coffin Rock, thought you might want to join a posse I'm putting together to investigate it. If so, you can meet them in Denver in the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon in two days."
EFRAIM
You'd been having a pretty good run of things in Colorado. Talking in various towns, spreading the gospel, warning folks that the Devil himself walked the land, and that he'd laid his seeds all throughout the territories, monsters and demons sprouting up all around. Keep the Good Lord close and you needn't fear what walks in the night, you'd say. Folks treated you kindly, let you stay in local homes or in the chapel, brought you meals, you'd been doing pretty good.
Of course, children still shied away from your blackened arm, and women and men alike crossed the street to avoid getting too close to you, but when you were preaching, you felt like you were doing some good.
It's been nearly a year since you nearly lost your arm to that Sandworm. Nearly a year since Denton had used some kind of witchcraft to drive it back, to heal you from the brink of death, to explain that "The world needs people like you, Father. Your faith is a weapon, and don't you forget it."
He made you nervous, this Tall, muscular black man with the scarred, milky left eye and strange-looking pistol. You'd seen him use that deck of cards he was constantly fidgeting with to blast away at the critter and to heal your wounds, and you knew what that made him: Huckster. You'd heard of them, men and women who used cards to summon power. Some said it was good, and certainly Denton used it for good ends, but still... it seemed like devil magic to you.
While you healed up, Denton talked to you about The Agency. Asked if you'd heard of it, and you had. The Union's secret monster-hunting spies, you'd heard. Keeping folks safe and keeping them from knowing how unsafe they were. You'd guess Denton and his ilk weren't too keen on you preaching the truth of what was out there. But you got the sense that Denton wanted more than just the promise of the favor he extracted from you for saving his life.
When he thought you were asleep, you'd catch him coughing, sometimes two, three minutes at a time. A lunger, for sure. Or maybe his traffic with Satan had earned him an early ticket to the boneyard. One thing's for sure, you thought, this cuss may not live long enough to get this favor. He asked if you knew how to shoot a gun, and when you said no, he suggested you oughta learn. Soon. Also tried to get you to crack open some law books he had lying around in the hideout, but you didn't have much interest in that neither. Denton stopped short of saying it, but you got the sense he was looking for a replacement, and he hoped that man would be you.
After a week, you healed up enough to leave on your own, and you did just that. It was almost a year since that when Denton showed up again. He sat in the back for your sermon, listening and nodding, and came up after your preaching.
"You've still got it, Father. Given any more thought to some target practice and study?" He waited a second for the answer he knew he'd get, then shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Alright, alright. Listen, I need to call in that favor. Something strange is going on in a town called Coffin Rock, up in the northern part of the state, and I'd like you to lead a posse up out of Denver to look into it."
"I'm not sure what exactly is going on in Coffin Rock. Some kind of supernatural trouble, I expect. Just heard from my sources that it needed checking out, so I'm calling in a few favors. If you could make sure everybody gets there, do your best to keep the investigation on track, I'd sure appreciate it. This is a good bunch of folks. Couple ex-soldiers for muscle, a rail worker and a scientist who have both had some of the same experience with the supernatural as you and a miner named McGee. McGee might seem an odd fit at first, but Coffin Rock's a mining town, and if there's trouble in the mines, I expect he'll be able to help you there."
"Anyhow, you meet these folks at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon in Denver in three days, and take them on up to Coffin Rock, see what you can find out. Some bad things are going to happen out there, unless you good folks can stop it. Hope I can count on you."
SILAS
You'd been doing some security work onboard the Denver-Pacific lines, dealing with would-be train robbers and Rail Wars alike. On your last trip, headed back into Denver, you were making a pass through the cart when someone said your name. Soft, quiet, but certain, confident.
"Silas Call."
The man who said it looked familiar. Tall, muscular black man with a scarred, milky left eye, shuffling cards faster than your eyes could follow. You remembered him now... he had met you on that bloody job in Kansas, when the man you were working for turned out to be possessed by some kind of demon.
"Denton."
"It's time for me to call in my favor, Silas. I'm putting together a posse to investigate some trouble, and they could use your particular talents. So when you get back to Denver tomorrow, maybe you could stop in at the Gallup & Stanbury Saloon."
You nodded, then went back to your patrols. You didn't have any other jobs waiting for you in Denver, and getting clear of a debt is always a good thing.
The Adventure:
Entry. Mid-day. Idea: going to tavern.
BARBERSHOP
----------
Passed by the brothel, resisted temptation. Passing by school, notice mirror in barber shop. Entered (abandoned) shop.
- Breaking and Entering, barber shop (Efraim)
- Theft (aftershave), barbershop (Cooter)
- Destruction of property, barber shop mirror (Efraim)
Saw a figure on top of the bluff staring down at them in the reflection. Efraim broke the mirror. Deputy showed up, demanded $2 for the mirror, got it from Efraim. He asked if they were staying, told them to go to the Crystal River Hotel.
---
TAVERN
------
They went to the tavern instead. In the tavern: Barkeep, piano player, poker players, Lizzie, mayor Wilford Hambley, assayer Ike Turnbull, a couple of deputies.
Zhang spoke to piano player and asked what happened to his arm. "Dr Osgood removed a canker from my arm."
Antoinette and Efraim both talked to Lizzie. She didn't take much of a liking to either. Needs a more sympathetic face to open up to.
Cooter went and talked to the miners.
---
HOTEL
-----
Hired four rooms for a night at the Crystal River. Carl told Cooter and Antoinette that the Marshal hasn't been good for business, and directed them to Deacon Plume or Mayor Hambley for more information about the trouble.
CHURCH
------
In the meantime, the other members of the posse went to talk to Deacon Plume, and took a copy of their Bible.
HOTEL
-----
Investigating the Church's "Bible," it seems to promise mortal eternal life.
CEMETERY
--------
Zhang and Silas investigate Daly's burned-down mansion, then went and busted into Daly's mausoleum (where they found his corpse).
---
JEWEL
-----
Next morning. Fix their own breakfast. Antoinette wants to go to the Jewel for breakfast. They go afterward instead. Two of the girls try to get Silas drunk, but he resists.
HILLS
-----
Antoinette defeated Blood Man with voodoo. Efraim attempted to heal Shelly after the fight, but was unsuccessful. The party talked to her and got her lowdown.
Heard bell: Lizzie has been sliced up by the doctor at her "complexion" appointment.
---
BLUFF
-----
Climb the cliff; meet with Laughs at Darkness. They all get high and pass out. They wake up in the evening, hear two bells. Inspecting the town through a spyglass, Hyram sees a miner flee the Six Feet Under and get gunned down -- and the bell tolls again. The posse heads to the mine (bell again) and enters, seeing an elevator.
MINE
----
Discovered initial elevator trap, and disarmed it. Encountered ghosts of miners, and Zhang engaged them in conversations. In the end, Efraim and Antoinette both agreed to possession by the ghosts.
After a long fight, the mine begins to collapse and squishes the last blood man, and the party flees to the portal.
---
CHURCH
------
Hiram kills Cheval in one shot immediately upon entering the church. Zhang destroys several more (including Dr. Osgood in a Lizzie-suit) with a stick of dynamite. Efraim manages to talk all but one out of their delusion (but that one goes apeshit on him).
Epilogue:
Efraim's sermon reduced the Fear Level in town to a more manageable level, and outlaw Shelly Pearl returned to town to run for Mayor of Coffin Rock, the city her father had founded.
Efraim decided to stay and minister to the flock that Cheval had corrupted and betrayed, as well as the rest of the town.
Hiram signed on as marshal after Marshal Bryce and his deputies fled town during the bloody craziness inspired by Cheval's ceremonies.
Cooter staked a claim on the Cooked Earth Mine, which, like all the other mines in the area, had begun producing again.
Antoinette vanished, along with one of the blood man corpses in the hills.
Silas and Zhang left to seek out more trouble in the Weird West.
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