Eyre 26 - Dravago 6, YK 1000
Following the scant leads they have, the Wolves, with Resolute guiding them, used House Orien teleportation to arrive in Stormreach, on the trail of Halas Martain.
When they arrived in the Citadel of the Twelve, they were immediately met by Captain Birne, a nearly seven foot tall former savage with an imposing two-handed sword. He gruffly informed them that Greigur, the head of House Deneith and the Sentinel Marshals in Xen'drik, was waiting for them. He guided them through the Respite district and into Forgelight, over to the House Deneith enclave, where they met with Greigur.
One of Greigur's informants had told one of his men that they spotted Halas Martain being led into the jungle by a couple of Stone Giants. He believed they were affiliated with the Dominion of Purity, a faction that seeks to recover the lost culture of the giants, and had a rough idea where they operated, just south of Stormreach. He offered a guess that, "barring the Curse," it should take a day, maybe two to reach them.
They headed to the Southwatch part of the city to look into the Wayfinder Foundation, since Halas was a member, and they found Velenis, a shifter who is the most famous operative of the Foundation in Stormreach at the moment. He offered up apologies, but not much information, as no one at Wayfinder had heard from Halas Martain in quite some time. The Wolves, using money from Viorr's expense account, hired Velenis to help them scout the area and find Halas, and then headed to the Wayward Lobster to have dinner.
While Lysander won over the crowd with a lusty song, Pel bought a round for the house and then went out back to meet his informant, a man named Rajid, using his chameleon ring to slip out the back unobtrusively.
He found Rajid dead, still being chewed on by a few dire rats. His face and hands have been chewed off, and there's a note on him that reads "Stop Looking for Xain." Pel took the note and pushed the body into the water, then gathered up the Wolves to go back to the Ship's Cat, where they were staying. Pel went to the nearest Sivis message station to send a message to his operative Basilisk that "Rajid is dead, watch your back."
The next morning, with Velenis leading them, they headed out into the jungles of Xen'drik. After about two days of travel, the found a bridge across a raging river, and on the other side, a patrol of cyclops, stone giants and a fire giant guarding the entry into the Dominion of Purity's territory.
Resolute called out his Name Dread and charged across the bridge, slamming one of his bastard swords into the Fire Giant Forgecaller's leg and pinning him in the spot, as Pel, Luggoth and William charged over the bridge as well. Lysander jumped up onto the ropes of the bridge and took aim with his bow, firing and hitting the Cyclops as it moved onto the bridge to swing its club at Luggoth. The Stone Giant Runecarver spoke some words and fired off a rune of stony sleep which targeted Pel and William, as the other Stone Giants moved in to attack Resolute and Luggoth.
Luggoth swung a mighty blow at the Fire Giant Forgecaller, breaking his nose in a massive gout of blood and causing the mighty giant to stagger back a few steps in pain. As William tried to leap the rope, using his boots of free movement to escape the rune's effects, he caught his foot and landed in front of the Rune Carver, but rolled to his feet and called out both the Runecarver and the Cyclops to come and get it. Pel turned invisible and moved onto the bridge, but the rune affected him, and he was frozen in place as the Cyclops unknowingly moved right past him, angling for Lysander. Lysander responded with disturbing visions that caused the Cyclops to stumble off the side of the bridge, although it managed to grab hold of it rather than fall into the river below, causing the bridge to tilt precariously to one side from his weight. The Runecarver struck at William with his war pick as the Fire Giant risked attacks from both Luggoth and Resolute to call down a flame burst on both of them. The Stone Giants continued their assault on Luggoth and Resolute, bloodying and battering both of them badly.
Pel's invisibility wore off, revealing him as a statue on the bridge, but the Cyclops paid him no attention, instead climbing back up to menace Lysander, who responded with his patented clockwork bomb and sovereign glue trick. When he tried to roll between the Cyclops's legs, it swatted him with his club, and he dropped the bomb, leaving it stuck to the bridge and ticking.
Resolute, Luggoth and William began attacking the Stone Giants in earnest, and when the Runecarver tried to move away, he drew a nasty blow from William, which didn't prevent him from firing off another rune of stony sleep. The Forgecaller blasted Resolute with another fire pillar, which he mostly shrugged off, as the Stone Giants turned their attention to smashing William.
Resolute finished off the Forgecaller as Luggoth and William continued to battle the Stone Giants, and Lysander deftly avoided the Cyclops's attempt to grab him and used his new songbow to cast compulsion on the Cyclops. The arcane effect caused a stream of blood to begin running from the creature's nose. The Runecarver blasted Resolute with a thundering echo, and the other stone giant then swung his club into the warforged's head, knocking him out.
Pel, no longer under the influence of the rune, called on the Traveler to heal Luggoth, and then stood and fired a burst of daunting light at the Stone Giant bashing William, which went wide. Steam began pouring from Resolute's chest, as his systems began to fail, and Luggoth charged over to use his oakhammer rage on the Stone Giant that had dropped Resolute, knocking it prone with a sickening crack that indicated several broken bones. Lysander tried to force the Cyclops to step onto the clockwork bomb, but it resisted him, although that didn't stop Lysander from moving off the bridge, using Majestic Word to heal Resolute and launching vicious mockery at the Cyclops.
As the Runecarver attacked William with his war pick again and one Stone Giant missed following up with a club strike, the other one landed another solid blow on the healed but still downed Resolute. The warforged, badly battered but still awake, stood up and regained his bearings as Luggoth, William and Pel focused on the Stone Giant to keep it from attacking Resolute again.
With a loud click, the timer for the Clockwork Bomb sprung early and exploded, splitting the bridge in the middle and sending the Cyclops plummeting to the water below. The Runecarver again struck William with his war pick, staggering the Deneith momentarily, long enough for the other Stone Giant to swing a solid blow as well.
After Pel healed William, he attacked the Stone Giant with a sly flourish, and William finished it off with a brash strike, opening up his defenses so that the other Stone Giant could bash him hard, cracking several ribs. Resolute stabbed both of his bastard swords into that Stone Giant, and then followed up with another attack, and then another, finally causing the Giant to topple over dead.
The Runecarver, now the only foe left, tried to use his thundering rune, but fell afoul of Pel's flame strike and William's lasting threat, and when he tried to run, William and Resolute finished him.
With the fight over, Velenis climbed across the half-destroyed bridge, and the Wolves took a few minutes to rest, recover and tend to their wounds.
Velenis helped them follow the tracks of the giants down to the rest of the tribe. There they saw that the tribe was quite large, made up of two dozen more stone giants, fire giants and cyclops. Their leaders were a Fire Titan and a Storm Titan, and they had Halas Martain hanging from a large tree about sixty feet in the air. The two Titans were talking to him, asking him about some kind of idol he had stolen from them, and he was telling them that he couldn't remember where he left their treasure, due to some arcane effect on his memory.
After some debate, Lysander stood up and used a ritual to enhance his voice and gave an impressive, peaceful speech about how they wanted Halas Martain, but didn't seek any conflict with the giants. The Titans invited him to come down, and with William by his side, the two walked into the midst of the Dominion of Purity tribe.
The Titans explained that they sought an ancient giant idol, a representation of one of the giant heroes of old which is said to offer a sort of divine right to the leader who has it. Halas had stolen it from them some time ago. If they could get him to give them the idol, and if they would promise that he would be punished for his thievery, they would turn him over to the Sentinel Marshals.
When the Titan lifted Lysander up to Halas, a light seemed to go on in his eyes, and he claimed to remember where the idol was. He claimed that he had hidden it in some Ziggurat ruins while being chased by Drow, and that it was too small for the giants to get into, so the Wolves would have to recover it. The Twelve had rescued him from the drow, but he didn't really remember much of what had happened after that, except that he knew he had run into the Wolves while working for the Twelve. He tried to talk his way into going with them, but neither Lysander nor the Titans wanted that, and instead they got Halas to draw them a map.
After a day of traveling south, they encountered Brand, who had teleported to Stormreach and followed their trail with a message from the Sentinel Marshals in Passage. The servant of an Aundarian winemaker named Bethesne had discovered disturbing writings in his journals and seen him meeting with shadowy figures, and had sent a message to a friend before he mysteriously died. That friend, finding no luck with Aundarian law, contacted the Sentinel Marshals. He also turned up dead, which caused the Marshals to investigate Bethesne, only to find him gone. What they had heard leads them to believe he is tied in with the Lords of Dust, and that he had fled to Xen'drik, so they sent his dossier with Brand to bring to Resolute.
Resolute and Luggoth headed back to Stormreach to get onto Bethesne's trail, and Brand joined the Wolves, who brought him up to speed on what they were doing. As ranking Sentinel Marshal, Resolute put William in charge of the Halas Martain operation, and they all agreed to meet in Stormreach when they had recovered their respective fugitives.
One more day of southward journey later, they came upon the Ziggurat ruins, walking in through a magically protected path that always remained clear-cut even in the heavy jungle. It appeared mostly uninhabited, but the Wolves knew that drow lurked within, and they sent Pel and Brand to scout ahead.
They spotted some Hellstinger scorpions, and while they were both quite stealthy, they didn't account for the scorpions' tremorsense, and it gave off a loud shriek and clacking of its claws, alerting its drow masters to intruders.
The drow emerged from various buildings, throwing poisoned boomerangs at William, trying unsuccessfully to sneak up on Brand and launching darkfire at Pel, a priest of a god other than Vulkoor. William moved in to engage the Hellstinger Scorpion, which grabbed him with one of its claws, but he broke free and swung with a brash strike before dropping into his Rain of Steel stance.
One of the drow, a trained Vulkoor assassin, summoned a cloud of darkness and vanished within it. As the other drow stabbed and blasted unsuccessfully at Pel and William, the Wolves focused their attacks on the scorpion. After a volley of attacks by the combined Wolves, William brought the thing down with an appalling crunch.
The drow stingblade began moving around Pel and William with a whirling dervish attack, landing two blows before William spotted the flaw in his pattern and landed a brutal blow on the Stingblade with his axe, knocking him off-balance and forcing him to miss his last two steps and swings at Lysander and Brand. The drow assassin stabbed Lysander twice from within the cloud of darkness, which vanished and left him exposed to retaliation in the form of Pel's flame strike, which blasted the assassin and the stingblade, and to Brand, who marked the assassin with his aegis of assault. The priest, meanwhile, blasted William with a magical stinging blast akin to a scorpion's venom.
William moved into a tactically solid position and called all of his foes to him, but most of them were able to dodge his attacks, except for the assassin, who received a glancing blow from Vendetta. With the drow arrayed around him, however, William was able to begin attacking with his Rain of Steel. The assassin, heedless of the damage from William, stabbed Brand twice, and dodged an attack from Pel.
The Scorpion priest, dragged off the building by William's attack, was displeased to see Brand teleport up next to him and swing his blade, and William, trying to take advantage, pulled the Xen'drik boomerang out of his own chest and threw it at the priest, but his unfamiliarity with his weapon led to him missing.
The drow assassin continued his assault on Pel and Lysander with rapier and crossbow, and Pel followed up with a lingering revelation and shapechanger's feint, as Lysander took a moment to restore himself with a majestic word and his second wind. Brand teleported back away from the priest and marked the assassin for death, and William followed up with his bodyguard's link. Despite the solid hits he was taking, the assassin seemed to be avoiding any major damage, and was still very much in the fight.
The assassin summoned darkness again and fled the combat to find a better position, and the priest called upon the drow stingblade to sacrifice his life, causing him to fall over dead, with an explosion of spectral scorpions rising from his corpse and stinging all around him. The painful stings knocked Pel unconscious briefly, before Lysander could rouse him with a majestic word. Lysander followed this up by aiming his bow very deliberately and landing an arrow in the drow priest's shoulder, causing him to curse with pain and cry out to his god Vulkoor for aid.
The assassin, having found his better position, stabbed his rapier into Brand and bloodied him, but William followed up with his own victorious surge, bloodying the assassin and drawing some vigor of his own. Meanwhile, the scorpion priest began climbing back up to the top of the ziggurat as Pel and Lysander fired and missed him.
The assassin struck William once more, and then he sacrificed his life as the priest summoned the spectral scorpions from his spirit, stinging all of the Wolves, who started climbing up to the ziggurat to attack the priest.
The priest endured and avoided attacks for a few seconds, firing back with pain sting, until William swung a brash strike and dazed the priest with Vendetta, which turned the tide, allowing Pel to stab him with his rapier, and Brand finished the priest off with his swords.
After claiming the treasure, including the giant's idol, from within the ziggurat, the Wolves returned to the giants. They all went in to exchange the idol for Halas, and William put his prisoner in manacles. As they left the giant camp, Lysander glanced back, thinking off launching a series of insults at the beings who had enslaved his ancestors, but Pel convinced him that was probably not the wisest course of action.
Rain began to fall as the Wolves walked through the night, heading back toward Stormreach. Lysander and Brand both spotted the tracks of Yuan-Ti in their path, and after determining that they couldn't easily avoid the Yuan-ti by going around, William secured Halas to a tree with the manacles so they wouldn't have to worry about him.
Pel and Brand managed to sneak up on one of the tents and kill two humans, whom they recognized as snaketongue zealots, human cultists who worshiped the same god as the Yuan-Ti. They then moved further up and spotted several Yuan-Ti, including an Abomination, Sharp-Eyes and their Shadow Snake pet.
Pel fired his hand crossbow into the Shadow Snake as Brand tried to rush it and Lysander fired at it as well, but the snake was too quick for these follow-up attacks, and it responded by rushing forward and biting Pel and Lysander. William charged the Abomination, blocking off an easy path for the other Yuan-Ti, who fired their bows unsuccessfully at William. An Incanter made herself known, stepping out of one of the tents at the rear of the camp and missing an attack on William, who dodged in behind the Abomination for cover.
As the poison from the shadow snake coursed through Pel and Lysander's veins, they attacked the snake with their blades, and Brand moved in to assist as Whitehearth rushed back to bite at the archers. The Abomination slashed into William with his bastard sword as the fighter withdrew and moved to use his appalling crunch on the Shadow Snake, which bit him in retaliation. The physical damage was minor, but the poison allowed the Incanter to briefly take control of William's body. Meanwhile, the Sharp-Eyes, confronted by Whitehearth, put away their bows and drew scimitars to engage the Wolf.
Pel slashed the snake with lingering revelation, very nearly killing it, and Brand finished it off with a twin strike before teleporting over to attack the Incanter. The Abomination, defending his mistress, came over and grabbed Brand, rendering him vulnerable to a follow-up from William, who, under the thrall of the incanter, charged Brand with Vendetta.
William managed to shake off the poison and the incanter's domination to hit her with a lasting threat attack. As he did, Pel and Lysander both opened up with their ranged weapons on the Incanter, and Brand teleported out of the Abomination's grasp. One of the Sharp-Eyes remained engaged with Whitehearth, as the other one moved to help the Incanter and Abomination.
Lysander and Brand finished off the Incanter, and the Abominations and Sharp-Eyes fled into the jungle. The Wolves, seeing no percentage in chasing them down, let them run.
When the went back to the tree, they found that Halas had been doing his best to climb it, hoping to get the manacles off somehow. He sheepishly offered some nonsense excuses before climbing back down. Feeling that this camp was secure enough, the Wolves settled in to rest for the night before heading back to Stormreach the next morning.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
The word on Rain of Steel
Warning: This post is probably only relevant (and interesting) to Randy, Dan and Ben
Seems to be that Dan has it right, and William will shortly be getting a big boost to his Rain of Steel damage. There isn't an "official" answer from a WOTC rep, but the consensus, based on reading pre-existing rules, seems to support the way we've been doing it in the Giants game over the Wolves game.
From the forums:
Q: Do you get bonuses (weapon focus, magic weapons etc.) to weapon damage rolls on "rain of steel", "whirling step" "whirling lounge" and such powers?
A: Yes. As long as the power has the Weapon keyword and rolls damage, you get all the bonuses you would get on a normal attack power's damage roll. So while Rain Of Steel doesn't get your Strength bonus because it doesn't say "+STR", it gets all the others.
Any bonus to weapon damage rolls will apply. Any bonus to damage rolls in general will apply. Other bonuses depend on the wording; for example, a bonus to "melee damage rolls" would not apply to Rain of Steel, because it does not have the melee keyword
If the power does static non-rolled damage (for example, Cleave to an adjacent target, or Reaping Strike on a miss) then that damage is not increased.
Seems to be that Dan has it right, and William will shortly be getting a big boost to his Rain of Steel damage. There isn't an "official" answer from a WOTC rep, but the consensus, based on reading pre-existing rules, seems to support the way we've been doing it in the Giants game over the Wolves game.
From the forums:
Q: Do you get bonuses (weapon focus, magic weapons etc.) to weapon damage rolls on "rain of steel", "whirling step" "whirling lounge" and such powers?
A: Yes. As long as the power has the Weapon keyword and rolls damage, you get all the bonuses you would get on a normal attack power's damage roll. So while Rain Of Steel doesn't get your Strength bonus because it doesn't say "+STR", it gets all the others.
Any bonus to weapon damage rolls will apply. Any bonus to damage rolls in general will apply. Other bonuses depend on the wording; for example, a bonus to "melee damage rolls" would not apply to Rain of Steel, because it does not have the melee keyword
If the power does static non-rolled damage (for example, Cleave to an adjacent target, or Reaping Strike on a miss) then that damage is not increased.
Friday, July 02, 2010
5. Welcome to Argent
Nymm 1 - Nymm 7, YK 1000
Xau has been put into a healing coma by the head of House Jorasco until we can get a piece of the chaos-infused elemental ebony from which the dagger was fused, and there are rumors that it can be found in Goradra Gap. Legend has it that the Gap is a portal to the Elemental Chaos, it translated to "Torn Earth" in a dwarven dialect that lines up with Torgen's prophecy, Baron Jorlann d'Cannith contacted Alain and they were getting report that shipments from the Mror Holds are being disrupted due to trouble in the Gap. House Kundarak asked Magnus to investigate trouble in the homelands around Goradra Gap.
We take an airship to Krona Peak, and the scruffy raven that we noticed observing us a few times in Stormhome does as well. At some point, the raven transforms into Zargosz Duur and explains that he is a Gatekeeper Mystagogue and is headed to the Gap to investigate divination by the Druid Council.
After landing at Krona Peak, we buy 7 magebred horses from House Vadalis so that we'll have backups. We can travel about 50 miles a day, which takes us about a week of travel across the foothills of the Ironroot Mountains. About halfway to our destination, we enter a large clearing, and a rocky protrusion bars our way, with a few large trees ablaze with arcane fire.
Zargosz and Xiu stealthily scout around the protrusion and see a lion-like humanoid from a race none of us have seen before, five sparks of fire dancing around the wounded lion-man, as well as two pillars of fire, a rock elemental of some kind and a fire archon leading them. The lion-man is holding a singed scroll in one paw.
Xiu launches a handspring assault on the Fire Archon, and is inside a cloud of fire and ash. Alain casts a cold fleeting dweomer on Magnus's axe, and he moves up. Zargosz enters a fast stance and moves up as well.
Xiu enters Sidestep Stance focusing on the Archon, uses Acrobatic Strike on him and bloodies him. Torgen charges the Archon with Ardent Strike, but misses. Alain casts Resistive Formula on Xiu, fires Greater Magic Weapon that misses the Archon but infuses Torgen's weapon. One earth elemental moves to interpose between us and the lion-man, the other one rumbles toward Magnus and pounds his fists into the earth, but Magnus resists any damage. The sparks rush in, strike the lion-man and then bounce back out, he takes three hits and one crit, and is alive but badly wounded. Archon blasts Xiu and Zargosz with fire, drawing them to him. Magnus goes into Reign of Steel and charges into the midst of the elementals, drawing an AOO from the Fire Archon, uses his action point for Come and Get It to pull in the Archon, a Fire Elemental, an Earth Elemental and a Spark, destroying the Spark and critting the Archon, nearly killing him. Fire Elemental takes ROS damage, backs up and tries to slam Magnus but misses, the other one fires a lance of flame towards Xiu, Torgen and Zargosz, hitting only Torgen, doing fire damage and immobilizing him. Zargosz takes fire from the tree and the fire elemental's fireburst, then rushes across the battlefield to defend the lion-man and fires Floating Death, a burst of insects, at two of the flame sparks, missing both of them, speeds over to the other two and fires the burst at the other two sparks, destroying them but they explode and scorch Zargosz. He uses action point to call lightning down on the fire archon, fire elemental, earth elemental and Magnus, hitting only the earth elemental. Lion-Man invokes a blessing of Dol Dorn on Zargosz for healing surge +8, then he roars at the sparks and pushes them away, immobilizing them.
Xiu takes 10 fire damage, moves in to attack the Fire Archon and then shifts out of the firestorm. Torgen takes 10 fire damage, draws his hand-axe and misses, uses healing on the lion-man to un-bloody him, then saves against immobile. Alain fires runic resistance at the Archon, killing him and giving fire resistance to Xiu and Magnus. Earth elemental swings and misses Magnus, the other one hits Alain. Sparks break free of immobilization, Magnus uses Shielded Sides to shift and attacks the fire elemental, bloodying it, and marks most of the remaining elementals. Bloodied fire elemental takes ROS and launches a firestorm at Magnus and the earth elemental, bloodying the earth elemental and missing Magnus. The other fire elemental shifts back toward the fiery tree. Zargosz fires a plague of locusts at the earth elemental with furious assault.
Xiu moves to attack earth elemental and very nearly kills it with her Wild Tumble Cut. Torgen takes fire damage, moves over to assist Alain against earth elemental. Alain uses magic weapon on the earth elemental. The other earth elemental dies from ROS, and the one next to Alain and Torgen uses a rumble that hits Alain and shifts him back away from the elemental. The sparks attack the lion-man but miss. Alain hits the elemental with magic weapon. Magnus takes some fire damage, then takes an AOO from the bloodied fire elemental before killing him with inexorable advance. Fire elemental fires another firestorm on Magnus. Zargosz runs between the firestorms and throws storm spike at the earth elemental.
Xiu moves to attack remaining fire elemental. Torgen attacks the earth elemental and gives Alain a healing surge. Alain moves up and misses with Magic Weapon. The elemental misses Alain and Torgen, takes thunder damage that bloodies him. The sparks bloody the lion-man. Magnus shakes off the immobilization, then charges the fire elemental with bull charge for a crit, doing a massive amount of ongoing damage and knocking it prone, bloodying him. Fire elemental takes ROS damage and ongoing damage, and has gone from nearly fully healthy to almost dead, and misses Magnus. Zargosz goes back to help the lion-man with the sparks with a vine burst that destroys them both.
Xiu moves in and kills the fire elemental, Torgen attacks the earth elemental, Alain hits him with repulsion strike. The earth elemental attacks Torgen and misses, then Magnus comes over and kills it.
The lion-man thanks us and says that we saved him the trouble of finding us. He introduces himself as Rrowthar, and says it is his honor to deliver unto us an invitation, and hands us two sheets of vellum. One is a ritual scroll, the other is a letter. The letter reads:
Honor and invitation. Stand forth and be recognized, the invitation has been given, the choice has been made. As heroes of your realm and warriors without equal, you have been chosen for the singular honor of serving the great and ancient city of Argent. Accept this duty and privilege, the world needs you. Obenharr, Last Guardian of Argent. None of us have ever heard of Argent before.
Argent was established in the wake of the Dawn War in agreement with the dragons. We read the scroll and teleport to Argent. We are in a courtyard full of marble statues, a statue of a female dressed in robes overlooks a glowing reflecting pool. An elderly human, Obenharr, welcomes us, and then the whole place shakes. We are introduced as the palace continues to shake. Two Bulettes burrow into the hall.
Xiu moves into the Bulette's square. Torgen attacks the other Bulette. A stone-eye basilisk comes up through the tunnel and targets Rrowthar, Zargosz and Alain are slowed (save ends). Alain throws a blinding bomb at the Basilisk, uses an action point to fire predatory shards at the Basilisk and Bulette. Other Bulette uses earth burrow to pass underneath Torgen, and the Bulette sprays rock and earth at Rrowthar and Torgen. The other Bulette digs away from the shards, sprays Zargosz with rock and dirt and knocks Alain prone. Zargosz summons a crocodile which bites and grabs the basilisk, then is immobilized. Obenharr runs to the statue to try and restore the magical defenses. Torgen hears more creatures coming in throough the tunnels. Magnus uses crushing surge on the Bulette and misses. Galeb Duhr come up from one tunnel and move toward Obenharr, pick up the shattered stones and hurl them at Alain and Torgen.
Xiu uses Bloodbath on Bulette, Torgen charges the Galeb Duhr with Ardent Strike and marks both of them. Basilisk takes predatory shard damage, escapes the crocodile's grab. Rrowthar uses a healing power that blasts the Bulette and heals many of us. Alain is prone, stands up, casts dancing shield on himself, fires positive energy infusion bolt into Bulette that Xiu is riding. Bulette jumps at Rrowthar and hits him.
Quotes of the Evening:
"I turn into a Monitor Lizard because it pleases me."
"It was about protoplasm riding a dinosaur, but you made it something dirty."
Xau has been put into a healing coma by the head of House Jorasco until we can get a piece of the chaos-infused elemental ebony from which the dagger was fused, and there are rumors that it can be found in Goradra Gap. Legend has it that the Gap is a portal to the Elemental Chaos, it translated to "Torn Earth" in a dwarven dialect that lines up with Torgen's prophecy, Baron Jorlann d'Cannith contacted Alain and they were getting report that shipments from the Mror Holds are being disrupted due to trouble in the Gap. House Kundarak asked Magnus to investigate trouble in the homelands around Goradra Gap.
We take an airship to Krona Peak, and the scruffy raven that we noticed observing us a few times in Stormhome does as well. At some point, the raven transforms into Zargosz Duur and explains that he is a Gatekeeper Mystagogue and is headed to the Gap to investigate divination by the Druid Council.
After landing at Krona Peak, we buy 7 magebred horses from House Vadalis so that we'll have backups. We can travel about 50 miles a day, which takes us about a week of travel across the foothills of the Ironroot Mountains. About halfway to our destination, we enter a large clearing, and a rocky protrusion bars our way, with a few large trees ablaze with arcane fire.
Zargosz and Xiu stealthily scout around the protrusion and see a lion-like humanoid from a race none of us have seen before, five sparks of fire dancing around the wounded lion-man, as well as two pillars of fire, a rock elemental of some kind and a fire archon leading them. The lion-man is holding a singed scroll in one paw.
Xiu launches a handspring assault on the Fire Archon, and is inside a cloud of fire and ash. Alain casts a cold fleeting dweomer on Magnus's axe, and he moves up. Zargosz enters a fast stance and moves up as well.
Xiu enters Sidestep Stance focusing on the Archon, uses Acrobatic Strike on him and bloodies him. Torgen charges the Archon with Ardent Strike, but misses. Alain casts Resistive Formula on Xiu, fires Greater Magic Weapon that misses the Archon but infuses Torgen's weapon. One earth elemental moves to interpose between us and the lion-man, the other one rumbles toward Magnus and pounds his fists into the earth, but Magnus resists any damage. The sparks rush in, strike the lion-man and then bounce back out, he takes three hits and one crit, and is alive but badly wounded. Archon blasts Xiu and Zargosz with fire, drawing them to him. Magnus goes into Reign of Steel and charges into the midst of the elementals, drawing an AOO from the Fire Archon, uses his action point for Come and Get It to pull in the Archon, a Fire Elemental, an Earth Elemental and a Spark, destroying the Spark and critting the Archon, nearly killing him. Fire Elemental takes ROS damage, backs up and tries to slam Magnus but misses, the other one fires a lance of flame towards Xiu, Torgen and Zargosz, hitting only Torgen, doing fire damage and immobilizing him. Zargosz takes fire from the tree and the fire elemental's fireburst, then rushes across the battlefield to defend the lion-man and fires Floating Death, a burst of insects, at two of the flame sparks, missing both of them, speeds over to the other two and fires the burst at the other two sparks, destroying them but they explode and scorch Zargosz. He uses action point to call lightning down on the fire archon, fire elemental, earth elemental and Magnus, hitting only the earth elemental. Lion-Man invokes a blessing of Dol Dorn on Zargosz for healing surge +8, then he roars at the sparks and pushes them away, immobilizing them.
Xiu takes 10 fire damage, moves in to attack the Fire Archon and then shifts out of the firestorm. Torgen takes 10 fire damage, draws his hand-axe and misses, uses healing on the lion-man to un-bloody him, then saves against immobile. Alain fires runic resistance at the Archon, killing him and giving fire resistance to Xiu and Magnus. Earth elemental swings and misses Magnus, the other one hits Alain. Sparks break free of immobilization, Magnus uses Shielded Sides to shift and attacks the fire elemental, bloodying it, and marks most of the remaining elementals. Bloodied fire elemental takes ROS and launches a firestorm at Magnus and the earth elemental, bloodying the earth elemental and missing Magnus. The other fire elemental shifts back toward the fiery tree. Zargosz fires a plague of locusts at the earth elemental with furious assault.
Xiu moves to attack earth elemental and very nearly kills it with her Wild Tumble Cut. Torgen takes fire damage, moves over to assist Alain against earth elemental. Alain uses magic weapon on the earth elemental. The other earth elemental dies from ROS, and the one next to Alain and Torgen uses a rumble that hits Alain and shifts him back away from the elemental. The sparks attack the lion-man but miss. Alain hits the elemental with magic weapon. Magnus takes some fire damage, then takes an AOO from the bloodied fire elemental before killing him with inexorable advance. Fire elemental fires another firestorm on Magnus. Zargosz runs between the firestorms and throws storm spike at the earth elemental.
Xiu moves to attack remaining fire elemental. Torgen attacks the earth elemental and gives Alain a healing surge. Alain moves up and misses with Magic Weapon. The elemental misses Alain and Torgen, takes thunder damage that bloodies him. The sparks bloody the lion-man. Magnus shakes off the immobilization, then charges the fire elemental with bull charge for a crit, doing a massive amount of ongoing damage and knocking it prone, bloodying him. Fire elemental takes ROS damage and ongoing damage, and has gone from nearly fully healthy to almost dead, and misses Magnus. Zargosz goes back to help the lion-man with the sparks with a vine burst that destroys them both.
Xiu moves in and kills the fire elemental, Torgen attacks the earth elemental, Alain hits him with repulsion strike. The earth elemental attacks Torgen and misses, then Magnus comes over and kills it.
The lion-man thanks us and says that we saved him the trouble of finding us. He introduces himself as Rrowthar, and says it is his honor to deliver unto us an invitation, and hands us two sheets of vellum. One is a ritual scroll, the other is a letter. The letter reads:
Honor and invitation. Stand forth and be recognized, the invitation has been given, the choice has been made. As heroes of your realm and warriors without equal, you have been chosen for the singular honor of serving the great and ancient city of Argent. Accept this duty and privilege, the world needs you. Obenharr, Last Guardian of Argent. None of us have ever heard of Argent before.
Argent was established in the wake of the Dawn War in agreement with the dragons. We read the scroll and teleport to Argent. We are in a courtyard full of marble statues, a statue of a female dressed in robes overlooks a glowing reflecting pool. An elderly human, Obenharr, welcomes us, and then the whole place shakes. We are introduced as the palace continues to shake. Two Bulettes burrow into the hall.
Xiu moves into the Bulette's square. Torgen attacks the other Bulette. A stone-eye basilisk comes up through the tunnel and targets Rrowthar, Zargosz and Alain are slowed (save ends). Alain throws a blinding bomb at the Basilisk, uses an action point to fire predatory shards at the Basilisk and Bulette. Other Bulette uses earth burrow to pass underneath Torgen, and the Bulette sprays rock and earth at Rrowthar and Torgen. The other Bulette digs away from the shards, sprays Zargosz with rock and dirt and knocks Alain prone. Zargosz summons a crocodile which bites and grabs the basilisk, then is immobilized. Obenharr runs to the statue to try and restore the magical defenses. Torgen hears more creatures coming in throough the tunnels. Magnus uses crushing surge on the Bulette and misses. Galeb Duhr come up from one tunnel and move toward Obenharr, pick up the shattered stones and hurl them at Alain and Torgen.
Xiu uses Bloodbath on Bulette, Torgen charges the Galeb Duhr with Ardent Strike and marks both of them. Basilisk takes predatory shard damage, escapes the crocodile's grab. Rrowthar uses a healing power that blasts the Bulette and heals many of us. Alain is prone, stands up, casts dancing shield on himself, fires positive energy infusion bolt into Bulette that Xiu is riding. Bulette jumps at Rrowthar and hits him.
Quotes of the Evening:
"I turn into a Monitor Lizard because it pleases me."
"It was about protoplasm riding a dinosaur, but you made it something dirty."
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Wyvern's Wake Recap 2: Can't See Shit, Captain
Flamerule 17-18
Weather has been dry but warmer and windy, it takes us a day to sail to Darkwater Promontory. Aramil guides us safely and quickly to our destination, and we spot localized storm clouds. Another ship is drawing nearby, a caravel we know as The Cutlass, old rivals captained by Zan, a half-elf woman, who have beat us out of jobs before. Captain Bril believes that their half-orc first mate was the one following us in Raven's Bluff.
The Promontory is a tall black rock rising up about 60 feet, and there is an island with a small beach, swampy areas and small patches of forest. Aramil begins plotting a course around the whirlpool to get us to the island safely, and Abdul-Hafiz, informed that they aren't natural, offers advice on magical effects like the whirlpool. Aramil offers up prayers to Umberlee, but merely succeeds in getting her attention. Captain Bril tries to inspire the crew, and quickly begins lying to them in order to do so, but is less than convincing. The crew thinks we're going to die. Aramil steps onto the quarterdeck and begins offering up historical stories of success at sea, privateers overcoming the worst that Umbrelee could throw at them, which calms the crew somewhat. This allows Captain Bril to inspire the crew to action, as the ship begins plowing into the storm.
Captain Bril steers us into the storm, and we list into one of the whirlpools. As Breck calls out directions to escape it's pull, Reginald jumps quickly to the other side of the ship, giving orders, fastening the rigging and pulling the sails to get us out of the whirlpool. We land on the shore, somewhat roughly but successfully. Abdul-Hafiz leads the work gang that pulls the ship further off the beach so that it doesn't overturn when the tide goes out. Captain Bril orders the crew to make repairs while we're on land, and to signal us with sunrods if someone comes to board the ship. Aramil uses Nature to find a path to the Promontory, and Reginald sees a thatched hut nearby, causing him to tell Captain Bril that he believes the island might be inhabited.
Breck quietly sneaks over to the hut to scout it out, and she finds a nasty-smelling village full of Bullywugs. It looks like they've eaten some of the sailors that washed up on the beach, and they're chanting something which we can't identify as a major pantheon. Breck leads Abdul-Hafiz up, since he can understand Primordial (which they are speaking) and determine if they are casting a ritual to influence the storm. He doesn't believe it's a ritual, but examines the pictures they're drawing in the sand. Abdul-Hafiz recalls that Makthuum Ngtha is associated with the Far Realm. Breck reports back and, with urging from Abdul-Hafiz and Reginald, they decide to sneak up to join him and then ambush the Bullywugs.
Reginald mutters his Oath of Enmity quietly, selecting the Bullywug Mud Lord for holy vengeance. Aramil moves into position to see the targets. Breck runs out of the woods, charging one of the Bullywugs for 21 hp, bloodying him. Bril charges in next to him and attacks the same Bullywug for 3 hp. Abdul-Hafiz charges over and attacks the same Bullywug, but he misses.
Reginald moves forward and launches Radiant Vengeance on the Bullywug Mud Lord for 5 hp and gains 4 temporary hp. Aramil launches his Orb Master's Incendiary detonation, catching most of the Bullywugs in it for 6 hp and knocking them prone. Breck tries to use King's Castle on a downed Bullywug, but misses. That Bullywug stands and launches a spasmodic hop, flipping behind Breck and Abdul-Hafiz, and another next to the Mud Lord does the same, flanking Breck, and one of them hits her. Bril uses his vicious mockery on the downed and bloodied Bullywug, ending his life with a series of insults. Bullywug Muckers come to attack Abdul-Hafiz for 6 hp. Bullywug Mud Lord moves out of the fire, comes out next to Reginald and belches electricity at Reginald, Bril and Breck as well as one of the Bullywug Twitchers. Bril dodges, but the others all take 10 hp and dazes them. Abdul-Hafiz uses his Sword of Sigils to attack two Muckers and a Twitcher, missing the Twitcher, and then uses an action point to Sword Burst, hitting the other Mucker, and he has bloodied both of them. He places his Aegis of Shielding on the Twitcher.
Reginald attacks the Mud Lord with Aspect of Might, nearly killing him. He uses an action point to use Shared Madness on the other Twitcher for 14 hp, bloodying him and killing the Mud Lord as a secondary effect, and then saves against daze. Aramil moves into the bushes and fires Thunder Wave at Abdul-Hafiz (miss) and three of the Bullywugs for 9 hp, pushing the two Muckers into the fire zone. Breck shifts back away from the Bullywugs and saves against daze. Twitcher shifts back into the fire, the other one moves away, taking 2 hp from Abdul-Hafiz, and they both miss with javelins thrown at Abdul-Hafiz. Bril moves into the fire to attack the Twitcher with his rapier and misses. One of the Muckers takes fire damage, charges Bril, jumping onto him with a Bullywug rush and knocking them both prone for 12 hp, bloodying Bril, but Abdul-Hafiz's mark kills the Mucker. The other Mucker shifts out of the fire and attacks Abdul-Hafiz, missing. Abdul-Hafiz marks the bloodied Twitcher, uses Frostwind blade to kill the remaining Mucker and wound that Twitcher, then he moves over next to the other Twitcher.
Infused with holy energy, Reginald rushes over and flanks the Twitcher with Abdul-Hafiz and kills it with a critical Bond of Pursuit attack. Aramil strides into the flames and attacks the Twitcher with illusory magic, but it resists the effect. Breck takes his second wind. The last Twitcher moves away from Bril, drawing an AOO for 2 hp, and then he hurls a javelin at Abdul-Hafiz with a crit for 9 hp. Bril uses Majestic Word on Breck, removing her bloodied condition. Abdul-Hafiz rushes over to the Twitcher and hits him with a crit, killing him.
After a brief rest, we head deeper into the island. Some of us notice that Aramil and Bril are sinking into quicksand. We throw them ropes, but they exhaust themselves pulling out of the quicksand. We all carry a rope between us, and despite Abdul-Hafiz's insistence that quicksand is everywhere, Reginald keeps us free of any further traps. As we move into a clearing, we can see that the Cutlass is pulling around near the other shore, with torn sails, and they are have not yet reached the island. We begin climbing the hill, and Aramil and Reginald slip, taking some damage on the way up.
As we reach the top of the point, we are sixty feet above the ground and can view the entire island. Reginald sees another ship on the island, and Captain Bril looks through his spyglass and believes it to be a larger pirate ship. Neither Aramil nor Breck sense any spell plague nearby, despite what they were told about the area, but he does spot defensive wards that have broken. Hewn rock stairs lead down into the island. Abdul-Hafiz prepares a sunrod, but Captain Bril, with his darkvision, leads the way. Breck reveals his spellscar when he activates his Sight of the Unseen spell-scarred ability, leading Aramil to tell him "We need to talk."
The ceiling features an elaborate planetarium covered in moss and lichen, and kobold bodies are strewn about the floor, with crabs chewing on them. Abdul-Hafiz scoops up some crabs in a bag, and they begin shrieking, so he slams them into the wall to quiet them. When he sees that they are mottled and cancerous, he dumps them out onto the floor and lights up his sunrod. Reginald doesn't find any signs of injury on them other than the crabs, it looks like they died of natural causes. There are more stairs spiraling down, and doors on the south and west face. Aramil determines that these constellations don't belong to modern-day Faerun, suggesting that they are very old or belong to a different culture.
Weather has been dry but warmer and windy, it takes us a day to sail to Darkwater Promontory. Aramil guides us safely and quickly to our destination, and we spot localized storm clouds. Another ship is drawing nearby, a caravel we know as The Cutlass, old rivals captained by Zan, a half-elf woman, who have beat us out of jobs before. Captain Bril believes that their half-orc first mate was the one following us in Raven's Bluff.
The Promontory is a tall black rock rising up about 60 feet, and there is an island with a small beach, swampy areas and small patches of forest. Aramil begins plotting a course around the whirlpool to get us to the island safely, and Abdul-Hafiz, informed that they aren't natural, offers advice on magical effects like the whirlpool. Aramil offers up prayers to Umberlee, but merely succeeds in getting her attention. Captain Bril tries to inspire the crew, and quickly begins lying to them in order to do so, but is less than convincing. The crew thinks we're going to die. Aramil steps onto the quarterdeck and begins offering up historical stories of success at sea, privateers overcoming the worst that Umbrelee could throw at them, which calms the crew somewhat. This allows Captain Bril to inspire the crew to action, as the ship begins plowing into the storm.
Captain Bril steers us into the storm, and we list into one of the whirlpools. As Breck calls out directions to escape it's pull, Reginald jumps quickly to the other side of the ship, giving orders, fastening the rigging and pulling the sails to get us out of the whirlpool. We land on the shore, somewhat roughly but successfully. Abdul-Hafiz leads the work gang that pulls the ship further off the beach so that it doesn't overturn when the tide goes out. Captain Bril orders the crew to make repairs while we're on land, and to signal us with sunrods if someone comes to board the ship. Aramil uses Nature to find a path to the Promontory, and Reginald sees a thatched hut nearby, causing him to tell Captain Bril that he believes the island might be inhabited.
Breck quietly sneaks over to the hut to scout it out, and she finds a nasty-smelling village full of Bullywugs. It looks like they've eaten some of the sailors that washed up on the beach, and they're chanting something which we can't identify as a major pantheon. Breck leads Abdul-Hafiz up, since he can understand Primordial (which they are speaking) and determine if they are casting a ritual to influence the storm. He doesn't believe it's a ritual, but examines the pictures they're drawing in the sand. Abdul-Hafiz recalls that Makthuum Ngtha is associated with the Far Realm. Breck reports back and, with urging from Abdul-Hafiz and Reginald, they decide to sneak up to join him and then ambush the Bullywugs.
Reginald mutters his Oath of Enmity quietly, selecting the Bullywug Mud Lord for holy vengeance. Aramil moves into position to see the targets. Breck runs out of the woods, charging one of the Bullywugs for 21 hp, bloodying him. Bril charges in next to him and attacks the same Bullywug for 3 hp. Abdul-Hafiz charges over and attacks the same Bullywug, but he misses.
Reginald moves forward and launches Radiant Vengeance on the Bullywug Mud Lord for 5 hp and gains 4 temporary hp. Aramil launches his Orb Master's Incendiary detonation, catching most of the Bullywugs in it for 6 hp and knocking them prone. Breck tries to use King's Castle on a downed Bullywug, but misses. That Bullywug stands and launches a spasmodic hop, flipping behind Breck and Abdul-Hafiz, and another next to the Mud Lord does the same, flanking Breck, and one of them hits her. Bril uses his vicious mockery on the downed and bloodied Bullywug, ending his life with a series of insults. Bullywug Muckers come to attack Abdul-Hafiz for 6 hp. Bullywug Mud Lord moves out of the fire, comes out next to Reginald and belches electricity at Reginald, Bril and Breck as well as one of the Bullywug Twitchers. Bril dodges, but the others all take 10 hp and dazes them. Abdul-Hafiz uses his Sword of Sigils to attack two Muckers and a Twitcher, missing the Twitcher, and then uses an action point to Sword Burst, hitting the other Mucker, and he has bloodied both of them. He places his Aegis of Shielding on the Twitcher.
Reginald attacks the Mud Lord with Aspect of Might, nearly killing him. He uses an action point to use Shared Madness on the other Twitcher for 14 hp, bloodying him and killing the Mud Lord as a secondary effect, and then saves against daze. Aramil moves into the bushes and fires Thunder Wave at Abdul-Hafiz (miss) and three of the Bullywugs for 9 hp, pushing the two Muckers into the fire zone. Breck shifts back away from the Bullywugs and saves against daze. Twitcher shifts back into the fire, the other one moves away, taking 2 hp from Abdul-Hafiz, and they both miss with javelins thrown at Abdul-Hafiz. Bril moves into the fire to attack the Twitcher with his rapier and misses. One of the Muckers takes fire damage, charges Bril, jumping onto him with a Bullywug rush and knocking them both prone for 12 hp, bloodying Bril, but Abdul-Hafiz's mark kills the Mucker. The other Mucker shifts out of the fire and attacks Abdul-Hafiz, missing. Abdul-Hafiz marks the bloodied Twitcher, uses Frostwind blade to kill the remaining Mucker and wound that Twitcher, then he moves over next to the other Twitcher.
Infused with holy energy, Reginald rushes over and flanks the Twitcher with Abdul-Hafiz and kills it with a critical Bond of Pursuit attack. Aramil strides into the flames and attacks the Twitcher with illusory magic, but it resists the effect. Breck takes his second wind. The last Twitcher moves away from Bril, drawing an AOO for 2 hp, and then he hurls a javelin at Abdul-Hafiz with a crit for 9 hp. Bril uses Majestic Word on Breck, removing her bloodied condition. Abdul-Hafiz rushes over to the Twitcher and hits him with a crit, killing him.
After a brief rest, we head deeper into the island. Some of us notice that Aramil and Bril are sinking into quicksand. We throw them ropes, but they exhaust themselves pulling out of the quicksand. We all carry a rope between us, and despite Abdul-Hafiz's insistence that quicksand is everywhere, Reginald keeps us free of any further traps. As we move into a clearing, we can see that the Cutlass is pulling around near the other shore, with torn sails, and they are have not yet reached the island. We begin climbing the hill, and Aramil and Reginald slip, taking some damage on the way up.
As we reach the top of the point, we are sixty feet above the ground and can view the entire island. Reginald sees another ship on the island, and Captain Bril looks through his spyglass and believes it to be a larger pirate ship. Neither Aramil nor Breck sense any spell plague nearby, despite what they were told about the area, but he does spot defensive wards that have broken. Hewn rock stairs lead down into the island. Abdul-Hafiz prepares a sunrod, but Captain Bril, with his darkvision, leads the way. Breck reveals his spellscar when he activates his Sight of the Unseen spell-scarred ability, leading Aramil to tell him "We need to talk."
The ceiling features an elaborate planetarium covered in moss and lichen, and kobold bodies are strewn about the floor, with crabs chewing on them. Abdul-Hafiz scoops up some crabs in a bag, and they begin shrieking, so he slams them into the wall to quiet them. When he sees that they are mottled and cancerous, he dumps them out onto the floor and lights up his sunrod. Reginald doesn't find any signs of injury on them other than the crabs, it looks like they died of natural causes. There are more stairs spiraling down, and doors on the south and west face. Aramil determines that these constellations don't belong to modern-day Faerun, suggesting that they are very old or belong to a different culture.
Wyvern's Wake Recap 1: How bold? Kobold.
Flamerule 13 - Flamerule 17
Bringing wine from Aglarond all the way up to Vesperin. It is cooling down, and is dry, only a few clouds in the sky, calm winds making us go a bit slow.
We find destroyed Cormyr ships, pull up some provisions floating on the surface and give them to our cook. We weigh anchor and send a boat to the rocky outcropping. Aramil uses the captain's spyglass to determine that the sailors on the outcropping are Cormyrean navy, and determines that there are pirates in the water. It looks like a pirate vs. Cormyr navy engagement.
We take a skiff out to the rocky outcropping, and a small, rust-colored ship emerges from cover manned by kobolds. We make for the island, with Breck and Abdul-Hafix rowing somewhat ineffectively. They fire a ball of pitch from their catapult, which misses us, but sends Bril into the water, where sharks nip at him. Aramil creates the ghost sound of the rowboat being hit and destroyed to try and draw the kobolds in. Abdul-Hafiz knocks the sharks away from Bril, allowing him to climb onto the shore.
Breck climbs aboard the island stealthily, keeping the 20 foot peak between herself and the kobolds. Bril brings the boat around to keep it hidden from the kobolds and draws his crossbow. Reginald runs across the island, staying behind the rocky hills. Aramil climbs up onto the 20 foot peak and stays down, trying to avoid being seen. Abdul-Hafiz climbs to the 10 foot level and draws his scimitar. The kobolds pull alongside the island, one of them may have seen Aramil.
Breck throws a dagger with a Deft Strike at one of the kobolds for 13 hp. Bril runs up to the shore to stand behind Breck and shouts out "Rock stranded sailors! Swim to us and gain passage if we live!" Reginald does a flip onto the ship. Aramil holds out his orb of imposition and creates an explosion of flame at the base of their foremast against three kobold sailors, hitting all three of them for 8 hp, bloodying the wounded one. Abdul-Hafiz summons the winds and flies over, landing in the midst of the flame.
Breck leaps onto the ship and uses Riposte Strike on another kobold for 19 hp, bloodying him. Kobold wyrmpriest sends a drake into the air and throws a fiery orb at Abdul-Hafiz for 6 hp. Bril uses vicious mockery on the wyrmpriest, calling out "You height-cursed vermin, if you were a foot taller I'd piss in your face!" Reginald moves up next to the wyrmpriest and calls out his oath of enmity on him, and attacks him with Bond of Pursuit, but he misses. Aramil stands, and with the sea breeze wafting his hair dramatically, he uses illusory ambush on the drake, but he misses, uses his action point to try again and misses again. Abdul-Hafiz uses sword burst to kill one of the bloodied kobolds, wounding the other one. The other wounded one tries to flee and takes an AOO from Abdul-Hafiz. They both move out of the fire and attack Reginald, one of them hits and bloodies him. The kobolds try to release their dogs, but they won't come up into the flame.
Breck uses Riposte Strike on the marked kobold for 13 hp, bloodying him. Kobold wyrmpriest waves his staff, healing them and letting them shift away from our heroes, then breathes fire on Reginald (miss) and Breck and the bloodied kobold for 12 hp, re-bloodying him. Bril climbs up, casts majestic word on Breck and she is not bloodied anymore, then uses stirring shout on the wyrmpriest, but misses as the explosion of pitch causes his words to be lost. Reginald hits the wyrmpriest for 14 hp, gaining hit points from Bril's stirring shout and promises to follow him if he tries to escape. Aramil draws upon his sun elf heritage to teleport to the top of the wyrmpriest's cabin, summons thunderwave on wyrmpriest and marked kobold, but spends an action point to do it again, knocking the marked kobold off the ship, where he grabs onto the edge, and the fire goes out. Abdul-Hafiz draws an AOO from kobold for 9 hp, moves aegis onto wyrmpriest, then uses frostwind blade to hit the bloodied kobold who hit him, and the burst of frost from the wind bloodies the wyrmpriest. One kobold climbs back up and attacks Breck, dodging her riposte strike but missing her, the other kobold hits her for 4 hp. Dogs burst from underneath the deck, drawing AOOs from Breck, and she kills two of the four. The other two bite at Breck for 8 hp.
Breck moves to flank bloodied kobold with Abdul-Hafiz, dealing 14 hp and leaving him just barely standing. The wyrmpriest tries to jump onto the boat, and Reginald crits him with an AOO thanks to his oath of enmity, and he falls into the water, but avoids being eaten by sharks and clambers onto the small boat alongside. Bril gives another Majestic Word on Breck, healing her almost to full, then uses vicious mockery on one of the dogs, killing it. Reginald leaps onto the edge of the boat, balancing on the tip, attacks the wyrmpriest with Focused Fury. Aramil uses illusory ambush on wyrmpriest and misses. Abdul-Hafiz runs down, drawing AOO from kobold and dog, but kills both of them with a Sword Burst. Remaining kobold hits me, pushing him down the stairs, unconscious. Breck quickly avenges him, taking out the last kobold as he tries to jump, then she moves down below and sees a kobold dog keeper filling a bucket off water, she tries to heal Abdul-Hafiz but can't quite wake him up.
The wyrmpriest tries to row and throw Reginald off the boat, knocking him slightly off-balance but he stays on board. Bril runs up onto the ship to use vicious mockery on the wyrmpriest, killing him, orders someone to grab the dog handler. Reginald starts rowing back to the boat, gets to the deck. Aramil uses a gangplank to make a bridge to the island, uses a light spell belowdecks to help with healing. Abdul-Hafiz makes his death save.
Breck tries to stabilize Abdul-Hafiz and gives him his second wind. Bril shouts for the dog keeper to surrender and come with us, and he does so, and Bril orders him to "take me to the captain's hoard." Abdul-Hafiz runs off the ship using Aramil's gangplank. Bril and Breck take the treasure off the ship. Reginald picks up the Cormyrean sailors with the rowboat, and we all head back to the Wyvern's Wake.
The Cormyreans are suspicious of the Drow captain. LJ asks Breck about the treasure chest in Bril's quarters. Bril offers a cask of wine to the crew if they'll get us to our destination on time, then goes to try and make diplomatic overtures to the Cormyrean sailors. The sailors resist his overtures, and he puts Reginald in charge of them for the duration when he expresses concern. LJ and Breck go into the captain's cabin to try and pick the lock on the chest, and they just barely succeed in avoiding the poison trap. LJ steals 5 gp, but Breck resists, leaving 47 gp, a magical amulet and a tome featuring dissected sea creatures.
Later on, Breck "unlocks" the chest for the captain. The amulet of protection +1 goes to Abdul-Hafiz, the tome appears to have anatomy of Sahaugin, Kuo-Toa and other sea creatures. Reginald spends time ministering to the Cormyrean sailors, who worship Torm and appreciate his help, and ask why they're sailing with a drow captain.
Reginald learns that this was a major action to trap pirates, and several of their ships left in pursuit of the pirates. It was a pitched battle and several Cormyrean vessels were lost in the attack. Abdul-Hafiz and Bril play good cop-bad cop with the kobold dog keeper, and we decide, after some debate, to set him on an island with a dagger and a week's worth of food, according to the code of the sea. We sail for three days to reach Raven's Bluff, arriving on 16 Flamerule.
We arrive at the dock, where we have a contact to meet named Kurt Longstride. Raven's Bluff is a very cosmopolitan city, with many races, and Aramil knows that there are entrances to the Underdark, causing him to warn that there is danger, but much opportunity here. LJ and Breck go to gamble, with Reginald as their chaperone. Abdul-Hafiz draws 21 GP from the ship's treasury to send back home, but first he goes with Aramil and Bril to meet Longstride.
Longstride has a dragonborn bodyguard, we meet Longstride, a human with five o'clock shadow and a happy demeanor. The "burst" barrel we gave to the crew causes him to try and dock 40 Gp from our 200 GP price, but Bril negotiates it down, trying to sell "stains" on the ship unsuccessfully but getting us 190 GP and an offer of another job.
Longstride tells us about a Daleship that intercepted the kobold ship that was notified by the bird messenger. He tells us about Darkwater Promontory, a relatively obscure landmark not far from where we were, which is a big tower of rock that was hit by Cormyrean War Wizards, opening up some sort of site. The kobold scavenger ship went there and saw something they wanted, possibly some kind of magical relic. They believe it had something to do with the Spellplague. Longstride works for Lady Nessa, a rising merchant dabbling in spellcraft. Longstride denies us a meeting with Lady Nessa. Captain Bril offers him 30% as a "Finder's Fee" for bringing him the relic. He counter-offers 40%, and Bril asks for provisions to outfit the ship so we can leave tomorrow, and we get to meet Lady Nessa when we get back with the item.
Abdul-Hafiz meets Assam with his 21 gp. He gives me sad news Shelim al-Cador, that the last two caravans of freed slaves have gone missing. Abdul-Hafiz uses history to try and help them find a safer route for future caravans. Captain Bril finds the gamblers, and LJ has gambled and cheated his way to 10 gp. They believe they are being shadowed, but don't spot them, and LJ and Breck agree to help check the streets for information on the relic during the night. They find out a little bit about the Darkwater Promontory, are warned to watch out for the strange weather. Reginald befriends the Cormyrean sailor Ensign Lormac, and then returns to the ship, where he delivers an effective sermon to motivate the crew.
Abdul-Hafiz secure ropes and pulleys, along with provisions, for the trip. Captain Bril goes looking for local theaters to do some research for his bardic trades, and he finds some naughty entertainment. We sail on the morning of Flamerule 17.
Bringing wine from Aglarond all the way up to Vesperin. It is cooling down, and is dry, only a few clouds in the sky, calm winds making us go a bit slow.
We find destroyed Cormyr ships, pull up some provisions floating on the surface and give them to our cook. We weigh anchor and send a boat to the rocky outcropping. Aramil uses the captain's spyglass to determine that the sailors on the outcropping are Cormyrean navy, and determines that there are pirates in the water. It looks like a pirate vs. Cormyr navy engagement.
We take a skiff out to the rocky outcropping, and a small, rust-colored ship emerges from cover manned by kobolds. We make for the island, with Breck and Abdul-Hafix rowing somewhat ineffectively. They fire a ball of pitch from their catapult, which misses us, but sends Bril into the water, where sharks nip at him. Aramil creates the ghost sound of the rowboat being hit and destroyed to try and draw the kobolds in. Abdul-Hafiz knocks the sharks away from Bril, allowing him to climb onto the shore.
Breck climbs aboard the island stealthily, keeping the 20 foot peak between herself and the kobolds. Bril brings the boat around to keep it hidden from the kobolds and draws his crossbow. Reginald runs across the island, staying behind the rocky hills. Aramil climbs up onto the 20 foot peak and stays down, trying to avoid being seen. Abdul-Hafiz climbs to the 10 foot level and draws his scimitar. The kobolds pull alongside the island, one of them may have seen Aramil.
Breck throws a dagger with a Deft Strike at one of the kobolds for 13 hp. Bril runs up to the shore to stand behind Breck and shouts out "Rock stranded sailors! Swim to us and gain passage if we live!" Reginald does a flip onto the ship. Aramil holds out his orb of imposition and creates an explosion of flame at the base of their foremast against three kobold sailors, hitting all three of them for 8 hp, bloodying the wounded one. Abdul-Hafiz summons the winds and flies over, landing in the midst of the flame.
Breck leaps onto the ship and uses Riposte Strike on another kobold for 19 hp, bloodying him. Kobold wyrmpriest sends a drake into the air and throws a fiery orb at Abdul-Hafiz for 6 hp. Bril uses vicious mockery on the wyrmpriest, calling out "You height-cursed vermin, if you were a foot taller I'd piss in your face!" Reginald moves up next to the wyrmpriest and calls out his oath of enmity on him, and attacks him with Bond of Pursuit, but he misses. Aramil stands, and with the sea breeze wafting his hair dramatically, he uses illusory ambush on the drake, but he misses, uses his action point to try again and misses again. Abdul-Hafiz uses sword burst to kill one of the bloodied kobolds, wounding the other one. The other wounded one tries to flee and takes an AOO from Abdul-Hafiz. They both move out of the fire and attack Reginald, one of them hits and bloodies him. The kobolds try to release their dogs, but they won't come up into the flame.
Breck uses Riposte Strike on the marked kobold for 13 hp, bloodying him. Kobold wyrmpriest waves his staff, healing them and letting them shift away from our heroes, then breathes fire on Reginald (miss) and Breck and the bloodied kobold for 12 hp, re-bloodying him. Bril climbs up, casts majestic word on Breck and she is not bloodied anymore, then uses stirring shout on the wyrmpriest, but misses as the explosion of pitch causes his words to be lost. Reginald hits the wyrmpriest for 14 hp, gaining hit points from Bril's stirring shout and promises to follow him if he tries to escape. Aramil draws upon his sun elf heritage to teleport to the top of the wyrmpriest's cabin, summons thunderwave on wyrmpriest and marked kobold, but spends an action point to do it again, knocking the marked kobold off the ship, where he grabs onto the edge, and the fire goes out. Abdul-Hafiz draws an AOO from kobold for 9 hp, moves aegis onto wyrmpriest, then uses frostwind blade to hit the bloodied kobold who hit him, and the burst of frost from the wind bloodies the wyrmpriest. One kobold climbs back up and attacks Breck, dodging her riposte strike but missing her, the other kobold hits her for 4 hp. Dogs burst from underneath the deck, drawing AOOs from Breck, and she kills two of the four. The other two bite at Breck for 8 hp.
Breck moves to flank bloodied kobold with Abdul-Hafiz, dealing 14 hp and leaving him just barely standing. The wyrmpriest tries to jump onto the boat, and Reginald crits him with an AOO thanks to his oath of enmity, and he falls into the water, but avoids being eaten by sharks and clambers onto the small boat alongside. Bril gives another Majestic Word on Breck, healing her almost to full, then uses vicious mockery on one of the dogs, killing it. Reginald leaps onto the edge of the boat, balancing on the tip, attacks the wyrmpriest with Focused Fury. Aramil uses illusory ambush on wyrmpriest and misses. Abdul-Hafiz runs down, drawing AOO from kobold and dog, but kills both of them with a Sword Burst. Remaining kobold hits me, pushing him down the stairs, unconscious. Breck quickly avenges him, taking out the last kobold as he tries to jump, then she moves down below and sees a kobold dog keeper filling a bucket off water, she tries to heal Abdul-Hafiz but can't quite wake him up.
The wyrmpriest tries to row and throw Reginald off the boat, knocking him slightly off-balance but he stays on board. Bril runs up onto the ship to use vicious mockery on the wyrmpriest, killing him, orders someone to grab the dog handler. Reginald starts rowing back to the boat, gets to the deck. Aramil uses a gangplank to make a bridge to the island, uses a light spell belowdecks to help with healing. Abdul-Hafiz makes his death save.
Breck tries to stabilize Abdul-Hafiz and gives him his second wind. Bril shouts for the dog keeper to surrender and come with us, and he does so, and Bril orders him to "take me to the captain's hoard." Abdul-Hafiz runs off the ship using Aramil's gangplank. Bril and Breck take the treasure off the ship. Reginald picks up the Cormyrean sailors with the rowboat, and we all head back to the Wyvern's Wake.
The Cormyreans are suspicious of the Drow captain. LJ asks Breck about the treasure chest in Bril's quarters. Bril offers a cask of wine to the crew if they'll get us to our destination on time, then goes to try and make diplomatic overtures to the Cormyrean sailors. The sailors resist his overtures, and he puts Reginald in charge of them for the duration when he expresses concern. LJ and Breck go into the captain's cabin to try and pick the lock on the chest, and they just barely succeed in avoiding the poison trap. LJ steals 5 gp, but Breck resists, leaving 47 gp, a magical amulet and a tome featuring dissected sea creatures.
Later on, Breck "unlocks" the chest for the captain. The amulet of protection +1 goes to Abdul-Hafiz, the tome appears to have anatomy of Sahaugin, Kuo-Toa and other sea creatures. Reginald spends time ministering to the Cormyrean sailors, who worship Torm and appreciate his help, and ask why they're sailing with a drow captain.
Reginald learns that this was a major action to trap pirates, and several of their ships left in pursuit of the pirates. It was a pitched battle and several Cormyrean vessels were lost in the attack. Abdul-Hafiz and Bril play good cop-bad cop with the kobold dog keeper, and we decide, after some debate, to set him on an island with a dagger and a week's worth of food, according to the code of the sea. We sail for three days to reach Raven's Bluff, arriving on 16 Flamerule.
We arrive at the dock, where we have a contact to meet named Kurt Longstride. Raven's Bluff is a very cosmopolitan city, with many races, and Aramil knows that there are entrances to the Underdark, causing him to warn that there is danger, but much opportunity here. LJ and Breck go to gamble, with Reginald as their chaperone. Abdul-Hafiz draws 21 GP from the ship's treasury to send back home, but first he goes with Aramil and Bril to meet Longstride.
Longstride has a dragonborn bodyguard, we meet Longstride, a human with five o'clock shadow and a happy demeanor. The "burst" barrel we gave to the crew causes him to try and dock 40 Gp from our 200 GP price, but Bril negotiates it down, trying to sell "stains" on the ship unsuccessfully but getting us 190 GP and an offer of another job.
Longstride tells us about a Daleship that intercepted the kobold ship that was notified by the bird messenger. He tells us about Darkwater Promontory, a relatively obscure landmark not far from where we were, which is a big tower of rock that was hit by Cormyrean War Wizards, opening up some sort of site. The kobold scavenger ship went there and saw something they wanted, possibly some kind of magical relic. They believe it had something to do with the Spellplague. Longstride works for Lady Nessa, a rising merchant dabbling in spellcraft. Longstride denies us a meeting with Lady Nessa. Captain Bril offers him 30% as a "Finder's Fee" for bringing him the relic. He counter-offers 40%, and Bril asks for provisions to outfit the ship so we can leave tomorrow, and we get to meet Lady Nessa when we get back with the item.
Abdul-Hafiz meets Assam with his 21 gp. He gives me sad news Shelim al-Cador, that the last two caravans of freed slaves have gone missing. Abdul-Hafiz uses history to try and help them find a safer route for future caravans. Captain Bril finds the gamblers, and LJ has gambled and cheated his way to 10 gp. They believe they are being shadowed, but don't spot them, and LJ and Breck agree to help check the streets for information on the relic during the night. They find out a little bit about the Darkwater Promontory, are warned to watch out for the strange weather. Reginald befriends the Cormyrean sailor Ensign Lormac, and then returns to the ship, where he delivers an effective sermon to motivate the crew.
Abdul-Hafiz secure ropes and pulleys, along with provisions, for the trip. Captain Bril goes looking for local theaters to do some research for his bardic trades, and he finds some naughty entertainment. We sail on the morning of Flamerule 17.
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Game Schedule June - September
June 11th - No Gaming (Jamie, Ben, Paul out)
June 18th - No Gaming - Randy, Paul out of town
June 25th - No Gaming - Randy, Paul, Jamie & Joe out of town
July 2nd - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
July 9th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
July 16th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Jamie, Chris, Randy) - Need to end at 11:00
July 23rd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul or Dan)
July 30th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
August 6th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
August 13th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
August 20th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
August 27th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
September 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
September 10th - Tomb of Horror (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
September 17th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
September 24th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
June 18th - No Gaming - Randy, Paul out of town
June 25th - No Gaming - Randy, Paul, Jamie & Joe out of town
July 2nd - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
July 9th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
July 16th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Jamie, Chris, Randy) - Need to end at 11:00
July 23rd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul or Dan)
July 30th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
August 6th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
August 13th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
August 20th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
August 27th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
September 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
September 10th - Tomb of Horror (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul, Dan)
September 17th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
September 24th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Chris, Randy)
CoL Recap: Cultists in Stormhome
Dravago 27, YK 1000
We have repaired the ship and arrived at Stormhome. We are staying in Stormhome, but not at the resort.
Alain circulates amongst House tradesfolk asking around about dragonmarked individuals, and finds out they're more common in the villas. He recently saw a person in the port area last night getting off a rowing skiff, noticed that he was moving furtively and had some sort of dragonmark. Xau and Xiu hit the streets looking for information, but they're out of their element amongst the very wealthy. Torgen sits on a bench with Magnus to think, remembering our encounters with Brenner, and thinks that he is probably delivering something here, and that we need to be looking for where Brenner is going to meet his contact, or who is his contact.
Xau and Xiu decide to ask around about where a covert meeting might take place, there are docks where House Lyrandar magewrights work on airships and galleons. Underneath that dry dock, a dragonmarked Lyrandar heir is meeting with someone less important, so it is a good possibiilty. Magnus, with assistance from Alain, uses his knowledge of the underground, investigates the sewer system for easy covert entry and exit, and spots three such places in this district.
Xiu checks in with Drenna's message at Sivis, which is dated yesterday, "Brenner arrived Stormhome late last night. Currently in hiding near butcher's at intersection of Dragon & Lightning. On overwatch awaiting further instructions."
Xiu sneaks up to Drenna's hiding spot on the roof of a nearby tanner, spying on the butcher's shop. She finds out he has made one trip to the Sivis message station from the boat, and hasn't left the shop since. With assistance from the group, Magnus casts Thief's Lament on the butcher's shop, while Alain builds a pair of blinding bombs. Xau goes into the Sivis message station as Brenner, retrieves a message for him that says "Agreed. 10 PM. Plaza of the Three Mermaids. -Lord." We have about seven hours to plan. Xiu, with Xau and Magnus, forges a message from Sivis to Brenner, a perfect duplicate of the message that was sent. The message sends him under the dry dock at 8 PM.
Magnus goes to the area, claims to be on a mission for the captain of the Lightning's Fury, and sets a snare ritual. Xau poses as a half-elf in a cloak, but Brenner spots the snare and throws a dagger at Xau, starting the fight.
Xiu charges and pushes Brenner into the snare trap, triggering it and snaring Brenner. Torgen moves in and attacks Brenner, missing. Brenner stands, attacks Torgen and misses, saves and gets free of the snare. Xau crumples to the ground, Alain recognizes that chaos is flowing into him from the dagger in his side. Alain draws an AOO, is blinded, swings and misses with Greater Magic Weapon. Magnus comes in, hits him with a Kneebreaker, bloodying him and slowing him, spends an action point to use inexorable advance and knocks him out.
Torgen grasps the dagger in Xau, pulls it out and is in battle of wills with the dagger. Alain heals the chaos storm wound in Xau, who is stable but unconscious. Magnus grabs dagger sheathe from Brenner, slams it onto the dagger in Torgen's hand and tries to use nail of sealing, which explodes in reaction to the magic. Magnus searches Brenner's Deep Pocket Cloak and finds the sheathe for the dagger, a bolted and magically sealed coffer, and about 7,500 gp, which he turns into platinum using his magic box.
Xiu delivers Xau to House Jorasco, and he is put into their care. We wrap his Deep Pocket Cloak around the dagger, Magnus takes that and the box to House Kundarak and hides it in the sewer system, sending a Sivis message to House Kundarak with clues to its location. Torgen takes Brenner somewhere safe to stash him and leaves Drenna to guard him. Alain hires a Deneith protector to guard Xau and goes to meet him and Xiu at House Jorasco, but they have more than a little trouble convincing Xiu to leave Xau and go to the rendezvous with them. Finally Alain half-badgers half-convinces her by offering the help of Cannith in exchange for Xiu's help fighting "Lord."
Near the Three Mermaids fountain around 10 PM, Xiu and Alain are outside watching, Magnus and Torgen are in the nearby pub. We see someone moving up, he sees that Xiu is not Brenner and summons elementals using his dragonmark of storm, then summons cyclones.
Xiu attacks elemental for 23 hp, killing it, and uses her action point to use Wild Tumble Cut on Lord for 27 hp. Magnus runs out, kills the other elemental minion and summons his armor. Torgen runs out to confront huge Cyclone, finds out one of the "civilians" is armed, and attacks him for 17 hp, before Torgen attacks the Cyclone and misses. Alain recognizes the "civilians" as Stormfront Cultists, and he believes that "Lord" is Torval Enchiliost, head of the Storm Walkers, the cloak & dagger arm of Lyrandar during the war. Cultist fires at Xiu and hits her for 15 hp lightning whip, dragging her back away from Torval. Other Cultist hits Torgen, but can't slide him. Huge Cyclone draws AOO from Torgen, then uses storm burst on Alain and Magnus and misses them, moving next to Xiu. The other Large Cyclone attacks Xiu. Alain is caught in two auras, but moves up and fires flaming crossbow bolt at Torval, hitting him and igniting flame weapons for Magnus, Xiu and Alain.
Torval moves back, summons a Chillfire destroyer in the path. Xiu moves in on the Huge Cyclone and attacks him. Magnus attacks Huge Cyclone, activates Reign of Steel and uses come and get it on Chillfire Destroyer and Cultist, missing both. Torgen is fairly sure that when we smash the Chillfire Destroyer, it will explode. He runs up to the Huge Cyclone and summons Wrath of God. Cultist attacks Torgen with rapier and misses, other Storm Cultist moves up, fires his bow and misses. Huge Cyclone uses stormburst and hits Magnus, Torgen and Stormfront Cultist. Chillfire Destroyer misses Magnus. Alain uses Greater Magic Weapon on Cultist, bloodying him and giving magic weapon to Magnus and Torgen, then shifts away from Chillfire Destroyer.
Torval summons raging aura of electricity that hits Torgen, Magnus and Alain (crit). Xiu attacks Huge Cyclone with Rogue's Luck and bloodies it. Magnus shifts next to Chillfire Destroyer and Huge Cyclone, uses Thicket of Blades on both of them, bloodying the Chillfire and releasing its fire aura. Torgen lays hands on himself, moves up to Cyclone and Chillfire, swings and hits Cyclone. Cultist hits Alain with rapier, bloodying him. Magnus kills the Huge Cyclone with Reign of Steel, Large Cyclone uses stormburst, hitting Alain (crit) and knocking him out and also damaging Torgen and Magnus, then teleports next to Torgen, Magnus and Xiu. Chillfire attacks Magnus. Alain makes a 20 on death save with Rescuer from Magnus, is prone but awake.
Torval moves forward, casts earth rage spirit on Magnus and Torgen, knocking them prone and doing 23 thunder damage. Xiu drops her Brenner disguise to become an elf and handspring assaults Torval and moves behind him. Magnus attacks the Chillfire Destroyer and kills it, causing it to explode in flame and magma. Torgen uses Majestic Word to heal Alain up from bloodied, then lays hands on himself and attacks from prone against the Large Tornado. Stormfront Cultist attacks prone Alain with rapier, bloodying him again. Windfiend Fury (Large Tornado) takes Reign of Steel damage, attacks Magnus with lightning strike and misses. Chillfire Destroyer core explodes, missing Magnus and Alain, hitting Torgen and nearly killing him. Alain spends action point, stands, throws Runic Resistance and Life-Tapping Darts at Torval, uses Restorative Infusion on himself.
Torval misses Xiu with psychic attack, tries to flee and Xiu crits him into unconsciousness. We kill one Stormfront Cultist and the other one gets away. The guards arrive as we are trying to carry Torval away and catch the remaining cultist. The colonel escorts all of us, including Torval and the cultist, to the palace where we'll be treated and interrogated. We're escorted into the court of the Baron of Lyrandar, where she hears evidence from Alain and House Cannith against Torval, with Brenner as a witness. Magnus makes a deal with Brenner for information and the money inside the casket as proof, in exchange for immunity. Brenner admits to hiring House Thuranni to steal Karrnathi funds at Torval's direction, with written notes to back it up. Torval is stripped of his title and his post and held for execution, she apologizes and rewards us, instructing her Seneschal to reimburse Karrnath for 1.4 million gold, gives us 6,000 gp in gems and 10,000 gp in Lyrandar travel. She presents Alain with a suit of Shockweave Armor +3.
We have repaired the ship and arrived at Stormhome. We are staying in Stormhome, but not at the resort.
Alain circulates amongst House tradesfolk asking around about dragonmarked individuals, and finds out they're more common in the villas. He recently saw a person in the port area last night getting off a rowing skiff, noticed that he was moving furtively and had some sort of dragonmark. Xau and Xiu hit the streets looking for information, but they're out of their element amongst the very wealthy. Torgen sits on a bench with Magnus to think, remembering our encounters with Brenner, and thinks that he is probably delivering something here, and that we need to be looking for where Brenner is going to meet his contact, or who is his contact.
Xau and Xiu decide to ask around about where a covert meeting might take place, there are docks where House Lyrandar magewrights work on airships and galleons. Underneath that dry dock, a dragonmarked Lyrandar heir is meeting with someone less important, so it is a good possibiilty. Magnus, with assistance from Alain, uses his knowledge of the underground, investigates the sewer system for easy covert entry and exit, and spots three such places in this district.
Xiu checks in with Drenna's message at Sivis, which is dated yesterday, "Brenner arrived Stormhome late last night. Currently in hiding near butcher's at intersection of Dragon & Lightning. On overwatch awaiting further instructions."
Xiu sneaks up to Drenna's hiding spot on the roof of a nearby tanner, spying on the butcher's shop. She finds out he has made one trip to the Sivis message station from the boat, and hasn't left the shop since. With assistance from the group, Magnus casts Thief's Lament on the butcher's shop, while Alain builds a pair of blinding bombs. Xau goes into the Sivis message station as Brenner, retrieves a message for him that says "Agreed. 10 PM. Plaza of the Three Mermaids. -Lord." We have about seven hours to plan. Xiu, with Xau and Magnus, forges a message from Sivis to Brenner, a perfect duplicate of the message that was sent. The message sends him under the dry dock at 8 PM.
Magnus goes to the area, claims to be on a mission for the captain of the Lightning's Fury, and sets a snare ritual. Xau poses as a half-elf in a cloak, but Brenner spots the snare and throws a dagger at Xau, starting the fight.
Xiu charges and pushes Brenner into the snare trap, triggering it and snaring Brenner. Torgen moves in and attacks Brenner, missing. Brenner stands, attacks Torgen and misses, saves and gets free of the snare. Xau crumples to the ground, Alain recognizes that chaos is flowing into him from the dagger in his side. Alain draws an AOO, is blinded, swings and misses with Greater Magic Weapon. Magnus comes in, hits him with a Kneebreaker, bloodying him and slowing him, spends an action point to use inexorable advance and knocks him out.
Torgen grasps the dagger in Xau, pulls it out and is in battle of wills with the dagger. Alain heals the chaos storm wound in Xau, who is stable but unconscious. Magnus grabs dagger sheathe from Brenner, slams it onto the dagger in Torgen's hand and tries to use nail of sealing, which explodes in reaction to the magic. Magnus searches Brenner's Deep Pocket Cloak and finds the sheathe for the dagger, a bolted and magically sealed coffer, and about 7,500 gp, which he turns into platinum using his magic box.
Xiu delivers Xau to House Jorasco, and he is put into their care. We wrap his Deep Pocket Cloak around the dagger, Magnus takes that and the box to House Kundarak and hides it in the sewer system, sending a Sivis message to House Kundarak with clues to its location. Torgen takes Brenner somewhere safe to stash him and leaves Drenna to guard him. Alain hires a Deneith protector to guard Xau and goes to meet him and Xiu at House Jorasco, but they have more than a little trouble convincing Xiu to leave Xau and go to the rendezvous with them. Finally Alain half-badgers half-convinces her by offering the help of Cannith in exchange for Xiu's help fighting "Lord."
Near the Three Mermaids fountain around 10 PM, Xiu and Alain are outside watching, Magnus and Torgen are in the nearby pub. We see someone moving up, he sees that Xiu is not Brenner and summons elementals using his dragonmark of storm, then summons cyclones.
Xiu attacks elemental for 23 hp, killing it, and uses her action point to use Wild Tumble Cut on Lord for 27 hp. Magnus runs out, kills the other elemental minion and summons his armor. Torgen runs out to confront huge Cyclone, finds out one of the "civilians" is armed, and attacks him for 17 hp, before Torgen attacks the Cyclone and misses. Alain recognizes the "civilians" as Stormfront Cultists, and he believes that "Lord" is Torval Enchiliost, head of the Storm Walkers, the cloak & dagger arm of Lyrandar during the war. Cultist fires at Xiu and hits her for 15 hp lightning whip, dragging her back away from Torval. Other Cultist hits Torgen, but can't slide him. Huge Cyclone draws AOO from Torgen, then uses storm burst on Alain and Magnus and misses them, moving next to Xiu. The other Large Cyclone attacks Xiu. Alain is caught in two auras, but moves up and fires flaming crossbow bolt at Torval, hitting him and igniting flame weapons for Magnus, Xiu and Alain.
Torval moves back, summons a Chillfire destroyer in the path. Xiu moves in on the Huge Cyclone and attacks him. Magnus attacks Huge Cyclone, activates Reign of Steel and uses come and get it on Chillfire Destroyer and Cultist, missing both. Torgen is fairly sure that when we smash the Chillfire Destroyer, it will explode. He runs up to the Huge Cyclone and summons Wrath of God. Cultist attacks Torgen with rapier and misses, other Storm Cultist moves up, fires his bow and misses. Huge Cyclone uses stormburst and hits Magnus, Torgen and Stormfront Cultist. Chillfire Destroyer misses Magnus. Alain uses Greater Magic Weapon on Cultist, bloodying him and giving magic weapon to Magnus and Torgen, then shifts away from Chillfire Destroyer.
Torval summons raging aura of electricity that hits Torgen, Magnus and Alain (crit). Xiu attacks Huge Cyclone with Rogue's Luck and bloodies it. Magnus shifts next to Chillfire Destroyer and Huge Cyclone, uses Thicket of Blades on both of them, bloodying the Chillfire and releasing its fire aura. Torgen lays hands on himself, moves up to Cyclone and Chillfire, swings and hits Cyclone. Cultist hits Alain with rapier, bloodying him. Magnus kills the Huge Cyclone with Reign of Steel, Large Cyclone uses stormburst, hitting Alain (crit) and knocking him out and also damaging Torgen and Magnus, then teleports next to Torgen, Magnus and Xiu. Chillfire attacks Magnus. Alain makes a 20 on death save with Rescuer from Magnus, is prone but awake.
Torval moves forward, casts earth rage spirit on Magnus and Torgen, knocking them prone and doing 23 thunder damage. Xiu drops her Brenner disguise to become an elf and handspring assaults Torval and moves behind him. Magnus attacks the Chillfire Destroyer and kills it, causing it to explode in flame and magma. Torgen uses Majestic Word to heal Alain up from bloodied, then lays hands on himself and attacks from prone against the Large Tornado. Stormfront Cultist attacks prone Alain with rapier, bloodying him again. Windfiend Fury (Large Tornado) takes Reign of Steel damage, attacks Magnus with lightning strike and misses. Chillfire Destroyer core explodes, missing Magnus and Alain, hitting Torgen and nearly killing him. Alain spends action point, stands, throws Runic Resistance and Life-Tapping Darts at Torval, uses Restorative Infusion on himself.
Torval misses Xiu with psychic attack, tries to flee and Xiu crits him into unconsciousness. We kill one Stormfront Cultist and the other one gets away. The guards arrive as we are trying to carry Torval away and catch the remaining cultist. The colonel escorts all of us, including Torval and the cultist, to the palace where we'll be treated and interrogated. We're escorted into the court of the Baron of Lyrandar, where she hears evidence from Alain and House Cannith against Torval, with Brenner as a witness. Magnus makes a deal with Brenner for information and the money inside the casket as proof, in exchange for immunity. Brenner admits to hiring House Thuranni to steal Karrnathi funds at Torval's direction, with written notes to back it up. Torval is stripped of his title and his post and held for execution, she apologizes and rewards us, instructing her Seneschal to reimburse Karrnath for 1.4 million gold, gives us 6,000 gp in gems and 10,000 gp in Lyrandar travel. She presents Alain with a suit of Shockweave Armor +3.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
CoL Recap: Demons in the Air
Dravago 26, YK 1000
We are boarding an airship (Lightning's Fury) to Stormhome. We are given 2000 gold for operating expenses, give 19 pp to each member of the party, keep just over 200 in party treasure. Alchemical preparation: (3) Clearsense Powder (Lvl 11), (2) Tracking Dust (Lvl 4), (10) Suppression Crystals (Lvl 4). Magnus returns from an errand and we board an airship. Lightning's Fury is a smaller corsair type airship, armed and fast but without as much passenger room as a standard airship. The journey will take us 12 hours.
Demons materialize on the ship, Torgen spots them and everyone but Alain hears cries of alarm and pain from belowdecks. Xiu comes out and tells Alain what's going on, then heads up to the deck. Chasme demon gores the captain badly. Another one claws and kills a half-elf on the way to attacking Torgen and Xiu. Alain climbs up to the deck, moves in next to Torgen and Xiu and misses the Chasme demon with a staff attack. Magnus gets up, grabs his shield and begins making his way up. Torgen uses Wrath of God to enhance damage for Xiu and Alain. Xau heads belowdecks and finds a fire demon setting fire below. Lyrandar crewmen begin making their way below to regain control of the ship. The Captain draws her rapier and swings at Chasme demon that gored her, it bats it aside dismissively and sneers Abyssal at her.
Xiu does a handspring assault across the deck and stabs the Chasme demon that is attacking the captain. It responds by buzzing its wings and dazing Xiu and the captain. The other one tries to buzz Alain and Torgen, succeeds with Alain. Alain fires Predatory Shards at Chasme demon, and then falls unconscious due to buzzing. Magnus runs up to Shadow Demon, drawing an attack of opportunity which he resists with Unbreakable. Below decks, the Immolith intensifies its flame, making more smoke and fire. Torgen tries to wake up Alain, but is unsuccessful, he attacks Chasme demon. Xau rolls between the Chasme demon's legs to flank with Torgen and attacks with Trickster's Blade, bloodying the Chasme Demon. Captain hits the other Chasme demon, Priest blasts the Chasme demon with lightning ineffectively. Shadow Demon attacks Magnus, who is still vulnerable from running, with void rake.
Shadow Demon comes above decks and attacks Torgen. Xiu charges other Chasme, crits and bloodies it, saves vs. daze. Chasme demon attacks Torgen with a crit, activating the regeneration on his armor. Other Chasme gores the captain again. Alain wakes up. Magnus attacks Shadow Demon twice. Torgen marks Shadow Demon, unleashes arc of vengeance on Chasme demon (miss) and Shadow Demon (hit). causing the Shadow Demon to manifest fully on this plane. Xau moves in to attack the Shadow Demon with Bat Aside, knocking the Shadow Demon and Chasme demon down. Lyrandar priest fires lightning blast and misses Chasme demon.
Shadow Demons attack Torgen and Magnus. Xiu attacks Chasme demon with two katar strikes. Chasme demon buzzes Xiu and Captain and flies off the ship, the other Chasme demon fails to buzz, flies up, taking attack of opportunity from Alain. Alain fires Life-Tapping darts, missing Shadow Demon for half damage and healing Torgen, gives dancing shield to Torgen. Magnus takes second wind, hits the other Shadow Demon. Immolith emerges on deck to attack Magnus with a curse, slowing him. Torgen swings and misses at Shadow Demon, marks the Shadow Demon. Xau leaps into the elemental ring, slingshots up and lands on the Chasme demon, kills it and lands on his feet next to Torgen. Captain uses dragonmark to storm strike the remaining Chasme and drag it back to the ship, crewmen fires an arrow at it and misses.
Shadow Demons attacks Magnus below decks, other one stands and attacks Torgen. Xiu balances on the railing next to the Chasme demon and kills it, is no longer unconscious. Alain misses with magic weapon, uses curative admixture on Torgen. Magnus attacks the Shadow Demon below decks, saves against slow and is now on fire. Immolith crits Magnus, he uses his wyrmshield, but is grabbed by fiery tendril. Xau crits the Shadow Demon and bloodies him, slides him off the ship. Captain goes below decks, dodges past Shadow Demon thanks to Magnus's mark and goes into the cabin, they summon the air elemental to attack the Immolith. Lyrandar priest blasts Shadow Demon with lightning.
Shadow Demon below deck attacks Magnus, Shadow Demon above deck turns into cloud of shadow, dealing damage to Torgen and effectively blinding everyone on the top deck. then flies away. Xiu goes below decks, shifts form into a Shadow Demon, doesn't fool him but attacks him. Alain fires two attacks, doing nothing, and gives regeneration infusion to Magnus. Immolith squeezes past Magnus, taking an attack of opportunity. Torgen attacks the Shadow Demon and misses. Xau runs through lightning, stabs Shadow Demon and bloodies it. Captain shifts back away from fiery aura and takes second wind. The elemental discharges electrical particles to hit Shadow Demon, Immolith, Xau and Magnus. The Captain and helmsmen warn us that there's a big boom coming, and we should get out of the way.
Shadow Demon claws Torgen, one above decks kills the priest. Xiu takes fire damage, takes crit from Immolith when she goes above decks, Immolith takes attack of opportunity from Magnus, then charges the Shadow Demon above decks. Alain uses restorative infusion on Magnus and fires crossbow bolt at Shadow Demon. Magnus uses defensive resurgence, tries to get free of grab but is still grabbed, uses thicket of blades on Shadow Demon and Immolith but misses them. Immolith takes reign of steel damage, bloodying him, attacks the helmsman and takes an attack of opportunity from Magnus, drags the helmsmen into his fire aura. Torgen uses strength from valor on Shadow Demon (crit) and Immolith (hit). Xau hits the Shadow Demon, then runs out of the lightning area. The helmsmen tells the captain how to activate the big boom, and a burst of lightning hits Magnus, the Immolith and the Shadow Demon, nearly killing the two remaining demons. Helmsmen tries to blast the Immolith and misses.
Shadow Demon attacks Torgen, the other one attacks Xiu. Xiu attacks Shadow Demon, moves back and uses action point to use Wild Tumble Cut. Alain heals Torgen, moves above decks and uses lightning sphere on Shadow Demon above decks. Magnus kills the below decks Shadow Demon and the Immolith in a swinging axe kill. Torgen attacks the remaining Shadow Demon after coming up on deck. Xau moves up, flanks with Xiu and attacks for a lot of damage, but doesn't kill him. Crew puts the flaming airship into a dive toward the ocean below.
Shadow Demon hits Torgen, Xiu kills it with Bloodbath. The airship is flown down to put out the fire by dipping into the water. Torgen and Alain know that the demons were summoned through a symbol that Alain recognizes as one commonly employed by the Lords of Dust.
We are boarding an airship (Lightning's Fury) to Stormhome. We are given 2000 gold for operating expenses, give 19 pp to each member of the party, keep just over 200 in party treasure. Alchemical preparation: (3) Clearsense Powder (Lvl 11), (2) Tracking Dust (Lvl 4), (10) Suppression Crystals (Lvl 4). Magnus returns from an errand and we board an airship. Lightning's Fury is a smaller corsair type airship, armed and fast but without as much passenger room as a standard airship. The journey will take us 12 hours.
Demons materialize on the ship, Torgen spots them and everyone but Alain hears cries of alarm and pain from belowdecks. Xiu comes out and tells Alain what's going on, then heads up to the deck. Chasme demon gores the captain badly. Another one claws and kills a half-elf on the way to attacking Torgen and Xiu. Alain climbs up to the deck, moves in next to Torgen and Xiu and misses the Chasme demon with a staff attack. Magnus gets up, grabs his shield and begins making his way up. Torgen uses Wrath of God to enhance damage for Xiu and Alain. Xau heads belowdecks and finds a fire demon setting fire below. Lyrandar crewmen begin making their way below to regain control of the ship. The Captain draws her rapier and swings at Chasme demon that gored her, it bats it aside dismissively and sneers Abyssal at her.
Xiu does a handspring assault across the deck and stabs the Chasme demon that is attacking the captain. It responds by buzzing its wings and dazing Xiu and the captain. The other one tries to buzz Alain and Torgen, succeeds with Alain. Alain fires Predatory Shards at Chasme demon, and then falls unconscious due to buzzing. Magnus runs up to Shadow Demon, drawing an attack of opportunity which he resists with Unbreakable. Below decks, the Immolith intensifies its flame, making more smoke and fire. Torgen tries to wake up Alain, but is unsuccessful, he attacks Chasme demon. Xau rolls between the Chasme demon's legs to flank with Torgen and attacks with Trickster's Blade, bloodying the Chasme Demon. Captain hits the other Chasme demon, Priest blasts the Chasme demon with lightning ineffectively. Shadow Demon attacks Magnus, who is still vulnerable from running, with void rake.
Shadow Demon comes above decks and attacks Torgen. Xiu charges other Chasme, crits and bloodies it, saves vs. daze. Chasme demon attacks Torgen with a crit, activating the regeneration on his armor. Other Chasme gores the captain again. Alain wakes up. Magnus attacks Shadow Demon twice. Torgen marks Shadow Demon, unleashes arc of vengeance on Chasme demon (miss) and Shadow Demon (hit). causing the Shadow Demon to manifest fully on this plane. Xau moves in to attack the Shadow Demon with Bat Aside, knocking the Shadow Demon and Chasme demon down. Lyrandar priest fires lightning blast and misses Chasme demon.
Shadow Demons attack Torgen and Magnus. Xiu attacks Chasme demon with two katar strikes. Chasme demon buzzes Xiu and Captain and flies off the ship, the other Chasme demon fails to buzz, flies up, taking attack of opportunity from Alain. Alain fires Life-Tapping darts, missing Shadow Demon for half damage and healing Torgen, gives dancing shield to Torgen. Magnus takes second wind, hits the other Shadow Demon. Immolith emerges on deck to attack Magnus with a curse, slowing him. Torgen swings and misses at Shadow Demon, marks the Shadow Demon. Xau leaps into the elemental ring, slingshots up and lands on the Chasme demon, kills it and lands on his feet next to Torgen. Captain uses dragonmark to storm strike the remaining Chasme and drag it back to the ship, crewmen fires an arrow at it and misses.
Shadow Demons attacks Magnus below decks, other one stands and attacks Torgen. Xiu balances on the railing next to the Chasme demon and kills it, is no longer unconscious. Alain misses with magic weapon, uses curative admixture on Torgen. Magnus attacks the Shadow Demon below decks, saves against slow and is now on fire. Immolith crits Magnus, he uses his wyrmshield, but is grabbed by fiery tendril. Xau crits the Shadow Demon and bloodies him, slides him off the ship. Captain goes below decks, dodges past Shadow Demon thanks to Magnus's mark and goes into the cabin, they summon the air elemental to attack the Immolith. Lyrandar priest blasts Shadow Demon with lightning.
Shadow Demon below deck attacks Magnus, Shadow Demon above deck turns into cloud of shadow, dealing damage to Torgen and effectively blinding everyone on the top deck. then flies away. Xiu goes below decks, shifts form into a Shadow Demon, doesn't fool him but attacks him. Alain fires two attacks, doing nothing, and gives regeneration infusion to Magnus. Immolith squeezes past Magnus, taking an attack of opportunity. Torgen attacks the Shadow Demon and misses. Xau runs through lightning, stabs Shadow Demon and bloodies it. Captain shifts back away from fiery aura and takes second wind. The elemental discharges electrical particles to hit Shadow Demon, Immolith, Xau and Magnus. The Captain and helmsmen warn us that there's a big boom coming, and we should get out of the way.
Shadow Demon claws Torgen, one above decks kills the priest. Xiu takes fire damage, takes crit from Immolith when she goes above decks, Immolith takes attack of opportunity from Magnus, then charges the Shadow Demon above decks. Alain uses restorative infusion on Magnus and fires crossbow bolt at Shadow Demon. Magnus uses defensive resurgence, tries to get free of grab but is still grabbed, uses thicket of blades on Shadow Demon and Immolith but misses them. Immolith takes reign of steel damage, bloodying him, attacks the helmsman and takes an attack of opportunity from Magnus, drags the helmsmen into his fire aura. Torgen uses strength from valor on Shadow Demon (crit) and Immolith (hit). Xau hits the Shadow Demon, then runs out of the lightning area. The helmsmen tells the captain how to activate the big boom, and a burst of lightning hits Magnus, the Immolith and the Shadow Demon, nearly killing the two remaining demons. Helmsmen tries to blast the Immolith and misses.
Shadow Demon attacks Torgen, the other one attacks Xiu. Xiu attacks Shadow Demon, moves back and uses action point to use Wild Tumble Cut. Alain heals Torgen, moves above decks and uses lightning sphere on Shadow Demon above decks. Magnus kills the below decks Shadow Demon and the Immolith in a swinging axe kill. Torgen attacks the remaining Shadow Demon after coming up on deck. Xau moves up, flanks with Xiu and attacks for a lot of damage, but doesn't kill him. Crew puts the flaming airship into a dive toward the ocean below.
Shadow Demon hits Torgen, Xiu kills it with Bloodbath. The airship is flown down to put out the fire by dipping into the water. Torgen and Alain know that the demons were summoned through a symbol that Alain recognizes as one commonly employed by the Lords of Dust.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Wandering Wolves: And In the Spring...
Olarune 28 - Eyre 25, YK 1000
Almost two months pass, as winter finally gives way to spring on Eberron. The Wolves' Reward remains busy, although it does lose some of its business to Stormhome, as the nicer weather encourages some of the idle rich to travel there for a bit of resort living.
With the prodding by William, and almost no argument from Diarmand, the security arrangement at the Wolves' Reward is changed. Maresh, healed back almost fully by House Jorasco experts, takes on the role of Head of Security at the casino, with Diarmand serving as his deputy. The result is tighter security overall and a much closer eye on the subversive elements that William might despise, but Pel and Lysander subtly encourage in order to cultivate information trafficking. Maresh's tactical mind and attention to detail results in tight security, but Diarmand takes on more of a wandering rogue role at the bars and tables, keeping his ear out for anything juicy that might require the attention of Maresh or, more often, Pel or Lysander.
Events are hardly quiet on Galifar's Hope, either. Though the Wolves aren't officially involved, they do hear a lot of chatter from diplomats and their aides in the bars, especially with Pel adopting different identities to listen to different people.
The good news is that the treaty that ended the Sigilstar conflict has been extended until the end of the month of Dravago, which will also be the end of spring. Trade routes are being reopened, and most of the ambassadors are optimistic that the treaty will be extended into summer, and then indefinitely, before the end of Dravago. As of the month of Therendor, the Sigilstar Alliance is officially disbanded, and many of those recruited into military service are sent back to civilian life, including the airship Golden Dragon, which is being converted into a grand diplomatic vessel to be berthed at Galifar's Hope as a transport for ambassadors.
There's still some tension in the ambassadorial meetings, however. One of the minor bones of contention is that Scabbard, ambassador for the Lord of Blades, is asking for permission to defend Mournland borders against looters, which they say is a violation of their sovereignty, and prevents them from establishing any kind of stable, non-violent nation for warforged. In exchange, the other nations want the Lord of Blades to dispatch warforged to search for bodies, equipment, information from the war era and ship it back to those nations. However, the sticking point is that they don't trust the Lord of Blades, and they want to send inspectors of their own to lead these missions, which is unacceptable, according to Scabbard. The Lord of Blades views this as nothing more than espionage under a cover of recovering lost national property, and to be fair, he's probably more right than wrong.
More importantly, things are really heating up between Aundair and Thrane, and there are days when their ambassadorial staff aren't even talking to one another. Security has even had to break up a few near-brawls in The Wanderer's Prospect and Rorsa's Den. Aundair assumed that the end of the war with Droaam was going to see Thaliost returned to them, and they insist that regardless of what happened with the war, Thrane owes it to them to return that city back. Thrane, naturally, does not see it that way. Ambassador Neya ir'Krell has made a few remarks about "If we have to take it, we will" that Ambassador Prince ir'Wynarn insists are no less than calls for war. Currently, Brelish Ambassador Kemble is the voice of reason for Neya, and Karrnathi Ambassador Sedge Avadarrn is the voice of reason for Prince ir'Wynarn, but the tensions run higher every day. Both have privately expressed that an Aundarian-Thrane conflict could be the match that re-ignites the Last War, and this is exactly the kind of thing Galifar's Hope was built to avoid.
Perhaps the most notable event for the Wolves, if not for Khorvaire as a whole, is the spring wedding of Lysander Llywellyn d'Phiarlan and Arenydee d'Phiarlan. The lavish ceremony is held in Cloudpool Park in Skyway in Sharn, with a reception at the Azure Gateway Restaurant. There are performances by House Phiarlan, and the ceremony is officiated by Baron Elvinor herself. Many of the Wolves friends and allies from their adventures are in attendance. As for the honeymoon? Only Lysander and Arenydee know, but they return to the Wolves' Reward happy, healthy and with perhaps a few new scrapes indicating an adventure or two along with their vacation in the month of Eyre.
Luggoth:
Though he may not tell the Wolves about it, Luggoth has been making friends, or at least acquaintances, in a variety of places. During his time in Passage, he was approached by a Tiefling who called himself Therin and said that he was a representative of The Order of Q'annhyrde. Therin endeared himself to Luggoth, despite his sinister exterior, by expressing nothing but disdain for the Prophecy, the "arrogant" Dragons who "mostly invented it" and the Demons who "foolishly follow the plans their enemies the Dragons lay out for them." Therin told Luggoth that he represented a group that thought it was the time of Mortals, not Dragons and Demons, and that Luggoth should reject what the Prophecy and its advocates told him, and just live for the moment.
Since then, Therin has visited Luggoth a few times, offering up names of contacts in various places allied with his organization, which some might refer to as a cult, although they deliberately eschew any religious trappings or indeed worship of anything. This includes Kira, a Tiefling Wizard of no small power who makes her home in Stormreach in Xen'drik and throws frequent parties for members of The Order. When Luggoth mentioned that the Wolves might be going to Xen'drik for a job or two, Therin gave him a half-dozen invitations to Kira's party at the beginning of Dravago.
Luggoth knows that Therin is sinister, perhaps even evil, but his nihilistic views fit in nicely with some of Luggoth's, and having someone tell him that he's not destined to do anything horrible (or even great) is something of a relief.
On the other hand, Savannah absolutely despises Therin, and has stopped just short of branding him a heretic, knowing that to do so might drive Luggoth away. However, she has put Luggoth in touch with Father Mizar Talandro, a retired paladin of the Silver Flame who was the priest who brought Savannah and Borgath to Sharn, and is a shifter himself.
Mizar Talandro is a shifter in his early sixties who was once a paladin of the Silver Flame, but has now settled into the role of a traveling priest. Unlike many shifters, he holds no grudge against the Silver Flame, in large part because of what happened to his family during the Inquisition. In 840 YK, about a hundred years before Mizar was born, his family was nearly wiped out by the lycanthropic plague infecting Thrane. Only the intervention of the Inquisition saved Mizar's great-grandmother, who was adopted by the Talandro family. Mizar's branch of the family, though shifters all, were brought up to worship in the faith and to despise the lycanthropes that had nearly killed all of them.
In his youth, Mizar was a fiery crusader against demonic and lycanthropic influences, but time and experience has mellowed him. He still believes in the existence of evil, but rather than fighting with swords, he tries to fight with words and thoughts, as he believes that no one mortal is beyond salvation. He also believes that their salvation is ultimately up to them, and all he can offer is guidance. Though he speaks softly and intelligently as a priest, when talking with other adventurers, who can tell stories with the best of them, and his priestly veneer drops to reveal the former adventurer who raided dungeons and battled monsters across the face of Khorvaire. Lysander actually finds him to be quite entertaining and full of stories, and William can talk to him warrior to warrior with little difficulty.
He talks with Luggoth about the struggles with violence, with destiny and with religion. As a shifter and former adventurer, his approach to the Silver Flame is much more palatable to Luggoth, although the life he offers is one that is more restrained and more guarded than the one that Therin suggests.
William
There is a new addition to the House Deneith complement at the Wolves' Reward. Karola d'Deneith, an 18-year-old dragonmarked heir from an influential bloodline, has come to continue her training as a blademark under the personal guidance of Maresh d'Deneith. Uncle Maresh also tipped off William that Karola is someone that his mother would very much like William to marry, although she knows better than to try and push them together. Instead, she has sent Karola to train under Maresh, where she's likely to see William quite a bit.
Karola, for her part, is as tough as one would expect from a Deneith heir, and very eager to please Maresh, whose tactical brilliance she has studied in school. After meeting William, she has developed an obvious crush on him, thanks in no small part to tales told by Sharri d'Deneith. However, she doesn't try to win William's affections with flirtation of a standard kind... instead, she's constantly challenging him to combats in the training hall. And constantly losing, because while she's a promising young Blademark, she's nowhere near William's skill level.
Early in this month (Eyre), Lalia d'Deneith, one of the twins who serves as the leading Sentinel Marshals in Sharn, reviewed William's application to become a Sentinel Marshl. With recommendations from General Karlach and his work with Vadis and Orlok, he has been accepted into the Sentinel Marshals and made deputy to Resolute. This still grants him plenty of independence, it just means that from time to time, Resolute will check in on him and might request that William accompany him on missions.
The next such mission is one that William, and the Wolves, will probably enjoy. Halas Martain, formerly of the Wayfinder Foundation, is wanted for his part in the slaughter of a Korranberg expedition aboard the Shining Dragonfly. Information has reached the Sentinel Marshals that Martain has been spotted in the jungles of Xen'drik, and given that the Wolves have met Martain, and were there when the massacre happened, Resolute has asked for their help in tracking down Martain and bringing him in to be questioned. The Wolves have hazy memories that Martain was transformed into a frog, but they don't remember why they thought that, and clearly if he's been spotted in Xen'drik, it's not true in any case.
Lysander
Probably the most notable event in Lysander's life is his successful marriage to Arenydee, who is now officially Arenydee Llywellyn d'Phiarlan. It's up to you where the two of them went on their honeymoon, and what adventures they got up to.
Lysander is given a wedding gift from his mother, a Songbow of Vanishment +4 that is a family heirloom, and has a proud history of use by the bards of the Elorrenthi family dating back over twenty thousand years to the days before the Mark of Shadow manifested, when the Phiarlan line were spies and mediators for the court of Aerenal at its height. Rumor has it that there is a songblade with an even more powerful enchantment that was the companion to the bow, but the conflicting stories and gaps in the tales make it hard to determine where it might be now. Smart money is either in Xen'drik, Aerenal or perhaps even Argonnessen.
Pel
Pel has been quite busy in the past two months, spending days in different identities and different cities, and even in different nations. His protectorate of organized crime is mainly in Sharn, but Boromar ties back to the Talenta Plains, the Daask tie back to Droaam and the Tyrants' expansion under the guidance of Vadis has left broken tendrils throughout Khorvaire that Pel has been trying to snip off for good.
The Boromar have been mostly moving in on the Sharn City Council, increasing their political power. They have managed to take the seat that was once Sava Kharisa's, playing on the distrust of "Councilor Pel," and they have discovered the truth about Councilor Kilik, who is an invention of the Tyrants, providing them with blackmail to neutralize one of their most powerful political opponents. There are only two councilors left who effectively oppose Boromar influence on the council: Hruit, the powerful druid from Middle Dura, and Borian Haldorak, an older dwarf who represents Upper Dura. Both of these men have power and secrets of their own, but Pel has been ordered to keep his ears open for potential attempts at blackmailing or eliminating them by the Boromars.
The Daask, though nearly broken by Vadis's machinations, have begun recovering thanks to the weakening of the Tyrants and the restoration of trade routes between Breland and Droaam. Muscle and money is coming in from Droaam once more. In fact, the Daask have a few bookies and enforcers working at the Wolves' Reward, with the protection of Ambassador Crezyan Rrac. Lysander and Pel are able to keep tabs on them fairly easily through their own networks, and the Daask provide some useful information, so their presence is tolerated. For now.
The Tyrants, meanwhile, under the guidance of their new Tyrant One and a mostly new council, are keeping a very low profile. Only their most profitable brothels and information-gathering operations are still running, and nothing that draws the attention of the Watch is operating right now. Pel keeps his eye on them because he knows, better than most, what they're capable of, and how quickly they could become a threat, but mostly he's spending his time eliminating the expansion his father made into other nations that could come back to threaten Brelish interests, rather than focusing on their minimal operations in Sharn.
Pel has a flow of information coming to him at all times. Of particular interest, he has heard that Xain, his half-brother, might be operating with the Bilge Rats in Xen'drik. He has also planted rumors of Brelish agents hunting Vadis across Khorvaire, to keep up the illusion that his father might not be dead.
Pel has an operative at the casino who needs a name and basic information. He also needs to appoint someone to run Sava Kharisa's Gallery in Sharn, which he now owns.
Brand
The trial of Aeromus d'Orien vs. Traega d'Orien has been set for Dravago, the late spring. The Sivis lawyers for both sides have a small army of investigators working across two continents to find information on the case, which ties into events that go back decades across Khorvaire and Xen'drik.
Tworock and Saia Borath both came to Khorvaire to attend the wedding of Lysander and Arenydee, although Saia came in disguise. They informed Brand that Yanesh Hite is operating as The Native for the time being, as well as acting as his diplomat, and they're still using the guidance of Medrea's prophecies, but Yanesh is stretched to the limit, and they really need someone else to take over if the Native's operation is to continue. Saia would like to return to Khorvaire and stay at the Wolves' Reward, despite its proximity to her Ashbound problems in the Eldeen Reaches and potential trouble with her aberrant dragonmark, but Tworock intends to stay in Xen'drik for the time being. They both suggested that Yanesh come to Khorvaire, but he was insistent that he couldn't spare the time. Both of them seem to agree that the Native's operation might have served its purpose, and they might be better off disbanding it before Yanesh really gets himself into trouble.
Speaking of trouble, there are rumors of trouble with a couple of Orien caravans. A couple of incidents have happened where the passengers have turned murderous and cannibalistic, ending with nearly everyone dead, and one mad, dangerous patron having to be put down by security. No one is entirely sure what has caused this.
The sword that Brand recovered from Caela d'Orien turns out to be a long lost blade from the Order of the Eldritch Knights. The Order, formed some 1,800 years ago, was an elite force of swordmages who traveled across Galifar, just as the other scions of House Orien did, but while most of House Orien was concerned with the transference of people, cargo or information, the Eldrich Knights were concerned with the transference of justice. They were freelance protectors who fought for the weak against anyone who would try to oppress them, from wandering monsters and bandits to corrupt lords and even some Dragonmarked Houses. They earned powerful enemies as a result, and eventually political machinations backed by physical force found the knights destroyed.
The last knight fell on the same day in 894 YK that King Jarot died, and some argue that the Kingdom of Galifar died on that day as well. Most of the Eldritch Knights' panoply of magical blades, boots, medallion, bracers, belts and gauntlets had been destroyed when the individual knights died, but the gear of the last knight was given to various noble families in House Orien, and then stolen, lost or hidden over the course of the Last War. It's clear that the blade found its way into the hands of Caela d'Orien's family... where the rest of the gear went will require investigation.
Almost two months pass, as winter finally gives way to spring on Eberron. The Wolves' Reward remains busy, although it does lose some of its business to Stormhome, as the nicer weather encourages some of the idle rich to travel there for a bit of resort living.
With the prodding by William, and almost no argument from Diarmand, the security arrangement at the Wolves' Reward is changed. Maresh, healed back almost fully by House Jorasco experts, takes on the role of Head of Security at the casino, with Diarmand serving as his deputy. The result is tighter security overall and a much closer eye on the subversive elements that William might despise, but Pel and Lysander subtly encourage in order to cultivate information trafficking. Maresh's tactical mind and attention to detail results in tight security, but Diarmand takes on more of a wandering rogue role at the bars and tables, keeping his ear out for anything juicy that might require the attention of Maresh or, more often, Pel or Lysander.
Events are hardly quiet on Galifar's Hope, either. Though the Wolves aren't officially involved, they do hear a lot of chatter from diplomats and their aides in the bars, especially with Pel adopting different identities to listen to different people.
The good news is that the treaty that ended the Sigilstar conflict has been extended until the end of the month of Dravago, which will also be the end of spring. Trade routes are being reopened, and most of the ambassadors are optimistic that the treaty will be extended into summer, and then indefinitely, before the end of Dravago. As of the month of Therendor, the Sigilstar Alliance is officially disbanded, and many of those recruited into military service are sent back to civilian life, including the airship Golden Dragon, which is being converted into a grand diplomatic vessel to be berthed at Galifar's Hope as a transport for ambassadors.
There's still some tension in the ambassadorial meetings, however. One of the minor bones of contention is that Scabbard, ambassador for the Lord of Blades, is asking for permission to defend Mournland borders against looters, which they say is a violation of their sovereignty, and prevents them from establishing any kind of stable, non-violent nation for warforged. In exchange, the other nations want the Lord of Blades to dispatch warforged to search for bodies, equipment, information from the war era and ship it back to those nations. However, the sticking point is that they don't trust the Lord of Blades, and they want to send inspectors of their own to lead these missions, which is unacceptable, according to Scabbard. The Lord of Blades views this as nothing more than espionage under a cover of recovering lost national property, and to be fair, he's probably more right than wrong.
More importantly, things are really heating up between Aundair and Thrane, and there are days when their ambassadorial staff aren't even talking to one another. Security has even had to break up a few near-brawls in The Wanderer's Prospect and Rorsa's Den. Aundair assumed that the end of the war with Droaam was going to see Thaliost returned to them, and they insist that regardless of what happened with the war, Thrane owes it to them to return that city back. Thrane, naturally, does not see it that way. Ambassador Neya ir'Krell has made a few remarks about "If we have to take it, we will" that Ambassador Prince ir'Wynarn insists are no less than calls for war. Currently, Brelish Ambassador Kemble is the voice of reason for Neya, and Karrnathi Ambassador Sedge Avadarrn is the voice of reason for Prince ir'Wynarn, but the tensions run higher every day. Both have privately expressed that an Aundarian-Thrane conflict could be the match that re-ignites the Last War, and this is exactly the kind of thing Galifar's Hope was built to avoid.
Perhaps the most notable event for the Wolves, if not for Khorvaire as a whole, is the spring wedding of Lysander Llywellyn d'Phiarlan and Arenydee d'Phiarlan. The lavish ceremony is held in Cloudpool Park in Skyway in Sharn, with a reception at the Azure Gateway Restaurant. There are performances by House Phiarlan, and the ceremony is officiated by Baron Elvinor herself. Many of the Wolves friends and allies from their adventures are in attendance. As for the honeymoon? Only Lysander and Arenydee know, but they return to the Wolves' Reward happy, healthy and with perhaps a few new scrapes indicating an adventure or two along with their vacation in the month of Eyre.
Luggoth:
Though he may not tell the Wolves about it, Luggoth has been making friends, or at least acquaintances, in a variety of places. During his time in Passage, he was approached by a Tiefling who called himself Therin and said that he was a representative of The Order of Q'annhyrde. Therin endeared himself to Luggoth, despite his sinister exterior, by expressing nothing but disdain for the Prophecy, the "arrogant" Dragons who "mostly invented it" and the Demons who "foolishly follow the plans their enemies the Dragons lay out for them." Therin told Luggoth that he represented a group that thought it was the time of Mortals, not Dragons and Demons, and that Luggoth should reject what the Prophecy and its advocates told him, and just live for the moment.
Since then, Therin has visited Luggoth a few times, offering up names of contacts in various places allied with his organization, which some might refer to as a cult, although they deliberately eschew any religious trappings or indeed worship of anything. This includes Kira, a Tiefling Wizard of no small power who makes her home in Stormreach in Xen'drik and throws frequent parties for members of The Order. When Luggoth mentioned that the Wolves might be going to Xen'drik for a job or two, Therin gave him a half-dozen invitations to Kira's party at the beginning of Dravago.
Luggoth knows that Therin is sinister, perhaps even evil, but his nihilistic views fit in nicely with some of Luggoth's, and having someone tell him that he's not destined to do anything horrible (or even great) is something of a relief.
On the other hand, Savannah absolutely despises Therin, and has stopped just short of branding him a heretic, knowing that to do so might drive Luggoth away. However, she has put Luggoth in touch with Father Mizar Talandro, a retired paladin of the Silver Flame who was the priest who brought Savannah and Borgath to Sharn, and is a shifter himself.
Mizar Talandro is a shifter in his early sixties who was once a paladin of the Silver Flame, but has now settled into the role of a traveling priest. Unlike many shifters, he holds no grudge against the Silver Flame, in large part because of what happened to his family during the Inquisition. In 840 YK, about a hundred years before Mizar was born, his family was nearly wiped out by the lycanthropic plague infecting Thrane. Only the intervention of the Inquisition saved Mizar's great-grandmother, who was adopted by the Talandro family. Mizar's branch of the family, though shifters all, were brought up to worship in the faith and to despise the lycanthropes that had nearly killed all of them.
In his youth, Mizar was a fiery crusader against demonic and lycanthropic influences, but time and experience has mellowed him. He still believes in the existence of evil, but rather than fighting with swords, he tries to fight with words and thoughts, as he believes that no one mortal is beyond salvation. He also believes that their salvation is ultimately up to them, and all he can offer is guidance. Though he speaks softly and intelligently as a priest, when talking with other adventurers, who can tell stories with the best of them, and his priestly veneer drops to reveal the former adventurer who raided dungeons and battled monsters across the face of Khorvaire. Lysander actually finds him to be quite entertaining and full of stories, and William can talk to him warrior to warrior with little difficulty.
He talks with Luggoth about the struggles with violence, with destiny and with religion. As a shifter and former adventurer, his approach to the Silver Flame is much more palatable to Luggoth, although the life he offers is one that is more restrained and more guarded than the one that Therin suggests.
William
There is a new addition to the House Deneith complement at the Wolves' Reward. Karola d'Deneith, an 18-year-old dragonmarked heir from an influential bloodline, has come to continue her training as a blademark under the personal guidance of Maresh d'Deneith. Uncle Maresh also tipped off William that Karola is someone that his mother would very much like William to marry, although she knows better than to try and push them together. Instead, she has sent Karola to train under Maresh, where she's likely to see William quite a bit.
Karola, for her part, is as tough as one would expect from a Deneith heir, and very eager to please Maresh, whose tactical brilliance she has studied in school. After meeting William, she has developed an obvious crush on him, thanks in no small part to tales told by Sharri d'Deneith. However, she doesn't try to win William's affections with flirtation of a standard kind... instead, she's constantly challenging him to combats in the training hall. And constantly losing, because while she's a promising young Blademark, she's nowhere near William's skill level.
Early in this month (Eyre), Lalia d'Deneith, one of the twins who serves as the leading Sentinel Marshals in Sharn, reviewed William's application to become a Sentinel Marshl. With recommendations from General Karlach and his work with Vadis and Orlok, he has been accepted into the Sentinel Marshals and made deputy to Resolute. This still grants him plenty of independence, it just means that from time to time, Resolute will check in on him and might request that William accompany him on missions.
The next such mission is one that William, and the Wolves, will probably enjoy. Halas Martain, formerly of the Wayfinder Foundation, is wanted for his part in the slaughter of a Korranberg expedition aboard the Shining Dragonfly. Information has reached the Sentinel Marshals that Martain has been spotted in the jungles of Xen'drik, and given that the Wolves have met Martain, and were there when the massacre happened, Resolute has asked for their help in tracking down Martain and bringing him in to be questioned. The Wolves have hazy memories that Martain was transformed into a frog, but they don't remember why they thought that, and clearly if he's been spotted in Xen'drik, it's not true in any case.
Lysander
Probably the most notable event in Lysander's life is his successful marriage to Arenydee, who is now officially Arenydee Llywellyn d'Phiarlan. It's up to you where the two of them went on their honeymoon, and what adventures they got up to.
Lysander is given a wedding gift from his mother, a Songbow of Vanishment +4 that is a family heirloom, and has a proud history of use by the bards of the Elorrenthi family dating back over twenty thousand years to the days before the Mark of Shadow manifested, when the Phiarlan line were spies and mediators for the court of Aerenal at its height. Rumor has it that there is a songblade with an even more powerful enchantment that was the companion to the bow, but the conflicting stories and gaps in the tales make it hard to determine where it might be now. Smart money is either in Xen'drik, Aerenal or perhaps even Argonnessen.
Pel
Pel has been quite busy in the past two months, spending days in different identities and different cities, and even in different nations. His protectorate of organized crime is mainly in Sharn, but Boromar ties back to the Talenta Plains, the Daask tie back to Droaam and the Tyrants' expansion under the guidance of Vadis has left broken tendrils throughout Khorvaire that Pel has been trying to snip off for good.
The Boromar have been mostly moving in on the Sharn City Council, increasing their political power. They have managed to take the seat that was once Sava Kharisa's, playing on the distrust of "Councilor Pel," and they have discovered the truth about Councilor Kilik, who is an invention of the Tyrants, providing them with blackmail to neutralize one of their most powerful political opponents. There are only two councilors left who effectively oppose Boromar influence on the council: Hruit, the powerful druid from Middle Dura, and Borian Haldorak, an older dwarf who represents Upper Dura. Both of these men have power and secrets of their own, but Pel has been ordered to keep his ears open for potential attempts at blackmailing or eliminating them by the Boromars.
The Daask, though nearly broken by Vadis's machinations, have begun recovering thanks to the weakening of the Tyrants and the restoration of trade routes between Breland and Droaam. Muscle and money is coming in from Droaam once more. In fact, the Daask have a few bookies and enforcers working at the Wolves' Reward, with the protection of Ambassador Crezyan Rrac. Lysander and Pel are able to keep tabs on them fairly easily through their own networks, and the Daask provide some useful information, so their presence is tolerated. For now.
The Tyrants, meanwhile, under the guidance of their new Tyrant One and a mostly new council, are keeping a very low profile. Only their most profitable brothels and information-gathering operations are still running, and nothing that draws the attention of the Watch is operating right now. Pel keeps his eye on them because he knows, better than most, what they're capable of, and how quickly they could become a threat, but mostly he's spending his time eliminating the expansion his father made into other nations that could come back to threaten Brelish interests, rather than focusing on their minimal operations in Sharn.
Pel has a flow of information coming to him at all times. Of particular interest, he has heard that Xain, his half-brother, might be operating with the Bilge Rats in Xen'drik. He has also planted rumors of Brelish agents hunting Vadis across Khorvaire, to keep up the illusion that his father might not be dead.
Pel has an operative at the casino who needs a name and basic information. He also needs to appoint someone to run Sava Kharisa's Gallery in Sharn, which he now owns.
Brand
The trial of Aeromus d'Orien vs. Traega d'Orien has been set for Dravago, the late spring. The Sivis lawyers for both sides have a small army of investigators working across two continents to find information on the case, which ties into events that go back decades across Khorvaire and Xen'drik.
Tworock and Saia Borath both came to Khorvaire to attend the wedding of Lysander and Arenydee, although Saia came in disguise. They informed Brand that Yanesh Hite is operating as The Native for the time being, as well as acting as his diplomat, and they're still using the guidance of Medrea's prophecies, but Yanesh is stretched to the limit, and they really need someone else to take over if the Native's operation is to continue. Saia would like to return to Khorvaire and stay at the Wolves' Reward, despite its proximity to her Ashbound problems in the Eldeen Reaches and potential trouble with her aberrant dragonmark, but Tworock intends to stay in Xen'drik for the time being. They both suggested that Yanesh come to Khorvaire, but he was insistent that he couldn't spare the time. Both of them seem to agree that the Native's operation might have served its purpose, and they might be better off disbanding it before Yanesh really gets himself into trouble.
Speaking of trouble, there are rumors of trouble with a couple of Orien caravans. A couple of incidents have happened where the passengers have turned murderous and cannibalistic, ending with nearly everyone dead, and one mad, dangerous patron having to be put down by security. No one is entirely sure what has caused this.
The sword that Brand recovered from Caela d'Orien turns out to be a long lost blade from the Order of the Eldritch Knights. The Order, formed some 1,800 years ago, was an elite force of swordmages who traveled across Galifar, just as the other scions of House Orien did, but while most of House Orien was concerned with the transference of people, cargo or information, the Eldrich Knights were concerned with the transference of justice. They were freelance protectors who fought for the weak against anyone who would try to oppress them, from wandering monsters and bandits to corrupt lords and even some Dragonmarked Houses. They earned powerful enemies as a result, and eventually political machinations backed by physical force found the knights destroyed.
The last knight fell on the same day in 894 YK that King Jarot died, and some argue that the Kingdom of Galifar died on that day as well. Most of the Eldritch Knights' panoply of magical blades, boots, medallion, bracers, belts and gauntlets had been destroyed when the individual knights died, but the gear of the last knight was given to various noble families in House Orien, and then stolen, lost or hidden over the course of the Last War. It's clear that the blade found its way into the hands of Caela d'Orien's family... where the rest of the gear went will require investigation.
Wandering Wolves: What Waits in the Dark (2-3)
Olarune 8 - Olarune 27, YK 1000
With the foulspawn and Emerald Claw destroyed, the Wolves decided to look around Grentonn a bit, determining that the people there had known about the Emerald Claw, but had been unable to speak out, since all of the women and children had been held hostage in the apartments. They had decided to descend into the mine when a lone figure, badly mutilated, stumbled up to them. William recognized him by rank, and told them that he was most likely Maresh's second in command. He was missing an eye, an arm and a large amount of skin from his back, and seemed mostly crazed. But he muttered at them with such intensity that they didn't interrupt.
"We came. Grentonn. We came. Jhorash'tar. No match, no trouble, savages against our blades, our discipline, but then we came. Grentonn. Things! Foul things! Even then, the foul things fell. They fell, they fell and did not get up, and we chased. We chased, they fell, we chased, and down, down into the mine."
"Maresh went. Yes, with half our number, he went. Pursuit, he said. Cut the head off, he said. I stayed, my men and I, we stayed to protect. Failed. More foul things. More death. Failure. But not death. Not for us. They took us. Proud blademarks, terrified dwarf miners, they took us. Found Maresh. Found our comrades. All prisoners. All flesh. All brains. All blood."
"Dark. Dark and cold. Slimy. Wet. Screaming. Bones cracking. Flesh tearing. Screaming. One of us gone. Down the gullets. Then the dark."
"Oh, but the light. The light. More terrible. It would come. Pale and gray. Twisted and cruel. Spoke in our minds. Promised us pain. Tore our flesh. Ripped our forms. Called it art. Took my eye. Took my arm. Worse for others. Days? Weeks?"
"Maresh, the others. They live. Some of them. Most of them. They live. Torture. Conversion. The Cult. They live. I tried. I tried. Maresh. Made me go. Ordered me. Blademark, he said. Duty, he said. Reinforcements, he said. Grentonn, he said."
"Wandering. Alone. Dark. Creatures everywhere. Eating the mushroom walls. Drinking foul Khyber piss. Lost. Alone. Found the mine. Found it. Found you. Save them. SAVE THEM!"
And with that, Gunther closed his one remaining eye and dies, his duty fulfilled, despite the madness that threatened to overtake him.
Since the elevator had been sabotaged, the Wolves had to walk down the path, which took a few hours. When they got to the mine, they found it abandoned, but a smaller shaft lead to a secondary mine, which had Khyber dragonshards partially excavated from the walls. This mine was a site of slaughter, with a couple of dwarf miners and a dozen Emerald Claw lying dead on the ground. Bloody but abandoned weapons and torn armor revealed that there were other Emerald Claw here, but they were gone. Bloody footprints and trails of dark blood lead back down into Khyber.
The Wolves found that the caverns of Khyber were disorienting and tricky, even for experienced adventurers like themselves, and after a day of travel, they had doubled back on themselves and found themselves very close to where they had begun. They set out again, marking the walls with chalk, and were able to find their way deeper into Khyber.
The sunless Khyber, filled with distant alien sounds and monstrous civilizations lurking just out of sight, began taking a toll on the Wolves. They were unable to rest for more than a few hours at a time for fear of enormous patrols of monsters. They came face to face with a band of Foulspawn on their second day of travel, and moved stealthily to engage them, as they were unable to go around them. William drew their attention as the rest of the Wolves moved quietly into position.
The Foulspawn Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack William, and the Seer blasted the Deneith with a warp orb, dazing him briefly as the Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack.
Luggoth charged in to engage the Hulks with William, who smashed one of them with an appalling crunch. Brand broke from cover to surprise the Seer, as Pel continued to quietly maneuver for position.
Luggoth swung his storm of blades as William attacked with bodyguard's link, and the two of them were wearing one of the Hulks down, as Brand and Lysander continued to focus their attention on the Seer. None of them paid much attention to the Berserker, who was mostly attacking his allies in his blood rage.
The Hulks, however, were battering William fairly badly, but William killed one of the Hulks, allowing Luggoth to concentrate on the other one. Meanwhile, Brand and Lysander finished off the Seer, and Lysander healed William with a majestic word.
The Wolves turned on the Hulk and Luggoth finally dropped him with a howling strike, at which point they all focused on the Berserker, and Luggoth landed another killing blow.
The next day, they snuck past a city full of Kuo-Toa, but in their passing, they discovered that they were worshiping a familiar looking idol that they called Xulo. They had begun to get the hang of Khyber at this point, and though they were all a bit short-tempered and weary, they traveled uneventfully for two more days, sneaking past a band of Quaggoth slavers on the way.
On their sixth day of travel, they were beginning to realize just how far Maresh's lieutenant had come in his battered condition. They also ran into a Duergar trading party, which looked formidable, and potentially hostile, more so when William tried and failed to intimidate them. Fortunately, Lysander offered arcane words of friendship and convinced them to deal as well. The Wolves bought a map of portions of Khyber for 1,000 gp in gems, one which pointed them toward the lair of the Mind Flayer Neshyk.
The next day brought them face to face with a huge river of magma, with giant chunks of rock floating in it. They guessed that they were probably under or very near the Fist of Onatar, the volcano they had seen on their way in to the Mror Holds. The Wolves were somewhat daunted by the notion of trying to cross it, but using some rope and some athletic skill, they were able to get across without any major burns or serious trouble.
After crossing through Foulspawn territory, guided by Lysander's instincts, they found the cave of madness, which had been marked on the map. The haunting memories of his time as a vampire ate at William, while Lysander's mind was cast back to bad memories and guilt he hadn't thought of in decades, memories from times before many of the Wolves had even been alive. Luggoth, meanwhile, saw himself becoming the very monster the Lords of Dust wanted him to become, murdering not just Jaela Daran but hundreds of worshipers of the Silver Flame. Pel and Brand, though beset by madness of their own, managed to shake it off enough to guide the others through the cave. They were all shaken, but they had survived, and now they had only the final gauntlet to pass, the lair of the Purple Worm that lived just outside of Neshyk's home.
As they walked through the tunnel carved out by the Worm, Brand and Whitehearth nearly made enough noise to wake the beast, but the Wolves were able to cross, untouched, and enter the darkened lair of Neshyk.
They found a cavern outside of his lair and outside of the Worm's hunting ground, and after William used his dragonmark to set a protective ward, the Wolves took their first long rest in ten days before venturing in to rescue Maresh, the other Deneith and the dwarf miners.
Neshyk's lair was completely dark, so the Wolves drew immediate attention when they entered with their lights. They quickly found themselves battling the guards at the entrance, a pair of Hook Horrors and a handful of blind Grimlocks.
Pel opened with a massive flame strike, which blasted one of the Hook Horrors and furiously lit up one of the Grimlocks. Luggoth charged in to attack another Grimlock, and Brand followed up to help him, as did William, who smashed the Grimlock with an appalling crunch before moving into his reign of steel stance, swinging precision blows at the Grimlocks as they gathered around him and began smashing him with their greataxes.
The cave was arranged in such a way that William had managed to bottleneck the opponents, and thus he was the target of all of their attacks. One of the Grimlocks forced its way past William, although not without suffering a punishing blow from Vendetta, but he retaliated with a painful axe swing into Brand.
As Luggoth began his storm of blades, furiously slashing at one of the Grimlocks, Brand used his own luring strike to help, and William drew all the remaining Grimlocks to him. They continued their vicious assault, badly wounding William, as the Hook Horrors grabbed Whitehearth and Pel and tried to drag them over to where they were.
Brand finished off one of the Grimlocks as one of the Hook Horrors picked up Whitehearth and flung him into the back of the cavern, making him a target for the Grimlock guards who had been hanging back, even as the other sunk both of its hooks into Luggoth's shoulders.
Luggoth tore himself free of the rending hooks and went into Oakhammer Rage, knocking the Hook Horror down, and Whitehearth rushed in to begin biting and clawing at the downed Hook Horror.
As Pel and Lysander focused their healing efforts on the bloody William, Luggoth finished off one of the Hook Horrors as Brand continued to focus on the other one, and William continued to attack the Grimlocks surrounding him. As William finished off another Grimlock, Luggoth continued to rage away at the remaining Hook Horror, but it was Lysander who killed it, finishing it off with one his trademark bardic insults so devastating it could stop a monster's heart.
With the Hook Horrors down, the Wolves were free to help William with the remaining Grimlocks, and they made relatively quick work of them. Brand finished one of them, and William cut down the last.
With the battle over, and nothing emerging from the stone slab at the end of the chamber, the Wolves took five minutes to rest before William, Pel and Brand combined their efforts to lift it out of the way.
In the next chamber, they found the Deneiths, the dwarves and the Emerald Claw survivors stuck to the wall with sticky, viscous slime. Lysander recognized it as a Mind Flayer birthing chamber, but saw that they hadn't been implanted, and reasoned that they must not have had any mind flayer tadpoles to use.
There was one Deneith missing amongst the prisoners, and that was William's Uncle Maresh. One of the Deneiths pointed to a tunnel off to the side, which he said led to the Mind Flayer's lair, where it had been tormenting Maresh for some time. With an angry William in the lead, the Wolves headed down into the tunnel.
The tunnel opened into a larger chamber, still dark and covered in slime. At the back of the room, they could see a massive pile of the slime, but they didn't see any Mind Flayer. Instead, they saw more Grimlocks, a pair of Chuul, a Grell and a Destrachan. They recognized some of these creatures, but not all of them.
The Wolves made short work of the Grimlocks, but found the rest of the guards to be a bit tougher. In addition, when they engaged the guards, the Mind Flayer made himself known, dropping the chameleon skin provided by his magic ring to begin attacking.
William got tangled up fighting the Chuuls, while the Grell and the Destrachan moved around the battlefield, blasting with psychic lightning and sonic pulses respectively. Lysander used his taunting decoy on the Mind Flayer, which enraged it, and it closed in on him and grabbed him with its tentacles, beginning to drill towards his brain, intent on devouring it.
Meanwhile, William was suffering from an onslaught by the Chuuls, and the Grell was doing its best to keep others away from its master the Mind Flayer. Fortunately, the tide began to turn as the Wolves focused their attention, and Pel healed William, allowing him to come back and kill both Chuuls with assists from Brand and Luggoth.
Lysander managed to break free of the Mind Flayer, but still found himself its target, as it blasted him and Pel with mind blasts, and the Grell fired psychic lightning at the one it had seen as his master's prey. The Mind Flayer moved in and grabbed the now blinded and dazed Lysander once more, but Pel swept in to heal his friend and attack the Mind Flayer, even as the Destrachan launched a sonic pulse that nearly hit the changeling.
The Grell unleashed a psychic storm, bloodying Whitehearth and William and cutting half of the Wolves off from their allies. However, Pel was able to attack the Mind Flayer again, knocking it off balance, although it managed to maintain its grip on Lysander, drilling into his head even though Lysander turned invisible.
The Wolves were beginning to worry for Lysander's survival, and the Destrachan and Grell were still in the fight. Then William charged the Destrachan, which had been staying out of the fray, and launched a vicious chop at it with Vendetta. The Grell began using his venomous mind attacks on Pel and Brand, who were attempting to free Lysander from the Mind Flayer, and Luggoth was frustrated, stunned by the sonic attacks of the Destrachan and the mental assaults of the Grell and the Mind Flayer.
Brand used his dimensional bond to link himself with the Mind Flayer, who responded with a vicious mind blast that hit Pel particularly hard, but he was forced to release Lysander by the attacks focused on him. His tentacles began flailing as he moved again toward the bard, who announced that "this is not how my story ends!" before firing his bow, launching an arrow directly into the Mind Flayer's brain. The aberration dropped dead to the slimy floor of the cave.
William, meanwhile, managed to hit the Destrachan again, hard enough to daze it, and Brand and Whitehearth moved in to finish it off. The Grell tried to flee, but the Wolves gave chase and relentlessly pounded it with attacks. Finally Lysander, once again displaying his arcane-influenced skill with words, stared malevolently at the aberrant creature and ordered it to die.
William found his Uncle Maresh in the pool of slime at the back of the cave. Maresh was in bad shape, missing portions of his arms, skin from all over his body and one of his eyes. Pel did what he could to heal him, but some of his deformities remained, needing healing beyond Pel's skills.
After taking a long rest in the Mind Flayer's abandoned lair, the Wolves, with the Deneith guarding the Emerald Claw as prisoners, traveled back through Khyber and arrived in Grentonn.
They knew something was wrong when they found that the secondary mine had been cleared of bodies, and there were fresh ones there, the bodies of a dozen or so dwarves, mostly women and children murdered by blade. The Khyber dragonshards were also entirely gone.
When they rushed to the surface, the Wolves found that Grentonn had been the site of slaughter. All of the dwarves were dead, and it appeared they had been poisoned while eating some kind of feast. After investigating, they discovered that Caela d'Orien was missing, not amongst the dead.
They also found Yentil d'Sivis, the gnome, murdered in his office, but he had left a note to foil his murderer. In his hand, the Wolves found a note that read: "Bloody Tyrant - Stormwreck Bay - Olarune 27." Lysander had heard of the Bloody Tyrant, and believed it to be a ship in the Bloodsails fleet out of the Lhazaar Principalities.
Maresh was devastated by what he saw as a failure in his duty, but William was adamant that they get his uncle back to Korth as soon as possible. Brand realized that they could go after Caela and get Maresh and his men (and their prisoners) back to Korth, and he opened a linked portal to send them, along with the body of Maresh's lieutenant, back to General Karlach.
Then they got on the trail of Caela d'Orien. The map they had been given by the Duergar gave them a shortcut through Khyber, and they reluctantly descended into the depths again. The journey took a day and a half, and was no less stressful, but they managed to get out onto the shores of Stormwreck Bay in time to see Caela rowing out to meet the Bloody Tyrant.
The Wolves jumped into the water and swam out to catch the boat before it could weigh anchor and depart. They climbed aboard the deck to find that it was crewed mostly by elven pirates, although a human captain and an ogre bosun were amongst the crew as well. The Captain called "to arms" and the battle was on!
William drew the ogre, many of the pirates and Caela to him before slashing at them with Vendetta and adopting his reign of steel stance. Caela responded by swinging her sword at everyone around her, using her swordmage talent to mark Lysander and then teleporting clear of the fight. Lysander responded by sending disturbing visions to her and the pirates, sliding Caela right to the edge of the ship, where she managed to grab hold before going into the water.
Brand quickly activated his dimensional bond to avoid losing Caela, who was one of the targets of Pel's flame strike, which also hit the ogre, the captain and one of the pirates. The Pirate Captain swung at Brand, nearly killing him after the attacks he had suffered from the other pirates, and the dwarven first mate who had come up on deck joined with the ogre in attacking William. Another dwarf, a dark mage, had come up on the deck as well, and began firing his magic at Pel, although for that he suffered a vicious cut to his neck from Vendetta.
Luggoth moved in to attack the Pirate Captain as Caela dropped into the water, extinguishing the fire on her body. Lysander healed Brand, who teleported into the water to chase down Caela, as Pel moved in to help William with the ogre with blade and healing magic.
Caela and Brand battled in the water, and Brand noticed that she was using an ornate arcane blade. He wasn't sure, but he believed it to have some significance for House Orien. Lysander, meanwhile, leaned over the edge of the boat and used his saga of vengeance to assist Brand, allowing the Orien scion to finish off the murderous renegade from his house.
With Caela dead, and the Wolves doing significant damage, the Captain called for a halt to hostilities. The wary Wolves agreed to let the pirates go in exchange for Caela's body and a ride to the shore.
With the foulspawn and Emerald Claw destroyed, the Wolves decided to look around Grentonn a bit, determining that the people there had known about the Emerald Claw, but had been unable to speak out, since all of the women and children had been held hostage in the apartments. They had decided to descend into the mine when a lone figure, badly mutilated, stumbled up to them. William recognized him by rank, and told them that he was most likely Maresh's second in command. He was missing an eye, an arm and a large amount of skin from his back, and seemed mostly crazed. But he muttered at them with such intensity that they didn't interrupt.
"We came. Grentonn. We came. Jhorash'tar. No match, no trouble, savages against our blades, our discipline, but then we came. Grentonn. Things! Foul things! Even then, the foul things fell. They fell, they fell and did not get up, and we chased. We chased, they fell, we chased, and down, down into the mine."
"Maresh went. Yes, with half our number, he went. Pursuit, he said. Cut the head off, he said. I stayed, my men and I, we stayed to protect. Failed. More foul things. More death. Failure. But not death. Not for us. They took us. Proud blademarks, terrified dwarf miners, they took us. Found Maresh. Found our comrades. All prisoners. All flesh. All brains. All blood."
"Dark. Dark and cold. Slimy. Wet. Screaming. Bones cracking. Flesh tearing. Screaming. One of us gone. Down the gullets. Then the dark."
"Oh, but the light. The light. More terrible. It would come. Pale and gray. Twisted and cruel. Spoke in our minds. Promised us pain. Tore our flesh. Ripped our forms. Called it art. Took my eye. Took my arm. Worse for others. Days? Weeks?"
"Maresh, the others. They live. Some of them. Most of them. They live. Torture. Conversion. The Cult. They live. I tried. I tried. Maresh. Made me go. Ordered me. Blademark, he said. Duty, he said. Reinforcements, he said. Grentonn, he said."
"Wandering. Alone. Dark. Creatures everywhere. Eating the mushroom walls. Drinking foul Khyber piss. Lost. Alone. Found the mine. Found it. Found you. Save them. SAVE THEM!"
And with that, Gunther closed his one remaining eye and dies, his duty fulfilled, despite the madness that threatened to overtake him.
Since the elevator had been sabotaged, the Wolves had to walk down the path, which took a few hours. When they got to the mine, they found it abandoned, but a smaller shaft lead to a secondary mine, which had Khyber dragonshards partially excavated from the walls. This mine was a site of slaughter, with a couple of dwarf miners and a dozen Emerald Claw lying dead on the ground. Bloody but abandoned weapons and torn armor revealed that there were other Emerald Claw here, but they were gone. Bloody footprints and trails of dark blood lead back down into Khyber.
The Wolves found that the caverns of Khyber were disorienting and tricky, even for experienced adventurers like themselves, and after a day of travel, they had doubled back on themselves and found themselves very close to where they had begun. They set out again, marking the walls with chalk, and were able to find their way deeper into Khyber.
The sunless Khyber, filled with distant alien sounds and monstrous civilizations lurking just out of sight, began taking a toll on the Wolves. They were unable to rest for more than a few hours at a time for fear of enormous patrols of monsters. They came face to face with a band of Foulspawn on their second day of travel, and moved stealthily to engage them, as they were unable to go around them. William drew their attention as the rest of the Wolves moved quietly into position.
The Foulspawn Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack William, and the Seer blasted the Deneith with a warp orb, dazing him briefly as the Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack.
Luggoth charged in to engage the Hulks with William, who smashed one of them with an appalling crunch. Brand broke from cover to surprise the Seer, as Pel continued to quietly maneuver for position.
Luggoth swung his storm of blades as William attacked with bodyguard's link, and the two of them were wearing one of the Hulks down, as Brand and Lysander continued to focus their attention on the Seer. None of them paid much attention to the Berserker, who was mostly attacking his allies in his blood rage.
The Hulks, however, were battering William fairly badly, but William killed one of the Hulks, allowing Luggoth to concentrate on the other one. Meanwhile, Brand and Lysander finished off the Seer, and Lysander healed William with a majestic word.
The Wolves turned on the Hulk and Luggoth finally dropped him with a howling strike, at which point they all focused on the Berserker, and Luggoth landed another killing blow.
The next day, they snuck past a city full of Kuo-Toa, but in their passing, they discovered that they were worshiping a familiar looking idol that they called Xulo. They had begun to get the hang of Khyber at this point, and though they were all a bit short-tempered and weary, they traveled uneventfully for two more days, sneaking past a band of Quaggoth slavers on the way.
On their sixth day of travel, they were beginning to realize just how far Maresh's lieutenant had come in his battered condition. They also ran into a Duergar trading party, which looked formidable, and potentially hostile, more so when William tried and failed to intimidate them. Fortunately, Lysander offered arcane words of friendship and convinced them to deal as well. The Wolves bought a map of portions of Khyber for 1,000 gp in gems, one which pointed them toward the lair of the Mind Flayer Neshyk.
The next day brought them face to face with a huge river of magma, with giant chunks of rock floating in it. They guessed that they were probably under or very near the Fist of Onatar, the volcano they had seen on their way in to the Mror Holds. The Wolves were somewhat daunted by the notion of trying to cross it, but using some rope and some athletic skill, they were able to get across without any major burns or serious trouble.
After crossing through Foulspawn territory, guided by Lysander's instincts, they found the cave of madness, which had been marked on the map. The haunting memories of his time as a vampire ate at William, while Lysander's mind was cast back to bad memories and guilt he hadn't thought of in decades, memories from times before many of the Wolves had even been alive. Luggoth, meanwhile, saw himself becoming the very monster the Lords of Dust wanted him to become, murdering not just Jaela Daran but hundreds of worshipers of the Silver Flame. Pel and Brand, though beset by madness of their own, managed to shake it off enough to guide the others through the cave. They were all shaken, but they had survived, and now they had only the final gauntlet to pass, the lair of the Purple Worm that lived just outside of Neshyk's home.
As they walked through the tunnel carved out by the Worm, Brand and Whitehearth nearly made enough noise to wake the beast, but the Wolves were able to cross, untouched, and enter the darkened lair of Neshyk.
They found a cavern outside of his lair and outside of the Worm's hunting ground, and after William used his dragonmark to set a protective ward, the Wolves took their first long rest in ten days before venturing in to rescue Maresh, the other Deneith and the dwarf miners.
Neshyk's lair was completely dark, so the Wolves drew immediate attention when they entered with their lights. They quickly found themselves battling the guards at the entrance, a pair of Hook Horrors and a handful of blind Grimlocks.
Pel opened with a massive flame strike, which blasted one of the Hook Horrors and furiously lit up one of the Grimlocks. Luggoth charged in to attack another Grimlock, and Brand followed up to help him, as did William, who smashed the Grimlock with an appalling crunch before moving into his reign of steel stance, swinging precision blows at the Grimlocks as they gathered around him and began smashing him with their greataxes.
The cave was arranged in such a way that William had managed to bottleneck the opponents, and thus he was the target of all of their attacks. One of the Grimlocks forced its way past William, although not without suffering a punishing blow from Vendetta, but he retaliated with a painful axe swing into Brand.
As Luggoth began his storm of blades, furiously slashing at one of the Grimlocks, Brand used his own luring strike to help, and William drew all the remaining Grimlocks to him. They continued their vicious assault, badly wounding William, as the Hook Horrors grabbed Whitehearth and Pel and tried to drag them over to where they were.
Brand finished off one of the Grimlocks as one of the Hook Horrors picked up Whitehearth and flung him into the back of the cavern, making him a target for the Grimlock guards who had been hanging back, even as the other sunk both of its hooks into Luggoth's shoulders.
Luggoth tore himself free of the rending hooks and went into Oakhammer Rage, knocking the Hook Horror down, and Whitehearth rushed in to begin biting and clawing at the downed Hook Horror.
As Pel and Lysander focused their healing efforts on the bloody William, Luggoth finished off one of the Hook Horrors as Brand continued to focus on the other one, and William continued to attack the Grimlocks surrounding him. As William finished off another Grimlock, Luggoth continued to rage away at the remaining Hook Horror, but it was Lysander who killed it, finishing it off with one his trademark bardic insults so devastating it could stop a monster's heart.
With the Hook Horrors down, the Wolves were free to help William with the remaining Grimlocks, and they made relatively quick work of them. Brand finished one of them, and William cut down the last.
With the battle over, and nothing emerging from the stone slab at the end of the chamber, the Wolves took five minutes to rest before William, Pel and Brand combined their efforts to lift it out of the way.
In the next chamber, they found the Deneiths, the dwarves and the Emerald Claw survivors stuck to the wall with sticky, viscous slime. Lysander recognized it as a Mind Flayer birthing chamber, but saw that they hadn't been implanted, and reasoned that they must not have had any mind flayer tadpoles to use.
There was one Deneith missing amongst the prisoners, and that was William's Uncle Maresh. One of the Deneiths pointed to a tunnel off to the side, which he said led to the Mind Flayer's lair, where it had been tormenting Maresh for some time. With an angry William in the lead, the Wolves headed down into the tunnel.
The tunnel opened into a larger chamber, still dark and covered in slime. At the back of the room, they could see a massive pile of the slime, but they didn't see any Mind Flayer. Instead, they saw more Grimlocks, a pair of Chuul, a Grell and a Destrachan. They recognized some of these creatures, but not all of them.
The Wolves made short work of the Grimlocks, but found the rest of the guards to be a bit tougher. In addition, when they engaged the guards, the Mind Flayer made himself known, dropping the chameleon skin provided by his magic ring to begin attacking.
William got tangled up fighting the Chuuls, while the Grell and the Destrachan moved around the battlefield, blasting with psychic lightning and sonic pulses respectively. Lysander used his taunting decoy on the Mind Flayer, which enraged it, and it closed in on him and grabbed him with its tentacles, beginning to drill towards his brain, intent on devouring it.
Meanwhile, William was suffering from an onslaught by the Chuuls, and the Grell was doing its best to keep others away from its master the Mind Flayer. Fortunately, the tide began to turn as the Wolves focused their attention, and Pel healed William, allowing him to come back and kill both Chuuls with assists from Brand and Luggoth.
Lysander managed to break free of the Mind Flayer, but still found himself its target, as it blasted him and Pel with mind blasts, and the Grell fired psychic lightning at the one it had seen as his master's prey. The Mind Flayer moved in and grabbed the now blinded and dazed Lysander once more, but Pel swept in to heal his friend and attack the Mind Flayer, even as the Destrachan launched a sonic pulse that nearly hit the changeling.
The Grell unleashed a psychic storm, bloodying Whitehearth and William and cutting half of the Wolves off from their allies. However, Pel was able to attack the Mind Flayer again, knocking it off balance, although it managed to maintain its grip on Lysander, drilling into his head even though Lysander turned invisible.
The Wolves were beginning to worry for Lysander's survival, and the Destrachan and Grell were still in the fight. Then William charged the Destrachan, which had been staying out of the fray, and launched a vicious chop at it with Vendetta. The Grell began using his venomous mind attacks on Pel and Brand, who were attempting to free Lysander from the Mind Flayer, and Luggoth was frustrated, stunned by the sonic attacks of the Destrachan and the mental assaults of the Grell and the Mind Flayer.
Brand used his dimensional bond to link himself with the Mind Flayer, who responded with a vicious mind blast that hit Pel particularly hard, but he was forced to release Lysander by the attacks focused on him. His tentacles began flailing as he moved again toward the bard, who announced that "this is not how my story ends!" before firing his bow, launching an arrow directly into the Mind Flayer's brain. The aberration dropped dead to the slimy floor of the cave.
William, meanwhile, managed to hit the Destrachan again, hard enough to daze it, and Brand and Whitehearth moved in to finish it off. The Grell tried to flee, but the Wolves gave chase and relentlessly pounded it with attacks. Finally Lysander, once again displaying his arcane-influenced skill with words, stared malevolently at the aberrant creature and ordered it to die.
William found his Uncle Maresh in the pool of slime at the back of the cave. Maresh was in bad shape, missing portions of his arms, skin from all over his body and one of his eyes. Pel did what he could to heal him, but some of his deformities remained, needing healing beyond Pel's skills.
After taking a long rest in the Mind Flayer's abandoned lair, the Wolves, with the Deneith guarding the Emerald Claw as prisoners, traveled back through Khyber and arrived in Grentonn.
They knew something was wrong when they found that the secondary mine had been cleared of bodies, and there were fresh ones there, the bodies of a dozen or so dwarves, mostly women and children murdered by blade. The Khyber dragonshards were also entirely gone.
When they rushed to the surface, the Wolves found that Grentonn had been the site of slaughter. All of the dwarves were dead, and it appeared they had been poisoned while eating some kind of feast. After investigating, they discovered that Caela d'Orien was missing, not amongst the dead.
They also found Yentil d'Sivis, the gnome, murdered in his office, but he had left a note to foil his murderer. In his hand, the Wolves found a note that read: "Bloody Tyrant - Stormwreck Bay - Olarune 27." Lysander had heard of the Bloody Tyrant, and believed it to be a ship in the Bloodsails fleet out of the Lhazaar Principalities.
Maresh was devastated by what he saw as a failure in his duty, but William was adamant that they get his uncle back to Korth as soon as possible. Brand realized that they could go after Caela and get Maresh and his men (and their prisoners) back to Korth, and he opened a linked portal to send them, along with the body of Maresh's lieutenant, back to General Karlach.
Then they got on the trail of Caela d'Orien. The map they had been given by the Duergar gave them a shortcut through Khyber, and they reluctantly descended into the depths again. The journey took a day and a half, and was no less stressful, but they managed to get out onto the shores of Stormwreck Bay in time to see Caela rowing out to meet the Bloody Tyrant.
The Wolves jumped into the water and swam out to catch the boat before it could weigh anchor and depart. They climbed aboard the deck to find that it was crewed mostly by elven pirates, although a human captain and an ogre bosun were amongst the crew as well. The Captain called "to arms" and the battle was on!
William drew the ogre, many of the pirates and Caela to him before slashing at them with Vendetta and adopting his reign of steel stance. Caela responded by swinging her sword at everyone around her, using her swordmage talent to mark Lysander and then teleporting clear of the fight. Lysander responded by sending disturbing visions to her and the pirates, sliding Caela right to the edge of the ship, where she managed to grab hold before going into the water.
Brand quickly activated his dimensional bond to avoid losing Caela, who was one of the targets of Pel's flame strike, which also hit the ogre, the captain and one of the pirates. The Pirate Captain swung at Brand, nearly killing him after the attacks he had suffered from the other pirates, and the dwarven first mate who had come up on deck joined with the ogre in attacking William. Another dwarf, a dark mage, had come up on the deck as well, and began firing his magic at Pel, although for that he suffered a vicious cut to his neck from Vendetta.
Luggoth moved in to attack the Pirate Captain as Caela dropped into the water, extinguishing the fire on her body. Lysander healed Brand, who teleported into the water to chase down Caela, as Pel moved in to help William with the ogre with blade and healing magic.
Caela and Brand battled in the water, and Brand noticed that she was using an ornate arcane blade. He wasn't sure, but he believed it to have some significance for House Orien. Lysander, meanwhile, leaned over the edge of the boat and used his saga of vengeance to assist Brand, allowing the Orien scion to finish off the murderous renegade from his house.
With Caela dead, and the Wolves doing significant damage, the Captain called for a halt to hostilities. The wary Wolves agreed to let the pirates go in exchange for Caela's body and a ride to the shore.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Game Schedule May - July
May 7th - Wandering Wolves: Whatever Happened to Halas Martain? - with guest-star Resolute (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Dan)
May 14th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
May 21st - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
May 28th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 4th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 11th - Fiasco (Randy, Dan, Chris, Nate, Jamie, Joe, Max all invited)
June 18th - Wandering Wolves with guest star Resolute (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Dan)
June 25th - No Gaming - Randy, Paul, Jamie & Joe out of town
July 2nd - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
July 9th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
July 16th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
July 23rd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul or Dan)
July 30th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
May 14th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
May 21st - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
May 28th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 4th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 11th - Fiasco (Randy, Dan, Chris, Nate, Jamie, Joe, Max all invited)
June 18th - Wandering Wolves with guest star Resolute (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Dan)
June 25th - No Gaming - Randy, Paul, Jamie & Joe out of town
July 2nd - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
July 9th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
July 16th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
July 23rd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul or Dan)
July 30th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
Saturday, April 24, 2010
CoL Recap: The Recovery of Quill
Dravago 24 - Dravago 25, YK 1000
Xiu does flippy attack on Thuranni assassin and bruises her. Alain uses greater magic weapon to boost Xiu and Magnus while hitting Thuranni assassin lady. Torgen hits Thuranni assassin with jagged axe. Xau is still blind. One of the assassins runs away. Torchy shoots Alain, who resists poison. Magnus attacks Thuranni with his axe and misses her. She turns invisible and flees out the door to where Torchy is. Other assassin tries to stab Torgen and misses, he runs but takes AOO from Torgen, joins the others.
Xiu moves in and bait and switches Torchy, who is bloodied. Alain fires burning weapons with crossbow at Torgen. Torgen rushes in, drawing AOO from Torchy, calls out a challenge to mark all bad guys, uses arc of vengeance on all of them. Xau is still blind, moves to the wall and then saves, taking damage. Torchy hits Torgen with poisoned short sword, he is bloodied. Magnus uses come and get it on the two other assassins, dropping Torchy. Torgen takes AOO on Lady Assassin, she moves away and becomes invisible to tremorsense as well (probably by going into the water.) The other assassin becomes invisible, draws AOO from Torgen but manages to run over the bridge. Xiu cannot spot either assassin, throws dust to show which square the assassin is in. Alain heals Torgen, fires aggravating force bolt at other assassin and drops him. His bleeding wound kills him.
Torchy was local talent, hired by Lady Assassin to bolster their forces. The job was to kill Renslick and the people he was meeting with, he clearly underestimated Brenner. Alain asks where he was hired, he was hired at a tavern called the Cup and Die. We decide not to use him as an invisible pinata, and to take him to the law instead. Xau and Torgen go to take the bodies and assassin in to the law, tell them that we were attacked while wandering the town, while the rest of us go back to our temporary headquarters.
Xau and Xiu hire an inquisitive, Drenna d'Medani (half-elf) to look for Brenner, we tell her to deliver information to our base of operations. Alain spends about an hour making heroic tier antivenom for the group. We go to Orien lightning rail station to see what we can find out about Brenner/Quill meeting. The Danger Twins look for a book recording who has anything in the lockers, she finds keys and some are missing. They pick the locks on the eight lockers whose keys are missing. They find clothing, bribes, alcohol and a bloody foot. The bloody foot is only part of a chopped-up body in the locker. We put it in Xiu's bag of holding, Magnus goes to talk to the approaching patrol. We flee out the back exit as Magnus tells the patrol that he saw lockers open and blood on the floor. Magnus goes to rent a room at the Cup and Die.
We pull the body out at our base, and discover that it's elven. Xau sends message back using shadow emblem asking if Quill has a dragonmark. We positively identify him, check the lining of his cloak as requested and find three flexible daggers and a slip of paper. Coded message that only Xau and Xiu can read. He had learned of an upcoming transfer of stolen funds in the 2 million gold piece range. Was going to meet his contact for confirmation. As we decide what to do with the body, Drenna shows up.
She reports Brenner has left town, appears to have left by water via the cliff. She intends to pursue unless we have other instructions. Her intuition (mark of detection) tells her he will travel north and then out of Karrn Bay. We tell her to send us a message when she catches up to him.
In the morning, an officer comes to the Cup and Die to talk to Magnus about the investigation at the Orien Lightning Rail Station. He gives him mostly straight answers and allays suspicion. Xau and Torgen go to check in with the Watch before leaving town, they are cleared of any suspicion. We go to Lightning Rail station in the morning, it is full of graduates from Rekkenmark, including the Prince of Breland.
We go to House Phiarlan to report in, present them with a bag of body parts and our story. He gives us a letter of credit and tells us to come back tonight to talk to Quill.
Quill found a fence in town trying to move something pretty big, and his name was Brenner. He posed as a thief trying to sell an item, went to Brenner, discovered that he was buying anything stolen, the bigger the better. Quill told him he would steal a magical gemstone from the Rekkenmark Academy, Brenner agreed to fence it. Went back to check out Brenner's place of business, found a draft of a letter saying that he would be visiting Stormhome on Nymm 15 to deliver the package as agreed. Signed "Forward the New Age!" Intention was to get back to where he was staying to report, but doesn't remember making it back.
Xiu does flippy attack on Thuranni assassin and bruises her. Alain uses greater magic weapon to boost Xiu and Magnus while hitting Thuranni assassin lady. Torgen hits Thuranni assassin with jagged axe. Xau is still blind. One of the assassins runs away. Torchy shoots Alain, who resists poison. Magnus attacks Thuranni with his axe and misses her. She turns invisible and flees out the door to where Torchy is. Other assassin tries to stab Torgen and misses, he runs but takes AOO from Torgen, joins the others.
Xiu moves in and bait and switches Torchy, who is bloodied. Alain fires burning weapons with crossbow at Torgen. Torgen rushes in, drawing AOO from Torchy, calls out a challenge to mark all bad guys, uses arc of vengeance on all of them. Xau is still blind, moves to the wall and then saves, taking damage. Torchy hits Torgen with poisoned short sword, he is bloodied. Magnus uses come and get it on the two other assassins, dropping Torchy. Torgen takes AOO on Lady Assassin, she moves away and becomes invisible to tremorsense as well (probably by going into the water.) The other assassin becomes invisible, draws AOO from Torgen but manages to run over the bridge. Xiu cannot spot either assassin, throws dust to show which square the assassin is in. Alain heals Torgen, fires aggravating force bolt at other assassin and drops him. His bleeding wound kills him.
Torchy was local talent, hired by Lady Assassin to bolster their forces. The job was to kill Renslick and the people he was meeting with, he clearly underestimated Brenner. Alain asks where he was hired, he was hired at a tavern called the Cup and Die. We decide not to use him as an invisible pinata, and to take him to the law instead. Xau and Torgen go to take the bodies and assassin in to the law, tell them that we were attacked while wandering the town, while the rest of us go back to our temporary headquarters.
Xau and Xiu hire an inquisitive, Drenna d'Medani (half-elf) to look for Brenner, we tell her to deliver information to our base of operations. Alain spends about an hour making heroic tier antivenom for the group. We go to Orien lightning rail station to see what we can find out about Brenner/Quill meeting. The Danger Twins look for a book recording who has anything in the lockers, she finds keys and some are missing. They pick the locks on the eight lockers whose keys are missing. They find clothing, bribes, alcohol and a bloody foot. The bloody foot is only part of a chopped-up body in the locker. We put it in Xiu's bag of holding, Magnus goes to talk to the approaching patrol. We flee out the back exit as Magnus tells the patrol that he saw lockers open and blood on the floor. Magnus goes to rent a room at the Cup and Die.
We pull the body out at our base, and discover that it's elven. Xau sends message back using shadow emblem asking if Quill has a dragonmark. We positively identify him, check the lining of his cloak as requested and find three flexible daggers and a slip of paper. Coded message that only Xau and Xiu can read. He had learned of an upcoming transfer of stolen funds in the 2 million gold piece range. Was going to meet his contact for confirmation. As we decide what to do with the body, Drenna shows up.
She reports Brenner has left town, appears to have left by water via the cliff. She intends to pursue unless we have other instructions. Her intuition (mark of detection) tells her he will travel north and then out of Karrn Bay. We tell her to send us a message when she catches up to him.
In the morning, an officer comes to the Cup and Die to talk to Magnus about the investigation at the Orien Lightning Rail Station. He gives him mostly straight answers and allays suspicion. Xau and Torgen go to check in with the Watch before leaving town, they are cleared of any suspicion. We go to Lightning Rail station in the morning, it is full of graduates from Rekkenmark, including the Prince of Breland.
We go to House Phiarlan to report in, present them with a bag of body parts and our story. He gives us a letter of credit and tells us to come back tonight to talk to Quill.
Quill found a fence in town trying to move something pretty big, and his name was Brenner. He posed as a thief trying to sell an item, went to Brenner, discovered that he was buying anything stolen, the bigger the better. Quill told him he would steal a magical gemstone from the Rekkenmark Academy, Brenner agreed to fence it. Went back to check out Brenner's place of business, found a draft of a letter saying that he would be visiting Stormhome on Nymm 15 to deliver the package as agreed. Signed "Forward the New Age!" Intention was to get back to where he was staying to report, but doesn't remember making it back.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Game Schedule April - June
April 9th - Wandering Wolves: What Waits In The Dark Part 2 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
April 16th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
April 23rd - Wandering Wolves: What Waits In The Dark Part 3 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
April 30th - Gaming Off - Free Comic Book Day
May 7th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Dan)
May 14th - D&D Against the Giants (Randy, Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
May 21st - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
May 28th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 4th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Nate, Paul)
June 11th - Fiasco (Randy, Dan, Chris, Nate, Jamie, Joe, Max, Jason all invited)
June 18th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 25th - No Gaming - Randy in California (or gaming without Randy)
Potential schedule for April - June. Let me know if folks have any conflicts. As of May 14, we're at Ben's new house, with (I think) a new start time of 8? Or 7:30? Ben, chime in on comments and let us know.
Since we only have one Wolves session in June, I might try and run us a bit longer if possible that night. I'd love to start earlier, but I think 7:30 is as early as we can realistically get everyone there.
April 16th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
April 23rd - Wandering Wolves: What Waits In The Dark Part 3 (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
April 30th - Gaming Off - Free Comic Book Day
May 7th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Dan)
May 14th - D&D Against the Giants (Randy, Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max)
May 21st - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Nate, Paul)
May 28th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 4th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Jason, Nate, Paul)
June 11th - Fiasco (Randy, Dan, Chris, Nate, Jamie, Joe, Max, Jason all invited)
June 18th - D&D Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Max, Randy)
June 25th - No Gaming - Randy in California (or gaming without Randy)
Potential schedule for April - June. Let me know if folks have any conflicts. As of May 14, we're at Ben's new house, with (I think) a new start time of 8? Or 7:30? Ben, chime in on comments and let us know.
Since we only have one Wolves session in June, I might try and run us a bit longer if possible that night. I'd love to start earlier, but I think 7:30 is as early as we can realistically get everyone there.
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