Therendor 11 - Therendor 15, 1001 YK
The Wolves, along with Lady Elaydren d'Cannith, took their airship back to the Wolves' Reward to rest and consider their next move. With the Lord of Blades, and presumably Xulo, aware that the Wolves are on the trail of Zura Dhakaan, time is of the essence.
Thanks to their ranks in several of the Dragonmarked Houses, the Wolves are able to arrange for Koleb d'Tharashk, head of the Twelve's Acquisitions Directorate, and Martain's new boss, to come to the Wolves' Reward to talk about loaning out his services. He will be there on the morning of Therendor 16, giving the Wolves' four days in which to plan, rest and train.
Anything you would like to do in those four days, please post in the comments!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Game Schedule May - July
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Deadlands at Randy's (Jason, Randy, Dan, Chris)
May 20th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Gaming Off
June 10th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 16th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 23rd - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
May 13th - Deadlands at Randy's (Jason, Randy, Dan, Chris)
May 20th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Gaming Off
June 10th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 16th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 23rd - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
59. The Poetry of Zura Dhakaan (1)
Therendor 10 - Therendor 11, YK 1001
After months of adventuring separately and following their own agendas, each of the Wolves on Khorvaire received an urgent summons from Breyten d'Cannith asking them to come to Fairhaven. They arrived separately, and William, Pel, Lysander and the newest Wolf Delano were reunited for the first time in months.
Breyten invited them to his manor and told them that his wife had been kidnapped. She had been traveling on the Lightning Rail to Sharn, and it was ambushed by warforged when it got near Passage. They killed her entire entourage and bodyguards and spirited her off the train. Research done by House Cannith investigators and the Tharashk inquisitive Breyten had hired lead him to believe they had taken her to the Eldeen Reaches.
He also explained that he was afraid that forces within the House were not so keen on having her back, and that his Tharashk investigator, a half-orc named Telde Velderan, had hit something of a wall in his urban investigation. Growing fearful for his wife's safety, he put out a call to the Wolves, knowing of the long relationship they had with Lady Elaydren.
The Wolves quickly agreed to help, then hit the streets to find out what they could about the House Cannith investigator. William, using his newfound skills of interacting with Dragonmarked nobles and guild members, found out that Berec d'Cannith, the investigator on the case, was generally regarded as a bit old for his job, and rumors were that he was an alcoholic to boot. Many investigations had opened recently, leaving only Berec for Elaydren's disappearance, and all signs pointed to his assignment coming from Baron Jorlanna d'Cannith herself.
Next, the Wolves went to meet with Telde Velderan in a private room to talk about the investigation. Velderan explained that he was more skilled at wilderness tracking, not urban investigation, and that he and Berec had spent some time in Passage but had hit dead ends and returned to Fairhaven to get a fresh start. He expressed frustration with Berec, explaining that they hadn't done much of a search of the Passage docks, which is where Telde expected the warforged would have gone to escape with their prisoner.
They determined to split up, with Lysander and William keeping Berec busy while Pel and Delano broke into his apartment to investigate him. Lysander tried mightily to talk William into playing a woman, but he was having none of it, and finally Lysander used his veil to cloak them as Chantal and Porthos, a sister and brother, and they went to find Berec at an inn called The Dead Fox.
In out-drinking Berec, William got a little over-zealous and became a bit drunk, although he did get Berec so drunk he passed out. However, William had to be convinced to leave the tavern by Lysander. Fortunately, Lysander's charms were up to the case, and the two of them, accompanied by an unconscious Berec, went to a nearby alley. They took his case notebook and his money and left him in the alley and then returned to the Twin Spirits Inn, where they had been operating since arriving in Fairhaven.
At the same time, Pel and Delano snuck into the Aundarian villa that served as the Cannith enclave. They got into Berec's room and looked through his notes. Amongst the other secrets Pel and Delano found, they found the relevant information that Berec had written Elaydren off as dead, most likely at the hand of the Lord of Blades, and that he had been sending copies of his reports to Baron Jorlanna. Perhaps most importantly, they learned that Berec had never investigated the docks in Passage because he had gambling debts to several crime bosses in the area.
With most of their suspicions confirmed, the Wolves hopped on a lightning rail to Passage alongside Telde. While traveling, Pel noticed something "off" about the half-orc, but he couldn't quite place it, and wrote it off to the Tharashk having some sort of secondary motivation relating to Lady Elaydren.
Once they arrived in Passage, they went straight to the docks to investigate. Delano talked to the dockworkers and found out that the crew of a fishing boat, The Little Dwarf, had turned up dead on the shore a few days ago, and that their boat had gone missing.
After calling in their new airship and its pilot, they flew low over Lake Galifar looking for the wreckage. Delano spotted it, and when they set down, Telde easily found the trail of several warforged, heading into the Gloaming in the Eldeen Reaches.
Unfortunately, they soon found out what had struck Pel about Telderan. He was not a half-orc... in fact, he was a Rakshasa assassin, sent by Ttemmal, and he lead them into an ambush made up of a pod demon, Abyssal Hulk and Abyssal Eviscerator.
The assassin didn't live to savor his ambush for long, however, as Pel opened the battle by firing a crossbow bolt into his eye, and was then drawn into battle with William and suffered a withering burst of killing flames from Delano. He tried to flee, but Lysander cut him down with his vicious mockery.
The demons proved more tenacious, in particular the pod demon, whose spawn kept appearing and exploding in acidic and poisonous goo. The Abyssal Hulk, meanwhile, used his gaze of chaos to try and turn the Wolves against one another, and the Abyssal Eviscerator cornered Pel, grabbed hold of him and began raking him mercilessly with his claws.
As Delano moved around the battlefield, aiding William in his battle against the Hulk, Lysander tried to keep the Pod Demon busy with arrows.
William finished off the Abyssal Hulk with his rain of steel and then moved in on the Eviscerator, finishing him off thanks to the damage Pel had inflicted. The group then turned on the Pod Demon and killed it, although by the end of the fight they were somewhat battered and bloodied, and they took a brief rest to recuperate.
They discovered that the warforged tracks were easy enough to follow without their "Tharashk" guide and continued tracing them, and before long, they came upon an abandoned bandit camp that the warforged had clearly appropriated. They could see the bandit camp in the distance, behind a twenty-foot high wooden fence that was guarded by a handful of warforged and... a warforged titan.
The battle against the Titan was a memorable one, with William essentially taking on the monstrous weapon one-on-one, aided by artillery fire from Delano, as the other warforged kept Pel and Lysander busy. Lysander used a song to enchant the Titan, which led to him helping to eliminate several of the other warforged while battling William.
With the other warforged down, the Titan finally managed to inflict enough damage to knock William out, and things began to look a bit grim for the Wolves. Pel moved through the trees using his shadow stride and staying hidden, and Lysander placed one of his sticky clockwork bombs on the Titan's legs before turning invisible, leaving Delano the only obvious target, and he fired off a hellish rebuke and began fleeing into the woods, with the Titan hot on his heels.
The Titan, scarred from William's many blows, on fire from Delano's attack, crashed relentlessly after Delano, but as it raised its hammer for a killing blow, Lysander's bomb went off, blowing it's leg off and sending it tumbling, inoperable, to the ground.
With the advance guard loudly defeated, they knew that the rest of the base would be on alert. Pel woke William and the group took a brief rest to refresh themselves before going in after Lady Elaydren. They decided to try a tried-and-true tactic of posing as prisoners, and Lysander used his veil to make himself and Pel look like the warforged guards, bringing William and Delano in after their "unsuccessful" attempt to defeat the Titan.
Unfortunately, when one of the Warforged guards inside the walled bandit camp called William "the most dangerous" of the Wolves, Lysander was unable to resist pressing the point and in so doing revealed himself and Pel to the surprisingly shrewd warforged guard.
The warforged mages used a variety of spells to keep blasting William away from the walls so that he couldn't climb over, but Delano simply teleported inside and began firing on them, and they couldn't hold off the Wolves forever. Two of the warforged were casting priestly magic using the Lord of Blades' holy symbol, causing Pel to repeatedly yell that "he's not a real God!"
After Pel and Lysander finished off the two mages using ranged attacks, William, Pel and Lysander climbed in to more directly engage the rest of the forces. While the warforged guards were formidable, they were not as dangerous as the advanced guard with the Titan, and when the captain of the warforged realized they were losing, he ordered the others to execute the prisoner.
Lysander leaped across the courtyard and into the pit where Elaydren was being held to defend her, and with the aid of Delano, they managed to destroy the warforged who were attempting to kill her while William and Pel dealt with the rest of the forces.
As William finished off the last Warforged Flamepriest, he saw something he hadn't seen since the very first mission they had undertaken for Lady Elaydren. A small metal ball disengaged from the Flamepriest and flew off, dodging an arrow fired by Lysander and a crossbow bolt from Pel. The Lord of Blades would be getting a report from the dead Warforged, thanks to his final messenger.
The shaken and clearly roughly treated Elaydren was very relieved to see the Wolves. She told them that she had been investigating the theft of the Xulo pattern, and that she had realized that her Uncle Merrix may have had something to do with its theft. She hadn't been able to talk to him since he had disappeared over six months ago. She also revealed that in her research into her ancestor Kedran d'Cannith, who had first discovered the pattern, she found the name Zura Dhakaan, a legendary Duur-kala (Dirge Singer) from the Dhakaani Empire who had broken Xulo after it was infected with the abberant taint of one of the Daelkyr.
She had reason to believe that Zura Dhakaan's tomb might hold a vast amount of information about Xulo, hopefully including the means by which he could be defeated and broken again. Unfortunately, finding the tomb in Darguun was so difficult that only one person had reportedly ever gotten close. And that person was Halas Martain.
Lady Elaydren also confided that she had always been an operative of Merrix, although her surface loyalties were to Baron Jorlanna, and she believed that Jorlanna now suspected the truth. She asked if Pel and Lysander could help her to ingratiate herself back into Jorlanna's good graces, and agreed in exchange to become Pel's operative inside House Cannith.
After months of adventuring separately and following their own agendas, each of the Wolves on Khorvaire received an urgent summons from Breyten d'Cannith asking them to come to Fairhaven. They arrived separately, and William, Pel, Lysander and the newest Wolf Delano were reunited for the first time in months.
Breyten invited them to his manor and told them that his wife had been kidnapped. She had been traveling on the Lightning Rail to Sharn, and it was ambushed by warforged when it got near Passage. They killed her entire entourage and bodyguards and spirited her off the train. Research done by House Cannith investigators and the Tharashk inquisitive Breyten had hired lead him to believe they had taken her to the Eldeen Reaches.
He also explained that he was afraid that forces within the House were not so keen on having her back, and that his Tharashk investigator, a half-orc named Telde Velderan, had hit something of a wall in his urban investigation. Growing fearful for his wife's safety, he put out a call to the Wolves, knowing of the long relationship they had with Lady Elaydren.
The Wolves quickly agreed to help, then hit the streets to find out what they could about the House Cannith investigator. William, using his newfound skills of interacting with Dragonmarked nobles and guild members, found out that Berec d'Cannith, the investigator on the case, was generally regarded as a bit old for his job, and rumors were that he was an alcoholic to boot. Many investigations had opened recently, leaving only Berec for Elaydren's disappearance, and all signs pointed to his assignment coming from Baron Jorlanna d'Cannith herself.
Next, the Wolves went to meet with Telde Velderan in a private room to talk about the investigation. Velderan explained that he was more skilled at wilderness tracking, not urban investigation, and that he and Berec had spent some time in Passage but had hit dead ends and returned to Fairhaven to get a fresh start. He expressed frustration with Berec, explaining that they hadn't done much of a search of the Passage docks, which is where Telde expected the warforged would have gone to escape with their prisoner.
They determined to split up, with Lysander and William keeping Berec busy while Pel and Delano broke into his apartment to investigate him. Lysander tried mightily to talk William into playing a woman, but he was having none of it, and finally Lysander used his veil to cloak them as Chantal and Porthos, a sister and brother, and they went to find Berec at an inn called The Dead Fox.
In out-drinking Berec, William got a little over-zealous and became a bit drunk, although he did get Berec so drunk he passed out. However, William had to be convinced to leave the tavern by Lysander. Fortunately, Lysander's charms were up to the case, and the two of them, accompanied by an unconscious Berec, went to a nearby alley. They took his case notebook and his money and left him in the alley and then returned to the Twin Spirits Inn, where they had been operating since arriving in Fairhaven.
At the same time, Pel and Delano snuck into the Aundarian villa that served as the Cannith enclave. They got into Berec's room and looked through his notes. Amongst the other secrets Pel and Delano found, they found the relevant information that Berec had written Elaydren off as dead, most likely at the hand of the Lord of Blades, and that he had been sending copies of his reports to Baron Jorlanna. Perhaps most importantly, they learned that Berec had never investigated the docks in Passage because he had gambling debts to several crime bosses in the area.
With most of their suspicions confirmed, the Wolves hopped on a lightning rail to Passage alongside Telde. While traveling, Pel noticed something "off" about the half-orc, but he couldn't quite place it, and wrote it off to the Tharashk having some sort of secondary motivation relating to Lady Elaydren.
Once they arrived in Passage, they went straight to the docks to investigate. Delano talked to the dockworkers and found out that the crew of a fishing boat, The Little Dwarf, had turned up dead on the shore a few days ago, and that their boat had gone missing.
After calling in their new airship and its pilot, they flew low over Lake Galifar looking for the wreckage. Delano spotted it, and when they set down, Telde easily found the trail of several warforged, heading into the Gloaming in the Eldeen Reaches.
Unfortunately, they soon found out what had struck Pel about Telderan. He was not a half-orc... in fact, he was a Rakshasa assassin, sent by Ttemmal, and he lead them into an ambush made up of a pod demon, Abyssal Hulk and Abyssal Eviscerator.
The assassin didn't live to savor his ambush for long, however, as Pel opened the battle by firing a crossbow bolt into his eye, and was then drawn into battle with William and suffered a withering burst of killing flames from Delano. He tried to flee, but Lysander cut him down with his vicious mockery.
The demons proved more tenacious, in particular the pod demon, whose spawn kept appearing and exploding in acidic and poisonous goo. The Abyssal Hulk, meanwhile, used his gaze of chaos to try and turn the Wolves against one another, and the Abyssal Eviscerator cornered Pel, grabbed hold of him and began raking him mercilessly with his claws.
As Delano moved around the battlefield, aiding William in his battle against the Hulk, Lysander tried to keep the Pod Demon busy with arrows.
William finished off the Abyssal Hulk with his rain of steel and then moved in on the Eviscerator, finishing him off thanks to the damage Pel had inflicted. The group then turned on the Pod Demon and killed it, although by the end of the fight they were somewhat battered and bloodied, and they took a brief rest to recuperate.
They discovered that the warforged tracks were easy enough to follow without their "Tharashk" guide and continued tracing them, and before long, they came upon an abandoned bandit camp that the warforged had clearly appropriated. They could see the bandit camp in the distance, behind a twenty-foot high wooden fence that was guarded by a handful of warforged and... a warforged titan.
The battle against the Titan was a memorable one, with William essentially taking on the monstrous weapon one-on-one, aided by artillery fire from Delano, as the other warforged kept Pel and Lysander busy. Lysander used a song to enchant the Titan, which led to him helping to eliminate several of the other warforged while battling William.
With the other warforged down, the Titan finally managed to inflict enough damage to knock William out, and things began to look a bit grim for the Wolves. Pel moved through the trees using his shadow stride and staying hidden, and Lysander placed one of his sticky clockwork bombs on the Titan's legs before turning invisible, leaving Delano the only obvious target, and he fired off a hellish rebuke and began fleeing into the woods, with the Titan hot on his heels.
The Titan, scarred from William's many blows, on fire from Delano's attack, crashed relentlessly after Delano, but as it raised its hammer for a killing blow, Lysander's bomb went off, blowing it's leg off and sending it tumbling, inoperable, to the ground.
With the advance guard loudly defeated, they knew that the rest of the base would be on alert. Pel woke William and the group took a brief rest to refresh themselves before going in after Lady Elaydren. They decided to try a tried-and-true tactic of posing as prisoners, and Lysander used his veil to make himself and Pel look like the warforged guards, bringing William and Delano in after their "unsuccessful" attempt to defeat the Titan.
Unfortunately, when one of the Warforged guards inside the walled bandit camp called William "the most dangerous" of the Wolves, Lysander was unable to resist pressing the point and in so doing revealed himself and Pel to the surprisingly shrewd warforged guard.
The warforged mages used a variety of spells to keep blasting William away from the walls so that he couldn't climb over, but Delano simply teleported inside and began firing on them, and they couldn't hold off the Wolves forever. Two of the warforged were casting priestly magic using the Lord of Blades' holy symbol, causing Pel to repeatedly yell that "he's not a real God!"
After Pel and Lysander finished off the two mages using ranged attacks, William, Pel and Lysander climbed in to more directly engage the rest of the forces. While the warforged guards were formidable, they were not as dangerous as the advanced guard with the Titan, and when the captain of the warforged realized they were losing, he ordered the others to execute the prisoner.
Lysander leaped across the courtyard and into the pit where Elaydren was being held to defend her, and with the aid of Delano, they managed to destroy the warforged who were attempting to kill her while William and Pel dealt with the rest of the forces.
As William finished off the last Warforged Flamepriest, he saw something he hadn't seen since the very first mission they had undertaken for Lady Elaydren. A small metal ball disengaged from the Flamepriest and flew off, dodging an arrow fired by Lysander and a crossbow bolt from Pel. The Lord of Blades would be getting a report from the dead Warforged, thanks to his final messenger.
The shaken and clearly roughly treated Elaydren was very relieved to see the Wolves. She told them that she had been investigating the theft of the Xulo pattern, and that she had realized that her Uncle Merrix may have had something to do with its theft. She hadn't been able to talk to him since he had disappeared over six months ago. She also revealed that in her research into her ancestor Kedran d'Cannith, who had first discovered the pattern, she found the name Zura Dhakaan, a legendary Duur-kala (Dirge Singer) from the Dhakaani Empire who had broken Xulo after it was infected with the abberant taint of one of the Daelkyr.
She had reason to believe that Zura Dhakaan's tomb might hold a vast amount of information about Xulo, hopefully including the means by which he could be defeated and broken again. Unfortunately, finding the tomb in Darguun was so difficult that only one person had reportedly ever gotten close. And that person was Halas Martain.
Lady Elaydren also confided that she had always been an operative of Merrix, although her surface loyalties were to Baron Jorlanna, and she believed that Jorlanna now suspected the truth. She asked if Pel and Lysander could help her to ingratiate herself back into Jorlanna's good graces, and agreed in exchange to become Pel's operative inside House Cannith.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
William's Journal: First Entry
Dear Heart:
I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing this journal, except that I find I miss talking with thee at the end of each day. This journey bears all the marks of becoming another long campaign, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to return to thee. Time was that I thought forming an attachment would weaken me, Boldrei forgive me. Now I know that our marriage has given me new strength. I know I will need it in the weeks to come.
As we suspected, Brayton's summons was sent to all of the Wolves, and so I have him to thank for our reuniting. Would that it were under better circumstances -- Lady Elaydrin has been kidnapped, and he seeks our aid. We will help him, of course, but this is no simple ransom grab. Her own House may be involved. The most obvious signs point to Jorlana, but their very obviousness leads me to mistrust them. As usual, I keep my own counsel. Father's voice speaks in my memory, addressing Pieter and I: "Hear your enemy. He will tell you his name, if only you remain quiet enough to hear it." His counsel has served me well. How I wish you could have met him, and he thee.
Through Passage now, and on via chartered Lyrandar airship towards the Gloaming.
Your devoted husband,
William
Monday, April 04, 2011
Game Schedule April - June
April 1st - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 8th - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Gaming Off (Ben out of town)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 17th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 24th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
April 8th - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Gaming Off (Ben out of town)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 17th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 24th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
Friday, April 01, 2011
58b. Transition Part Three
Pel's People: TC agents need to be added in Droaam, Xendrik, and newly acquired ones in House Orien and Cannith.
Feel free to make up details on these folks. Whoever is in Droaam should be a monster of some kind, whoever is in Xen'drik is probably a follower of the Dark Six as a whole as well as the Traveler. Possibly Gorleius, the priest who raised you from the dead? Or is that just too creepy? His loyalties might be a little uncertain, to be fair.
Diarmand nicely fits the profile i was thinking of for someone in Orien. smooth talking, charming, travels a lot - probably a good recruiter/first contact for new members. Would he want the job?
Paul says he wants the job, so he wants the job. But as you note, that makes him your contact in Deneith. And if William ever finds out, I would guess he will be extremely pissed at both of you.
Worth the risk, or will Pel turn down Diarmand's help inside Deneith out of loyalty to his friend?
Meanwhile he'll see if his operative in Cannith can get wind of what is going on. We'll need to decide who this guy is. Might be good if he has some talent as an artificer.
This sounds reasonable to me.
Ttemmal: more research required, obivously
Yep, you've reached the end in this particular interlude. I assumed a trip to Thrane to gather the information you already have about his identities and how he was exposed, and ditto that you've already put The Native's operation and your operative in Xen'drik on researching (discreetly) the weapon that could destroy Ttemmal.
Xulo: almost certainly in the Mournland, complicating things. it is a big (nasty) place, and that will make it hard to track down. Looking into its theft from Cannith (maybe we can get "hired" to investigate?) might lead to some clues. Ditto Merrix's disappearance. pick up where the previous investigation go cold. If we are somehow kept out of this, then see what my agent can glean from the inside.
Because Elaydren's branch of the house is run by Merrix's rival Baron Jorlanna, there has been no official investigation. She is doing everything on the sly, making sure that her loyalty to her uncle doesn't cast doubt on her loyalty to the Baron.
Elaydren had told you that her Uncle Merrix had been acting odd for a while now, and his disappearing act had made her nervous and unsettled as far back as Therendor of 999, when he surprised her by missing her wedding.
(It's true! She mentioned it here)
She has reason to believe that he was following the path of the Self-Forged, adding warforged components to his own body. She couldn't confirm it, but she thinks she saw evidence of a mechanical arm hidden beneath his elaborate clothes the last time she saw him.
That last time, incidentally, was at the tale end of summer last year (1000 YK), when she met up with him at the House Enclave in Sharn. They had scheduled another luncheon a month later, but he didn't show, and inquiries to his entourage led her in circles. They either don't know where he is, or they won't tell her.
And they won't tell your operative in Cannith, either. The best answer you can get is that "Merrix is unavailable, working in secret on a very important project." Scuttlebutt is that he's part of the team devoted to rebuilding the White Arch bridge between Thrane and Karrnath and the resulting expansion of the lightning rail.
Moloch: Pel would never want to do anything to upset his lady-love, so he has decided to re-orient his thinking on this. (really it was just petty revenge, anyway). if he is valuable to her, then perhaps he can be valuable to Pel as well. converted, perhaps?
Perhaps. You've done quite a bit with your nine months, so further interactions with Moloch will have to wait until your next bit of downtime.
I hope to let it slip to an arrogant piece of feculence from my opposing house who fancies himself something of a storyteller. It is quite good and I believe in his ignorance he might, in fact, perform it and draw out some of T’s followers, at least to give us an idea of what region he may have relocated to.
Lysander's conscience remains clear, because his would-be rival doesn't take the bait. Which is in itself somewhat odd, as he's neither smart enough nor restrained enough not to. Which suggests that Ttemmal has pawns operating inside House Thuranni, pawns with their ears to the ground for anything the Wolves might be doing.
And if he has pawns in one House listening for the Wolves... well...
The gods are a great mystery, one worth unraveling as they affect the story we live in, so yes, Pel, ready whatever ritual is necessary if the faith I have spoken of here is enough faith. I leave that in your hands.
Lysander was there for the first contact with the Traveler (if that is in fact who he is) so it seems only fitting he should be there for the second.
In light of that, I have been telling The Tales of Travelin’ Jack. A series of (remarkably fresh) ‘folk tales’ base on the tenets and stories you have already shared with me.
The Tales of Travelin' Jack are spreading like wildfire, especially among the "lower classes" of Sharn and other big cities. The gnomes of Trolanport are particularly taken with them, and Sora Katra has informed Pel that many among her subjects have come to appreciate them as well, although they all wish they were a touch more bloody.
Sora Katra also lets Pel know, without saying it, that she knows full well who the tales come from. But it amuses her to no end.
Already, people ask for our tales and ballads. In five years, we will flow as freely as good beer in every tavern of the Five Nations and beyond. In twenty-five years we will be legends, possibly before.
The Wolves are considered national heroes in Breland and Zilargo, well-regarded adventurers in Aundair, Thrane and Karrnath and dangerous adversaries best avoided among the underworld of Darguun. Their fame may not have quite reached the outer edges of Khorvaire's wilds (Q'barra, The Shadow Marches, Lhazaar Principalities, etc.) but their names have definitely been whispered by some among the dragons of Argonnessen and the fiends of the Demon Waste, and many in the wilds of Xen'drik.
Lysander's prediction of five years is probably conservative.
I should be hearing back from my couriers about X and the S very soon, although the information you already have is probably the most we can get. I will see what kind of deep contacts we have in the appropriate house as soon as may be.
More on this at the next interlude.
I have also been seeking information on the companion artifacts that are linked historically to the Songbow Arenydee and I liberated from the Halls of the Ancestors.
Ditto. Although further clues indicate to you that there's a story linking the artifacts to Taer Lian Doresh, the Fortress of Fading Dreams, otherwise known as the Feyspire located in the Lhazaar Principalities.
Feel free to make up details on these folks. Whoever is in Droaam should be a monster of some kind, whoever is in Xen'drik is probably a follower of the Dark Six as a whole as well as the Traveler. Possibly Gorleius, the priest who raised you from the dead? Or is that just too creepy? His loyalties might be a little uncertain, to be fair.
Diarmand nicely fits the profile i was thinking of for someone in Orien. smooth talking, charming, travels a lot - probably a good recruiter/first contact for new members. Would he want the job?
Paul says he wants the job, so he wants the job. But as you note, that makes him your contact in Deneith. And if William ever finds out, I would guess he will be extremely pissed at both of you.
Worth the risk, or will Pel turn down Diarmand's help inside Deneith out of loyalty to his friend?
Meanwhile he'll see if his operative in Cannith can get wind of what is going on. We'll need to decide who this guy is. Might be good if he has some talent as an artificer.
This sounds reasonable to me.
Ttemmal: more research required, obivously
Yep, you've reached the end in this particular interlude. I assumed a trip to Thrane to gather the information you already have about his identities and how he was exposed, and ditto that you've already put The Native's operation and your operative in Xen'drik on researching (discreetly) the weapon that could destroy Ttemmal.
Xulo: almost certainly in the Mournland, complicating things. it is a big (nasty) place, and that will make it hard to track down. Looking into its theft from Cannith (maybe we can get "hired" to investigate?) might lead to some clues. Ditto Merrix's disappearance. pick up where the previous investigation go cold. If we are somehow kept out of this, then see what my agent can glean from the inside.
Because Elaydren's branch of the house is run by Merrix's rival Baron Jorlanna, there has been no official investigation. She is doing everything on the sly, making sure that her loyalty to her uncle doesn't cast doubt on her loyalty to the Baron.
Elaydren had told you that her Uncle Merrix had been acting odd for a while now, and his disappearing act had made her nervous and unsettled as far back as Therendor of 999, when he surprised her by missing her wedding.
(It's true! She mentioned it here)
She has reason to believe that he was following the path of the Self-Forged, adding warforged components to his own body. She couldn't confirm it, but she thinks she saw evidence of a mechanical arm hidden beneath his elaborate clothes the last time she saw him.
That last time, incidentally, was at the tale end of summer last year (1000 YK), when she met up with him at the House Enclave in Sharn. They had scheduled another luncheon a month later, but he didn't show, and inquiries to his entourage led her in circles. They either don't know where he is, or they won't tell her.
And they won't tell your operative in Cannith, either. The best answer you can get is that "Merrix is unavailable, working in secret on a very important project." Scuttlebutt is that he's part of the team devoted to rebuilding the White Arch bridge between Thrane and Karrnath and the resulting expansion of the lightning rail.
Moloch: Pel would never want to do anything to upset his lady-love, so he has decided to re-orient his thinking on this. (really it was just petty revenge, anyway). if he is valuable to her, then perhaps he can be valuable to Pel as well. converted, perhaps?
Perhaps. You've done quite a bit with your nine months, so further interactions with Moloch will have to wait until your next bit of downtime.
I hope to let it slip to an arrogant piece of feculence from my opposing house who fancies himself something of a storyteller. It is quite good and I believe in his ignorance he might, in fact, perform it and draw out some of T’s followers, at least to give us an idea of what region he may have relocated to.
Lysander's conscience remains clear, because his would-be rival doesn't take the bait. Which is in itself somewhat odd, as he's neither smart enough nor restrained enough not to. Which suggests that Ttemmal has pawns operating inside House Thuranni, pawns with their ears to the ground for anything the Wolves might be doing.
And if he has pawns in one House listening for the Wolves... well...
The gods are a great mystery, one worth unraveling as they affect the story we live in, so yes, Pel, ready whatever ritual is necessary if the faith I have spoken of here is enough faith. I leave that in your hands.
Lysander was there for the first contact with the Traveler (if that is in fact who he is) so it seems only fitting he should be there for the second.
In light of that, I have been telling The Tales of Travelin’ Jack. A series of (remarkably fresh) ‘folk tales’ base on the tenets and stories you have already shared with me.
The Tales of Travelin' Jack are spreading like wildfire, especially among the "lower classes" of Sharn and other big cities. The gnomes of Trolanport are particularly taken with them, and Sora Katra has informed Pel that many among her subjects have come to appreciate them as well, although they all wish they were a touch more bloody.
Sora Katra also lets Pel know, without saying it, that she knows full well who the tales come from. But it amuses her to no end.
Already, people ask for our tales and ballads. In five years, we will flow as freely as good beer in every tavern of the Five Nations and beyond. In twenty-five years we will be legends, possibly before.
The Wolves are considered national heroes in Breland and Zilargo, well-regarded adventurers in Aundair, Thrane and Karrnath and dangerous adversaries best avoided among the underworld of Darguun. Their fame may not have quite reached the outer edges of Khorvaire's wilds (Q'barra, The Shadow Marches, Lhazaar Principalities, etc.) but their names have definitely been whispered by some among the dragons of Argonnessen and the fiends of the Demon Waste, and many in the wilds of Xen'drik.
Lysander's prediction of five years is probably conservative.
I should be hearing back from my couriers about X and the S very soon, although the information you already have is probably the most we can get. I will see what kind of deep contacts we have in the appropriate house as soon as may be.
More on this at the next interlude.
I have also been seeking information on the companion artifacts that are linked historically to the Songbow Arenydee and I liberated from the Halls of the Ancestors.
Ditto. Although further clues indicate to you that there's a story linking the artifacts to Taer Lian Doresh, the Fortress of Fading Dreams, otherwise known as the Feyspire located in the Lhazaar Principalities.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A Letter from Lys
Decoded Sivis Message
Therendor 1, 1001
To: Pel at the Wolves Reward
From: Lysander Llywellyn d’Phiarlan, abroad
My dear friend,
The information you have given comes as no great shock as you can well imagine. I will endeavor to inform you, as I may, what tidbits of delectable erudition I might uncover; although, by the ‘Marks, you certainly have learned a great deal without me.
The tour has gone remarkably well, I will speak more of that later. I have devised a rather clever satire on our enemy T, I will not draw his attention to this missive by name. I hope to let it slip to an arrogant piece of feculence from my opposing house who fancies himself something of a storyteller. It is quite good and I believe in his ignorance he might, in fact, perform it and draw out some of T’s followers, at least to give us an idea of what region he may have relocated to. To be fair, my conscience, as opposed to my will as ever, forced me to write that it might be dangerous to draw the attention of so great an evil. But as the milk faced pustule that I speak of is a prima donna of the first rank, I do not believe he can keep himself from performing and claiming the satire. In any case, I took great pains to write the piece in the style of Chlorana Sirellia, a great half-elven court bard in the early days of Galifar. I would, in fact, applaud myself if my hands weren’t already working on another chef d’ouevre as they say in Aundair.
On the other matter you mentioned, your desire to see me in your religion. Pel, my brother, for brother I name you indeed, you know I believe that your religion is the only one I would ever consider following as in your Patron all paths seem to come together. Also, I know by experience that he has manifested to you, in point of fact, to us. It is pointless to deny that he exists and is powerful. My reservations rise only at the point of the definition of a ‘god.’ However, recent inquiries have led me to understand that the Dragons have believed for some time that the positions held by the so called sovereign host are actually attainable by mortal beings. Well, to be fair, they believe they are Dragons. That’s just draconic arrogance at work. I’m an elf, I know arrogance. I believe that may be true, or that something greater is at work. I was taught that if there is a story, there must be a storyteller. I am willing to follow the tenets of your Patron until I learn the truth of his existence. The gods are a great mystery, one worth unraveling as they affect the story we live in, so yes, Pel, ready whatever ritual is necessary if the faith I have spoken of here is enough faith. I leave that in your hands.
In light of that, I have been telling The Tales of Travelin’ Jack. A series of (remarkably fresh) ‘folk tales’ base on the tenets and stories you have already shared with me. I ‘found’ them, in a creative sense, allegedly, while prospecting in the library stacks of an eccentric professor there at Morgrave. I have also begun sending them in written form to a friend in Korranberg to be printed in the Chronicle. It’s subversive and inclusive. I know you will approve.
I have also, of course, continued to spread the fame of our brotherhood and it’s illustrious adventures. Already, people ask for our tales and ballads. In five years, we will flow as freely as good beer in every tavern of the Five Nations and beyond. In twenty-five years we will be legends, possibly before.
The device has been well received. Although, as you predicted, one old goat of a dwarf asked me if I had any moving pictures of naked women. Cha! In truth, if Arenydee doesn’t return soon, I may be trying out the old goats idea myself. I do look forward to more conversations of its ‘business’ applications.
I should be hearing back from my couriers about X and the S very soon, although the information you already have is probably the most we can get. I will see what kind of deep contacts we have in the appropriate house as soon as may be. I have also been seeking information on the companion artifacts that are linked historically to the Songbow Arenydee and I liberated from the Halls of the Ancestors. Now there’s a ballad no one believes! Cha! Children! However, my brother, I feel inclined to believe that our society of Lupine Lords will still do such deeds as well shake Khorvaire for centuries.
I hope to return by the sixth of the month to play at the Tain Gala. Who knows what I may learn?
Until we meet: May your path be interesting and full of shadowed halls, sublime women, astonishing wine, and huge pots of gold!
Yours,
Lys
Friday, March 18, 2011
58a. Transition Part Two
Whether and with what intensity Karolina shares the desire for children I leave up to the DM.
Karolina is interested in eventually having children, but she's young enough to wait a few years, and fears that pregnancy now would interfere with her burgeoning career of being a Deneith badass.
I have no idea how to do this, but I want to find out everything I can about Ttemmal, particularly about any weaknesses he might have. Also, since I think we get our power from the same source, is there any way I can track him that way?
Delano, with access to the resources of Orien, can easily travel as much as he wants doing research, from relatively safe (the Library of Korranberg) to less safe (Droaam, Q'barra, Darguun, other lawless places where worship of the Lords of Dust is more open). What he discovers about Ttemmal is this:
Ttemmal is very, very old, and very powerful, having served the Wyrmbreaker for centuries. Rumor has it that the Wyrmbreaker isn't a Rajah at all, but rather an exarch of another, more powerful Rajah, but none of your research thus far has been able to confirm or deny this. However, one tiny piece of evidence that leads toward this conclusion is that despite the power source you share with Ttemmal, you haven't been able to use it in any rituals to track down the elusive Rakshasa.
Ttemmal is more than likely a Fang of Khyber, the head of a small cel who serve the Wyrmbreaker. He has had many pawns over the centuries. The Wolves encountered one, the Order of the Corrupting Flame, in the Demon Wastes a couple years ago. That Order existed seemingly in order to wipe out Luggoth and his tribe before Luggoth could become a threat, a task at which it failed, although there's no way to be certain that they didn't serve any other larger or smaller roles in the grand schemes of Ttemmal or the Wyrmbreaker.
Most of what Delano discovers about Ttemmal is rumor, and some of them are conflicting. He finds some information that hints that he might have been involved in the creation of Xulo, the sentient creation pattern that has bedeviled the Wolves in the past. He finds some that indicate he was involved in the shadow war that resulted in the schism between House Phiarlan and House Thuranni. And it seems almost certain that he influenced war criminals on all sides of the Last War, including one recorded meeting with Count Orlok.
It would appear that Ttemmal has spent centuries preparing for the coming of the Wandering Wolves, and that whatever other schemes he has, he has been obsessed with destroying them before any of them were even born. It seems that there are passages of Prophecy which indicate that a member of the Wandering Wolves, or perhaps the entire group, is destined to end Ttemmal's existence permanently and that he seeks to prevent this death.
As for weaknesses, Ttemmal's twin weakenesses are arrogance and paranoia. He is arrogant enough that he doesn't worry too much about mortals interfering with his plans, but at the same time paranoid that something small and insignificant like a mortal will topple all of his plans. If killed, he will reincarnate, with all of his memories and a strong desire for vengeance. However, Delano has learned that there is a blessed weapon, once wielded by a paladin of the Silver Flame (whose name he has been unable to learn), which, if used to pierce Ttemmal's heart, can kill him forever. It takes Delano the better part of these nine months to learn this much, so further research will be required to learn the name and other specifics about the weapon.
Aeromus knew, or claimed to know, that Pel was posing as Viorr. As far as Pel knows, only maybe 3 people other than him are supposed to have that information - Kalibar, Captain Vron, and Lord Kor. It may be a little above his pay grade, but he'd REALLY like to know if/how that got passed on.
I knew you were wanting to stay on the trail of this. It's potentially *very* dangerous to be asking this question, because as you point out, the people who might have betrayed you are two of your superiors and arguably your most trusted operative.
After months of discreet inquiries, false information and elaborate schemes, Pel has been able to determine, with almost total certainty, that Kalibar is fully loyal and did not leak the information. He is still not certain about either Captain Vron or Lord Kor, as both of them have had dealings with Orien's smuggling operations in their time. If Pel wants to speak directly to Lord Kor, he can, but he might be confronting the very person who leaked the information.
In fact, Pel has learned that Delano has, at some point in the last few years, been in meetings between House Orien smugglers and Captain Vron, as well as one between House Orien smugglers and Lord Kor.
Where is the pattern? Last I recall we gave it to Lady Elaydren, right? I would assume she passed it on higher up in House Cannith, so can we find out who has it now? Per the future we saw, someone in that House experimented (or rather, is GOING TO experiment) with it, causing the disruption we witnessed.
This is correct. Last you knew, the Xulo pattern had been given to Lady Elaydren and she had given it to her superiors.
Does Pel (or Lysander) have access to any operatives (DL or Traveler) that are placed in House Cannith?
Not at the moment, and interfering with the dragonmarked Houses using Dark Lantern resources could get him in serious trouble with both Lord Kor and Captain Vron, so it's probably not worth the risk. Using a member of the Traveler Cult would be slightly safer, but not as easy as using one within, say, House Orien, where you know there are worshipers of the Traveler. Lysander might be able to make subtle inquiries, but those in House Cannith don't fully trust House Phiarlan, so it would be a very delicate operation.
Can we just ask Lady Elaydren directly?
This, on the other hand, is much easier. You have some trouble reaching Lady Elaydren, as she seems to be doing a fair amount of traveling and working, often leaving her very young son with her nanny. Which seems somewhat odd, until you (and Lysander, and possibly Delano) manage to schedule a meeting with her held at the Wolves' Reward. She seems nervous and rattled, the way she was when she first hired you guys and was being more or less actively hunted by the Lord of Blades. She won't tell you exactly what is wrong, but it's clear that she's under some pressure.
She tells you she became suspicious about the disappearance of her Uncle Merrix and began looking into it a few months ago. She tells you that in order to prevent House Cannith from carelessly reactivating the pattern that had killed Pel, she reported to her benefactors in the House that the schema and creation patterns were flawed, and that she was having Cannith magewrights in Sharn work on them. Unfortunately, she learned recently that the pattern and schema were stolen only a few months after she handed them up.
It appears that renegade warforged working for the Lord of Blades broke into the Cannith facility in Sharn and stole the pattern and schema. Cannith has had investigators looking into the disappearance since then, but their trails ended at the Mournland, and the agents sent into there to get it back have never reported back in, and are presumed dead. So the best assumption is that the creation pattern is somewhere in the Mournland, in the possession of the Lord of Blades, and has been for around two years.
If you'd like, you can ask Scabbard, the Lord of Blades' ambassador to the Wolves' Reward, but that would almost certainly tip him off as to what you're doing and that you know that he has it, so I presume you don't want to do that.
How high up should we ask for help with this? I have an instinct that the fewer people that are aware this thing exists, the better.
That is a correct instinct. Elaydren fears that there are some within the House that are working against her, but she refuses to go into more detail about this, declaring it an "internal House matter."
Destruction pattern…? What in hell CAN we do with this thing once we’ve found it? I don’t think it will be good enough (if it’s even possible) to just talk whoever has it out of trying to use it. It may have possessed them somehow. Also, just smashing it up is probably insufficient. My thought is, can something be made that will counter it somehow, either nullifying it or utterly destroying it? I would like to engage Tock and Elias Volan in researching this. Anyone else have a suggestion?
Your assumptions are probably correct. All the information that you and Elaydren have found about Xulo is that it is an artifact from the Age of Giants, which means that simply bashing it with a stick probably isn't going to end it. Thus far, she has not uncovered any evidence of what can destroy it, but she tells you that she is looking into the records of her ancestor, Kedran d'Cannith, whose writings first led her to put you on the trail of Xulo. She is hoping that he did further research and might have some more information about what exactly Xulo is and what might destroy him.
So if we think he is in Xen'drik, I think we need to get over there asap and end his ass.
You're not certain he's there (or what role he has taken) and he is a potentially powerful adversary, so you might not want to directly confront him until you have the advantage. In addition, the intelligence regarding Ttemmal is fairly recent, within the last month or two, so further information is required before making the trip to Xen'drik weapons in hand.
The WW site says “Ceranda d'Phiarlan believes that Ttemmal has adopted another identity inside the hierarchy of the Silver Flame, but House Phiarlan has been unable to determine that identity.” Any progress on ID’ing him?
Yes. House Phiarlan, working in conjunction with your friends Cardinal Hetrion, Archbishop Rav Corus and the paladins Verodin Atrelioth and Oura Gellast, has been able to smoke out Ttemmal twice. First they found him working in the offices of Cardinal Krozen, who is rumored to be corrupt but is also one of the most powerful Cardinals in the church, ranking well above Cardinal Hetrion. He turned up again in a smaller village in Thrane, posing as a priest who was in line to move into the hierarchy at Flamekeep, which is consistent with what he did when he posed as Archbishop Solgar Dariznu. It's clear that he's going to have a tough time blending into the hierarchy of the Silver Flame again while those four are aware of him, and that probably had something to do with him fleeing for Xen'drik, if in fact he did.
How can we assess the quality and origin of this intelligence? Who else do we have on the ground there that can check on stuff? Traveler Cultists, maybe?
Quite possibly, and we should add a Traveler Cultist in Xen'drik to your "Pel's People" database. But the intelligence regarding Ttemmal's presence comes from Stormreach "chatter" picked up by Yanesh Hite, Brand's diplomat in the city. Confirming that he is there is damn near impossible. Smoking out an evil Rakshasa in the most holy lawful good place on Eberron is relatively easy, doing the same in the port of Stormreach is less so. Right now, it's more of a job for Brand, Luggoth and their allies in Xen'drik.
Is there a way I can maneuver a conflict between Ttemmal and the Bilge Rats? B/C that would be sweet. Heh.
Pel is very, very talented. He is not talented enough to trick a centuries old Rakshasa into a fight with a relatively minor street gang.
Is Xain following in our father’s footsteps and working with him already?
Well, that is an interesting question. A question you have not been able to get the answer to just yet.
Sora Katra: Really? This is very, very interesting. Pel will try his best to compartmentalize his business and personal affairs (ahem), but you know, there always a lot of grey area with him. I bet she is a demon in the sack.
She's kind of a demon all the time. :) But being with Sora Katra, which probably includes a few trips into Droaam, will let you set up an agent inside Droaam, most likely a changeling, who we should add under the Traveler's Cult heading.
You also learn quickly that she is much more physically powerful than you are and probably even smarter and more devious. She challenges you and probably makes you a better spy, but there's always this sense that this might be the last time, and she might finish off by killing and eating you.
It seems to Pel that this guy (Moloch) is way, way too not dead. Also occurs to him that Dreamlilly and Cockatrices are a very dangerous combination. unfortunate accidents have been known to happen, especially if someone is "getting high on his own supply", and trying to pet the magical chickens that can turn you to stone. I'm sure his subordinates will observe a respectful period of grieving before collecting the insurance (ahem), and picking up the business where he left off. the show must go on, after all.
If I'm hearing you correctly (and I think I am), you want to arrange for someone within the Daask organization who is in your employ to take out Moloch with an "accident" so that you can have another agent within the Daask *and* a dead Moloch.
One potential complication is that in your "relationship" with Sora Katra is that she discerns your interest in Moloch, and subtly informs you that he is protected by Droamm, a valuable asset, and if he were to die, she would be very unhappy.
If you wish to go forward with this plan, you can either cultivate a new asset within Moloch's organization or have Scar make the move on your behalf.
Karolina is interested in eventually having children, but she's young enough to wait a few years, and fears that pregnancy now would interfere with her burgeoning career of being a Deneith badass.
I have no idea how to do this, but I want to find out everything I can about Ttemmal, particularly about any weaknesses he might have. Also, since I think we get our power from the same source, is there any way I can track him that way?
Delano, with access to the resources of Orien, can easily travel as much as he wants doing research, from relatively safe (the Library of Korranberg) to less safe (Droaam, Q'barra, Darguun, other lawless places where worship of the Lords of Dust is more open). What he discovers about Ttemmal is this:
Ttemmal is very, very old, and very powerful, having served the Wyrmbreaker for centuries. Rumor has it that the Wyrmbreaker isn't a Rajah at all, but rather an exarch of another, more powerful Rajah, but none of your research thus far has been able to confirm or deny this. However, one tiny piece of evidence that leads toward this conclusion is that despite the power source you share with Ttemmal, you haven't been able to use it in any rituals to track down the elusive Rakshasa.
Ttemmal is more than likely a Fang of Khyber, the head of a small cel who serve the Wyrmbreaker. He has had many pawns over the centuries. The Wolves encountered one, the Order of the Corrupting Flame, in the Demon Wastes a couple years ago. That Order existed seemingly in order to wipe out Luggoth and his tribe before Luggoth could become a threat, a task at which it failed, although there's no way to be certain that they didn't serve any other larger or smaller roles in the grand schemes of Ttemmal or the Wyrmbreaker.
Most of what Delano discovers about Ttemmal is rumor, and some of them are conflicting. He finds some information that hints that he might have been involved in the creation of Xulo, the sentient creation pattern that has bedeviled the Wolves in the past. He finds some that indicate he was involved in the shadow war that resulted in the schism between House Phiarlan and House Thuranni. And it seems almost certain that he influenced war criminals on all sides of the Last War, including one recorded meeting with Count Orlok.
It would appear that Ttemmal has spent centuries preparing for the coming of the Wandering Wolves, and that whatever other schemes he has, he has been obsessed with destroying them before any of them were even born. It seems that there are passages of Prophecy which indicate that a member of the Wandering Wolves, or perhaps the entire group, is destined to end Ttemmal's existence permanently and that he seeks to prevent this death.
As for weaknesses, Ttemmal's twin weakenesses are arrogance and paranoia. He is arrogant enough that he doesn't worry too much about mortals interfering with his plans, but at the same time paranoid that something small and insignificant like a mortal will topple all of his plans. If killed, he will reincarnate, with all of his memories and a strong desire for vengeance. However, Delano has learned that there is a blessed weapon, once wielded by a paladin of the Silver Flame (whose name he has been unable to learn), which, if used to pierce Ttemmal's heart, can kill him forever. It takes Delano the better part of these nine months to learn this much, so further research will be required to learn the name and other specifics about the weapon.
Aeromus knew, or claimed to know, that Pel was posing as Viorr. As far as Pel knows, only maybe 3 people other than him are supposed to have that information - Kalibar, Captain Vron, and Lord Kor. It may be a little above his pay grade, but he'd REALLY like to know if/how that got passed on.
I knew you were wanting to stay on the trail of this. It's potentially *very* dangerous to be asking this question, because as you point out, the people who might have betrayed you are two of your superiors and arguably your most trusted operative.
After months of discreet inquiries, false information and elaborate schemes, Pel has been able to determine, with almost total certainty, that Kalibar is fully loyal and did not leak the information. He is still not certain about either Captain Vron or Lord Kor, as both of them have had dealings with Orien's smuggling operations in their time. If Pel wants to speak directly to Lord Kor, he can, but he might be confronting the very person who leaked the information.
In fact, Pel has learned that Delano has, at some point in the last few years, been in meetings between House Orien smugglers and Captain Vron, as well as one between House Orien smugglers and Lord Kor.
Where is the pattern? Last I recall we gave it to Lady Elaydren, right? I would assume she passed it on higher up in House Cannith, so can we find out who has it now? Per the future we saw, someone in that House experimented (or rather, is GOING TO experiment) with it, causing the disruption we witnessed.
This is correct. Last you knew, the Xulo pattern had been given to Lady Elaydren and she had given it to her superiors.
Does Pel (or Lysander) have access to any operatives (DL or Traveler) that are placed in House Cannith?
Not at the moment, and interfering with the dragonmarked Houses using Dark Lantern resources could get him in serious trouble with both Lord Kor and Captain Vron, so it's probably not worth the risk. Using a member of the Traveler Cult would be slightly safer, but not as easy as using one within, say, House Orien, where you know there are worshipers of the Traveler. Lysander might be able to make subtle inquiries, but those in House Cannith don't fully trust House Phiarlan, so it would be a very delicate operation.
Can we just ask Lady Elaydren directly?
This, on the other hand, is much easier. You have some trouble reaching Lady Elaydren, as she seems to be doing a fair amount of traveling and working, often leaving her very young son with her nanny. Which seems somewhat odd, until you (and Lysander, and possibly Delano) manage to schedule a meeting with her held at the Wolves' Reward. She seems nervous and rattled, the way she was when she first hired you guys and was being more or less actively hunted by the Lord of Blades. She won't tell you exactly what is wrong, but it's clear that she's under some pressure.
She tells you she became suspicious about the disappearance of her Uncle Merrix and began looking into it a few months ago. She tells you that in order to prevent House Cannith from carelessly reactivating the pattern that had killed Pel, she reported to her benefactors in the House that the schema and creation patterns were flawed, and that she was having Cannith magewrights in Sharn work on them. Unfortunately, she learned recently that the pattern and schema were stolen only a few months after she handed them up.
It appears that renegade warforged working for the Lord of Blades broke into the Cannith facility in Sharn and stole the pattern and schema. Cannith has had investigators looking into the disappearance since then, but their trails ended at the Mournland, and the agents sent into there to get it back have never reported back in, and are presumed dead. So the best assumption is that the creation pattern is somewhere in the Mournland, in the possession of the Lord of Blades, and has been for around two years.
If you'd like, you can ask Scabbard, the Lord of Blades' ambassador to the Wolves' Reward, but that would almost certainly tip him off as to what you're doing and that you know that he has it, so I presume you don't want to do that.
How high up should we ask for help with this? I have an instinct that the fewer people that are aware this thing exists, the better.
That is a correct instinct. Elaydren fears that there are some within the House that are working against her, but she refuses to go into more detail about this, declaring it an "internal House matter."
Destruction pattern…? What in hell CAN we do with this thing once we’ve found it? I don’t think it will be good enough (if it’s even possible) to just talk whoever has it out of trying to use it. It may have possessed them somehow. Also, just smashing it up is probably insufficient. My thought is, can something be made that will counter it somehow, either nullifying it or utterly destroying it? I would like to engage Tock and Elias Volan in researching this. Anyone else have a suggestion?
Your assumptions are probably correct. All the information that you and Elaydren have found about Xulo is that it is an artifact from the Age of Giants, which means that simply bashing it with a stick probably isn't going to end it. Thus far, she has not uncovered any evidence of what can destroy it, but she tells you that she is looking into the records of her ancestor, Kedran d'Cannith, whose writings first led her to put you on the trail of Xulo. She is hoping that he did further research and might have some more information about what exactly Xulo is and what might destroy him.
So if we think he is in Xen'drik, I think we need to get over there asap and end his ass.
You're not certain he's there (or what role he has taken) and he is a potentially powerful adversary, so you might not want to directly confront him until you have the advantage. In addition, the intelligence regarding Ttemmal is fairly recent, within the last month or two, so further information is required before making the trip to Xen'drik weapons in hand.
The WW site says “Ceranda d'Phiarlan believes that Ttemmal has adopted another identity inside the hierarchy of the Silver Flame, but House Phiarlan has been unable to determine that identity.” Any progress on ID’ing him?
Yes. House Phiarlan, working in conjunction with your friends Cardinal Hetrion, Archbishop Rav Corus and the paladins Verodin Atrelioth and Oura Gellast, has been able to smoke out Ttemmal twice. First they found him working in the offices of Cardinal Krozen, who is rumored to be corrupt but is also one of the most powerful Cardinals in the church, ranking well above Cardinal Hetrion. He turned up again in a smaller village in Thrane, posing as a priest who was in line to move into the hierarchy at Flamekeep, which is consistent with what he did when he posed as Archbishop Solgar Dariznu. It's clear that he's going to have a tough time blending into the hierarchy of the Silver Flame again while those four are aware of him, and that probably had something to do with him fleeing for Xen'drik, if in fact he did.
How can we assess the quality and origin of this intelligence? Who else do we have on the ground there that can check on stuff? Traveler Cultists, maybe?
Quite possibly, and we should add a Traveler Cultist in Xen'drik to your "Pel's People" database. But the intelligence regarding Ttemmal's presence comes from Stormreach "chatter" picked up by Yanesh Hite, Brand's diplomat in the city. Confirming that he is there is damn near impossible. Smoking out an evil Rakshasa in the most holy lawful good place on Eberron is relatively easy, doing the same in the port of Stormreach is less so. Right now, it's more of a job for Brand, Luggoth and their allies in Xen'drik.
Is there a way I can maneuver a conflict between Ttemmal and the Bilge Rats? B/C that would be sweet. Heh.
Pel is very, very talented. He is not talented enough to trick a centuries old Rakshasa into a fight with a relatively minor street gang.
Is Xain following in our father’s footsteps and working with him already?
Well, that is an interesting question. A question you have not been able to get the answer to just yet.
Sora Katra: Really? This is very, very interesting. Pel will try his best to compartmentalize his business and personal affairs (ahem), but you know, there always a lot of grey area with him. I bet she is a demon in the sack.
She's kind of a demon all the time. :) But being with Sora Katra, which probably includes a few trips into Droaam, will let you set up an agent inside Droaam, most likely a changeling, who we should add under the Traveler's Cult heading.
You also learn quickly that she is much more physically powerful than you are and probably even smarter and more devious. She challenges you and probably makes you a better spy, but there's always this sense that this might be the last time, and she might finish off by killing and eating you.
It seems to Pel that this guy (Moloch) is way, way too not dead. Also occurs to him that Dreamlilly and Cockatrices are a very dangerous combination. unfortunate accidents have been known to happen, especially if someone is "getting high on his own supply", and trying to pet the magical chickens that can turn you to stone. I'm sure his subordinates will observe a respectful period of grieving before collecting the insurance (ahem), and picking up the business where he left off. the show must go on, after all.
If I'm hearing you correctly (and I think I am), you want to arrange for someone within the Daask organization who is in your employ to take out Moloch with an "accident" so that you can have another agent within the Daask *and* a dead Moloch.
One potential complication is that in your "relationship" with Sora Katra is that she discerns your interest in Moloch, and subtly informs you that he is protected by Droamm, a valuable asset, and if he were to die, she would be very unhappy.
If you wish to go forward with this plan, you can either cultivate a new asset within Moloch's organization or have Scar make the move on your behalf.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
58. Wandering Wolves: Transition (9 Months Pass)
Nymm 18, YK 1000 - Therendor 10, YK 1001 (Early Spring)
Everyone:
The departure of Brand and Luggoth has led to a temporary dissolution of the Wolves as an adventuring band, although with Sivis messaging, Orien teleportation and Lyrandar airships, not to mention the considerable resources of the Wolves themselves, they remain in contact with one another.
Pel and Lysander both spend part of their time at the Wolves' Reward, but a lot of their time traveling and attending to their various intelligence duties. William also spends some time at the Wolves' Reward, but he spends some time in Karrnath at various House Deneith enclaves and a lot of time running down fugitives with Resolute.
Luggoth spends several months away in Argonnessen, and then returns to Xen'drik, where he joins Brand's new Native organization. Brand has spent some time on Khorvaire in the new identity Baron Kwanti d'Orien set up for him, but he has found not only that the Native's organization takes up a great deal of his time, but that he has fallen in love with the wilds of Xen'drik much like his father before him.
Lysander:
Lysander's "crystal recorder" project comes to fruition, and he begins another tour of Khorvaire to show it off. The secondary goal of this tour is to uncover information about Xulo and Ttemmal, the two threats at large that are moving against the Wolves.
Arenydee has been undercover for House Phiarlan, and Lysander hasn't seen her in almost a year.
William:
Perhaps most notable is that William has wooed and married Karolina d'Orien, a member of the Wolves' Reward guard. Shortly after that, Karolina proves herself a capable security officer to Maresh, enough that when Diarmand d'Deneith changes jobs, Karolina is promoted to be one of Maresh's three lieutenants heading up aspects of casino security.
Diarmand d'Deneith, by his own request, becomes more of a wandering advocate for the casino, traveling throughout Khorvaire and picking up rumors that could be useful or dangerous to the casino and its owners. He still spends a great deal of time at the Wolves' Reward, but his new unofficial deputy status lets him hear a lot more of the good underworld gossip when he is there.
While doing bloodline research in Karrnath with his mother, William discovers that Lady Hellena Tarkanan, one of the assassins who they met first in Darguun and again on the train trying to kill Aeromus, is a cousin who fell from House Deneith after she was turned into a vampire by a Cult of the Blood of Vol.
Pel:
Pel builds up an expansive spy network throughout civilized Khorvaire and a Traveler cult/spy network in less savory areas like the Shadow Marches, Droaam, Darguun and Q'barra. He also begins a "relationship" of sorts with Sora Katra. He learns through channels that his half-brother Xain is moving up in the ranks of the Bilge Rats, and he keeps tabs on the Bilge Rats through Brand's contacts in Stormreach.
Delano:
With Brand off in Xen'drik, Delano has taken over as Orien liaison to the Wolves' Reward. He has also learned that his fate may be intertwined with theirs by the Draconic Prophecy, when arcane research leads him to realize that Ttemmal, the Rakshasa who has bedeviled the Wolves in the past, is the Khyber's Claw (lieutenant) of the Rajah known as the Wyrmbreaker, the very same Rajah that Delano made his pact of power with, who now seeks Delano's death or enslavement.
Luggoth/Brand:
Luggoth returns from Argonessen by way of Xen'drik and joins Brand's new "Native" organization, which is much more heavily driven by House Orien. The two of them learn that Ttemmal, who has more animus for Luggoth than the rest of the Wolves, may be scheming in Xen'drik now.
Questions? Comments? Plans and Schemes?
Everyone:
The departure of Brand and Luggoth has led to a temporary dissolution of the Wolves as an adventuring band, although with Sivis messaging, Orien teleportation and Lyrandar airships, not to mention the considerable resources of the Wolves themselves, they remain in contact with one another.
Pel and Lysander both spend part of their time at the Wolves' Reward, but a lot of their time traveling and attending to their various intelligence duties. William also spends some time at the Wolves' Reward, but he spends some time in Karrnath at various House Deneith enclaves and a lot of time running down fugitives with Resolute.
Luggoth spends several months away in Argonnessen, and then returns to Xen'drik, where he joins Brand's new Native organization. Brand has spent some time on Khorvaire in the new identity Baron Kwanti d'Orien set up for him, but he has found not only that the Native's organization takes up a great deal of his time, but that he has fallen in love with the wilds of Xen'drik much like his father before him.
Lysander:
Lysander's "crystal recorder" project comes to fruition, and he begins another tour of Khorvaire to show it off. The secondary goal of this tour is to uncover information about Xulo and Ttemmal, the two threats at large that are moving against the Wolves.
Arenydee has been undercover for House Phiarlan, and Lysander hasn't seen her in almost a year.
William:
Perhaps most notable is that William has wooed and married Karolina d'Orien, a member of the Wolves' Reward guard. Shortly after that, Karolina proves herself a capable security officer to Maresh, enough that when Diarmand d'Deneith changes jobs, Karolina is promoted to be one of Maresh's three lieutenants heading up aspects of casino security.
Diarmand d'Deneith, by his own request, becomes more of a wandering advocate for the casino, traveling throughout Khorvaire and picking up rumors that could be useful or dangerous to the casino and its owners. He still spends a great deal of time at the Wolves' Reward, but his new unofficial deputy status lets him hear a lot more of the good underworld gossip when he is there.
While doing bloodline research in Karrnath with his mother, William discovers that Lady Hellena Tarkanan, one of the assassins who they met first in Darguun and again on the train trying to kill Aeromus, is a cousin who fell from House Deneith after she was turned into a vampire by a Cult of the Blood of Vol.
Pel:
Pel builds up an expansive spy network throughout civilized Khorvaire and a Traveler cult/spy network in less savory areas like the Shadow Marches, Droaam, Darguun and Q'barra. He also begins a "relationship" of sorts with Sora Katra. He learns through channels that his half-brother Xain is moving up in the ranks of the Bilge Rats, and he keeps tabs on the Bilge Rats through Brand's contacts in Stormreach.
Delano:
With Brand off in Xen'drik, Delano has taken over as Orien liaison to the Wolves' Reward. He has also learned that his fate may be intertwined with theirs by the Draconic Prophecy, when arcane research leads him to realize that Ttemmal, the Rakshasa who has bedeviled the Wolves in the past, is the Khyber's Claw (lieutenant) of the Rajah known as the Wyrmbreaker, the very same Rajah that Delano made his pact of power with, who now seeks Delano's death or enslavement.
Luggoth/Brand:
Luggoth returns from Argonessen by way of Xen'drik and joins Brand's new "Native" organization, which is much more heavily driven by House Orien. The two of them learn that Ttemmal, who has more animus for Luggoth than the rest of the Wolves, may be scheming in Xen'drik now.
Questions? Comments? Plans and Schemes?
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Game Schedule March - June
March 4th - Gaming Off (STAPLE!)
March 11th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan, Dave)
March 18th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan, Dave?)
March 25th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan, Dave?)
April 1st - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 8th - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Fiasco (at Randy's place - Ben out of town)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 17th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 24th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
March 11th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan, Dave)
March 18th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan, Dave?)
March 25th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan, Dave?)
April 1st - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 8th - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Fiasco (at Randy's place - Ben out of town)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 17th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 24th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Pathfinder 1
Hey, gang. Here's the primary trove of Pathfinder goodness. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
Take a look see if you haven't checked out the books. More info on the PF trial adventure Monday.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Game Schedule February - June
February 4th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben)
February 11th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan)
February 18th - Gamma World (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan)
February 25th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan, Dave)
March 4th - Gaming Off (STAPLE!)
March 11th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan, Dave)
March 18th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
March 25th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
April 1st - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
April 8th - Gamma World/Fiasco? (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Gaming Off (Ben in Hawaii)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy, Chris?)
June 17th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy, Chris?)
June 24th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy, Chris?)
February 11th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan)
February 18th - Gamma World (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan)
February 25th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan, Dave)
March 4th - Gaming Off (STAPLE!)
March 11th - Pathfinder (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan, Dave)
March 18th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
March 25th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
April 1st - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
April 8th - Gamma World/Fiasco? (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Gaming Off (Ben in Hawaii)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy, Chris?)
June 17th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy, Chris?)
June 24th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy, Chris?)
Friday, January 14, 2011
17. Rocs and Hags
By way of preparation, Magnus casts Endure Elements and Waterbreathing on all of us.
Echo spots a giant wave approaching, and we tie ourselves off to corners of the boat while inside the tent. An iceberg smashes into the ship, sending Echo and Magnus flying while Alain and Xiu resist any damage. While Magnus repairs the damage and Echo keeps a lookout, Xiu and Alain enjoy delightful tea inside the warm magic tent (not a euphemism.)
Then a Roc tried to eat Echo. Then another one grabs him and drops him into the freezing water. Echo climbs his rope back onto the ship. Alain covers him with a crossbow.
Alain hits the Roc with a crossbow bolt, and it misses Echo. The other Roc flies in to attack the tent, but is unable to pull it off the boat just yet. Echo jumps down into a hole to protect himself from swooping attacks. One of the Rocs tries to bite Echo, the other one tears the roof off the tent. Echo pulls out his bow and shoots at the Roc. Magnus emerges from the tent grudgingly and attacks the Roc, pinning him to the deck.
Xiu moves into close quarters with the pinned Roc and stabs it. Alain jumps down and fires Greater Magic Weapon at the Roc and gives dancing shield to Magnus. Male Roc pinned to the deck tries to bite Xiu, drawing a crit from Magnus and missing Xiu. The female Roc swoops down and misses us. Echo drops the bow, emerges from his hole and swings his sword at the male Roc with blade of light. Magnus uses his appalling crunch and bloodies it.
Xiu stabs the Roc. Alain fires a magic weapon bolt at the male Roc, giving the bonus to Magnus. The other Roc swoops down and misses Alain. The bloodied Roc bites at Magnus and misses. Echo hits the Roc. Magnus uses crushing surge on the Roc.
Xiu stabs the Roc and misses. Alain fires another magic weapon bolt at the male Roc. The male Roc misses Magnus, the female Roc swoops down and grabs Alain, holding onto him and snapping the rope. Echo kills the male Roc with a sword through the eyeball. Magnus watches the Roc fly away, and Kasim comes around to catch up to the Roc.
Xiu moves to the front of the boat and pulls out another rope. Alain throws acidic fire at the Roc and is dropped into the water. The Roc screeches at us and flies away, and Xiu drops a rope to let Alain back onto the rope.
Magnus spends some time repairing the tent, and we rest again. Around midnight, the chaotic rocking and swaying abruptly calms. We are on calm seas, but everything else looks different... we have entered the Elemental Chaos. Echo is on watch, and sees a haze over the water, and hears a sound that seems like a lot of people screaming in the distance. The boat is plunged into the haze, which slices through everything incorporealy. Xiu and Alain begin seeing things in the haze that look unsettlingly like faces from their past.
While Xiu is on watch, she sees what looks like a de-masted ship, but appears to be a ship made out of bones. It reminds Xiu and Echo of the banner of the nation of Droaam, and standing at the head of the ship is a Hag. Xiu wakes us up and comes in the tent. Magnus suggests talking to the hag, and Alain comes with him to try and talk to her. She seems to be a Death Hag, one of the most dangerous kind. There are also numerous Abyssal Ghouls, and a Battle Guardian, as well as lesser undead throughout the ship. Xiu, standing in the crow's nest, has transformed to look like another Hag.
After negotiations that go extremely poorly, Magnus agrees to be the price for the Hag and starts swimming over. Alain tries to talk to Kasim, fails and instead talks Xiu and Echo into helping him move the sail so that they'll crash into the Hag's ship.
The Hag reaches out to Magnus and pulls some of his soul out. Using Inexorable Advance, Magnus attacks the Hag and hits twice, then uses his action point to attack again and misses. The ship crashes, and Echo jumps onto the ship and swings at the Hag. Xiu charges across the bow and hits one of the skeletons, killing it. One of the Shadows vanishes, the other one moves up to attack Xiu. Abyssal Ghouls move in and attack Magnus before shifting back out of combat. Alain fires predatory shards, destroying one skeleton and hitting a shadow and the Hag. The Hag claws Magnus and prevents him from taking healing surges, then withdraws, avoiding attacks from Magnus and Echo. Battle Guardian swings at Magnus and immobilizes him. Magnus shrugs off the immobilize by taking damage, then chases down the Hag, pushing her off the boat and bloodying her.
Echo moves to attack the Battle Guardian and crits him. Xiu shifts over and hits the Battle Guardian as well. The Shadow dies in the predatory shards, the other one melds with Alain's shadow. Abyssal Ghouls move in to attack Echo and miss him. Two skeletons hit Echo, two of them miss. The ballista fires and misses Echo. Alain runs into the predatory shards with the shadow, hits him with a repulsion strike and calls up his dancing shield to protect himself from the ballista. The Hag seems to have fallen off the boat, but Echo and Xiu take necrotic damage from a life drain within the bowels of the ship. Battle Guardian crits Echo. Magnus uses appalling crunch to smash his way into the bowels of the ship, and sees a Water Troll swimming underneath the boat, and moves over to him.
Echo adopts a stance that bumps defenses, lays hands on himself and uses trial of strength on the Battle Guardian. Xiu uses Bloodbath on Guardian, giving it ongoing damage, then adopts a defensive stance. The shadow misses Alain due to his dancing shield. The ghouls move in to attack Echo and miss. The ballista fires and misses Xiu. The skeletons attack Echo and hit twice. Alain uses Runic Resistance and kills the four skeletons. The Hag uses a necrotic aura on Xiu and Alain. Battle Guardian takes damage, attacks Echo and bloodies him, then shakes off bloodbath. Magnus chops through the bone floor to get to the Hag, activates Unyielding Avalanche to begin regenerating, and plunges them both into the water.
Echo hits the Guardian. Xiu attacks Guardian with Arterial Slice and destroys him, then uses her action point to attack the ballista. The shadow attacks Alain and bloodies him. The ghouls attack Echo. Alain fires Positive Energy Infusion at the ballista and "bloodies" it. The Hag takes damage from Avalanche, bloodying her, and she swims away from Magnus under the water. Magnus swims after her, uses come and get it to draw her back and hits her with a crit.
Echo heals himself and Alain, Xiu destroys the ballista and damages the ghoul, Alain kills the shadow, the Death Hag surrenders to Magnus and gives us her Battle Guardian.
Echo spots a giant wave approaching, and we tie ourselves off to corners of the boat while inside the tent. An iceberg smashes into the ship, sending Echo and Magnus flying while Alain and Xiu resist any damage. While Magnus repairs the damage and Echo keeps a lookout, Xiu and Alain enjoy delightful tea inside the warm magic tent (not a euphemism.)
Then a Roc tried to eat Echo. Then another one grabs him and drops him into the freezing water. Echo climbs his rope back onto the ship. Alain covers him with a crossbow.
Alain hits the Roc with a crossbow bolt, and it misses Echo. The other Roc flies in to attack the tent, but is unable to pull it off the boat just yet. Echo jumps down into a hole to protect himself from swooping attacks. One of the Rocs tries to bite Echo, the other one tears the roof off the tent. Echo pulls out his bow and shoots at the Roc. Magnus emerges from the tent grudgingly and attacks the Roc, pinning him to the deck.
Xiu moves into close quarters with the pinned Roc and stabs it. Alain jumps down and fires Greater Magic Weapon at the Roc and gives dancing shield to Magnus. Male Roc pinned to the deck tries to bite Xiu, drawing a crit from Magnus and missing Xiu. The female Roc swoops down and misses us. Echo drops the bow, emerges from his hole and swings his sword at the male Roc with blade of light. Magnus uses his appalling crunch and bloodies it.
Xiu stabs the Roc. Alain fires a magic weapon bolt at the male Roc, giving the bonus to Magnus. The other Roc swoops down and misses Alain. The bloodied Roc bites at Magnus and misses. Echo hits the Roc. Magnus uses crushing surge on the Roc.
Xiu stabs the Roc and misses. Alain fires another magic weapon bolt at the male Roc. The male Roc misses Magnus, the female Roc swoops down and grabs Alain, holding onto him and snapping the rope. Echo kills the male Roc with a sword through the eyeball. Magnus watches the Roc fly away, and Kasim comes around to catch up to the Roc.
Xiu moves to the front of the boat and pulls out another rope. Alain throws acidic fire at the Roc and is dropped into the water. The Roc screeches at us and flies away, and Xiu drops a rope to let Alain back onto the rope.
Magnus spends some time repairing the tent, and we rest again. Around midnight, the chaotic rocking and swaying abruptly calms. We are on calm seas, but everything else looks different... we have entered the Elemental Chaos. Echo is on watch, and sees a haze over the water, and hears a sound that seems like a lot of people screaming in the distance. The boat is plunged into the haze, which slices through everything incorporealy. Xiu and Alain begin seeing things in the haze that look unsettlingly like faces from their past.
While Xiu is on watch, she sees what looks like a de-masted ship, but appears to be a ship made out of bones. It reminds Xiu and Echo of the banner of the nation of Droaam, and standing at the head of the ship is a Hag. Xiu wakes us up and comes in the tent. Magnus suggests talking to the hag, and Alain comes with him to try and talk to her. She seems to be a Death Hag, one of the most dangerous kind. There are also numerous Abyssal Ghouls, and a Battle Guardian, as well as lesser undead throughout the ship. Xiu, standing in the crow's nest, has transformed to look like another Hag.
After negotiations that go extremely poorly, Magnus agrees to be the price for the Hag and starts swimming over. Alain tries to talk to Kasim, fails and instead talks Xiu and Echo into helping him move the sail so that they'll crash into the Hag's ship.
The Hag reaches out to Magnus and pulls some of his soul out. Using Inexorable Advance, Magnus attacks the Hag and hits twice, then uses his action point to attack again and misses. The ship crashes, and Echo jumps onto the ship and swings at the Hag. Xiu charges across the bow and hits one of the skeletons, killing it. One of the Shadows vanishes, the other one moves up to attack Xiu. Abyssal Ghouls move in and attack Magnus before shifting back out of combat. Alain fires predatory shards, destroying one skeleton and hitting a shadow and the Hag. The Hag claws Magnus and prevents him from taking healing surges, then withdraws, avoiding attacks from Magnus and Echo. Battle Guardian swings at Magnus and immobilizes him. Magnus shrugs off the immobilize by taking damage, then chases down the Hag, pushing her off the boat and bloodying her.
Echo moves to attack the Battle Guardian and crits him. Xiu shifts over and hits the Battle Guardian as well. The Shadow dies in the predatory shards, the other one melds with Alain's shadow. Abyssal Ghouls move in to attack Echo and miss him. Two skeletons hit Echo, two of them miss. The ballista fires and misses Echo. Alain runs into the predatory shards with the shadow, hits him with a repulsion strike and calls up his dancing shield to protect himself from the ballista. The Hag seems to have fallen off the boat, but Echo and Xiu take necrotic damage from a life drain within the bowels of the ship. Battle Guardian crits Echo. Magnus uses appalling crunch to smash his way into the bowels of the ship, and sees a Water Troll swimming underneath the boat, and moves over to him.
Echo adopts a stance that bumps defenses, lays hands on himself and uses trial of strength on the Battle Guardian. Xiu uses Bloodbath on Guardian, giving it ongoing damage, then adopts a defensive stance. The shadow misses Alain due to his dancing shield. The ghouls move in to attack Echo and miss. The ballista fires and misses Xiu. The skeletons attack Echo and hit twice. Alain uses Runic Resistance and kills the four skeletons. The Hag uses a necrotic aura on Xiu and Alain. Battle Guardian takes damage, attacks Echo and bloodies him, then shakes off bloodbath. Magnus chops through the bone floor to get to the Hag, activates Unyielding Avalanche to begin regenerating, and plunges them both into the water.
Echo hits the Guardian. Xiu attacks Guardian with Arterial Slice and destroys him, then uses her action point to attack the ballista. The shadow attacks Alain and bloodies him. The ghouls attack Echo. Alain fires Positive Energy Infusion at the ballista and "bloodies" it. The Hag takes damage from Avalanche, bloodying her, and she swims away from Magnus under the water. Magnus swims after her, uses come and get it to draw her back and hits her with a crit.
Echo heals himself and Alain, Xiu destroys the ballista and damages the ghoul, Alain kills the shadow, the Death Hag surrenders to Magnus and gives us her Battle Guardian.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Saturday, December 18, 2010
07. Chapter Seven
Erich and Pock open up with blasts that stun two zombies and bloody one of them. The zombies remain stunned and dazed, Flynn moves around and uses jumping blade assault on the bloodied zombie. Baltazar moves in and attacks the zombie as well, killing him. Eldaen uses radiant smite to attack another zombie, and his holy outrage destroys the downed zombie.
Pock fires an eldritch blast at a zombie, bloodying him. Erich uses mind thrust on the bloodied zombie. The other zombie attacks Flynn and immobilizes him, the other one remains stunned. Flynn misses the zombie. Baltazar swings and misses. Eldaen hits the stunned zombie with holy strike then moves to mark and engage the other.
Pock fires and misses the stunned zombie. Erich uses mind blast to hit the stunned zombie, knocking him down. He wakes back up and shakes off being stunned. The other one attacks and bloodies Eldaen. Flynn moves away and attacks the risen zombie but misses. Baltazar lets Flynn shift out of harms' way, but misses his target. Eldaen swings and misses the other zombie.
Pock fires and blasts the risen zombie and knocks it down. Erich uses hypnotic pulse on the other zombie, dazing him. The risen zombie gets back up again and misses Baltazar, the dazed zombie hits Eldaen for a lot of damage. Flynn moves in and hits the other zombie with clever strike. Baltazar moves in with his allies and uses defensive rally. Eldaen swings at the unbloodied zombie with holy strike, bloodying him.
Pock blasts the newly bloodied zombie. Erich uses dishearten on bloodied zombie. The bloodied zombie misses Eldaen, the other one moves in to attack Baltazar, bloodying, dazing and immobilizing him. Flynn attacks the bloodied zombie with clever strike, dropping him. Baltazar orders Eldaen to hit the risen zombie. Eldaen critically smites the zombie on the ground, destroying it.
Pock blasts the last zombie standing, and he falls. Erich uses telekinesis to pick up a rock from the cairn and drop it on him. The zombie stands up and attacks Eldaen, who is nearly down. Flynn hits the zombie with clever strike, knocking it down. Baltazar attacks the downed zombie. Eldaen hits the downed zombie with holy strike and critically smites him as well.
We take a brief rest. Pock and Erich begin investigating the arcane runes on the wall, and find a wellspring of energy, but they can't quite figure out what it is. It's channeling eldritch energy into the next room, but they cannot figure out any more. They then ignore cautionary words from Baltazar and Eldaen and go into the next room, finding an intricate contraption of iron rods and wooden shafts crisscrossing one another. Runes are stamped on various places, and the prongs hold a gleaming emerald. It appears to be some kind of arcane engine, and seems to be channeling eldritch energy from the feywild to somewhere else.
Erich pulls out the magic item at the center, causing a blinding flash. A loud shriek of rage is heard from an unfathomable distance, and all the runes stop glowing. The structure starts to fall apart and disintegrate, and Pock blasts a hole in the wall to let us out. Paleus shows up and begins walking towards us, and there are eladrin workers behind him to fix the Garden of Graves. We spend the night resting and talking with Paleus, and are given a feast.
They give us gifts, and the Seer comes out to praise us for clearing the Garden of Graves. The gifts are to defeat the "evil we will face" and "seek the answers that we will find." The gifts include a crystal orb for Erich, a belt of vigor for Eldaen, a newly-forged flail for Baltazar, magic boots for Flynn and a cloak of distortion for Pock. Pock asks the Seer to look into the identity of the being behind the desecration, and she has convulsions, declares him to be a great darkness from the early times, intending to throw down the heavens, and then passes out. She tells us the answers we seek lie in the history of our own world, not that of the feywild, and that she feels sure the answers are somewhere in the Prophecy.
In the lands of the Winter Court, there is a cave of shadow called Kragmorrah, and the creatures that dwell there are of a different plane, and we might be able to make a deal and pass through there. Or there is a human, a worldwalker, called the Greensinger, being held prisoner by a Duke of Winter. We decide to go to the Duke of Winter and try to free the Greensinger. Knights ride us out to the borders of the Winter Court, and we enter the Winter Court lands.
Four eladrin knights on Winter Wolves approach us, with a Cyclops walking beside them. They escort us into the Duke of Winter's court, and tell us to keep our weapons sheathed and we will remain unharmed. We are escorted into guest quarters, adorned with the skins of various hunted animals, including a dire polar bear, a white dragon and a Remorhaz. We are in a large dining hall, and there are chimes, and when everyone turns, Flynn and Eldaen sneak out to look around for the Greensinger.
The Duke and his lady come in and food is being served. After a brief excursion, Flynn and Eldaen think they see the Greensinger going into the great hall, so they go back. The Duke says "Bring in the singer!" He is about 5'2", fat, bald with a red beard, and dressed all in green. It becomes clear that they have the Greensinger's harp, and that's how they're keeping him prisoner. The Greensinger tells a story ridiculing the Duke and his retinue, then goes back to his room after pissing off the Duke.
The Duke calls upon Pock, asking what brings the "servant of his cousin Khalid" to the Winter Court. Pock asks about Kragmorrah, and is asked what he brings in return. Baltazar stands and explains that we recently ended a threat to the Feywild, which closed the passage to take us home. Erich offers to trade his music for information. The Duke tells us there is an entity outside Kragmorrah that can be contacted through the cavern using a pool at the base, the "Pool of Three Darknesses." Dwelling within the cavern is an old mistress of the entity who will have to let us pass, or we will have to defeat her and her minions.
While Erich plays Sarlonan music, Flynn goes to talk to the Greensinger. The Greensinger tells Flynn that he made a deal to sing a certain number of songs for the Duke, and then the Duke took his harp and traded it to someone else so he couldn't fulfill his end of the bargain. As we discuss what to do in our quarters, a servant brings Erich a scroll saying "Meet me in the tower garden." The rest of us are similarly accosted by feminine company.
After an evening with the Duchess, Erich finds out that the harp belongs to a dragon named Carynnthurax, who has made the arrangement to keep the Greensinger here. She then makes every effort to convince Erich to stay in the Feywild after we've gotten the harp back from Carynnthurax.
When we're leaving, we ask which way to the Summer Court, and manage to get general notions of where Carynnthurax is, and that he is a mirage dragon. It has a fight with another dragon, named Blizzard or "The Old Man" which is an older, more powerful dragon.
We begin making our way out toward Carynnthurax's lair. We make our way across the Feywild, using skills of Arcana and Nature, but our Endurance fails us and we lose a healing surge, and on the second night, we lose another. Flynn takes us into a thicket of woods following tracks, and something is rattling around in the trees.
Flynn moves toward the source of the sound, and it is revealed to be a huge polar owlbear. The owlbear crits Eldaen and hits Flynn, slowing them both with cold. Baltazar gives Flynn orders that let him flank and attack the owlbear, but he misses, as does Baltazar. Erich uses augmented dishearten on the owlbear. Pock curses the owlbear, teleports to an advantageous position and uses a blast of fire on the owlbear. Eldaen swings and misses badly.
Flynn swings and misses. Owlbear swings and misses due to the effects of Erich and Pock. Baltazar uses bastion of defense. Erich uses augmented dishearten again. Pock fires a psychic blast at the owlbear, making us all invisible to him. Eldaen hits him with his light of the living.
Flynn hits with Fox's Gambit. The owlbear, unable to see any targets, waits until something appears. Baltazar attacks with guarding attack, protecting Eldaen and wounding the owlbear. Erich uses augmented dishearten on the owlbear. Pock uses shared agony on the owlbear. Eldaen becomes visible, the owlbear attacks him and misses twice. Eldaen hits him with radiant smite and bloodies him.
Flynn uses Rogue's Luck and misses the owlbear. Baltazar orders hiim to attack again and he hits. Erich blasts the owlbear again with dishearten. Pock tries to intimidate the owlbear into surrendering. The owlbear attacks Eldaen and misses. Eldaen swings and hits with resurgent smite.
Flynn misses. Baltazar hits with Wolf Pack tactics and kills it.
Uneventful travel through the Feywild into the mountain.
We bargain with the dragon for three services. One is for Erich to play for a day, another is for Palleus to do something that will not cause a war, and the third is Pock making a new pact with the dragon.
He gives us the harp, and we determine to go back to give it to the Greensinger.
Flynn sneaks in to give him the harp, surprises the Greensinger, alerts the guards. Pock screams bloody murder and distracts one guard, Eldaen fights and distracts the other. Eldaen drops and replaces one guard, Pock sends the other running using ghost sound and concealment. We gather up Erich and Baltazar, ask the Greensinger to return us to the Wandering Inn. We learn that we've only been gone a day.
Pock fires an eldritch blast at a zombie, bloodying him. Erich uses mind thrust on the bloodied zombie. The other zombie attacks Flynn and immobilizes him, the other one remains stunned. Flynn misses the zombie. Baltazar swings and misses. Eldaen hits the stunned zombie with holy strike then moves to mark and engage the other.
Pock fires and misses the stunned zombie. Erich uses mind blast to hit the stunned zombie, knocking him down. He wakes back up and shakes off being stunned. The other one attacks and bloodies Eldaen. Flynn moves away and attacks the risen zombie but misses. Baltazar lets Flynn shift out of harms' way, but misses his target. Eldaen swings and misses the other zombie.
Pock fires and blasts the risen zombie and knocks it down. Erich uses hypnotic pulse on the other zombie, dazing him. The risen zombie gets back up again and misses Baltazar, the dazed zombie hits Eldaen for a lot of damage. Flynn moves in and hits the other zombie with clever strike. Baltazar moves in with his allies and uses defensive rally. Eldaen swings at the unbloodied zombie with holy strike, bloodying him.
Pock blasts the newly bloodied zombie. Erich uses dishearten on bloodied zombie. The bloodied zombie misses Eldaen, the other one moves in to attack Baltazar, bloodying, dazing and immobilizing him. Flynn attacks the bloodied zombie with clever strike, dropping him. Baltazar orders Eldaen to hit the risen zombie. Eldaen critically smites the zombie on the ground, destroying it.
Pock blasts the last zombie standing, and he falls. Erich uses telekinesis to pick up a rock from the cairn and drop it on him. The zombie stands up and attacks Eldaen, who is nearly down. Flynn hits the zombie with clever strike, knocking it down. Baltazar attacks the downed zombie. Eldaen hits the downed zombie with holy strike and critically smites him as well.
We take a brief rest. Pock and Erich begin investigating the arcane runes on the wall, and find a wellspring of energy, but they can't quite figure out what it is. It's channeling eldritch energy into the next room, but they cannot figure out any more. They then ignore cautionary words from Baltazar and Eldaen and go into the next room, finding an intricate contraption of iron rods and wooden shafts crisscrossing one another. Runes are stamped on various places, and the prongs hold a gleaming emerald. It appears to be some kind of arcane engine, and seems to be channeling eldritch energy from the feywild to somewhere else.
Erich pulls out the magic item at the center, causing a blinding flash. A loud shriek of rage is heard from an unfathomable distance, and all the runes stop glowing. The structure starts to fall apart and disintegrate, and Pock blasts a hole in the wall to let us out. Paleus shows up and begins walking towards us, and there are eladrin workers behind him to fix the Garden of Graves. We spend the night resting and talking with Paleus, and are given a feast.
They give us gifts, and the Seer comes out to praise us for clearing the Garden of Graves. The gifts are to defeat the "evil we will face" and "seek the answers that we will find." The gifts include a crystal orb for Erich, a belt of vigor for Eldaen, a newly-forged flail for Baltazar, magic boots for Flynn and a cloak of distortion for Pock. Pock asks the Seer to look into the identity of the being behind the desecration, and she has convulsions, declares him to be a great darkness from the early times, intending to throw down the heavens, and then passes out. She tells us the answers we seek lie in the history of our own world, not that of the feywild, and that she feels sure the answers are somewhere in the Prophecy.
In the lands of the Winter Court, there is a cave of shadow called Kragmorrah, and the creatures that dwell there are of a different plane, and we might be able to make a deal and pass through there. Or there is a human, a worldwalker, called the Greensinger, being held prisoner by a Duke of Winter. We decide to go to the Duke of Winter and try to free the Greensinger. Knights ride us out to the borders of the Winter Court, and we enter the Winter Court lands.
Four eladrin knights on Winter Wolves approach us, with a Cyclops walking beside them. They escort us into the Duke of Winter's court, and tell us to keep our weapons sheathed and we will remain unharmed. We are escorted into guest quarters, adorned with the skins of various hunted animals, including a dire polar bear, a white dragon and a Remorhaz. We are in a large dining hall, and there are chimes, and when everyone turns, Flynn and Eldaen sneak out to look around for the Greensinger.
The Duke and his lady come in and food is being served. After a brief excursion, Flynn and Eldaen think they see the Greensinger going into the great hall, so they go back. The Duke says "Bring in the singer!" He is about 5'2", fat, bald with a red beard, and dressed all in green. It becomes clear that they have the Greensinger's harp, and that's how they're keeping him prisoner. The Greensinger tells a story ridiculing the Duke and his retinue, then goes back to his room after pissing off the Duke.
The Duke calls upon Pock, asking what brings the "servant of his cousin Khalid" to the Winter Court. Pock asks about Kragmorrah, and is asked what he brings in return. Baltazar stands and explains that we recently ended a threat to the Feywild, which closed the passage to take us home. Erich offers to trade his music for information. The Duke tells us there is an entity outside Kragmorrah that can be contacted through the cavern using a pool at the base, the "Pool of Three Darknesses." Dwelling within the cavern is an old mistress of the entity who will have to let us pass, or we will have to defeat her and her minions.
While Erich plays Sarlonan music, Flynn goes to talk to the Greensinger. The Greensinger tells Flynn that he made a deal to sing a certain number of songs for the Duke, and then the Duke took his harp and traded it to someone else so he couldn't fulfill his end of the bargain. As we discuss what to do in our quarters, a servant brings Erich a scroll saying "Meet me in the tower garden." The rest of us are similarly accosted by feminine company.
After an evening with the Duchess, Erich finds out that the harp belongs to a dragon named Carynnthurax, who has made the arrangement to keep the Greensinger here. She then makes every effort to convince Erich to stay in the Feywild after we've gotten the harp back from Carynnthurax.
When we're leaving, we ask which way to the Summer Court, and manage to get general notions of where Carynnthurax is, and that he is a mirage dragon. It has a fight with another dragon, named Blizzard or "The Old Man" which is an older, more powerful dragon.
We begin making our way out toward Carynnthurax's lair. We make our way across the Feywild, using skills of Arcana and Nature, but our Endurance fails us and we lose a healing surge, and on the second night, we lose another. Flynn takes us into a thicket of woods following tracks, and something is rattling around in the trees.
Flynn moves toward the source of the sound, and it is revealed to be a huge polar owlbear. The owlbear crits Eldaen and hits Flynn, slowing them both with cold. Baltazar gives Flynn orders that let him flank and attack the owlbear, but he misses, as does Baltazar. Erich uses augmented dishearten on the owlbear. Pock curses the owlbear, teleports to an advantageous position and uses a blast of fire on the owlbear. Eldaen swings and misses badly.
Flynn swings and misses. Owlbear swings and misses due to the effects of Erich and Pock. Baltazar uses bastion of defense. Erich uses augmented dishearten again. Pock fires a psychic blast at the owlbear, making us all invisible to him. Eldaen hits him with his light of the living.
Flynn hits with Fox's Gambit. The owlbear, unable to see any targets, waits until something appears. Baltazar attacks with guarding attack, protecting Eldaen and wounding the owlbear. Erich uses augmented dishearten on the owlbear. Pock uses shared agony on the owlbear. Eldaen becomes visible, the owlbear attacks him and misses twice. Eldaen hits him with radiant smite and bloodies him.
Flynn uses Rogue's Luck and misses the owlbear. Baltazar orders hiim to attack again and he hits. Erich blasts the owlbear again with dishearten. Pock tries to intimidate the owlbear into surrendering. The owlbear attacks Eldaen and misses. Eldaen swings and hits with resurgent smite.
Flynn misses. Baltazar hits with Wolf Pack tactics and kills it.
Uneventful travel through the Feywild into the mountain.
We bargain with the dragon for three services. One is for Erich to play for a day, another is for Palleus to do something that will not cause a war, and the third is Pock making a new pact with the dragon.
He gives us the harp, and we determine to go back to give it to the Greensinger.
Flynn sneaks in to give him the harp, surprises the Greensinger, alerts the guards. Pock screams bloody murder and distracts one guard, Eldaen fights and distracts the other. Eldaen drops and replaces one guard, Pock sends the other running using ghost sound and concealment. We gather up Erich and Baltazar, ask the Greensinger to return us to the Wandering Inn. We learn that we've only been gone a day.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Game Schedule January - March
January 7th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 14th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 21st - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 28th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 4th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 11th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 18th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
February 25th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
March 4th - Gaming Off (STAPLE!)
March 11th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
March 18th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
March 25th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
January 14th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 21st - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 28th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 4th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 11th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 18th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
February 25th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
March 4th - Gaming Off (STAPLE!)
March 11th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
March 18th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
March 25th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
Saturday, December 11, 2010
06. Chapter Six
Erich picks up corpse with living missile and throws him at the other one down the hall, putting them both next to Pock. Flynn moves up and misses with a strike. Pock curses downed undead and shifts back, then becomes hidden and fires off his forceful assault. Eldaen moves up and misses badly, then is told to attack by Baltazar and misses almost as badly. Both undead miss.
Flynn uses riposte strike on downed undead. Erich flings the living missile into the downed undead, then back down the hall. Pock steps to the end of the hall away from the undead and fires an eldritch blast that misses. Eldaen swings and misses. Baltazar gives Eldaen an inspiring word, orders Flynn to strike the downed undead. Slowed living missile stands and moves closer, other undead stands up and attacks Eldaen and misses.
Flynn misses. Erich flings the living missile at the other undead again. Pock fires and misses with Eldritch blast. Eldaen hits with holy strike. Baltazar orders Flynn to strike and he misses, then he moves back to the door. Living missile stands and moves closer again, the other one stands and attacks Eldaen.
Flynn attacks the undead and hits. Erich steps out the door and finds himself on a rickety bridge. Pock follows him out, and the two of them are heading around to flank the undead. Eldaen slashes undead with holy strike, holy outrage hits the other one, then Baltazar orders him to strike again for the same effect. Baltazar runs out the door to follow the others. The undead both attack Eldaen, one misses the other uses impaling burst against Eldaen and Flynn.
Flynn misses the undead. Erich moves toward the door. Pock follows him and they settle in for a five minute rest. Eldaen swings and misses, lays hands on himself. Baltazar moves to join Erich and Pock. Undead hits Eldaen, then the other one unleashes impaling burst against Eldaen and Flynn.
Flynn retreats out the door. Erich and Pock begin chatting about what is spawning the undead. Eldaen draws an attack of opportunity against undead, then runs out the door.
We take a short rest and determine our course of action. Eldaen, while thinking through how the corpses kept appearing, gets the impression it has something to do with the desecrated graves in the tomb. We return using another door to get back to the pile of discarded holy symbols.
The zombie meets up with Baltazar, who is holding them off. Flynn finds a piece that he recognizes from the other room. Pock sorts out the good from the bad in the pile. Eldaen recognizes one that will be easy to spot the sarcophagi for. Erich tries to use history to think of burial customs and find important pieces. Baltazar attacks the zombie with blood designation.
The zombie attacks Baltazar, the other one with reach attacks as well and he is down. Flynn uses his thievery skill to try and find something useful. Pock moves up to see unconscious Baltazar and calls upon his feywild patron to command them to go away and hit each other. Eldaen moves up to heal Baltazar and stand in front of the zombies. Erich uses sky hook to fly up and grabs pieces from everyone else, he takes a threatening reach from one of the zombies. Baltazar stands up and uses inspiring word on himself, then orders Pock to use eyebite on one of them.
Zombie attacks Eldaen, the other one attacks Erich and misses. Flynn moves up and throws a dagger at the cursed zombie and misses. Pock blasts and bloodies the cursed zombie, and a wave of necrotic damage hits all of us. Eldaen misses with radiant smite and marks the bloodied zombie. Erich telekinetically blasts the other zombie away from him, uses mind blast on both zombies, then flies down to the coffin and tries to find the right piece to restore it. Baltazar orders Flynn to throw a dagger again, and he hits the bloodied zombie.
Zombie in front saves against Baltazar, they both remain stunned. Flynn throws dagger at the bloodied zombie again and misses. Pock uses shared agony on bloodied zombie. Eldaen hits with heedless fury. Erich flies into the other sarcophagus room. Baltazar orders Pock to blast the bloodied zombie and uses inspiring word to heal himself.
Zombie in front still stunned, zombie in back is not. Flynn throws dagger at bloodied zombie and misses. Pock uses mire the mind on the bloodied zombie, then steps back and hides. Eldaen throws a trident at the zombie in the back and moves divine challenge onto him. Erich tries and fails to put the pieces back onto the right sarcophagi. Baltazar orders Flynn to throw his dagger at the bloodied zombie and kills it.
Zombie attacks Eldaen and misses, the newly arrived one moves toward Erich, then spends his action point to attack Erich with impaling burst. Flynn tries to acrobatically leap past the zombie, but lands prone in Eldaen's space and uses bat aside from prone. Pock moves invisibly out into the corridor and past the zombie. Eldaen moves up and misses with holy strike. Erich heals himself with bardic song, attempts again to re-consecrate and manages to do it, destroying the zombies.
We take an extended rest and then head back to the axe-head shaped room to fight the zombies again. After some debate, Pock blasts the Firbolg Cairn to kick off the fight.
Firbolg attacks Eldaen and misses. Erich blasts the Firbolg with mindbreak, making him vulnerable to psychic damage. Pock uses shared agony on the Firbolg. The eladrin zombies appear amidst our group and attack, one attacks Pock and he turns invisible, another one hits Erich and suffers his infernal wrath, the other attacks Baltazar. Flynn shifts and uses aerial assault on the Firbolg, missing but doing half damage. Baltazar shifts forward and attacks the Firbolg with blood designation. Eldaen hits him with blood of the mighty and uses his action point to hit with heedless fury.
Firbolg attacks Eldaen and misses, uses his action point and grabs Eldaen, draining his lifeforce, then shifts back. The plant creature emerges to fight as well and sends out a vine at Flynn, grabbing him, and sends another one at Baltazar, grabbing him and bloodying him. Pock moves invisibly out and uses Decree of Kharad on all enemies, the Firbolg and zombie attack each other, another zombie attacks the plant. Erich uses mindbreak on the Firbolg and misses, then shifts and uses his action point to turn the plant into a living missile, bouncing him off the Firbolg. Eladrin zombies move to surround Erich and attack him, missing due to his Intellect Fortress. Flynn uses handspring assault on Firbolg, killing him. Baltazar moves toward the plant and uses inspiring word on Erich. Eldaen moves over, hits the plant with his righteous Holy Outrage.
Plant creature attacks Eldaen and Baltazar and bloodies him. Pock teleports closer to the plant and away from the zombies and curses the plant and misses, uses his action point and misses with Ring of Pain. Erich uses sky hook to take flight and fly up, drawing an attack of opportunity, then he flings the plant into one of the eladrin zombies. Eladrin zombie misses Flynn, another misses Baltazar, the dazed one moves toward the plant and is no longer dazed. Flynn tumbles away from the zombies, uses sly flourish with thrown dagger on the plant. Baltazar uses stand tough to heal the group, then moves in to attack the plant with bastion of defense. Eldaen hits plant with Martyr's Retribution, heals Baltazar.
Plant creature uses twin vine attack on Baltazar and Eldaen. Pock fires at the plant and misses, moves into the plant's aura and becomes concealed. Erich uses mindbreak on the plant and misses. Eladrin zombies close in on us, hit Pock and miss Eldaen and Flynn. Flynn shifts back and throws his dagger at the plant with Rogue's Luck and misses. Baltazar takes poison damage and inspires himself, then attacks the plant and heals the group. Eldaen swings and misses the plant with valiant strike, marks one of the zombies.
Plant uses twin vine and misses Eldaen, hits Baltazar. Pock teleports next to Erich and blasts the plant, bloodying him. Erich uses mindbreak on the plant, making him vulnerable to psychic, then uses Majestic Word to heal Baltazar, who is still slightly bloodied. Eladrin zombies attack Eldaen and bloody him. Flynn throws dagger at the plant. Baltazar takes his second wind and gives us all temporary hit points, spends his action point to hit the plant with war of attrition. Eldaen hits the plant with Resurgent Smite, healing Baltazar and doing Holy Outrage to the zombies, then lays hands on himself.
Plant grabs Erich, who telekinetically shifts out of the grab, then slashes at Eldaen. Pock misses the plant. Erich fires mindbreak at the plant and crits him, keeping him vulnerable to psychic damage. Eladrin zombies attack Eldaen and one hits. Flynn moves past eladrin zombie, taking damage from attack of opportunity which radiant damages the eladrin, then spends his action point to bat aside the plant. Baltazar uses Warlord's Strike on plant and misses. Eldaen uses Valiant Strike and hits the plant, doing Holy Outrage to the eladrin.
The plant brings out the gem, leading to attacks of opportunity from Baltazar, Eldaen and Flynn, only Flynn hits and he kills it.
Flynn uses riposte strike on downed undead. Erich flings the living missile into the downed undead, then back down the hall. Pock steps to the end of the hall away from the undead and fires an eldritch blast that misses. Eldaen swings and misses. Baltazar gives Eldaen an inspiring word, orders Flynn to strike the downed undead. Slowed living missile stands and moves closer, other undead stands up and attacks Eldaen and misses.
Flynn misses. Erich flings the living missile at the other undead again. Pock fires and misses with Eldritch blast. Eldaen hits with holy strike. Baltazar orders Flynn to strike and he misses, then he moves back to the door. Living missile stands and moves closer again, the other one stands and attacks Eldaen.
Flynn attacks the undead and hits. Erich steps out the door and finds himself on a rickety bridge. Pock follows him out, and the two of them are heading around to flank the undead. Eldaen slashes undead with holy strike, holy outrage hits the other one, then Baltazar orders him to strike again for the same effect. Baltazar runs out the door to follow the others. The undead both attack Eldaen, one misses the other uses impaling burst against Eldaen and Flynn.
Flynn misses the undead. Erich moves toward the door. Pock follows him and they settle in for a five minute rest. Eldaen swings and misses, lays hands on himself. Baltazar moves to join Erich and Pock. Undead hits Eldaen, then the other one unleashes impaling burst against Eldaen and Flynn.
Flynn retreats out the door. Erich and Pock begin chatting about what is spawning the undead. Eldaen draws an attack of opportunity against undead, then runs out the door.
We take a short rest and determine our course of action. Eldaen, while thinking through how the corpses kept appearing, gets the impression it has something to do with the desecrated graves in the tomb. We return using another door to get back to the pile of discarded holy symbols.
The zombie meets up with Baltazar, who is holding them off. Flynn finds a piece that he recognizes from the other room. Pock sorts out the good from the bad in the pile. Eldaen recognizes one that will be easy to spot the sarcophagi for. Erich tries to use history to think of burial customs and find important pieces. Baltazar attacks the zombie with blood designation.
The zombie attacks Baltazar, the other one with reach attacks as well and he is down. Flynn uses his thievery skill to try and find something useful. Pock moves up to see unconscious Baltazar and calls upon his feywild patron to command them to go away and hit each other. Eldaen moves up to heal Baltazar and stand in front of the zombies. Erich uses sky hook to fly up and grabs pieces from everyone else, he takes a threatening reach from one of the zombies. Baltazar stands up and uses inspiring word on himself, then orders Pock to use eyebite on one of them.
Zombie attacks Eldaen, the other one attacks Erich and misses. Flynn moves up and throws a dagger at the cursed zombie and misses. Pock blasts and bloodies the cursed zombie, and a wave of necrotic damage hits all of us. Eldaen misses with radiant smite and marks the bloodied zombie. Erich telekinetically blasts the other zombie away from him, uses mind blast on both zombies, then flies down to the coffin and tries to find the right piece to restore it. Baltazar orders Flynn to throw a dagger again, and he hits the bloodied zombie.
Zombie in front saves against Baltazar, they both remain stunned. Flynn throws dagger at the bloodied zombie again and misses. Pock uses shared agony on bloodied zombie. Eldaen hits with heedless fury. Erich flies into the other sarcophagus room. Baltazar orders Pock to blast the bloodied zombie and uses inspiring word to heal himself.
Zombie in front still stunned, zombie in back is not. Flynn throws dagger at bloodied zombie and misses. Pock uses mire the mind on the bloodied zombie, then steps back and hides. Eldaen throws a trident at the zombie in the back and moves divine challenge onto him. Erich tries and fails to put the pieces back onto the right sarcophagi. Baltazar orders Flynn to throw his dagger at the bloodied zombie and kills it.
Zombie attacks Eldaen and misses, the newly arrived one moves toward Erich, then spends his action point to attack Erich with impaling burst. Flynn tries to acrobatically leap past the zombie, but lands prone in Eldaen's space and uses bat aside from prone. Pock moves invisibly out into the corridor and past the zombie. Eldaen moves up and misses with holy strike. Erich heals himself with bardic song, attempts again to re-consecrate and manages to do it, destroying the zombies.
We take an extended rest and then head back to the axe-head shaped room to fight the zombies again. After some debate, Pock blasts the Firbolg Cairn to kick off the fight.
Firbolg attacks Eldaen and misses. Erich blasts the Firbolg with mindbreak, making him vulnerable to psychic damage. Pock uses shared agony on the Firbolg. The eladrin zombies appear amidst our group and attack, one attacks Pock and he turns invisible, another one hits Erich and suffers his infernal wrath, the other attacks Baltazar. Flynn shifts and uses aerial assault on the Firbolg, missing but doing half damage. Baltazar shifts forward and attacks the Firbolg with blood designation. Eldaen hits him with blood of the mighty and uses his action point to hit with heedless fury.
Firbolg attacks Eldaen and misses, uses his action point and grabs Eldaen, draining his lifeforce, then shifts back. The plant creature emerges to fight as well and sends out a vine at Flynn, grabbing him, and sends another one at Baltazar, grabbing him and bloodying him. Pock moves invisibly out and uses Decree of Kharad on all enemies, the Firbolg and zombie attack each other, another zombie attacks the plant. Erich uses mindbreak on the Firbolg and misses, then shifts and uses his action point to turn the plant into a living missile, bouncing him off the Firbolg. Eladrin zombies move to surround Erich and attack him, missing due to his Intellect Fortress. Flynn uses handspring assault on Firbolg, killing him. Baltazar moves toward the plant and uses inspiring word on Erich. Eldaen moves over, hits the plant with his righteous Holy Outrage.
Plant creature attacks Eldaen and Baltazar and bloodies him. Pock teleports closer to the plant and away from the zombies and curses the plant and misses, uses his action point and misses with Ring of Pain. Erich uses sky hook to take flight and fly up, drawing an attack of opportunity, then he flings the plant into one of the eladrin zombies. Eladrin zombie misses Flynn, another misses Baltazar, the dazed one moves toward the plant and is no longer dazed. Flynn tumbles away from the zombies, uses sly flourish with thrown dagger on the plant. Baltazar uses stand tough to heal the group, then moves in to attack the plant with bastion of defense. Eldaen hits plant with Martyr's Retribution, heals Baltazar.
Plant creature uses twin vine attack on Baltazar and Eldaen. Pock fires at the plant and misses, moves into the plant's aura and becomes concealed. Erich uses mindbreak on the plant and misses. Eladrin zombies close in on us, hit Pock and miss Eldaen and Flynn. Flynn shifts back and throws his dagger at the plant with Rogue's Luck and misses. Baltazar takes poison damage and inspires himself, then attacks the plant and heals the group. Eldaen swings and misses the plant with valiant strike, marks one of the zombies.
Plant uses twin vine and misses Eldaen, hits Baltazar. Pock teleports next to Erich and blasts the plant, bloodying him. Erich uses mindbreak on the plant, making him vulnerable to psychic, then uses Majestic Word to heal Baltazar, who is still slightly bloodied. Eladrin zombies attack Eldaen and bloody him. Flynn throws dagger at the plant. Baltazar takes his second wind and gives us all temporary hit points, spends his action point to hit the plant with war of attrition. Eldaen hits the plant with Resurgent Smite, healing Baltazar and doing Holy Outrage to the zombies, then lays hands on himself.
Plant grabs Erich, who telekinetically shifts out of the grab, then slashes at Eldaen. Pock misses the plant. Erich fires mindbreak at the plant and crits him, keeping him vulnerable to psychic damage. Eladrin zombies attack Eldaen and one hits. Flynn moves past eladrin zombie, taking damage from attack of opportunity which radiant damages the eladrin, then spends his action point to bat aside the plant. Baltazar uses Warlord's Strike on plant and misses. Eldaen uses Valiant Strike and hits the plant, doing Holy Outrage to the eladrin.
The plant brings out the gem, leading to attacks of opportunity from Baltazar, Eldaen and Flynn, only Flynn hits and he kills it.
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Game Schedule December - February
December 10th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
December 17th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
December 24th - No Gaming (Christmas)
December 31st - No Gaming (New Year's)
January 7th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 14th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 21st - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 28th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 4th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 11th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 18th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
February 25th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
December 17th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
December 24th - No Gaming (Christmas)
December 31st - No Gaming (New Year's)
January 7th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 14th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 21st - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
January 28th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 4th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 11th - Gamma World (Randy, Chris, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
February 18th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
February 25th - Against the Giants (Dan, Ben, Joe & Jamie, Randy)
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Tomb of Horrors Chapter Five
The lever is pulled, and there is an audible click. After a brief rest, we descend back into the tunnels and begin exploring again. Eldaen peers out of an exit in a cliff-face, and sees the first entrance where we came in. We go back and look for more trouble instead. We come to a dead-end, cannot find a secret door that Pock is *sure* is there, so he blasts it. Eldaen climbs up, and a sudden dizziness comes over him, as if he had been partially teleported. The stone and brick walls around him are pitted, there is a faint chill emitting from the walls.
Eldaen checks in with Baltazar, and then goes back in and is in a different place with broken stones surrounding a filthy pool of water. He drops a rope down to Pock and the others. Erich recognizes it as the room he ran from when we were fighting gray angels. Flynn and Eldaen scout ahead and find an open door. Outside, we do not see the Garden of Graves, and it appears we aren't in Thelanis anymore, but there is a smoky wasteland. It looks like the Demon Wastes, which makes all of us very nervous.
Flynn and Eldaen go forward to explore the rest of the building. It looks like it's been abandoned for years. After exhaustive analysis of what turns out to be ordinary double doors, it turns out that the *stairs* exit back into the Garden of Graves. We find skeletal adventurers, search them for their gold. Then we head back in to find whatever the lever opened, by way of a clearing with some obelisks. Erich finds a round stone with some runes on it, and believes it is a beacon of sorts to teleport to the Garden of Graves. When we get back in, we find the door that opened when we clicked the lever.
When Eldaen and Erich try to unbury a cairn, an undead firbolg emerges and attacks Eldaen, grabbing him. Flynn moves in with an aerial assault and lands on the Firbolg, then moves into its space. The other cairns spawn undead fey knight zombies, and they attack Pock and Baltazar. Erich uses living missile on one of the knights to fling him into the firbolg and then away. An ivy creature emerges from where the knight has been flung, and then it attacks Baltazar and grabs him, bloodying him and then swings again and misses Flynn. Baltazar attacks the vine creature with blood designation. Eldaen uses radiant smite on the firbolg, then lays hands to heal Baltazar. Pock moves invisibly next to Flynn, curses the Firbolg and takes his second wind.
Firbolg slaps Eldaen, bloodying him. Flynn uses Rogue's Luck on the firbolg. The fey knight attacks Baltazar and misses, the other one moves to attack Flynn and misses. Erich uses living missile to fling the knight into the vine creature, then force pushes Baltazar out of harm's way and mind blasts the firbolg with a crit, bloodying him and uses an action point to use mind thrust on the firbolg. The ivy creature reveals a gem where its head should be and blasts Erich, dazing and restraining him and suffering infernal wrath damage. Baltazar uses war of attrition on the firbolg and misses. Eldaen breaks free of grab, lays hands on himself and hits the Firbolg with martyr's retribution. Pock drops a curse on a fey knight, then uses ethereal stride to get out of the corner he was in, then blasts the Firbolg with shared agony, destroying him.
Flynn uses jumping blade assault on fey knight and misses. The fey knight swings back and hits Flynn, immobilizing him, the other one moves in to Eldaen and crits him, immobilizing him, and the other one saves against being a living missile. Erich uses mind break on the fey knight next to Eldaen, and is now stunned. Ivy creature fires at Pock, damaging, dazing and grabbing him, then swings another vine at him. Baltazar fires off defensive rally, then shifts up to the fey knight and hit him with a guarding attack and hits him. Eldaen negates Erich's stun with divine mettle, hits the fey knight with resurgent smite, healing Pock back to full, then uses shield of discipline to resist damage. Pock uses mire the mind on the fey knight and crits him, bloodying him, then shakes off the poison.
Flynn hits the other fey knight with his sword. The fey knight attacks Flynn and misses. Erich uses dishearten on two of the fey knights and the ivy creature, hitting the knights. Ivyheart shoots more vines out at Erich, grabbing and dazing him and poisoning him. Baltazar swings warlord's strike at bloodied fey knight and misses. Eldaen moves and swings at the fey knight with holy strike, killing him and allowing Pock to misty step away. He uses witchfire and misses the Ivyheart.
Flynn tumbles behind the Ivyheart to flank with Eldaen and misses. The fey knights move to attack Eldaen and Flynn and miss them. Erich uses dishearten on the ivyheart and fey knight, hitting the knight. Ivyheart grabs Eldaen and fucks him up, leaving him at 9 hp and no healing surges. Eldaen falls and begins dying from poison. Pock moves next to Erich and bull rushes him free of the vine.
Flynn swings and misses the fey knight. The fey knight misses Flynn, the other one moves to attack Erich and misses. Erich uses dishearten on ivyheart and fey knight. Ivyheart strikes Baltazar with a vine, and he activates his recoil shield. Eldaen briefly regains consciousness. Pock tries to blast the vine holding Baltazar.
Flynn misses. The fey knight hits and immobilizes Flynn. Erich activates sky hook and flies away, using a blast to sever the vine. Ivyheart stands, fires a vine to grab Erich, Baltazar and Flynn, dropping Baltazar.
Flynn uses his drowmesh to become invisible, takes his second wind. Erich is also knocked out. Flynn flees, leaving Pock hiding and Erich, Baltazar and Eldaen dying. Eldaen shakes off the poison and wakes up, just barely, and feigns unconsciousness. The fey knights return to its cairn, Pock and Eldaen watch the Ivyheart beginning to move away. Flynn hides outside. Eldaen stealthily wakes Baltazar and tells him not to move.
The Ivyheart, having seen Eldaen, charges him and knocks him out. Baltazar stands and wakes up Erich, who grabs Eldaen and flees. The Ivyheart blasts Baltazar and drops him. Flynn gives Eldaen a healing potion to wake him up. Flynn passes another healing potion to Erich, who wakes up Baltazar, and they all flee down the hallway as the enraged Ivyheart comes at them again.
Pock hides and rests until he's sure he can get out, then sneaks back out of the room. We go to the map room and take an extended rest, then decide to explore the room that kept changing. We explore the room, which is tinged with Dolurrh. A walking corpse comes into the room.
Flynn, out of sight of the undead, takes a moment to become hidden. Undead moves in and fires bone shards at Eldaen, Baltazar and Erich, hitting Baltazar. Pock curses the undead, fires witchfire, but the creature dodges, then Erich force pushes it into the rubble. Eldaen swings his radiant smite and hits, then swings with heedless fury and misses. Baltazar grants us all bonus damage.
Flynn swings and misses. Erich fires mind break at the undead. The undead hits Eldaen, who is vulnerable due to his heedless fury. Pock takes an attack of opportunity from the undead, which takes radiant damage, then fires ring of pain at the creature. Eldaen misses with resurgent smite. Baltazar uses inspiring word on Pock, then attacks with guarding attack.
Flynn attacks and bloodies the undead, and a necrotic wave comes out and we take damage and he heals. Erich uses mind break on him again, and bloodies him. The undead takes ongoing psychic, hits Flynn and takes radiant damage. Pock uses shared agony on the undead and misses, doing damage only to himself. Eldaen misses with a holy strike. Baltazar directs Flynn to backstab the undead.
Flynn attacks with jumping blade assault. Erich blasts the undead with psychic damage, continuing the psychic vulnerability. Undead fires spines out again, hitting Flynn and Eldaen, then spends an action point to hit them again and hit Erich as well, dropping Flynn. Pock destroys him with a blast. Eldaen stabilizes Flynn. We try to take a brief rest, but are interrupted by a shadow humanoid.
The shadow attacks and misses Pock, who teleports away and becomes concealed. Flynn leaps over the head of the undead and attacks him. Erich steps back and misses. Pock misses. Eldaen moves up and misses with blood of the mighty. Baltazar uses bastion of defense, hitting the shadow and granting defenses to all allies.
Shadow uses vision of darkness, then slashes at Eldaen, who cancels most of the damage with divine counter. Flynn attacks and misses. Erich uses mind break on the shadow, making him vulnerable to psychic. Pock blasts him with eyebite, then uses his action point to blast him again. Eldaen hits him with blood of mighty. Baltazar orders Flynn to attack, and he misses.
Shadow attacks Eldaen. Flynn swings and misses. Erich uses mind break on the shadow. Pock uses eyebite. Eldaen misses with holy strike. Baltazar orders Erich to mind thrust, and he misses.
Shadow misses Eldaen. Flynn attacks and crits the shadow. Erich and Pock finish him off with psychic damage. We move out to explore and are attacked by another corpse.
The corpse attacks, Flynn returns. Erich mind breaks him, Pock teleports to the end of the hallway to continue investigation. Eldaen marks and misses. Another one comes down the hallway to join him.
Eldaen checks in with Baltazar, and then goes back in and is in a different place with broken stones surrounding a filthy pool of water. He drops a rope down to Pock and the others. Erich recognizes it as the room he ran from when we were fighting gray angels. Flynn and Eldaen scout ahead and find an open door. Outside, we do not see the Garden of Graves, and it appears we aren't in Thelanis anymore, but there is a smoky wasteland. It looks like the Demon Wastes, which makes all of us very nervous.
Flynn and Eldaen go forward to explore the rest of the building. It looks like it's been abandoned for years. After exhaustive analysis of what turns out to be ordinary double doors, it turns out that the *stairs* exit back into the Garden of Graves. We find skeletal adventurers, search them for their gold. Then we head back in to find whatever the lever opened, by way of a clearing with some obelisks. Erich finds a round stone with some runes on it, and believes it is a beacon of sorts to teleport to the Garden of Graves. When we get back in, we find the door that opened when we clicked the lever.
When Eldaen and Erich try to unbury a cairn, an undead firbolg emerges and attacks Eldaen, grabbing him. Flynn moves in with an aerial assault and lands on the Firbolg, then moves into its space. The other cairns spawn undead fey knight zombies, and they attack Pock and Baltazar. Erich uses living missile on one of the knights to fling him into the firbolg and then away. An ivy creature emerges from where the knight has been flung, and then it attacks Baltazar and grabs him, bloodying him and then swings again and misses Flynn. Baltazar attacks the vine creature with blood designation. Eldaen uses radiant smite on the firbolg, then lays hands to heal Baltazar. Pock moves invisibly next to Flynn, curses the Firbolg and takes his second wind.
Firbolg slaps Eldaen, bloodying him. Flynn uses Rogue's Luck on the firbolg. The fey knight attacks Baltazar and misses, the other one moves to attack Flynn and misses. Erich uses living missile to fling the knight into the vine creature, then force pushes Baltazar out of harm's way and mind blasts the firbolg with a crit, bloodying him and uses an action point to use mind thrust on the firbolg. The ivy creature reveals a gem where its head should be and blasts Erich, dazing and restraining him and suffering infernal wrath damage. Baltazar uses war of attrition on the firbolg and misses. Eldaen breaks free of grab, lays hands on himself and hits the Firbolg with martyr's retribution. Pock drops a curse on a fey knight, then uses ethereal stride to get out of the corner he was in, then blasts the Firbolg with shared agony, destroying him.
Flynn uses jumping blade assault on fey knight and misses. The fey knight swings back and hits Flynn, immobilizing him, the other one moves in to Eldaen and crits him, immobilizing him, and the other one saves against being a living missile. Erich uses mind break on the fey knight next to Eldaen, and is now stunned. Ivy creature fires at Pock, damaging, dazing and grabbing him, then swings another vine at him. Baltazar fires off defensive rally, then shifts up to the fey knight and hit him with a guarding attack and hits him. Eldaen negates Erich's stun with divine mettle, hits the fey knight with resurgent smite, healing Pock back to full, then uses shield of discipline to resist damage. Pock uses mire the mind on the fey knight and crits him, bloodying him, then shakes off the poison.
Flynn hits the other fey knight with his sword. The fey knight attacks Flynn and misses. Erich uses dishearten on two of the fey knights and the ivy creature, hitting the knights. Ivyheart shoots more vines out at Erich, grabbing and dazing him and poisoning him. Baltazar swings warlord's strike at bloodied fey knight and misses. Eldaen moves and swings at the fey knight with holy strike, killing him and allowing Pock to misty step away. He uses witchfire and misses the Ivyheart.
Flynn tumbles behind the Ivyheart to flank with Eldaen and misses. The fey knights move to attack Eldaen and Flynn and miss them. Erich uses dishearten on the ivyheart and fey knight, hitting the knight. Ivyheart grabs Eldaen and fucks him up, leaving him at 9 hp and no healing surges. Eldaen falls and begins dying from poison. Pock moves next to Erich and bull rushes him free of the vine.
Flynn swings and misses the fey knight. The fey knight misses Flynn, the other one moves to attack Erich and misses. Erich uses dishearten on ivyheart and fey knight. Ivyheart strikes Baltazar with a vine, and he activates his recoil shield. Eldaen briefly regains consciousness. Pock tries to blast the vine holding Baltazar.
Flynn misses. The fey knight hits and immobilizes Flynn. Erich activates sky hook and flies away, using a blast to sever the vine. Ivyheart stands, fires a vine to grab Erich, Baltazar and Flynn, dropping Baltazar.
Flynn uses his drowmesh to become invisible, takes his second wind. Erich is also knocked out. Flynn flees, leaving Pock hiding and Erich, Baltazar and Eldaen dying. Eldaen shakes off the poison and wakes up, just barely, and feigns unconsciousness. The fey knights return to its cairn, Pock and Eldaen watch the Ivyheart beginning to move away. Flynn hides outside. Eldaen stealthily wakes Baltazar and tells him not to move.
The Ivyheart, having seen Eldaen, charges him and knocks him out. Baltazar stands and wakes up Erich, who grabs Eldaen and flees. The Ivyheart blasts Baltazar and drops him. Flynn gives Eldaen a healing potion to wake him up. Flynn passes another healing potion to Erich, who wakes up Baltazar, and they all flee down the hallway as the enraged Ivyheart comes at them again.
Pock hides and rests until he's sure he can get out, then sneaks back out of the room. We go to the map room and take an extended rest, then decide to explore the room that kept changing. We explore the room, which is tinged with Dolurrh. A walking corpse comes into the room.
Flynn, out of sight of the undead, takes a moment to become hidden. Undead moves in and fires bone shards at Eldaen, Baltazar and Erich, hitting Baltazar. Pock curses the undead, fires witchfire, but the creature dodges, then Erich force pushes it into the rubble. Eldaen swings his radiant smite and hits, then swings with heedless fury and misses. Baltazar grants us all bonus damage.
Flynn swings and misses. Erich fires mind break at the undead. The undead hits Eldaen, who is vulnerable due to his heedless fury. Pock takes an attack of opportunity from the undead, which takes radiant damage, then fires ring of pain at the creature. Eldaen misses with resurgent smite. Baltazar uses inspiring word on Pock, then attacks with guarding attack.
Flynn attacks and bloodies the undead, and a necrotic wave comes out and we take damage and he heals. Erich uses mind break on him again, and bloodies him. The undead takes ongoing psychic, hits Flynn and takes radiant damage. Pock uses shared agony on the undead and misses, doing damage only to himself. Eldaen misses with a holy strike. Baltazar directs Flynn to backstab the undead.
Flynn attacks with jumping blade assault. Erich blasts the undead with psychic damage, continuing the psychic vulnerability. Undead fires spines out again, hitting Flynn and Eldaen, then spends an action point to hit them again and hit Erich as well, dropping Flynn. Pock destroys him with a blast. Eldaen stabilizes Flynn. We try to take a brief rest, but are interrupted by a shadow humanoid.
The shadow attacks and misses Pock, who teleports away and becomes concealed. Flynn leaps over the head of the undead and attacks him. Erich steps back and misses. Pock misses. Eldaen moves up and misses with blood of the mighty. Baltazar uses bastion of defense, hitting the shadow and granting defenses to all allies.
Shadow uses vision of darkness, then slashes at Eldaen, who cancels most of the damage with divine counter. Flynn attacks and misses. Erich uses mind break on the shadow, making him vulnerable to psychic. Pock blasts him with eyebite, then uses his action point to blast him again. Eldaen hits him with blood of mighty. Baltazar orders Flynn to attack, and he misses.
Shadow attacks Eldaen. Flynn swings and misses. Erich uses mind break on the shadow. Pock uses eyebite. Eldaen misses with holy strike. Baltazar orders Erich to mind thrust, and he misses.
Shadow misses Eldaen. Flynn attacks and crits the shadow. Erich and Pock finish him off with psychic damage. We move out to explore and are attacked by another corpse.
The corpse attacks, Flynn returns. Erich mind breaks him, Pock teleports to the end of the hallway to continue investigation. Eldaen marks and misses. Another one comes down the hallway to join him.
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