# Campaign writeup (2 updates September 7th)



## Eccles

First things first, I can't take any of the credit for the writeup; it comes from one of my players who I don't think exists on the boards at this time. However feedback is (as ever) welcome, and I think session 2 is in about a month once we've finished another campaign, then we're likely to become more regular!

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The Cast (So Far):

Durzon Blint – (Revenant-Drow, Assassin-Executioner) 
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2007/319/c/e/Altair___Assassin__s_Creed_by_Rahll.jpg

A dark elf assassin who works for the thieves guild, at some point in his career he got careless or took on a job greater than his skills allowed and found himself bleeding in an alley, but that wasn’t the end for Durzon, raised by the Lady of Fate he is still coming to grips with his newfound un-life. Perhaps in death he’ll be a better assassin than when alive.

Brick – Goliath, Bard 
http://dungeonsmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/exiled_goliath.jpg

A gentle (somewhat) giant of man (or at least half of one), he’s plied many trades working as a courier, bouncer, enforcer and even an entertainer to make ends meet, his thoughts have recently turned to politics, believing he can make a difference in the city if only he can find enough people to hear his voice!

Uriel (or possible Yrriel) – Human, Paladin 
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.wowinsider.com/media/2009/02/zach_tlahtsi_paladin-tank-dummies.jpg

Sadly I’m coming up a little blank here, so I shall leave this for Kevin to apply a little bit of info (and the correct spelling of his name).

Ashelyn – (Tiefling, Hexblade)

An asset of the thieves’ guild, a blind and scarred beggar girl that would tell peoples fortunes in the street. They took interest when her predictions were found to be truthful, kept in simple comfort her predictions have steered the guild to profit and power for the last decade.

Location Information (Copy & Paste from the Hand Out)

Ragesian Empire – The Ragesian Empire is located on central lowlands dominated by many lakes. While the core of the empire is populated heavily by orcs and half-orcs, the outer regions have wildly diverse cultures and populations, the result of having once been many separate nations, conquered by sword and torch. Their leader Emperor Drakus Coaltongue has recently gone missing and the key to his empire’s success the Torch of the Burning Sky along with him.

A side effect of this is that the deeply distrustful agents of the Empire have started a Scourge, their inquisition snatching Arcane Spell users for interrogation.

Shahalesti – On the far side of the mountains that mark Ragesia’s eastern border spreads the Shining Land of Shahalesti, ruled by Lord Shaaladel, a middle-aged eladrin who rose from being a military commander to the nation’s ruler during the ascension of the Ragesian Empire. Shahalesti was in danger of being conquered like Ragesia’s other neighbour’s, and Shaaladel’s aggressive displays of force—including the conquest and destruction of two nearby elven lands that were hostile to him—are credited as major reasons why Ragesia has so far not looked east for conquest.

Gatepass – Gate Pass lies in a rocky mountain pass running east to west between Ragesia and Shahalesti. Sheer cliffs mark its northern and southern borders, and fortifications built over centuries have made the city highly defensible, making it difficult to be annexed by either nation that surrounds it. These same fortifications, likewise, make it equally difficult for anyone to leave without going through any of the numerous gates that give the city its name

Dassen – The Kingdom of Dassen lies to the south of Ragesia, and the southwest of Shahalesti, its borders defined by craggy mountains defended by hundreds of small dwarven strongholds. Dassen’s people, a swarthy assortment of humans and dwarves, cherish their land, to the point that superstitious cavalrymen even put dirt in their boots so never have to stop touching the soil of their homeland. There are no mighty cities in Dassen, only thousands of farms and towns growing out from the nine castles of the king and his dukes. The largest city, Bresk, lies on a major river beside Steppengard’s castle, and is a hilly community built both above and below ground.

Lyceum Academy – At the end of a swampy isthmus on Dassen’s southern tip, the town of Seaquen is home to a school called Lyceum, devoted to teaching magic of all kinds. Students of Lyceum are encouraged to learn a variety of magical styles, and are trained in spelldueling techniques similar to Gabal’s in Gate Pass. They were relatively unknown in the region until recently, when Simeon, headmaster of the school, sent out a call to all the people in and around Ragesia, asking for them to stand up against the threat posed by the Ragesians and their new leader Leska.

The Academy is also the unofficial home of the Wayfarers Troupe.

The Wayfarers – Every port in the region has at one time or another been host to the Wayfarer Theatre, a beautifully-decorated ship that is both home and base of operations for the Wayfarers. The Wayfarers are both master acrobats and skilled mages, prone to dress in elaborate and eclectic costumes with elements cobbled together from dozens of lands.

Session Summary

New Year’s Eve, normally a time for great festivity and celebration but this year danger looms over the city. The Ragesian Scourge is slowly creeping closer and magicians across the city have gone missing, fled or taken. The more prominent spell casters of the city have called upon the people to stand united against the Scourge, but when two of the most vocal council members vanished support vanished. “What have they ever done for us, sat in their towers messing with things they shouldn’t” is a sentiment shared across the city.

The city is thick with snow, more than usual for this time of year but the people soldier on, its they do. Tonight there is a meeting at the Poison Apply Pub; three strangers each make their way to a secret meeting “Side Door… Midnight… Torrent” is their instructions, each given by different people for different reasons.

Uriel received his note from Helda Claearcal, a disciple of the Goddess of Strength. Durzon has been sent as a representative of the thieves’ guild, tasked with aiding torrent with her plan, what aids the city aids them. Finally brick, whose note was no doubt, was directed towards someone else. A man at a pub merely placed the note in his hand along with twenty gold coins; Brick believes he has been hired to perform a new year’s celebration.

They reach the pub to find it closed, confirming each is here for the meeting. Then they notice the windows are all boarded up and a notice nailed to the door proclaiming that the owner has been arrested and under interrogation with the Ragesians.

Inside awaits Torrent, a white haired warrior cleric and member of the Resistance, her axe set to one side as she sits at the lone table lit by a single candle. Beside her a young tiefling woman, bandages wrapped tightly around her eyes slowly sips beer from a small cup. Invited in person by Torrent, her handlers at the thieves guild accepted her terms at the insistence of the girl herself, ready to leave her secluded life.

“Our friends have arrived” says the girl quietly moments before there is a quiet knock at the side door and a deep whisper “Torrent?” she lets them in and guides them through the darkened tap room to the table, where brief introductions are made. Outside the Bells toll, ringing in the New Year, toasts are made and then business is conducted.

She explains her mission, the resistance has obtained military intelligence directly from the imperial palace, she must get this information out of the city (which is now under severe lockdown) hopefully before the empire attacks, and their army is only a day away. She has contacts at the Lyceum Academy to the south and a plan to get there if only we can get out of the city.

We must meet with a resistance spy that has been undercover for the last few years as a servant in the palace, a gnome called Rivereye Badgerface. His usual contact has been killed but Torrent has in her possession a signet ring and password to establish a meeting at the Depository, an armoured tower in the city that has rents out secure lockboxes.

However before we can conclude our totally super secret meeting the pub is attacked by thugs. Sadly it does not go well for them as everyone proves themselves quite competent including the blind orphan who transforms into something demonic and wrong wielding a blade of twisted metal and oozing shadow. Before people can question the transformation of the girl however the city is attacked, pots of alchemical fire a rained down from above by wyvern outriders and the pub itself is bombed forcing us to retreat. The city quickly descends into chaos, under guidance from torrent we head towards the depository.

On the way we are given chance for some daring do: First we meet a husband and wife, both badly burned leading their children away. Brick lends his aid, healing their wounds with his melodic magic. Secondly we find a damsel in distress atop a burning building, Uriel steps up, clambering up the side of the building, rescuing the lady from her balcony mere moments before it falls, earning a kiss as a reward.

We reach the gate separating our current district from that of the Depositories and find it choked with people, all in disarray, wounded and carrying scant possessions while the guards try to keep a modicum of order and civility. A dark shadow passes over the gate and the guard captain pauses mid speech, leaps off the top of the barricade screaming and tries to run away… the shadow strikes the crowd and they buckle causing a stampede of people trying to flee, we ourselves are overcome with fear (which once we’ve calmed a little deduce to be Dragon Fear, somewhere high above a massive dragon is soaring, lending his aid to the attack).

However the Dragon Fear panic has left the gate unobstructed and we continue, the tower of the depository in sight when we are approached by a rather foppish and distraught merchant desperately trying to find his pet weasel Kiki. The loss of a pet stirs something in the bard’s heart and we are lured into side questia, easing the mans fears and following the weasels tracks to an abandoned building, inside we follow the trail to a kitchen and a drain surmising the weasel is in the sewers a few experimental gropes down the tunnel, some weasel wrangling and a few weasel bites later Kiki is reunited with her master and we had found a mysterious box shoved down the drain and

tucked behind, no doubt someone’s stash spot and our Bard is rewarded with a set of shiny chain mail (no one else wanted to wear something they found in a sewer).

Finally we reach the tower and its guards, 3 burly looking orcs led by a dwarf. Torrent steps forward and presents her key, testing it on a lock attached to a wooden plaque worn on a chain around the dwarf’s neck. With a click the lock is sprung and the guards looked relieved, standing down. We are allowed in, passing through opulent gardens before reaching the high tower, where another guard lets us in and warns us against doing anything stupid like trying to open the wrong box. Upstairs we meet our gnome, but something isn’t quite right about him and within a few moments we realise he is an impostor and attempts to flee, where we meet his accomplish a ball of elemental energy known as a soul wisp.

(They were constructed by the primordial’s as troops to fight the gods, but were never good enough. With the primordial’s defeated they were forgotten, going their own way to promote balance and peace, so instinctively good creatures)

Chasing the “gnome” up a few flights we deduce that he’s using some kind of illusion, and his plan of climbing outside the tower comes to an end when he is outpaced by the bard running up the inside and booted off the balcony, falling four stories and landing with a bone breaking crunch. He is finally brought to an unconscious end by Durzon abseiling down after him. His illusion drops to reveal a Shahalesti (eladrin). The assassin happily steals the Eladrins boots (of spider climbing) for himself. Having cleared things with the guards about “our attacker” they let us take him inside for questioning provided “we can get a crack at him afterwards!”

After a little chat we manage to track down the location of the real Badgerface (locked in a lockbox above) and question the elf, he is a spy for Shahalesti and was after the military intelligence for themselves (the notion of sharing didn’t seem to occur to them) and they have the sealed lockbox with all the information in themselves, planning to flee the city in a tunnel they’ve been digging but it is still several days from completion. We then leave the elf to the guards, one particularly mean looking orc opens up a locked pulling forth all manner of sharp objects… we leave the tower quickly, aiming to reach a resistance safe house underneath the temple of wine and revelry.

However are trip is interrupted half way by an epic battle waged above us, one of the Gatepass gryphon riders is taking on a Wyvern rider, the two beasts and the riders are dragged into a death spiral with the nimble gryphon swooping out at the last moment, the scaled wyvern however slams into a house a few meters from us, its dead carcass strewn over the broken remains, inside of the ruins building a baby starts crying “Nooo not my child aaaaaaaaa” comes a female voice and then nothing. Kicking open the door we find a huge orc, a babe in one huge arm, his axe at its throat “Back away… I aim to be free of this place!” he growls.

At first Brick attempts to talk the orc down, he weakens his resolve with soothing words but not enough, the blade is brought back “no, none of your tricks!”. Uriel attempts to intimidate the orc, questioning the courage of a man that hides behind the child, the Orcs eyes go dark with rage and sweeps his blade across the babes throat, tossing it aside and licks the blade clean before giving us a royal kicking, we finally bring it down but at all left broken, bloody and spent. We limp our way to the temple, push our way passed the crowd of desperate and wounded and Torrent clicks open a hidden door down to the cellar and home of a small resistance cell, we take rest here, tomorrow we must find the elves, retrieve the information and flee the city. Gatepass has been brought to a panicked standstill by merely the advancing scouts and outriders of the empire, god knows what the full force of their army will do.


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## Spatula

Subscribed!


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## Morrus

I wish I'd been able to make it to sit in on the first session.  Sounds like it went well!


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## Eccles

Yeah. Sorry about the short notice - previous game plan fell through at short notice! Went really well, though - next session's in a fortnight, then I think we're a regular weekly thing. 8-9 books behind the other group, I wonder how long before we catch up?


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## Morrus

Eccles said:


> Yeah. Sorry about the short notice - previous game plan fell through at short notice! Went really well, though - next session's in a fortnight, then I think we're a regular weekly thing. 8-9 books behind the other group, I wonder how long before we catch up?




Pretty quickly, I imagine.  I bet you're running the AP ahead of me by the end.*


*Won't be possible because I get them first!


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## HolyMan

Great start my little game is running here at ENWorld...

http://www.enworld.org/forum/playin...ing-sky-campaign-saga-scouring-gate-pass.html

As it is pbp I have to tackle the problem of "to much combat" slowing it down and edit things around. 

I cringed when I read the part about the wyvern rider killing the baby. (Gave me a good//bad mental image). And you didn't say but it looks like to me you are using 4e (like the soul wisp concept)? And are you the DM?

HM


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## Eccles

Yeah. I've played to level 21 of it in 4e which Morrus has been running, and now I'm running it from the start for my group. We'll be starting properly a week on Saturday in a group with 2 strikers which plays for an hour or two more each week than the Thursday group with no strikers - so I'm serious that we're going to catch up at a rate of knots!


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## Eccles

Session 2 over. Went well if I'm any judge.  One fatality (which got fixed very quickly) and 3 good fights.  

Also we got to have a 'bard-off' featuring the awesome power of the goliath jazz flute. (Not a euphemism).

And a complete re-write of the crypt encounter.


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## Eccles

With some of us a bit broken and bloody we reach the temple of wine and revelry, but it certainly doesn’t live up to its name. Filled to capacity with the wounded and dieing, people came seeking refuge and found as much as the priests could spare. Here we follow Torrent as she seeks a way through the crowd, urging people to make space as we carry the wounded body of the gnomish spy (rivereye badger face) deeper into the temple until finally we reach the head priest Beuron (and leader of the local resistance cell), a large friar who looks happy if stretched to the end of his rope.

http://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/f40.jpg

He gives Torrent a welcoming hug, glad that she is ok and her mission a success and leads us down through concealed doors into the crypts where a resistance safe house has been set up. Racks of simple weapons and supplies rest against stout walls and he points out a few side rooms with simple sleeping pallets that we can take rest in. Badgerface is taken away by a couple of priests, no doubt to heal his injuries in a more serene part of the safe house and we are left to our own devices for a moment before Beuron appears at the door, his eyes lingering on the goliath.

“my fellow, I wonder if I could crave a boon… we have a complication upstairs that I’m sure your…” he says taking the bard by the arm, squeezing it softly “strengths… can overcome”, never one to turn down work Brick agrees, Ashelyne pads along quietly behind the pair as they head up, the sounds of a dirge like song getting louder as leave the crypts. The source of the music is a hulking female Half Orc singing in a deep baritone as she strums along listlessly on her mandolin, around her the crowd watches on awkwardly. Listening for a moment it becomes clear her “song” is about her now dead female lover, snatched cruelly away by the Ragesian flames.

Across from the room stand a priest and a paladin, the paladin in particularly looks galled by the bard, his hand clenching and unclenching rapidly over the haft of his cudgel, a peace-tie of pink ribbon lashed quickly around, securing it to his belt loop. “as you can see, its quite killing the spirit of our flock, perhaps you could do something to raise the mood, inspire and encourage, anything must be better than this?” asks Beuron “leave it to me” says Brick enthusiastically, patting one huge hand upon the friars shoulder and reaches for his “large flute”.

And he begins to play his Jazz flute, at first he seems to just be playing random notes, but catches the attention of the crowd, soon his notes flow falling into a pattern, drowning out the dirge with their bohemian wildness. Lost in the music he begins cavorting, darting here and there, the crowd’s eyes follow only him as he builds to a feverish crescendo.

Half Orc Bard http://www.elfwood.com/art/y/e/yenk/the_half_orc_bard.jpg

Jazz Flute Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Movie - Jazz Flute | Video « MOVIECLIPS

Meanwhile forgotten and ignored the half-orc finishes her song, listened to only by the blind girl as she reels of line after line of her lost love and their death pact. While the goliath skips left and right behind him she shoulders her mandolin, glares a hate fuelled gaze to those how ignore her loss and stomps outside, quickly followed by the paladin and two lackeys, in turn Ashelyn follows them into the cold night air. Beuron is quick to squeeze Brick in thankful embrace “you’ve done wonders my boy, wonders”, concerned about his fellow performer (no matter how dire!) Brick disentangles himself from the friar’s clutches, makes his excuses and dashes outside.

In the dark street outside the paladin and his two comrades stand facing the Half Orc “you’re not welcome here, do not return” he says sternly, fingers wrapped tight around his cudgel, still at his waist but the peace tie is gone. She simply glares at them, defiantly until a ball of muddy snow catches her in the face, more snowballs are flung by the paladin’s allies until eventually cracks “I hate you all, no one understands us!” and she flees in tears into the night. Brick watches her leave and then heads back inside, his large hand patting little Ashelyne on the head as he steps passed her “she has a troubled soul” he says sadly. Now alone the girl looks up her

“vision” picking through the blizzard above to see the stars clearly and the beings amongst them staring down at her “don’t we all...”

In the morning we meet with Beuron, he tells us that both Torrent and Rivereye left early this morning to meet contact and informants regarding Gaball’s School and Shiallis (the Shahalesti mage who currently possesses Rivereyes box of military intelligence), he tells us it’s something to do with the Singing Chasm and a tunnel. Our own interrogation of a Shahalesti in the depository had mentioned them trying to flee the city in a tunnel that was not yet complete.

He also has some resistance work that needs to be done, and two additional “recruits” to introduce “they came in late last night, survived the fire and thankful we are for that small mercy. Their talents are unusual, but I’m sure you’re used to that!”

Kain – Half Orc Rogue

A relatively unknown enforcer for the thieves’ guild and resistance, a former member of the Ragesian army, he “left” in one of its infrequent times of peace. He arrived in Gatepass leaving a trail of muggings and petty thefts behind him and has been here ever since, living a life of simple luxury afforded by his lack of scruples and love of other peoples money.

http://paizo.com/image/content/PathfinderRPG/PZO1110-Assassin.jpg

Crossed with http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/HalfOrcAssassinmini.jpg

Lembit – Deva Confused Wizard (Shaman)

In stark contrast to his companion Kain, Lembit shines with statuesque beauty. Strong of Jaw, high of cheek and a noble brow he would cut a fine figure if only his attention span would pass muster. Lembit appeared in town a few years ago, enrolled at Gabal’s school but has made great progress as an academic and historian, but his practical magic is wild, primal and untamed… far outside the remit of Gabal’s curriculum, and eventually charity wore thin and he was asked to leave.

The Deva Race

Deep in the recesses of memory, devas’ recall what they once were: immortal servitors of the gods of good, spirits who chose to bind themselves to the world in mortal flesh. For millennia, their souls have been reborn to wage an endless war against the forces of darkness.

Like most of his race Lembit has lived many, many lives, being reincarnated upon each death, to learn from his mistakes and continue the fight. Unlike other Devas’ Lembit spent a considerable number of these lives replaying the same lives or similar as a wizard, such memories are hard to let go, old habits die hard so they say, and so do Deva’s!

http://static.plaync.co.kr/pr/aion/event/091111_devaday/deva/bg_deva_wizard.png

Gabal’s School

Gabal, a famed evoker who helped drive the Ragesians out forty years ago, maintains a school of war. This large cluster of squat towers connected by covered bridges and surrounded by a moat and fence is jokingly known as The Castle. Gabal’s students — identifiable by their red robes — are generally viewed as arrogant and hot-tempered, but their mentor forces them to sell their services for low prices, particularly in matters of defense and construction, and a handful of wizards serve in the city military. Gabal is said to scorn magic-users who do not study spellbooks for their powers, and has a particular dislike for sorcerers and warlocks, commonly saying he doesn’t trust people who have that much charisma. Charm is a personality flaw Gabal proudly lacks.

With the introductions over Beuron tells us that another of the resistance members who works at the depository has information regarding Ragesian Infiltrators, we meet the dwarf and he spins a tale of a “cat like beast” that fades into the night, he followed one of their wounded members back to a warehouse and will gladly show us the way. In way of thanks for services rendered (and future service to be rendered) Beuron hands us a satchel “I’ve secured these from supplies, they should serve you well I hope” inside is a collection of healing potions and some gold for our efforts.

Soon we are out of the temple and back on the streets huddled up against the snow and chill wind that whips through the pass, nearly every street shows sign of fire damage, and the air is thick with the smell of charred wood or worse. We pass groups of peasants sat idle in the streets waiting for death to take the, while others form work gangs, clearing away fallen stone and the bodies they cover. More than once Kain breaks from the dwarf’s lead, clambering over the wreckage coming back with minor spoils and trinkets… the fortunes of war.

Soon we reach the district in question, lanes and alleys clogged with fresh unsullied snow, the tracks of visitors clear for all to see. “that’s the one there, can tell by the way those Ragesian bastards gave it a wide birth” says the dwarf spitting into the snow and takes his leave, but his point rings true the warehouse is untouched, with only slight damage to the buildings near it. Kain and Durzon go scouting, with the assassin making it onto the roof, slowly sweeping snow away from one of the ventilation hatches he peeks inside, spotting a number of bandit / guard types along with a mage in robes. We plan to go in the front door while he will slip through the hatch.

Our “ambush” goes true to form with Kain lifting the bar from the door silently however the thing then drops as it clears the hooks and clatters to the floor, the Ragesians inside take cover behind the crates.

Highlights

* Durzon manages to enter the warehouse more stealthily than the rest of us (perhaps because we were standing in the doorway like lemons) and manages to shoot on in the neck with his hand crossbow, the three bandit types retaliate by hurling daggers at him that miss.

* Our brave “charge” into the warehouse becomes more of an amble, ending with Ashelyne falling into a 10foot pit that had been concealed along the main path.

* The Cat Beast turns out to be the mage’s familiar a Psuedodragon, a long thin reptile with wings and a barbed poisonous tail, this manages to do a number on Durzon bringing him very close to dropping but not for his undead hardiness. o http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/pseudodragon72_med.jpg

* Ashelyne manages to find herself trapped between the wizard and her familiar, eventually dropping unconscious because of a combined magic missile and tail lashing, leaving her very close to death on the floor.

* This is then confirmed when the assassin shoots the dragon with his hand crossbow and kills it, causing it to explode in a poisonous explosion that rains crates down upon the little blind girl crushing her.

* With his familiar dead the mage attempts to flee but is outflanked by the assassin and gutted like a fish.

Ashelyne finds herself in the darkness, cold, empty and alone… she is scared, a heavy weight rests upon her, crushing and squeezing the life from her, suddenly there is an intense heat burning inside, a spike of pain to her mind and the visions begin.

* First she sees a war fought between unknown soldiers

* Second a great Stag made of flame charging towards her

* Thirdly a great beast of green tentacles battling a huge devil

* Fourth, a bearded devil armed with a large glaive attacking her

* Fifth a man dressed in fine pink clothes walking away from her

* And finally the face of a gigantic dragon, appearing and breathing fire, reducing her to ashes

As soon as it came the heat vanishes, leaving her alone, incomplete… empty.

When the others move the crates the girl is lying there, the same but different, scrawnier like all the fat has been burnt from her body… pale and still like the grave, but then finally takes a sharp intake of breath… born again.

Giving the girl space and time to rest, they search the warehouse, from his clamberings atop the crates duzon spotted a chest hidden within taller stacks and using the key found upon the dead mage they click it open finding a small hoard of treasure and a series of documents detailing the groups’ orders. They were to arrange a diversion near Erdan Menash’s house to allow another group a chance to abduct him.

Erdan Menash

Erdan is a council member, the third council member to stand up against the scourge, and the only one of the three that hasn’t vanished under mysterious circumstances. He is known to be flamboyant, bohemian (and closely homosexual) that from time to time sponsors adventuring groups, usually outfitting them with matching outfits and lavishly detailed (in a camp style) weapons and equipment.

Lembit takes the mages staff, a length of black fire hardened wood capped at each end with red iron. While Kain finds a fancy dagger inside the chest, its blade waved like a flickering flame, touching the rune stamped into the hilt causes the short sharp blade to ignite. (Also possible he found a new coat and boots among the dead Ragesians, and a few odds and ends from the warehouse as well).

We return to the temple, where the priests treat the worst of our injuries, seeing the state of the girl Beuron offers to take care of her personally and guides the waif away from the others, sitting her down and begins his prayers and sets his hand upon the girls head. There is a brief “manly” squeal from the friar before he dashes away quickly, clutching at his hand in pain, skin pallid and sweaty “I… ah… need some air… she’ll be fine… fine” he stammers quickly heading away as fast as possible while still looking reasonably dignified. Ashelyne meanwhile finds a deserted tunnel in the crypts and sits silent in the dark, distraught, empty and alone...

A few hours later, suitably recovered the Friar calls us all together, asking us to join the resistance “you would do us a great honour in joining, with your actions over the previous days you’ve certainly caused a stir” he chuckles “You’ve inspired the men, I’m sure some of them would be”… he begins eyes settling on the little girl and his voice changes from up beat to confused “follow you into the depths of hell…” and winces, his good arm reaches to squeeze his bad reassuringly. He manages to muster a smile when we accept and begs leave to rest “I feel a little queer, brick my fellow perhaps you’ll play for me a while, sooth my nerves, yes?” he asks, the goliath accepts, waving his flute eagerly.

Alone in the friars room he tosses back and forth in a restless sleep but eventually the soothing lullaby tones of Brick’s flute manage to calm him into a more peaceful slumber but he remains asleep until the morning. The rest of the party are stuck as it were in the crypts safe house awaiting the return of Torrent and Rivereye. Content that his playing is no longer needed Brick leaves, closing the friars door behind him and pads (as quietly as a seven foot man can) along the corridors, he turns a corner and glimpses the trim of a jet black cloak, images of the Half Orc bard flash in his mind and on instinct he calls “hello?” but this only hastens her footsteps, he follows in earnest until finally reaching a dead end in a seemingly abandoned tunnel, large footprints however show signs of passage through the dust choked corridor and scrape marks of a door.

Utilising his “great” strength he manages to heave the door open, a waft of stale air comes fro the passageway, he calls again “hellooo?” his only reply is the sound of distance chanting punctuated with a ghastly wet scream “Are you ok in there?”, he takes a hesitant step inside and then stops, sense overcomes valor and he runs off in search of friends, barging into the shared common room “there’s a wounded Half Orc in the under crypt!” he burbles, the mention of a Half Orc raises Kain from his amusement (turning the fire enchantment of his knife on and off) and soon Brick is leading the rest of us back to the secret doorway.

As we approach a figure stumbles through the doorway, a badly made limping skeleton made from odd length bones, broken blades strapped where its hands should be and a flickering purple fire where its heart would be. Kain lobs his knife at it, the flaming dagger crashes into its ribcage and the whole thing explodes with a sharp crack, blasting fragments of bone all over the place (but none close enough to hurt us). Lembit rushes forward to investigate, turning the larger sections of bones over in his hands. “Ah the bone shard skeleton, a staple of low ranking necromancers and cultists, still a tricky customer in a narrow area” and quickly begins the tale of

one of his many, many deaths adventuring “although the one that got me was much better constructed, sloppy workmanship, you can see around the hip bones, different sex legs for a start”. Standing up the “wizard” bangs his staff into the ground, its iron cap sparks and the whole staff glows a deep red illuminating the way “after me gentlemen” and steps fearlessly into the tunnel, Brick brings up the rear, shutting the secret door behind him.

(Middle picture) http://dndd.yolasite.com/resources/monstermanual.jpg

On our way down the corridor we meet a few more undead, this time dwarven skeletons with stout shields and sharp axes that make a bit of a mess of our rogue Kain. We eventually find a catacomb with some more undead, Durzon attempts to sneak in first, but strays into the sights of three skeletal archers, inside we find a much larger (or perhaps well built) undead warrior and what was described to us as “a puddle of flesh”. Both Kain and Durzon are knocked unconscious (possibly twice) during the fight but eventually we bring them down and can investigate the gruesome remains.

A study confirms what we suspect (the remains are of the Half Orc), piecing together the evidence at hand Lembit believes that a dark ritual was cast with herself as the target. He holds the flaps of skin and flesh together and points out a weird gap at the neck “usually the focus of these types of things are a necklace or amulet” and predicts we would be dealing with more than just a skeleton, “she’s probably come back as a Wight, that’s a kind’ve undead thing fuelled by hatred, quite nasty” his gaze then follows the bloody marks we had missed in the red glow of his staff leading back up the corridor to the secret door. “You don’t think she got out while I was getting to you?” asks Brick.

We return to the secret door and upon opening it the screams of the dieing are finally audible “I think that confirms your thoughts Brick” adds Kain for once un-eager to throw himself into battle. We follow the trail of destruction and slaughter up and out of the crypts to the temple proper. In the main chamber is the Wight and a small force of bloody skeletons, battling against a lone priestess and a handful of resistance thieves. The priestess calls upon her god, smashing her holy symbol in the face of one skeleton and triggers a chain reaction of bony explosions killing the priest and her allies. Dark energy pulses from the necklace around the Wights neck, and the skeletons of the recently fallen pull themselves free of their flesh and the large gem in the necklace shatters.

We battle the Wight and its risen allies, managing to destroy any bone shard skeletons away from everyone (especially the peasanst still in the room as they try to flee for their lives). This fleeing is further complicated (or possible aided via scary herding) as Ashelyne transforms again into something wrong, wreathed in flame and ichor, horns and tentacles. Brick takes his lumps in this fight, being the target of the Wight “soul draining great hammer” more than once or twice, each hit siphoning off his resolve. But with the undead inside the temple destroyed we join the resistance fighters outside (along with the Paladin of St Cuthbert) and mop up any strays and we aid in cleaning the worst of the slaughter away, and with a snow storm predicted people would rather be inside and warm with a bit of blood on the walls than freeze in the purity of the snow.

Torrent and Rivereye finally return, and after hearing of our adventures share their own information:

* Shiallis (the Eladrin who is currently in possession of Rivereye’s case full of stolen secrets) was recently the focus of a big celebration at Gabal’s upon her progression to Paragon (level 11).

o As part of this promotion she has been given her own set of apartments within the school and has started investigating the Burning Sky and its cause (why people are set on fire when they teleport).

o She has a rival at the school a mage called Diogenes who disliked her noticeably and he himself could be a potent ally against her, such is the level of his displeasure.

o Secretly she is still awaiting the completion of the tunnel into the Singing Chasm so she can flee the city safely.

* Meanwhile Rivereye believes that an old contact of his is still within the city walls and that this ally rivals Shiallis in power (or at least closer to her than we are) and might be convinced to help our cause and retrieve his information so that we may leave the city ourselves and take it south to Lyceum Academy.

With all this information shared the pair is exhausted and after our own trials and tribulations all head to bed to get a good nights rest (or nightmare laden slumber depending upon who you are). We are woken before Dawn by an anxious Beuron (still nursing his hand defensively and wary of catching the little girls eyeless gaze) “one of my men has discovered the tunnel to the singing chasm will be finished earlier than our predictions, he claims it will be ready by the end of today. Torrent and Rivereye have left to muster their allies, you must find Shiallis and delay her anyway you can until they arrive!” and with that we’re hustled out of the temple with a rushed breakfast into the cold winters morn.

After a little trudgery we reach Gablan’s school and see that it certainly lives up to its nickname of The Castle (protected by a moat as well as a tall metal fence, the school resembles a keep more than anything else with four large towers poking out from its thick looking walls). Near the drawbridge is a robed figure, leaning against one of the stone supports proudly sporting a paunch, lazily puffing away at a cigarette as we approach Lembit recognises him as Diogenes. “What are you fine fellows doing here on such a fine summer’s day?”


----------



## Eccles

* At Gabal’s school we bump into Diogenes smoking Tabac, we engage in some chit chat and small talk, mostly led by Lembit wishing to display his many “familiars” in a flea circus style display, Diogenes is not amused by this performance at all.

* However he changes his opinion when we mention we’re here to see Shiallis and upon confirming his dislike of the Ragesians tell him that she has some of hers that we need to get back to aid the war effort / suffering of mages and he lets us in and after a bit of conspiring aggress to help us. Using an artefact from the school to encase us within a wall of force he will guarantee we get an audience with her that she can’t walk away from… (Of course will we…).

* Knocking on her door we’re welcomed in by an unsurprised Eladrin woman (Shiallis) looking ready for war or as much as an Eladrin can… (That is to say armour under her robes but still ready for a ballroom dance should the need arise). She knows us all by name (except Lembit and Kain, who weren’t in the presence of her familiar when we were accosted by her agent at the depository).

* She immediately tells us the box is safe, not here and we’re wasting her time, letting slip that she hasn’t and can’t open it yet, saying nothing of her imminent departure down a tunnel. We beat around the bush for a bit and Kain while snooping for things to steal spies a note on her desk that stands out against the missives of flowery cursive with its harsh lines. Another flea circus style performance from Lembit and some diplomatic talking from the paladin generations him a sufficient enough distraction needed to pocket the note.

* He quickly makes his uncouth excuses and asks to use the restroom, revealing the note is a map, does his business and has a rather unpleasant mouthful of Potpourri believing it to be a fancy Elven snack…

o The map itself leads to an area within one of the Eladrin Ghetto’s within Gatepass, obviously a hideout along with a clue to accessing it “Mundane before Celestial before Demonic”.

* Meanwhile the diplomatic measures of the Shaman and Paladin have altered her opinion upon sharing information and if we were willing to open the box for her, could take a copy of the information (as long as she keeps the original… or possibly kill us all if the information is considered too sensitive to share…)

* Outside the school we bump into Torrent who is joined by a rather quick-tempered Halfling storm sorcerer called Ferris (the back up…) who runs an underground school. Upon learning he isn’t needed tries to get the full fee but settles for a reduced rate and leaves, venting his fury upon a beggar who gets in his way.

* With him gone we share the map information and the offer of a deal, she lets us decide the best course of action so we decide upon using the map to the secret hideout.

* Reaching the ghetto we find the rough area to be one of three possible houses, this problem is rather diplomatically solved by Urien who asks one of the playing children politely if they knew who lived in the houses. One is pointed out as “where the new people lived, they moved in recently and came from the old country” surmising this to mean they came from the Shahalesti kingdom, that would be the hideout.

o Investigating the building we find tracks in the snow that lead to a hidden wooden doorway at the side, cunningly painted to look like brickwork. Upon it are icons related to various people and beasts, we enter the code on the map pushing first a peasant, then an angel and finally a devil. The door opens with a click, click, and clunk.

* Before we can enter the place we’re greeted with a mysterious invisible voice “You fella’s down there, you couldn’t help a fella out now could ya?” in a thick Irish brogue. After a little discussion the owner of the voice aggress to show himself, a red skinned imp in a badly arranged “angel costume”. He quickly returns to being invisible upon threat of pain from the paladin.

o However Lembit and Ashelyne coax the story from him, summoned by an unknown wizard “the fella had me over a barrel” to “find and collect the box the Shahalesti had taken and bring it back to him”.

o He regales us with his hopes of bettering himself and getting out of the summoned help game, perhaps moving up to being a familiar “those fella’s have it easy” listing off the various fringe benefits which includes “as many duck eggs as you can eat” a fact we were unaware of.

o However while his knowledge of the arcane and inane covers a lot he seems woefully inept at the basics of the mundane and mortal and is quickly convinced that “anything with bumps” must be a woman, noticing the stony nodules of the goliath greets him as a lady, and prompts the goliath to stomp into the building in a huff, alerting the (wait for it…) guard badgers. 

o http://www.motleycollegefootball.com/Images/Angry_badger.jpg

* After a run in with the three guard “Feywild Badgers” and three Shahalesti, we managed to defeat most of them (one escaping by running upstairs and jumping through a window…) we search the place, find the box (which the imp wants, happy to wait for us to open it so he can take the empty box with him “that’ll learn the eeejit to be more specific with his fecking summons” as he put it).

o However the Imp (blarney by name) gets impatient, and settles upon taking any old box in the house that had been held by us, fulfilling his contract. He makes his leave slipping two calling (or is that summons) cards upon Ash and Lembit.

* We return to the resistance safe house, box firmly in hand. There we learn that the inquisition is demanding that a team of inquisitors be allowed into the city or they shall commence their full attack and given the council a single day to make their answer.

* Our plan of getting out of the city remains unchanged, with using the clout of a leading council member to grease the wheels for us. We’re told the runner they sent to Erdan Menash to warn him about the abduction plot was mostly ignored, safe with his own level of security. We decide to visit him in person in the hopes of swaying him to our course.

* We head to his manor, meeting his guards (all fine fit men in terribly camp uniforms and tabards), his butler informs us he’s at a council meeting but we can wait in the salon. A room clad in exotic weapons of all shapes, sizes and arrangement, a veritable gallery of death and cruelty apart from the fact that each and every one is awarded some kitch touch (blades shaped like animals or fruit shaped pommels).

o Kain takes one such weapon of death and destruction (a staff with two big axes blades at each end), takes a brutal pose and quickly puts it back when he notices that axes blades are shaped like two bunnies holding hands. o http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb300/20081207/Easter-Bunnies-Holding-Hands-994098.jpg

* Soon Erdan arrives home, upset that it appears the rest of the council have caved, the inquisition will be let in. He quickly introduces himself and greets all his guests.

o Urien is first to be picked out amongst us as a potential favourite, his parentage recognised instantly “ah you’re Billy’s lad aren’t you, the third one they don’t mention at dinner” and quickly reminisces about “darling Billy”… uncomfortably stares all round.

o However he is quickly cast aside as the charismatic (except in name) Brick is noticed “oh my, well you’re a big one aren’t you… you know what they say about goliath’s don’t you”… nudge, nudge, wink, wink. The conversation quickly borders on the lewd when he hears of Brick’s flute playing. Enquiring if he has “that knack for breathing through your nose while your mouth is busy blowing the flute”

o He tells us tales of the cities brave efforts to fight back against the Ragesians, highlighting tales of a druid that shifted into a great eagle and joined two brave gryphons riders who “saw the dragon off!”, of a great earth elemental summoned from the sewers (an unpleasant image to say the least) and finally of a wyvern brought down, and a brave group who dealt with its riders, he becomes even more enamoured with Brick once he learns that it was us.

* Still he declines our offer of protection / idea of fleeing the city with us (being quite confident in his ability to hold off a small army with his own house guards, all hand picked by him “it was a long and hard vetting process, I can tell you…” but he has contacts including a friend of his “Captain Herriman” in the cavalry who still runs patrols out, he believes the captain will be able to smuggle us out with his troops and dashes off a few official (and unofficial) notes.

o Having heard tales of his donations to other adventurers Brick “butters him up” and he awards each of us a gift from his collection of magical gee jaws to aid us. (Most take rather flowery necklaces, Ash takes a small rod with a mewling kitten on the end, Durzon takes Ki Focus of a small topless male monk sat in a rather suggestive variant of the lotus position and is quickly tucked out of sight. Urien distrustful of all gifts from nobles refuses politely)

o Torrent accepts a falchion shaped like a dolphin but secretly confides it’s a gag gift to be given to a colleague at the lyceum.

* With these gifts given he asks two more favours the first, when Brick returns to the city he is to play for him. The second is magical blue box, found in some recent digging in the city. We’re to take it to “Dougan Rambousen” at the Lyceum Academy, where perhaps he can shine more light on whatever the hell it is.

o Finally his servants bring forth backpacks and sacks filled with “travelling ware” (tents, bedrolls, tin bowls etc) for our journey, everything we could need (and in a butch shade of lavender…)

* With everything set we head towards the Cavallry stables keen to see Herryman and be on our way. However noticed we’re being followed by the city guard and finally a group appear in front of us from an alleyway and say “we’ve been ordered to bring you in” however their outfits look a little on the cheap side and an obvious black armband (of the Black Horse Mercenary Band) gives the game away and a ruck ensues.

o One of the mercenaries sensibly surrenders, however his information is rather useless so we let him go. He doesn’t know how hired the band he worked for only his boss (who's dead now).

o We learn a little about the Black Horse Mercenary Band (who also attacked us at the poison apple pub on new years) and how Cathor Danaver is the current leader of the band (a man who is well liked around the city by the upper class, and by coincidence the son of the commanding officer of the Ragesian Army sat outside Gatepass).

* While picking over the dead a man slips from the shadows “a good job done there, thought I might have to swoop in and save the day but you had it all in hand”. It’s none other than the “Folk Hero” Rantel who has been meaning to introduce himself to us for a few days now, it seems that news of our resistance work has flittered through the grapevine. 

o http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UA7CK7uuqQA/SwLRuROohFI/AAAAAAAAABY/rH5U4Gx_fVM/s1600/9werrol.jpg

* He has a sister who is a sorcerer (and a fiery red head and far too beautiful for her own good), Urien takes notice of this…) vanished shortly before the scourge began, he believes she fled to the lyceum. We expect him to want to join our merry band but instead settles upon us taking a missive for him instead which we are to hand over should we find her.

* Finally we reach the stables and meet the captain, slightly shocked to find he’s a Bearded Half-Orc (it would appear Menash prefers his men a little rough and ready), who upon reading the request starts laughing “that man’s crazy but ok, he’ll owe me another dagger for my troubles” and proudly shows off the dagger with its banana shaped pommel…

o We are duly fitted out as guardsmen and given horses, with orders to stay at the back of the group and avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves and soon we’re on our way following the patrol through the city towards the southern gate.

* Up ahead it seems a riot is going on in the streets, our escort breaks away from us keen to keep the peace and the rioters retreat quickly splitting into groups and soon our cavalry escort is out of sight leaving us alone in the street near a shop front, inside come a selection of flashing lights, incantations and then a scream…


----------



## RangerWickett

God I love Menash's kitsch. Just because you're fighting against an evil army doesn't mean you can't make a fashion statement. 

In hindsight, some 3e-isms were a little weird. Like the fact that the best Open Content low-level monster I had access to as guard critters were celestial badgers.


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## Eccles

I have to admit, I had a bit of a blast running this session. Several RP scenes, including a horrifically cod-irish imp and then coming on to the party's two high charisma members interpreting Erdan Menash's  as a sugar daddy persona. 

Did my best to freak out 'Darling Brick's player, but he was made of sterner stuff! 

Though my favourite moment was the tiefling PC trying to explain to the imp that she wasn't human. "I've got horns on my head".

"Ah, come on," yells the devil. "That's no kind of a clue at all!"

As for the badgers... That little incongruity never struck me at all, either playing it or running it. Probably 'coz I was too excited about getting to use all three of my celestial badger figurines at the same time. 

Party lineup's due to change at the start of the next session. Essentials Assassin having had 2 sessions and exhausted every option that the assassin will pretty much ever have, he's going to swap to a hybrid Invoker-Mage.

So I'll have that, a bard, a Shaman-multi-class mage, a hexblade, the paladin and a rogue. Poor Inquisitors won't know where to start!


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## Morrus

Eccles said:


> So I'll have that, a bard, a Shaman-multi-class mage, a hexblade, the paladin and a rogue. Poor Inquisitors won't know where to start!




I kinda regret the way we approached the 4E Inquisitors.  They got nerfed by 3.5 "magic" turning into a whole slew of "power sources" and us (perhaps erroneously) linking them to being anti-arcane, which is only a small proportion of magic of 4E.


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## OnlineDM

I've never looked at the 3e version of WotBS, but for what it's worth I've already reworked the Inquisitors to be anti-magic in general. I changed the Rebuke Lesser Arcane Magic power to be an immediate interrupt against any magic attack or zone. It's an attack versus the Will of the caster, and if it his the spell is countered or the zone is destroyed. It hasn't come up much yet (my party has only fought two Inquisitors so far), but I plan to rule things pretty liberally when it comes to deciding what the Inquisitor can counter (arcane, primal, psionic... maybe even divine if it feels appropriate at the time).


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## Sentack

Is there perhaps an alternative or revised Inquisitor published to deal with the problems you found with the original 4e version?


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## Morrus

Sentack said:


> Is there perhaps an alternative or revised Inquisitor published to deal with the problems you found with the original 4e version?




It's not a problem; just a personal preference. They work perfectly as written. I would just have personally preferred them to be a bit more anti-magic than they are.


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## Fox Lee

Morrus said:


> I kinda regret the way we approached the 4E Inquisitors.  They got nerfed by 3.5 "magic" turning into a whole slew of "power sources" and us (perhaps erroneously) linking them to being anti-arcane, which is only a small proportion of magic of 4E.



If it helps, that dovetailed beautifully into my version, where the inquistors themselves come from a heavly cleric(or any other divine caster)-filled nation. And the neighbouring country they have a mad-on for is basically a land of scholars who made some bad deals with extraplanar magical forces because they were terrible at war 

...Okay, I'm sure they'd hate primal magic and psionics too, if it came up. But the way the group is forming up (first session scheduled for Friday) it doesn't look like either of those will come up.


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## Eccles

* The session begins with us on the streets, being escorted through the streets by a patrol of Gatepass cavalry our disguises still safely tucked in saddlebags. As we head through one of the districts there is the sound of a commotion up ahead and our escort leaves us to deal with that.

* There is a sound of a commotion from inside a near by shop (that from its hanging side that it sells magical paraphernalia, and all its windows are boarded up, no doubt a reaction to “anti spell caster protests” from the populace and the threat of the Ragesian scourge).

* There is a sudden flash of light from inside the shop, its power enough to send beams of light through the cracks and seems of the boards and Ashelyn’s horse is spooked throwing her off and into the watching crowd behind. In addition to the light burning bright butterflies seem to emerge from the shop floating above the crowd and then suddenly explode, the building on the other side of the street begins to sag and then crumples forward on top of the crowd and the Hexblade.

o Perhaps the events in the warehouse were just an omen as the little girl (and many passers-by) is crushed underneath a huge amount of stone and wood from the ruined building.

* From inside the shop there is a pained scream and the sounds of much scuffling about.

* Kain and Brick dig at the rubble (with one looking more for shiny trinkets to pocket than victims, the other not really helping at all) in the hope of saving their comrade but confirm her death and are alerted to the presence of at least one survivor who is busy trying to dig himself out (and maintain the contents of his pockets!).

o Durzon perhaps having a change of heart or a better offer uses the distraction to slink away…

* Only the brave and noble paladin Urien, heads to the shop to investigate the disturbance within. He kicks open the door to find a bunch of shifty looking mages (and a few thug looking types) busy robbing the place (books into bags, scooping newts eyes and lizards tails from the pick n’ mix into a bucket that kind of thing).

* Near the back stands their leader who is instantly recognisable as Ferris, the Halfling storm sorcerer (briefly hired by torrent as back up against Shiallis) screaming at his underlings to steal faster, they have to be out of here in “45 seconds” presumably before the watch show up (in true Heist Leader Style) and slithering on the ground near him is a bright multicoloured snake (that we soon found was called a Scintillating Snake named so because it can vomit rainbows of light, pleasant).

o At the back of the room currently locked in a trunk is the daughter of the shop owner, a feisty half elf lady called Elisha busy trying to extricate herself from imprisonment.

* The fight starts off a bit one sided with Urien and Lembit battling alone inside / near the shop (matters made worse by the mages flinging lightning about that bounced around hitting the pair of them). But the scales are shifted with the arrival of the others and the assistance of an angry Half-Orc covered in dust and splinters, and the emergence of the Half-Elf from her box.

o Ferris and his two students manage to flee with their booty, the Halfling in particular being pretty vocal about his reasons for robbing the place (to garner supplies to fight the Ragesians, as everyone else seems to just be running away!)

o Elisha however swears vengeance for what the Halfling and his brood did to her father.

o Cricket introduces himself.

o Kain does a bit of stealing and finds himself some new armour from the ruined shop.

* With the criminals seen off and the girl “slightly” calmed down, our attentions return to the collapsed building and Brick uses his diplomatic skills to get everyone to all pull together and clear the rubble, finding a few more survivors and many more broken and mangled bodies.

* In time our escort returns, plans are slightly adjusted and we’re lead to near the gates where everyone can change into the cavalry uniforms and then mingled in with the patrol we head to the gate. The captain shows his papers and the gates are unlocked without a hitch and the patrols moves out of the city and heads away, a single toll of the city bells mourns our passing. The captain points out that was the signal to announce that the inquisition has been allowed into the city.

* In a secluded copse we return our disguises to the cavalry leader and as well as wishing us well in our endevours he has a final gift from Erdan Menash and passes it to the Goliath.

o A small box wrapped in lavender and pink striped paper and tied with little ribbon a note sits atop it.

o “My Dearest Brick, I couldn’t bear the thought of sending you out into the world unprepared, so allow me to do my part, so you may do yours. Inside you’ll find ten inches of hard stony wood, perhaps you could bring me likewise upon your return to Gatepass. Erdan”

o Opening the box he finds a “Master’s Wand of Vicious Mockery” shaped in usual garish and suggestive style.

* The captain also suggests we head to a campsite near an old guard tower, and we head off finding the place with no trouble and settle in for the night.

* In the morning Torrent outlines our route, we’re to go through a narrow mountain pass called “the gauntlet” and there is a river we must cross via a huge stone bridge, and on through The Indomitable Fire Forest of Innenotdar, she pats her pack in reassurance (with a potiony clink of glass bottles) at the mention of the ever burning forest.

* As we approach The Gauntlet a few of the more observant (and perhaps nervous) of us raise the subject that the road ahead is a good spot for an ambush (we were all thinking it anyway) and as we turn one of its twisting corners a very narrow view between the crags and overhangs reveals a clear enough view ahead to see a group of nefarious bandits busy trying to lever a big boulder over the pass to block it.

* Naturally we decide to pick up the pace to get ahead of them before they seal us in, and so we run the gauntlet. A few haphazard horsemanship accidents later we do manage to get through the treacherous gullies, icy paths and twisting tunnels, hidden snipers and a few bandits on horseback to reach the open stretch of ground between us, the path of the landslide and the bandits camp located just beyond.

o The bandit’s leader sits astride his Blackhorse and his appearance is immediately recognisable to a select few, this is the horseman that was sat outside of the poison apple pub on New Years Eve (that hit Ashlyn with a bizarre true strike type spell).

o However in this case he has a hard time as everyone splits up and rides around him managing to avoid his wrath, only Kain manages to get caught by the rider and is chased around the path (again using the weird glowy green true strike power in a nasty charge attack) for a little while before escaping.

* Due to some people being delayed in the gauntlet Brick and Elisha break out first, riding through the bandit’s un-sprung trap and into their camp, here they notice that the bandits have set up their camp at the Wish Grotto’s.

o An old new year’s tradition of gate pass, every one writes down their truest wish on a scrap of paper and they are stored in large clay jars and take up here, locked away behind rusted old gates. One wish is pulled for each year and the people of Gatepass try to make it happen, the rest are stored here.

o They notice that one of these holding sections appears to have been replaced with new (ish) iron door and lock, most likely a prison cell.

o They then promptly ignore this and begin rooting through the bandit’s possessions (finding quite a lot of coin tucked away in sacks and backpacks) much to the annoyance of the bandits above who quickly abandon their attempts at shifting the huge boulder and intent on climbing down the rock face shouting “You thieving bastards, that’s ours!”

o With Lembit and Crickets’ arrival to the camp the source of easy riches runs out and attention is turned to the prison cell, using one of the horses and some chain to wrench the door from its hinges, inside is a dead man wrapped in rags, clutching a clay jar tight. Cricket gently wrestles the jar away enough to open the jar and inside is a long piece of paper. “Please don’t let my death be in vain”, he passes this to Lembit who upon reading it out triggers something and the rags wrapped around the corpses shoulders unfurl and weave together sprouting feathers and golden script until finally they form a rather snazzy cloak.

* With powers for discerning lies and the like, so we give it to Urien, who says last rites over the man before we make ready to depart.

* Meanwhile Elisha has been amusing herself by dousing the bandits remaining clothes and supplies with lantern oil and starts a few fires and we ride away to the sounds of their discontent.

o Eventually (when they give up chasing us) we stop for a rest, and swap to a more sedate speed of travel.

* Some time along the path we see a few buildings come into view and the more eagle eyed among us spy a work team of dwarves hard at work building a tower near the side of the road, as we approach a pair of armed and armoured dwarfs come out from the half built tower and take a stand on the road, we come to a gentle and friendly stop and a “hail and well met” (or possibly a “top o’ tha morning to yer” in the case of cricket). They tell us that we have entered the domain of Dwarf King Marben Diamondheart and must surrender ourselves to his care while we are in his realm. Once we have accepted this rather curious offer we’re handed over to another dwarf who leads us further along the path to a settlement built around an old stone bridge, a stout looking gate sealing the way across.

o We’re lead inside to what presumably is the king throne room where he and several other dwarves are fretting over an impressive model of the surrounding area, much finger pointing and beard stroking occurs until we’re announced.

o We explain our situation, getting lots of gasps of astonishment, the kind clearly is displeased with the lack of current information his advisors have over the state of Gatepass and the Ragesian Army. He then goes on to give a round-a-bout “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” speech.

o His “kingdom” is having some difficulties. Firstly food appears to be missing from the storeroom, and the thief has routinely gotten in and out without

alerting any of his guards posted upon the stores. Secondly the complex (and highly ingenious) engineering system they had build to use the power of the river to operate bits of the settlement and more importantly control the big door is frankly buggered, so if we can help out and get the door working he’ll let us pass and maybe throw in a bit to help us as well if we can solve the thief problem.

* So we split into two teams, Lembit, Brick and Cricket tackle the broken machinery, leaving Urien, Elisha and Kain to tackle the storeroom thief problem.

o However things do not go to plan, the investigation of the storeroom leads to a few leads but possibly a crucial piece of evidence escapes their notice and all leads point towards one of the many inept guards to be on the take, the most shifty looking of them is frog marched to the king and ends up in the stocks.

* The evidence of one guard claiming to have been “scratched” by an unknown creature trying to get through the door is forgotten against the “overwhelming evidence” pointing towards the guard that routinely abandoned his post to play cards.

o The other team get off to a flying start with the broken engineering project, spying some clogged gears from overgrown ivy, Brick takes it upon himself to clear some of these blockages, he slips and his bulky weight pulls one of the gears out of alignment there is a scream of protesting metal that echoes throughout the settlement as the teeth of several key gears are sheared off and the machinery is well and truly buggered.

o While we aren’t harmed by the dwarves we are quickly banished and frogmarched out of the settlement without our horses, our route still lies across the river and it takes us most of the night of silent trudging to find a shallow enough section to cross safely.

* To add further insult to injury from our quiet camp we see the dwarf settlement be the victim of an attack (by a tribe of kobolds that had been secretly tunnelling into the storeroom and took them unawares), the flames are still visible come the dawn.

* In the morning we continue our journey noting that while still deep winter the temperature is changing, getting warmer and there is less snow about. Torrent informs us we’re getting closer to the forest; it will get a lot warmer still. Our stroll through the forest is interrupted by an “ambush” from some wild emaciated looking hyenas and an equally unfortunate looking gnoll. While they take a few chunks out of us, they are quickly put out of their misery, and a search of the gnolls ruined hut reveals a few choice pieces of treasure (proving you can be very rich but you can’t eat gold).

* By the end of the days march flecks of ash and cinders can be found wafting in the air, there is no snow at all and it’s as warm as a summers day “a day or so more and we’ll reach the Ash Fields” says Torrent. Soon enough the forest comes to an end leaving a wide patch of barren ground before the clogged black earth that is the Ash Fields, a lone farm house sits on the border, empty un-worked fields are marked out with broken fences, two scarecrows hang limply near the house.

o However as we get closer we realise they aren’t scarecrows but corpse, an elderly male “mage” has been impaled upon a stake, a younger woman crucified with slit wrists hangs limp nearby, the blood staining her simply peasant garb a grisly scarlet.

o The door creaks open and a figure in a bear skull mask, steeped in bulky furs steps out of the farmhouse, sharp clawed gloves covering its hands, and an equally fierce looking entourage piles out behind him onto the buildings porch.


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## Eccles

Had a couple of weeks without enough players for what turned out to be a rather fight-heavy session, but we now return you to your regularly scheduled update!

---------------

12th March

* We find ourselves approaching a farm (very much on the decline given the quality of the soil so near to the indomitable fire forest), surrounded by cliffs and hills blocking a clear view to the farm house, atop one of the hills is a what originally seems to be a scarecrow but is quickly revealed to the a corpse nailed to a cross, its wrists slit.

* A bulky figure appears near the corpse, a look out who screams “People coming!!” and then legs it down and behind the hills back towards the farmhouse, alerted we approach cautiously.

* The fight kicks off with a surprising sniper style shot from a goblin hiding atop the stables who manages to nail Kane (our Half-Orc Rogue) with a poisoned arrow before slinking back out of sight, the faint giggle the only trace of where he may have gone. This cat and mouse game goes on for several rounds before ending in Kane’s favour.

* The rest of us slowly move up using the hills for cover but eventually we reach the open ground of the farm, spying the inquisitor (funky face mask and long clawed hand) standing amidst a large collection of bones near the farmhouse side door and some Orcish bodyguards lurk nearby.

* Cricket gets up front first, and it’s when he’s involved with the bigger of the two Orcs that the inquisitor reveals the Ace up its sleeve, a black shadow streaks from the side of the house and plants two nasty looking poisoned daggers into the barbarian's back, leaving cricket bleeding on the floor. The shadow reveals itself to be a former comrade, the turncoat assassin Durzon Blint.

* The second ace is played as the skeletons (predictably) rise to form a skeletal entourage for the Inquisitor who moves up, stabbing Brick (the bard) rather feeling with his claw.

* Cricket receives some healing but being in a tricky spot pretends to be dead or dieing, an act that convinces the Orc next to him and the two goblin snipers on the farmhouse roof, only the assassin isn’t convinced but slinks away to engage the bard, between him and the inquisitor’s claw “You will be taken to the Prison of Torment” he assures us.. Brick is quickly put on the floor blooding from several nasty wounds.

* A bit of focus fire and an enraged Cricket sees the undead assassin set back to the grave, the tides of the fight start to turn in our favour, until only the two goblin snipers atop the farmhouse remain, one vanishes but the other is spotted by Cricket (who climbed up) vanishing down the chimney with a smug grin across its face. It meets an unpleasant end hampered by Kane’s daggers (waiting at the bottom of the chimney) as a brick is torn from the stack and hurled down by Cricket, caving the goblins skull in.

* Kane makes himself useful flitting from room to room, corpse to corpse and finds a smattering of gold and the inquisitors chain armour (which goes to Brick, +2 Summoned Armour).

o He also finds a scroll on the corpse of the inquisitor giving him explicit instructions to find and kill Hadin so that he cannot reinforce the city (gatepass).

* Inside the farmhouse we find another body, this time of a young woman (the farm owner’s daughter) who had only recently been tortured and killed (an event we perhaps could’ve prevented if not for our disastrous detour at the hands of the dwarves). Cricket digs graves for the Old Man as his daughter, spying the grave of the old mans wife the two are reunited in death, their daughter beside, another family torn apart by the Ragesians.

* Lembit examines the paintings that adorn the walls of the farmhouse, the name of the painter (Haddyn) causing him to recall a story involving the artist and his brother who once lived in Gatepass. A nefarious story of betrayal and deceit. A tale of two brothers, one using his magic to ruin the reputation of the other, causing him to flee the city along with his wife and young daughter. He gathers up the paintings (worth an estimated 1,000 gold pieces) but realises they are unlikely to survive a trip through the fire forest. He buries them hoping to reclaim them at another time.

* Torrent suggests that we rest hear until the morning, we can spare a little time before we enter the forest but once we do we must move swiftly and with purpose. She takes a small bottle from her knapsack (which jingles with the promise of more such bottles) and explains the properties of the “cooling draughts” that she has procured for the journey. They will not make us immune to the flames within the Indomitable Fire Forest, but will allow us to survive the exposure to the heat, we will still need to pick a safe path but won’t be roasted alive (she does using her best reassuring voice!).

* That evening the shamanic “wizard” retreats to one of the side rooms, taking out a crumpled piece of paper and recites the lines upon it “blarney, blarney, blarney”. There is a pop as the fireplace crackles into life and the roaring fire baths a battered armchair in flickering light and red hand stretches over the rest, its body hidden from view by the huge back rest. It gracefully holds an extended cigarette holder, flicking the ash towards the fire. Lembit gives a cautious hello, this is not the impish rogue he is accustomed to, “My dear” replies the voice,(a voice not unlike noel coward) “I understand you’re seeking a familiar, my card” he flicks his wrist and card filled with flowing runes appears in the shamans hand, one word sits above the others in blood red ink “Olivier”.

* Before the shaman can reply there is a spluttering cough from the fire “sneaking into me business are ye, sassin’ up my friend deh” comes a much familiar brogue, one tiny hand reaching inside his waist coat and pulling out a burnished bronze knuckle duster “why don’t yous’ an me having a lil talk” and the imp leaps from the fire into the chair which starts rocking back and forth, the arena of an epic battle that ends with a little red imp in a smoking jacket being tossed into the fireplace, “an let that be a lesson to ya!”.

* Lembit wastes no time in offering blarney employment, the deal sealed and shaken over a bag of slightly battered duck eggs.

* In the morning our journey continues, hoping to push as close to the forest as we can tolerate before taking the potions (which only last 12 hours each), and quickly progress is halted by Dag, crickets scruffy little companion. Knowing the beast will not be able to make it through the forest the barbarian is forced to turn him loose. Removing his own holy symbol to Sehanine (the moon goddess) he tucks it around the frayed bit of leather that serves as a collar and fishes out a hunk of meat from his pack for Dag. He says a prayer for the dog and then continues silently onwards behind everyone else as they neck their potions. The barbarian continues to cast glancing looks back (where Dag waits and watches) until finally the heat haze makes it impossible to see (may mother moon watch over you laddie).

The Indomitable Fire Forest

* We follow the natural trail through the forest (becoming aware that our trip while dangerous is not insurmountable and it would seem that albeit rarely, people do make this trip) and notice that the “fire” of the forest seems to wax and wane around us as if we are in a bubble, 30 yards or so in front of us we can see a roaring inferno that has quietened (in scale) to something traversable by the time we reach it, behind us the flames raise back up, “Most unnatural” decides Lembit and then regales us with the story of the fire forest, how it was once a lush wondrous Elven nation, until about forty years ago. The rumours were they were on the verge of some great ritual which would give them great power; the forest set alight and didn’t go out. Almost all elves that live in Gatepass are themselves refuges from the forest or the descendants thereof.

* Barely a quarter of a mile along the path we are greeted by the sight of three burnt bodies, Kane quick to loot as ever starts rifling through the burnt strips of cloth that remain of their clothes when he lets forth a rather girlish shriek, one of the men is still alive. The burnt ruin of a (what we could be a man but its impossible to tell) hand feeling grips his wrist, seared flesh and bone visible on the mans wrist where a golden bracelet has melted through the heat. “Release me”… he asks barely a whisper, clearly in impossible agony.

* Eyes turn to brick, the noble bard and healer who doesn’t believe anything can be done to ease the mans suffering and does the only thing he feels he can, bashes the blokes brains out…

* Kane continues his search (finding a level 5 item which goes to Lembit).

* We continue on, managing to make (to our best estimates) two miles into the forest when there is a bizarre shriek from above and a fiery goblin falls from the sky, quickly pursued by two large “Imdomitable Fire Bats”, he scampers behind Lembit (too busy saying things like “oh my, an Elemental Goblin you don’t see these every day…” to object to being used as a human shield) and quickly a Ruckus ensues.

* We discover that the fire bats refuse to die in the standard sense of the word, reigniting and coming back to life a few moments after they have been killed, very much a phoenix rising from the ashes (but chopping them into pieces does delay this effect, long enough for us to saunter away). With the two birds down and out, the goblin flees back into the roaring inferno, vanishing as quickly as it arrived.

* With another delay out of the way we push on, getting a few more miles into the forest before the path reaches a chasm (60ft deep) with a stone bridge crossing it (that’s obviously seen better days as half of it is missing). Peering over the edge we see the remains of a charred wagon and a few bodies. It would appear a previous group’s travel through the forest did not end well.

* Loot hungry as ever Kane swings himself over the side of the bridge and begins to clamber down the side of the chasm and only halts when a quiet screech causes him to look back up, in the shadowy recess under the bridge hundreds of tiny eyes stares back at him… “BATS!” is all he manages to say before a swarm of tiny fiery bats encase him and start nibbling, a second group swoops up and out to swarm the rest of us on the bridge.

* With the Bats defeated, kane continues his thoughts of plunder (and we’re glad he did) finding a cache of 24 cooling draughts and an assortment of treasure (kept nice and chilled from being with the potions). Resulting in a new Full Blade for Cricket, some Iron Armbands for Kane and a new necklace for Lembit (allowing him to replace the flowery gift of Erdan Menash with something more butch…)

* We make it safely (for once) across the ruined stone bridge and take a little rest break, barely four miles into the huge forest... Indomitable indeed.


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## Eccles

19th March

* Having dealt with Kane’s little bat related booboo we traverse the bridge, picking out a route across its more stable sections and continue on our merry way through the fire forest, making decent progress (for the situation, poor visibility and choking air) until our path takes us between two stout hills, forming a shield from the pressing heat.

* Our path ahead is slightly blocked by a fallen tree, a dark recess has formed in the side of one hill where its roots ripped free, and upon investigation reveals a sort’ve hole or tunnel. Ever inquisitive our rogue (Kane) slithers his way down to find a cool cave, with a little stream that runs through pooling in the centre. With a bit of effort the rest of us join him and we take refuge there, filling our water skins, having a good long drink and generally recuperating.

* While resting we also have a good poke around discovering what can be best described as cave paintings, which our scholarly shaman believes to be messages left by goblins (of the razor tooth clan!). His investigations reveal that he believes the writing to be some forty years old (which coincides with the same time frame as the forest catching fire). Hidden in a niche near the end of the last message we find a sack containing a chunk of rather grubby (but still serviceable) gold coins, a leather bound ledger and a smaller sack containing 140 pieces of Shalhalisti Gold (same value as legal tender but we’re told they carry much more diplomatic weight to the right people!), and some little vials of grey smoke.

o The ledger reveals several business transactions between the Shalhalisti Elves and the Goblin tribes, mostly that the elves were supplying arms, funding and “shatterspell vials” an antimagic cloud grenade to this goblin tribe, reasons unknown.

* Sufficiently rested and a good deal richer we leave our little cubby hole and continue onwards following the main path through the forest (there are many side paths the join and split from the broken road we’re following, but Torrents urging causes us to leave them all un-investigated). Our uninterrupted trudgery is finally disturbed by an odd whooshing sound (which Brick and Lembit surmise to have been the pop someone teleporting).

o A few people gingerly step off of the path into the burning forest to investigate, finding a burnt bush with some odd trail marks, certainly someone or thing was standing here recently.

* We continue on our way but soon our path is blocked by a Gorge some 30ft deep, filled with burning brush, handily a stout (if slightly blackened) stone bridge crosses it but a large fiery looking dog sits on the other side “with an air of cordial ferocity”, a long object clamped tight in its jaws (which upon reaching about halfway over the bridge is revealed to be a bone).

o Kane takes slow steps towards the beast and as he gets closer the Hellhound (as Lembit believes it is) drops the bone and pads to the side of the road, watching the half-orc with an air of expectance. Across the path, waiting in the forest is a collection of slightly mangy looking wolves eyeing the rogue hungrily. He takes another step and the wolves bark, padding forward; they’re intercepted by the hound that streaks into the forest, chasing them off.

* Kane retrieves the bone and retreats along with the rest of us to “our” side of the gorge, scratched into the side of the femur is a message. Lembit reads aloud “Leave the Case, Cooperate and we might find a way in which to spare your lives. Carry this bone with you if you wish to bargain!”

o And so begins a brief but powerful argument in which we decide if we should keep the bone or not, finally resolved with the bone being thrown over the side into the gorge. Uriel will suffer no more dealings with the infernal.

* We continue along the path, everyone slightly on edge awaiting the return of the Hellhound, so we aren’t greatly surprised when a short distance from us a chrysanthemum of fire blossoms and dies revealing a robed figure carrying an enormous jagged bladed glaive standing in the road ahead of us. He sweeps his glaive in front of him, causing several smaller demons to appear in the weapons wake forming a wall around him.

* He greets us quite happily and openly (but doesn’t give a name) and generally a mocking tone for our refusal to meet his and his masters wishes. He has orders to retrieve the case, but no specific deadline and wishes to have some “fun”.

o While not a particuarly taxing fight we do learn a few things about him, mostly he has a nasty “wounding glaive” that makes people bleed (more than normal!) when struck and can happily teleport around so is obviously immune to fire.

o Brick spent the entire fight throwing feeble insults at the devil and trying to stay as close to Lembit as possible… (Perhaps a blossoming romance, two lost souls thrown together in fiery inferno of passion?)

o Once we’ve given him a bit of a beating (and vice versa) he appears next to Brick “better luck next time” he whispers and vanishes.

* We continue along the path, ready for round two however it appears our bearded chum is in rush and instead of a devil we find a hamlet (barely more than a few buildings, all on fire) and sat near the side of a road is a dragonborn, we approach cautiously and he reacts likewise until we’re in easy talking distance, a few greetings soothes things some what and he introduces himself as Khadral of Clan Petrov and offers food and shelter. He points to one of the bigger buildings and leads the way through its burning rooms down into a cool cellar that he has made his own little shelter from the forest.

o Soon we find ourselves sat around with bowls of soup made from local vegetables (that have quite a kick to them, as you’d expect from growing in a fire forest!) and begins telling his tale (which enthrals or bores depending on your skill of the arcane arts) of his interest in the forest, his own investigations and alliance with a dryad of the forest. They believe that the power that keeps the forest burning is draconic in nature and he’s had some success in permanently dousing small areas of the forest. He’s ready to take things to the next step but his progress has been halted.

o The ritual he plans to cast requires some components that can be found in a cave, the first is powdered flint, easily found in the cave in abundance. The second however is a special type of mushroom; he has used up the supply of mushrooms near the caves entrance and is loath to go deeper due to a bizarre and haunting shrieking sound he hears coming from inside.

o Lembit takes the opportunity to share all knowledge he has of shrieking mushrooms and their ilk, causing torrent to immediately raise her objections to any plan of helping the dragonborn sorcerer and waste our limited supply of cooling draughts. At the mention of this Khadral pips up that he himself can brew more and will gladly brew up a batch while we’re collecting mushrooms, she relents once his offer reaches three days worth for everyone.

* Using Khadral’s directions we pick our way through the fiery forest paths and trails until we find a stony area devoid of fire and the entrance to the dank and earthy mushroom caves. Even from outside we can hear the repeating screaming shriek coming from the caves.

o Here Kane devises a “cunning” plan, taking several lengths of cloth and padding (from where, we’re not entirely sure…) and begins to wrap it around his head like a bizarre turban / ear muff hybrid… now suitably deafened Kane’s ready to proceed inside. No one else feels the need to copy his apparatus.

* The first chamber indeed has been picked clean of all but the tiniest of mushrooms, however we do find several areas of flint, a few cracks with a mallet later and we have more then enough flint to satisfy the sorcerer’s demands.

* With the flint ticked off the check list we start to investigate the cave complex, the next chamber in we discover is more of a ledge to a larger chamber, a spur of rock leads down like a ramp in to the rest of the dark chamber, another path leads off into an enclosed area (or possibly a second cave chamber completely) but that’s where the screaming seems to be coming from so we decide to go down the ramp (how terribly brave of us!).

* We reach the lower chamber floor without incident and shining a few lanterns (or waving magical fiery / glowing weapons) about we get a good idea of the side of the cave and spy various “patches of shrooms” here and there which contain some good size specimens of the type Khadral needs. Across the small stream that splits the cavern in two is a ladder seemingly bolted / fastened to the wall (and rusted to hell) that goes up to a smaller opening, one might guess (and correctly so) that this entrance also leads into the “shrieker’s cave” that we avoided.

* Having explored a little (not obviously not enough…) we begin to harvest mushrooms, generally splitting up and not being sensible at all, so it was a slight (if not totally unexpected) surprise when our brief stint of fungus farmers is brought crashing to a halt by the arrival of…. “a squelching sound”.. o http://azathought.com/shiplog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/myconid.jpg

* Mushroom People came from the darkness and unfortunately for him Cricket was the closest (by quite a margin) to their entrance and finds himself swarmed by the little blighters (quite quickly being reduced to 2hps, but doesn’t go down!). But the barbarian is saved by some timely healing from Uriel and Lembit as Brick, the noble Bard decided to continue picking mushroom, right up until the rogue fell over and then made a mad dash to save him that ended up with him tripping in the stream and falling in a rather unpleasant looking patch of mushrooms.

o We discover that the algae ridden floor is also covered with a dense network or grid of roots and tubers that the mushroom men seems to move from, uprooting, toddling along and then clamping back onto the roots. This has the side benefit of all being linked to one another allowing them to share hit points / split damage about, meaning they all stayed up and fighting before keeling over practically at the same time all expect one that managed to slink away into the darkness beneath the ramp which we discover leads deeper down into the fetid darkness.

* We use this lull to gather the rest of the mushrooms we require and then debate what to do next (which is to have a good search around and find out where the mushroom men came from).

* Its near this tunnel down that we find the bodies of some previous adventurers, their corpses now a bed for hundreds of tiny fungi and mushrooms, but digging about we find a rather hefty amount of coins, the smell of money wafting through his noise Kane suggests (rather noisily as he is still wearing his earmuff turban) that we go down deeper “that’s always where the best treasure is” he says almost sagely.

o So we do, and wish we didn’t as it gets so dark and “misty” with fungal spores we can’t see more than a few feet in front of us, the barbarian falls in a small hole clogged with more fungus people and takes a few hits before being dragged out. We admit that we aren’t equipped to deal with such a situation and withdraw, telling ourselves the squelching sounds we can hear aren’t laughter, no just the sound of them retreating, in fear… yeah… that’s it!.

* As down is right out, Kane proposes we check out the shrieking cave instead “bound to be something those things are shrieking about” and soon rather than “EEEEEEEEEEEK” I’m sure

we’re all hearing “TREASURE” screamed out every few minutes instead, we prepare ourselves and storm the shrieking cave to find… nothing..

* Well not nothing, just a disctinct lack of mushrooms for a chamber supposedly containing “shrieking mushrooms”… and so we stand around for a bit looking through the cave when Lembit has one of those “Oh I could kick myself for being so silly moments” and then begins to tell us more than we wish to know about the fickleness of the “Eye of Alarm” spell and how they will continue to howl long passed the actual event, digging through the rocks we uncover a small gem encased in metal framework that forms the shape of an eye. A few words and the gem crumble to dust, the screaming halts.

o We also uncover under a rock fall the bodies of an Elf and a bunch of goblins. Our shaman weaves a tale of his own imagination (but probably is true) an Elven paladin (as his armour and weapon suggest) took refuge here, casting the ritual to warn him of anything approaching, he was attacked by goblins and in the ensuring battle part of the cave collapsed killing them all, the eye however continued its vigil.

o Picking over the bodies reveals an old artefact, the Jewelled Badge of a Solar Palansis (a Shalhalisti Paladin Order), an object that offers the ability to boost (or apply if it lacks) the radiant damage of someone’s attacks. The badge quickly ends up pinned upon Kane’s tunic (an act I’m sure would make the dead paladin spin in his grave if he had one and perhaps it is this thought that spurs Lembit wish to give the old boy a proper set of funeral rites in the way of his people).

* With several sacks full of mushrooms we return to the sorcerers cellar, finding him and Torrent busy by the cauldron… brewing up potions.

* “Excellent, excellent, with these we can complete the ritual, douse the grove and free the dryad, we shall make history!” (The rest of us are thinking… you keep saying “we” instead of just “I” ….) and soon find ourselves caught up with him crazy plan to change the forest (for the better hopefully) and we follow him to Bag’nera’s (the dryad, who is also on fire) grove. o http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tswE5kJ_nGw/TFWzWzjyHJI/AAAAAAAAAGo/LPkhuJ204bQ/s1600/DRYAD.jpg

* The grove itself is a large clearing and set within is a circle of four vine wrapped trees (that are naturally on fire) in the middle of this is a small stone altar and it is here that Khadral shall conduct the ritual (along with Lembit and Brick assisting). “now” he explains quickly “we shall cast the ritual and once done it shall drives the draconic influence away, removing the terrible malaise that causes the flames to burn but not consume and spread…” he is quick to highlight that is won’t however put the fires out, so the grove will continue to burn as will the Dryad and her “children” (in reality four large bushes, I guess that’s what baby dryads look like…), just outside the grove (and quite a distance from her children) is a large pond in which her children must be taken. To douse them before the ritual is complete would kill them utterly.

* And so the ritual begins, with grand words, even grander gestures and the ongoing thought that the sorcerer isn’t entirely being honest about the simplicity of his “world changing ritual” and this quickly proves to be the case as more and more parts that he forgot to mention come to the fore.

o The ritual first halts the “regenerative” properties of the curse, causing Bag’Nera and her children to howl in madness inducing pain, she quickly forgets her children and tries to bolt to the pond (which would kill her out right), she however is tackled by Cricket, who has the lovely task of grappling a fire naked woman made of wood to the ground (ending up a bit burnt and singed).

o This then prompts the “groves defences” to activate; the fiery vines around the trees detach and form huge walls of interlocking vines that seal the Sorcerer, Bard and

Shaman inside the grove. As other vines lash back and forth trying to strike those inside.

o And finally the sheer power of the ritual cause landslides and earthquakes that cause huge fissures to open up around the grove… the one saving grace would be a fissure opens up underneath Khadrals feet as the vines strike him, knocking the unfortunate soul (yeah.. right) in… But the curse is broken, the dryad and her children must be taken to the pond and doused before the flames consume them.

* Cricket quickly rolls off of Bag’Nera and she sprints to the pool howling in pain, the fate of her children turns to us, an act that is slightly complicated by them also howling and thrashing away. Enter Uriel and Elisha the plant whisperers who manages to sooth them long enough that Cricket and Kane can dig them out of the ground.

* Our next problem is getting them across the chasms that now litter the grove, Kane offers a hastily constructed bridge of a fallen log… which tips into the chasm before anyone can even put a foot on it… we settle for leaping, trying to find the thinnest spot to cross, and then a mad sprint to the pond, four bushes and one wet dryad … Victory (for team outside the grove at least).

* Meanwhile inside the Shaman and Bard find themselves in a tricky spot as huge vines lash backwards and forwards, but find themselves a few safe spots where they can’t be struck and begin whittling away at the vines, cutting the tips off each tree in turn (creating larger safe spots) until finally they can cut themselves free.

* By this time Bag’Neera has recuperated from her ordeal enough to call her wayward trees off, allowing to pad up to the hole near the later, at the bottom of a very deep hole is Khadral, his leg twisted in one of those “oh I think its broken” angles, tiny fungal creatures seem to have formed a little circle around him… and then scatter into the darkness as the thudding squelching footsteps of something bigger can be heard…


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## Dragonwriter

The above post has been reported. Spammer gone. Thanks mods!

On a different note, nice writeup Eccles! Definitely looks like a fun game you've got going. (I also really liked your Age of Worms Story Hour, a few years ago.  )


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## Eccles

We got spammed and I missed it? Awww... 

Thank you. I can't take the credit for the work on this SH - I'm just DM'ing it (and it's going pretty well so far, I reckon). One of my players is working hard to record it all and then even harder to write it up for us!


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## Eccles

26th March

* We converge upon the hole in the ground that our sorcerer ally fell down, we spy him some 40ft down, his leg and possibly worse broken upon the pile of rubble below, the rest of the cavern (as we discover it is, our hole the only visible entrance at the top of a high dome of stone) is dark, a single shaft of light serves as the only light source and its currently illuminating Khadral to anything within.

* A moan from below reveals he is still alive and squelching steps getting closer spur us into action. Kane takes a length of rope (50ft long) and ties it to the most secure thing he can find (the stone alter) and slings it down the shaft… it sways back and forth some 10ft from the ground… there is much sucking of teeth at the thought of the drop from Urien and Cricket… they are pushed apart by the illustrious bard who takes the rope and slides down to the end and lets, his safewing amulet flutters into angel song, caressing him in a guiding waft of air to the ground, pulling forth his sword with a dashing “A HA!” only to be pelted (rather harmlessly) with stones and moss thrown from the bumpy shapes lurking in the darkness (later identified as Fungal Gatherers)

* Cricket is down next, displaying none of the grace of the bard, landing in a grumbling heap atop the rubble, thrashes around a little trying to dislodge a stone stuck in an uncomfortable place. From the darkness comes a mushroom man (later identified as a Fungal Protector) sporting large sharpened fronds and clouts the bard quite savagely.

* The rest of the party slowly enter the cavern (some with more grace than others), Kane decides to stay dangling from the rope while Elisha sensibly remains at the top of the cavern, content to throw down spiritual lightning from on high.

* And so begins the fight against the mushroom people, many fungal beasts were slain, many wounds were taking and much mushroom was stashed away for consumption afterwards… with the threat ended our attention turns back towards Khadral still in the land of the living is brought into a stable condition and a complex arrangements of ropes, pulleys and muscle are utilised to get him out of his hole and back into the dryads grove (the owner of which remains near the lake, ever watchful of her children, unable to leave for fear of the flames).

* Torrent makes the wise suggestion of taking the foolish dragonborn back to his cellar, there with some tending he should be able to rest and recover. While Khadral is still in an immense amount of pain (something for which we are all grateful) he believes his ritual was a glowing success, it was just unlucky that he did not know the fragility of the earth the glade was situated in, but still progress was made.

* In the morning, rested and entirely too full of mushroom we make our excuses at leave; he offers some parting advice about our route. Some miles ahead on the path is a river that splits the forest in two (we take this to mean the rough half way point of our journey through this hell hole) and thank him, leaving him to lie swaddled in bandages in his cellar with an ample supply of food (mushrooms!) for his recuperation.

* We continue along the elf road through the indomitable fire forest, our potions taking the edge off of the heat and the strange bubble effect of calming the forest as we pass by continues. o http://photography.nationalgeograph...mages/POD/s/sequoia-forest-fire-505503-sw.jpg

* We’re eager to see the river… is it a real river (of water) or some river of fire? We’re keen to find out when all of a sudden BOOM! The bubble collapses and we find ourselves very much in the heart of a fire forest, up ahead cascading explosions rip apart the trunks of the huge trees, they collapse inwards into a barricade of burning splintered logs. o http://www.alfeldstein.com/img/forestfire.jpg o http://aikidoalive.co.uk/london/Blo...uesday,_12_January_2010_files/forest_fire.png o http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/data/media/13/forest-fire_1076.jpg

* Behind us on the path, thick black smoke clogs the view and is quickly swallowed by a roaring wall of fire swooping towards us, and with a crack like lighting a spear of flame whooshes from the sky, landing in the middle of us a gigantic stag made of flame emerges from the eruption followed by two smaller bucks of dancing flame. o http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/...mitable-fire-forest-innenotdar-innenotdar.jpg

* Quick to react Elisha hurls the two bucks backwards, with a bellow of thunder the two fiery creatures are sent hurtling along the path, through the flamewave and out of sight. The rest of us form a fighting retreat from the Stag, closing in on the barrier as the wave continues along the path threatening to incinerate us.

* Brick is the first to near the barricade, the flames coalesce into a “draconic” form, slightly taken aback the bard stops, the eyes of the flame stares at him fiercely. o http://photothangs.com/A11112D-lg-b.jpg

* Back on the important side of the path (i.e. the one being slowly consumed by the flame wave) Cricket, Urien & Kane manage to defeat one of the bucks, it’s fire loses form and peter out on the soot blackened flagstones of the path.

* Lembit reaches the barricade next, spies the face and ever the curious academic asks “who are you?” with the volume and force of a back draft comes the response “I AM INDOMITABILITY!” before more questions can be asked the voice continues “No force shall ever defeat me, no wound shall kill me. My power can be yours if you free me… Halt the song of the deep, silences the forty tongues that hold me…” (And so on).

* Ever one for the path of least resistance the bard proffers that if we agree to help him, he could “possible, maybe, perhaps, see your way to putting out the fires so we can continue?”. Nothing happens, he then (all too easily) declares that he shall free him / her / it from whatever prison… while nothing outwardly changes, deep inside Brick feels some boon come across him (something that echoes in his soul many promises that I never wrote down… other than the all important and overpowered ability that no strong breeze will ever knock him over… such is the awesome power granted by INDOMITABILITY BOON)… “ALL OR NONE!” states the voice and then fades, but the barricade remains on fire.

* Back in the action a full-scale retreat is sounded and we scale the burning barricade, Cricket is forced to clamber back over as Elisha is unable to scale the barricade. Together with Urien the pair manage to get the invoker up onto the burning platform moments before the fiery wave slams into the barricade and vanishes, from the flames the Stag stamps its hooves in fury and darts off into the forest, the buck follows.

* The face appears in the flames again, the crackling of the forest fires all seem to whisper nonsense and then suddenly hush as the voice booms “FOLLOW THE RIVER, SET ME FREE!” however we are loath to follow the things sudden instructions as we are slightly burnt (some of us even still on fire but not seeming to notice…) so we rest right there by the burning logs… moments later the face roars in the flames again “You shall face one who has my boon, if you do not fall before his blade, you shall burn before my fire!”, Brick feels the etchings on his soul erase themselves, the boon has been revoked… our choice made, another enemy on the list (a growing list filled with blank entries, seems we make enemies without knowing who or what they are quite a lot).

* Rested and somewhat rejuvenated we venture further along the path, still keen to find the river and eventually we spy it and a large blackened stone bridge over it, in the middle of the bridge is an offshoot leading to a guard tower, across the river the forest seems to open up slightly, burnt and destroyed buildings hint at a village or town ahead.

* Lembit gets very excited as we close in on the bridge and its design becomes apparent, the whole bridge has been carved to resemble entwined trees and leaves, he regales us with

stories of the clan of elves that favoured this architecture style (and of course the other elves clans that thought it was a bit pretentious), as with many of the shamans academic anecdotes they’re ignored by the two half-Orcs who cannonball into the river, scrubbing the soot and ash off of them as best they can (and sadly leave the gloriously hot water covered in a gluey waxy paste as the soot has congealed), they’re joined by Lembit and Brick. Urien (clad in heavy armour and no time for frivolities) declines and Elisha avoids the water (much like all things potentially athletic) preferring discomfort to drowning.

* Brick is the first to actually set foot upon the bridge, rushing ahead heedless of danger and quickly veers off down the little jetty that leads to the tower, his face full of curious joy is quickly wiped away as he feels the floor sink beneath his boot, a loud ominous CLICK and a magical glyph appears upon the stout wooden door of the tower. Blue energy leeches from the doorway weaving into a glowing mace that saunters through the air quickly and smacks him in the face (with a critical hit), the bard back peddles quickly, the mace following him.

o Cricket falls over laughing uncontrollably while Kane takes a more sensible action of slipping past the jetty, trying to get a better look at the door, so that he (a man of roguish talents!) may deactivate the trap.

* Brick suffers another whack by the mace sending him sprawling, Lembit tries to come to his aid by lobbing a vial of Shatterspell (from the goblin cache we found earlier in the forest), its anti magical dust coats the air but the mace resists, dims in colour a little but still waves menacingly over the prone bard, it is then the Maces true weakness is noticed, it cannot strike a enemies below 2ft off of the ground.

o However this doesn’t stop it from floating over the bridge looking for targets for several moments before our “master thief” manages to deactivate the thing..

* The trap defeated only a barred door halts our entry into the tower, time for Kane to shine again, and mere moments before frustration would’ve caused us to break the thing down he manages to finally get purchase upon the iron bar and slides it from its holding where it clangs noisily to the stone floor.

* Kane’s luck continues as we spot another glyph on the floor, which explodes under his prodding, bathing the ground floor in blinding white light (striking Lembit but not Kane), its magic spent the rune fades and we can begin to search the place.

* The ground floor turns out to be a small barracks, kitchen and eating area. Poking around we find some gold and a potion of healing left under the covers of an old bed.

* On the next floor we find two bodies, badly mummified and desiccated by the heat, one has a key tied to his wrist that Kane neatly pockets without disturbing the bodies too much. The stairs leading up to the next floor look quite rickety, Kane (ever the explorer) gives them a heavy prod with a stolen spear (possibly too heavy a prod) and the whole thing collapses, only a few stairs remain at the top of the now ruined staircase forming a small landing to its door. He clambers up and secures a rope to the stairs so the rest of us can get up.

* We also find what looks like the commanders room, a large room filled with a long table and office. On top of the table is a charred map covered in small wooden tokens. We also find a logbook that Lembit is quick to leaf through it picking out key bits of information hidden within the tales of the slow retreat of the Elven author.

o A hidden cellar can be found under “The Willow”, however we are unaware that the willow is (other than a tree, perhaps a specific willow tree bigger than the others, or the name of a pub).

o The survivors constantly mention an Elven hero (some as praise, some as curses) name Anyariel, a holy warrior who died before the fires started.

* However Lembit has also heard of her and adds the following to her legend:

* She wielded a magical wooden sword given to her by her Dryad lover Timber.

* Her last foe was a great stag that could not be killed, she pinned the creature with her sword at the bottom of a lake.

* The lake (where the stag is held) belonged to a nymph who was also in love with her and jealous that she chose the dryad over her.

* The shrine of this village is mentioned a few times in the log and bears investigating.

* Finally we find a locked cupboard that Kane (once again) is unable to unlock, so we smash the door in and find amidst the assorted brooms and buckets a small leather pouch covered in crude symbols a note sat atop it reads (in Elven) “to investigate later”.

o Opening the pouch reveals a number of seeds and some goblin symbols, which can be deciphered as “swallow one to see big firemaker, two to sleep forever”, or one for some prophetic vision, two will kill you.

o Lembit identifies the runes are from the same goblin clan as we found items from before (the Razortooth clan) and supposedly still live within the forest in caves underneath where it is cooler. There are many rumours of the Shahalesti elves hiring these goblins to start the fires.

* With the tower fully investigated our sights turn to the village and the shrine within, but before that seeing that several of the buildings are still in tact we have a nose about, collecting some strange magical trinkets left behind.

o We find a necklace of ivory leaves (25g), wearing this necklace allows the person to understand the Elven language but while wearing it cannot understand any other language.

o A wonderfully made lyre (still in tact) along with an old songbook, this is lovingly stowed with the bards backpage, wrapped well to protect it from the heat.

o A book on tattooing, most of its pages are dedicated to a single huge tattoo designed to be spread across two lovers bodies to pronounce their endless love for each other.

o A chord that can be wrapped around two people, a gemstone changes colour to reveal any family connection.

* However during our searches we manage to wake some slumbering vermin and are attacked by groups of rats and bats, leaving Brick, Lembit and Cricket suffering from “Fiery Filth Fever” (both at stage 1, lose 1 healing surge that cannot be regained until cured).

o With the vermin defeated, we inspect our itching wounds… the journey to the shrine temporarily forgotten.


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## Eccles

9th April

* With the fiery critter menace ended (for now!), we take a few moments to see to our wounds (our poor infected wounds!) and Lembit (rather sensibly) insists upon disposing of the temporarily dead burning vermin. We gingerly transport the bodies back to the river and pitch them in, the fire is quenched and the bodies give a little spasm before drifting down into the depths, finally dead.

* Our sights turn once again towards the village shrine, which we find on the other side of town a little way out into the forest and discover the Shrine is a large fountain, much like the bridge the stone fountain is carved to resemble wood, in this case a large Willow Tree (and no doubt The Willow mentioned in the diary we found before). In front of the willow is a large pool (once no doubt filled with crystal clear water but now clogged with ash) with a path of stepping stones across. Seventeen burning ancient oak trees form a ring around the pool, their blackened gnarled roots seep into the ash filled pool.

* As we approach the ground trembles slightly and ancient decayed hands start to push through the ash covered ground, the dead buried beneath the oak trees no longer seem content to remain in their rest and quickly we find ourselves being attacked by ancient Elven warriors. Some with rusty blades, but three stand apart from the others, less decayed, more noble in bearing and each holding a ghostly longbow.

* When we are suitably distracted by the horde their master appear, from the Stone willow comes a Ghast (those killed while committing the act of Cannibalism will rise as Ghasts, so sayeth the sage), he is trailed by a Spectral Panther that springs and leaps between the trees.

* And so begins our epic battle, causing us a few moments of unpleasantness until finally the Ghast’s Panther is killed (as it was very intent on reducing Lembit to bloody chunks) our attentions are fully directed against its master. Brick, the “noble” bard attempted to snuff out its unlife with a barb ridden insult, designed to cut the psyche as sharply as a blade cuts flesh. It reacted to the threat of “poohing down your face” as would any rational being and fled (where it was caught and promptly cut to pieces by the rest of us), but the damage had been done, odd looks and concerned glances all round!

* Eager to change the subject Lembit streams off academic information about Elven shrines while everyone else does what they can to avoid making eye contact with the Goliath, awkwardness is soon replaced with purposefulness as Kane locates a hidden door beneath the stone roots of the willow “the entrance to the real shrine, I’ll wager!” says Lembit. Kane starts withdrawing complex looking tools from his pouches, while the rest of us simply withdraw… so as not to distract him obviously.

* Eventually he manages to open the thing and the rogue pushes the door open gently, the door is wrenched the rest of the way open by forces unseen, behind the portal awaits a knight in full armour, shield and sword raised for battle… the Half-Orcs worried shriek summons the rest of us, just in time to catch the growled Elven words of the Knight as he gestures rather pointedly at the Solar Polansis Badge upon Kane’s Tunic. A symbol that features quite highly upon the knights own armour and shield.

* Urien successfully manages to diffuse the situation, explaining that we found the badge of his Fellow Paladin in a cave and after giving the man a proper burial took the badge and then quickly steer the conversation away from the badge and who he is and more importantly what he’s doing here.

* We discover the following

o His name is Eta’ranth, a Shalhalisti Paladin and he was in the forest when things seemed to be going bad, he received a divine message to head to the burial shrine and once he entered he was put in stasis and new nothing more until we opened the door and freed him.

o He’s very confused when we catch him up to world events as the Ragesian Empire didn’t exist, it was just a clan of Orcs / Half-Orcs at the time

o Once he finds out about the state of the forest he is very angry at his god, given a mission to guards a shrine rather than aid the others. (A Shrine we quickly find that had been plundered of its Relic before he even arrived).

o He tells us a little more about the paladin whose body we found, Eta’Ranth is unaware of any dealings with goblins (and we don’t mention the goblin bodies) but did mention that the other Paladin did say he had another duty to perform and left them (presumably to meet with the goblins to pay them and then died).

* With him somewhat soothed we leave him to his own devices while we have a look in the shrine (which he doesn’t object to) and follow the little passage down into a hollow chamber beneath the pool.

* A large statue of Anyariel (the elf hero) fighting the giant stag dominates the chamber, beneath presumably is where her body can be found.

* We find the remains of two bodies, both elves. One a priest (and highly likely the priest who wrote the diary we found) as next to him is a man in chains (the prisoner mentioned in the diary). Both Lembit and Brick agree that the wounds upon the chained body suggest torture and the priest’s war hammer lays between the bodies, likely the implement used.

o Lembit discovers the war hammer is enchanted, bound with healing magic (which is ironic for a weapon used to torture a prisoner... but I digress) and so is presented to the Paladin Urien. His own / old sword is in turn offered to Eta’Ranth who takes it gladly.

* The final item of note is the Reliquary itself, a small smashed glass cabinet whatever relic it once held has been long stolen. Eta’Ranth has no clue what was inside or who stole it, he himself had never been in the shrine proper; being placed in Deific Stasis the moment the shrine was sealed.

* We spend the night here in the shrine, the energies of the shrine aiding us in shaking off the worst of the infection (no longer are we plagued by the Fiery Filth Fever!) and chat with the paladin. He is keen about more knowledge of his comrades’ death and once he has confirmed he was buried in the proper Solar Palansis manner (something Lembit was happy to talk to him in great detail about) he believes that his god meant for him to aid us.

* But he also wishes to test his theory, he will shut himself back in the shrine after we leave, If he should stay he believe his god will once again place him in stasis to guard the shrine, if not he will join us. We do as he asks and quickly hear thumping on the door, we have picked up another travelling companion (so he can keep Torrent company and hopefully is a better cook than her!).

* With the village and its shrine explored we are left with a decision of where to go next, the choices being to continue along the main path, a straight (ish) run south to the edge of the forest and beyond, or we search for a boat and ride the river down to the Lake (where the indomitable is said to be trapped) and deal with whatever situation we find there.

o After much discussion (and people with more knowledge from playing the campaign before keeping quiet) we decide upon the boat option, a shorter journey, the lure of more treasure and the fact we probably aren’t going to be able to leave the forest anyway unless we directly cooperate or defeat the Indomitable.

* And so begins the epic voyage of “Captain” Brick as we find a large row boat just big enough for us all to squeeze in, and soon the rhythmic beat of his drum and chants of “pull” are mentally drowned out and we travel down river by the sweat and toil of the half-orcs and paladins, with some meagre assistance of the flabby armed shaman.

* Our little boat trip suffers from several disturbances on our trip to the lake, the first occurs barely an hour into the voyage as up ahead lies another of the stone bridges (again carved to resemble entwined trees), rest atop it is the bearded devil we met earlier in the forest, his huge Glaive rests against the stone wall, as we drift closer the hails us and wishes to Parley and so we halt our journey to hear his words.

o He introduces himself by the name of Kazzak reveals to us that he is enslaved by the Ragesian’s (showing the cold iron collar fastened around his neck), but won’t say who exactly (but a whispered word from Blarney the Imp suggests that it’s likely the same mage who summoned him back in gate pass).

o However he has no respect for his “employer” and much for us, having watched and tested us during our time within the forest , so he has a deal for us and shows us the magical contract that bounds his service, highlighting two main points

* He is to return with the obsidian box (this time described in much more detail than just “the box they carry” that Blarney used to escaped the bonds of his contract) however again the wording of the box is vague enough to suggest that the contents do not need to be inside.

* He is not permitted to let us leave the burning forest with our lives. However he has been in contact with the indomitable, if we were to help free him from the “wicked twisted fey” that sing to keep him imprisoned he would leave this world, his spell broken the forest would no longer burn, thus negating the “burning forest” part of his instruction.

* He makes quite the convincing argument and as a first point of action we take another look at the box we are carrying, kane’s fumblings eventually bear fruit and with a satisfying click the box slides open, we remove the small leather pouch stored inside. Lembit quickly looks inside, seeing about 50 pages filled with tiny script and diagrams, clearly the blueprints for something but seems to be written in gibberish, clearly heavily encoded. We leave the box on the shore for the Devil and continue our journey downstream, eager to reach the lake and try to make more sense of the situation.

* Our next distraction comes several hours later, after passing under several more bridges (of a similar design to the towns, with a guard tower on a small jetty from the main bridge) we hear singing, a hauntingly beautiful female voice singing a song that seems both mournful yet hopeful (or at least that is what Brick informs the rest of us it is, could be a song about a cabbage as far as the half-orcs are concerned).

* As we get closer we can pick out the singer, a female elf like creature with butterfly wings (which Lembit instantly recognises as a Seelie, a type of faerie or fey), she looks tired and malnourished (and also on fire… but isn’t everything). As we drift a little closer it appears a band of similar on fire fairies step on to the bridge, quickly surrounding the tower area and begin throwing rocks at her (of course being the trooper she is, she keeps singing!)

* Ever the kind soul Brick insists that we help the woman (regardless of the fact we said to the bearded devil we’d stop all the fey at the lake from singing, but semantics we aren’t at the lake… so its ok) and he begins steering the boat over to the side of the river so we can get up on the bridge and we quickly find ourselves in a bit of a Mexican stand off, both Lembit and Urien attempt o diffuse the situation but are only met with “She must die, it is a point of honour, the song must be silenced!” from the head Seelie, as his band continues its assault on the singing woman (now looking very battered).

* In retaliation to this the Bard screams one of his magical attacks at the head Seelie (missing him completely), the female Seelie lets out a ear piercing screech, stunning the other fairies around her and then on flaming butterfly wings ungracefully launches herself from the tower jetty to our side of the bridge and lands behind the Paladin, hateful fairy eyes turn on us, it appears our choice has been made.

* It turns out to be a swift and bloody choice, the Seelie are cut apart, beaten, broken and in several cases blasted over the side of the bridge into the water below, their high pitched screams cut off as the water snuffs the fire, giving them a true death.

* And so we find ourselves with another companion (two in one day… they’re like busses!) with the odd name of Tiljam, we patch her up as best we can while she chatters non stop about something called the Song of Forms (the song she and others of her kind must sing), and that the others are rebels who now refuse to sing the song, the song that evidently protects them from the fires and keeps the Indomitable imprisoned. She wishes us to take her back to her village near the lake so that we may see the Elder there.

* Our journey to the village is somewhat stilted as Tiljam refuses to ride in the boat (the water being sudden death for her) so some of us walk along side the river, other ride the boat. This some what boring trudge is broken up by Kazzic taunting Tiljan from the wood, teleporting away whenever her temper gets the better of he and she tries to attack him, he returns a few minutes later, ready to goad her some more until finally the river starts to widen into the lake and the sounds of fairy singing filters through the crackling flames. The demon vanishes and doesn’t return.

* The “village” such as it is, seems to be a cliff face filled with caves, a stone wall and flaming barricade around the cliff forms an area that technically could be a village, if it lacked normal buildings other than a few stone towers (in which stand Seelie’s singing the song of forms in shifts).

* Here we are introduced to the Elder of the Seelie, Papu’van and we are invited into his cave and afforded much respect and courtesy (apart from Lembit who appeared to have insulted the Seelie by mispronouncing his named as Papa Smurf… obviously a grave insult to the Seelie).

o He tells us a little more about the song of forms, and we discover the song in its entirety takes over a month to sing, and offers to teach it to us, even Brick seems keen to let this ditty pass him by.

o The songs main purpose (aside from any ceremonial stuff) seems to be making sure the giant stag the Anyariel imprisoned inside the Lake stays there .

o He also tells us of Gwenver, once a Nymph but now a Hag. She was in love with Anyariel but the elf maid chose the Dryad Timbre over her which sent her mad with jealousy. She often appears near the edge of the lake to shout insults into the forest while clutching a lock of Anyariels Hair (the stolen relic from the shrine). Her and her twisted children now control the lake. But she comes times can be lured to the surface with a sacrifice of meat to eat, and then she’ll just sit there talking about her endless love for Anyariel.

o The other side of the couple, Timbre can be heard weeping in the forest. Her tree sits in the centre of the forest, the First Tree, heart of the wood. It was from this tree that the wooden blade that imprisoned the Stag was carved, a gift to Anyariel. Now the tree is guarded by the strongest of the indomitable and Timbre is most certainly insane from grief and pain. But wishes that he could try and talk to the Dryad but she is most illusive.

* Leaving the old man’s cave we are introduced and invited into the cave of Vuul (an evil Vizier name if ever there was one), inside we are given a courteous welcome speech and an offer of comfort and food (empty cushion casings and burnt acorns… a thinly veiled insult perhaps).

o We discover that he is the leader of the rebel faction and mostly the person that ordered the attack on Tiljam earlier at the bridge, something she starts complaining about until Vuul sings a little song and she calms down almost instantly (which from now on shall be dubbed Ro-HipHop-nol) as if nothing bad had happened to her.

o He reveals his grand side plan to us (all for the good of the forest!) that the curse must end; he and his people must given their all for the greater good. The song must end, but he doesn’t want to see his people butchered and believes and single act could shock his people into halting the song. If we were to just stumble across Timbre in the forest and maybe just end her life (nothing too disfiguring of course, that would be a step too far) and then preset the body to the Seelie this would shock them for long enough that the song would cease to be sung, the curse ended, the forest would burn and natural balance would be restored.

o He’s quick to point out that even Timbre burns within pain and madness, easing her suffering would be a boon to her as well… Upon this little speech Tiljam once again flares up in anger spitting in the mans face but before she stalks more than fives steps away, another song flutters on his lips and she is once more subdued (very creepy, but you could almost see Lembit trying to recall the words as he was singing).

* However that about wraps up our meeting with Vuul and so we wander back into the village, meet a few more Seelies and discover of the forty or two villagers, only sixteen of them still keep the song going, singing in shifts and soon Tiljam must leave to start her own shift.

o She does however share her thoughts that she wishes they could end the song but there must be another way to save the lives of her people, that is what she has been searching for and what caused her to leave the village in the first place, she believes that Anyariels sword is the key.

o She then leaves to perform her shift leaving us in the fairies village; we find an empty cave and start weighing up our options.


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## Colmarr

Eccles said:


> * In a secluded copse we return our disguises to the cavalry leader and as well as wishing us well in our endevours he has a final gift from Erdan Menash and passes it to the Goliath.
> 
> o A small box wrapped in lavender and pink striped paper and tied with little ribbon a note sits atop it.
> 
> o “My Dearest Brick, I couldn’t bear the thought of sending you out into the world unprepared, so allow me to do my part, so you may do yours. Inside you’ll find ten inches of hard stony wood, perhaps you could bring me likewise upon your return to Gatepass. Erdan”
> 
> o Opening the box he finds a “Master’s Wand of Vicious Mockery” shaped in usual garish and suggestive style.




Sorry to bring up the past, but... that's hilarious!


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## Eccles

I had immense fun playing Erdan Menash as an extremely camp rather predatory older half orc. The goliath bard caught his eye. There were jokes...


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## Eccles

16th April

* So we still find ourselves in the village / caves of the Seela, the race of singing fairyfolk that are bound to the forest. Having weighed up our options we decide upon our plan of action, visiting the Hag of the Lake (Gwenlyn) and retrieving the lock of Anyariel’s hair with which to make contact with Timbre the dryad that leaves in the first tree of the forest and is guarded constantly by large indomitable creatures of fire.

* Recalling mentions that the Seela often offered her gifts of meat we hunt down a beast of the forest, douse its flames in the river and then take our gift to her. Following the lake we eventually find a little offshoot leading to a large pool of grey ashen water, wading through the water until we find a small island, on top of which dotted amongst the burning bushes and plants are ornaments of bone and stones that seem to arranged in some sort of tranquillity garden.

* Urien takes charge here, first merely called for the hag, and when that gets no response he hails he by name, the water ripples slightly and she rises from the water inches from him, the nauseous aura rippling from her almost overpowers him but he resists the reflex, swallowing hard to keep his composure. “Oh my dearest, the jealous here come to gaze upon our love” she starts before her ode turns slightly poisonous and immediately calls us upon our reasons for seeing her.

o Urien being close to her spies that she is not “ugly” as you would expect of a hag, merely tainted, she still moves with unearthly grace and agility, but as if some how cracked or broken beneath.

o Meanwhile the others notice that the lock of hair is not about her, we must learn where she has hidden it.

* Urien protests our innocence, twisting her accusations towards the idea of mere knowledge, we wished to hear her side of the story, how she was wronged and turned upon, and it is while telling her story that she seems to have a moment of clarity, a single crystal clear tear rolls down her cheek and drips into the ashen water instantly purifying the water around it. She confesses to herself the Anyariel, her love is dead, more tears fall and suddenly she throws her head back and wails in grief.

* Shortly after she bids us to follow her, she turns and wades back towards the island, diving underneath and into a small cave hidden in the hollow of the island. Inside the cave is a small shrine, a huge polished mirror (in a very cracked and broken frame) and an assortment of shiny things amongst various ruined pieces of furniture.

* She takes the hair from the shrine and hands it to the paladin, already the changes across her are visible, and the dirt begins to flake from her skin and hair as she begins reverting to her true form as a lake nymph. She must travel to a shrine further up the river to regain her strength, but as reward for opening her eyes she gives us the treasures of her cave and her blessing (which allows us to swim through the water like fish until the next sunrise) and so she departs, the ashen water filters turning crystal clear behind her as she slips through the water and vanishes from view.

* Armed with the lock of hair we can now try to track down Timbre, Tilljam gives us the directions we need and soon we’re approaching the huge willow tree that is the First Tree of the Forest (naturally burning). Herds of Fiery Stags and Boars form a protective ring around the forest but they spread as we present the hair, a figure peels itself from the burning trunk and steps towards us.

* After a little chit chat finally we get some answers as she tells us the history of the wood and how the first tree was planted by a Gold Dragon (keen gardeners obviously) at a key location, here the ley lines of the feywild touch very closely to our world, the seed was further blessed by a deity of the wilds so that it grew in both the material world and the feywild and soon grew into a mighty forest in this world and theirs.

* This link drew the Seela to the forest, forming a bond with the first tree, and soon elves came from the Feywild to the Material Plane and settled.

* But of course peace doesn’t last eternal and various wars and battles were fought with Timbre picking her lover Anyariel as a guardian of the forest, giving her a branch from the First Tree (and thus part of her self) is was carved into a weapon used to defend the forest.

* Then came Indomitability, who couldn’t be defeated and mortally wounded Anyariel, who then used the sword to imprison the stag, pinning it beneath the lake. When she died “ownership” of the blade passed to the stag as it lay stabbed through his heart and his own twisted link passed through to the forest, to ever burn but never die.

* The sword is the Key, being a part of the first tree the Seela are still bound to it, should the blade be pulled free and the stag slain the forest will have a new guardian, and through them the Seela will be saved. The forest will grow again and in time life will once more prosper here.

* Lembit is the only one who wishes to be a champion for the fairies of the forest and so he shall be the one to draw the blade free. Satisfied Timbre agrees to accompany and fight with us against the stag, we tell her that Papu’Van of the Seela wished to speak with her and head to the village.

* Just outside we are met by Vuul, who offers a cloak to the dryad explaining in silvery words his plan to hide her, so the salvation of the village can be revealed in a dramatic fashion and once covered he calls to the village, we wait as they gather up (the faithful still continuing their song, seriously in the minority among the gathered Seela) and he prepares his speech “Beyond, the time of our salvation is at hand” and he gestures at the Dryad who begins to shed her cloak, like lighting Vuul produces a twisted black dagger and hurls it straight and true, slamming into the wooden heart of the dryad who stands stunned… the song abruptly stops as everyone gasps in confusion.

* Before anyone can react Vuul’s hand twists and stretches into a writhing mass of tentacles and grabs the dieing dryad, flinging her burning body over the village towards the lake, her flames doused the moment they touch the water. His body starts to ripple and twist, growing extra limbs and a horribly hooked nose, he begins to laugh. There is an ominous churning of water from the lake, a dreadful red glow starts to appear deep within the lake.

* The “fight” continues to go down hill for us as he manages to rip several Seela apart with his tentactles before we can do anything about it, Urien, Brick and Lembit goad and encourage the fairy folk to start the song again, scared they begin singing… only to stop again as with a crack of thunder Kazzik appears “I COME AT YOUR CALL, THE SLAUGHTER HAS BEGUN!” and begins summoning lesser demons… the rest of us can merely groan… apart from Urien who stares dagger eyes at Lembit and his conspiring with devils… immediately the Shaman begins trying to reason with the bearded devil, “we did not call you!”.

* Brick tries to salvage the situation by screaming at the little devils, killing a few of them, however the attack on Kazzik is blocked by the demon dragging one of the Seela in front of him, Brick’s magical enhanced voice ripping her to pieces “YES, YES MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN ACCIDENT!” cries the devil in glee! He then teleports over to the shaman whispering in his ear “I thought we had an agreement, I would come to finish this!” the two then begin arguing, until the demon is attacked again, he then vanishes leaving behind the promise of having another “chat” later about our deal.

* To further confuse methods Vuul disguises himself magically as various member of the party, causing a little friendly fire here and there as people can’t pick one from the other. However eventually the Seela are all encouraged to sing, the Song of Forms affects whatever Vuul is or has become and as the song grows in strength he is restrained back into his fairy

form and killed. However the damage has been done, the bind on the stag has been weakened, the lake bubbles and churns, and sooner or later the stag will be free.

* So after seeing to our wounds and head stagwards, the Seela follow all singing in harmony stopping at the edge of the lake (ready to douse the flames the moment the stag is freed and his curse lifted) as we head into the water, take deep breaths and using the boon given by the nymph swim quickly down to the stag. Down in the darkness we spy him, wreathed in flames even while underwater he is pinned to a great rock, the wooden Sword of Anyariel impaled through its side, as the beast thrashes left and right the sword groans in protest, slowly being levered out.

* As we get close two aquatic ogre like creatures (perhaps the hags children, we never did see them before) attack us, demonstrating a rather nasty attack ability as Urien gets grabbed and the thing clamps its huge mouth over the paladins face and tries to force water into his mouth and nose!

* Once they are dealt with only the stag remains, we take our positions around the thing and wish Lembit luck as he swims close, takes hold of the sword and then tries to brace his legs on the thrashing beast and wrench the blade free. As soon as the blade is free of the rock the beast kicks throwing the Shaman off and makes a dash for the side of the lake leaving a trail of fire (yes even underwater!) behind it. We chase after it and manage to kill it (or banish it, whatever it does when it “dies”) however it would seem it knew its days were numbered and enacted one last final act of spite. Upon its death it exploded, causing a huge plume of water to spout some 30ft up into the air from the lake service, dangerously close to the edge, this searing hot water boils about eight of the Seela alive.

* We drag ourselves out of the lake to be greeted and thanked by the Seela (about as well as you can thank people that saved you but also saw some of your closest friends boiled alive) and they give a chorus of the Song of Forms welcoming in their new champion Lembit who grasps the sword in both hands, and suddenly transforms from a mighty weapon into a length of throbbing wood (or a stave as some may call it) as the song peaks a huge gust of wind whips through the entire forest, fanning the flames and beating them out in a single moment.

* We retire to the Seela village for a rather meagre victory feast, work is starting to be done to rebuild and settled. It appears while the fires are out most of the forests wildlife was not so fortunate and either burnt to death upon the release of the stag of flambéed during the back draft that blew the fires out. (Still for a short time meat was plentiful and precooked).

* And so we end the session as we started it, inside a cave in the Seela village, starting to make choices about when to leave the “not so Indomitable” Forest of Innenotdar, once Lembit has done all the speeches and ceremonies required of the “Guardian of the Forest”, which probably involves a lot of seed planting and hugging trees or something.


----------



## Eccles

30th April

* Celebrations for the forests freedom from the flames are called short as the reality of the situation starts to show itself for the Seela. The remains of the forest is quickly blanketed in thick drifts of ash, but as the heat dissipates this is replaced with snow and ice as winters touch finally returns from its forty years absence forcing the fey folk to start thinking towards winter clothing and food collection. We prepare to depart as we still have quite far to go to reach Seaqueen and the Lyceum.

* Tiljan asks to join us, keen to know more of the outside well and to improve her grasp of magic. She had studied from a series of books written by a mage called Etin’eefi but has reached the end of her lessons; she hopes to track him down at the lyceum or news of his whereabouts. With no good reason to deny her, she joins the party

* Leaving the forest behind us we have a tough journey through a snow covered mountain path ahead of us, to aid him Brick attempts to build some snow shoes (which turn out rather well) and Kane copies his design managing to fashion something remarkably similar. o http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Ground/english/images/ms/mfn/snowshoes.jpg

* The rest of us trudge on the old fashioned way as we shoulder and dig our way through waist high and deeper snowdrifts, finding small clearings or hollows to rest in until one eve a miraculous sight graces us, a cave… the lure of solid shelter too tempting we dig our way to it.

* Inside we find a body half trapped within a wall of opaque ice, as we step close the corpses arm twitches, reaching and grabbing as the ice around him suddenly splinters and collapses revealing more zombies behind him, an aura of intense cold rippling from the largest of the moving cadavers.

o And so we battle them for the cave, RAWR! Claiming it for our own we dispose of the bodies and get the paladins and cleric to bless and sanctify the place and spend a shivery night near the small fire.

* In the morning we press on through the pass into shallower snow, in the distance we could see a small village alongside a frozen river, a small group of men seemed to be fishing on the ice. Cricket spies a valley that promises a much easier route down to the village, however in this case the “easy route” led to an ambush.

o As we pass through the ambush a bunch of hobgoblins attack us, hiding behind trees and snow dunes they get the drop on us but the tables are rapidly turned, only two of their party manage to escape with their lives, a shaman and his little henchmen flee out of range before we can chase themdown.

* It is while picking over the meagre possessions of the killed hobgoblins that a contingent of guardsmen from the village arrive ripe and ready for battle, they sit in quiet awe (or something) that we are still alive, and immediately their leader questions where we had come from and is shocked to hear of our stories of the forest as he announces we are the first travellers to arrive by this “road” for forty years. We are welcomed to “Lord Reego’s lands” and realise that we have crossed over into the Kingdom of Dassen, of which Seaqueen is “officially” a part of, but still futher south, still we’re on the right track. We are taken back to their village, promises of room at their best tavern in the village are made and so we are taken to the Palatial Inn (which has evidently seen better days, but then the same can be said for the town).

* We are given as much “watery” ale as we can drink and a hearty meal of mutton, beets and tubers, many apologies are made for the poor fair but they’ve had a hard year, lack of trade, the thick snow and hobgoblins has cut them off from the entire northern range, losing them good grazing ground and much of their livestock.

* Brick takes it upon himself to entertain the village, telling them his tales and songs and stories of our (but mostly his) adventures and how we put out the fires in the fire forest,

battled abominable yeti’s and used their thick icy hides to breach the fires… and battle an evil dragon and other such nonsense that they lap up with a ladle.

* The rest of us talk with some of the hunters of the village and start making plans for our journey further south, first we must travel to Cornerwood village and from there we have two options, the east route would take us through the Thornwood and pass through the capital of this fiefdom, the west route follows along the mountains with promises of monsters moving down from the mountains for better weather (but nothing we can’t handle, we’ve fought dragons and yetis!) but also passes near the hot springs which proves too tempting an offer and we spurn civility for some primal wonder.

* In the morning we buy some horses to make the journey a little easier and set off towards Seaqueen.

Day 1

* The journey to Cornerwood is remarkably uneventful and scenic spoiled only by two minor things, the first would be Kane getting saddle sores and spending a large portion of his evening consulting the village herbalists for some cream for his arse.

* The second is a brief visit by the taxman wishing to charge us for using the kings road, but some quick words from Brick invents some imaginary hazards on the roads that we had to “handle” and should really get compensation for, in the ends they decide to call it quits.

* Brick then spends a small fortune (ten whole gold pieces!) on what he described as a “massage” but the rest of us really don’t wish to know.

Day 2

* Having made our choice to go to the hotsprings we set off around the forest, Brightstaff Commons our destination and make it in good enough time for a leisurely evening relaxing in the hot springs.

* Here we hear the tale of the Brightstaff, a legendary holy relic the place was named for. Once protected by a cadre of Dwarven Clerics, the brightstaff was stolen decades ago by a red dragon called Sindar (who has a taste for dwarf flesh it would seem). We pencil this away for something to investigate properly when we are actually capable of dealing with a dragon rather than the feverish delusions of Brick’s stories.

Day 3

* Our first evening without a town to stop in, but our fortune continues as we bump into a group heading in the other direction, hailing them we discover that it is a questing knight and his entourage (servants, armourer, page and squire etc). Sir Quincy Felthoof (fel-thoo-f), a knight of the King, he patrols the roads keeping them clear for good honest travelling folk like ourselves.

* Brick is quick to embellish our story, toning down the more outrageous aspects (battling yetis) but conjures a complete fantasy about his own lineage (a landed noble) with an evil brother than has stolen his land, inheritance and honour.

* The two spend the evening discussing their devices (coats of arms) and the like. Brick is of course unable to show his having refused to wear his armour until his honour is restored!

o Quincy offers Brick one of his lances are a gift.

o The rest of us “commoners” spend a much more humble evening drinking ale with his servants.

* When the Lyceum is mentioned Quincy tells us of his dislike of them, Dassen requested aid from them (which the mages ignored) to help deal with a sorcerer that was trying to tamper with air spirits and ended up causing a huge storm that destroyed quite a large area.

Day 4

* In the morning we leave Sir Felthoof’s camp, continuing on south along the base of the mountain range that follows Dassen’s Coast and around mid-afternoon our slightly dull ride is disturbed by a terrific roar, looking to the sky we see “a large cat with wings” which Lembit eventually recognises as a Sphinx.

* The Sphinx eventually lands near a dwarf who holds up a box and performs some ritual or ceremony.

o We notice the box has a strong resemblance to the box that Erdan Menash asked Brick to take to his sister at the Lyceum.

o We try to find our way up to where the Dwarf and its Sphinx was but by the time we arrive they are long gone.

Day 5

* On the fifth day we reach the end of the mountain range, the coast slowly hoves into view (quite a sight for some who have never seen the ocean!) and we quickly notice that we’re being follows by a small group of knight errant.

* Eventually we slow a little and the catch up and we learn that we have entered the fiefdom of Namen (nay-men), these are knights of Lady Namen and they have orders to hasten refugees and stragglers onwards towards Seaqueen they have no interest in giving charity and taking in any waifs and strays.

Day 6

* Our journey continues through the fief of Namen as we are politely chased out of the region by her road guarding knights.

Day 7

* And so we find ourselves in the Duchy of Megadon (who sadly is not a dinobot) and discover several barricades have been set up along the “Prince’s Road” making sure the tax has been paid, and a fine road it is indeed. After paying the rather bloated travelling fee we spy no less than three groups of peasants repairing, sweeping and generally tending the road as we pass by.

* We find ourselves generally ignored at the town we stayed at, happy to take our money and always making sure we’re passing through rather than staying.

* Brick manages to strike up a few conversations with locals in the tavern and discovers that pretty much everyone praises the duke (or prince as he calls himself) and believes that he would be a much better ruler of Dassen than the current king, they also foolishly believe that the Ragesians are no threat at all.

Day 8

* We pass through the bulk of Megadon *chortle*

Day 9

* Leaving Megadon behind us we reach the duchy of Dean, another loved ruler simply because his taxes seem aimed at lodging and hostelries, more than a few towns have little ghettos outside where refuges have stopped unable to pay the bloated prices for necessities of inside the town.

o We learn the duchies army is quite small but large companies of mercenaries are hired if a show of force is required (unlikely this far south).

* Our kingdom crossing journey ends here in Dean at the town of Veedor, a few miles from the swampy marsh that sits between Dean and Seaqueen.

* Like other towns in Dean this one also has a large refugee camp of people making preparations to cross the swamp (and be fleeced by the towns’ people). The road into the

town is marked with lots of shallow graves, people who fell to frostbite, trench foot, sickness and of course starvation.

* We meet with one of the towns many merchants offering his “last minute bargains for the swamp” and Kane purchases a necklace made from Alligator teeth that will ward off the beats of the swamp.

o We’re also offered some flimsy looking rowboats for the bargain price of 100 gold pieces each, oars not included… each or costs 5gp and of course a further 5gp delivery charge to take it the few miles to the swamp.

o When we ask about travelling the swamp by foot we’re immediately bombarded wit tales of “alligators, owl bears, goblins, evil mages, desperate refugees, swamp spirits and a shrieking dragon” that and more than a few “Maps of the swamp” that are unlikely to be any help at all.

o We do hear one story of a fiery redheaded sorceress who set off into the forest on foot with her bodyguards, and was probably powerful enough and stubborn enough to make it through.

* So with very little choice we allow ourselves to be ripped off and purchase several boats, pay the 5gold (per boat) for the delivery charge and are then both amused and annoyed to see our carpenter hire the services of some scrawny looking refuges to carry the boats for a few coppers.

o We are then bombared with beggars on the trip to the swamp “oh please sir I only need a few more gold to buy my alligator necklace so I can make it through the swamp!” “Please sir just a few coins so I can feed my family more than mud for dinner!” and the like, all are ignored or rebuffed and into the swamp we go in our little boats.

* And so we spend many hours punting and rowing our little boats through the dank and musky swamp, both Brick and Kane suffer from leeches attaching themselves and so we make camp on a little island so they can be treated (or rather poked with fire heated sticks).

* Its while we’re enjoying an unpleasant evening in the swamp when we hear hymn singing coming from the darkness, a few moments later we can barely pick out the light of a lantern drifting across the dank water.

o Torrent recognises the song as some religious hymn she knows and sings back, loud and clear, the light changes direction slightly getting closer and closer until finally a little boat emerges … and that’s when we see its being punted by two female tieflings and the boat itself is laden with broken skulls… (proving that singing brings nothing but trouble!) Torrent stops her song but the damage is already done… to arms behind us we hear rustling in the bushes and two huge crocodiles attack (avoiding Kane, giving falsehope that his necklace worked… this was to be proven wrong very soon).

o The tiefling wizard (name Handria) opens the fight with a large fireball, while the Tiefling cleric (also named Handria) punts their boat to a little island ready to rain death from afar but are slightly surprised when Cricket manages to leap from island to island and plows straight into both of them with his mighty full blade, causing Handria to destroy their own little boat with one of her misdirected spells.

o Eteranth the paladin spends the majority of the fight trapped within the jaws of one of the huge crocodiles into a losing war of attrition.

o The master of the crocodiles as a tiefling druid (also called Handria…) comes walking across the swampy water guiding them to attack.

o And so the three Handria’s are defeated and their crocodiles reduced to so many meaty chunks we find a Large Brass Key on a necklace around the clerics neck.

* Searching around a little we think we manage to spy the route they came from and paddling quietly in our little boats discover a large island compound, a rickety looking wooden fence encircles five or so tumble down shacks… what’s inside… find out next week!


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## RangerWickett

I liked Handria. But not her friend Handria, though. She was insufferable.


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## Eccles

7th May

* Having followed the “trails” left by the Handria sisters passing we manage to find our way to their home, a little island in the swamp with a few ramshackle buildings and fences , along with a bunch of old boats and a rickety looking jetty. Glancing in some of the boats as we pass we spy rotting bodies, seems a large number of travelling refugees have fallen foul of the sisters.

* On our way to the jetty a hushed conversation blossoms into a shouting argument about the difference between a “Hag” and a “Crone” and which is the correct description of the sisters, this starts a thudding sound from one of the huts… suddenly aware we may have been heard everyone goes on alert.

* Ever Brave and keen to do brave things… Brick leads the way onto the island and feels a ripple of dark energy rush over his body (followed by the rest of us) and the clikity clackity sounds of bones snapping together and a horde of skeletons pull themselves together from the bushes and stumble towards us.

o Lembit quickly uses his academic skills and previous lifetimes of knowledge to determine we’re up against three types of undead, bog standard skeletons that shouldn’t pose much of a problem and then two special types, one filled with necrotic energy that oozes from the blow their killed them (necromancers would harvest this energy and left untapped would cause them to explode). The third type was large things made from the bones of many and sits like a twisting cyclone of jagged bones that engulfs people.

* With much swinging of swords and slinging of spells we emerge victorious and notice the banging is still continuing, so tracking down the correct hut we spy its chained shut with a large brass padlock, utilising the key from the dead witches we unlock and look inside. There on a rotten straw pallet sits a rather curvaceous redheaded female thrashing and crying for help, though at the sight of us she stops her thrashing and does her best to look demure, Brick is instantly smitten and introduces himself, telling tales of our (but mostly hit) daring do as he un-gags the poor wench.

o She introduces herself as Katrina and tells us that she was waiting to be rescued and hopes none of us died on her account.

o Recognising the name and face (and some prompting from the rest of us) Brick recalls he accepted a missive from Rantle (the hero of gatepass!) for his sister, who this of course is. She takes the note gladly, reads it and a flush of disappointment creases her face, “he will not be joining me, he plans to stay in the city… oh well” and bounces back quite quickly. Brick then invites her to join us on our journey to the lyceum, she accepts instantly and parks herself in his boat leaving a clear indication she won’t be rowing.

o A quick search of the other hut reveals a stash of coin and a magical gewgaw that goes to Elisha. Along with some magical orbs (that make your hands drip blood, and allow you to pass through strong winds and oceans as if it were calm… altogether confusing).

o And so we go off into the swamp searching for a safer place to camp, we find a large crocodile nest that only Kane seems keen to camp near (with his “magical” necklace to protect him) and eventually we do find somewhere.

* The following day we come across a large section of the swamp that seems to have rather stable footing or severly low water and find ourselves walking (while carrying our tiny yet expensive boats) when something large swoops overhead, Lembit swears that it was a Ragesian wyvern but why would they be this far south (some 400 miles away from gatepass!). Still we continue on with an air of caution, and soon we find a large shallow lake, in the centre is an island with a rather droopy looking gum tree on, a bunch of Half-Orcs in

ragesian military attire are picking over something on the island, off to one side is a large wyvern (though not large enough to carry all of them!) is lapping at the fetid swamp water.

* We attempt to get closer, something a few of us manage better than others (ok… one of us managed better than others) and its no surprise that we are noticed almost immediately.

o The wyvern takes to the air and spends the whole fight flying back and forth screeching at people and slapping them with its poisonous tail.

o Kane and Cricket manage to get into the thick of things very early… to their own detriment, and Kane spends a chunk of the fight unconscious while waiting for one of the healers to catch up and heal him.

o We kill all but one of the infiltrators and the Wyvern who manage to escape (however tracking the fleeing infiltrator we find him killed and partial eaten by some large spiders who he blundered into).

* Brick takes the +2 Lightning battle axe that the captain of the group were using, hoping to transfer its enchantment over to a more suitable sword upon reaching the lyceum.

o We find a note on the captain addressed to a “Farthal” and mention something about a Druid Orb & Control Rod being in the right hands, and he must use a locator to find something. The note is signed “Gufwulfl” a senior Inquisitor and the person who summoned Kazzik and sent him after us.

* On the next day it finally looks like we are nearing the edge and the swamp and its while walking along the main trail that we are hailed “CEASE” comes a shout from up ahead and a band of Shalhalesti soldiers lead by a Solei Palancis (templar) stand in our way, weapons at the ready (we spy a couple of scouts in the near by undergrowth with bows pointed at us).

o Tiljan shrieks and begins flinging curses in whatever butterfly language fairies speak at the Shalhalesti (a result of them probably being somewhat involved in the burning of the forest) and has to be calmed down.

o With this little episode over the Templar lays down a proclamation, essentially demanding our surrender and turning over contraband, generally calling upon his authority and that of his king… however as he isn’t on his own soil, we don’t really think he can make such demands and come to terms of they won’t try to kill us, if we don’t try to kill them. Things become a lot less tense when we present Ettaranth (a templar himself) and they have a little catch up and we are free to continue on to seaquen after telling them of the Ragesian infiltrators we found earlier.

* Finally we leave the swamp and enter the peninsula of Seaquen, passing through a large swath of forest (ah pleasant forest) and when we come out of is we see where all the refugees (that made it through the swamps) of Gatepass ended up, a huge city sized camp of tents, shanties and even a few “pre fab” style houses stretches out for miles. With no good reason to stop in the camp we push on through, beset by beggars and filchers at every corner.

* Once we get passed the camp there is still a good stretch of land before we reach the city of Seaquen and of course the Lyceum. Its on this path that we spy for all intents and purposes an abandoned cart (well still with horse but no driver) covered by a tarp.

o Being the inquisitive fellows we are we approach the cart and from the woods nearby emerges a blustery looking half-orc in half plate (try saying that three times fast!) “get away from my cart!” and other such protests, we tell him we were just curious and wish him on his way when he reaches into the cart and pulls out a short bow… it would appear that once again we have walked into an ambush!

o Lots of arrows come flying from the bushes, it would appear that a lot more than a Ragesian Scouting party have made it this far south as we soon find ourselves toe to toe with an inquisitor (complete with huge bear mask and claws!) however he

evades us right at the end, with his entourage dead he grips the emblem around his neck and growls “next time I shall bring better troops!” and vanishes in a pillar of fire.

* Checking the cart we find a bunch of empty crate (certain they had been transporting something but no idea what). Kane has a good search for any secret of hidden compartments but finds nothing…

* The Lyceum awaits… welcome to level 8!


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## akira12

Eccles said:


> Yeah. I've played to level 21 of it in 4e which Morrus has been running, and now I'm running it from the start for my group. We'll be starting properly a week on Saturday in a group with 2 strikers which plays for an hour or two more each week than the Thursday group with no strikers - so I'm serious that we're going to catch up at a rate of knots!



Session 2 over. Went well if I'm any judge.  One fatality (which got fixed very quickly) and 3 good fights.  

Also we got to have a 'bard-off' featuring the awesome power of the goliath jazz flute. (Not a euphemism).

And a complete re-write of the crypt encounter.
________________
HostMonster Coupon


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## RangerWickett

akira12 said:


> Also we got to have a 'bard-off' featuring the awesome power of the goliath jazz flute. (Not a euphemism).




If it's not yet, it will be soon.

I'm glad you're enjoying the campaign. Hopefully we'll be able to avoid any killer encounters like the crypt for the first adventure of ZEITGEIST.


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## Eccles

14th May

·	Having made it through the fiery forest, the chilly mountains, the stinky swamp and even smellier camp of refugees we find ourselves on the threshold of Seaquen and the Lyceum, our pouch of secrets as heavy today as it was when we first acquired it in gatepass.
·	Our plan involves delivering the box entrusted to use by Erdan Menash to deliver to a “Dougan Rambousen” and then using this connection to leapfrog our way to a man of sufficient power that we can entrust to them the resistances stolen intelligence.

·	As a group with many missions and interests we quickly descend into a squabble over what to do next, resulting in Tiljan heading off on her town to try and track down Ettan-Eefi (the author of the book she was studying) with little complaint from the rest of us. 
·	Torrent wishes to track down her mentor to deliver her gift (the rather weird dolphin shaped Falchion she took from Erdan Menash back in Gate pass but is happy to join us for now, she wishes to see the Lyceum.
·	Kane wishes to do a little shopping but it is late in the day and many of the shops we pass are already shut, it takes a little gold and a few quick words from brick to persuade a purveyor of magical wares to keep his shop open enough for the rogue to pick out a set of silk slippers, guaranteed to improve his acrobatic nature!

·	With our shopping done it is starting to get dark, as we have no lodgings we decide to visit the lyceum in the morning and for now just find somewhere to stay. We overhear a town crier blurting out new from Gatepass, he tells of Gabal the leader of the arcane college in Gate Pass along with his allies attacked and killed two thousand or more Regesians in their camp outside the city before the inquisitor broke his magical defences and a massive Red Dragon incinerated them all. With his news told he starts to walk away, brick calls after him and ask if he can recommend any place to stay.
·	The crier explains that most of the hotels and boarding houses are full. The first wave of refugees that arrived with their fortunes still intact secured long term residence and now there isn’t even a stable to rent in the place. He does say that we can try our luck at The Royale, a lodge outside of town that caters exclusively for adventurers. 

·	The Royale certainly lives up to hits name, a huge multi-storey structure with many outbuildings and looks like a mixture of a camp retreat and luxury resort. A group of barbarians (or Vikings, or possibly both) are gathered outside in a massed throng, as we get close enough to see through the crowd two of their number are stripped to their skivvies and wrestling, busy trying to toss the other into a large heated pool. Within the crowd money and frothing tankards change hands with equal frequency.
·	We head towards the main building and are confronted by a large gaudy sign that reads “you must be this hard to enter!” and an arrow pointing to somewhere not entirely discernable. Ever up for a challenge Kane rushes forward and crashes into the thing headfirst, splitting it in two. He picks up the two pieces proudly and stomps off towards what appears to the places largest entrance (on our way in however we see many doors leading to many differently themed bars, lounges, work rooms etc.)
·	Inside a hulking brute of a man waits behind a busy bar, his head shrouded by a large hood. Kane dumps the sign down “I broke it, can we come in? oh and a dri..” but before he can finish his sentence the barman has produced the very drink the rogue was thinking of, a trick the man replicates for every patron to grace his bar, and soon we find ourselves in a rather one sided conversation where he both asks and answers our questions before we can ask them and we have rooms for the night.
·	Around us the many adventurers in this bar go a little silent (and not just the hooded rangers in the corner looking broody or moody or possibly both) and even the bards stop slapping each others thighs by the fire, it would seem we have to prove ourselves.
·	Kane draws his dagger and hurls it towards one of the many wooden targets hanging on one wall (full of knicks and dents from previous use), the flaming dagger sets the dry wood alight, he plods over slowly, yanks the blade out and douses the flames with the rest of his ale, a fresh mug awaits him on the bar.
·	Brick is quick to take up the mantle and strides to the other bards, taking centre spot and begins to sing songs and twist tales of our glorious adventure of dousing the Fire Forest and for once mostly tells the truth, people are impressive (even if they still think its all guff) and he gets a round of thigh slaps from the other bards, all except one who quickly steps in where Brick stop and tells tales of the “Sextet of Significance” his adventuring troupe, who we spy only add up to six if you count the rangers owl.
o	It’s during this song where the bards silky voice is drowned by a pitiful howling from the door, a mud splattered wolfhound sits at the threshold to the bar, pining. “DAG!” roars cricket and dashes across the bar, knocking more than few drinks aside as the barbarian is reunited with his dog and spends the night happily feeding as much meat and mead as the scruffy mutt can handle.

·	After a good nights sleep in large comfortable beds we awake to the glorious smell of a hog roast and come down to find a whole boar slowly roasting on a strange spit contraption, two Halfling chefs take turns, one turning the hog by running in a tread wheel while the other bastes the pig.
o	It’s over this bounteous meal that Torrent tells us that she’ll be departing for a while to catch up with her mentor and to follow a few leads of her own leaving us with just Eta’Ranth as a companion.
·	With our breakfast complete we return to Seaquen and the Lyceum with the aim of tracking down Dougan, on our way through the town much of the gossip we overhear concerns the refugees. (Most comments are directed to the countries now inability to feed itself and the sheer amount of additional resources that must be shipped in).
·	Soon we find ourselves at the gates of the lyceum, a huge walled building that lives up to every expectation of magical school for witches and wizards! Out side in a little guard hut sits a junior wizard busy trying to light his pipe unsuccessfully with magic, Kane is quick to seize the opportunity to make new friends by thrusting his flaming dagger towards the man and wiggling it back and forth invitingly, naturally the mage is slightly distressed but lights his pipe. 
·	Brick quickly takes the lead of any talking and tells him that we’re here to see Rambousen, over eagerly assuming the role of Erdan Menash (rather than merely a courier for him), the wizard turns to a little shelf inside the hut holding ceramic statues of animals and taps his wand a few times on a tiny winged mouse muttering a few weird incantation and the little mouse comes to life, and then zips off into the building proper. 
·	We’re left waiting for a while but eventually are shown into a reception area and are met by a stone faced matron who introduces herself as Rambousen’s aide, and after another exaggerated discussion with the bard, we’re left waiting as she promises to relay the information but “he’s a very busy man, it may take him several hours to find a gap in his busy schedule!” and once again we are left waiting.
·	However not for long, barely five minutes later we hear a commotion from within the school, steadily approaching the reception area until finally the huge wooden door cracks, splinters and then is hurled across the room slamming into a trophy cabinet, in the now open doorway stands a very angry looking dwarf demanding “who here claims to be my good friend Erdan Menash!”, everyones eyes turn to Brick, sighing inwardly, another of his tall tales gone wrong. Quickly we explain ourselves and he seems less offended when we give him a glimpse of the box and we are whisked away to his laboratory so we can talk in private.
·	His “lab” as such is a large study overcrammed with literally everything, books, science equipment, tools, cobwebs, dust and far too many dirty plates, cups and glasses. He gingerly shifts aside a few stacks of papers allowing us to lean against some desks rather than sit comfortably. We hand the box over and watch as he examines it, telling him about the dwarf and sphinx that we saw on the way here (prompting him to offer several possibilities including that the dwarf may have been him and the box gives control over time, space and of course sphinxes). 
·	However, he explains that the thing seems to be broken so he has no clue what it does, he believes he may be able to fix it but it requires some specialised materials (in this case a rare magically infused metal). Things that he would normally have at hand but doesn’t at the moment, the school was expecting a shipment of “academical supplies” by ship but it seems to have gone missing, believed to have gone off course and run aground into the swamp. The supplies he needs (amidst other things) are on that ship.
·	Taking a scrap of paper he begins scribbling things down, thrusting it into Bricks hands he explains that another professor here at the Lyceum, a Professor Bananamhen’Vett has been put in charge of trying to find people to find the ship and retrieve the supplies, he is recommending us!.
o	We also mention the resistance intelligence that we need to give to the head of the Lyceum but he is clearly enthralled by the box and offers to introduce us only after we help him, we leave the information with him, giving instruction that should something befall us he must take it to the headmaster, he assures us he will and the pouch is tossed onto the pile of so many other odds and ends and we are ushered out the door before we can protest.
·	Asking a few of the students we eventually find our way through the maze like place and reach the door of Bananamhen’Vett – Master of Extreme Zoology! We knock his door and end up having a bit of a chat, he isn’t entirely convinced by the recommendation note but beggars can’t be choosers, we are the only people to respond to his ad. He explains that he was expecting a shipment of “pouncers” a group of thirty wolf sized spiders for his students to study and dissect however its highly likely the crew didn’t take enough precautions and let them escape and that’s the most likely reason for the ship running around.
o	He gives us the directions to where he believes the ship can be found, based upon information gathered from local sailors. Brick uses his silver tongue to negotiate the fee up to 40gp for every live specimen and 35gp for every dead one we can bring back.
·	With the deal shook upon we leave the Lyceum and head back to the Royale to fetch the wagon and along with Eta’Ranth we head into the swamp following the badly scribbled map given to us by the professor. Things are going well as we follow our map until we reach the little pencil triangles doodled on the paper, we quickly discover these to be a bunch of tumble down and plant covered ruins, which our targeted creepy crawlies have settled in.
o	Of course naturally we don’t fully realise this at the time its only when a dog sized spider bounces out from a bush that the gravity of the situation hits us, much like a dog sized spider hits Kane and knocks him over.

·	And so starts our first fight of the swamps, in which Kane entertains himself by swinging about on vines pretending to be Tarzen while we battle big spiders (that we find out are only the young ones…) and are harassed by a creepy looking vine monster later identified as a “Hexing Creeper”, something an evil druid turns into when he’s killed by lightning.
o	http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ff_gallery/50151.jpg
o	With them defeated and our ego’s only slightly bruised we load up the carcasses on to the wagon and push deeper into the ruins, up ahead is a distinctly cobwebby looking ziggurat.
·	At the ziggurat we find a few more of the young pouncers and lurking near the entrance of the stone pyramid is an adult size one which indeed rivalled Dag in size (or would if the dog would come near it for comparison, but he spent most of the time near the wagon barking like the coward he is!).
·	And so the battle begins with Cricket charging in and soon finds there was more than one adult pouncer and quickly finds himself once again used as bait as the arachnid menace (perhaps foolishly) surrounds him, only to be engulfed in fire, lightning, blinding powder and whatever else we can throw at them. 
·	It’s during this spider butchering that something odd comes stomping from the swamp to join the fray, and can only be described as a giant rotting tree stump that clomps by on its roots.
o	http://www.ff14news.com/wp-content/gallery/2010-06-15-trailer-from-e3/ffxiv_e3_2010_trailer-26.jpg
o	With the spiders and stumpy put in their place, we start loading the bodies (but not the stump) aboard the wagon, leaving curious Kane to investigate the pyramid entrance, which he does and finds no treasure but a bunch more spiders and quickly sneaks out to warn us. We retreat to a safe distance and prepare ourselves for a journey inside to tackle what we believe to be the nest!
·	Inside the pyramid we find a long dark corridor into what was once some burial chamber, now a pantry for the Attarcops, it would appear they disturbed a few more things than dust as we also find ourselves battling the undead as well as the arachnid. Ghouls with their parazlying touch join the fray along with Elven Runefire Skeletons (fancy name) who streak about the place as ghostly fire things, setting the floor alight.
o	Things do not go well for us, hemmed in a tight corridor the spiders and ghouls whittle us down as the skeletons zip about the place burning, oh so much burning and poor Elisha is killed, left a charred husk. It’s only with the timely assistance of Eta’Ranth that we survived to tell the tale. 
o	In grim silence we load the dead spiders and our lost companion upon the wagon, thankful that the ship isn’t too far and the majority of the pouncers are accounted for.

·	After a little more wandering the ground turns more bog like, we’re nearing the coast and thus the ship, wedged between two trees she still looks like she’ll float but we have neither the manpower nor inclination to try and put her back to sea.
·	Clambering aboard we search the ship finding the supplies for Dougan, and the remains of the crew, several bound and cocooned about the ship, tiny spiders feasting upon the bloated flesh (which we kill with fire!).
·	Most of the other crates within the hold are smashed but we do find one very sturdy looking crate intact, emblazoned with many “FRAGILE – CONTENTS DANGEROUS – THIS WAY UP” messages and the moment someone gets near it the whole hold is drowned in a thunderous buzzing sound.
·	Finding the manifest we discover that this crate contains many Stirges, a blood sucking flying insect bat like thing, highly dangerous and almost certainly of dubious legality to ship.
o	http://images.wikia.com/forgottenrealms/images/d/d2/Stirge_-_Lars_Grant-West.jpg
·	The shipping address says that they were bound for the Royale and sensing a chance to make a little money on the side we decide to complete the delivery, gingerly we drag the crate to the wagon and we load the thing as much as possible, taking with us the Stirges, a dead elf and 16 dead spiders spread across the wagon and dragged along by Cricket and Kane on hastily made sleds.

·	It’s quite late in the evening by the time we reach the Lyceum but the place is locked up tight. Kane tries knocking on the door but gets nothing but an electric shock for his trouble. WE continue on to the lodge, sending the bard in first to make contact with the barman about his missing Stirges, he directs Brick to a piratical looking shady dealer who guides us to one of the more secretive stable areas of the lodge and we help unload the Stirges for him, earning ourselves a nice bonus of 300gp.
·	
·	Brick ever in the mood for illicit fun asks about saunas, massages and other relaxation services offered by the lodge… *nudge nudge, wink wink*. The pirate looking fellow says ok to the first two, the lodge handles though, but if we’re looking for something more “adventurous” he knows of a place within the town. Only Brick is interested and the man writes down an address on a small card and hands it to the Bard, our business concluded he escorts us back to the main lodge.
·	The rest of us preferring a more “regular” relaxation make use of the lodge’s facilities and get good nights sleep… Leaving Brick to head into town alone, returning the next morning looking a little worse for wear, perhaps a lot more world weary and a deeply unsettling look across his face that is quickly wiped aside by a wry conspiratorial grin.


A night of adventure – as told by Brick, bard of great renown
After returning the Stirges to the Royale, Brick works his charm on the owner for an increased reward. The first thing he tries is to get an upgrade on his room; unfortunately all the rooms on the second floor are unavailable. Ever one to try his luck he suggests that rooms on the third floor would also be acceptable. The barkeep thinks for a moment and says “i don't think that you would fit in well with the people upstairs". 

Never one to back down easy, the bard tries a change of tact, asking about massage. The bar keeps thinks for a moment before writing an address on a piece of paper saying “go to this address and tell them that I sent you". 

Brick quickly gets himself in order before eagerly trotting his way to the address. When he finally gets there he knocks on the door and a hatch opens up at head height revealing a pair of eyes. "What do you want" the face asks. Brick reaches into his pocket and fishes out the letter he was given. A hand snakes through the hatch and takes the letter. It slams shut and there is the sound of multiple locks being unbolted. The door opens and Brick steps inside and now able to see the doorman, he sees strangest thing brick has seen for a while. The ogre that stands before him has really hunched shoulders giving the impression that his head is actually in his chest. 

The door-ogre leads him through to the next chamber, and where the first room was dingy and smelly, the second is set out in complete luxury. The door shuts behind him soundlessly and before him stands an old woman, who asks "what can we do for you then?” Brick fishes into his pocket and gives her the note. Her eyes glance quickly over the paper “you must have done something really special for him to give you our services. What sort of things do you have in mind? Something normal or perhaps you’d like to try shall we say something a little more adventurous". 

The goliath finds himself with an important choice, atop his shoulders rest the conjurations of his conscience, the left speaks "if we must be here just choose something normal so we can leave quickly!” the right counters immediately, his voice brimming with excitement "are you crazy we can have anything we want, choose the adventure and all our pleasures can be seen to!", spurred to action the bard realise his mouth is moving before his brain has fully decides its option, and he has agreed. He fells an odd feeling in his stomach as a little bit of his goodness slips away. "I’ll go for the adventure".

The old woman smiles, a look of sincere confidence on her face as she reaches towards a desk removing two ledgers, handing it over “So what do have in mind, we can cater to all manner of tastes. Where do yours start, Man or Woman?” concern floods the bards mind, but he responds quickly “woman”, the old continues he smiles and hands the red ledger to him. “Now you choose” she says, bony fingers opening the book in his hands, each page filled with imagines of “women”. Brick opens the first one and is amazed by the images he sees. The people in the pictures look like they have been created for specific purposes. One picture shows a girl with many orifices for pleasuring more than one partner, while another has got two mouths. Some of the orifices have teeth while others don’t. Others have tentacles, Brick flicks through the images until he gets to a picture of one he likes the look of. The old woman replies "excellent choice just step through the door opposite. 

Roughly thirteen hours later Brick arrives back at the Lodge with a limp in his stride. His companions try to find out what happened last night but he replies by saying "You wouldn't believe me if I told you". Later that day he thinks back to his encounters last night and it occurs to him that the prostitute that he spent the night with had been mentality dominated into being willing and waiting. The thought stays with him for just a moment and quickly flutters from his mind, forgotten or un-dwelled-upon. He feels a sudden cold breeze pass through him, almost like a little piece of his soul cracked off and been blown away. The smile returns to his face and goes on through the rest of the morning grinning as if in a dream. His thoughts turn inward, to himself and how he should find a way of changing his own body in a similar way to increase his pleasure even more.


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## RangerWickett

First of all, that end bit is a little sad and creepy.

Second, what the hell is that tree thing in the picture?


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## Colmarr

RangerWickett said:


> First of all, that end bit is a little sad and creepy.




The whole end bit is majorly creepy. Is that from WotBS, or is that Eccles' personal DMing proclivities showing through?



RangerWickett said:


> Second, what the hell is that tree thing in the picture?




Judging by the watermark in the bottom right, it's something from Final Fantasy 14.


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## Eccles

I didn't write the module with a biomantic brothel in it!

Also, damn straight it's creepy. It's a biomantic brothel where half the occupants are dominated. You wanted pleasant?

Oh, and the guy playing Brick is (a) interested in biomancy, has (b) been paying for 'massage' in half the towns on the way down here (don't ask me why, he just decided to...), and (c) is the sort of person who can't leave a button un-pressed... Even the big red ones on yellow and green backgrounds covered in warning signs and 'do not press'. He's fun to DM for...


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## RangerWickett

Oh yeah, the brothel is in the adventure. Eccles just turned up the creep factor knob a bit, and his player reacted in a rather un-heroic way.

The folks behind it are supposed to be bad guys. Who wants a community of mages without a few villains and madmen, drunk on their own power?


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## Eccles

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea - but I couldn't think of a way to have a dominated mutant brothel without it being creepy. At least I made it exclusive and put a guard on the door! And there were velvet drapes! They're not *always* creepy!


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## Eccles

* Our day once again starts with a lavish breakfast at the Royale interviewing potential replacements for Elisha, but it’s a rather poor turn out consisting of two brooding rangers, an inept thief who introduced himself as Branwig Ninetoes, and the two serving Halflings (eager to flee their life of hog roasting drudgery and see the world).

* We were about to call the whole thing off and get on with some brave adventuring when we found a mysterious Tiefling stood at our table. When we asked his skillet he said nothing, when we asked his occupation he still said nothing, so we asked him his name and he replied “the Namegiver called me Silas, you may call me that” and sat down and started eating the leftovers. It would appear we had picked up another stray. o http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRdGPS6DhPaYYviLLw1XbYqnqaCJVA_NrZB96kk8ClhQ1F4gjS7&t=1

* With our fast broken, empty spot filled and the return of the bard we set about our day’s business. We retrieve the wagon from the Royale’s stables and head off to the Lyceum and is while we are travelling through the town that we spot a fleeting shape streaking through the sky above, Til’jan. She seemed to be fluttering from building to building carrying a sack, and as quick as she came she is gone.

* Curious, we follow her and trace her to a little market square not too far away, we find her stood atop a statue of a lion throwing sweet breads and spice buns to wayward children. She spies us and when he bag is empty she comes over, we ask about her search for Ettan-Eefi and she has reached a bit of a dead end. She hopes to speak to the Wayfarers or failing that someone at the Lyceum to see if they know of his whereabouts, so she joins us as that is where we are heading.

o The band of children follow our little procession much to the annoyance of Kane and Urien, as they call and sing and generally thank the “bird lady” over and over for her treats.

* As we are nearing the Lyceum we hear a strange and yet familiar song echoing through the streets and a green haired gnome steps jauntily around a corner singing the song of forms. Til’Jan rushes over to him and the pair seems very pleased to see each other, shaking hands and quickly hugging. “I never thought to see another Seela” says the gnome, introducing himself as Gilva, a member of the wayfarers and head of student affairs at the lyceum.

o The pair talk quickly about all things fey and faerie and then Til’Jan asks him about Ettan-Eefi, it turns out that Gilva knew him but hasn’t seen him for a long time now, some thirty years. He went in search of the Aquila, a temple of Old Sequen (the ruins deep in the harbour of the current Seaquen). He thought whatever was in the temple could aid the forest, a magical fountain.

o He tells her (and thus us) that more information could be found within the lyceums libraries, he can make the arrangements and so our merry bands grows in size once more, with singing faeries, gnomes and children in our sprawling wake to the Lyceum.

* Finally reaching the large college we spy a crowd, gathered around an odd looking bald fellow (identified as Perkins Frankheart by Gilva) speaking out against the lyceum, telling tales that they have lured the refugees here to bolster their “human shield” against Ragesia.

o Perhaps angered by public speaking, the singing children, or just a bad day but Urien takes great offence with the public speaking of Perkins and engages in his own debate, quickly proving that he can shout loudest, and the public opinion sways from one mans speech against the Lyceum to the Paladins speech of Bahumet and all he’s done for us. Without an audience the bald man walks away defeated.

* Finally we enter the school and find Bananamhen’Vett to deliver his dead spiders, as expected he tries to ignore our little deal, offering us first the original price and it’s only with

a bit of prodding that he honours the agreed price of thirty-five gold per spider. With that concluded we see if he’s interested in the body of the Hexing Creeper as well, but “no, certainly not, I suggest a temple and having it interred!” is his response and so we leave him to his spiders and go off in search of Rambousen.

* As we approach his laboratory there is a muffled explosion and a great deal of smoke emanating from within, we decide to wait in the corridor and soon enough the dwarf strides through the pinkish smoke with a magical bubble covering his slightly singed face. He calls for a few unlucky students to busy themselves airing out his lab and he takes us to one of the staff rooms, he points towards a dented but steaming hot urn “refreshment?” he proffers after filling a battered looking mug, finally dropping his charm and his voice loses its echoing glamour.

* We hand over the tools and materials that he asked for and he reaches deep into one pocket fishing out two shining platinum pieces. “so now you can fix the box and find out what it does?” we ask “oh that, no not quite… you see I was there tampering with the thing when I had a surprise visit from Commander Zavius, he was most curious about the box, curious chap in general I’ve always said, anyways he has the box now, keen to meet the chaps the brought it here” he explains. He then rolls up his sleeves, tenses his hands and performs a little “mundane” magic, some well practiced sleight of hand produces a tidy little piece of white card, stamped with black ink. “But ignore the box, those documents you left” “the ones you had no time for” “no… well that’s to say yes… those, but I did look and you were right, they are very important, if I had known wouldn’t have sent you into the swamp after that boat, would’ve taken you straight to the big cheese himself, and that’s where we’re off to now!”.

* Rambousen leads us through the many winding corridors of levels of the lyceum steadily going up and up, lazily kicking doors open and stomping passed whoever raises protest, until finally he stops at one set of doors and knocks politely, and then pushes the doors open, it would appear we’ve reached the top and find ourselves within the headmasters private study. Here we meet Simian Gohanach (the master of the Lyceum) and Kianen Steckhart (a dwarf) who is the head of the recently formed War Department.

o The trio asks many questions about the information and our ordeals to bring it here and for once we mostly honest (or as honest as Brick can be). Satisfied they ask us to watch and wait; they have several rituals that need to be cast to make our information useful to them. With much muttering, finger wiggling and awkward looking gestures the pages spread across the desk start to rise and sort themselves, binding themselves together like a book with only its spine, coverless.

o Their ritual complete the trio cast furtive glances between each other, obviously some mental game of rock, paper, scissors as finally Kianen gathers he has been picked as the scapegoat and steps forward to turn the blank first page to reveal the juicy titbits within. When he doesn’t explore the other two scuttle up behind him and read over his shoulder “hmmm supernal… written by Krevan, second in command to Leska, and there is her seal of approval”. Lembit wanders over form a quartet of chattering voices, each reading snippets before they turn the pages over.

o The book seems split into two sections; the first is a large (almost impossibly large) list of names of arcane spell users, targets for the Scourge to be caught and detained. The second (and somewhat smaller) is a gathered array of myths, stories and legends regarding The Trillith, and our cadre of learned academics looks to each other, all looking as stumped as one another, like the knowledge within the book they can only clutch at rumour and not even solid rumour as to who or what a Trillith is.

* Simian requests that they keep the book for a while so they can study it further, as we have no direct use for it we agree; hopefully they can make more sense of it, certainly more than we can. We ask for access to the Lyceums wide libraries (so we can find more information about the Aquila) and they are more than happy to give us guest passes, we sort out the details with their head of Student Affairs, and Gilva is more than happy to give us a guided tour of the place.

o Brick, Silas and Lembit quickly get to work sorting through old maps of the area, back before the catastrophe that formed what is now the harbour area. The ancient city of Seaquen once stretched across the whole area and we manage to find the rough location of the temple. Armed with a copy of the map and matching natural landmarks we believe that we should hopefully be able to pinpoint the rough area of the harbour where the temple would’ve sunk!

* On our way to the Dock Area we overhear a town crier shouting more news from the north:

o The First Ragesian army has ceased formal hostility due to the bad weather, they have set up camp to ride it out, now the only informal hostility performed by the army is the pillaging and looting to sustain themselves through until the weather breaks and they can go back to proper war… A huge fleet of Ragesian ships has been sighted and is believed to be trying to rendezvous with the first army.

o The Second Ragesian Army currently occupies Gate Pass.

o The Third Ragesian Army is on the way to Dassan but bad weather has stalled their progress.

o The Fourth is preparing to invade The Shalhalisti by going around the mountains and soon the elves will be fighting their war on two fronts as the mountain passes at Gate Pass will be used to also launch an invasion.

o No news of the other Ragesian Armies or Fleets….

* We spend a few hours at the docks pacing back and forth with out map trying to get a better feel for how the land looked back then, and a few chats to local sailors rewards us with some “old man tales” of the harbour, where at certain areas during low tide you can see the tips of the ruins, and if you hold your head underwater you can even hear the bells ringing!

o We feel confident that we’ve narrowed down the temples location to small and searchable area of the bay; all we need now is a ship. Which shouldn’t be too hard as the whole dock area is crammed with ships and more anchored within the bay and more arriving each day.

o However we realised we are woefully unprepared for actually reaching the temple once we are sailing over it, so we head back to the Lyceum to see if there is a magical solution and Gilva happily points us in the direction of a small and reliable ritual that allows underwater breathing, the only snag is that it will take many hours of study and training to memorise. Brick is eager to improve his plethora of abilities and we pay for a copy of the ritual and send him back to the Royale to learn it (and we’re thankful for the distraction that will keep him from any more “adventures” within the seedier spots of Seaquen).

* Now Bard-less we decide a visit to the Commander is in order, to introduce ourselves and find out why he is so keen to meet us. Heading over to the towns main barracks we spy Commander Zavius (a dwarf) shouting orders at a bunch of inexperienced militia, trying to march in formation. Outside the gates we spot the increasingly familiar sight of Perkins delivering anothering another of his anti-lyceum speechs, he is quicker to admit defeat as Urien strides towards him and he departs as fast as his feet can take him.

* With his drilling complete we approach the captain and introduce ourselves and we quickly find ourselves in his apartments that mostly comprise of a large office with a little bedroom off to one side, he happily busies himself preparing tea while we have a snoop around old campaign trophies (such as a battered suit of armour on a stand and two impressive looking Axes over the mantelpiece).

* The centre of his office is dominated by a large game board filled with little carved pieces. “ah so you’ve taken interest in my conquest board, do you play?” he asks and quickly explains the rules that only Lembit seems to remember (no doubt having played it many times in his many lifetimes), this is his own variation on the common game, the board and tokens represents nearby kingdoms and their estimated forces.

o As he explains this Kane tells him helpfully of the Ragesian scouts that we encountered in the swamps along with the inquisitor and wagon outside of the town. A frown crosses the dwarf’s brow as he hears the news, jots a few notes on a well scribbled pad and rearranges a few pieces on his board to take into account our new information.

* After his explanation he challenges us to a game, explaining there are room for four players and that he’ll take the currently weakest side (that of Seaquen & the Lyceum), only Lembit takes him up on his offer and takes Ragesian forces. The match takes several hours to play, each side coming up with interesting and surprising gambits but clearly the odds are in Lembits favour and quickly the weight of numbers takes its toll upon Zavius who puts up a long and bitter fight but eventually he is defeated with a long drawn out sigh. “Every match goes the same way” he says sadly “I’ve yet to find anything that will turn the tide in our favour!”

o During their game we find out that while Zavius is the commander of the militia and a great strategist he is not in overall command of the defence of Seaquen, he answers to Magister Lorb Vortberd and we should introduce ourselves to him, perhaps we could be of further service, issues his militia can’t easily deal with. However it is late by the time their game is finished so we return to the Royale to find Brick still toiling away over books and scrolls.

* In the morning we meet up with Torrent over breakfast and tell her of our plans to hire a boat, she share the knowledge that her mentor Lee Sidoneth is currently in charge of the Naval Defenses, she is sure that she can wrangle a boat out of him to aid our search and that she herself is an experienced sailor.

* However our boating plans are put on hold until we have seen the Magister, so we head into town and find his offices, they stand out by the armed guards filtering a long queue of peasants into and out of it at a fairly quick pace; it would seem the Magister runs a brisk trade! Nearby a town crier shouts about another fire and that any with information regarding the recent spout of arsons will be rewarded handsomely (based on usefulness of information).

* Soon we are inside the building, nearing our turn and we get to see Lorb (another dwarf) in all his grumbling glory as he blusters away either answering peasants’ questions with quick blunt truth or shouting at them until their nerve breaks and they hurry for the exit.

* “So” says Lorb, his stern grey eyes looking over us “more refugees come complaining!” “We’re adventurers!” states Kane boldly, the dwarf snorts a little “raise your complaints so can I get on with hearing more of the same useless blather from the idiots behind you!” and before any of us can protest continues on his rant, complaining about the refugees in general but specifically focussing his bile upon those of a religious nature, highlighting the name of one Lora’Bek or “that idiot wench with the giant eagle” as he often refers to her and her “crackpot ideas to build a temple for them, that’s all we need them putting down more roots!”.

* With his vitriolic speech coming to a close he points at us in turn “and as if I didn’t have enough on my plate without these Ragesian Terrorist trying to burn the place down around me!” sensing an opening Kane steps forwards and manages to squeeze enough words of our dealings with the nearby Ragesian scouts into the conversation that he sees us in a new light.

o Supposedly a Ragesian Terror Cell called “The White Worms” has been claiming responsibility of local warehouse fires, their attempts to destabilize Seaquen. He believes his own militia is incompetent and tahts why these blaggards haven’t been found and no progress at all has been made on the case and offers us a substantial reward for stopping the fires.

o Getting the address of the latest warehouse fire we decide to postpone our boat trip much to Til’Jan’s annoyance, but stopping the arsonists seems a more urgent task!

* Searching the warehouse we discover some curious animal tracks amongst the wreckage, tracks that Lembit strongly believes were left while the building was burning and not before hand. These tracks (most likely rats) disappear beneath the wooden floorboards and vanish into the dirt.

o A closer examination of the tracks reveals trace amounts of fire based magic, this conjures a very ancient image into the Deva’s mind.A very powerful fire mage that caused some great catastrophe that was responsible for destroying most of the city and the ground beneath it leaving a huge crater that is now the harbour.

o Kane drools a little at the idea of an ancient and powerful mages tomb literally beneath his feet and when digging at the cracks proves ineffectual he suggests the sewers! We split into two teams, those who wish to search the Lyceums library for any information upon the mage and his tomb and Kane who wants to search the sewers (and the unofficial team 3 that comprises of Cricket and Urien who simply follow the rogue to make sure he doesn’t do anything too stupid).

* Library: The fire mage was the town’s founder, no one seems to know why or how he caused the explosion that destroyed most of the city, but it’s believed that he was buried underneath the molten rock.

* Sewers: Kane does indeed find an entrance to the sewers nearby but doesn’t want to go in alone, so we wait and Urien talks to some nearby tramps.

* Tramps: They saw no one coming or going from the warehouse when it caught fire “but those white worms are like ghosts in the night aren’t they!” but we do learn there was another warehouse burnt down a week ago not too far from here, so we investigate that.

* Warehouse #2: In the second warehouse we find a locked door that survived, with his picks Kane quickly springs the cheap lock and we push the door open to a room that seems to have avoided worst of the fire. Inside we find some crates containing rotting vegetables with more rat trails, this time leading to a hole in the stone wall, further examination of the stone supports the theory the rats were on fire when they came out of the hole. We deduce that some kind of fire rat came up into the warehouse lured by the food and the fires spread as they bit their way into wooden packing crates!

o In order to confirm this theory however it does seem that a trip into the sewer is required and only the rogue seems thrilled at this idea, however his eagerness lasts only a few minutes of wading through the unmentionable and a solid two hour search for secret tunnels or entrances into ancient tombs ends in a severe case of boredom. Mere moments from giving up and turning back we find a tunnel that

smells some how… worse than the other parts of the sewer and discover this is in fact because everything is burnt and charred. At the end of the tunnel we spy several burning rats, their fiery eyes starring at us in defiance but bolt as we try to approach and vanish into smaller pipes and cracks. There is however no sign of any one else that could be in charge of them, such as a Ragesian Terror Cell, we decide the White Worms are a farce and that rats being rats (fiery or otherwise) was the cause of the fires.

* We return to the Magistrate and reveal to him our findings; he seems happy enough to believe our findings and thinks that even his idiot men should be able enough to arrange for rat poison and better storage of the town’s food supplies. The demeanour of the town seems to soften as the Town Criers spread the news of the rats being the cause of the problem and not the nefarious Ragesians.

o We are rewarded with a sizable amount of coin and a magical treasure which goes to Lembit, we are all offered Deputy Badges (along with the weekly wage of 1gold piece!) however only Lembit, Kane and Urien take up the magistrates offer.

* With a good portion of the day spent, far too late for any aquatic adventures we agree the search for the temple will have to wait until tomorrow. With no other immediate leads and keen to flash their new badges, Urien, Kane and Lembit head in to the Refugee camp to “patrol” while the rest of us return to the Royale.

o They wander the camp, the broad grin never leaving the rogues face as he slides up to random refugees, keen to abuse his new found power “do you have a permit for that?” he begins each time, watching the refugees squirm under his gaze as they profess they didn’t know they were breaking any law, he toys between watching them work extra fast to escape his gaze or with promises to head to the magistrate first thing in the morning to collect their Permits for “dog ownership”, “carrying amounts of water between three and five galleons without intent to supply” and “owning a barrow with more than one but less than four wheels”.

o In the distance they overhear the now familiar voice of Perkin’s up on his little crate addressing people who mostly don’t seem interested in listening. He doesn’t spot them advance and is shocked when the paladin strides out of the crowd and grabs his wrist “I’m arresting you on the charge of disturbing the peace”, wide eyed Perkins looks to flee but has no where to go.

o The trio of deputies then strong arm a confession from him, he was put up to making these speeches by some people that he met in a pub, a Half-elf and Halfling named Serbahn and Makom, when questioned why “they tell me the truth, how things really are!” he replies amidst frightened sobs, he’s been speaking with them for the last few months.

o Urien threatens him with life imprisonment unless he stops making these speeches and out of fear the man complies, running for his life when he’s eventually released from the paladins vice like grip.

* In the morning we are finally prepared to head out into the bay and find the temple, gathering our things we head down to the towns docks, Torrent leading the way to her Mentors abode when we are accosted by another one of Lorb’s deputies, he hails us pleasantly and says he has a message for us from someone named Jess (the name doesn’t ring any bells) her message comes from Beuron, the priest and resistance member back in gatepass and that we should contact her, more information has been left at a house, and he gives us the address.

* Our days plan already decided we ignore the message for the time being, we must reach the temple area at low tide to aid our search, we let Torrent lead us on to Sidoneths’ place and find a note attached to the door “will be out back feeding lulu, let yourself in. Lee.” We head

inside and follow the sound of people talking and find Lee talking to an odd couple of people, one a Half-elf (that he refers to as Brutus, but his appearance strongly resembles the description of a person called Malebicus that we found in the swamp witches hovels) and someone / thing that had been augmented by Biomancy (extra arms, odd shaped body and skintones). They quickly conclude their business as we shuffle in and depart as Torrent introduces us to Lee and he seems very sincere, offering refreshments and if we wish to meet “lulu”.

* He guides us out the back of the house into basement / sunken cave style affair, at first we think its some sort of private dock as it leads straight down into the harbour but no boat is docked there and soon we discover that its an enclosure, Lulu is a “giant” pink and orange squid that reeks of magic. She would appear to be both a pet and a grand experiment in the field of Biomancy.

o Most of us are slightly confused by the neon squid, Brick is practically giddy with seeing such raw Biomancy at work, while Dag voices his concern with punctual barking until Cricket takes him back into the other room and a few fishy treats from Sidoneth sooths him. But quickly Lee’s attention is brought back to the main room to stop Kane from tormenting the animal.

* Still things stay civil enough for Torrent to convince him to lend us a boat, which she’ll captain and he guides us to a serviceable looking boat outside “It’s a bit leaky so with all of you in you’ll need to bail but she’ll serve your needs I’m sure” he offers as advice, reinforcing the comment about bailing as the heavens open before we’ve even made ready to set sail. Still the tide is right so we must leave or not at all, and soon under command of “captain” torrent we’re out into the bay, sailing towards where we believe the temple to be located.

* While it takes an hour or two of sailing back and forth we finally spy the tip of a ruined tower through the water, we drop the anchor and Brick begins to prepare the water breathing ritual, granting us the ability to breath water as if air for a couple of hours. And into the water we go, some dragged down into the depths by the weight of their armour while others must clamber ever deeper down the anchors line, but eventually we reach the bottom and the entrance to the temple, its wide doors closed shut.

* Kane quickly checks the doors and can find no sign of any nefarious traps and uses one of his picks to flick the latch, suddenly the double doors lurch inwards, a mass of bubbles escape the room as the ocean swallows it and we are all sucked into the temples antechamber.

o The doors swing slowly shut behind us, a loud click from ahead draws our attention to a second set of doors, now seemingly unlocked that the seal is back in place.

* We open the second set of doors and the weight of the water flings them open, emptying into the temple leaving the place flooded to around waist height, in the room beyond luminescent glows start to appear in the darkness. As if reacting to their presence the walls start to glow, lighting the room and fully reveal the glowing creatures inside. Near the back of the temple was a large fountain but did not appear to be active, any water in the room came from our entrance.

o “Giant” Luminous Red Crabs (size of a row boat) with vibrant blue feathery plumes erupting from their shells like peacock tails, and massive claws obviously. We discover they can swat their tails around and attempt to knock people over into the water, and Kane finds out the painful way that they can spit some form of acidic venom quite a distance.

o Bright Glowing Green Squid (about the size of a wolf) that would grapple and pull people under the water with their hooky tentacles (however seeing as we can breath underwater their attempts to drown us was hampered somewhat). We did discover that they are quite nimble with their tentacles however as Brick attempted

to use his new boots to “walk” up the side of the temple and hide in the dry but was literally plucked from the wall and dragged into the room.

o Finally a bipedal octopus man thing of many colours that liked to slip under the water and generally swish at people with his barbed tentacle hands.

o Lembit is quick to point out the potential obvious when he states that all of these creatures has suffered (or been blessed in Brick’s view) from the effects of Biomancy!

* Urien, Brick and Kane take a savage beating from the aquatic menace with the rest of us walking away relatively unscathed. The stick of seawater and dead fish pervade the temple now so we hastily search for any treasure, sadly it seems to be lacking.

o However not wanting to leave two tonnes of crab meat behind we agree to transport the crabs back up to the surface and try to sell them (either as food or to the zoologist at the Lyceum).

* However Til’Jan lets out an excited squeal as she discovered Etan’Eefi’s mark upon one of the walls etchings that describes the Aquiline Heart, an ancient artefact (supposedly the heart of a giant eagle, torn out by an evil dragon), it would appear her erstwhile mentor has been and gone, the temple leading him towards the heart. She now hopes that meeting with the Wayfarers can put her on the same path as he.

* We leave the temple and Kane uses the last few moments to carve “empty, don’t bother!” upon the wooden entrance and we start hauling the dead crabs back up to the surface and head home.

o Sidoneth agrees to be a broker for us on the selling of the crabs to the local markets and we make 50gp and a mental note to avoid the fish pie at the Royale for the next few days.

* Back at the royale the place is a little more subdued than typical, the normal rabblerousing Vikings are inside quietly drinking, nursing more than a few welts and bruises. When we ask it appears they picked a fight with some monks “they wear dresses and carry sticks, we are strong, brave and massive, how did we lose!” seems to be the typical response to any questions. Their leader Sven was beaten senseless and has still not come around from the severe kicking he received.

o Kane and Urien wish to pay these “peace disturbing monks” a visit in the morning when they do their morning patrol of the Refugee Camp.

* In the morning we get directions to the Monks from the Vikings, they have established themselves in a small clearing in the forest well away from the noise of the Refugees, here the air is clean and only the gentle gong of wind chimes can be heard. An aged bald woman sits cross legged in pale blue robes, eyes closed and hands clasped. Her eyelids flutter open as Kane steps lightly into the clearing; her stern grey eyes watch him as he glides from a light step to a purposeful stride, Urien stomps in behind him, the rest of us follow.

o The deputies and the monk make peaceful enough small talk, she ignores any goading of there’s and she summons a younger monk, a young man who introduces himself as Three Weeping Ravens, the current voice of the order (so the other monks can get on with the serious business of finding enlightenment instead of talking to scruffy adventurers). He tells us a little of his order, the Order of Echoed Souls, they were originally a Shalhalesti order but fled their temple during a previous war, only to settle in Sindar. However much like before with war looming they have relocated again, the forty monks that make up their order.

o Kane asks what their order believes, to which the monk replies “we seek the infinite”, the rogue replies with a smile “me too, I just take it a bit at a time”.

o Finding no laws broken and only us disturbing their peace we depart and head off to the squalor of the refugee camp.

* This being our first real trip to the camp we finally start to see the divides and boundaries of the many factions that make up the inhabitants, split by country, race, and even religion.

* Soon we find ourselves at the heart of the camp, a well built (by camp standards) hut with a giant eagle resting outside, a thick chain around its neck keeps it grounded, a large sign with hastily painted letters reads “Dangerous Animal – Keep Away”. As we approach the giant bird begins to speak but is quickly interrupted a woman (that we assume to be Lora’bek) cradling a huge multibladed polearm and bids the eagle (called Takeshi) to be quiet.

o She introduces herself and tells us she is the leader of the Aquilline Heart, a Multi-Deific faith for the just and true. Obviously this brings her fairly high standing with all the refuges (as everyone bends a knee to someone or thing higher than them).

o She tells us of her vision; a grand temple to all gods to unite the refugees, there is far too much infighting and distraction amongst the faithful within the camp. She hopes that when people accept and embrace her idea, united by a faith they will unite into a people ready to fight a war, rather than a squabbling group who wishes to build eight different temples and keep everyone divided.

* While not all of us agree with her thoughts, enough of us do that we agree to help her try to unite the faiths.

o With us on board she lays down a plan of action, she believes they can all be swayed if they can be convinced to hear of the true benefits, something she and her agents have so far been unable to do, perhaps a bard of great renown can…

o As she tells us about each of the main sects that make up the camp:

o Four of the sects are Ragesians who have fled their own city because of the war they are made up of the Philosophers, Savages, Hospitallers and the Druids.

* They quickly put aside their differences when convinced that a show of unity against their home country will better far than division, that the temple will be an act of defiance against all that is wrong with Ragesia.

o The Dassani Dwarves who worship their ancestors.

* That the temple building itself will be a monument to their ancestors, a visible reminder of the skill and craftsmanship of the dwarves, passed down from generation to generation.

o The Seaquenites while not a faction within the camp themselves still hold a huge sway with their worship of the sea and its mistress.

* Are mostly convinced that a project as large as the unified temple would give the refugees something to do other than sitting around in squalor and they’d get to keep the temple as their own when everyone else finally returns to their countries.

o The Sindari Exiles worship the gods of sorcery.

* ??

o The only group that don’t fall before the mastery of Bricks silver tongue are the Ostaggar Mercenaries. Their Chaplin leader refuses an audience with Brick, his god is strong and would only bow to a stronger, a test of strength is in order, honest battle will decide!

* Brick skips lightly out of the Mercenary Chaplin’s abode, unwilling to fight the man himself “our champion is outside” he coos, the Chaplin following as his own followers begin to muster to witness the challenge. With an overly dramatic bow the bard points towards the Paladin, strong and steel clad in his Armour “Come Holy Warrior!” beckons the Chaplin, the paladin shakes his head with a small smile, “no, not me” and steps aside to reveal the barbarian standing behind him “the names Cricket, seems we have a differing o’ opinion” he says stepping forward, pulling the battered hat from his head and casually dropping onto Dags head who barks enthusiastically, as the Half-Orc sticks out one meaty paw to shake the Chaplin’s hand.

* He swallows slightly as the barbarian draws his own blade, a good two feet longer than the Chaplin’s own great sword, and with a wet thud he plants the tip of the blade into the mud and begins to pray “Let this blade be your voice Moon Mother, speak through me and let your will be known”, across the way the Chaplin says his own prayers, with both ready their steel begins its great and bloody dance.

* It is but a few moments later the Chaplin finds himself staring up, the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, the wide grin of Cricket looms over him “seems Sehanine wants herself a temple, you agree?” offering the man his arm “my god says similar it would seem” he says with a begrudging smile as he is hauled from the mud back to unsteady feet. In the darkening sky above the chill white of the moon looks down and is glad.


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## RangerWickett

Man, Seaquen is a busy place.

I now kinda want a wizard whose arcane sigil translates to "Empty, don't bother!" so he can place it on dungeons after he loots them. And preferably he'll be a little dim, so people can say the phrase refers to his head.


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## Colmarr

Eccles said:


> * It is but a few moments later the Chaplin finds himself staring up




Out of interest, did you play this combat out using powers, or did you abstract it somehow?

If the former, how long did it take and how did the other players react? Boredom? Interest? Snack run?

If the latter, how did you do it?


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## Eccles

We played it out in full using powers - I'd expected it to be a tough fight, but was guaging it from when I played this module and my paladin won the fight on 5 HP after about a dozen rounds. 

Playing it in full with a combat-heavy barbarian? 3 rounds, tops. It was an absolute cakewalk for the PC. So they just got to watch him do his thing, which was a terrifying sight. 

Didn't even last long enough for them to place bets!


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## Eccles

11th June

* It is but a few moments later the Chaplin finds himself staring up, the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, the wide grin of Cricket looms over him “seems Sehanine wants herself a temple, you agree?” offering the man his arm “my god says similar it would seem” he says with a begrudging smile as he is hauled from the mud back to unsteady feet. In the darkening sky above the chill white of the moon looks down and is glad.

* Having spent the last week or so aiding Lora’bek in her endeavour to unite the faiths we decide to give ourselves a little break from negotiating, blackmailing and generally threatening people for the afternoon. The weather is as bad as ever and we’re not sure if its stopped raining since we arrived, people seem to just get on with things and don’t let the drizzling rain hamper them too much.

* However it would seem that fate is not content to let us have our lazy afternoon, the street in front of us is clogged thick with people, over the roars and applauses of the crowd it would seem Lora’Bek and Perkins are having a verbal duel, about what we can’t quite work out but obviously Urien is annoyed that Perkins is still spouting his bile and begins trying to muscle his way through the crowd.

* Feeling we’ll have better luck going through the alleys and side streets we start looking for an alternate route through and its down one of these alleyways that we spy the beginnings of a mugging, a dark skinned woman with a drawn blade stalks after an unknowing peasant.

* We follow on at Torrents’ urging and trailing the warrior cleric with Kain loudly plotting of arresting the mugger and “confiscating” any evidence found, we blunder straight into an ambush:

o It would seem the dark skinned warrior woman is the leader of this merry bunch that includes two roguish cutthroats, the “peasant” mark now with a large trident and a weighted net, they are joined by “Mega Miller” a hulking brute of a man in millers garb wielding an oversized stone Pestle.

o Both the warrior woman and the fishermen seem to be able cover themselves in their nets and turn invisible!

* They prove to be quite the diversion but no one is seriously injured and we are slightly shocked to discover that their leader was a demon in disguise, our first clue was that she her blood had an orangey hue to it as it spilled across the floor but quickly faded to normal, and the most obvious was upon her death she collapsed into a pile of Ash. Silas confirms he demonic origins regardless of Kain’s protests that perhaps he just stabbed her “really really” hard with his fire enchanted dagger and that was the cause!

* Sadly the group have no treasure or any notes or messages upon them to link them to anything truly nefarious (but of course demons don’t tend to lead mugging bands!). Our only clue however is the Miller, upon his jerkin is a crest, no doubt something that could lead us towards the mill he worked for and possibly identify him.

o We send Brick out to talk to a few locals of dubious moral fibre and none of them seem to know anything about this group, it would appear they are not a local gang. We do however get the address of the Millers Mill.

* With nothing better to do this evening we head to the mill, the place seems fairly deserted and we spy one of the doors has been left ajar. Kain ventures forth along to slip inside quietly, the place seems deserted but his ears to pick up the sound of faint mumbling coming from an office upon the other side of the mill. He skulks over, and as quiet as a mouse slips the latch of the connecting door, pushing open the tiniest of cracks but is still unable to make out what they’re saying.

o Inside he can see the dark skinned woman pacing back and forth, talking to a group that looks remarkably like those that we met before. He pushes the door open quietly, still careful not to be seen and finally manages to hear “must take steps

against those who defy the empire!”, in reaction he kicks the door open the rest of the way and bravely bellows “you’re all under arrest!” drawing his daggers smoothly, the group ignores him and continues its plotting… the half-orc is confused and doubly so when everyone in front of him suddenly jerks, flickers and then seems to rewind their actions and start again!

o By the time the rest of us have arrived Kain has found a small clear stone set upon the floor that is the source of the illusions, tapping it with his boot causing the illusion to end.

* Content that it is safe we search the rest of the mill trying to find any more hints as to who this group is and while we find a few more empty crates (similar to those we found on the Ragesian Wagon) we find no other papers or documents suggesting why or who they are, other than they wanted us. The contents of the actual mill are a little mouldy so it we assume that work stopped a while ago and it has been their base every since.

o We also find a level 10 item that goes to Silas, as well are 2450 gold pieces.

o Our only thoughts upon the group is that they arranged the illusion to be a lure for an ambush but obviously got tired of waiting for us to discover their secret base and came looking for us instead.

* Slightly wealthier we return to the Royale.

* In the morning we receive a request from Headmaster Simian (of the Lyceum), there is to be a meeting of the War Council at lunch time and our presence is requested.

o To while away the few hours before the meeting we do a little more digging around the mill and the people, our only tangible lead is that that someone heard that the millers mother used to work at the Lyceum as a cleaning lady and was killed in a magical accident there.

* Still with no other solid leads we head to the Lyceum for what is sure to be a riveting council meeting and are shown into one of the lecture halls that overlook the bay. It would seem that all of Seaquen’s prominent names have been invited, along with Lora’Bek to speak for the faiths, Giorgio of the Wayfarers and then representatives of the nearby kingdoms of Dassan, Sindaire and Ostalin.

* Kianen stands to one side, next to a large Shield Guardian Golem, its control rod gripped tightly in his hand.

o The meeting starts with Simian giving rather workmanlike speech, highlighting that the new Emporer of Ragesian, Leska the Supreme Inquisitor has made her wants quite known, to conquer and rule all nations. Our mission, to form a forge large enough to defeat and dethrone her! However he doesn’t know quite how we should start this, and is open to ideas and bids everyone in turn to voice their thoughts.

* Magister Vortberd is quick to voice his opinions, however its mostly complaining about the refugees, his plan involved forming a large police force to keep them in check, everyone one should be questioned!

* Lee Sidoneth goes next talking of the overcrowding of the Harbour and that he has begun directing people to the south side. He believes that we should watch and wait, to measure Ragesia’s next moves and react.

* Commander Zavius believes that Seaquen should form alliances with any and all nations that will join. He reels off grand military schemes involving magical support and guerrilla style counter strikes against the larger Ragesian force. His other comment that raises a few eyes is that he believes the key to our victory lies in an artefact, the Torch of the Burning Sky and that he knows of a specialised group that stands a chance at retrieving it!

o We expect our names to be dropped but it would appear not, he mentions the High Guard of the king of Dassan, but unless a strong alliance is made the king would not relinquish his bodyguards for the quest.

* Katrina (the red headed mage we saved from the swamps and brother to Randell hero of Gate Pass!) muscles in at this point, delivering news from her brother of Gate Pass, which isn’t good. After that she puts our names forwards to try and find the torch, and then generally talks about us and our brave deeds which while impressive do eventually bore the council until eventually Simian must ask her to stop so that the others can speak.

* Lora’Bek goes next and offers nothing of value other than counters to Vortberd’s refugee’s comments; the two begin the argument again until finally shushed by Simian.

* Giorgio is next to speak and mentions the hampering effects of the Burning Sky, providing a brutal demonstration of teleporting a dove across the room and it appearing as nothing but ash. He is sad that the Wayfarers cannot offer much help, they have always been a neutral group, but he personally believes that Guild Mistress Lucking could be convinced to pick a side if the plan was good enough.

o He rounds his little speech off by giving everyone tickets to a special performance upon the Wayfarers theatre boat in a few days time. They have concocted a play that will raise support for the resistance and wish that all the representatives will be able to come to show their support.

* Kiefer, who speaks for Dassan goes next and is straight to the point of his kings views on the refugees coming through his lands, he wishes to remain neutral to Lesker and will not entertain any thoughts or comments that Ragesia is already at war with Dassan even if the king refuses to acknowledge it.

* Granston of Sindaire says that their nation is unable to pledge support at this time with Ragesia so close to their borders. But he says that he has information about the Torch of the Burning Sky, but it is impossible to reach. Essentially trapped in a whirlwind of boiling fire that surrounds Emporer Coaltongues castle, only the dead and undead can be found there.

o A complication that concerns us greatly but doesn’t seem to silence Katrinas insisting comments of our ability.

* Kezar the last to speak, representative of Ostallin (A kingdom that supports itself mostly by the hiring of its impressive armies to other nations). Seems to have no plans to join any form of alliance, they believe the Ragesians are no threat to them. He offers an outrageous deal for any nation, the hiring of their entire military force for one third of their land.

* This naturally triggers an absolutely huge argument and is only halted when a mage attempts to enter the hall, Kianen quickly reacts thrusting his hands forwards and the mage is hurled telekinetically from the room. “Kianen, that was Josef!” blurts Simian, the mage simply shrugs “Josef!” repeats the headmaster as he scurries towards the door to check upon Josef. “Someones coming!” he warns “they flew over the walls, Shalhalesti!” he manages to say before passing out.

* Not long after a part of seven elves in bright silver armour and long luscious flowing robes glide into the room, the last elf in the pile wields a large and impressive flag that he twirls with great fervor. Both Brick and Giorgio wipe tears from their eyes at the sheer DRAMA of their entrance, the rest of us merely squeeze the hafts of our weapons tighter. The leader of their band (and naturally the prettiest of them) introduces herself as Sha’Losha, a princess of the shining lands, her voice as smooth as silk.

* She doesn’t give any time for any formal protest to be spoken before launching into a long and clearly prewritten speech (that we detect contains passages she herself is not comfortable with) that highlights the need for unity, we must join with the Shalhalesti, for only they “a shining star defending the world from darkness” could leader an alliance. Orders have come from her father than a great fleet of seventeen warships are to defend the Seaquens coast.

* It is the King of Shalhalestis’ intention to annex Seaquen and appoint a governor to run the city so that they can judge the purity of their allies. As if suddenly woken from a daze at the

thought of losing land to the elfs the spokesman for Dassan launches his strong and vocal objections to any such thing. Sha’Losha ignores his protest; she has her orders and so does the leader of the fleet and that is to stop all travel into and out of Seaquen by sea and this will remain so until those orders are changed by her father. She shall send a courier to update him as soon as possible but due to lack of teleportation being available the messages will have to be carried by hand. The elves then leave as quickly (and as dramatically) as they entered and a second round of shouting begins.

* When the meeting finally ends, very little seems to have changed in our current predicament other that everyone has agreed to the Theatre trip. We have a private audience with Simian who asks us to help in whatever way we can; it would seem that things are still occurring throughout Seaquen that can be attributed to Ragesian scouts or terror cells.

* The next morning we begin our war upon terror, by going to a pub! However not just any pub (although this idea was certainly raised by many) remembering the names that Perkins gave to us during his “arrest” and the place that they drink we head there. Coming up with a wonderful plan to enter separately, allowing some of us to settle in and watch while our more talkative members can dig some dirt.

o However as Brick has vanished (leaving only a note that he has business to take care of in town) this task is left to Urien and Silas.

* Silas approaches the bar and surreptitiously drops the names Serbahn and Makom to the barman, sliding a few coins across the bar. He learns that the two rarely can be found in here together and that Serbahn can be found “over there” he signals with a flick of his eyes with an added “you didn’t hear this from me right...” nod of his head.

* With a peek in the direction indicated its not hard to pick out Serbahn, clearly a gang leader sat at a little table, his heavies clearly waiting nearby and no doubt other watchers within the bar, doing much the same as we are keeping an eye out.

o Over the next few days we watch the half elf and try to work out the best way to approach him so that we can find his connections if any to the Ragesians.

o He seems to spend the bulk of his time at the bar with lots of unscrupulous types swinging by seemingly at random, a few whispers here and plenty of parcels and purses changing hands under the table.

* Satisfied that he has a feel for how Serbahn works Silas is picked to try and make a first contact. He approaches the half elf, his heavies step in briefly but are quickly waved aside by Serbahn, he seems happy to be approached and invites the tiefling to take a seat and quickly talk turns to business. Silas says that he is looking for work, weaving a little tale of moving from gatepass picking pockets and lifting trinkets on his way down to seaquen and now he’s here he’d like some proper work. Throwing in a few veiled and unveiled insults against the mages of Gate Pass and the Lyceum.

o However things don’t go quite our way, Silas’ story of being a simple thief goes a little awry when Serbahn lifts a platinum piece from the warlock (some of the well earned treasure we all carry). But things thankfully don’t turn violent and Silas leaves the pub without any solid information.

o From their conversation however we believe that Serbahns motivations against the lyceum (regarding perkins at least) seems purely based around money rather than any ideology. But a dead lead is still a dead lead, onto the Halfling.

* The Halfling proves a tougher nut to crack and the first two days of throwing his name around the gutters of Seaquen turn up no more than a few red herrings, and it’s only when we move up market a little that we have more luck. Quite a number of merchants we speak to seem to recognise the name, but can offer no solid information and its only by chance

that an impoverished street whore trying to ply her trade during the day overhears and says she knows.

o “Makom owns “the House”” she says, we all look a little clueless, she says fixing us with her good eye (her other droops) and winks or tries to “I’m sorry we don’t know what you mean” replies Urien. “The House, the best you know, in the city, it’s a brothel! I tried to get in there, but they only take the pretty girls, said they’d fix my eye for them with magic if I could pay them two hundred gold” she says, her voice tensing with dreams of a promised life… to work in the best whorehouse in the city…

o When we ask where it is she demands 200gp for the address which Urien is ready to hand over, however Kain and Cricket object about paying a peasants fortune for something they believe can be found elsewhere. The whore spits at us, glaring with her good eye as she runs off.

* Still the Paladin gets to make a smug smile and hold it as it takes us another two days of coercing merchants and eventually strong arming one into submission before we get the address of The House and a name to use as a referral.

* The sun is starting to set when “Sir Ulf Hednar” and his “Squires” approach the large black townhouse that sits back a little from the nearby buildings. Rogueish types are clearly visible on nearby rooftops with short bows and crossbows in their hands; the district is certainly on edge. But we decide to press on, heading up to the large stout black oak and iron studded door, noting the complete lack of windows upon the ground floor.

* Urien hammers a few times on the door, the central hatch opens quickly filled with a massive face who grunts a few questions “who are you? Who’s your referral? Do you have a card” all goes silent until the hatch slams shut, and the sound of many heavy bolts are yanked back and a huge hunched looking ogre “just you” he points with one huge finger. It would seem the “squires” are to sit this one out and we arrange to wait at a nearby wine bar called the Opulent Opal.

* The paladin steps inside, scraping passed the bulky door ogre, now fully seeing that he isn’t hunched, his head is set within his chest. “That way” grunts the ogre, closing and re-bolting the huge door. Leaving the paladin with no choice but to make his way down the dingy looking corridor and through a curtain into an impressive looking reception area, behind a small counter is an old madam, decked in her finery; she welcomes him and takes his name.

* “Where do your pleasures lie, Male? Female? Perhaps more monstrous?” she asks sweetly, his thoughts roam to his cloistered upbringing in the temple, weapons practice and prayer, he feels woefully unprepared for this battle. He stammers a little when he answers, but the word is clear enough “female”. She places a few ledgers back under the counter, her eyes play over Urien “on a scale of one to ten how adventurous?” she asks casually, he gulps his mind a barrage of thoughts too timid, too bold, down the middle, play it safe. “Six” he says, then again with conviction in his voice. “Very good” she agrees taking a few spring clips and begins applying them to the ledger locking sections shut “my recommendation” she says handing the book over.

* Inside he finds that each page is laid out in a similar style, one large sketch of a woman, below is listed special skills or unique services. The worlds “Excellent Swimmer” catch his attention, curious he reads on to see “(Gills)”. “Ah an excellent choice sir, take a seat I shall call you when her tub is ready” she says with a wicked grin, planting a glass of wine in his hands and leaving him alone in the room for a few minutes until finally she waltz back into the room (spry for her supposed age) carrying towels and some sort of dressing gown and leads him deeper within the House, passed many, many doors finally stopping at the “tub room”.

* Meanwhile in the Opulent Opal… having drunk a few bottles of over priced plonk at the opulent opal and wasted an hour or so, the “squires” grow bored of waiting and leave a message with the bar staff that should anyone matching Urien’s description come in they are to tell him we’ve gone home.

o On our way back our route takes us by The House, the rooftop guards are still about, ready and watching. It is while we are passing we spy someone slight of build leave; we adjust our speed a little, continuing our amble so our paths will cross and we get a good look at the street whores now healed face before she recognises us and bolts. The mystery of the house being on alert suddenly solved, it would appear she found the money by informing them off some snoopers.

o We take a good look at the building, its lack of windows, stout door behind which lurks and ogre and all of the rooftop archers nearby… with a cheery whistle we keep walking leaving the Paladin to his fate, Bahamut provides and all that.

* During his time in the Tub room Urien learns quite a few things!

o The owner of the house’s full name is Makom Gemmem, and naturally the girls don’t have a huge amount of direct contact with him, they go through the various madams.

o The “excellent swimmer” when asked about her gills says she had them done as the more “exotic” girls draw in more money, it was purely to get more custom (akin to cosmetic surgery) and is still technically a free agent. However those more altered (and higher up the scales) are permanent staff and never leave the building, she feels sorry for them.

o Much like Brick before him, he too lacks the will power to resist the urge to buy their “restorative potions” and after quaffing one lacks the will power to ask any more questions until finally, many hours later (and in the early hours of the morn) that he leaves the tub room and stumbles his way awkwardly to the reception area to pay his bill of two hundred gold pieces (a sum of money it would seem saved from one whore only to pass to another).

o While paying the bill he asks if it’s possible to arrange a meeting with the owner, making up some story about a business opportunity, the madam says to come back tomorrow and she will do her best to arrange such a meeting.

* It’s sometime next morning during breakfast that the rest of the party spies Urien, smelling heavily of sweat and shame when he limps his way to our table, a half empty bottle of cheap spirits clenched fiercely in one hand, its potent smell heavy on his breath. He tells us of his nice (or at least parts of it) and we explain about spotting the gutter wench, feeling it’s probably prudent to not go back to the House for the meeting with Makom.

* So we lounge the day away before getting dressed up in our best togs (also known as our only togs after a visit to the washerwoman and a seamstress), armour polished and perhaps a hair cut or two and then head down to the docks.

* Here we meet up with Simian and Kianen, waiting in line for one of the fancy little ferry boats the wayfarers are using to take people out to their huge ship. “You’ll accompany us back to the Lyceum after the show I hope, I’ve had Rambousen jabbering on about some discovery he’s made with the strange orbs you found in the swamp” says the headmaster. Soon enough we’re at the front of the line and ferried onto the ship where we meet Guildmistress Lucking, lots of bows and small talk before we’re palmed off onto an usher and shown down into the bowels of the ship to the theatre.

* Here things get a little confusing for everyone as the size of the theatre room is obviously much bigger than the dimensions of the ship would allow. Gracefully the usher allows the more simple minded of us (half-orcs eh, can’t take them anywhere) stepping inside and out

again trying to work out what’s wrong. Eventually he coughs and we notice the queue behind us and sheepishly pile into our seats, finding the scarlet haired Katrina waiting for us. We cunningly arrange for the hung over (and possibly even washed out) paladin to sit next to her, grinning wildly as she does her best to talk the ears off of his head.

* Before we know it the show is beginning to start and nearby patrons tell Katrina with all the pomp they can muster to shut up.

* As expected Giorgio is the leading man for their performance, masterfully made up as an Orc, playing the legendary geomancer Toteth Topec and finds himself in many a tricky situation involving giang eagles, angry dragons and tragic love. Katrina settles into providing a running commentary in hushed whispers to Urien, explaining that each person is symbolic, representing the kingdoms, obviously a skilfully veiled advertisement for the alliance!

* Soon an intermission is called, the promise of a break from the theatre and a drink dashed by Katrina’s volume suddenly given freedom again, she recognises the story and starts blurting out major plot points, spoiling the storyline for anyone nearby. An act that escalates into a cat fight with a nearby noble woman.

* It’s while enjoying the verbal sparring of these two harpies that we notice something peculiar behind us. Giorgio still in his makeup and peasant garb is heading up the stair case to the main desk, his hands dark with some unknown substance as he wipes them on a cloth. Suddenly there is unexpected action on the stage, an actor dashes onto the stage, clothes seeped in blood “Murder!”, this only spurs Giorgio into a sprint up the stairs, leaving the two women screeching at each other we head for the deck.

* Urien is the first to reach the deck and discovers that Giogio seems to have gathered himself self up quite the merry gang of pirates and thugs to help him, we spy a few familiar faces amongst them (curiously two of them we met briefly at Lee Sidoneth’s house the first time we met him, Brutus and Sitalis). Giorgio can be seen in one of the back cabins his fingers a blur over a huge array of arcane looking controls. He wades into the melee ready to club some heads only to be surprised by a female Halfling swashbuckler who pops out from a barrel! o http://images.community.wizards.com...77dac38d2d7767ecf33708282c19c42f.png?v=170550

* The rest of us eventually pile out onto the deck to join, leaving torrent to bring up the rear.

* The Highlights:

o Giorgio’s tinkering is obviously starting something big, the stormy weather around the suddenly gets much worse as red lightning seems to crackle all around the ship… seemingly as one we come to the conclusion he is activating some giant teleporter device that would move the ship and incinerate everyone (including all the resistance delegates).

o Silas halts his advances by trapping him with some nefarious warlock magic that pins him to the ceiling of the cabin with ghostly hands!

o Torrent finally boards the deck only to find the doors to the stairs slam shut behind her, locking everyone inside, to compound matters a huge net drops from above entangling her (still better her than us!).

o Kain attempts to make use of the actors distracted form to poke him with his fancy daggers but gets a little more than he bargained for in return and suddenly finds himself in a very white room, the occupant of his own little demiplane, causing him to miss out on the hilarity to follow.

o Cricket settles upon a very one sided fight and gets in the face of Sitalis a spell caster of some sort, carving all sorts of bloody ruin from the finger wiggler, his response… a five foot step back and a cry of BURNING HANDS! That hits pretty much everyone on

the ship bar Torrent, Silas and a few pirate scum. This triggers a chain reaction, apparently actors believe the safest place to store alchemists fire is on deck in barrels near the main mask… which promptly explode showing everyone in flames (amusingly however its Sitalis himself who comes out of this worse than the rest of us leaving himself at 1hp and is picked off shortly after by Silas).

o Urien stands bold and true (and ablaze, alongside cricket) on the deck forcing all nearby to engage him, Giving Silas and Cricket ample opportunity to butcher the Halfling and Brutus, only the actor to go.

o Talking of which, inside Giorgio proves himself annoyingly resourceful and teleports out of the spectral hands, letting him tamper with the controls once more. However a Raging Barbarian soon prevents him from this as he’s dashed to the floor, just in time for Kain to break free of his magical prison and apply dagger to kidneys… sensing his days are numbered he risks all and teleports outside of the cabin, leaping overboard where the water douses his flames.

o However his bid for freedom is unsurprisingly short-lived as a still on fire barbarian leaps overboard after him (but misses, but at least put himself out!) followed by the more nimble Kain who grabs the actor and slits his throat. Between the pair of them they manage to haul his carcass out of the stormy sea and into a small rowboat tethered to the wayfarers’ ship.

* We are shocked to find the charred bodies of four Shalhalesti seamen inside, their features burnt to a crisp, only the odd remaining pointed ear provides proof of their origin.

* With the immediate threat dealth with our thoughts turn towards the imminent threat of death by red lighting and fire! But thankfully the combined efforts of Silas and Kain unlock the secrets of the boats console and we find the all important OFF switch. With the theatre entrance unlocked again the wayfarers struggle to contain those wishing to leave. Simian and Kianen are two of the first people out (no doubt due to Kianen’s winning personality and over eagerness to use magical force) and at their urging we join them on the first ferry out along with Giorgio’s body who Simian assures us he can wring some answers from… dead or not.

* As we head to shore its clear that the weather is getting worse, but it is the least of our worrier as we discover when we reach the docks, it would seem every sailor in Seaquen is out, some want to form their own fleet to rival the elves, break the blockade. A group of Ostallian Buccaneers are busy trying to sell their services to whoever has the coin.

* We let Simian go on ahead to the Lyceum with the body while we try to calm things down at the docks, a little diplomacy and some good old fashioned threats take the bite of the most vocal groups, without their backing the many smaller groups splinter and give upon the idea.

* By the time we reach the magical school Simian has prepared all he needs and begins his ritual, the twisted and battered body of Giorgio is wrenched into the air like a puppet.

o The mage explains we’ll only have a limited number of questions to ask before the magic ends but he will answer truthfully.

* Our first question is asking who he works for? Lee Sidoneth is his reply, Torrent tries to protest the accusations against her mentor but the dead do not lie.

* Our second question is why he did it? For the money, he explains that his family was being held to ransom in Ragesia and that he needed it to save them.

* Our third question is of course, where is the money but he had already sent it on!

* Our fourth question reveals the curious group of elven sailors and we find out there were simply beggars off the street biomantically altered to look like elves, some fanciful idea of putting the blame upon the Shalhalesti (not entirely sure why, they seem more than capable of giving people reasons to hate them on their own).

* Finally we ask where we can find Sidoneth now and learn that the Biomancer has a secret hideout in an old tomb somewhere, but he does not know where.

o However we know of only one tomb in the vicinity!

* With our allotment of questions asked and answered the spell ends and the body crumples to the floor. Kane gives the corpse a testing kick with his foot; satisfied that Giorgio is dead he turns back to the others in time to hear Silas ask Simian “how does one find entrance to the Tomb of the Pyromancer?”


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## Eccles

The cast this week was Brick, Kane, Lembit and Urien… 2 leaders, a defender and a striker. How would this work out? Let us see…

We started with a search for the tomb of Kare Tevensum, the fire mage. ‘We’ is a generous term. Lembit stayed up the night, poring over ancient books, conducting strange rituals, muttering to himself and even building a small scale model of the town. Eventually the location was revealed to be under a long deserted prison in the outskirts of the town. Urien, Brick and Kane instead got hammered and enjoyed a well earned rest after their efforts last week!

Come morning, nursing hangovers our bold heroes made their way there to the prison. It proved to be a rather unremarkable and thoroughly decrepit building, partially collapsed, partially flooded and entirely stinky. The doors were hanging off their hinges and the wind whistled through it in an ominous manner. Brick took the time to cast a water breathing ritual to bolster the blessings the team had from the previous session.

Kain found us a route down to an old, flooded storeroom on a lower level. Upon opening the door we were set upon by a pair of biomantic squids and a biomantic sea turtle. As the action started, one of the squids opened by hurling brick through a side door… releasing several swarms of giant rats.

The fight was short but brutal, featuring a lot of wide area blasting from both sides, the rats were atomised fairly quickly, but the long reachy squids and the horrible turtle proved more of a challenge! Urien did a stalwart job of absorbing enemy fire, taking quite a beating.

Searching revealed the corpse of a mage pinned underwater. He still had a pile of cash and a wand, which Lembit took. (Level 13 item, a wand of thunder). Also, in a further side room, Kain located the greatest treasure of all… a Mimic. Pretending to be a treasure chest. It beat him senseless (stun) and attempted to drown him – somewhat thwarted by the water breathing ritual. The rest of us piled in and made reasonably short work of it. The thing was in an alchemist’s lab and vials of acid would occasionally tumble down and smash…

We proceeded further into the complex, coming across a grisly scene. A long corridor of cells, bars partially rusted through and water up to the waist. Floating in the cells were dozens of ancient corpses. Urien boldly strode in to inspect them, finding nothing special…. But as Brick followed him, all hell broke loose. The skeletons clambered to their feet and set about us. (We realised afterwards that this was a trap and was activated by more than 2 people being in the corridor at the same time)… This was another AoE fest. The party blasting various primal, inspirational or holy AoE attacks out. Many of the skeletons were weak and easily destroyed, but four of them were made of sterner stuff and retailed with a horrible ‘blinding wave’ blast attacks. It was amusing, the blind vs. the decrepit!

After reducing the skeletons to bone meal, our bold adventurers pushed further on into an old guardroom. This was split over 2 levels, with the lower one being entirely flooded and dimly lit with a sinister red light. Occupying this were some biomantically modified Shauguin. Horrible little fast moving critters, they inflicted a fair bit of harm before we managed to corner and batter them…

Searching afterwards, we found the source of the light, a hole bored into a side room descending down beyond sight. Kain noticed and removed an alarm trap, consisting of a pair of sensitive and very fine silver wires…

We rigged a rope to an old pulley at the top, in case we needed to leave quickly. I say we, but again I mean Lembit, being the only poor swimmer in the party!

At the bottom of the shaft, we found a force field that blocked the water. We emerged into a very dry cavern. A very large cavern. We found the source of the light, a river of lava. We crossed the stone bridge spanning it, and found a door on the far side of the cavern. It was styled like a flame and covered with runes. Some proclaimed it to be the fire mages tomb, others contained wards against fire and some dire wards to destroy intruders. However, on closer inspection we realised the door had already been forced open…

Listening at the door, we heard a number of people bantering in giant. They were making defamatory comments about each others mothers and the like. Kain set about carefully opening the door, deploying a variety of tools and oils from his thievery kit… as he neared completion of this work, Urien cut loose with a mighty sneeze. At this we resorted to booting down the door and charging in.

We had a momentary pause when we saw eight burly half orcs in ragessian uniforms… I say we, but this time, Brick, Kain and Lembit paused whilst Urien charged into the midst of them, laying about him with his long sword. Brick ran up the left hand wall and switched on his sticky boots… becoming ‘spider brick’! The half orcs proved to be weak opponents and the AoE blasting made a real mess out of them… With half their numbers down, one of the half orcs blocked the party while his 3 friends made a break for it. He led a charmed life and we seemed unable to hit him for quite some time… His friends made good on this time and fled down the corridors away from the room shouting for help…. This is where we left things!

Notes:

Sure there were more treasures, but I failed to note them!

There was a spear trap, but I can’t honestly recall where it was.


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## RangerWickett

Huh, a real dungeon. How novel.

Also, no brothels, so that's a plus.


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## Eccles

Our usual chronicler was away last weekend, so we have writeups from two players to keep you entertained!

This one's from Brick's player (the last one was Lembit's). 

For what it's worth, Brick's player's all offended that you thought he was un-heroic...  

--------

Simian answers by saying i'm sure that the location of the tomb could be found in our library, but it could take some time. The thought of spending an entire night in the presence of so many magical texts is obviously to much for Lembit who immediately pipes up by saying that he would search for the location of the tomb while the rest of us slept. As time goes by Lembit searches many of the historical documents that could lead to possible locations of the tomb. Then he stands before a huge map and uses divination magic to narrow down the search. He then looks at all of the possible locations and decides that the tomb of the pyromancer must lie under the sea on the site of an ongoing storm.

The next day looking slightly dusty and quite tired Lembit walks into the inn and anounces that he has discovered the location of the tomb. We have breakfast and head off.

The tomb is located in an underwater prison, as we walk through the storm slates are being ripped of the rooves of buildings and whirling around us. We make our way down and discover that the roof of the prison is just visible on the surface of the water and steps lead down inside. As it looks like that we might actually be spending time under the water Brick suggests that we cast the water breathing ritual. He gathers up the components and chants the ritual.

Kain leads the way down the stairs on the look out for any trouble while lembit causes the end of his staff to burst into flames lighting the way. Brick also sets off a sun rod providing even more light. We head down into the darkness.

As we reach the bottom of the stairs we enter a room that contains lots of stone gargoyles. The are rooms off to each side which have have rotting gates barring the entrances. As we continue there is a splashing sound and a huge turtle and a couple of pink squids swim towards us. The turtle has multiple holes in its shell and a lot more limbs than a normal turtle should have. As it swims towards us a shark fin pops out of the tip of its shell. Lembit points out to us that the turtle and the squid have been biomanticly altered. Brick and Urien swim into the room and begin attacking. Urien bellows a challenge to the squid and the turtle daring them to attack him. Kain swims in and lunges at a squid hitting it and causes bimantic ooze to seep from the wound. Lembit paddles into the room and summons his totem behind Kain and suggests that he should attack the squid again. He hits the squid again causing an even deeper cut to open in its side and severing some of its tentacles. One of the squids launches itself into Urien pushing across the room and smashing him into one of the runting gates. A swarm of rats leap off a ledge above to attack him. The turtle swims into the room under the water. Brick moves intoto position and shouts loudly with his bardic magic helping Urien manouver out of the tentacles of a squid and pushing the turtle next to the wall. Lembit casts a spell and Uriens skin take on the colour of granite and the shards explode off of him and shower the turtle in flaming shards of stone. Urien responds by whirling around killing the rat swarms and slicing the squids and the turtle. Kain swims towards a sqid but the squid shoots out multiple tenticles and grabs him pulling him towards it. Kain escapes the grab and responds by throwing multiple daggers into its face, blinding it. The turtl turns towards us and spays ink all over us. Unfortunatly the burning biomantic goo seeps into Kains eyes blinding him. Brick attacks a squid and his magic enables Kain to recover from the blindness. Tentacles emerge from the many holes in the turtles shell and grab Urien and drag him into the next room where it begins to squeeze the life out of him. Kain manages to score the killing. Low and the turtle dissapates into black slime. While rooting around in the water Lembit manages to find a thunder wand while the rest of us manage to find a small treasure pile in gold. The group start to explore the rest of the rooms and Kain spots what looks like a treasure chest in the corner and makes a point of trying to open it. He is rewarded when the chest turns out to be a mimic, it rears up and fires pieces of itself at Kain, knocking him prone and pinning him to the floor. Urien charges into the room and smacks the beast while Brick shouts a spell that enables Kain to safely slide out of the room. We manage to defeat the mimic and chop it to pieces. Lembit informs us that it was a biomantic mimic as it was able to fire bits of itself at us. He borrows one of Kains daggers and begins to chop it up to see if it had any treasure in it, which it didn't.

We paddle down ito the next room and find that it appears to be full of prison cells. The bars on most of the cells have corroded with rust and we are able to see that they are full of skeletons. Urien starts to move through the room looking to see if there are any movements from the cells occupants. Seeing that there is no obvious danger, Brick ambles through the corridor. As soon as he enters though, all of the skeletons come to life and begin to lurch towards us. Urien charges into combat squeezing between the bars of one of the cell drawing attacks from the two occupants. The skeletons continued to surge towards us, the water hampering their movements. One of the skeletons casts a frothing sea foam at Urien striking him in the chest knocking him under the water. The white foam must have dripped into his eyes as it rendered him temporarily blind. Urien lumbers to his feet and attacks. The skeletons foam at the group once again covering us with frothy white goo to no effect. Lembit casts thunderwave at the skeletons forcing them back some twenty feet and causing most of them to explode. We managed to finish off the remaining undead and moved into the next room.

In the next room there is a bridge over some water. In the corner of the room there is a red glow, Lembit spots a reptile man in the water, which he later informs us is a biomantic scum. Jumping into the water Urien managed to sink very effectively to the bottom of the pool. Seing that there were two more biomantic scum on the floor with him he activated the power within his armour. Two milky white tendrils shot out of the armour and latched onto the two scum dragging them closer. Brick backward somersaults into the water and sinks to the bottom to help Urien. After a short skirmish we manage to defeat the scum and proceed to a door. Beyond the door we find the source of the mysterious red glow, which seems to be from a glowing shaft. Searching the room we find a hole. Kain notices an alarm trap connected to two silver wires and easily manages to disarm it. We rig up a rope through the pully just in case we needed to get up quickly as Lembit was not a strong swimmer. At the bottom of the shaft we find that there is a force field that stops the water entering the cavern below. We find out that the source of the red light is actually a river of lava. There is a bridge over the lava leading to a stone door. Looking over the bridge we can see that there are nets set about to stop people falling into the lava. Quite an unusual feature in an evil meglomaniacs secret lair.

Listening at the door we can hear a number of voices speaking giant mocking the size of each other manhoods, making remarks about each others mothers and commenting on how discusting it is that one of them slept with a human. Kain gets out his theivery kit and gets to work on the door, oiling the hinges and just as he finishes his work, Urien lets rip with a mighty sneeze.

From inside the room we hear in Giant someone say "quick someones coming, get ready".

We burst into the room and are met with a group of half orcs. After a quick skirmish involving many area affecting attacks the half orcs decide to escape. They say to one of them in Giant "you stay here and try to hold them off". With that a group of them starts to leg it towards the door while one other tried to make his escape through another door but was quickly cut down by the attacks of Kain and Urien.


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## TarionzCousin

RangerWickett said:


> Who wants a community of mages without a few villains and madmen, drunk on their own power?



Note to self: this is a trick question.


I am really enjoying this thread, Eccles. Keep up the good work!



> You must spread some Experience Points around before giving it to Eccles again.


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## Eccles

25th June

The lone guardian Orc slumps to the ground, the aftermath of its last stand can still be heard, three fleeing Orcs bellowing for aid as they vanish along the corridor and out of sight. We make the choice to follow rather than catch our breath and follow them deeper into the underground tomb. We pass through a large cavern with a huge carved statue of a dragons head, in its mouth is an ominous black sphere that seems to suck at the nearby light, with no time to investigate we sprint passed continuing on the trail of the Orcs into a long curved corridor, we hear the sound of a door slamming shut ahead, out of view.

As we continue along the corridor we see that off to one side is a door (the only door we’ve seen so far) and the corridor carries on, not wanting to risk charging passed the hiding Orcs we quickly check it for traps and swing it open, catching a fleeting glimpse of a study, a desk dominates the middle of the room with a black glass sphere etched with golden runes, the sphere sits in a little pedestal atop the desk, however with no sign of the Orcs the room must wait till later and we continue along the corridor to its end where it opens out into a laboratory of some design, devices and contraption litters the walls, huge glass pipes filled with gushing molten lava line several of the walls basking the room in a vile red glow. Along the final wall is a row of ever increasing glass tubes and tanks, various things seem to be growing inside them, in the largest stands a partially grown scum, drifting near lifelessly in the green gloop, it twitches as brick runs up to it, pressing his stony face to the glass in unabashed awe!

A series of tortured female screams pierce the silence and our attention is dragged back to the fleeing Orc, clearly they are coming from the other side of the door exiting the lab. We try the door but obviously something heavy on the other side is blocking it, Kain and Cricket waste no time in putting their shoulders to the door and with a splintering of wood the pair stumble into a huge cavern, a river of lava snakes its way across the cavern floor, a large stone bridge resting over it, rows of cells fill one wall, while a door way stands between us and the source of the screams. Near the middle of the room and across the bridge wait three Orcs, two showing signs of their battle with us, the third injured Orc is no where to be seen.

Fight Highlights:

* Lembit starts the fight unleashing his primal allies, a flock of guardian eagles appear from nowhere harrying the Orcs, their slashing talons steer them towards the lava river, one slips over the edge vanishing into the molten stone, the other two manage to fall and catch themselves on the edge.

* Cricket and Kain cross the bridge to prey upon the prone Orcs, finally able to see into the cells they spy a fourth Orc sat inside a magical circle, behind him a carved stone Menhir glows with ominous power, the stone seems to be wrapped in many layers of wire that leads to some strange device with too many dials and levers!

* The “brave” bard Brick sets his sights upon the other room, keen to help whichever maiden is in distress and boots open the door… he face loses its “heroic” expression as he stares into the cold mask of an inquisitor (the very same one that we fought at the wagon, many weeks ago), his claw dripping with blood from the maiden strapped into a chair. “Now!” he orders and the four Orcs in the room pull the triggers of their crossbows peppering the unfortunate bard, the weapons then fall to the floor in a clatter as they each pull battleaxes and stalk towards the doorway.

* Unable to stop himself the bard continues the spell that was half formed on his lips, sending his magical song arcing towards the Inquisitor, his claw flashes up, twists and reflects the spell back at brick, he frowns knowing that when his enemies strike him they will be bolstered and healed by his own magic.

* Silas and Lembit form a very profitable partnership, launching bolts of burning hellfire at the inquisitors bodyguards in the torture room, Blarney the Imp (Lembit’s familiar)astride the

Shamans Totem animal roars with encouragement, goading the warlock into launching more attacks.

* Back out in the cavern the remaining Orcs (along with their new found ally from the circle) all surround the barbarian but are unable to land a blow due to the mans silky jig like footwork!

* The Inquisitor sets his sights upon the bard and chases him out the room slashing at his back with his claws, with many cries of “VENGEANCE” and glorifying praise to Leska he slashes and tears bloody strips from the goliaths hide.

* However Brick is quick to show a few more tricks that lie up his puffy sleeves “Dun dun DUH, ROCKET MAN!” he trills and literally explodes, launching himself across the room, over the lava river and down near the Orcs flailing at the barbarian, coming down in cloud of glittering smoke, however it would appear there was a little too much smoke and not enough fire to the Bards trick as none of the Orcs were harmed, across the river the Inquisitor emerges from the smoke, clearly unimpressed as he steps onto the bridge in pursuit.

* Lembit unleashes the power of the elements, lashing his enemies with primal energy while healing his allies, however the Inquisitor flicks his claw out trying to redirect the power, instead the magic just fizzles around him, failing to take form. Alarmed at the actions of the inquisitor Lembit scurries away to check upon the fate of the torture victim leaving Silas to continue his assault upon the quickly dwindling number Orc guards.

* With the inquisitor suitably distracted Kain prepares for his downfall, tapping his Solei Polansis badge he steps up, his dagger glowing brightly with radiant energy and plunges his dagger into the inquisitors neck (scoring a critical hit), the Ragesian only grunts in pained satisfaction as energy streaks from him to his oath bound target, Brick. The song on the bards’ lips ends abruptly as blood streaks down his chest and he collapses to the ground. His Oath served the murderous gaze of the inquisitor falls upon Kain.

* The Inquisitor calls upon one of his evil powers to heal himself, calling upon Leska once again Cricket, Kain and the unfortunate Brick find themselves suddenly whipped upon into the nether as the inquisitor attempts to teleport us into the lava, but our will is strong and we find ourselves perched upon the edge, slightly on fire, much to the disappointment of the Ragesian, however he cheers himself up by plunging his claw into the prone rogue.

* In retaliation Cricket lets out a Berserk howl and smashes his huge blade into him (another Critical Hit), cutting a huge chunk out of the inquisitor, however his new oath target takes a similar wound and Kain drops to the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

* Sensing that once again things have not gone his way the Inquisitor begins reaching for his talisman, “Noooooooooooooooooooooo!” growls Cricket, about to be denied again! He begins to utter the prayers of teleportation and a column of pillar engulfs him, however when the fire dissipates he is still stood there a little confused, the sheer amount of rock above us preventing his magic, in front of him the barbarian grins “you’re mine!”, a glint of fear shines in the inquisitors eyes, but cricket senses its not for him. “Never” promises the Inquisitor slashing his claw across the barbarian’s chest and then onwards, upwards and into his own throat, his body slumps over Crickets’ feet, blood slowly covering the stone bridge and bleeding into the lava.

On his body we find a magical holy symbol devoted to Grand Inquisitor Leska and his small teleportation talisman (that prevents being immolated while teleporting up to a mile in distance, at least that’s as much as Lembit estimates).

Lembit aids the torture elf woman, bile rising his throat as he examines her wounds easily noticing that she has been tortured many times, bled to near death and then magically healed and restored until the process can be done again, and again. When she is finally brought around she reveals her

name is Fa’Qaniel, she tried to teleport into the caves here but was redirected into the cells along with her apprentice Timor. We find her apprentice in one of the locked cells; it would seem he avoided torture so far, no doubt to be next when his mistress finally died.

Timor tells us that the inquisitor was called Darius and much to Cricket’s amusement tells the tale of the day we met him at the wagon, he had retreated to here when he teleported away badly injured. He continues to tell that Darius entered the main cell with the magical circle and used the device there to heal himself, he feels confident that he could operate the apparatus should we wish to make use of it, Lembit aggress to go first.

The apprentice busies himself with the controls of the device, an ominous hum drones from the machinery as some sort of energy begins to charge, the runes of the circle begin to pulse and with a crack of thunder the Shaman is gone…

Lembit finds himself stood upon a barge drifting serenely across a placid lake towards an opulent palace lights up the night sky. As if in a trance or dream the shaman disembarks and treads softly along a gilded skywalk to the palace entrance. Gold and ebony statues of dragons leer down at him, their gemmed eyes seem to follow him as he treads. Inside he passes through it lavish corridor and its faceless occupants seem to wallow in decadence, nothing denied for their entertainment.

Soon he finds himself entering a huge audience chamber, filling the space from entrance to throne are a hundred prostrate inquisitors, clad in their bear skins and masks, the object of their devotion stands Leska, clad in flowing red robes covered with dangling shamanic totems, charms and amulets, the material of her robes seem to defy the laws of nature, floating and swirling about her as if she were a source of gravity in her own right. His focus are drawn to the sigils as they flash and twist about her, certain that they cover a wide and varied range of primal traditions, some of which he is sure conflict in nature.

Her face lies hidden behind a skull mask, its jaw missing to reveal her own mouth, blood-red lips sit in a permanent scowl. “Take my blessing” she says reaching out with a gloved hand and seems to touch the shamans very soul, it quakes at the icy cold flooding through him. “The power of the Scourge shall refresh and sustain you. Your life at the mortal cost of others is a small price for the final reward. Their sacrifice is now your strength!”

She continues her speech but the shaman hears none of it, his mind distracted by the myriad of screams that seems to assault his senses alone, looking at the Grand Inquisitor it’s as if she is clothed in ghosts, they swirl around her like her robes, desperate to leave but trapped and tortured. Noticing that something is perhaps wrong, the look of scorn drops for the briefest moment from Leska, “WHAT?” she growls in outrage raising her hand…

The shaman collapses forwards… stumbling out of the magical circle, skin pale and oozing with sweat.

Brick hops into the circle immediately upon Lembits return, urging Timor to activate the machine while Lembit is telling his tale. The apprentice is suddenly very hesitant to complete the inputs required to activate it, but brick charms the man asking for the final few directions and once shared the bard wastes no time in jabbing them in and vanishes!

When he returns a few moments later he is launched from the device, being flung some thirty feet through the air landing in a heap near the lava river, it takes him a few moments to climb to his feet and calm down, the lines of fear still etched in his face, but assures people it was worth it (and by

that we can only assume he meant seeing Grand Inquisitor Leska and seeing someone sacrificed to restore his vitality) as he is “refreshed and fighting fit, lets get back to the LAB!” leading the way with a skip in his step.

Searching the Laboratory:

* Here Brick finds a collective work on Biomancy and essentially a “how to build a monster” and “my first Biomancy” set of pamphlets with which he might be able to make progress into the study himself.

* We also find an empty bottle with traces of magic that Brick desperately wants to open and investigate, Lembit steps in as the voice of reason “you don’t open strange bottles found in laboratories, did no on teach you anything boy!, you can have the bottle once you’ve read those things” he says pointing at the bundle of papers the bard cradles like a child. However upon investigating it himself he believes it to be a bottle of endless air, confirmed when he pulls out the stopped to a whistling breeze. We suspect it was used as a type of aqualung to get through the water passage.

Searching the Masters Office:

* Hunting around the study we find a few hidden collections of cash (3300gp) and trinkets (a level 9, 10 and 12).

* With all the hidden things found our attention is turned to the obvious, namely the black orb on the desk with its golden swirling runes that show two godlike beings throwing storms and lightning at each other. Lembit spends a few minutes examining the object and generally slapping Bricks hands away whenever he tries to touch it, before he reaches an epiphany! “This is a Hurricane Orb, very rare indeed!” and then waffles on about it, but cutting to the chase it requires a devoted amount of life force to activate each day and will summon a hurricane as long as it is near water “they also come with a control rod, to eh… well control the level of storm!” the shaman explains.

Searching the Stone Dragon:

* Finally we return to the chamber containing the huge stone dragon head and the deathly black orb contained within its mouth. After much speculation about it possibly being a sphere of annihilation, Lembit deduces that its nothing more than an illusion (albeit a very good one) and steps inside the huge orb, bangs his head upon the stone wall hidden in the darkness but discovers a tunnel big enough to crawl along!

* Investigating the tunnel we find a small room, well more of a sauna, its grilled floor rests directly over a slow flowing river of lava that basks the whole area in sweltering red light. On the other side of the room is a large ornate looking stone door, its framed etched with cruel and twisted looking runes. Blarney identifies them at Infernal and translates for us “The spirit of the Pyromancer Damatarion shall destroy those who disturb his bodies rest”.

* We give the door a testing examination, it is immensely powerful and for once being extremely careful the none competent of us (Brick & Cricket in this case) wait in the Stone Dragon room as Lembit, Silas and Kain pool their collective knowledge to try and open the door. (An assisted Thievery Roll hitting 40, squeaking passed the DC35 required) and the stone door simply melts through the grilled floor into the lava below.

* Inside is an even scarier looking room made from burnished brass frame work and enchanted glass that steers and funnels the lava around its floor, beyond a large black stone sarcophagus. The trio venture inside allowing themselves a short rest before they tackle the next obstacle, behind them they see the door start to slowly reform but decide to remain within, hopeful they’ll be about to open the door again once they have its treasures! (Again another fortuitous roll of 48 manages to get the coffin open without anything nasty and they gingerly retrieve the shines from the withered corpse within (a level 10, 12 and 13 items).

* With equal luck and the memories of Lembits many deaths (and the lives before them) to guide them they manage to escape the tomb and venture back into the comforting coolness of the stone dragon room, happy that we’ve cleared the place of its hidden secrets we venture back using the bottle of endless water to reach the flooded prison above.

Back on the surface the severity of the storm quickly becomes apparent, the broken building quakes beneath the might of the fierce winds whipping through its ruined rooms, we wade through the water making our way outside, our eyes peeled for any traces of Sidoneth. Our prayers are answered when we near the exit and see the bright orange body of lulu swish through the water in front of us, he must be close!

Lembit is the first to step from the prison entrance into the sea, swimming out a little way from the safety of the structure, a flutter of speech on the wind draws his attention and looking back towards the prison he spies Lee Sidoneth one floor above stood near some statues, arms spread wide, the control rod gripped in one hand as he chants to the sky. “Lee!” he calls “it’s not too late, give up and hand us the rod and we can stop this”.

The Biomancer breaks from his ritual, gazing down at the Deva paddling awkwardly in the water and begins to laugh; with a flick of his wrist he points the rod at Lembit, swishing it back and forth tauntingly, the end of the rod flashes and suddenly the water level rises flooding the prison. Lulu then makes an appearance gripping the shaman in her tentacles, wrapping him up and then flinging him back inside the flooded prison.

Fight Highlights:

* The statues turn out to be “Water Gargoyles” creatures made of stone with a swim speed! They spend the majority of the fight harassing us and preventing us from scaling the prison to get to the Biomancer.

* Sidoneth seems to take great joy in flinging lightning bolts down into the water that arc and frazzle anyone nearby, that and flinging bits of broken prison at us, clearly an accomplished Geomancer as well as Biomancer.

* Silas unfortunately spends the first half the of the fight merely trying to avoid drowning, fighting the undertow of the flooding prison before finally getting out into the open ocean where he can breath again.

* Lembit kills Lulu, driving Sidoneth into a savage rage, making him the target of the Geomancers lighting bolts for the remainder of the fight.

* Brick is the first to reach Sidoneth once again using his “ROCKET MAN” and blasting out of the water to land near the man and one of his gargoyle body guards and immediately regretting it when the gargoyles sharp claws tear into his chest and then insult is added to injury when Lee proves himself to have had some monkish training and beats him senseless, the poor bard drags himself over the edge to flop back into the water to avoid anymore punishment.

* Kain proves to be slightly more effective jabbing and cutting at Lee before being knocked down himself under another combined assault.

* With his gargoyles finally defeated however Lee falls to the combined might of the party, Lembit uses his new enchanted Hat (the Helm of Heroes) to spur Cricket into action, a mighty swing knocks him off of the prison roof into the water where the bard manages a modicum of revenge finally getting the last hit with a jab of his sword, prising the control rod from the Geomancers hand.

With his dieing breaths Sidoneth calls to the sky “Master let your winds destroy them!” and a surge of wind pulls him from the water and rips him apart until nothing remains, looking up we see that

the “eye of the storm” seems to live up to its name, a spectral eye hidden behind the winds seems to close.

Atop the prison roof Brick cries to the heavens brandishing the rod, cackling to himself and mumbling words about “ULTIMATE POWER” as he thrusts his fists towards the sky, until the rod it torn from his grip and placed in more safer hands, Lembit wills the storm to end and the hurricane begins to peter out, calm finally settling upon the bay of Sequen.

Gathering in our little boat we make for the Docks, high above us a giant eagle circles aimlessly and lands as we step upon the stones of the dock area, his mistresses’ odd pole arm clutched in his beak and no sign of her. With a heavy sigh he tells us of his Mistress Lora’Bek carried off by the storm as she risked the winds to save people that had been caught in the winds and whisked into the air. Her efforts placed thirty survivors upon one of the small islands of the bay before her luck ran out and the storm claimed her. He goes now to join her; we attempt to convince him against it, that he could use the rest of his life for a better purpose but he remains unconvinced and takes to the sky.

From the docks we look over the harbour, once packed with ships now barely half are still afloat, those that weren’t sunk are almost certainly crippled. Out to see the once large fleet of Shalhalesti ships has suffered the same fate as those in the harbour. We drag ourselves to the Lyceum, entrusting the Hurricane Orb into Simian’s care and then leave the mages and the militia to handle sorting out the city, we retreat to the Royale to rest while the storm rides itself out.

At Simian and Vortberds urging we return once again to the island when the weather has calmed, keen to find any information we may have missed or overlooked pertaining to “The Master” that Sidoneth pleaded to with his dying words. Tucked behind one of the workbenches in the Laboratory we find a small note with various “evil instructions” upon it however a few bits and pieces do stand out.

* The masters army is growing in accordance with our estimates, things go smoothly.

* As part of our new security measures the code word to approach the mount has been changed, Eshu.

* The Biomantic book has been found and should be on its way to Paradim as planned, hopefully the mage can make good use of it.

* Our new creations are wonderful, but best suited to colder temperatures. They display the ability to disrupt anyone they touches spell casting ability, we predict they will turn the tide against the Lyceum Mages and those damnable Shahalesti!

It takes several days before the signs of normalcy start to creep their way back into the region and our recuperation is interrupted by a lyceum apprentice sent to fetch us to see Simian and soon we once again find ourselves before the master of the Lyceum in his study, he tells us that not with incontrovertible evidence that far-away Ragesia is a serious threat, Seaquen is united in its wish to join the war effort!

“More refugees have arrived with word that the winter storms over southern Ragesia have faded; this has cleared the way for the Third Ragesian Army to march into Dassen! There are also stories of an assassination attempt on the King of Dassen, but it was foiled! However it seems this has tipped the man to being even more paranoid than he was before, however I feel this may be an opportunity for us, for you. You must use your reputation to befriend him, make him an ally to yourself and to our cause; the Ragesian armies must be delayed!”

Still we aren’t ready to set out for Dassan yet and spend the rest of the week making arrangements for our trip and generally enjoying the fine weather that has settled over the region since the halting of the Hurricane Orb. It would appear that we’re well known in the town and more than once a bunch of locals have treated us to free drinks and other hospitalities (no doubt some of our more dubious members even tried to get a freebie at “The House”…).

However the one person expected to make free use of these liberties has not, rather than prancing gaily through the streets proclaiming his awesomeness as expected he in fact spends most of his time away on the island in the hidden Laboratory or his “secret lair” as he refers to it, even Lembit seems to be caught up in the goliaths fancies and spends more than a few days there as well.

Impressed at how they handled the barbarians from the Royale and refused to rise to Urien and Kain’s baiting, Cricket goes off in search of the Monk Refugees and is greeted friendly by Three Weeping Ravens, the barbarian is keen to learn more about their order. The two spend many days sparring in the local woods, the monks startling agility a foil to the barbarian brutal strikes, he is happy to point out flaws and teach him a few new tricks.

In the evenings the barbarian fails to convert the Weeping Raven to whims of the Moon Goddess Sehanine, the monk simply says “he walks a different path” in response Weeping Raven tries to explain the theories of his order and the offer of becoming a disciple, but the barbarians faith is strong.

Eventually the conversation turns to Order of the Echoed Souls and the tragedy that drop them from their homeland to Sindaire and the subsequent events that caused them to flee here, the monk is uncomfortable talking about the history of the order but tries to explain as best he can by saying “Imagine all the small evils you have done, and all the evils ever committed by those you have met. Imagine that your soul contained nothing but that evil. Would you want to speak of it?” agreeing the conversation has turned far too dark for the quality of ale being offered cricket changes the subject. While the pair has very different theological ideals, they agree to disagree on the finer points and become firm friends.

The others busy themselves with the preparations for the journey to Bresk, Capital of Dassen.


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## Eccles

The continuing adventures of Brick the Bard

After defeating Siddoneth and his biomantic creations we head back to civilization. Brick decides to claim the prison as the site for his underground volcano lair. Seeing as we might not be heading back this way for a while everyone seems to let him have it. I think it was more to do with keeping him quiet. When we get back to town we are able to get a bit of rest, buy items etc. After seeing all the biomantic equipment and reading the manual, Brick decides it might be interesting to see if he can get a little biomancy done on himself. Grinning at himself he has a little think about where he could get it done and BINGO a certain biomantic brothel pops into his mind. Might as well mix a little pleasure with business. He gets a small sack and dips into the party gold and heads out the door.

It doesn't take him long to remember the directions and finds himself at a familier looking door with a hatch in it. Feeling a little electricity pulse along his limbs he knocks on the door. The hatch slides open and a face appears. "What do you want" he says. Brick replies "I am interested in a little biomantic conversion my self, I have money". He holds the sack up. "Can I come in and speak to someone"

The hatch closes and the door is unbolted and opened and Brick is ushered inside. The same ogre bouncer is there and he guides Brick into another room. Inside this room the walls are lined with velvet drapes and an old woman sits behind a desk. "Back so soon, what will it be this time, are you still feeling adventurous, maybe a little group action". Just as he is about to speak to woman motions him to be quiet. "interested in a bit of biomancy yourself", she fumbles down and reaches into a drawer in the desk and brings out a huge brochure. "Have a look through these and pick out what you like, I think you will find that we can cater to any taste in body alteration. Where do your tastes lie". Just as he is about to speak the woman again motions him and closes her eyes. She produces a ledger and begins to write in it with an ornate quill pen. "You are feeling adventurous aren't you, how does this sound". She finishes writing and turns the page so Brick can read what is there. Bricks eyes light up, "how did you know what I was thinking". She replies "It is my business to no what my customers think, this amount of conversion will be quite expensive, I know that you will find the results, most enjoyable. The full conversion will take a while to settle down and you may discover knew abilities not included in this package, biomancy is not an exact science at the moment, more of an art form. To be able to express yourself in body transformation brings us closer to the gods". With that she motions him to go through into the next room.

This room is set out a lot differerently to the same door he passed through when he first visited. Inside there is a tank full of glowing green biomantic fluid. Casting his eyes over a table of equipment that look more suited to a torture chamber he is guided to an empty tank where he is sealed inside. From another door the old woman enters, leading a fat mage together with a group of other mages in hoods. The fat mage says "dont't worry we will take good care of you". As he is speaking the fluid begins to bubble up from the floor and begin to fill the tank. Brick begins to feel that he might have made a terrible mistake and bangs on the glass trying to escape the tank. The fluid has reached up to his neck now and he is finding it almost impossible to move. He takes a big lungful of air and is submerged into the fluid. The mage steps closer to the tank and whispers to him "your new body is going to be grown in that tank next to you, it could take up to five days to reach maturity, unfortunatly we still can't grow the skeleton, so that will need to be your own, that is why I have these gentlemen with me, when we remove your skeleton they will shrink it to size and insert it into your new body. You may find some of these sensations a little unpleasant".

Over the next five days Brick is disected and prodded in places he never knew he had. When finally the time comes for the tank to open all of the fluid rushes out of the tank and Brick sprawls to the floor. After that he is allowed to clean himself up and inspect his new body. A big mirror is wheeled into the room and Brick marvels at his new form. His new reflection is that of a tiefling female with small curved red horns. The bony growths of his goliath heritage still remain on the tops of his (her) arms and long black hair cascades over his shoulders. As well as having a tiefling tail he also has a flexible tentacle tail as well. Looking down his arms and the inside of his legs he finds that he has small suction cups like an octopus. Spinning so that he can see himself in the mirror he thinks they are not going to believe what I have done. I think I should change my name as well.

Meanwhile in the real world everyone else is relaxing and preparing their equipment for their next adventure. They notice that Brick has been missing with no contact for three days now so they assume he is just off carrousing around various houses of disrepute. About six days have passed and still no word from Brick they are walking down a street to go back to their accomidation when they hear a womans voice. "hi guys you are not going to believe what I have just done". A rather buxom female tiefling bounds up to Urien, one tail coils around Cricket while the other tentacle tail coils around Kain pulling them close. She has Brick's jazz flute strapped to her back while she carries a golden lute. Kain whirls around when he feels something try to unhook his money pouch. "sorry about that these things seem to have a mind of their own at the moment. The woman I spoke to said there might be a glitches but they should iron themselves out. By the way I go by the name of Ruby now..."



----

GM's note - written by Brick's player. Ah, Paul... What have you done? <evil chuckle>


----------



## RangerWickett

Despite myself, I kinda like the Kefka-esque petty villainy and utter amorality of Brick/Ruby.

Tentacle tiefling, huh? I'm sure that's wildly popular in Japan.


----------



## Eccles

He sent me details of the 'tail trick' feat - apparently at least one of his tails is going to be... troublesome...


----------



## Eccles

2nd July

It would appear our time in Seaquen is fast coming to an end, bags are packed and other preparations are sorted, ready to be collected with a few hours notice, we are in short ready to travel, but it would appear that Seaquen isn’t ready to let us go.

A celebration feast in our honour has been arranged in one of the most prestigious taverns of the region, like most buildings its suffered at the hands of the storm, its famed dining hall is now al fresco as most of its roof has been torn away revealing the sparkling nights sky. The meal itself is lavish and decadent (and thus very above some party members usual tastes and standards) with fancy elven seafood dishes spiced with odd flowers, this trend continues through even to the wines, spirits and ales that accompany the meal. Kain in particular picks around his plate eager to avoid any more “elven snack foods” like he found in Gate Pass’ Battle College (potpourri).

With Brick mysteriously absent Til’Jan takes his place singing of our deeds and exploits, the room quietly listens to her reading from Bricks notes on our epic battle with Lee Sidoneth (and as such actual events may differ from those that really occurred) and a rousing applause ripples across the room filled with all of the areas key celebrities.

Eventually the room clears as people start to leave, we are left alone with the top ranked faculty of the lyceum, a rather drunk Dougan Rambousen stumbles up to us eager to tell us of his recent discovery involving the box we gave him weeks ago. He believes it to be a “Diano’um Mark 4” he says this with almost spiritual reverence but the effect is lost on us as we stare at him confused (as one should at drunk dwarves telling you of magic boxes!) and eventually explains the diano’ums were made ages ago by the dwarfs as a sort of chronicling device to store their history, linking the minds of dwarves.

However the early versions tended to make people insane, with the mark four they believed they had cracked this “tiny” problem and discovered that it in fact had the power to charm people. It wasn’t long before one of these devices was taken by a disillusioned dwarf who gathered an army of kobolds and attacked the Diamond Heart Clan (who lived in caves under what is now Gate Pass), this ended with everyone dieing when the dwarves flooded the caves with methane and ignited it, turning the whole area into a single diamond chasm that weeps blood. The Mark Four’s were supposedly destroyed, however given that this one was dug up from beneath Gate Pass it would seem this is not the case.

He wises to experiment with it tomorrow on the apes kept in the menagerie, believing that the artefact can be used for the war effort and would like us to observe his success!

So the next day we head to his lab but he isn’t there, an assistant in flame covered robes is waiting for us and guides us to the menagerie, on the way he frequently teleports a few feet appearing slightly on fire. We question his sanity and he replies “I’ll not cage my magic anymore; a little pain is worth it to be free”. Eventually we reach the monkey house and Rambousen holds the box and seems to have attached another device to it with bright copper wires, little lights flash on and off as he toys with it. In a large caged enclosure lots of monkeys and a couple of very large hulking apes.

He first turns the box towards the monkeys getting one to stand on its head and then the rest to waltz; he seems practically giddy with his own success “the charm could last for up to a week!” he explains before turning it upon the apes making them dance as well, caught up in his own success the dwarf starts to sway and step along with the monkeys, but obviously steps too far as one of the big apes suddenly reaches through the bars, grabs him and slams him forwards into the enclosures

bars, the box flies inside and he collapses to the floor. One of the monkeys grabs the device and starts to bash at the boxes controls… an eerie sensation begins to flutter through our minds.

* With no desire to become monkey slaves Kain and Cricket rush to the enclosure, the rogue quickly pops the lock and the barbarian dashes inside “Don’t hurt them!” wails Lembit as he summons a flock of guardian eagles (with corks upon their talons!), steering the primates into the centre of the enclosure and then floods the room with disorientating rays of colour.

* However the shamans’ best intentions don’t extend to the rest of us, certainly not after the monkeys start flinging their own poop at us and climbing atop people to bash and claw at their face. Even Urien’s resolve crumbles when one cheeky monkey smears its filth ridden fingers true the eye slits of his helm an blinds the paladin… “My eyes, my eyes” he screams wandering around with a monkey clanging away at his plate armour.

* Even Lembit ends up with a monkey clambered over him, he attempts to remove it by using a thunderous wave of force to fling it away but his spell backfires and he only succeeds on blasting himself into the corner of the reserve, but the time he composes himself most of the monkeys lay dead or dieing. He reclaims the box and turns it off, shame and disappointment on his face as he gazes over the rest of us (barring silas who managed to remain outside of the “splatter” zone) caked in blood (quite a lot of it our own!) and filth from the butchered primates.

Rambousen is equally horrified and disappointed when finally roused at the carnage that we have caused, however he foolishly begins by stating that it must be the influence of Brick that stops us from being bloodthirsty killers and quickly gets into a shouting match with Cricket who firmly believes the mage and his experiments are to blame! Dougan snatches the box and retreats from the scowling Barbarian.

After cleaning up as best we can we return to the Royale to change (and possibly oversee the burning of any clothes too “monkey covered” to ever be serviceable again). In the afternoon we are approached by Torrent who requests our aid on the morrow, she wishes to rebuild Lora’Beks tent, it’s seen as a spiritual centre of the refugee camp and one of her juniors is going to be raised up and will need a place with which to guide the others and begin plans for the temple. We happily agree to anything that will keep us as far away from the lyceum as possible and delay our departure by another day.

Its during our little house building pet project that we meet another associate of Torrent, the Ranger Erol, he believes that he Vortberd’s network of spies have finally tracked down the secret headquarters of the White Wyrms (the Ragesian Terrorists) in the old steam tunnels under the city, some of the buildings destroyed in the storms revealed hidden basement levels that lead into them. Vortberd has made plans for his militia to raid the place and would like us to join him, which we naturally agree to.

* We find one of the entrances into the cave network as described above in one of the basements of a now destroyed home, Kain and Cricket scout forward, they spy from the top of the ladder leading in to the caves the regularly movement of a patrol, when the light is dimmest they usher everyone over and we manage to make it into the steam caves without alerting them to our presence. A situation that lasts less than a few seconds, spying the light returning Urien takes charge loudly announcing where people should stand to best ambush them!

* Naturally the patrol then stops patrolling and instead merely guards the corridor, the paladin bravely stomps around the corner first taking the first volley of arrows on his heavy armour and shield, Kain and Cricket slip passed him eager to bring their own particular blend of mayhem and the patrol quickly finds themselves in pieces with the rogue picking over the spoils.

* However its at this point that he looks up and spies down one of the many tunnels another larger group of soldiers staring back at him, there are a few silent words and gestures, the handing over of money (it would appear that a bet was lost) and they raise their bows, it would appear our fight is not quite over.

* This group is backed up by two Ragesian Storm Mages who take great delights in throwing lightning at us, however as we take their bodyguards apart they wisely retreat running in separate directions and soon the entire base seemed to be alerted as the many tunnels fill with sounds of running feet and then battle as Vortberds Militia make themselves known.

* Following one of mages we find an empty chamber with a trap door (which he has retreated into) Cricket flings the door open and gets a nasty surprise as a beam of pure darkness seems to flood from the opening, basking the room in heavy shadow, a magical bolt of energy from the wizard hits him in the chest, and the sounds of heavy feet on a ladder can be heard getting closer, he feels the swish of air moving near him and thanks the moon goddess for his luck as something seems to glide from the shaft of blackness, a living shadow slips out into the room (and later identified as a Ragesian Shadow Knight) and floods the room in an air of menace.

* Lembit summons the spirit of an ancient warlord, it lurks near the shadow knight its deep voice bellowing orders to the two Half-Orcs, at its order the barbarian unleashes a flurry of terrible blows upon the shadow knight, slamming him to the floor in his fury! Unable to move the wreath of shadow drops revealing a hulking brute in night black iron armour, now at the rogues’ mercy, Kain plunges his dagger deep between the thick metal plates, leaving him a bloody ruin.

With their leader (well we hope it was the leader) dead the rest of the wyrms attempt a fighting retreat but are cut down or captured by Vortberds finest. We pick over the body of the shadow knight finally able to catch our breath and bind our many, many wounds.


----------



## Eccles

9th July

We return to our tale in the Steam Tunnels beneath seaquen, the white wyrms finally broken, routed and many of their lesser soldiers captured (the more important fought to the bitter end). We’re congratulated by the soldiers that joined us and both Torrent and Erol managed to come through the fight with nary a scratch, however the way they check each other over to make sure the other is unarmed suggests there is more than just business between the two of them.

That evening we are invited to another celebration meal this time at Hemingways, an exclusive gentleman’s club (not that kind!); however it really is just drinking along with Vortberd and his lackeys clapping each other on the back for a battle they didn’t fight in. If it’s not some official claiming it was his information that was key in finding the Ragesians its Torrent or Erol complaining they’ve been given different assignments. He is being sent to Ostalin while her mission takes her into the Shalhalesti lands. The other thing we find out (many times as everyone seems to know but us) that we have a meeting with Simian in the near future; he has a special assignment for us.

Given that, we’re not very surprised with a gangly youth shows up the next morning with an invitation to the Lyceum, gathering our things we head towards the huge academy. At the entrance hall we are put in the care of a fair haired and nervous young chap by the name of Jenere Breman (and are reassured that even despite his inability to make eye contact and stutter is a true up and comer with a bright future!). We bimble our way through the place, some taking the opportunity to confuse and unnerve the boy more than he already is until we finally reach the Headmasters Study, after a quick once over from the soldiers and mages that now guard the masters door we’re let inside.

Simians study has gone through a slight transformation since we last came here, more like a war conference room than an academic study. The headmaster and his head of war Kia’nan sit on large couches, across from them in Katrina and an unknown half-elf dandy who is quickly introduced as Balan Bastom, Sequens diplomatic envoy. We learn the shocking news that an army some forty thousand strong will soon be marching our way as soon as the winter passes melt, since we haven’t a hope in hell of stopping such a force, we will need the aid of the other kingdoms of Dassen, so we are to accompany to Bresk, Capital of Dassen where he shall put forward our case to try and get assistance against the Ragesians. Simian is keen to impress that Balan can “offer them anything they like but we sure as hell aren’t going to start paying taxes!” and he ensures that he will do all within his power to get King Steppengard to ignore Empress Leska “Treaty of Non-Agression” and join us in our fight.

We plan to leave the next morning and use sleds once we are across the sled and travel along the frozen river, a much speedier method than forging our way through the snow packed roads. As a final “gift” we are given a Scroll of Sending, with which we can contact Simian in an emergency, its highly implied it should only be used to warn of terrible news, and as such its entrusted to Lembit rather then it end up the target a saucy limerick or any other some concocted fable of lies by our bardic companion.

With a bulging purse of monies we go with Balan on a shopping trip, buying winter clothes, tents, blankets and any other odd fancy that Kain and Ruby can convince the envoy to purchase. During the shopping trip the now tiefling and half-elf get close, with Ruby suggesting there will be plenty of room in his/her tent, while the envoy doesn’t agree to sharing, he does hint that regular visits may occur… the rest of us sigh and stay quiet.

We are tracked down on our little shopping venture by the nervous student Jenere Breman, he has had an odd premonition about his father Jinice and wishes us to deliver a letter, Lembit feels a bout

of compassion for the lad, and when we find out the boys father is the Proxy to Lord Gallow, he is even more intrigued and spends the afternoon with the boy, inquiring about his studies so he has more information to tell the boys father when they meet (either that or he was grooming him… we can’t be sure…)

With Torrent leaving our little band, we try and track down the rest of our group and discover that Til’Jan has left to join the wayfarers in her search for Etan’Eefi. However we find the paladin relatively where we left him, and gathering all our possessions we travel through the swamp and soon find ourselves at the village across the other side. As we get close we are prepared to once again be bombarded with many methods and schemes to remove us of all our gold but instead they seem to be having a town meeting. It would seem people have been vanishing into the swamp, and recently they’ve been finding ripped and shredded bloody clothes along with lots of talk of some beast from the swamp!

With their permission Lembit examines the clothes and believes it to be the work of some feral swamp troll, a dangerous beast indeed. Eta’ranth offers to stay behind and protect the people from the beast, we wish him luck and go and see a man about a sled. Two sleds in fact and his four horses “Dee, Doc, Dolly, & Daisy”, there is some haggling about the price but seeing as the money is coming out of Balans’ purse we aren’t that caring, its an expensive price but the animals look to be worth every penny for the treacherous snowy journey ahead of us!

And it proves to be that in spades, by the end of the first day most of us are shivering our whatnots off, Kain attempts to shelter under three sheepskin blankets and still manages to freeze, by the time the sun sets and we make camp it would see we are drastically off course and not really sure where we are… hoping that it will all look better in the morning. The only consolation to this predicament is that Balan is so tired from travelling he declines the bards strange offer to join him in the Igloo He/She has constructed.

The next day we manage to find ourway back to the river and follow it, determined to not drift off course again, however its still exceptionally cold and even in our “winter gear” (which I’m sure is defective) some of us are starting to get sick. Up ahead we hear a commotion and spy a bunch of people streaming over the snowy embankements keen to reach the river and we quickly spy why when two “young” purple worms smash through the snow behind them, the remains of one peasant dangles from the toothy maw of one worm. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/excerpts_20101105b.jpg

Our horses panic and quickly our sleighs come to a halt, any plans we may have (briefly) entertained on just riding on by while the worms ate the peasants scuppered. Kain’s first out of the sleigh, skidding gracefully over the ice to lob his fine dagger at the closest worm to distract it; he’s urged to do so again by the shamans’ totem… yup that certainly did the job. The now angry worms’ massive head turns in our direction and churns through the snow while the other chomps a few of the peasants as they dash away.

The fight is joined by Cricket and his mighty fullblade and Ruby and her trusty bow (but is unsteady on the ice and misses her shot trying to avoid falling over), however this distracts the worm long enough for Kain to climb atop it, swinging one leg over its finned back and stab away with his dagger… he finds a particularly sensitive spot (with a critical hit) and the beasts howl grabs the attention of the other one, crushing a few peasants as at slithers over and plucks the unfortunate rogue off of its mates back, there is an ominous gulp and Kain vanishes into the belly of the beast with a rather unmanly “eeeek”.

Ruby shoots the first worm with a special arrow (dubbed the Arrow of Ill Omen) that lives up to its name, its magic tells the poor fate of the worm as it guides Crickets next blow into cutting the thing in half, its boiling blood melts the nearby snow. Across the way the second worm moves awkwardly and then burps out a noxious cloud, somewhere inside Kain is still fighting for his live and making the worms’ day as awkward as possible!

Lembit echoes this idea and sprays its face with dazzling streams of colours; however it doesn’t stop it from grabbing Cricket and swallowing him… however the worm quickly regrets this decision as the pair work together to cut their way out and emerge covered in sticky bile and blood but warm… deliciously warm!

Ruby and Balam talk to the peasants and discover they are refugees from Ragesia (mostly made up of merchants) who had to come over the mountains, shuffled on by Lord Reego (much like we were on our journey to Seaquen), these beasts destroyed their camp, ate quite a few of them and pursued them. Normally they wouldn’t leave the snow of the mountains but the harsh winter has expanded their range quite considerably. As they all look famished the shaman points out which parts of the worm are edible (very few) eventually putting them onto the beasts’ livers which is actually enough to feed the survivors, we wish them luck in their ordeal and venture on along the frozen river.

By the end of the day it’s clear that we are quite behind schedule, our four day journey is going to take much longer than that, thankfully the third day passes without incident but we still aren’t making good time. Our spirits brighten a bit as we passed the few landmarks we can make out, half way there and only a day and a bit behind schedule, however disaster strikes as the second Sleigh with Balan, Ruby and Lembit suddenly catches something and flips over sending them all flying. The envoy lands with a sickening crunch and blood stains the snow near his head, he isn’t dead by severely injured and both Ruby and Lembit examine and look after him while Kain and Cricket chase down the horses.

Kain manages to craft a lasso and rounds up his two with a certain amount of flair, Cricket simply grabs the dangling reins of the other two, however at first they overpower him and he is dragged through the snow while trying to slow them down, but his ire flairs and drags the pair to a halt when he finally gets a good footing and drags the pair back to the sleighs to the encouraging barks of Dag. The barbarian is put to building a good fire while the others repair the sleigh and take care of our injured envoy.

With him settled we attempt to discover the source of the accident and find a leather hoop jutting from the ice, a bit of digging reveals a body and more digging reveals two more. A trio of Guards from Lady Dean (whose realm we are currently in), two have crossbow bolts in their backs, but one looks like he was hung. Lembit surmises that they purposefully buried in the ice rather than being left, however we don’t offer them the same courtesy, “Leave em’ for the wolves, they need a good meal in this winter” says Cricket and dumps them in a bush “circle of life” agrees Lembit with a Sage nod.

Two more shivering days go passed before we spy anymore signs of civilisation (and I use that term loosely), the path of the river comes along side that of the Kings Road, we spy a little barricade manned by men in the Kings Livery (confirming we are finally in the right kingdom at least) and a small convoy of Halfling merchants have been stopped, the guards are busy rifling the wagons and throwing things out into the snow. We decide to halt and approach the guards perhaps they have a speedier way of getting our sick charge to a healer.

Ruby and Lembit go up, leaving the rest at the sleighs, as they clamber up the snowy bank it appears the guards have found a stowaway as one of the drags a woman from a concealed crawlspace by her hair. The guard captain stomps forwards, shouting at the Halfling something about trying to smuggle assassin in, his hand is already upon his sword when Ruby and Lembit tries to interject “um... excuse me” they begin, catching the guards attention for a brief second but not enough to halt his plan of action, the blade comes free of its scabbard and the woman’s head bounces into the snow. There is a click as the captains guards unleash their crossbows into the Halflings, muttering about traitorous scum.

The captain busy wiping the blood from his sword then hails them “you wanted something?” he growls “um… erm… “They begin to back away “never mind… we made a mistake” and they hurry back to the sleighs and we spur the horses into a gallop and soon their shouts for us to stop are too quiet to hear anymore.

It’s another day before we reach Bresk and we’re sure that some of us have hypothermia, if not a little frostbite and are overwhelmed by the thoughts of taverns hospitality when the Kings Castle finally comes into view… a large line of peasants stuck outside it. We push our way to the front of the line using our diplomatic papers (or rather Balam’s papers) to shuffle along without talking to them (in hindsight a mistake) expecting to breeze in through any checks. However this is not the case, the injured Envoy and Ruby make it through easy enough on the papers, Kain manages to slip passed the guards checks with a cheeky “I’m with them, guard, must have a guard”, caught off guard by his smile the guard waves him through leaving Lembit and Cricket on the wrong side of the gate.

“I’m his official lore master” spouts the shaman, patting the huge satchel of books at his side “I keep all his records, diplomat like him needs all his records”, the guard clearly looks annoyed but waves him through and looks at Cricket “and you?” “Oh aye, I’m with them too, me Dag too” “as?” “Well… “ the barbarian looks a little flustered, clearly out of his depth “odd job man, things need doing, you come to me” “right…” says the guard clearly unconvinced “well for instance, someone says to me, Cricket… we need to get into the castle, keep that man there safe” he points a finger at the injured envoy “and I’ll say, sure enough boss” and he tosses a purse of coins at the guards quite blatantly “now can I come in?” the captain peels the purse open and looks at the coins inside “sure enough, mark him on the list, odd job man” he says with a greedy smile “that I am brother, that I am” replies the barbarian patting him on the shoulder as he steps into the castle, leaving the rabble of peasants behind.

We head for the Golden Griffon Inn; an establishment that Balam had told us about in the long cold nights, this in has suites permanently reserved for Seaquens Ambassador. We’re quickly settled into rooms, the Inns owners own son turns out to be a priest and healer and quickly sets about taking care of the envoy and soon has the man revived, however he is more than a little distraught about the turn of events, our delayed journey has meant that his audience with the King is tomorrow afternoon giving him (and thus us) very little time to prepare his arguments, he was hoping to have a few days here to get the lay of the land from a political sense so he knew who to suck up to. The healer recommends he gets as much rest as possible so the leg work falls upon us.

And so begins a busy night and morning of wheeling, dealing, shadowing, listening, bribing, threatening, researching and more than a little convincing and we find out the following:

* The most obvious and easily found out piece of news is that the king has recently held the royal funerals for his entire family (wife & 18 children!) who were all assassinated at the same time. The elder children were at a party that was raided and all within were butchered without a trace of evidence, his wife and younger children were poisoned at the same time

at a banquet, the king himself only avoided the food because he was caught in a verbal argument about someone complaining about the Ragesian Ambassador.

* In response to this his chief advisor (a gnome by the name of Nina Glibhammer) has set up the Talon a branch of secret police that seem to be intent on bullying and bashing a confession out of any and all, so far without any success.

Regarding the actual Lords, Dukes and Ladies that rule the kingdoms that make up the group kingdom of Dassen (that King Steppingard rules over):

1. Duke Gallow – His domain rests upon Ragesia’s Border so has been fighting them for ages, doesn’t want to let them in.

2. Lady Timor – Sorceress so is naturally scared about the Scourge wishes to study at the lyceum but unable to due to her responsibilities as a ruler.

3. Lord Dashkoban (only Dwarf ruler) – Doesn’t like Steppingard but has no ideals to rule everyone either, content with his own little kingdom. A keen archivist and lover of fine spirits.

4. Lady Dean – Loyal to the king, wishes to retain the status quo, none aggressive and a lover of trade.

5. Lord Iz – a Keen Military man (doesn’t mean spoiling for a fight, he just likes having an army and training them)

6. Lady Namin – Incredibly vain & wishes to be the next Queen (essentially a Cougar)

7. Lord Megadon – Long standing rivalry with Seaquen over fishing. The waters they both fish from are rife with sahuagin (fish people), but the magically protected boats of Seaquen mean they come off far better than Megadons.

8. Lord Reego – absolutely hates Seaquen for reasons unknown, but very vocal about his hate and wishes it was wiped from the map. However country is is ridiculously poor and so a huge bribe might sway him.

Balan is impressed by the amount of dirt we managed to dig up and quickly starts sorting it into a series of speeches and arguments directed at different lords (or their proxy’s), both Lembit and Ruby act as sounding boards for his ideas. Kain and Cricket entertain themselves in more mundane ways.

By lunchtime we find ourselves in the castle, but it is still late afternoon before we get through all the red tape and meetings and are ushered into the throne, it would appear some kind of trial is taking place near the thrones. The King sits in one looking quite haggared, the other is empty save for a black shroud draped over it. Only Lady Namin is in personal attendance, the rest are represented by their proxys all except Gallows and we quickly find out why.

Jinice appears to be the one on trial, stooped in front of the steps to the throne, covered in enough manacles to restrain two men while a gnome hops around him jabbing her with a short cane as she demands answers and does her best to verbally beat a confession out of the exhausted looking bureaucrat. Across from us we see the Ragesian Envoy in his flame red robes watches with a twisted grin on his face, behind him stands a hulk of a man in bearskins and a huge bear skull mask, where fur doesn’t cover him scar tissue does.

Finally the Gnome seems to admit defeat (for this round) and panders to the king that maybe torturing “a necessary evil m’lord” will loosen his tongue but it appears that whatever grief stricken mood he has descended into he remains reasonable and instead sends him back to prison, to continue being under arrest for possible treason.

Quickly Balan is called up for his audience, Nina quickly interprets the kings order by speaking loudly “The might of Dassen will now hear the offerings of the lowly orphan state that dare be called Independent” and then laughs tauntingly when the wounded envoy steps up. He barely manages to

get out an introduction before he clutches his head and keels over, the gnome is quick to respond with comments like “speak up oh speaker, we can’t hear you” and no one but us seems to offer any aid to the man. Ruby is forced to speak up before the moment of audience is ended! However we noticed that as soon as ruby starts addressing the other lords Nina is quick to sit next to him whispering away, its very clear he isn’t paying anyone else attention but him. http://images.wikia.com/lotr/images/2/2c/GRIMA_~1.jpg

* Using the notes that they had worked on first she tackles Lady Timor and Lord Dashkobans Proxys. Timors is swayed by talk of magical assistance and tutoring. Recalling great moments in history where the Lyceum has aided the dwarves is enough to convince Dashkobans’ proxy.

* Lord Iz is the next focus of our arguments, praising his armed forces and that bolstered by the support of the Lyceums battle mages they will be a proud force for any nation! Lady Deans is only swayed by the lyceums offering to aid with negotiations of trade between her and the elves.

* Megadon is swayed by an agreement on sharing the secrets of alchemy used to treat Seaquens’ fishing boats to dissuade the fish men. While an abundance of flattery sways Lady Namin, only Reego is ignored, already decided to be a lost cause his proxy just sits and scowls.

Short of breath and heavily parched the Bard finally stops talking, bows long and low to the King. He draws himself from his throne and addresses his people, ignoring the bard he points to Kain and puts him on the spot “who have you lost to this war?” he demands, flustered the rogue can’t answer, the king tells the story of his loss, his family and swears that no more will die and “None shall aid that next of serpents” referring to seaquen, he gives us three days grace within the city and if we don’t leave by then we shall be arrested, he sits down heavily in his chair, the audience it would seem is over. The gnome stares at us happily as we carry Balan from the room.

Outside the man seems to immediately perk up, unable to explain what came over him within the throne room. Two messengers from Timor and the dwarves pop out after us urging us stay within the city in the hopes the king may soften as his grief passes, but if not we should visit Gallow in the north. Timors messenger starts telling us about the Talon and the their lack of success at finding the assassins but hushes and retreats as the doors to the throne room open and the Ragesian Ambassador steps out, inquisitor behind.

He introduces himself as Seramis (and after a bit of prodding we find out his bodyguard is called Torax, who Lembit helpfully shares later is known for killing a dragon and a collection of werewolves… pleasant chap, I’m sure he’s fun at parties). There are various taunts and subtle insults thrown back and forth before finally the pair wanders off quite calmly.

Back at the Golden Griffon we settle in for the night, we have a message from a gangly looking youth who we identify as one of the Kings Troubadours (and Lembit is certain there is some magical compulsion upon the man) who warns us that our lives are in danger, we should leave! And then runs away as fast as he can. Believing the warning to be a bit of a double bluff, and we’ll be arrested for trying to flee the city we stay at the inn and make a few preparations for the visitors we assume are coming. Kain spends a good few hours wiring up the windows with trip wires with little jingly bells and we have plans to use Balans chimes of awakening to create a sort’ve panic switch for whoever is on watch. We leave the interior doors of our suites open so the watcher can easily see the whole floor and settle down for the night, weapons close and armour on!

However for all the rogues hard work it appears that coin pays for better, I guess we should take it as a sign of flattery that whoever has sprung for a professional rather than a bunch of thugs with a lock pick. The first Lembit is aware of an intruder is turning around to spy someone clad in black stood over Ruby (alone in her own room as no one wished to bunk with her!). She notices and flings a shuriken at him (which makes him go ouch!) but the damage is done, the magical chime rings in his hand and all our eyes flick open!

He sends streams of dazzling colours towards the assassin (who he now notices is female) but she ducks back behind the door frame so all he manages is a pretty magic show. Kain is next, darting forward trying to stab her but again she proves too wily, deflecting the attack into the doorframe, she kicks him in the groin and chops his neck knocking him unconscious and then darts back, flipping into the air and plants a nasty looking elbow into the prone bard!

Lembit draws upon the long lost mystical arts and the bards room erupts in blood that splatters out coating the fallen rogue and stunned barbarian… however the assassin it would seem grabbed the Bards blanket and held it up to protect herself, she drops it to the floor, her outfit still pristine in its blackness. The tables turn slightly when Cricket manages to knock her over, someone wakes the rogue up and the pair manages to force her into a corner. However she is far from out of tricks, pulls a handful of powder from somewhere and blows it into the barbarians’ face, he just smiles, not impressed, she turns her hand over and blows again leaving him coughing and spluttering.

Lembit steps into the room to lend his primal energies to the fight, using his totem to guide and direct the rogue into shanking her, she jinks around his blade and once again sets her sights upon the barbarian, using a collection of grips, clinches and jabs to pressure points she knocks cricket out, stomping on his prone both with ruthless efficiency until Lembit steps in again blasting her with his second colour spray, suddenly finding himself potentially in harms way he summons a freakish gust of primal wind that spirits him back out of the blood caked room. However he had managed to awaken the barbarian who climbs groggily to his feet barely able to hold his blade up. However perhaps sensing her own mortality or deciding her mission has been foiled she decides to cut and run, eventually getting out of the window and leaps from the balcony across to a nearby building and escapes into the night.

Ruby attempts to follow using her new “icky” abilities to slither down the Inn to the floor intent on pursuit but halts when she spies two full detachments of city guards and Talon officers running towards the building shout “STOP ASSASSINS!” while pointing towards the blood covered bardette…


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## Eccles

The continuing tale of Brick aka Ruby the bard

Becoming a Biomancer

After arriving back at the inn, after our rather unsuccessful attempt to woo the king of Dassen we receive a rather ominous threat from one of the Troubadours. He had obviously been ensorcelled in some manner and informs us to flee the city or we will be killed. As our diplomat associate seems too ill to travel we decide to stay the night at the inn. Feeling quite tired after her busy day of playing the diplomat, Ruby settles down in one of the large chairs in her suite, with notebook in hand she continues writing her memoirs. “You never know” she thinks to herself “they could prove very valuable in the future”, with her journal up to date she places the book on the desk and decides to have a look out of the window. However when she attempts to stand she finds that her arm is stuck to the side of the chair!

A feeling of vertigo threatens to overcome her and almost blinded by the bright light from window, she stumbles, until she finds herself a handheld mirror, bringing the silver surface up so she can look at her face. Her pupils contract and dilate; they seem to be taking the slit like pupil of a cat! She slumps to the floor, her brain trying to process these new changes, her hands naturally clasp and cradle her tails in comfort, and an icky sound from her lap suddenly grasps her new eyes attention. Looking down at her tentacle tail shows that a the stubby flesh at the end has unfurled to reveal a snapping mouth, which darts out and takes a chunk out of the desk she is sat next to. Another feeling of vertigo swallows her senses, a strange tingle from the side of her head and reaching up she can feel her ears changing shape. Another examination in the mirror she sees her ears now resemble those of a bat! As the new way of hearing suddenly assaults her senses she grabs a nearby bin and wretches until the world stops spinning. Closing the curtains to her room tightly she plunges the room into darkness, even with her new eyes she is amazed at the detail she can see in the dark and all the new sounds she had never noticed before and she begins to calm down!

Taking charge she opens the curtains and begins to examine her face in the mirror, trying to decide the best way to accentuate her few features, thoughts of what color make up to try ripple through her mind when suddenly the pores of her skin seem to open up and erupt in slimy pus that melts her features like wax. She screams and scrabbles into one corner. The door is flung open and Cricket stands in the door, scans the room for an intruder, spies no one by the bard in the corner weeping into her arms “What’s the matter, fella?” he asks. She looks up expecting him to react to her ruined face but he just looks puzzled, quickly settling her nerves she replies “Oh nothing, I thought I saw a mouse". The Half-Orc shakes his head with disgust “Yer’ a grown man, you can handle a mouse!” he growl and stomps out of the room, closing the door behind him. Another glance in the hand to reassure herself “no puss, all good” she thinks.

She begins to prepare for bed, but her tail seems agitated, causing her hips to sway back and forth as it sweeps from side to side like preying snake. Investigating herself she smiles “so there was a mouse after all” she grins, a snap of her fingers and she launches a low powered eyebite at it, stunning the small creature and fading from its view, she gently reaches out and picks up the little creature, it thrashes and wriggles in alarm. Her tentacle tail whips and snaps as the jaws unfurl at the end, slime dripping from the gaping maw. She tosses the mouse into the air, she turns letting the tail react on instinct as it catches the vermin and a loud snap of the jaws leaves no trace of the mouse. Having finished the tiny morsel the jaws retract and the tentacle, ripples more folds of flesh unfurl from its sides revealing suckers like that of an octopus. Experimenting she finds that she can use the tentacle and the suckers on her arms and legs as very effective climbing aids, she clambers up to the rafters in the ceiling she falls asleep.

In the adjoining suite her companions are slightly alarmed at the strange sounds coming from her room but the Barbarian simply states “He’s dealing with a few issues, best leave him to it if you ask me”, no one else seems willing to try the door. A few hours later Lembit is standing first watch, and checks on the room, he gentle opens the door to see that all of the furniture has been knocked

over and there is a slimy substance coating the walls and the floor. His gaze is drawn to the slimy trails that lead into the rafters, a large pod or cocoon pulses strangely.

Stumbling back in disgust he takes a closer look at the pod. The sides seem to peel back revealing Ruby’s naked form. She is covered head to toe in a greenish slime. She gets up and wipes off the slime and puts on a dressing gown. She looks up at Lembit and says “You’re not going to believe the dreams I just had". With that she walks towards the bathroom, looking back towards Lembit she says "I think I might need someone to scrub my back!” and licks her lips seductively as she saunters into the bathroom leaving Lembit feeling as though someone had dipped his lower half in a vat of ice.

The others, still quite eager to know what is going on come into the room and see Lembit standing there with a disturbed look on his face. "What happened" they ask, "I'm not really sure but I’m sure she will explain herself when she gets out of the bath" he replies.


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## Eccles

Quick GM note re. Brick (now Ruby) the bard:-

"Oh, God, what have I done??"

 - Message ends -


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## Eccles

16th July

We return to the Golden Griffon Inn… having foiled the assassin’s plan, she makes good her escape flittering through a window and leaping an astonishing distance across the street and scrabbles over the rooftops and out of sight. Kain stops on the balcony judging the distance between the balcony and the nearest roof and quickly dismissing it while Ruby slithers over the balcony to the ground intent to give chase but stops as her new eyes and ears pick out two groups of men running towards the hotel, the cry if “Surrender, Assassins!” breaks the silence, with a gulp the blood splattered rogue back peddles up the wall and over the side. Inside our hotel suite everyone is busy cramming their possessions into sacks and bags and we decide a hasty retreat through the pubs back exit is in order.

Sticking to the alleyways we manage to make it through most of the city as we travel to one of the side gates hoping to slip through before they’re shut and locked. Up ahead we spy a large patrol wandering about “We’ve heard reports of people breaking curfew” barks their commander “keep your eyes peeled lads!” We attempt to circumvent them by going over some of the lower level houses in the area, but are sadly spotted and so begins a rambling battle around the houses as we try to reach the gates.

Highlights:

* Lembit using his selection of weird totem animals to summon a giant frog atop another building to distract the guards, however they are pulled back into line by their commander reassuring them in boisterous tone that “there’s no such thing as giant frogs soldier!”

* The commanders order to “get up on those roof’s and shoot em down!” is soon ignored after a cry of “its bloody slippery up ‘ere sarge” follow by one of them falling off and breaking his leg.

* Ruby receives a severe beating by a prelate summoning a celestial hammer that happily sits in the air bashing her over the head, until she too gets off of the roofs.

* Silas surprised everyone, most noticeably one of the guards as he phases like a ghost through several buildings to appear behind someone and smites them with hellish fury!

By the time we get close to the gates another patrol is closing fast on the area and they appear to have a Sphinx with them, Silas and Ruby manage to escape through the main gates leaving Cricket, Kain and Lembit still a few streets away. The Sphinx manages to give Cricket quite a mauling before he manages to stagger away and run through the gates as fast as his legs will take him. Kain and Lembit however decide they won’t make it passed that many guards and duck into a nearby tavern locking the little side door behind them.

A few moments of waiting and a few distractions caused by Lembits Impish familiar Blarney (knocking over bins and enraging sleeping mules in their stables) causes enough of a commotion that the pair can escape, blitzing passed the few remaining guardsmen. A “pssst!” draws their attention to their comrades hiding in a ditch not too far from the gates. With our escape complete we now are at a slight loss with what to do, especially as we’re barely yards from the city walls and have no immediate transportation. However fate smiles and Lembit spies a light flashing at regular intervals, we slip over to investigate and find a cloaked man near a copse of trees with a collection of horses “you must leave at once, head for Gallows land, he’ll be able to help!” we waste no time mounting up and fleeing as signal horns start coming from the city walls.

With seventy miles to go until we reach Gallows land we have a bit of a trek ahead of us and its not long before we spy a patrol following, slowly gaining ground as our horses begin to tire.

Thanks to some quick thinking from Ruby we do manage to lose them in one of the regions denser forest, finding a small hollow to spend the night in away from prying eyes. However the patrol didn’t

give up that easy and once again manages to make it onto our trail as we gallop for Gallows land, and with one of the border forts in sight the patrol behind takes the whip to their horses and our hopes of reaching it without a fight are dashed.

Highlights:

* Lembit scores the first significant action in the fight using his newly found blood magic to rain down a blood pulse, covering fought of the knights in sticky cursed blood which causes them to come to a halt rather than release the curse of the blood!

* However their back up choice involved shooting at him with heavy crossbows which hurt… a lot!

* Ruby scores a second cheer for our side, her Jinxed arrow sails through the air hitting one of the knights, causing him to fall off of his horse when he fumbles his crossbow shot.

* Kain and Cricket prepare to receive the now much stunted cavalry charge while Silas rains fiery death upon the sphinx that tailed the patrol, bringing it crashing to the ground with the Chains of Levistus!

A group of knights do ride out from Gallows Fort, but by the time they reach us we have the matter well in hand; they manage to pepper the last rider with bolts from their crossbows as he tries to ride away. We meet the commander of the knights a dwarf who riders in full human sized plate mail as a distraction, he calls for a small ladder and one of his subordinates helps him dismount. When we tell him of our plight he agrees to escort us personally to Gallows Fend, capital and seat of Lord Gallow.

On our journey the dwarf entertains us with many tales of the battles he’s fought in to keep the Ragesians from this land, like his lord he has no interest in “rolling over and letting those buzzard just waltz in here!” and seems to be eagerly looking forward to them coming over the border (which is a little shocking seeing as it will be some forty thousand of them!)

We close this week’s tale with us just spying the city come fortress of Gallows Fend in the distance, nestled between the mountains.


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## Eccles

The continuing adventures of Brick aka Ruby the bard

Being a Biomancer

Growing Wings

It is the start of a new day and Ruby uses her magic to break town the campsite she created the previous night. This is when she feels an itch running across her shoulder blades and down her back. Reaching to scratch the itch she notices two bony growths start to sprout from between her shoulders. As the day goes on these growths become bigger and she is unable to hide these changes any longer. Lembit is the first to notice the changes, "Well you did say that there were more interesting changes to come".He gets a little tape measure from one of his pockets and starts to measure the wing span. "What do they feel like, I mean can you actually use them" She flexes her muscles where she thinks the wings should start and unfurl them. It appears the wings are like big bat wings. These are similer in size to the wings of some of the powerful Dragonborn warriors. Though try as hard as she can to use them to gain any altitude the arms within the wings don't seem to be responding to her thoughts, it seems they are purely cosmetic additions. After a while she manages to keep them open and glide a few metres its quite obvious to herself that this is never going to be a new mode of transportation, but is quite satisfied with the new additions. The rest of the group look on this spectacle with bemusement, watching Ruby run around trying to fly on her new wings unsuccessfully.

Meanwhile back at the not so secret undetground volcano lab back in Seaquen things are not going entirely to plan. While Ruby was in such a hurry to get packed for the journey to Bresk she has neglected to do anything with the scum that was already being changed in the tank. Some quite interesting changes have taken place. Its head seems to have grown larger and developed more brain mass as this can be seen pulsing through the skin.


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## Eccles

Continuing on towards Gallows Fend in the company of the group of knights we ride our horses towards the fort. When we arrive at the fort we can see it sitting atop of a 100 foot cliff with a winding path leading to the front gate. On either side there are cliffs that rise for another 100 feet either side of the castle. A river runs around the back making this a very defendable position. We are met by Duke Gallow who assigns us quarters and a servant. He explains that we can't stay in the fort as it is overcrowded already and says we are to stay outside the grounds. He says he will summon us tommorrow morning for a meeting in the war room. We decide that it is probably best to have an early night as it seems there is a limited night life as the locals don't seem to drink that much.

The next day we ard woken from our slumbers by our servant at the crack of dawn. He informs us that Duke Gallow has summoned us for an information exchange. We have a quick breakfast and head up to the castle where we are directed to the war room. Inside this room there is a scale map of the terrain with little models representing the different factions. On walkways surrounding the map there are men with long poles moving the figures around as they receive information of there movements. Standing at the back of the room there are a group of clerics. They are concentrating very hard. One of them opens his eyes and walks over to one of the men with the poles and whispers something in his ear. The other man nods and uses his pole to move some of the figures around. The cleric goes back to his group and begins concentrating again. Across the top of the map there is a walkway where Duke Gallow stands. He is holding one of the long poles and gesticulates with it wildly while trying to explain the situation he is in. He explains that the king is making a terrible mistake, his fortress has stood up to a great many attacks and they need to concentrate on the forming Ragesian army. He points aggresivly to the corner of the map where a group of servants are starting to lay out the Ragesian army. There are a lot of figures and an entire cupboard stands full at the rear of the room. It has a sign on it that reads Ragesian Contingent. He continues by saying that he can't act directly against the King himself but he needs some allies to help him, Lord Megadon and Lady Timor (not to sure about this please correct if wrong). There is a fort that they have lost contact with and he needs us to go and bring back any of the soldiers there if they are still alive and if not take some Ragesian prisoners (again not to sure please correct). He asks us to ride to this fort as a smaller group of travellers will be noticed less than if he sent out a small contigent of his own men. We agree to this and saddle up our warhorses and ride as fast as we can to our destination.

The way is a hard ride as it is snowing and there are large snow drifts all around. Kain takes control of the group of us by explaining the best ways to avoid frost bite and gives us tips on how to endure the cold. During our hard ride Urien points out what he thinks is a better route but unfortunatly leads us into a huge snow drift. We have to dig deep to endure the cold and some of us are starting to show the early signs of frost bite. As our ride progresses we pass by several forts where we are able to have a little rest before riding out again. When we arrive at the fortress it is a similer layout to the castle at Gallows Fend. With a windy path leading up to the main gate there is difficult terrain all around. Trying to sneak in a little closer on foot we are quickly spotted by the sounds of Uriens plate armour and huge sheild. A voice calls down and shouts in giant "halt, who goes there". Thinking quickly Ruby shouts back in giant "we are friends, we have come from Bresk with information from the spy network". Her voice falters a little and she turn to her companions and whispers, "I don't think they believed me, we have to do something quick. Urien takes the lead and moves quickly along the path followed by Ruby. Kain and Lembit try to scrabble through the difficult terrrain while Silus moves quickly up the path ( I forget what Nick did here, please amend). Then we see two half orcs on the top of the fortress produce crossbows and begin to pepper us with shots. Some of these shots found their targets and hit quite hard. Looking up towards the fortress we can see a pair of green wing tips which we assume belongs to a Wyvern. Kain gets to the top of the hill first and engages in melee closly followed by Urien and Lembit. As this is happening the thing that we thought was a Wyvern takes to the skys mounted by a half orc knight begins to attack us. Ruby takes aim with her bow and launches an arrow at the Wyvern sticking it into its flesh. The mount roars in pain, more from irritation and the rider narrows his eyes and goads his mount into attack her. The creature charges forwards with it legs outstretched ready for a grab. Ruby has just enough time to think that this must be what a mouse feels like when it is attacked by an owl. She is scopped up and tosses back down the hill and lands in the snow prone. Seeing this happen Silus launches a spell at the Wyvern doing hidious amounts of damage killing it. The rider manages to avoid being squashed by his mount and rolls away from its prostrate body. The fight continues with Urien using the magic in his boots to walk up the wall where he begins to attack the half orcs on the roof. Kain follows by climbing up the battlements. The rest of the group pepper the enemies that they could see with ranged attacks.

We all managed to get to the top of the tower where we were able to catch our breath for a few minutes. There are two locked trapdoors in the roof. Kain walks over to one of them,checking it for traps he confirms that it is locked. He produces a set of lockpicks from his pocket he begins to try to pick the lock. He fails miserably and turns round to look at us. With a shrug a reaches into his pocket for his magical skeleton key and inserts it into the lock. A second later the door opens and we can see some steps leading down into the building.

We file down the stairs and Kain opens the door as quietly as he can. On the other side we are met with three half orc soldiers and an inquisitor. Kain and Urien charge in and engage in melee while Ruby, Lembit and Silus hang back to attack with ranged spells. A group of half orc soldiers led by a larger leader burst in from one of the side rooms and ran out throught the other door and over the roof in an attempt to flank us. Seeing a chance to use some blood magic, Lembit legs it back up the stairs and covers the group of half orcs in a blood pulse. When they realise that they cannot continue their charge without sustaining massive damage they stand still and curse in giant. Running back down the stairs laughing to himself, He gets ready to engage the enemy. Ruby runs up to the door locking it from the inside. The other half orcs shout up saying that the door has been locked. We manage to defeat the fighters but the inquisitor and one of the leaders manage to escape through the door leading to the roof. Lembit chases after him and sees them escaping over the wall on a rope. Ruby runs up up the stairs and aims at the rope with her bow. Kain runs up the stairs and is able to cut the rope with his dagger. We hear a shreik as they fall to the ground. With shouts of "take them alive", Kain scrambles over the wall and attacks the half orc leader in melee and knocks him out. Ruby continues to take pot shots at the inquisitor and somehow manages to knock her unconscious. We exit the tower to inspect our hostages, but when it comes to the inquisitor we lift her mask from her face to find that it has been melted off and she is dead. We still have two prisoners, so we remove any dangerous things from them and tie them together for interrogation when we reach Gallows Fend. Ruby volunteers to start any interrogation early as she still has the inquisitor torture implements from the fight in the underground crypt. Her suggestion is quickly knocked back by Urien the paladin. Searching through the bodies gives us a hude reward in gold. Ripping the claws from the inquisitor gives us a +2 spiked gauntlet and the half orc that was riding the Wyvern was carrying a +1 battle axe. Ruby packs these items into the growing treasure sack and finds a superior crossbow hidden under some rags which turns out to be a shrieking crossbow. Tails twitching with excitement she heads outside to test out her new toy.


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## Eccles

Credit to Paul (plays Ruby the bard) for this week's update, as our usual chronicler was away...

And another quick update from Paul about what's been happening to Ruby this week!

----

The continuing tails of Brick aka Ruby the bard

Growing new body parts

Ruby is sitting on watch looking at herself in the mirror as she is wont to do. When a strange feeling overcomes her. She is finding it quite difficult to breathe. Her neck is really starting to itch and she can feel new tissue growing. " oh no, not again" she thinks. Grabbing the mirror she looks to see what is happening to herself. New tissue is forming on her neck which seems to resemble gills. "great" she thinks. "I might have to cover those up". As her body seems to realise that it already has a functioning set of lungs it stops in mid transformation. The gills remain but she can still breath air from her surroundings.

Meanwhile in the not so secret underground lab interesting changes are happening to the scum in the vat. It has continued to develope its cranium, the brain is visibly pulsing beneath the skin. Its eyes have grown in size and the creatures ears have shrunk to tiny nubs on the side of its skull. The green goo that it is suspended in continues to bubble, there is a small electrical flash on one of the control panels near to the tank. The creature looks over at this movement and continues to observe.


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## Eccles

The continuing adventures of Brick aka Ruby the bard

After fighting for most of the morning Ruby is preparing for the next stage of the battle when she feels a her body convulse with pain. Becoming quite familiar with these sensations she realises that her body is going through another change. Wretching she falls to her knees, she feels the palms of her hands beginning to itch. She gently removes her gloves and looks at her hands. Two eyes have appeared in her hands, they have the appearance of reptile eyes and blink seperately at her. Feeling a little queasy with this new sensory input she sits down in front of the fire to admire her new eyes.

Meanwhile in a not too secret hideaway things are taking an interesting turn. The scum in the tank has continued to change. Two small growths have stated growing from the base of its spine. It almost seems that it is trying to mimic its creator. There is a noise coming from the corner of the room and the door to the lab is slowly opened. A would be thief has stumbled on more than he bargained for. He sees the scum bubbling away in the tank and gasps in shock. The creature spins around and locks gazes with the would be thief. The veins in its head visibly throb and the man walks over to one of the benches and sits down. His gaze is blank, the scum grins and continues to observe.


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## Eccles

6th August

With the Ragesian garrison defeated and the fortress returned (no doubt somewhat temporarily) to the alliances control we prepare to leave, securing our prisoners and prepping for the arduous journey back. However Both Lembit and Urien believe themselves to be unfit to travel and will stay until their strength returns and catch the rest of us up. Kain, Silas and Ruby (along with the three prisoners) make their way through the snow to Gallo's nearest outpost, there they meet up with Cricket and are tended by the forts chaplains. The head Chaplain performs a small ritual of sending to inform Gallo's staff of our exploits and that we are returning with prisoners, and learn news that troops are being sent to reclaim the fort.

Back at Gallo's fend we are debriefed, fed and then sent into the Lord's campaign room where his staff are busy setting up and moving pieces upon the scale model that dominates the room. Gallo appears to have come to a decision about what to do regarding Steppingard's army that is slowly marching towards us and that it must be dealt with quickly before the Ragesians flood over the boarder and he finds himself fighting a war on two fronts. We are to escort his new Proxy, a man by the name of Machesson, to see the Dwarflord Dashkoban and Lady Timor, calling in old pledges of support so that he stands a chance against the kings army. We also have a second task, we must visit the town of Pitchwoodburg (near the Pitchwood Forest) and convince them to use their harvest of pitch to melt the river and slow down Steppingard's advance.

But as the village is within Dashkobans border we decide to visit the dwarf first and see if he himself will be able to aid our diplomatic endeavor so all that remains if to decide if we wish to travel through or around the Pitchwood Forest (rumored to be inhabited by a tribe of Fey called the Pitchlings, a competitive people who only speak elven) and it's decided that because time is of the essence we'll travel through, saving ourselves a few days of travel. Ruby recalls an ancient ditty whose lyrics suggest walking around with an unlit torch and if any pitchlings are near it will magically light itself and so armed with a few dozen of them we set forth into the forest.

Our mostly boring trek is eventually brightened as the torches each of us carries flares into life, Kain buckles a magical belt around his waist (that we found in the fire forest, it allows the wearer to communicate in elven but unable to use any other language) and greets them by shouting "I can see you!", all around us there is much chittering and conspiring in elvish and so begins a discourse that the rest of us are unable to understand, kain does much arm waving and gesticulating before removing a handful of shiney coins (tho in reality totalling less than about 10 gold pieces in change) and places them by a tree and starts walking on undoing the belt buckle and says "tribute, they'll less us pass now" in his best (and totally unconvincing) reassuring manner.

So we are not exactly surprised that our torches continue to burn (and relight after being doused) for the next few hundred yards as the rogue leads us onward with a confident whistle, nor are we surprised by the part of stick thin quilled covered oddities slathered in pitch with that block the path, crooked long bows in hand. We spy a couple tearing their own quills from their skin to use as arrows and notch them to their bows. Kain puts the belt on and attempts to talk to them but they only repeat "leave money and stuff or we burn you!".

Fight Highlights:

* Both Cricket & Kain are caught by twisted roots animated by the pitchlings trapping them on the road while another of their number sends a rolling wave of exhaustion along the road putting them both to sleep (with Ruby and Silas managing to shrug off the sleeping compulsion).

* Silas finds and exploits their weakness to cold, blasting them with magical frost.

* Ruby finds herself the ongoing target of a particularly accurate Pitchling who managed to find the chinks in her armour (critical hits) three times in a row.

* Finally the barbarian and rogue manage to get themselves into the fight and the pitchlings are routed and flee from the Warlocks icy touch, however Kain does manage to knock one out to take hostage.

With our captured Pitchling we manage to arrange safe passage through the rest of the forest, and at the edge we cut its bonds and watch it sprint back into the darkness of the forest. We make the rest of the journey to Dashkobans without incident and presenting Gallo's man at the gates of the fortress sees us ushered through without having to deal with too much red tape and are quickly in the presence of the Lord Dashkoban (a dwarf with a most beautiful beard!) and for once we meet a ruler who is happy to see us, he happily acknowledges Gallo's plight and pledges his support. The Troops that were to march to Steppingard will now join Gallo instead.

With that dealt with we also mention Gallo's plan regarding Pitchwoodburg and their harvest, he writes a letter addressed to a Father Albert the leader of the village that will hopefully make our own negotiations easier with the village but says he won't order them to do it.

So reaching Pitchwoodburg we quickly introduce ourselves to Father Albert and with Ruby's Silver Tongue and the letter from Dashkoban we do convince him to sell their crop, and as its not our money we pay slightly over the going rate for their harvest and throw in a little extra as a labor cost for actually laying it and setting fire to the river.

With two of our three errands done its time to head for Lady Timors lands, the quickest (and in reality the only option due to lengthy detours through hostile lands) is up the Glassteel Cliffs (and name that inspires a cheery jaunt on a mule i'm sure!), so gathering our climbing equipment and lashing ourselves together we start to climb. However some over ambitious yodeling attracts the attention of Cliff Harpies and we are attacked mid climb (while still lashed together).

Fight Highlights:

* As they swoop in a few of the larger harpies hang back, drifting in the winds and begin a most glorious song, one that few of us fail to be lured by and stagger towards them off the cliff edge, saved by a grisly death by being tied together with safety lines.

* The lure of the song becomes so great that in brief moments of clarity Kain tethers himself to the rock face to restrain himself, cricket meanwhile (the other person to be dragged off the ledge to the rocks below) simply holds on with grim strength until he manages to muster the will power to climb up (which takes quite a while, the mustering that is, not the climbing).

* Both Ruby and Silas however manage to hold their nerve and their own against the harpies and eventually they are driven away so that we can continue our climb to the summit, where handily is a short walk to Lady Timor's enchanted castle. http://tinyurl.com/3j4nojh

Much like Lord Dashkoban, Lady Timor is also get an audience but unlike she not so pleased to see us (nor does she have as soft a beard!) when she discovers that it was us that extinguished the fire forest, now that it no longer provides an unnatural barrier between her and Ragesia’s borders. However with a few barbed comments she seems to get it out of her system and also pledges her troops to Gallo instead of Steppingard supplying much needed battle mages and war wizards to bolster the regular foot troops.

She also entrusts to Ruby (much to our dismay) a magical Gem linked to an ancient Xorn (however after researching the thing and discovering it to be a beast with too many arms, mouths and arses it appears to be a the perfect playmate for Ruby). http://tinyurl.com/yf5a3br

Throwing the stone on the ground and repeating the incantation will call it to us, where she assures us it will attack our enemies for as long as its entertained and then probably walk off bored or come to the call of her other agents.

She also offers us accommodation for the evening and that some of her Acolytes would aid us returning back down the cliffs by aid of magic that will let us drop like a feather, saving us much time and hardship, we graciously accept her offer. The evening passes all too quickly and we once again find ourselves in the bracing cold wind near the cliffs ready to base jump over the edge as soon as the spells are cast. With much whooping and screaming we “enjoy” the quick descent, Ruby outstretches her odd wings in an attempt to glide but the fierce wind has other plans and rather than graceful mock flight she spirals out of control, until finally vomiting and passing out. She is woken up by the final drop into the powdery snow at the base of the cliffs and we go off in search of the horses we had left behind thankfully finding them all in one piece.

Back at Gallows Fend we find the place ready for War and the next few days are set preparing to march as Gallo’s forces assemble ready to move out and stake their chosen battleground and await Steppingard. Naturally we get caught up in this put in charge of a small division of troops and orders to hold the line and kill any one who tries to push passed. We arrange our men and prepare some defences with ditch digging and using the left over earth to make defensible walls.

Soon our little piece of ground is invaded by a mass of footmen and dragonborn berserkers backed up with two hulking trolls and a torrent of siege engine fire and the smoldering fire of a wizard atop a sphinx that circles the battlefield blasting all with his magic. It’s quite the desperate and bloody battle but we manage to come out on top, alas at the deaths of a large number of our troops, and many more wounded.

With the first push defeated we are recalled back to the commanders camp, it would appear that we are being reissued into “special duties” (either because our talents lend themselves more towards isolated butchery or because we really shouldn’t be put in charge of commanding troops!) and Gallo invites us to look at the War Table with him to plan our sortie.


----------



## Eccles

13th August

“King Steppingard’s War Engines are proving more effective than we anticipated, and their effect on the battle will only increase as this draws on so it is imperative that they are destroyed” Gallo explains to us, using a small stock to point and circle locations on the maps of their siege camps “lots of open ground, not an easy approach” says Cricket looking wary at the prospect of dashing over many yards of clear white snow with nothing but archers waiting. “I concur” agrees Lord Gallo “our Dwarven allies have been busy with tunnels since they set up their camp, soon they’ll be close enough to surface and give our forces access to the camps”.

It is decided that we split into smaller teams and attack the larger camps first to draw attention away from the smaller camps that Gallo’s own allied forces will attempt to sabotage. Cricket, Silas and Ruby form one, with the others forming another and make our way to the “tunnels”, far from the fine craftwork of dwarf halls, merely a rough hole straight through the frozen earth with wooden supports jammed up every few feet but our guides assure it that “it’ll hold long enough!” as we stoop and crawl along it until we reach the cramped end where a team of four dwarves wait. One reaches for a set of ropes attached to the far supports, hands them over and we heave dislodging the earth above that collapses into a easily manageable slope up and out into the cold are, we charge passed and into the battle!

In the distance we can see the four machines we’ve been sent to destroy, 2 Ballista and two Mangonels all behind small palisades with a trench dug around them. http://codesmiths.com/siege/images/Mangonel.jpg http://www.conteco.com/PreView/VA102ballista401.jpg

We are quickly spotted by the garrison defending the area as we run across the snowy field, their commander ordering some men forward while the others fumble and un-sling the crossbows from their backs and a ragged volley of bolts fall around as we race on, while the commander reaches for the horn on his belt letting loose a single note, long and clear, its returned by a high pitch roar and we watch in dismay as the shadow of a dragon sweeps over the battlefield, however as it gets closer (very close in fact) we discover that its not as big as we initially thought. Still its diminished size doesn’t stop it from breathing fire over us (however to no great effect as everyone but cricket is some what resistant to fire damage, and the barbarian was thankful for the warmth as it’s a bit fecking cold out!).

Quickly the battle turns into bit of a slugfest as the rest of the garrison catches up and both Silas and Cricket (but Ruby manages to avoid being pinned down, dallying at the back with her crossbow) find themselves surrounded by the enemy (and the dragon) and a rough stalemate is met until a combined assault severely injures the dragon (though not before it gives Cricket a good mauling) and takes to the sky, scaly tail firmly between its legs! The commander is felled next and with the numbers thinned a little Cricket braves the barricade of one of the Ballista’s climbing over it and sets to “dismantling it” using his some energetic language and fullblade! Silas sets fire to its nearby counterpart (the catapult).

However the garrisons “reinforcements” finally slog their way over from the other siege camps and with the barbarian still busy (and in the relative safety of the ballista’s palisade) mean that Silas and Ruby are finally surrounded and even though the reinforced troops are a rag tag collection of conscripts, farmhands and injured soldiers they manage to bring Ruby down by sheer weight of numbers and she bleeds to death before the others can reach her.

Our remaining pair lead the soldiers a merry chase around the camp before regrouping amidst a see of enemy soldiers and fight back to back, the barbarian reaping a grim harvest while the warlock continues to rain fire and misfortune upon two more of the war machines. Bleeding from more places than not Cricket proffers the idea of a retreat “One still stands” replies the quirky warlock adamant “Take the fake things body, it is my purpose to stay and finish our task!” and slips away through the crowd leaving a trail of carnage behind him. The barbarian mimics the warlocks own actions but in a different direction and forces his way back through the camp to Ruby’s Corpse hefty it over one shoulder and begins a fighting retreat back to the tunnel.

Outdistancing his pursuers Cricket passes Ruby’s body to one of the sappers “Time to leave?” it asks “Nah not yet, still some unfinished business, you lads run along” replies the barbarian and stands his ground at the entrance of the tunnel, sending any that approach to a messy end. Iin the distance the final Catapult is wreathed in flames but still stands, bolts of magical energy appear from random parts of the camp as Silas continues his skirmish chased and hounded every step of the way and finally the final machine collapses under its own weight.

Cricket continues his bloody vigil, silently praying for the sight of Silas, but when a cheer goes up around the camp his heart falls and with one final sweep of his mighty blade he turns his back and steps down into the tunnel ignoring the troops scrabbling in behind him. Taking the two safety ropes in his strong hands he breaks into a run, a roar of fury builds in his throat as the rope snap taut and give, dislodging the struts collapsing the tunnel behind him, the mission a success but at a high cost.

Upon returning back to the command area we are diverted (thankfully!) to the cathedral which is clogged with the wounded, the dieing and in a few places the dead. A trio of the priests tend to Cricket, while a novice is sent to serve the last rights over Ruby in the mausoleum nearby. He returns a few minutes later much to the annoyance of his mentor “It takes longer than that to read the rights boy!” he snaps “something’s not right sir, I tried saying them but there’s this noise, like an angry bee or something!” he protests.

Obviously not believing the boys story he stands, grips the boy strongly by the hand and all but drags him behind “I shall show you once again!”, the priests loud and fervent chanting can be heard even over the crash of the nearby battle, however soon another noise drowns it out completely as the church is filled with a buzzing sound, like a horde of angry locusts! An orb of white light zips into the room trailed quickly by the priest and his novice, both of their faces are white with shock as they watch the orb dance and flitter through the room, hovering in front of everyone’s faces briefly before moving on to the next. One of the priests tending to Cricket stands, his fingers tight around his holy symbol, voice loud in prayer and the buzzing drone quietens, he addresses the novice even though his eyes don’t leave the floating orb “Fetch Cleric Costidas, we have a soul that is not ready to move on, we shall need his skill!”.

It takes several hours (and a few thousand gold pieces in rare and thus expensive salves, relics and in donations) of the priests work but finally the labours are over, Ruby stands back in the land of the living, if a little unsteady on her its feet and paler of skin... More than a few of the priests that helped with the Ceremony look deeply disturbed at what they’ve done whispers of “that’s not the body that soul belongs to!” can be overheard by those with keen hearing, but soon the joy of a miracle performed is forgotten as the gears of war continue turning and more and more wounded pour in.

We stagger our way back to the front lines hoping to make a difference and stem the flow of casualties coming in, before we make it back to the command area (in order to find out where best we’re needed) Steppingards army make a huge push and our lines start to overrun, we join the charge of reinforcements to plug any gaps and while losses are significant we weather the storm and

break them, after the third push is routed they begin a ragged withdrawal and a truce seems to be established.

Some two days later we are summoned by Gallow, he has received a message from Steppingard and wishes for peace, he is arranging a conference along with festival in Bresk that all the Dukes, Lords and Ladies are to attend, naturally Gallow is Wary “but he has me over a barrel, if I don’t attend it will only sway more to his cause as I will look like I don’t want peace!” he explains “but he claims that new evidence has come to light against the Ragesians and wants to consolidate our forces to be ready for them, so I must go… but hopefully not alone?” he says, asking us to join his retinue as bodyguards so that we might attend the conference and help deal with anything untoward should it happen.

Immediately Ruby begins querying and haggling the terms but is interrupted by cricket pushing her out of the way as he unsheathes his huge sword, holding it out in his huge hands offering it to Gallow. The lord reaches out and takes it, his arms drooping under its unexpected weight and looks a little confused before handing it back, the barbarian sweeps the huge blade over his shoulder in one fluid motion and takes a knee as Gallow pulls his own blade and knights him “Rise… Ser Cricket” says Gallow as the barbarian stands with a smile on his face and claps one meaty paw on Lord Gallows shoulder “I’ll see ya there and back in one piece squire, ya can be sure o’ that” and steps aside to let the others receive their honours.


----------



## Eccles

Ruby's death scene

The battle to destroy the opposing army’s war machines is upon us. A team of several dwarf sappers have helped by digging a tunnel under enemy lines. We slowly emerge from the ground to the sight of a long line of siege engines. They are guarded by a squad of troops and led by a commanding officer, in the sky above a small red dragon flies above our heads. Cricket takes the initiative and charges into a group of the troops and gets stuck in. He is followed by Silas who starts blasting any and all with eldritch energy. Ruby follows at a distance as she is more suited to range combat.

As more and more reinforcements bolster their numbers we were in danger of being overwhelmed, and quickly Ruby finds herself boxed in by an entire squad of the soldiers’ and set to bashing her brains out with their flails, or slice her to ribbons with their short steel blades. She defends herself valiantly but eventually one of their swords slides easily between the gaps of her armour hitting something vital. Clutching her side to stem the blood she falls to the slush covered ground, a final crunch of a flail head striking her sends into the dark embrace of unconsciousness. The brave dwarf sappers at the mouth of the cave picked up crossbows and began to shoot at the mercenaries that surrounded her. All of this however was in vain as she quickly succumbs to her wounds and breathes her last breath as her lifeblood stains the white snow around her body.

~~~~~ Wavy lines ~~~~~

Brick stands up and looks down at his feet to see the corpse of Ruby at his feet. Looking around him the world is different to how he remembers it, there is no colour and the sound from the battle appears muted.

In the distance he can see Silas being surrounded by soldiers and battered with flails "Hey! Come back and get my body! I’m not quite dead!" shouts Brick, but is pretty sure no one can hear him. Looking passed the battle raging all about him he spies a figure standing on a hill in the distance staring at him. With nothing else to do the Goliath starts walking towards the figure. With every step towards the figure seems to be further away, the world seems to slip away with every next step until finally the figure stops and Brick feels he is gaining ground. When he finally gets there the scenery has changed to a desert and he can see the figure clearer now, his father.

“Well son, it saddens me to see you here. You have so much left to do. Your mother and I have been watching your progress for some time now. We are both very proud of you" says his father, his voice a distant murmur that seems to reach his mind a few moments later than spoken. Brick feels tears coming to his eyes, he doesn’t even notice a second robed figure until it has come close enough to drape its limbs around his father. The cowl of the figure is pulled taut; the curve of a mask revealed instead of a face as a set of bladed claws drift from the confines of the robe towards his father’s face and draws the tips deeply across his throat, blood flows like a waterfall from the wound. Brick tries to run to his aid but finds that he cannot move and watches in horror as the inquisitor peels the skin from his father’s body, with a sick jerk the torturer yanks the remaining skin from the body exposing its raw muscle, it suddenly swells and explodes into flame, showering the Goliath in gore.

The inquisitor turns to face Brick "So then Brick you thought you could hide from me, by hiding in different flesh, we had a deal. You think you can escape me by simply dying, you will feel the full force of the scourge when we meet. You will be mine body and soul; your screams will be music to my ears. You are not going to die today Brick but when we do meet; I want you to remember it was me who spared you!" She reaches down and touches her hand to his chest, he screams in pain as he is branded, the flesh decays turning chalky white, leaving the mark of her hand sunken into his skin. A light appears over Brick and he can feel himself being pulled back towards his body. He utters a scream as his being is yanked back into the land and finds himself back surrounded by priests. Her hands immediately move to her chest, long supple fingers tracing the grooves of the scar she knows sits under her shirt.

Back in the Lab:

It has been many weeks since the mistress has been home, it has had to make do and find company of its own. Sat on simple chairs arranged like an audience around the tank sit several people, their faces are blank, jaws sag open with only the barest flicker of their brains reminding them to breath, their eyes only focus on the tank. With a flex of its power the tank begins to swell, the tinkle of cracking glass echoes around the silent workshop and suddenly shatters sending a torrent of biomantic fluid out across the floor, the scum is dragged out of the tank in the surge and comes to a stop on the warm stone floor. With a thought he guides his servants and the stand as one, in unison they chant lending their power to another as a disc of energy forms under the scum and carries it into the air. The scum opens its mouth, voice ragged from its first use “My servants, the time has come for us to leave this place" he motions towards a well dressed man "purchase a dwelling, I wish to know more about the outside world"


----------



## Eccles

20th August

Recently knighted we are introduced to the rest of Gallows’ bodyguards and “special” staff.

Leopold (as yet unannounced / decided surname) Human Huntsman

The son of a minor noble in Gallows’ estate, Leopold himself seems to swap between huntsman and scout depending on whether the land is at war or not. With thick lustrous hair, and a beautiful beard to match his rugged outdoorsman build! Armed with two vicious looking short blades, its said his skill with them is only rivalled by his skill with the quill, of course he saves his poetry on for those of his own status, such culture is wasted upon peasants!

Arty – Gnome Genius Gadgeteer and Alchemist Extraordinaire

As mentioned, a gnome by all accounts though hard to pin down his appearance as his face is hidden partly by a huge set of goggles that he rarely takes off, the rest is a mass of beard (more than a little singled in places) with a near Mohawk of hair jutting up from his head. Clad in a thick leather frock coat festooned with pocket and where there aren’t pockets arcane symbols have been cut into the leather. Over (or perhaps under) the coat he has a strange harness and backpack, covered in all sorts of valves and gears and seems to buzz and whir at a low hum. Cables and strange pipes seem to flow from this contraption into other bits of armour and gadgetry that he wears. One thick set of pipes spiral like serpents into an oddly shaped device that shares lineage with a crossbow!

On with the Tale

After the short and informal ceremony Gallo tells us we will be riding out almost immediately and orders quickly work their way around the camp for his retinue to form up, when we do ride out our numbers barely reach thirty and our “trip” to the peace conference seems to harkens more towards a surrender as Steppengards entire army (some fifteen thousand) escort us every step of the way to Bresk.

Three days later we reach the city (one we only recently fled leaving a bloody trail of carnage behind us) to a massive parade in which everyone seem to cheer madly for their king and several hours later when our little group passes through the streets much of their enthusiasm has waned (of course the liberal amount of grey cloaked Talon agents amongst them could also be responsible for our muted greeting). Still we reach the castle and ride into the courtyard with our heads held high (some higher than others). A flock of children sweep forward presenting people with lilies, behind them ruining the mood of the gesture is a garrison of soldiers all with crossbows armed and ready. In one lonely corner stands the Ragesian Envoy Seramis standing with a grin on his face, behind him as ever stands Torax the Inquisitor in his bearskin and little else, spiked straps and harnesses cover his modesty, scar tissue covers the rest.

Steppengard dismounts from his horse and approaches Gallow, hand held out in gesture and as pair lock arms, he addresses the crowd speaking heavily of coming together, putting the past behind us and bringing a brighter future for all. He praises Gallows steadfastness, standing true to his ideals and rousing him to his senses! “New information has come to light that will show us who is really at fault! But those are matters that will wait until the Tournament of Unity has finished!” Gallow leans in to whisper “you are talking about the Ragesians?” but the king doesn’t answer.

With all the pomp and ceremony over we discover that we are staying in a manor house within the city limits, we head there are a huge group and are barely unpacked when Lord Dashkoban and Lady Timor appear for an “informal” chat, generally bemoaning the lack of a decisive victory on the field of battle and all believe there is more to this conference than it seems, like us they are wary of the kings generosity.

The next day the festival and tournament begins, we arrange a loose schedule with Lord Gallow so that we aren’t all stuck guarding him so we may enjoy the games (and also dig a little dirt). His indulgence however comes at a price “I was told that Jinis would be …returned… to me after the banquet, the statement was delivered as ominously as I’ve given it to you. I wish you to discover what has happened to the man before the day is out!”

So our trip around the Tournament of Unity begins with Leopold enrolling in the Joust competition, committing him to returning every few hours to compete in the next round, with Cricket convinced to act as the man’s squire (the details of the tournament listed later as a complete entry), that done e head into the faire that spans across several districts of the city.

We discover that we have become quite infamous within the city, notably due to our previous exit but many (but not all) are amused by the rumours the Ruby is a vampire that seem to flitter through the streets. Leopold fiercely defends the “lady’s” honour which brings a chuckle to Crickets lips every time the fiery impassioned noble voices his displeasure at the peasants!

As we walk along the streets and stalls checking out the fairly naff works (the quality of the merchandise severely reflects the haste with which the festival has been arranged, local fair and poorly made at best) when we are harassed by a dwarf, he seems to be looking to hire acts for the nobles amusements between tournament events, many of his bookings failed to reach the capital in time and now seems to be hiring anyone who can do anything at all. “So the dog there” he says pointing at Dag and the scruffy looking tabard tied around his neck “Can he do any tricks? Sit? Play Dead? Roll Over? Anything… no, ok you?” finally coming to Ruby who performs a little ditty on her Lute and has a hastily written certificate thrust in to her hands “Main Ring, after the jousts!” scribbled on the back “you’ll be paid after the show!” he says before scampering off towards a man singing badly out of tune on the corner.

Following our noses we reach a street filled with vendors and stalls filled with all manner of foods and snacks, but one stalls (and I use the term loosely a cart overfilled with pots, pans and other cooking utensils) next to a small brazier. The owner, a Halfling (in a massive chef’s hat) seems to be in a heated argument with a local over the quality of the food as we approach we hear the tail end of the argument “Peasant filth! You don’t deserve my food, you have the palette of a donkey!” he roars in a thick accent that sets his huge moustache a quiver. The tiny chef snatches the plate of food back, tips it into the dirt and throws a handful of coins at the spluttering peasant “be gone from my sight!” the chef demands “your stench alone is curdling my Coulis! Shoo, shoo” he continues sweeping at the man with his hands. The peasant stands in shock, unable to decide if he should leave or punch the Halfling, finally comes to a decision his head sinks and he retreats.

We waste no time in gathering around his little makeshift kitchen and see what he has to offer. Leopold in particular congratulates the mans cooking talent and enquires about his training, the chef tells his tale of outrage “Two days ago I was zee ed’ chef at the castle, cook to King Steppengard ‘imself and now, thrown out into zee street. A team of specialists have been brought in, usurped my place to cook iz’ banquet!” he continues his tale and it all sounds exceedingly suspicious! We continue to wolf done his delicious food, but our meal is rudely interrupted by a coy looking palace guard who tries to move the chef along for “causing an obstruction and disturbing the peace” however a few choice words from Ruby makes him change his mind, embarrassed at attempting to bully the Halfling he falls back on “those were my orders m’am” while staring at his feet, we slip him a few coins and he lets us finish our meal. Cricket suggests that he heads over to Gallows manor house, a good cook is hard to find and his presence will be most welcome and we leave him to pack up his things.

Our next little incident occurs shortly after we stumble across a street filled with games of chance and other amusements, a dwarf in a silly hat pushes his way through the crowd and tugs on Leopold’s coat “I must not be seen with you!” he hisses. We all step in close forming a curtain of flesh around us as he quickly blurts out that he is a guard at the castle and used to be assigned to a position near the back of the castle near the graveyard, here there is a small postern gate that is normally guarded at all times but he was recently reassigned to the royal vaults and checking the duty logs no other guards were sent to replace him. He snuck back there once or twice to find the gate wide open and a bunch of dodgy looking priests bringing crates of dubious stuff in. Now he’s been given the day off, a few coins and told to go and enjoy himself while half the castle stands open to anyone.

We continue our amble down the street trying a few of the games of chance such as Horseshoe Tossing (Leopold wins a match, Cricket does not) and we spend a few minutes at the Coin in a Cup as the peddler swishes the cups around, we fail to spot it a few times but eventually we break even. Ruby suddenly dashes off, a test of strength stall captivating her attention. “Why little… eh?... lady, fancy a swing?” asks the peddler, happily taking her coin and handing over the hammer, she takes the hammer and attempts to heft it up and over her head but her grip falters and the heavy hammer slips and crashes into the floor. Leopold quickly leaps into action “are you ok my dear? No, no, I’ll take it, we can’t have you hurting yourself, far too delicate” and snatches the hammer away from her “this is a game for Men, is it not Cricket?” “Oh! Aye, something like that” replies the half-orc, and the pair of them each take a swing ringing the bell.

Finally reaching the end of the street we find a square with two loud and noisy events going on, on one side a group of mages are duelling each other, a small crowd watches them waggling their wands and producing a plethora of sparks, more than a few people turn away and join the crowd for the other performance where a man dressed in a gaudy wizards outfit (complete with oversized pointy hat and robes filled with glittery stars and crescent moons) staggers around mumbling nonsensical “magical” phrases with an unfortunate lips as he blatantly pulls fireworks from his sleeves and hurls them up into the air where they explode in impressive colourful blasts, a rapt audience (mostly comprised of children) clap endlessly for each explosion!

Being a man keen in all things Alchemical Arty strikes up a conversation with the man after the show as the rest of us applaud his efforts. The lisp quickly vanishes from his voice as he talks shop with Arty and reveals a tale of woe, he no longer has enough fireworks and other alchemical nonsense to do his final performance, his usual stockists have run out and seems every Alchemist in the city has been requisitioned (along with their stock) for some secret project at the castle! Never one to give up on a challenge Arty agrees a deal with him and vanishes for the rest of the afternoon cobbling together bits and bobs from a variety of house hold objects and supplies. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaQvBbzslJE]MacGyver Theme - Season 1 - YouTube[/ame]

With a good mornings ramblings and investigating done we return to Lord Gallow to share our discoveries, he is likewise concerned (but not surprised) at our discoveries but of course is socially and politically bound to attend tonight. He tells us an old tradition of Dassan to trade plates with their host, he shall invoke that tonight and to be on the save side his Chaplains will magically ward us all against poison.

The Tourney

As expected Leopold manages to waltz through the opening rounds against mismatched peasant rabbles and it’s not long before the real event starts against men of title (and own their own armour).

His first serious bout is against the questing knight Ser Quincy Felthoof, a knight we had met before travelling to seaquen who was rather enamoured by Sir Brick (another of the bards’ fancies) and he does not recognise the now changed Brick. The first few turns are rather lacklustre but come together at the third when both collide into each other, their lances splinter and both tumble from their horses, the crowd joins as one to shout MELEE! It would seem the round will be decided on foot, by martial prowess and it is not long before Quincy is beaten down to his knees and yields.

He moves on to face Grim Morgenson, a half-orc knight, refugee from Ragesia. He rides with lance but has a wicked looking spiked chain wrapped around his breastplate. However Leopold manages to unhorse him, in his fury the half-orc drags himself to his feet and punches his horse much to the booing of the crowd.

His next opponent is Jeriff Buchaven and looks every bit the gallant jouster in gleaming silver plate. A whole fleet of squires rush around making sure everything sits just so; two young men carry his lance, a bright pink favour tied just in front of the guard. He waves towards a gaggle of ladies in the lists and snaps his faceguard down, Leopold glances over to his hulking squire and begins to feel quite inadequate; the half-orc nonchalantly ambles over, lance resting over one shoulder.

Jeriff gets an early lead expertly sending his lance into Leopolds chest, the wood splinters and almost threatens to unhorse him but by grim determination holds on. They turn and go again and by more luck than judgement Leopold manages to even the score, his lance shatters against the knights shining breastplate. On their third pass the two both catch each other square and are unhorsed, the crowd goes wild and once again the chants for melee ripple around the arena as the pair pulls themselves to their feet. The pair square up and its long and brutal driving the pair to near exhaustion, Leopolds considers yielding before his legs give out and attempts one more act of bravado, but it seems Jeriff was feeling much the same way and falls for the rangers bluster and yields, leaving the path to the final for Leopold to travel alone.

While things are prepared for the final event more musicians and dancers take to the arena to entertain the nobles and eventually Ruby’s number is called and she steps out into the public, lute at the ready and begins to play with all her Bardic heart and after standing ovation is forced to perform several encores before being praised by the King himself, which of course starts Lady Dean off (ever to try and lure the king to her bed) who rewards Ruby with a small plot of land within her boarders (some 20 acres in the Forest of Dean) and given the title of Baronettess.

It’s after a heavy session with the tournaments healers and clerics and more than a healthy amount of ale before Leopold is fit to compete once again and finally gets to see his prize and of course the knight he is competing against. The stewards lead a magnificent beast around the arena, a prize stallion and white as pure snow the product of strict breeding by famed experts. His heart sinks a little when his gaze moves from the horse to his opponent to see her standing next to a similar animal.

Silvia Cosalla, an expert jouster and professional duellist, a giant of a woman in some of the heaviest armour he’s ever seen “she’s huge” he gasps in a most unmanly fashion, quickly repeating himself in a forced deeper voice. “Aye, her balls are probably bigger than yours too” says cricket with a reassuring thump on the shoulder, before hefting him up and into the saddle. Across the way two men carry across a blunted boar spear and pass the huge weapon up to her, she grasps it easily in one hand “I’ll have a bottle of brandy ready for when you wake up” he adds.

As expected the first tilt proves his undoing and like a run away wagon she slams her spear into his chest and he is catapulted off of his horse into the straw covered floor, she gazes down from her

horse and gives him the option of another tilt or the melee, he chooses the melee and she climbs down from her horse. Even in his chosen element he is run ragged and brought to a bloody and battered end and is dragged off the field by Cricket to the nearest set of healers.

Shortly after the closing ceremonies and while Cricket and Leopold are busy clearing out their things from the stables they are interrupted by Silvia and she congratulates the ranger, giving him a few pointers and gives him the horse as she already has one.

With the tournament over and everyone busy celebrating we decide that now is an opportune time to investigate the “abandoned” rear entrance to the castle, gathering our things we make our way through (with very little obstruction) the castle graveyards and as mentioned there is a subsidence revealing a cracked sewer pipe that leads under the castle. We carefully climb down the frozen earth and into the pipe to find the sewage frozen solid (but still very unpleasant looking). We follow the pipe away until it seems to stop being a pipe and more of a natural channel that winds under the castle.

As we turn a corner we start to hear a pitiful groaning sound and casting our lanterns around we spy the source, a collection of zombies (or want of a better term) are half frozen waist deep in the sewage, unable to move they seem to form a writhing and grasping wall of putrid flesh that blocks easy passage through, to make matters worse three ghost like creatures bob and wave around and through the zombies, a mass of twisted faces that seem to suck at the air as if feeding on the misfortune of the situation. Leopold swears he spies Jinis’ face as part of one of the ghost like beings, sensing the presence of the living they turn and howl hitting us with a chill as cold as the grave, willing some into a magical hibernation!

But we over come this by generally kicking each other awake and Arty keeps our spirits up as we play a cat and mouse game with them as the slink into the very walls of the caves to hide and ambush us while we avoid the grasping hands of the zombies around us. With the last of the ghost things obliterated we set to clearing out the zombies with ranged weapons until they are suitably disarmed (quite literally) and we can pass on through to the iron grate in the ceiling that they were somewhat guarding. However whatever it leads to is pitch black so we raise a lantern up and discover it leads into a room and the grate is in fact hinged, but there is a thin wire leading from it deeper into the room. Rogueless we turn to Ruby who gingerly reaches up and snips the wire… we all hold our breaths waiting for something to jingle or explode and are pleasantly surprised when nothing happens… so we quietly (well not really) push the thing open and clamber up into… a torture chamber.

Having a search around the small room reveals a large number of racks and cages, the bodies of unfortunate souls draped or chained within them, strapped to a large wooden X are the remains of Jinis, his face horribly disfigured but still just recognisable, bits of his body are in a bucket below the X. Both Leopold and Cricket say a small prayer under their breaths, the best last rights they can offer before the ranger removes the dead mans signet ring and pops it into his pocket as proof for Lord Gallow.

Ruby and Arty investigates the tiny wire that was attached to the grate and follow it back to a very well made hidden door in one corner and surmise that pulling the wire would unlock and open the door revealing whatever lies within. The bard gives a little tug, hearing a mechanism begin to strain and has her hand slapped by the gnome along with a telling finger wag of disapproval, inside the hidden chamber something moves!

There is a single door that leads from the chamber, light from outside flickers through the cracks at the bottom along with a regular clanking of a man in armour patrolling, in hushed tones we debate going further into the castle or leaving with news of Jinis. It is agreed that we push our luck as far as we can and attempt to open the heavy door as quietly as possible, but everyone’s heart sinks as a loud creak squeals from the hinges and the heavy tread of the guard outside stops “whose there?”, all sense of surprise lost Cricket wrenches the door the rest of the way open, the guard looks a little flustered and is all thumbs trying to decide if he should reach for his cross bow or pull up his shield.

Arty reaches into his many pouches and begins flipping tiny devices down upon the floor, each one unfurling like clockwork flowers and then flip over scuttling beneath peoples feet and lifting them with astonishing strength and speed, both Cricket and Leopold are swished forwards on the little clockwork spiders to close on the guard, so they can stop him.

http://tinyurl.com/3v2rr54

But alas he finally overcomes his mental block and shouts “Intruders!” and turns heading for the doorway at the end of the corridor behind him “in the castle” he adds as if that wasn’t obvious enough. Reaching the door he fumbles with the latch and manages push the thing open before cricket barrels into him from behind, driving his head into the doorframe as he pushes passed and into the room, allowing Leopold to slip up behind him, blocking his escape.

However it appears the room was not empty, a rather shocked looking Seramis (the Ragesian Envoy) sits at a desk quill in hand, near him stands the Inquisitor Torax, impassive as ever and around the rest of the room several more knights busy trying to ready their weapons. A series of dark words come from the inquisitors mask and much to Ruby’s horror the body of Jinis (or whats left of it) drags itself from the rack and stumbles towards the hidden door, she raises he crossbow and plants a bolt neatly in the back of his head and the body collapses. Torax raises his non clawed hand, a beam of burning light dazzles Cricket, before coalesces around the wounded palace guard closing some of his wounds (that are quickly reopened by Leopold driving his blades into the mans chest).

Dropping his Quill the envoy draws his dagger, takes a testing step towards Cricket as the half-orc is busy blinking and rubbing his eyes, but thinks better of it and slinks away towards the stairs the lead up and away from the barrack room. Arty runs up the corridor behind Leopold and pulls forth a small pounce, casting the purple dust in the air and begins to mutter at alarmingly high speed, the dust sparkles and a glowing purple eye bursts forward in a starburst of power, zipping over everyone’s heads and sits in the middle of the barracks, sweeping its gaze over everyone and firing tiny bolts of energy. Cricket lets out a howl of fury and literally frothing with rage lashes out at everyone in the room, blood, spit and steel flying in all directions.

Another word from Torax raises another body in the torture room, like its predecessor it attempts to reach the door and suffers the same fate as the other, Ruby slips her crossbow down, winching it ready again in one fluid motion, her tail dropping another bolt in the groove. However the ting within the room seems to have woken up and slams itself against the door, obviously no longer content to be cooped up. Unconcerned at the death of another minion Torax flicks his free hand forward, a snake of fire leaps from his palm and slithers between Crickets legs, through the door and along the corridor leaving a path of roaring flame under everyone.

With the room now partially on fire Seramis, turns tail and runs up the stairs as fast as possible vanishing around the corner. Leopold bundles his way through the fire and into the barracks, a little singed but full of zeal, clipping the knights on the shoulder with his blades taunting them as he backs into a corner ready to take on all comers, even Torax is swayed by his actions and steps away from the mad barbarian. His gambit pays off as Arty slinks into the room unopposed and levels his

crossbow like contraption; there is a loud phssst as rocket whizzes out and crumples into one of the knights armour, leaving a blackened stain of ash on the now dented metal.

Cricket levels his huge blade towards Torax “you’ll keep” he promises and hefts his blade over one shoulder as he turns and dashes after Seramis, taking the stairs two, sometimes three at a time and rounds the corner to find the envoy pitifully banging on a door, the barbarians first swing cleaves the man in twain, but more blows rain down reducing him to unidentifiable meat. In response the Inquisitor launches a huge fireball up the stairs which catches the barbarian in the chest sending him flying, the fire cascades around the room setting it ablaze and filling the room with acrid smoke and the smell of burnt meat. Badly burnt Cricket brings his singed hands up to his face, smearing and rubbing the soot from his eyes, coughs up more than a little blood and begins to clamber back to his feet. His gaze settles across the burnt remains of the envoy and an uncontrollable laughter bursts from his lips as he staggers back towards the stairs and the fight.

Below Leopold and Arty continue against the palace guards whittling them down to only a single guard remains (as well as Torax), finally Ruby emerges from the flames (completely nonplussed by the heat) and dispatches the final guard leaving only the inquisitor. Both Cricket and Leopold set upon him and it’s not long before he retreats to a corner in the barracks “Forgive me my lady, I have failed you” and erupts in flame trying to engulf Cricket and Leopold as he kills himself but all of us prove more resilient that he anticipated and looks very confused to find himself still alive, living in failure. But that lasts only a moment as both the barbarian and ranger level their blades and plunge them forward but pulls one last trick even as Crickets blade impales him to the wall, foul magic snares the rangers blades and twists them, plunging deep into the Crickets back. The half-orc drops to one knee, breathing ragged and near dead.

No longer alive to sustain the wall of flame it peters out and with a shocking crash of wood and stone whatever was contained within the hidden room breaks free. Ruby stands watch at the door, crossbow levelled along the corridor as a huge bleach white skeleton rounds the torture rooms door, a lump of twisting flesh hidden within its ribcage sends out tiny tentacles like a snakes tongue tasting the air… its cold lifeless voice roars “BLOOD OF THE LIVING!” and begins charge.


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## Eccles

27th August

“BLOOD OF THE LIVING!” roars the undead monstrosity, its bony feet clacking along the corridor and is met head on by a blood splattered Cricket, shielding Arty and Ruby from its jagged skeleton fingers and gnashing “tongue” as they launch volleys of arrows and crossbow bolts into the thing until its reduced to a splinter pile of messy shards.

Both Arty and Ruby search around the area while the barbarian slumps in a chair, busy tying scraps of cloth around his many, many wounds. The pair search Seramis’ desk and find he was busy working on the wording of a sending spell, amidst the mess of misspellings and scrawled out test paragraphs two notes can be found.

The first:

Gulfwolf – Seramis. Plan successful. Dassen Nobility [almost] annihilated [except XYZ]. Lyceum Agents Dead / Escaped. Check Innenot’dar valley, rumour of new safe passage. Please reply with retraction location.

The second (further down the page):

Gulfwolf – Seramis. Bad news in Dassen. Plan stopped by X. [We are suspected / no one suspects] further instructions? Also check Innenot’dar valley, rumour of new safe passage.

We head back through the frozen sewer tunnel, out through the graveyard and make our way towards Gallo’s Manor House in order to tell him our news and to prepare for tonights banquet. However we notice as we travel across the city that the faire seems to have ended, the streets near empty and almost no sign that there was any festivities today at all! Arriving back at the house we find two of Gallo’s other knights (a dragonborn Cavalier by the name of Scale and a female dwarf named Starleene, who claims to be able to kill people with her mind… and a large war axe… but mostly the powers of her mind!) and Urien are waiting for us. “Shortly after the tourneys ended the king grew impatient, declared the faire over and that the meal was occurring now, his royal guards escorted all the nobles into the castle, we were told to wait for you!” explains Scale and we head towards the castle doing our best (which isn’t much) to make ourselves presentable enough for a formal meal (which as we are still caked in the blood, guts and filth of our previous expedition into the castle… is an impossibility).

Letting the more presentable of our party stand in front the rest of us stand swaddled in heavy cloaks to hide our appearance as best we can, and after a brief bit of negotiation with a gate guard we manage to get into the castle and race through the halls towards the banquet hall. As we near the banquet hall we can overhear the king’s voice as he gives some grand speech, as we reach the door he accuses Gallo of treason, extending the claim to all and any “as you poisoned my family, you poisoned me, poisoned this land. So I shall finish what you have begun, without me this land is nothing and shall die by my hand!”, rather than cries of shock or outrage the room seems to erupt into manic laughter that cuts through the walls and straight into your mind. Urging ourselves on we kick open the doors to find the room in complete and udder madness.

King Steppengard has kicked over his table, flanked by his royal blades he is advancing upon Lord Gallo with huge flail, Gallo in return holds a thin looking short sword, busy stepping away pleading for his lord to come to his senses. Around the rest of the room the palace guards chase after fleeing nobles, or wrestling around the floor trying to choke the life out of each other or batter them with silver candlesticks and crystal wine decanters. Still at her place (to the right of the king) sits the gnome Nina Glibhammer, head thrown back as she laughs over and over when suddenly her body begins to stretch and expand, head seeming to slip away from her body as her neck stretches, ever laughing. Finally it seems her skin cannot take the strain and splits and peels away revealing a

twisting mass of serpents, with the last dregs of its disguise gone the thing starts to fade, sitting there ghost like except for its fangs of its seemingly endless amount of heads… “MADNESS” slithers through every brain.

The Fight highlights (if you can call it those):

* We discover that having three defenders in the party meant the bulk of the fight was a tangled scrum of events in the middle of the room, no one able to really escape the huddle once they were dragged into it.

* Arty makes good use of his gadgets setting a magical axe about the room to bash and belt at any mad guards trying to kill nobles while covering half the room in clockwork wasps that bite and sting at the king and his mad retinue.

* Lady Timor waltz around the room flinging arcane fire and snowballs at people (pretty much at random) between stabbing herself in the leg with a fork.

* MADNESS makes use of its ability to evaporate and appear elsewhere, using this trick to engulf Ruby several times before finally giving up and going for the juicy (if rather simple) brain of Cricket and makes him its meat puppet.

* Under MADNESS’ influence Cricket wounds Gallo heavily, which in turn gives the mad king the opportunity to stave the lords head in with his flail, chanting and cackling about killing his chief lord the king manages to slip out of a hidden doorway, his bodyguards sticking to their duty right until the end.

* MADNESS also slithers its way from the room using a different exit and we go after the Mad King

We follow the secret passage way and find that it emerges into the throne room, empty save for the King himself sat in his thrown, clearly mad he rocks back and forwards talking to himself, praising himself for avenging all who did him wrong. He doesn’t notice the barbarian’s approach, deaf to the roar as cricket draws back his blade high and uncaring to blow that gives birth to a Kingslayer. All eyes turn to the throne room doors, where MADNESS waits.


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## Eccles

3rd September

With a sudden snap the nightmare ends and Leopold is dragged back from reality, the voice in his head quietens to a dull drone, is words too low and garbled to be understood but the effect still grates at his psyche. Slowly his mind refocuses; slotting events together… he was at the banquet, rushed through by the king, urging everyone to try the soup… he gazes around at the banquet hall… chaos. Half hidden by a broken table he sees his liege lord and half stumbles over “My lord?” he enquires turning his bloody face over to reveal the crushing wound that kill him, confused and grieving he stumbles along the bloody trail that leads out of the dining hall, into a bathroom and continues along a hidden passage that emerges into the throne room. Atop the dais he spies Ruby by the throne, near the headless body of the king and his brain freezes trying to process the events…the king… dead…

Watching the bard he is unsure if her fingers are testing for a pulse or merely fingering the amulet around his stump. Halfway down the steps stomps Cricket, bloody blade in hand as he heads with purpose towards the doors leading out of the throne doom. The Half-Orc kicks open the door, points his huge blade forward “Now you die! He roars and charges off out of sight, only an ominous squelching sound suggests he collided with something. “What the hell is going on!” he shouts towards Arty and Urien who look almost as confused as he does.

Atop the Dais the throne rumbles and pulses, the kings’ body slips from its seat to tumble messily down the stairs as his royal seat stretches impossibly into the form of MADNESS, a translucent swirling nest of fanged serpents dripping with slime and surges forwards to engulf Ruby within its slimy folds.

Fight Highlights

* Cricket (fighting alone in the hallway with one clone of MADNESS) is dominated, Leopold has the bright idea to close the door, leading to a “here’s Johnny” style moment of the barbarian trying to break his way through the doors before regaining the use of his body.

* A third clone appears and retreats into the form of Nina Glibhammer, dashing off screaming “they’ve killed the king” hoping to reach the other guards posted several floors below and told not to interfere with the banquet.

* Urien is dominated by one clone and charges Arty, who vanishes in a puff of smoke, reappearing on the other side of the throne room removing a large clockwork explosive device!

* Having escaped the slimy reaches of MADNESS Ruby attempts to hide back down the secret tunnel to the water closet but gets a rather nasty shock at the clone within the hall vanishes and reforms (using the contents of the toilet….) and splashes all over her.

* We manage to finally dispatch the Trillith shortly before its gnome clone reached the soldiers barracks, we find her body and spirit back to the dining room before anyone else recovers from the maddening effects of the banquet.

In the throne room we find the book of lineage, the magical artefact that is bound to the nobility of Dassen and quickly skip to the final few pages where it has already recorded the death of the king but also flicking back a few pages Arty notices signs where the book itself has been tampered with. It would appear someone (we assume the Ragesian Envoy and Inquisitor, as we had notes of them mentioning their plan to destroy the nobility) had caused or nudged the kings’ descent into madness by writing events directly into the book!

We also notice that Ruby is now on the list of succession to Dean as Lady Dean was killed during the banquet along with some of her other relatives. Ideas of bumping her up a few more notches by dealing with the unconscious nobles in the dining room are ignored.

So we begin to rouse the sleeping nobles, taking advantage of their groggy and befuddled state to break the news of their kings’ death and the tragedy that had befallen him (at the hands of the Nefarious Ragesians!) and the take the news with a heavy heart.

There is a rushed royal funeral in which the late King Steppengard is buried along with the rest of his family, ending his line and we are awkwardly presented as heroes and saviours to the sad populace of Bresk and awarded titles and lands as a gift from Lady Timor, elected to be the new Ruler of the Kingdom. Dassan officially joins with Seaquen against Ragesia, but with the turmoil of the kings’ death and the after-effects of their own near civil war means they are less than prepared for the war that is looming.

We leave Bresk the next day, intent to leave Dassen as far as possible as we head south to Seaquen to tell them of our “good” work. We notice the snow has started to melt, winter is finally on the turn bringing green back to the world but also the knowledge the winter passes will soon be traversable by Leska’s Army.


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## RangerWickett

Well that's all sorts of messed up.


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## Eccles

Yeah. They used the confusion of the surviving nobles and guards coming round from mind control and hideous insanity diseases to move bodies and 'persuade' people (a few decent diplomacy rolls from the bard) that they had been utterly heroic, and hadn't killed the king at *all*...

So now the Kingdom of Dassen is rolled by Lord Dashgoban; Lady Timor and Lord ... forgotten his name (starts with an M and doesn't really like Seaquen) are the only other two surviving 'old' nobles. So the kingdom is largely in favbour of helping Seaquen, especially as it was the 'heroics' of the Seaquenite party which meant the kingdom survived at all from the ... whatever it was they said it was...

And a handful of new and inexperienced nobles who weren't expecting promotion. Gallo's dead, as is Steppengard. 

I can't say that it went *entirely* to plan, but all credit to the party for making the best of a bad job!


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## terrya

They seem to employ better tactics than does i see on thursdays. Theres a bad guy? Lets run at him quickly cast various spells and heal the psion when he dies probably for the 100th time!


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## Eccles

terrya said:


> They seem to employ better tactics than does i see on thursdays. Theres a bad guy? Lets run at him quickly cast various spells and heal the psion when he dies probably for the 100th time!




Yeah; psions do seem to have a tendency to do that, don't they?

We've got one in our Thursday game, and it fall over for a past-time!


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