GM Rednal's War of the Burning Sky (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

"Dragons." Ridley shakes his head as he follows. "This is going to get bad, fast—so much for the city surrendering peacefully after a siege."

As you neared the depository tower, Torrent moved to the front, approaching the guards (two half-orcs and two dwarves) who were still manning the gatehouse. All four of them hefted weapons as your group approached, though it was clear they weren't hostile - just cautious. Without a moment's pause, Torrent pulled out a key and held it up for them to see. "I have an account, and I'm here to get some things." she said.

One of the dwarves examined the key with a critical eye. "Genuine." he grunted, waving to one of the half-orcs. "Show 'em in." the guard nodded, then grabbed a pair of lanterns (offering one to the party) and leading the way to a large set of iron doors. He whispered as he approached them, too faintly to hear, and they swung open.

"There's more guards inside." he growled out. "So don't think about 'accidentally' opening anyone else's locker. An ugly old gnome already stopped by, too - don't be surprised if you see him." With that, he waved you in, letting the doors swing shut behind you.

The first floor of the tower is one huge room, and though the far side is hidden in shadows, it looks to be about sixty feet in diameter. A broad stone ramp circles clockwise upward to the left of the door, while the interior of the room is filled with aisles of metal lockers, each slightly larger than a coffin propped upright. The ceiling is twenty feet high, supported by squat round columns.

Thom enters the spacious room and yells, "Rivereye, where are you?" He looks around the room to see if he can spot the gnome.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

After a few moments, a a pug-faced, ugly little gnome with blue robes and a runny nose clomped down the steps, coughing. "Sorry, sorry, Peppin - caught a cold on the way here from the Ragesian capital." the gnome said, feebly nodding to you. "Come on, it's up this way."

"Right," Ridley says as he follows, "But let's make it quick. Things are starting to get a bit dangerous in this city."

Nodding his head in agreement to Ridley's remarks Thom follows the gnome. "Yes lets hurry, he urges as he remembers the dragon outside.

We might not want to mention the dragon directly, though, in case it makes them panic and abandon helping us.

Nodding to the Dwarves at the door with a, "Blessings of Angradd to ye labours," as he passed, Umbriak followed along behind the others, watching for any sign that this was going to be another trap. Fool him once and set him on fire, shame on you - that was just mean.

The gnome just waved and beckoned the three of you forward, up the ramp and through the halls to one of the lockers. "All right, Peppin, just say the password and we'll be good to go." he said, coughing and thumping his chest. "And not a moment too soon, if you ask me. Don't really want to be above ground level right now."

Torrent, on the other hand, was frowning. "We shouldn't need a password..." she said slowly. "And Peppin's not with us."

Glancing at Torrent as she spoke, Umbriak tensed slightly, fingers tightening around the haft of his axe. "There appears to be a wee bit o' confusion on this issue, friend. Would ye be able to explain the situation, so we can all get under the ground's sweet embrace and away from scary bomb totin' lizard things?" The gnome's confusion and cough were making Umbraiak nervous - he wasn't schooled in arcane magic, but feared some kind of mind controlling spell. Still, he examined the reply for any hint of treachery.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

Ridley winces and shakes his head. So much for tact and discretion on the "don't make them panic" plan.

Rivereye stared at Umbriak for a moment - then broke into a run, darting around the end of the lockers and heading to the left... right towards an open door leading onto the balcony. "Hold them off!" he yelled as he ran - and there was a flash of light from up the stairs in response.

Well, this isn't going super well...

Not again, Thom thinks as he begins to pursue the gnome.

Anybody else want to act, or shall I simply advance things? XD

Umbriak watched as the gnome ran off. "Huh." With a grunt the Berserker took off after the imposter. It had to be some sort of imposter, after all, to not know the basics. The bulky Dwarf kept one eye out for whatever had caused that flash of light too. It sounds like it might be something nasty.

The little gnome shouted something as he got close to the balcony, and the door burst open, slamming shut behind him. A small orb of what looked like pure light shot down the stairs a moment later, and two rays of light shot out of it, scorching the ground in front of Umbriak and Thom - a clear warning shot from the creature.

"Hey, now—" Ridley responds, drawing his shield but not his sword, "We're just looking for an explanation—"

Thom stops in his tracks as the rays give clear warning of the consequences for following the gnome. "What now. We're just here to talk, he yells at the closed door.

None of us took knowledge (Planes)? Well, whoops.

Umbriak looked at the glowing orb. "Look," the bulky warrior said with brutal honesty, "We dinnae care to hurt nae one. We're here to save our city from yon dragon-beastie and his palls, and I dinnae wanna fight if needs not be. But yon gnome has information vital for the city, and I dinnae intend to loose it, so ye need to shift aside or be distracted by me axe while my confederates attempt to give chase. Yer choice, glowy orb."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

The floating sphere flashed a few times - and its voice, when it came, was melodious and clear. "I told him that disguising himself as a gnome wasn't going to work." It said, bobbing up and down slightly. "Your companion is on the top floor. Do not pursue us - I haven't seen you do anything wrong, and have no wish to hurt you." It bobbed again, then shot over to the window, hovering for a moment as if scanning the area before darting outside.

"What the HELL is going on here!?" Torrent screeched the moment it disappeared. "A Lantern Archon, of all things? Here? Now!?" she looked towards the three of you. "I don't think it was lying - celestial creatures, as a rule, generally don't." It was, however, clear that she wanted your opinion on whether or not to believe the orb and search the top floor. You didn't have a lot of time, and if you hurried, it might still be possible to pursue whoever that had been. There was no telling what might happen here once you left.

"Right, okay," Ridley replies. "Archons are weird. Dragonfire is worse. Let's head upstairs, I don't want to spend more time in a wooden building right now than I have to."

Thom wonders, What is going on here? Quickley he reminds himself, focus on the task at hand there will be enough time for puzzles later.

To Ridley he replies, "Good point," and heads toward the stairs.

Umbriak looked after the not-Gnome, grasping why the creature had fled at the mention of a password. It had been trying to get the information from them. There contact had obviously convinced it of this. Umbriak glances after the direction the fleeing creature took, tempted to chase him down anyway, but the others wanted to head upstairs. It was important they worked as a unit. "Our thanks, spirit," the Dwarf added as he passed, with a nod of his head.

You have to go all the way up to the fourth floor - the top of the tower - before you find anyone. A gnome looking similar to the one you saw below is there, unconscious, as are the bodies of a number of guards arranged into a loose pile. There's one dead half-orc a little further away, his face looking badly scorched.

Thom quickly moves into the room and scans it for danger. Seeing the bodies strewn across the floor he calls out, "Ridley check on the gnome I look to the half orc in the corner."

As he moves across the floor he cautions, "Be on your guard, I'm tired of these surprises."

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Hmm, why the heck did I give myself so much wisdom?

Ridley checks to see who else is dead or in danger of soon becoming so.

Untrained Heal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Umbriak moved over to the gnome, checking on his health with the practised efficiency of someone who has seen more injuries than they probably should.

Heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

To buff Perception?

The gnome is only unconscious, and could be easily wakened (just shaking him would probably be enough, though any minor healing would not be unappreciated, since he was definitely roughed up a few times). The other guards seem to have been put down more thoroughly, and aren't likely to wake on their own for at least several hours, but none of them are in immediate danger.

The half-orc further from the others is definitely dead, and definitely not undead - he's not getting up again.

Umbriak shook the Gnome gently, muttering, "Wakey, wakey. Ye dinnae wanna sleep through the explosions, it dinnae do ye no good."

While Umbriak attempts to wake the gnome Thom searches the half orc.
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

While apparently robbing the corpse of a dead guard, Thom didn't find much - just the weapon (a longsword) and the scale armor the guard was wearing. Evidently, they didn't carry a lot of personal possessions while on the job.

The gnome, on the other hand, groaned as he woke up and blearily looked up at you. "Ugh, what... Torrent!" he winced slightly, but looked happy to see all of you. "Ow, ow... I was ambushed before you got here." he said, grimacing. "Couple elves with an archon serving them - they grabbed the case, but I made them think it was trapped, and only Peppin had the password to undo it." he looked up at you. "We have to get that case back. I can't talk about what's inside - I'm under a Geas, part my the job in the palace - but that information cannot be lost." he coughed a few times. "I think they outsmarted themselves this time, though. Good for us. Didn't understand a word of what the elves said, but archons have this funny thing where everyone can understand them, and it said something about a contact at Gabal's school. I'd bet anything that's where they took the case."

"Any identifying features?" Ridley asks. "Maybe if we're lucky this is one big understanding—I'd think archons meant religion, but none of us have heard about that, so maybe we should head to the school?"

Umbriak sighed. I knew that we should have followed that 'gnome' despite the Archon. Hopefully we can still retrieve the information at the school, since we're heading there anywhere. "Aye, the school seems like a likely destination at this point. We just need to get beyond yon walls and offski. I dinnae suppose ye know a good way out, do ye? More options for passing in and out cannae be a bad thing right now."

Thom considers the gnomes words, the school seems like our best chance of finding the case. He asks, "Is Peppin in danger, what if the elves find him?" He continues, "perhaps we could find Peppin first and ambush them."

Torrent grimaced. "Peppin was found dead a week ago." she said. "Murdered."

Rivereye stared at her for a moment, and his expression slowly fell to neutrality. He bowed his head slightly a moment later. "...He was a good man." the gnome said quietly. "I can take you to the school. We'll have to let the guards inspect the place first, and they'll want to take care of their fellows, but they'll let us out."

"Our condolences to ye losses," Umbriak said softly, head bowed. "Hopefully this saga will involve the smiting of his killer, there blood fed to the cities gutters and there bones ground the finest powder, scattered to the winds and forgotten."

Ridley frowns and shakes his head at Umbriak's off-color comment, but says nothing.

"I guess it's off to the school then," Thom says with determination. "Before we go what can you tel us about our opponents abilities, did they use magic?"

"Yes - one of them looked to be an illusionist of some kind. Their contact at Gabal's school will be a caster of some kind, too, though I'm not sure how capable." Rivereye said, clearly willing to provide whatever information he could. "Possibly more capable than anyone realizes, if they're more spy than student."

Nodding slightly, Umbriak inquired, "Did ye see other types of spells used or cast? Anything definitively arcane or divine? Did ye notice any preference for colour or style of clothing, perhaps? Any words of common spoken at all, and any accent if they did? Sorry to press ye, yer ken, but the more y'know..."

Rivereye shook his head. "The contact is almost certainly an elf, though they'll have taken measures to blend in somehow. Especially at a time like this - I doubt anyone with a brain would be showing too many identifying colors."

"Right. Elf. Magical. A unique combination," Ridley quips, growing increasingly frustrated at the turn things have taken. "Maybe our best bet is just to move quickly and try to catch up with them at Gabal's."

Umbriak nodded his agreement. It didn't seem like there was too much more to be learnt here. "Ye say ye can get us out. Any details?"

Rivereye just blinked at Umbriak. "We go out the front door. We have every right to do that." he said, gingerly moving towards the stairs. It took several minutes to actually get out - the guards searched the lockers first, and asked a number of questions about what the hell had happened up there, but finally you were able to get back to the streets and push towards Gabal's.

The school itself consisted of a small campus with two 50-foot towers, surrounded by a moat and an iron fence. A single student was standing in front of the main gate, idly practicing a small fire cantrip to stay warm. One of the towers of the school looked cracked, and a dead griffon (complete with rider) floated in the moat.

"Oh, hello there." the student said, both sounding and looking remarkably laid-back as you approached. "You're not here to riot, are you? I mean, freedom of speech and all, but we had nothing to do with this..."

"Nae, nae riot." Umbriak shrugged his shoulders. "Heard that someone we ken had come here for shelter. If ye are expecting the mobs now, why are ye waiting out here? Wouldn't a sealed entrance be better?"

Thom adds as looks around expecting rioters any second, "We would like to go inside."

The student considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure." he said, pushing open the gate. "Out of curiosity, why are you here right now? Most people look like they'd rather not be wandering around..."

"Wee bit of fire in the inn we were drinking in," Umbriak said with a smile, "Interrupted the nights entertainment in right poor fashion." If you counted beating the snot out of people trying to catch you entertainment.

Thom ignores the question put forward by the mage and asks, "Do many elves study here?"