Hazreem watches as the others enter the rooom. When all have entered, he takes up a position in the doorway itself, ensuring their only avenue of escape isn't denied them.
He calls to Bahir just loudly enough to be heard "Bahir my armoured friend. My senses are tingling with danger in thsi place. There would have to be a reason this rooms is so untouched by the beasts. Be wary"
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The group moves into the room slowly seeking signs of danger but to your great relief none present themselves. The room's musky old paper smell is a little overpowering but not as bad as some of the smells you have incountered in this ruined monastery. With Hazreem stationed at the libraries entrance watching for unwelcomed beings the rest fan out and search for anything of interest. After a period of time and many books falling to dust in your hands, Efreat finds one book that is preserved. On the red covered book is the simple title Court of Stone and Flame. It seems like a normal book with no magiacal properties that anyone checking would find. A quick scan through the book gives an indication the book is about geniekind and to a collector the book would be a great find and many coins would be given for it. Nothing else turns up in the room and everyone is glad, time to rest for awhile before resuming your mission. A small fraction of the monastery is left to search and it should not take to much time to finish before the caravan arrives with the expectation of a safe place to make homebase before the next step in opening Kelmarane to trade again......
After starting a cooking fire, if needed, Efreat will read the book discovered in the library.
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Your group takes plenty of time to rest and recharge from earlier actions, each doing his or her own thing but still staying close to the group for protection. Efreat takes this time to look through the book found in the monasteries library, Court of Stone and Flame. The book main topic is geniekind and other related things to genies. A few chapters deal with a group of five powerful genies from antiquity called the Templars of the Five Winds. They have not been heard from for centuries but some travelers in the northern reaches of Katapech and the southern bounds of Osirion still sometimes attribute miracles or victories to their guidance. Legend tells that the Templars defeated a great evil hundreds of years ago near the Pale Mountain in the Brazen Peaks, a pinnacle not very far from the village of Kelmarane. Each Templar was associated with a specific aspect of the wind and each wielded a distinct, highly potent magic weapon. Davashuum represents the fury of winds from all directions and wields a powerful quarterstaff, Kardswann, the south wind with an elaborate greataxe, Pazhvann, the east wind with a tremendous burning flail, Vardishal, the north wind and Zayifid, the west wind and carries a razor sharp scimitar. These great heroes of geniekind are said to be enemies of the cult of Rovagug, god of destruction. Many tales are recounted in this volume about triumphs in battles against the spawn of that vile religion. The Templars themselves are jann, mortal genie-spirits dedicated to no paticular element. For some reason these jann cannot die, though none have been seen in centuries. The Templars served a powerful dijinni princess named Nefeshti, a great genie noble whose designs upon Osirion and Katapech have had good and bad consequences. Another chapter talks about a shamed member of the efreet nobility of the City of Brass named Jhavhul. The city is the famed location on the Plane of Fire. It goes into how he ventured to teh Material Plane in search of an army and a legacy to raise hes standing, during which time he and his armies warred against the Templars of the Five Winds, but that he was never seen in the City of Brass again.......
Rested you set off to resume your quest to clean this holy place of evil and make it an staging place for the next part of your mission, the opening of Kelmarane to trade. For awhile its seems you have completed your job finding nothing but dust and grime to fight until you find the Shrine to Vardishal, one of the Templars Efreat points out as you enter the room. A statue of him is standing along the wall of this room, a warrior with its face marred by what looks to be numerous blows from an axe as well as his arms as if someone tried to hack them off. About to leave this room as the statue is the only thing of interest here unless one wanted to take time to scrape all of the gold off the walls, a secret door is found behind the statue and a set of stairs leading down into what would be the monasteries undercrypt. Desending into the bowels of the monastery you find yourselves in a enormous chamber that once served as a laboratory. Against the north and south walls are two identical daises raised about five feet from the laboratory floor, each accessed by a wide set of curved stairs. Atop each dais is a wide workbench covered in a bewildering series of beakers, tubes, alembics, athanors and other alchemical tools. some of these containers are filled with a murky green substance. A massive mold-encrusted basalt table dominates the entrance of the room, flanked by two small tables to the east and west containing surgical tools and sheaves of old parchment. The walls of the subterranean lab were clearly fashioned from the living rock under the monastery, but carefully cut mold-encrusted tiles line the floor, interupted occasionally by mental drains the size of dinner plates. As you move further into the room some of you think you see the liquid quiver ever so slightly contained in the glassware and jump back as the liquid jumps out at all of you. The liquids look like sloppy , near-liquidfied plant matter festooned with tiny mushrooms and patches of sickly green and mustard hued mold..........
Never one to put much faith in historical happenings, Daumari grudgingly admits to himself that the tome Efreet found had proven useful. At least minimally, he thinks to himself; perhaps I should have paid more attention to the lessons Father attempted to teach me...
The ranger's train of thought is interrupted as the mass erupts from the alchemical equipment of the lab. Despite flinching at the sudden commotion, Daumari remains cool-headed and quickly considers the situation.
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Bahir leading the way with Daumari, makes to pass the table to take up a central defensive position while the others investigate the contents of the room thoroughly. He turns as he hears a gasp to face the squishy nightmare apparently attacking them. Bringing his shield to bear to hopefully deflect the monstrousities attack he yells, "Behind me quickly! This may not be something our blades can cut or slay. I'll provide cover while your magics make short work of it."
Efreat smiles as he levels his hand at the creature.
Hazreem is startled by the creature as it moves forwards aggressively. He seraches his mind for any stories of such things in his past, even as he draws his scimitar ready to defend his friends.
Pae rises after his long rest. "well looks like we have more work to do...first though, food! and I need to see to my weaponry."
As the exploration continues...
Init(+4): +4=16
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As the moldy liquid jumps out at you the heroes take action, Pae in the back of the group notices the attack and draws his blade. Daumari does the same as he searches his memory for what type of creature they have stumbled upon. By the looks of it he concludes they are dealing with a type of slime mold that likes to swarm up the persons body and enter into the nose or mouth to consume their prey. One of the oozes splashes up at Bahir and begins to climb up his leg. The other tries the same at Hazreem but falls short on the ground but quickly begins to ooze its way toward its intended meal. Bahir's shield comes up to late to ward off the slime but is able to put himself in the way to protect the others. Hazreem jumps back a step to get away from the sloshing slime all the while searching for any information he can remember of such a creature they now face. He comes to the same conclusions as Daumari and notes to himself that fire will not effect this thing and trying to find a good spot to hit a vital spot will be immpossible as the thing can move in all directions at once. Off to the side Efreat levels his hand at the creature at Hazreem's feet not wanting to hit Bahir's slime as he might hit Bahir instead. His ray of fire streaks out and smashes into some of the glassware on the shelf instead of the creature......
"Fire will have little effect." The ranger quickly readies his hammers, spinning one end closely in a defensive manner while lashing out with the second head at the slime that failed to latch onto Hazreem.
Daumari glances in the paladin's direction briefly, noting the mold's progress up Bahir's body. "And do not allow it to reach your face."
Realising this creature wouldn't be affected by most of the magics he had readied for the day, Hazreem prepares to unleash some of the static charge he perpetually seems to accrue. The wild crackle in his hair is followed the pulse of discharge he always felt when the blue sparks left his body. With luck the slimy beast would be badly wounded by the jolt.
"They are amorphous my friends. Hit them as best you can, do not look for weaknesses. nd Daumari is rght, fire will be useless gainst them."
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Dismayed by his friends' proclamations, Efreat tries to use his dagger to aid the noble paladin.
Pae, draws forth his scorpion whip while he steps back, then strikes out with the whip -3 = 8 though the whip strikes the air where the creature was, a wholly ineffective strike.
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Quickly taking action seeing his friends need help, Pae draws forth his bladed whip and lashes out at creature while stepping back to give the weapon room to do its thing, it skids by the mold as it moves forward towards Hazreem again. Daumari seeing the situation potentially getting worse if he does not act fast attacks the slime by Hazreem bringing down one of the spherical metal weights down with a satisfying splat. The mold stops moving towards Haz, just quivering jelly-like on the ground mear feet away. The other mold continues to climb up Bahir body at a fast pace, it seems to try and engulf him but is having trouble with Bahir's size. It now covers most of his body making its way to an opening.....
Eyes wide with this green slime creature covering most of his body, making hard to breath and move his arms, Bahir slices down on the thing trying hard to hit it but not himself finds a spot and cuts the creature making it quiver, almost like in anger at the attack. Hazreem seeing his foe slain in front of him turns and lets the charge he was holding at the creature almost engulfing his friend Bahir, seeing no other choice at the moment. The electrical blast smashes into the creature and Bahir, the creature shakes violantly and suddenly stops climbing up Bahir's body. Relief shows on Bahir's face as he is able to breathe easier now with the thing dead, next to him, Efreat, with a slight smile on his face for only a moment pulls his dagger back to himself covered in slime from the creature. The smile disappears but a look of satisfaction remains.......Unease at the close call and still covered in slime makes Bahir feel a little violated and unclean....and sticky......
With the battle over the group spreads out to give a quick search of the area looking for more threats and are fortunate to find none. The only find is a sheaf a paperwork on one of the tables with alchemical formulae written on them. Meanwhile Bahir is slowly making progress removing the slime from his body and armour.....
To the west is a door leading further into the crypt area.....
For Bahir only
Using a blast of fire to clear the slime from his jambiya, Efreat places the blade back in his belt. After looking over the new items that they have found, he turns to his companions, "I don't believe I can use these items so I will leave them to you all. This has been quite a trial. I believe the caravan should be approaching by now. We should go and inform the master that we have cleared the temple. This was certainly fun; however, I will have to learn a spell that doesn't use fire."
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Bahir immediately turns toward Haz and smiles, "Thank you my friend. A few burns I can recover from but whatever that creature had in store for me I may not have been able to." Only momentarily allowing himself to be distracted to remove most of the remains of the slime he once again stands ready to thwart any hidden menaces that wish to threaten the searchers. Despite his bravado the toll the exploration has taken on him is apparent to everyone. His movements seem somewhat stiff from the culmination of small arrow wounds and lightning burns....
...Upon discovery of the teak box he urges that Mah'ysa be the one to open it. "Such relics should be handled by the priests. I follow their wisdom on what should be done with them." Upon revealing the boxes contents, "That these have been revealed to us shows Sarenrae's favor for our actions. May she always illuminate our way." He awaits Mah'ysa's decision on what is to be the fate of these holy objects but knows that she need not inform him if she so chooses.
While waiting for the caravan he spends the next few hours kneeling and praying in front of the altar. He stands, turns, and addresses everyone, "The Dawnflower has blessed me with a vision. Those of faith please follow me to see what miracle she sees fit to bestow upon us." He sweeps past with great purposeful strides, leading the way to the center of the courtyard...
"Oh this oughta be good..." Pae says in response to Bahir's revelation...as he sheathes his blade and coils his whip, ready for anything.
Hazreem bows low in response to Bahirs thanks. "Gozreh's blessings are to be shared amongst those that would help this world. My appologies you were hurt as well my armoured friend."
When the temple has been completely searched, the druid chekcs through the gear with everyone else. "Alas, this gear would seem best for others. The weapons I cannot use, for my beliefs forbid such things. The armour would be fine when cleaned up, but I believe my current attire would serve better to protect me should we see combat again"
The weathered man then indicates with a sweep of his hadn that the others should help themselves to the gear as they see fit.
With that, he then proceeds to check the building over, noting the locations of wild plants that have taken root in this harsh place. A colony of wasps had built quite a nest in one wing of the place. They would need to be moved carefully if this were to be resettled. Not destroyed though, for such creatures were essential in keeping down other populations of other pests such as spiders. He fell into a routine of quiet reflection as he went about these tasks, happy to be studying the local wildlife in this brief moment of calm.
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With the group in tow Bahir leads everyone to the Courtyard of the Monastery to find what is calling him. Huge branches and overgrown weeds clog the central area which seems to be where Bahir is directed to go. After sometime clearing out the area to be able to search for the item Bahir finds the spot his vision speaks of. Digging down about three feet he slowly unearths a weapon, symbols of Sarenrae begin to appear on the blade of the weapon and once his hand grips the hilt of the weapon and draws it forth from the earth everyone can see a dirty but extremely well made scimitar which fits Bahir's hand perfectly. At the same moment the caravan's arrival is all but apparent as sounds of camels and wagons groan under the weight of its occupants. Almah and Garavel congratulate you all on your success as they get a quick tour of the building. Almah immediately begins to assign quarters to her party and you all giving the dormitory to you. She says after a short rest they will get together to make plans on the next faze of the mission.
Later that evening sitting at a small fire outside of the Monastery Almah begins to speak of the next they that needs to happen in her plan to retake Kelmarane, You all have done a great job in securing a base of opperations for us and now we must begin to watch and plan to see what is the best way for us to succeed. Your group is to go on a scouting mission into the outskirts of the village in an attempt to gauge the forces defending Kelmarane. I warn you not to attempt to fight your way into the Battle Market where it is believed the gnoll tribe has set up shop as preliminary intelligence suggests that the forces there are sufficient to overwhelm you in an all out attack. I do incourage guerilla strikes into the town, taking out its defenders a few at a time all the while exploring the ruined buildings on Kelmarane's lower slopes. She concludes looking to each of you for conformation of your duty.
The ranger lets slip a seemingly out-of-place sneer, somewhat disturbing on the elven features that can be seen beneath his hood. His voice betrays his eagerness to begin their attack on the gnolls holding Kelmarane.
"You needn't worry, we shall do what can be done to lessen the beastmens' numbers without drawing out the entirety of their forces. And when the time is right, the might of the Dawnflower shall crush their main force as well."
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The firelight glints off the blade that Bahir has been constantly polishing and oiling since its discovery and his dark skin. Being re-invigorated by the favor Sarenrae has seen fit to bestow upon the mission nods his agreement with Daumari's words, "My friend speaks truly and has had much experience with the gnolls. His guidance will be invaluable and blessed by the Dawnflower, just as he says."
Pae Shudders a little before he speaks, "Gn-Gnolls don't scare me...I can scout the market."
Sitting there listening carefully, Efreat speaks up. "Almah, have there been any reports of any humans within the village? I am looking for an old friend."
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Its a nice cool night as the caravan settles into the Monastery. Standing outside on the southern side of the ruins you all stand before a very small camp fire and are finishing up your briefing with Almah. No I am afraid the reports are very slim on information about the inhabitants of Kelmarane. There have been sighting of gnolls coming and going out of the place but no one has been able to get to close for any further information yet! I hope you all will be able to change that for me. Again thanks for your efforts and good luck.
She leaves you to your mission and heads back into the Monastery to her quarters. As you walk to the north toward the ruined village you notice a guard posted in the top window of the Monastery facing the village keeping an eye on it. You head down into the valley towards the large pesh fields blocking your path to the village. As you begin down the small slope you notice lights in the distance, a flickering of flames you would guess. You were told of an old abandoned ruined fort in the hills north of Kelmarane but it seems someone or something has taken up residence there now. Its about midnight and you are slowly getting closer to the village when a impossibly loud, yelping howl that seems to come from the roof of the Battle Market, the largest structure in the village, a minute or two later, a faint, similar call can be heard from the distant Pale Mountain. It ends just as quick as it began leaving everyone a little on edge. The first night its decided to just circle the entire village from a safe distance to get a lay of the village and the best possible approaches(this giving you the map know in your possession). You spend most of the night travelling around the village and encounter no issues with the residents of the village. You spot many gnolls moving about during your progress, to many for you to take on at this time and seeing first hand the advice from Almah about guerilla strikes.
Your trip finally ends as the day breaks and time for your own rest after a quick report to Almah.....
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Obviously unhappy about all this skulking around in the darkness Bahir several times seems to just barely catch himself mid-complaint. "With The Dawnflower's favor why must we.....," he cuts himself off and then just shakes his head. Upon noticing the signs of occupation from the old abandoned ruined fort, "That would be a perfect location to raid from. We can take the fort swiftly before an alarm is raised, which means we both blind our opposition and give ourselves a strategic advantage. What do you think Daumari?" He seems to be deferring to the ranger quite a bit during the preperations and plans for dealing with this gnoll infested area.
Zoo:
Pae enjoys some food.
"My noble friend Bahir, I agree. The primary strike should go to the fort. It will also be necessary to find a way to silence the caller from the Battle Market."
Sipping some hot tea, Efreat asks casually, "Is there a spare set of clothes that is not as noticible as this red robe? I suppose I should give up my creature comforts for the mean time."
"The fortress would be an ideal first strike, though I would caution against using it as an origin for our raids. Mobility is our ally, and staying in any one place will inevitably draw the attention of the beast men."
Daumari glances in the direction of Efreat as the sorcerer speaks. "Keep your robes," the ranger answers in reply. "Unless you can replace your hide with one covered in fur, it will cause your to stand out in the eyes of the gnolls as readily as any clothing you may wear."
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I am still here! This holiday season has been extremely crazy work wise and have not had much time for anything but sleep and work and at the last minute my folks sold their home and bought a new house in Ohio so I had to fly home to help which is where I am at now. Moving in the winter snowy wonderland sucks by the way! The game will continue I promise! The move should all be done today and I have the rest of the week here in Ohio on vacation and plan on getting things back on track with the game!
Cheers
Rob
I am still here! This holiday season has been extremely crazy work wise and have not had much time for anything but sleep and work and at the last minute my folks sold their home and bought a new house in Ohio so I had to fly home to help which is where I am at now. Moving in the winter snowy wonderland sucks by the way! The game will continue I promise! The move should all be done today and I have the rest of the week here in Ohio on vacation and plan on getting things back on track with the game!
Cheers
Rob
17 days later...
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Two days have passed since your group have taken up watching the town and its activities. Around the same time everynight the howl can be heard from the town and you come to find out from Dashki who over heard your briefing to Almah about it that it is the infamous Howl of the Carrion King, a nightly message from the ruler of the Kulldis tribe in Kelmarane to agents of the gnoll monarch in unknown hidden base on Pale Mountain. During the next days scouting your group notices some unusaual activity around the noonish hour. A group of six gnolls leading a human prisoner from the Battle Market to the open square west of the market. There they stake the man to the ground and pull out his intestines and inner organs with red-hot iron tongs. The screams of the man echo as far as the old monastery......
Time is getting closer for the group to start making its moves even closer to the town gaining more information for their boss before the assult on the town begins. As your group sits in the pesh field at night of the same day watching the town and deciding the best avenue into it you all notice a group of gnolls leading another prisoner wearing the same type of clothing as the man from the day before. Instead of leading the man to the same place as before they keep heading out of town a little ways into the pesh fields where they force the man to his knees. Around the man the gnolls start to beat the ground around the man with oversized staffs never touching the man, only the ground for some reason......
"Opportunity knocks; a source of information, and the opportunity to bleed some beast men." Clearly looking forward to finally moving against the gnolls occupying the town, Daumari quietly readies his meteor hammers. "Shall we make ourselves known?"
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Bahir nods to Daumari, his face a grim mask since witnessing the earlier torture and slaying during the day that he could do nothing to stop, "Let us free their prisoner and gain some insight into what our enemy is planning." Unconsciously he rubs the pommel of the still sheathed scimitar from Sarenrae to remind himself that she is never far away even in the darkest hours of night.
Efreat's eyes are burning with tears as he sees the3 gnolls with another human. "Let us get down there. We don't know who that may be."
This Legacy of Fire campaign appears to be abandoned.
I'm currently starting up a Legacy of Fire campaign (via iTableTop) and was searching around for Legacy of Fire stuff when I ran across the Play by Post stuff here. Seeing numerous Legacy of Fire groups, I picked one (this one) and starting reading. It appears to have abruptly stopped in February due to a missing DM.
If the PCs are still monitoring this posting and are still interested, I'd be willing to take over and continue this campaign, hopefully at a faster rate than previously done. I haven't done play by post before, but I have read through this post in detail so have a good idea how it runs. Or at least how Zoo ran it.
As am I.
In the hopes that the other 4 chime in, lets start getting things moving again.
I only have to go on what was posted here. I am not aware of any pre-game setup or any private emails that were sent between players and Zoo. So here's what I can derive:
Bahir:
-- Paladin of Sarenrae
-- Campaign trait? Missionary?
Efreat:
-- Sorcerer?
-- Campaign trait?
Daumari:
-- Ranger - Elf or Half-Elf
-- Took Gnoll Killer campaign trait
Hazreem:
-- Druid of Gozreh
-- Took Finding Haleen campaign trait
Pae:
-- Halfling Rogue?
-- Took Seeking Adventure campaign trait
Mah'ysa:
-- Cleric of Sarenrae
-- Took Missionary campaign trait
I'm assuming that you emailed Zoo character sheets and such, or at least basic information such as Abilities, HP, AC, CMD, etc. You can email me directly at gmail. My login at gmail is daneisenhut. I'm sure you can piece together that email address.
No indication has been given in this post about leveling up to level 2. Currently you have obtained 1190 XP. By the time you cleaned out the Monastery and claimed it as your base of operations, you should have reached level 2. In order to speed things up, Zoo eliminated 3 encounters that you should of had in the Monastery. With the addition of these encounters, your XP total would be 1395. This is enough for Level 2. To not include this XP would put you behind and make future encounters more deadly. Therefore, everyone should level up to Level 2 and send me or post the essential details.
The campaign left off with your group scouting and observing the perimeter of Kelmarane. On the third day you observed a group of six gnolls lead a human prisoner from the battle market to an open square to the west. There they staked the man to the ground and pulled out his intestines and inner organs with red-hot iron tongs. The man's screams could be heard all the way to the Monastery. He was then left there for the vultures to clean up the mess. Later that night another group of gnolls (the same ones?) headed out of the battle market, but this time they led the poor soul out of Kelmarane and into the Pesh fields to the southwest. Instead of killing him, they forced the bound man to his knees while the gnolls began pounding the ground with a large staff. Taking this as an opportunity to finally let the gnolls know that you are here and possibly save another soul from such a horrible death, you jump to your feet and make haste to rescue the man.
Kelmarane is about a mile to a mile and a half north of the Monastery. It is about a mile from your current location to the Pesh fields where the prisoner is located. Making haste, it still takes you over 10 minutes to get there as you are carrying your gear and dodging cactus plants. When you arrive, exhausted from the long hard run, you spot none of the gnolls that were there earlier. You only thing you see is a man laying on the ground ahead of you, arms and legs bound with rope, clothes torn and soiled, and looking very weak.
I look forward to continuing this campaign.
Dan
Heya, just saw this as I was quickly browsing the Paizo boards. Sorry to say but I withdrew from all my PbP's as I don't have time to commit to these I'm afraid. Family commitments with small kids means no time to put into regular posting. I get maybe one hour a week now where I can peruse this board at leisure. No other time for posting.
Hope you can get some more interest. If needed, any one who comes into the campaign can freely make use of this character.
Cheers
Edit - on a side note, if you actually click the names of the characters above their images, it will take you to a page where we all detailed our characters fully. This means you don't need an emailed character sheet, it's all stored for you on this site.