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I don’t need to be a killer GM, the players will do that themselves.
"No, I'm not using precise bombs."
Part 7
The conversation then turned to a concerning rumor - people, including some of Kesten's guards when dealing with the lizardfolk, had seen strange lights on Candlemere Island. Worse, there were concerns about people missing...and at least one report of seeing the bloodshot eye of Gyronna. Quinn, at this, began to get fidgety, arguing that someone else should look into the matter as hags were "not really my thing." Before this could be questioned, Bo hopped to the window to investigate a noise. Standing in the town square, the grippli spied a portly man speaking to a crowd in a loud, agitated voice...about how the lords of Arcus had failed them, neglected their duty. As the others came to the window to listen, tempers flared as the man dissected every complaint he could devise - the council's constant travels away from the city on what he deemed fools' errands, the baron's courtship of the known criminal Kressle and overall rumored temper, and likeliness to "burn me where I stand if he could hear this," keeping one of Kressle's lackeys about to spy on the country, not to mention the kobolds, Bo, and Ramses merely existing as well as casting doubt on Erza's faith. Finley was about to lob her hammer at him when Quinn hurried outside to speak with him...and promptly opened by offering him a job. He, Grigori, deflected the question and continued to question the rulers' competence. Quinn, however, proved the more charismatic, especially with the rest of the council working the crowd and aiding another, and as the crowd turned on the rabble-rouser, they escorted him inside to escape the wrath of the crowd (though there still did seem some discontent regarding Kressle...) discuss possible employment upon their return. The situation in town handled for the moment, they set out for Candlemere Island to investigate this supposed cult. Immediately upon landing, they found themselves facing one of the lights, which Quinn identified as a will-o-wisp... Notable Quotes
Quinn: I thought this was a battle of wits, but you appear unarmed!
Quinn: Can we hire him?
Quinn: Then if you think we need guidance, perhaps join us!
Part 5-6
They eventually came across the keep, a crumbling wreck of what was once a fine tower. As they approached the gate, Bo urged his familiar to go first and test the waters...the poor creature barely managing to hop back in time to avoid the grate crashing down. After a few moments of panic, they regrouped and made their way around the wall to a hole in the fortifications and stepped through. For a moment, Quinn thought she saw something, a small greenish man, but upon a second look, there was nothing there. Now intensely paranoid, Finley and Erza moved forward, leaving Bo and Quinn back at their makeshift entrance. Nothing happened. Quinn stepped cautiously forward. The creature, Rigg, promptly raced in to shank the bard, who promptly identified him as a quickling. Erza attempted to shoot him, but missed. Bo spat forth a swarm of spiders on the angry fey...who stood still as the vermin skittered over him with minimal effect on his DR and vanished from view. Unsure where he'd gone, the party stood in silence for several rounds as the squishy casters hurried to their hardier companions. Quinn then recalled what had been learned about how their invisibility worked and lobbed a glitterdust where Bo's now-dismissed swarm had been, outlining the angry little man in bright sparkles. Their target unable to hide, the group readied their assault...only for the malignant fey to levitate just out of reach above them. Quinn suggested he come down and kill them, and he bombed his save. They tore into him...to some effect, given they hadn't thought to bring cold iron weaponry. Quinn renewed the glitterdust with much yelling from the party barely missed by the puff of sparkles. This time, he failed his save and went blind, making it much easier for them to hit him. After a solid round of taking damage, Rigg opted to eat the attacks of opportunity, which took a good chunk off thanks to some critting, and fled into the forest. Their path was clear now to enter the tower, where Quinn promptly spotted and recovered a canister of insanity mist rigged at the entrance. The bard then declared dibs and pocketed the weaponized hallucinogen. Finding nothing else of interest, they made their way upstairs, where they saw an eerily beautiful elven woman clad in a robe of pure white...and a troll. Seeing food, the lady began to dance. Quinn, Bo, and Ramses saved against the effect, and Quinn additionally identified her as a baobhan sith...a vampiric fey. Safe from the enchantment, Quinn hurled out her mockery as usual. Bo climbed along the wall, attempting to hex her...only to discover that fey have good will saves. Ramses shot her. The troll leapt out the window and sprinted off to report to Hargulka. The Lady used her entangle ability to lock the party down while she tried to reach Bo. Ramses continued turning her into a pincushion, finally breaking her concentration enough to allow Richie, Erza, and Finley to reenter the fight. Rather than tangle with the terrain, Richie lobbed Finley across the room, where she promptly rolled a 2 to hit the murderous fey. She began dancing again, and Finley and Richie failed again, allowing her to feed upon the helpless halfling. Wanting to help, Quinn threw out another glitterdust on the Lady...and Finley. Both saved. Ramses continued to laugh at the terrain and keep shooting. The Lady, gravely wounded, stopped dancing to retreat, and Finley took advantage of her regained senses to smack her upside the kneecap with her hammer, bringing her into negatives. Some spiteful kicking of the corpse may or may not have ensued during the looting. Looking about the room, Ramses spotted what had initially appeared to be a paper lantern but now, out of the haze of combat, was clearly a floral-made cage. He sent Archimedes to bring it down, and within was a familiar grig. Tyg was freed; Perlivash was overjoyed. After they finished taking everything that wasn't nailed down (including an elixir of love that the archer found, took one look at the party, and pocketed without telling the others), they made their way back to Pluvius. Kesten greeted them, obviously glad to see them. He informed them that while they had been dealing with Oleg's concerns, one of their colonists, Jenna Tannersen, had come to beg for aid - her son, Tim, had gone missing. Kesten, however, had taken some of his guards to locate the boy and successfully recovered him from a nearby tribe of lizardfolk. However, there were some other things that they should attend to personally... Notable Quotes
Erza: I fire my crossbow.
Finley: He's probably throwing us discus-style. Quinn: Why are you stumbling around like that; are you drunk or something? GM: She begins to dance, and I need a will save from everyone...at a -2 penalty if you find her attractive.
Finley: If you blind me, I'm gonna punch you. GM: And the dancing lady drinks some of Finley's blood as she bites her, dealing...2 strength and 2 con damage.
Part 3-4
Suspicions aroused, the trio set up for a stakeout, ordering Cujo on point by the door. Their suspicions were confirmed when a crashing from within the store revealed Perlivash, having invisibly flown by them, now cornered by an excessively friendly dog. Perlivash explained that the "mean big-biggins" had taken Tyg to the "scary fairy lady" and told him he had to steal from the newly-forged colony to ensure her safety. However, the little dragon announced, he had not been stealing because he liked the party, opting to trade instead. Not bothering to explain the semantics difference, they just asked Perlivash to take them to the scary lady. Perlivash claimed he didn't know, or he would've already gotten Tyg back. With some skepticism, they wracked their brains to recall any rumors of fey in the area. After bombing their knowledge checks, they followed up on Perlivash's mention of the new-new place, Tatzylford. There, they learned that a dryad had been seen not terribly far from the village. Arriving in the dryad's grove, Quinn and Finley were quickly smitten by the beautiful fey, to much eye-rolling from Ramses. Perlivash then ruined the mood by stating that this wasn't the scary lady; she was nice. The dryad, identifying herself as Tiressia, seized the opportunity: if the party would do her a small favor, she could direct them to the demesne of their prey. Quinn agreed before waiting for details, met immediately with glares upon learning this favor was to find and kill a scythe tree...which none of them rolled well enough to know anything about other than "the name sounded bad." They regrouped and set out, Ramses staying behind and Elum in his place. It didn't take long to find the trail of the tree...or the enormous tree itself. Bo and Quinn quickly fled up a smaller tree to hide. Elum confidently stepped forward to shoot a burning arc at it...and discovered that big trees have quite a long reach, getting knocked down to single digits almost immediately. Bo misfortuned the tree , which undoubtedly saved the group as it forced three crits to be negated and turned two hits into outright fumbles. Finley charged forward...only to be reminded that her warhammer was useless due to the tree's DR. She did, however, force it to keep its attention on her as Quinn rushed in to claw it while Elum continued to set it on fire. Bo, meanwhile, cackled in the background while hopping around to cast cure light wounds. The great tree eventually fell...literally, thanks to a fumble card that knocked it prone. Quinn finished it off with an alchemist's fire. They attemped to loot it, finding nothing, and Elum declared they needed to recover the wood for a project. This was amended to sending the guards out to recover the wood when Quinn, Finley, and Bo essentially told him what he could do with said wood. They returned to Tiressia's grove, and the grateful dryad upheld her end of the bargain, giving them directions to the tower of the fey known only as the Dancing Lady... Notable Quotes
Ramses: Can I just carry our flag around so Perlivash stops sitting on my head? Quinn: Our flag is just a rainbow.
Tiressia: What has brought you to my home?
Quinn: Elum is Kuzco.
Quinn: Hello, fellow tree!
Bo: Can we loot the tree?
Tiressia: A bargain is a bargain. For your aid, I will point you to the demesne of the Dancing Lady.
Some of them! I'm streamlining and omitting quite a bit because I have a huge party (which means everything takes longer) and need to get them a satisfactory story conclusion before school lets out for summer. They almost got Howl. If that bluff check had gone better (Quinn rolled low, no one aided, and Howl opposed with a nat19), they very well might have.
As some of the roster is very hit-and-miss, we've got a new player to add to the insanity as well as a replacement for a fallen comrade! Introducing:
Then came winter. Young Baron Orlovsky had written home to let his parents know that he had not, in fact, screwed up and embarrassed them, thank you very much, also making it clear that he had romantic intentions in regard to Kressle, one of the reformed bandits. This obviously Would Not Do, and his parents arrived to settle the matter. The arguing dragged on into the next month, reaching the level of public scandal before Elum simply evicted his father from the country. To cap matters off, a troublemaker attempted to stab Warden Kesten Garess in the night, only to be killed in the attempt himself. Kesten came to the next council meeting demanding more funds for proper city defense and patrols. Treasurer Oleg Leveton shouted him down, citing a lack of funds. No resolution was reached, and the kobold Nakpik met the council as the meeting let out to invite them - quite urgently - to a meeting at the Sootscale warren. They made their way out there only to receive a boisterous greeting from an immense troll. Sootscale introduced Elum as the "fire baron," to which Hargulka laughed, only later explained when Sootscale referred to him as the "fire-eater." Hargulka explained that he had made an overture of alliance to the kobolds to prevent them having to be forced to adapt into human ways, eschewing their draconic heritage. Elum and Quinn moved to allay Sootscale's fears, and Sootscale merely answered he would need more time to make a decision. Hargulka and his retinue departed...followed by Ramses' owl. The poor bird soon found Hargulka's invisible sentry as the wisp shocked it within an inch of its life before Ramses ordered it to flee. Elum immediately called a council meeting to get the tiny country prepared for proper defense. The next month fared little better. Nearby farmers reported sabotage on their crops. Much of the council set out to personally investigate. Ramses found a series of canine tracks, at least one set of which was far larger than a dog or wolf should be. Nonetheless, they tracked them to a hillside cave a fair walk north of Pluvius. Tetric sneaked inside, promptly startling a trio of shrieker mushrooms, which alerted the worgs within of the intruders. An immense elder worg approached, soon identified as Howl of the North Wind. With Elum back at the castle, Quinn made an attempt to win the beast over to their side, faring quite well until fumbling a bluff about Hargulka's eventual betrayal of the pack. The bard was promptly knocked into negatives and just as promptly dragged to safety and healed. The beast and his pack were eventually brought to heel with no further loss of life to the young country's founders. Thus was the food crisis resolved, but the looming threat of the troll remained along with anything else fate might devise for them... Notable Quotes
GM: Your shrine to Cayden Cailean caught fire, but you were able to contain it.
Bo: Let's just become communists. Ramses: We've gotten farther than you have with this. What do you know?
Quinn: Enemies to the west, the south, the everywhere! I'm SORRY. Quinn: So, am I your nephew now? Because Kressle's totally my aunt.
Quinn: Can we just note that Ramses and the Owl is like the coolest band name? Elum: Ramses, what is your job?
Finley: Can Cujo talk to the wolves?
GM: Are you sure they're wolves?
Howl: You may call me Howl of the North Wind.
Quinn: Are they just going to trip every turn?
Welcome to my life.
Part 12
They wasted little time in looting the place from top to bottom, making it a special priority to unmask the Stag Lord. There was some disappointment expressed when no one knew the man beneath, though Bo and Finley commented on how ugly he was. They also found a curious glass ring filled with what appeared to be hair, though unusually green. Etched into the ring was a strange creature that Bo and Elum could identify as a dragon, though not what kind. The sorcerer promptly claimed it. Their latest recruit in tow, they carried the body to Nettle's Crossing in fulfillment of the dead man's final wish, earning his +1 ranseur for their troubles. Their explorations of the Greenbelt continued largely without incident over the next few weeks, until finally, they found something of concern. It appeared at first to be a dead horse, but closer inspection revealed it to be a unicorn with its horn snapped off. Erza's examinations revealed it to have been done post-mortem...and likely through magical means, given the lack of visible wound. The mages determined the likely spell to have been a finger of death, far, far beyond any of their capabilities. But that was a concern for another day, for word of the Stag Lord's defeat had reached Brevoy, and the fledgling colony was deemed ready to begin! If only they had any idea what to name the place. End Chapter 1 Notable Quotes
Finley: Can I pierce Cujo's ears? Elum: Does he respond to my diplomacy?
Richie; Come on, let's unmask the stag guy.
Elum: Can I ring the bell?
GM: So, we'll have a year time skip.
Part 11
The battle raged on, everyone now quite concerned about the matter of the rampaging owlbear. Akiros ran to engage it, followed by Finley. Dovan performed an acrobatic leap to escape the pit, only to be immediately shoved back in by Elum...closely followed by the owlbear at Finley's urging, as Akiros shoulder-checked the beast into the pit...crushing one of the unfortunates beneath its weight. Dovan once again leaped out, rolling a very high acrobatics check. The bandits panicked and began attacking the creature. Elum then had a wonderful, awful idea. To gain their trust, he leaped into the pit, intending to crush the creature...only to fumble the landing and do more damage to himself. He immediately read off the scroll of fly they had recovered, running out of actions to escape. The owlbear lunged for him...faceplanting into the wall. Sheldon shot the thing; Bo reached over the pit and pulled Elum to safety before the bandits could treat the ifrit like a noble pinata. Akiros, meanwhile, drew his bow and took a potshot at Dovan, denouncing him as a monster. This did not stop Quinn from arguing for Dovan's redemption . This did not stop anyone in the party from ignoring her pleas . Elum wandered to the other side of the pit to cast burning hands on the unfortunates within. Dovan evaded the flames; the rest were not so lucky, one dying outright. The pit then vanished, leaving Elum standing beside two very injured, very angry bandits. Richie, exasperated, charged over to save his employer, putting the first bandit out of his misery. Erza, equally exasperated, healed him from his self-inflicted misadventure. Sheldon sniped the other bandit, and Akiros charged Dovan, knocking him out. In the confusion, the two bandits who had managed to not fall into the pit fled into the wilderness. Now that things had calmed, Akiros asked Kressle and Quinn what was going on. The situation was explained, and Akiros immediately tried to coup de grace Dovan, flat-out refusing to work with the man. Elum shrugged and borrowed Richie's sword to do the job. They poked around a bit further, and then made their way to the basement, where an odd man waited. Upon seeing strangers, he immediately called forth a swarm of spiders... Notable Quotes
Finley: Akiros, push it in!
GM: ....okay, you...jump into the pit and land on the owlbear. Reflex save.
GM: Elum, it is your turn. The pit will vanish after you finish.
Elum: Richie, come get me!
Name: Rhodo Darkwhirl
Part 10
Out of other ideas and feeling confident, the party gathered their allies (specifically Kressle and Mikmek) and began the march to the Stag Lord's fort. Kressle and Quinn filled them in on what they knew of the Stag Lord, mostly that he was a creepy drunkard, and the plan was set - they'd let Kressle talk their way inside as she had the passcode and deliver the recovered alcohol. Elum mused about the possibility of poison, and Mikmek produced a vial of spider venom without bothering to explain where he'd found it. The sorcerer suggested spreading it among all six bottles. Mikmek asked how big the Stag Lord was, and Quinn and Kressle's relayed description prompted the kobold to shrug and empty the vial into one bottle to be sure. The kobold then insisted Elum's clothes were too fine, and the rest of the party urged him on until Elum gave in and rolled in the mud to better blend in. Getting inside was surprisingly simple. Kressle relayed the passcode and was let inside without incident, being a known figure amongst the banditry. Dovan was quick to make some snide remarks about the new recruits, particularly the "pretty boy." However, he waved them along to Akiros once he saw they had the shipment of booze, deeming the situation not his problem. Akiros was largely too tired to care much, noting Kressle's presence and the alcohol as normal. He knocked on the Stag Lord's door and thus had a front-row seat to the bandit leader's downing of the poisoned bottle . Rhodo rushed in to deliver a flurry of blows; Elum shouted a warning to Akiros to get out of the way. Akiros instead took advantage of the opportunity to take out months of rage and frustration on his drunkard of a boss. Stumbling backward, the Stag Lord aimed his bow at the halfling, killing them in a single shot. Bo seized the opportunity to consecutively daze the Stag Lord for the next several rounds. Elum shouted for the bandits that the Stag Lord was on "another rampage," hoping to sow discord amongst the ranks. Dovan, meanwhile, freed the caged owlbear in the center of the complex, actually sowing discord amongst the ranks. Quinn began throwing down mockery at everyone in range. Richie and Finley stepped into melee with the bandit lord, hoping to avenge their fallen comrade. Dovan, noting the mage off by himself, stepped over and greeted him with a friendly impalement, thus somewhat stabilizing the situation and causing the panicking bandits to rally to him...in a perfect radius for Elum to create pit. Richie's sword, Finley's hammer, Sheldon's arrows, and Akiros' betrayal meanwhile brought the Stag Lord to a final end...and everyone's rides brought the combat to an abrupt pause. Notable Quotes
Quinn: Can the Stag Lord be my dad?
Elum: Can we poison the alcohol?
Kressle: Let me do the talking.
Dovan: You brought in a girly one.
GM: Akiros rages and swings his sword-
Rhodo: Well. I'm dead.
Dovan:
Elum: Reload last save point! RELOAD LAST SAVE POINT!
Part 9
Escorted by Mikmek, the group entered the Sootscale mines and were promptly greeted by another kobold called Nakpik. Mikmek's presence made introductions smooth, and Erza translated a brief conversation about the mite in a cage. Nakpik explained it was a warning to other mites; Elum's comment that the mites were all dead prompted a gleeful Mikmek to spear the unfortunate fey with perhaps too wide a grin. Erza stared in horror; no one else seemed fazed. The kobolds, chattering happily about having Sharptooth back, led the party past a series of pits and to Chief Sootscale. Mikmek and Nakpik rushed to introduce the party; Elum relieved to find the chieftain relatively fluent in Common. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Sootscale demanded the statue. He held it for a moment, thoughtful...and promptly smashed it to bits, declaring the curse broken to a horrified Mikmek and Nakpik. He then raised his club, announcing they would kill the usurper. Quinn and Elum demanded an explanation, earning a brief story about the shaman Tartuk and his constant attempts to take over the tribe through a supposed curse. Quinn insisted on talking to Tartuk first, earning prestidigitationed yellow skin and a declaration of cursedness for her efforts. Tartuk promptly went on the offensive...and just as promptly was obliterated by a max-rolled sneak attack from Sootscale and a nasty crit from Mikmek before half the party had gotten to take a turn. They wasted no time in looting the shaman's body for valuables, coming across Svetlana's ring almost by accident. Some quick negotiation left the kobold clan with most of the shinies but let the party take the actual magic gear, securing an alliance of sorts with the little lizards. The ring safely in hand, they finally made their way back to Oleg's, finding the bandits in good shape, if fairly gloomy from the forced labor and constant supervision. Erza spent some time chatting the bandits up while Elum returned the ring to a speechless Oleg. Quinn went to talk to Kressle, hoping to patch things up after the incident at the camp, managing to smooth things over relatively well. This paved the way quite well for Elum to offer Kressle a job, which she accepted, seeing it as probably her best option. Finley, meanwhile, spent some time teaching Cujo to read...before giving up and merely training him to bark on command at books to pretend to read. Notable Quotes
Erza: I don't like genocide...
Finley: Can we keep Mikmek? Not...like he's an animal. Don't quote that. Elum: What's so scary about Tartuk?
Quinn: Kressle, you were like my mom. My weird mom who tried to kill me with axes. Maybe not my mom. My aunt. My cool aunt. Anyway, Aunt Kressle, I'm sorry I betrayed the entire family.
Elum: I give back Kressle's handaxes.
Finley: I'm gonna start a book club with my dog.
Part 8
Continuing into the cavern beneath the sycamore, the group pressed on. Rhodo brought up the rear, keeping Mikmek behind them while they kept their crossbow to hand. Not wanting to cross the chasm due to a general inability to climb, the party backtracked through the first chamber and into the other pathway. They discovered a series of compost piles filled with eggs, guarded by three centipedes and a mite. Elum immediately used burning hands to destroy one of the nest/piles. A short fight later, Mikmek began stabbing the unhatched eggs with surprising ferocity as the others moved on to the next chamber. Six more mites waited within. Elum greased a portion of the floor as the others rushed in, causing several mites to slip and fall while Erza, Rhodo, and Sheldon picked them off from range. Quinn gleefully ignored the language barrier, pulling faces and blowing raspberries to convey her opinion of the mites. Richie walked up and simply splattered the fey as they attempted to attack him, eagerly assisted by Finley. This chamber yielded to another, and Elum and Sheldon led the way inside, finding more mites and a giant tick. The mite leader barked an order none of the party understood, and the fighting resumed. As the others trickled in, Richie barely making the acrobatics check to pass through the grease, the mites were quickly brought down. Quinn switched to rude gestures before simply clawing the tick. Spell, arrow, hammer, and sword combined to finally quell the mite infestation. Mikmek eagerly ran to the mites' planning table to claim the ivory figurine with reverence, calling it Old Sharptooth. Noting the paper it held down, the party realized none of them could read Undercommon. Mikmek obligingly translated, revealing a score tally of sorts between the Sycamore mites and the Sootscale kobolds...noting that the Sootscales' spoils of war included a "shiny human ring." Elum looked irritated enough to catch fire. Mikmek thanked them and asked them to come with them, for Chief Sootscale would be very pleased they had saved Old Sharptooth... Notable Quotes
GM: All right, fumble. You deal damage to yourself, using your target's strength modifier. ...The mite swings at Sheldon and stabs itself, knocking it unconscious.
Richie: I move into the other room to attack!
Quinn: Um...mockery! I flip off the mites!
Mikmek: This says Us, and this is Them. But them is us because mites aren't very smart.
GM: Tickleback takes...13 points of damage from your crit.
Quinn: I run in and claw the tick!
Part 7
Entering the cavern beneath the roots, they were soon greeted with the curious sight of a pair of hideous blue creatures firing caltrops into each other's mouths with crude hand-catapults. Sheldon fired a shot into the wall, and it took little time to dispatch the mites. Finley poked her head into a side chamber, calling out for backup. As the group rushed in, they noticed a barely-alive kobold tied to the wall, surrounded by more mites, and quickly moved to interrupt the mites' torture session. The fight went well for the would-be colonists until they faced the final mite and proceeded to roll five natural-1's in a row while it sat dazed at 1 hp before Cujo finally killed it. Rhodo and Finley helped the kobold, now healed from Erza's channeling, down from the wall while the priestess relayed introductions. Through her, he introduced himself as Mikmek of Sootscale and thanked the party for their aid, looking sadly at the three kobolds they had been too late to save. He asked if they would assist him in recovering the holy statue he had come to find, and the party agreed (Sheldon enthusiastically so when treasure was promised). Notable Quotes
Finley: Every time I use my warhammer, I mess it up! Rhodo: If we'd left [the mites] alone, they probably would've killed themselves!
I should note that Quinn's comment was actually a sarcastic remark in protest of the murderhobo policy. For some reason, the ex-bandit didn't want to murder the bandits she used to work with.
Whoops, lost track of this. Rushed recap!
Trett gave them enough information to go on that they turned their attentions to Ulreth's warehouse. After a bit of a false start, they had managed to subdue the thugs working inside, though not without a seemingly unrelated migraine. Questioning them proved...difficult as Ulreth had most definitely not hired them for their brains. However, Salvatrix did manage to learn that a "purple-haired woman" had paid them a fair sum to store a box for her. Zelda set to searching the crates, discovering an unusual device. She wasn't quite able to determine its purpose, but between them, the group reasoned it was probably some sort of communications gadget. More importantly, they knew how to turn it off, immediately ceasing the electronic whine in the air and the headaches that came with it, curing Torch's malady almost completely by accident. Salvatrix decided that they had a golden opportunity here in more ways than one, first raiding Ulreth's office for any incriminating paperwork...and finding a sizeable coin purse tucked into the desk in the process. She set Orbit to work on helping her review the accounts, finding the boy surprisingly good at the job. Waking up the unconscious Ulreth, she proposed a deal - he would sign over the rights to the warehouse and Silverdisk Hall in exchange for still receiving a share of the profits and tje freedom to leave town alive before his violet benefactor returned to discover his screw-up. Without much of an alternative, he agreed and skipped town. The group reasoned that the mysterious purple-haired woman would likely come back and decided to stake out the warehouse that night. Zelda promptly took the mysterious device to Father Kyte, who was delighted with the new toy, before returning to aid in their sting. It took a day before their efforts bore fruit. A group of thugs wearing armor covered in scrap metal crept up to the warehouse, only to be firmly trounced. They were evasive when questioned but did eventually mention a few pieces of information - that Meyanda was the name of the purple-haired woman, she was an android from a place called Scrapwall, and she spoke with the voice of Hellion. None of the party had ever heard of Hellion and were therefore quite surprised to hear the name spoken of with the reverence reserved for gods. With little option remaining, they resolved to return to the caves, first checking in with Khonnir and Val...who asked whether they'd made plans regarding Trett. After a pause, they simply dumped him at the town hall for the Council to deal with, washing their hands of the matter. They continued into the caves, now armed with the coupling Salvatrix had repaired to restore the elevator's functionality and grant them access to the final floor. The party fought through the sparse guards and odd creatures, coming across an angry gargoyle guarding what appeared to be a shrine of some sort. They defeated it soundly and moved to open the final door, and the headaches began anew as a loud electronic whirring assailed them. The android priestess Meyanda awaited them with a collector robot, getting off a few good spells and shots with her strange pistol before finally being brought down by Cygnus's refusal to let her out of melee. Cygnus tied her up for later questioning while Zelda and Salvatrix figured out how to reset the devices in the room...sending a brilliant purple light up into the sky, restoring Torch's namesake. Meyanda was left in the custody of Father Kyte after a brief questioning, wherein they learned a bit about Scrapwall and Hellion, mostly the bits about subjugating organic life. Deeming this their best next destination into figuring out all of this Hellion business, the group decided to plan a journey. Kyte asked them to look out for an old colleague of his who had been driven into hiding by the Technic League, a priestess called Dinvaya whom he had last heard of around Scrapwall. Zelda agreed to look out for a sister in faith, and Kyte recommended them a path leading by an old fort called Aldronard's Grave... End Chapter 1
Part 6
The would-be colonists sat down to discuss their options, Quinn strongly objecting to plans ending with the death of the bandits she used to work with. She finally convinced them to let her go in first to talk them down. It was simple for her to lure the nearest guard over to talk...and for Bo to whammy him with a slumber hex for the others to tie up. She then made her way across the water to speak to the other bandits. Kressle immediately grew suspicious of her sudden return, particularly since the bandits who had gone with Happs and Quinn had reported them killed and captured (probably dead), respectively. The bard began quickly spinning a story about how the clueless adventurers had let her escape because they were careless and actually believed she was on their side. Taking this in with a grain of salt, Kressle asked if she had any information about them, and Quinn took full advantage of an opportunity to complain at length about every single member of the party...and yet only giving a modicum of actually useful tactical information. Just close enough to catch the gist of this particular distraction, Elum and the others moved upstream to slip across...except for Rhodo, taking up position near the broken-down wagon with her crossbow. The party crept through the treeline, only for Richie to move too loudly in his armor right as he approached the bandits. Noticing the archer atop the watchtower turn to take aim, Rhodo shot first, dropping the woman to 0 hp within a few rounds. A ray of fire from Elum struck Kressle next, and she immediately moved beside Quinn...though whether to protect the bard or turn on her was unclear. Quinn opted not to wait to find out and used her mockery against the bandit leader, throwing Kressle off-guard enough to destroy one of her axes on a bad swing. Elum promptly greased the other, and it slipped easily out of Kressle's hands. Seizing the advantage, Quinn offered Kressle the chance to surrender. Humiliated enough by the dice's repeated betrayal, Kressle complied, raising her hands. Without missing a beat, Elum and Rhodo set to looting the camp, finding the presumable spoils of the camp's last raid on Oleg's. Elum asked after Svetlana's ring, but the bandits declared that they'd been recently raided by mites. General disbelief was expressed, but the thieves stuck to the story. Exasperated, the group turned their attention to a case filled with liquor. Kressle called out to stop, that it was a special request of the Stag Lord's. Halfway through one bottle, Elum complied and insisted that this bottle was broken, oops. Unsure what to do with the group (particularly in the face of Quinn and Erza's reluctance to kill them), the party trekked back to Oleg's to figure it out. Notable Quotes
Quinn: Do what we say, or we kill your family. That's reasonable! GM: ...do I need to get the talking stick?
Quinn-OOC: Oh, no, the timer owl!
GM: You hear voices... "Hey, Joe ain't at his post!"
Quinn: So they trusted me unconditionally like idiots!
GM: So how long do you just let Quinn sell you out to the bandits?
Elum: Can I borrow your horse?
Erza-OOC: I'm kinda insulted I haven't been mentioned.
Quinn: I mock Kressle. Everyone thinks you're a joke!
Rhodo-OOC: Can I take this one off the map since she's out of the fight?
Part 5
Setting out again, the group decided they'd neglected the west of Oleg's trading post and soon came across a ramshackle hut. Rhodo knocked on the door, and a wild-eyed-and-haired old man soon revealed himself...having crawled out the window at their knocking. After a rather surreal introduction, he introduced himself as Bokken, waving a pinkie-less hand at them. Elum asked if there was anything they could to help, and the old druid asked them to gather a basket of fangberries, to which they agreed...especially upon hearing about the 25% discount he was willing to offer on potions. They decided to go due south, giving the bandit camp as wide a berth as possible, soon coming to a lightning-marred husk of a tree. Rhodo noticed the disturbed earth, and Elum pulled out the sketch recovered from the dead bandit. They discovered a small cache of goods beneath the roots and continued on, finding the burned out remnants of a house and a rope connected to what was clearly once a bridge. As they approached to inspect the rope, a rotten shape rose from the water. It spoke to them, requesting that they deliver the Stag Lord's corpse to him that he might at last find rest. The party agreed, wondering who the Stag Lord was but assuming he had something to do with the amulets they kept finding. Unwilling to leave behind their mounts, they continued along the river, finding an immense sycamore. Elum remembered a rumor that it was infested with mites, and Erza recalled the kobolds they had found at the radish patch had mentioned a problem with such. Bo piped up that he was pretty sure they needed cold iron to fight them, and they marked the tree on their maps to figure out later. Their path finally took them to the fangberry patch, where Rhodo and Bo set to gathering berries, taking a slight beating from the thorns. This eventually disturbed a swarm of spiders which was summarily incinerated (along with a few branches), Elum quickly adding a ray of frost before the web-covered bushes could light the entire map aflame. Successful in this latest endeavor, they began discussing a plan of attack on the bandit encampment, eyes turning to Quinn, who was once among their ranks... Notable Quotes
Elum: Is he high? GM: You approach the Shrike River.
Rhodo: What happens if we throw the Stag Lord in the water?
Rhodo: Can we cross the river here?
And one more!
Part 4
They readied for action as the bear approached, Bo opening as usual with his evil eye. Richie and Finley moved to engage the creature in melee, while Elum took a position to throw fire. However, an arrow came in from the woods, soon followed by an unfamiliar elf coming to their aid. Quinn hurled insults at the animal. The bear got a claw into Richie before Elum's fire finally began landing true, at one point summoning a fire elemental to aid him. This got Finley so worked up that she accidentally threw her warhammer past the bear in her excitement to attack. The bear was put down shortly after, dissolving into the shape of a man and then into ash. The elf introduced himself as Sheldon and explained he was looking for treasure. Elum explained that their charter gave them the right to any treasure in the area...at which point Sheldon decided he wouldn't mind traveling with them. With the "stinky holy place" no longer stinky or bear-infested, the group decided to investigate the hot spring Perlivash had scribbled on the map. Upon arriving, they saw two grippli in the water...who froze momentarily upon seeing them before running toward them, croaking excitedly in their language...that they had been worried sick, where have you been, Bo? Croaking back in embarrassment, Bo assured his parents that he was fine, that the dryskins were nothing to worry about, yes he knew where home was, he's just fine. The rest of the party understood none of this and decided to make use of the hot spring...except for Quinn who declared he was just fine with prestidigitation. As the older gripplis departed, the group asked Bo what that had been about. He unsuccessfully attempted to brush the question off. Next, they returned to the fey, hoping to gain more information. They were greeted in traditional fashion as Richie barely noticed something had tied his bootlaces together in time to avoid tripping. Without missing a beat, Elum began calling for Perlivash, who once again decided his preferred roost involved messing up the sorcerer's hair, soon joined by Tyg. He asked them if they could tell him anything about the "mean biggins camp," beginning with giving Perlivash the map to draw on, resulting in yet more meaningless doodles along the map's border rather than any actual intel about the camp. He tried again, asking if they could scout the place out, to which the little fey shuddered and said they didn't go there for fear "the bigginses will tear off our wings." While this got them the initial sympathy of Quinn and Finley, Tyg promptly jeopardized this by saying Quinn would know, wouldn't she. Quinn coughed to affect a very deep voice and declare he didn't know what she was talking about, making a throat-slitting gesture as soon as no one else was looking. Tyg got the hint but proceeded to be a bit too obvious in showing that she'd remembered what Quinn meant for the bard's comfort. Elum finally managed to convince them to fly over the camp at a safe height to tell them what to expect, promising them a big stack of paper to play with...and earning a vague threat from Perlivash that he would "find them" if anything happened to Tyg. With that, the two flew off, leaving the nonplussed party to make camp. Sheldon left to hunt, returning with fresh game. They went to bed without much concern... ...only to awaken to the sound of explosions shortly before sunrise. Elum and Bo were out first...and saw brightly colored fireworks in the sky as the fey announced their return. Grouchy at being awakened, the sorcerer reluctantly handed over a paper for them to report. Struggling with a pencil nearly as big as she was, Tyg first wrote her message in swirly Sylvan before most of the party complained they couldn't read it. She then sighed and drew a rough sketch of the camp, holding it up to Quinn for approval, Quinn muttering quiet threats to the grig trying so hard to impress the bard. The group returned to Oleg's, finding him cleaning out the stables. Elum prestidigitationed much of the mess away, once again depriving him of his excuse to avoid conversation. Finley, Quinn, and Bo made the round on the walls to chat with the guards from Brevoy. They then noticed a new figure, an older man with an Erastilan symbol. When the group introduced themselves, he began telling them of a vision he had had on the road to aid their colony of a lost temple guarded by a bear - only to be interrupted by the party telling him they'd already killed the bear. After a moment's surprised silence, he asked if they might take him there that he may finish cleansing the place of its taint. They agreed and escorted him there and back without incident. Notable Quotes
GM: As Elum's ray strikes the bear, a fire elemental appears!
Quinn: You're so fat, Sarenrae mistook you for the sun! Bo: I don't want to live in the stinky holy place.
Perlivash: ...okay. We look. If Tyg gets hurt, I find you. Bye-bye!
GM: At the hotspring, you see two grippli...and they immediately begin excitedly croaking in Grippli.
GM: As the others finish in the hot spring, the gripplis wander off.
Part 3
Feeling a bit more confident with their successful negotiation and grocery run behind them, the colonizers decided to continue their investigation of the region. Their wanderings this time took them to a quiet stretch of forest. After a short stretch of time, they became aware of a rustling in the brush...and a gradually growing louder growling that Finley identified as an owlbear's cry. They argued briefly in hushed tones about whether to flee or fight...and suddenly a creature burst from the shrubbery: a common squirrel. Rhodo shot it on panicked reflex. Elum, Bo, and Erza then thought to try and see if the mismatched cry was magical, determining it to be a ghost sound effect. They determined to ignore the chaos and continue on. All was well until Elum mentioned the bandit camp, at which point Rhodo spotted a tiny blue dragon with butterfly wings appearing over his head, though not in time to prevent it casting create water over the ifrit. She called out to the creature while the sorcerer prestidigitationed himself dry. Finley and Bo identified him as a faerie dragon. Upon hearing "Faerie," Elum offered a gift of one of the potions Oleg had given them. The little dragon swooped down and flew off with it. Quinn, Erza, and Finley declared him adorable. Bo seemed done with the whole situation. Things were quiet until they pitched camp and decided they wanted to tell ghost stories. Midway through Quinn's, their campfire turned purple, and they noticed a tiny cricket-woman perched atop the pavilion tent. The faerie dragon, meanwhile, landed on Elum's head as he wandered a bit away from the others. He biffed the diplomacy check, prompting the dragon to decide he needed to be happier...and breathed his euphoria breath in the mage's face. Elum rejoined the others, in the best mood of his life...for about thirty seconds. The two fey now decided to show themselves, determining the group to be at least not hostile. Another diplomacy check from Finley and Quinn finally convinced them to become friends, and introductions revealed their names to be Perlivash and Tyg-Titter-Tut. They asked if the party was here to "stop the mean bigginses" ...and things became briefly awkward when they saw the stag pendant Rhodo had begun wearing in her hair because it was shiny. She quickly assured them she was not one of the bandits, and the fey began discussing amongst themselves whether they knew of various things about the Greenbelt. Elum slid the map over with a pen, and Perlivash took the opportunity to draw all over the map...some of which was useful. When questioned about the...shapes, the fey clarified: stinky holy place, hot spring, dead biggins, and bad wires. Perlivash breathed on Rhodo before they left, and in her fey-induced euphoria, she gleefully thanked the fey. They declared they would remember and zoomed off. After a night's rest, they decided to investigate the "stinky holy place," wondering what on earth that could be. After a good deal of walking, the woods gave way to a stone structure in obvious disrepair, bearing the visage of an elk. Elum and Rhodo speculated a connection to the stag tokens, but they did note the shape was fairly different, Rhodo making the connection to the church of Erastil. As they moved to the immense basin to investigate, a low growling soon arose from the once-temple. As they turned to look, they saw an massive grizzly bear coming toward them... Notable Quotes
Elum-ooc: Am I still high? DM: As Quinn's story reaches the scary part, the flames flash violet.
Rhodo: Ooooh thaaank you you've been helpful!
Tyg: Do you think they know the stinky holy place?
Tyg: You not mean bigginses!
Peter Quill's long-lost relative? Think the intent was more Mulan passing as Ping.
Further introductions! Quinn DuBois, changeling bard (court bard archetype). On the run from her mother, she is passing as a boy to hide. Totally here to help with the colony and not at all a bandit. And corrections! I did not have the spelling properly, and it is actually Erza the cleric. Part 2
With a location in mind (assuming the late Happs had spoken true), the would-be conquistadors now had a direction...if they thought themselves ready for the challenge. In the meantime, however, they had a surviving captive to deal with. Said bandit came to slowly and was very shortly offered the ultimatum of joining the group and telling them what he could about the bandits...or death. Said bandit was bright enough to take said offer, introducing himself as Quinn DuBois. He gave the name Kressle as his boss among the bandits but little other information. Erza tended his (party-inflicted) wounds. The group then turned their attention to the jobs board posted, hoping to scrape up a bit of coin to fund their work. Rhodo leapt up and pointed to one from Svetlana, deciding that gathering a basket of radishes was "probably easiest." They set off, exploring the area and soon coming across a worrying expanse of skeletons. After alerted to a strange divot in the ground, Elum decided to do what any survivalist in a forest would and shot a ray of fire at it, somehow managing to miss it while setting nothing else on fire. This awoke the spider within. Bo used his evil eye on the creature, while Quinn attempted to insult it. Finley then insulted her upon recognizing that spiders are immune to such effects. Erza's bless, Rhodo's crossbow, and Richie's sword made short work of the creature, only allowing it time to take a single bite out of the bodyguard before falling. Being good little opportunists, they set to looting the area, finding the not-yet-eaten body of a bandit, this one also carrying a silver stag skull pendant as well as a rough sketch of a dead tree marked with an X. The spider murdered and robbed, they moved onward, finally finding the patch of moon radishes Svetlana had mentioned...and a small group of drowsy kobolds. Curious as to the posting they had seen about trouble with a local tribe of the creatures, Elum attempted to speak to them. They sluggishly hurried for their weapons, unable to understand him. Erza then relayed his words, surprising the group with her knowledge of Draconic. Between the two of them, they negotiated the purchase of a basket of radishes and learned that the Sootscale tribe to which they belonged had been having an issue with local bandits as well as mites. The kobolds then asserted that the radish patch was theirs, to which Erza agreed. They returned to the trading post to deliver their treasure to Svetlana. Notable Quotes
Quinn: Oh, boy. I get to die or join the traveling circus.
Finley-OOC: What's my motivation?
Oleg: So...we're keeping one.
DM: Elum, you find the body of a bandit-
Quinn: Bo, you're a frog! Just eat it!
Haven't even started.First Kingmaker session finished. Two weren't present and will need to be worked in next time.Journal?
"Be it so known that the bearer of this charter has been charged by the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Regent of the Dragonscale Throne, with the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Oleg’s Trading Post. The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by sword or rope. So witnessed on this 24th day of Calistril, under watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne." With these words, a group of intrepid souls arrived at Oleg's Trading Post in the waning days of winter. Most were concerned with the chill and didn't seem overly concerned with introducing themselves. Richie knocked on the gate, and a woman named Svetlana greeted them warmly, thanking them for their quick arrival and assuring them that her husband Oleg would be with them shortly; he was working on the roof. Elum promptly went to cast mending on the roof. Somewhat nonplussed that his excuse was gone, Oleg joined them with a grumble. Svetlana turned the conversation to their bandit problem, which the party took perfectly in stride, assuming it to be a general part of their charter despite this being the first they'd heard of Oleg's having such trouble. As they began to discuss strategy, Elum showed Oleg the charter, prompting the man to excuse himself to the stables. Rhodo bounded after him, offering to help. Oleg passed the little halfling a rake bigger than she was, and she began working diligently...bagging much of the fertilizer with rocks and carrying it up to the walls. During this time, a grippli wandered in, claiming to be part of their team and introducing himself as Bo. No one recgonized him, but no one argued against his presence. Richie and Finley were assigned watch positions for the night, and the group got into position as sunrise approached. The bandits, led by a hooded man called Happs, arrived right on schedule the next morning, though without the hatchet-woman Svetlana had described as their leader. Oleg opened the door to let the group inside...where they promptly spotted Bo. Finding the 2' frog more adorable than anything, one of the bandits made a crack about frog legs. This alarmed Rhodo, who dropped a bag of rocks, drawing their attention. Now suspicious, Happs made a comment about a midget. This angered Finley, who poked her head around the corner to tell the bandit to say that to her face. Stealth blown, the fight was on. Bo cast his evil eye on Happs, while Rhodo threw bags of waste (having failed to turn the catapults to aim inside the fort) and Elum called upon his sorcery to set the bandits afire. A shot from Happs nearly felled the mage before Richie could stand between them and Ursa could heal. Finley charged into the fight, swinging her hammer. After several close calls, Happs and one other bandit were knocked unconscious while the remaining two fled. After some debate, it was determined that they would be let go...mostly due to arguing long enough to give them an extensive lead. Bo and Ursa stabilized Happs for Elum to question, and they were able to learn the general location of the bandit camp. Feeling vindictive, Elum and Finley then killed him despite Ursa's arguing and attempts to heal him. Oleg and Svetlana exchanged worried glances at the future of the Greenbelt... Notable Quotes
Finley: You've got a really elaborate plan, Torch.
Finley: Yeet the horse! Finley: I can't believe I rolled the first nat 1!
GM: And Happs is dead.
So, my kiddos have once again asked for an after-school campaign. The initial plan was for some good ol' piracy with Skull and Shackles, and one of them offered to run the first couple of chapters over the summer. The end result is so far off the rails to be effectively beyond repair, so we're building a country instead! A fitting send-off for the seniors amongst them. Our would-be Founders of a Great Land(TM):
Had at least one, possibly two, not able to make it due to stuff, so introductions will continue next time! But surely nothing can go wrong.
From the PRD: Ranged Attacks Underwater: Thrown weapons are ineffective underwater, even when launched from land. Attacks with other ranged weapons take a –2 penalty on attack rolls for every 5 feet of water they pass through, in addition to the normal penalties for range. As bombs are thrown, I ruled them ineffective. Fire was nothing to do with it.
Sessions 6-7
After a bit of scouting around, Maril and Olivie discovered the entrance beneath the surface of the cold swamp water. Echo's air crystals and Tolo's air bubble sufficed to let them inside...where they promptly discovered an enormous devilfish who was both hungry and cranky from being so rudely awakened. Anaurok nailed it with a hold monster; it responded by promptly rolling a 2. Struggling to move through the water, they eventually made their way up to the next floor...Maril and Anaurok greedily eyeing the glass orb full of treasure with no visible way inside. Upstairs, they promptly ran into a boggard guard. Anaurok attempted to speak to it...only to understand nothing it said. Tolo, however, could. This was soon remedied with communal tongues, and they had a brief and unproductive conversation. Anaurok's epic diplomatic overture to turn on the "Mother Queen" correctly presumed to be Ileosa was no match for the frogman's vast intelligence of 6 and blind zealotry. Bailing on this, Maril stealthed about the floor, getting a lay of the land and easily evading the notice of all posted guards, and easily managing to return to the group just as the boggard was finally alerted that something was wrong. Out came the rods of wonder. Anaurok triggered an enlarge effect; Tolo turned it purple. The boggard was too confused by this to raise an alarm and swiftly dispatched via sneak attack. They found the third floor eerily quiet and decided to poke around. Tolo found the quartet of erinyes guards and cheerfully greeted them with a pick-up line. The good news: it succeeded in getting their attention. The bad news: it succeeded in getting their attention. The dwarven healer quickly found herself lassoed and crit into negatives. Anaurok and Toothless charged into the doorway to distract them, Toothless taking a fair bit of damage himself before the summoner was able to dimension door back across the hall to relative safety. Maril and Corbin poked into another room, hoping it would allow a backdoor into the fighting. The good news: it did. The better news: this room also held a very finely cut sapphire, which Maril noted bore an inscription of Anaurok's name. She checked for traps and, satisfied, stuffed it in her bag before joining Corbin in the fight. Olivie took up a position, as usual, clear across the room to shoot from safety. Once the summoner and passengers rematerialized before her, Laori cured Tolo back up to positives and turned her attention to blessing and praying while the dwarf spent the rest of the fight channeling energy. The devils fanned into the room, now the door was unblocked, targeting the archer, summoner, and eidolon. Corbin and Maril managed to get into flanking positions, and the group eventually managed to put the furies down without further loss of life (though considerable loss of blood happened). Tolo and Laori patched them all up; Maril and Echo explored the remaining rooms. Discovering the half-formed simulacrum, Maril "screamed like a little girl." Echo bombed it. They reconvened to discuss strategy, mostly consisting of Maril and Anaurok arguing. The rogue showed the group the sapphire, and Anaurok grinned, reaching for it. Echo slapped his hand away, calling him an idiot. They examined the magic surrounding it, identifying a trap the soul effect. Anaurok promptly withdrew his claim on the gem, further resolved to murder the queen. Echo drank an extract of thorn body, and they made their way upstairs. The sight of the Everdawn Pool was disturbing: an amorphous and evershifting blob of blood suspended in the air, glass tubes sprouting from it. The shape of Korvosa appeared and crumbled, and they were soon alerted to the presence of three wraiths...and several simulacra just dropping from the pool. Laori blessed the group again, and the battle was on. One of the Ileosas began to sing, much to the consternation of the party. Anaurok and Toothless found themselves pinned in the corner by a wraith and clone; Maril ran near them to evade a wraith of her own. Echo bombed; Olivie shot; Tolo channeled. Then Ileosa herself entered the fray, emerging from the Everdawn Pool dripping in blood, lovely face twisted in anger. She herself began to sing, weaving a suggestion for Corbin to bow before her. He aced the save and cast fly on himself, moving to meet her in combat. Olivie bombed against a confusion from an Ileosa clone, managing with surprising reliability to keep her wits and pummel the devil-queen with holy arrows . Upon seeing the queen (and after bringing down the last wraith with a combination of high explosives and positive energy), Tolo pulled forth the rod of wonder, first calling a swarm of pastel butterflies that went nowhere near Ileosa...then shrinking herself down to the size of a housecat. She then put the rod away. Corbin's assault pinned Ileosa near the wall, allowing Maril to use her wall run talent to flank and sneak. Finally freeing himself from the corner, Anaurok cast eaglesoul...then geniekind as the DM reminded him that casting such as CN effectively negated most of the spell's bonus. He flew up to fight her...just as yet another crit from Corbin's holy scythe laughed at her regen, knocking her unconscious. Maril sneak attacked the corpse out of spite; Anaurok brought down Serithial for the coup de grace, canceling out her ability to heal from her wounds. Anaurok pulled off the Crown of Fangs, which Laori promptly snatched away. They all sat to breathe a sigh of relief...and then noticed that the Everdawn Pool above them was pulsing. A draconic talon and skeletal wing began to emerge. Seeing the iron chains of the Midnight Lord's favor, Laori was pleased but seemed to be the only one who was. Maril threw knives, Echo threw a bomb, and Olivie shot at the shape...and then Anaurok remembered Serithial, using his magical flight to stab the pool with the holy scimitar. Everything went white as the pool exploded from within, sending blood and the touch of heaven itself everywhere. Maril bombed her save and stumbled blindly for a moment until Laori healed her eyes. Battered and exhausted, they made their way back to Korvosa to be hailed as heroes. The newly crowned Queen Cressida Kroft welcomed them back with open arms, offering them positions on her royal council, and Laori departed, taking the Fangs of Kazavon far away from the city. End of Campaign Notable Quotes
Maril: Are there traps around the sapphire?
DM: And Ileosa emerges from the blood.
Anaurok: I cast eaglesoul.
Olivie: Oh, right! I have a snake! I fire my snake at that one.
DM: One of the Ileosas begins to sing.
Anaurok: Let me see the sapphire!
Parts VII-VIII
The next morning, Zelda set about town to listen for word on potential leads, scoring a number of rumors about the town - everything from the Sovereign himself coming to Torch to marauding ratfolk bandits, to there being multiple spies in Torch, to Ulreth being in the League, and, bizarrely, to a drunken bet at the Foundry leading to a pair of kobolds climbing Black Hill to drink the odd fluid leaking from where the torch once was. The harpy set out to investigate, gathering a few samples before heading back. Shortly after her return, Sanvill Trett stopped by, having heard about Khonnir's return, and struck up a conversation with the party about their ventures into the caverns, unsubtly hinting that he would be interested in tagging along. Zelda and Cygnus grew suspicious, questioning Trett's experience after knowing firsthand the dangers of the caverns; Trett grew evasive and ultimately excused himself. After talking it over with Salvatrix, they decided to try and follow him, soon tracking the merchant to Silverdisk Hall. Recalling their recent ban for beating the house, they opted to lurk in the foliage. Trett exited the building a short while after, and they cornered him with little attempt to hide their efforts. Trett did absolutely nothing to allay their suspicions, doing more to make matters worse, but he was now quite suspicious of them. They reported this to Salvatrix...and found her and Orbit throwing rocks at each other as some sort of training exercise. Salvatrix suggested they return to the caverns in the morning and bring something back to bait the Technic League spy, whether or not they were right about Trett, and make sure word got out about it. Zelda took advantage of the peaceful afternoon to corner Khonnir, asking him some follow-up questions about the Technic League, recalling how nervous he and Val had been on it being brought up before. With a little persuasion, he confessed that he had once, under another name, been a part of the League. By the time he'd realized how bad the organization was, he was in too deep. He'd finally cut ties the day he found a man called Ghartone trying to use a girl - Val - as the base for an experiment. He attacked Ghartone and set the lab afire, fleeing with the young ael and disguising himself as a human due to the relatively low population of children of Arachne. Zelda promised not to let the information get out but thanked him for trusting her. As agreed upon, they visited the temple for more water breathing and ventured once more into the caverns. With little left to do, they explored the science deck in more detail, mostly to kill time. Salvatrix and Zelda examined the circular room, determining it to be some manner of lift, and Salvatrix discovered a damaged coupling that she was certain she could fix once back at the Foundry. She detached it carefully, and they decided to take one of the drones that had attacked them up to the surface as their inconspicuous bait. Once back, Salvatrix and Orbit went to meet with Councilor Steelclaw to ask her to help spread the rumor and ferret out their League spy. Steelclaw sighed, hoping that the Technic League wasn't connected to the other rumor she'd heard - some Olori heir had gone missing. They arranged an order to take watch, Cygnus setting up a few natural alarms and traps before taking his shift. These were tripped near the changeover for him and Zelda, and he crept out a side door to ambush the burglar, summoning a stirge to assist. Zelda flew out a back window and over the Foundry's roof to shoot the man, who was soon identified as Trett. Trett managed to get off a couple of shots from an arcane pool before being subdued, and he surrendered to the party rather than be killed, telling them he knew plenty of helpful information if they would spare him, most notably telling them that Ulreth had something going on in a warehouse to the north. They decided to look into this, leaving Trett tied up in the forge for safekeeping. Notable Quotes:
PC Name: Corbin
Spoiler: Corbin Nat 1'd vs. a prismatic spray from Togomor after flesh to stone was rolled. Once combat ended, he was restored by one of the luckiest rod of wonder uses I've ever rolled after the summoner insisted that "he got this" despite the rest of the group's vehement objections.
So close to the end!
Sessions 3-5
Maril spotted a Red Mantis lurking in a narrow corridor just past the stairs. He did not live long as they group fell upon him in as full-force as the hall would allow. They made their way into the open hall, soon beset by more assassins dropping from the silks about the ceiling with barely enough time for Olivie and Maril to shout a warning. Echo slipped inside the little room in the middle of the balcony, setting to the crucial task of raiding the liquor cabinet...only for a woman perched in the rafters to summon a giant mantis . Bombing soon ensued, drawing Maril's attention to aid the alchemist, but not before a swarm of the insects zeroed in on Echo. Anaurok set Toothless to the attack and drew the rod of wonder...soon covering the floor of the room in a fresh layer of spring grass. In winter. The assassins, now confused, fought on but were cut down. Satisfied that the Mantises were taken care of and running out of ways to stall, they set off for the throne room, dispatching more Grey Maidens on the way. Lounging on the throne, Ileosa greeted them, thanking the party for their aid and suggesting that they depart Korvosa rather than be tried for treason. Corbin promptly bombed his save and began to walk off. Laori grabbed and dispelled him while the others set to the fight. Anaurok and Toothless laid into the Maidens flanking the door. Tolo blessed. Echo, Corbin, and Maril charged the queen. Suddenly, an invisible shape rippled, shooting forth a rainbow light. Maril dodged the blast of fire, but Corbin turned to stone. The Nessian warhounds aiding the Maidens took advantage of the clustered Tolo, Olivie, Anaurok, and Toothless in the doorway and both breathed their flames on them...catching the Maidens in the crossfire, killing them both. Maril then managed a critical vital strike on the queen, dealing enough damage to destroy the simulacrum. As the "queen" melted into a puddle of blood, they stared in horror. Echo announced he didn't trust the blood and chucked a bomb at it. The blood went everywhere. Maril saved to not be covered in it, but he did not...and neither did a rather round shape in the corner. That plus Anaurok's see invisibility told them exactly where their retreating wizard had ended up, and they set to the attack. Maril attacked, then realized they could use him for information and tried to stop the party from following up. This did not stop Olivie from hitting him for all but 1 HP. Anaurok promptly drew Serithial. Tolo cast protection from evil on the mage, noting something was off. Togomor immediately begged for mercy - Anaurok begged for his stuff. First, they determined that the wizard did not have a stone to flesh prepared. Anaurok grinned and drew the rod again, despite the party's strong objections. Vines soon covered the statue. He tried again and by some miracle got the desired result, restoring Corbin's body. Second, they determined that Ileosa had not been here for some days, the mage pathetically begging for his life as he explained that "the damned worm" had made him come here to begin with. He told them they could find what they needed in the study, explaining how to get there. At the mention of the crest, Echo scooped a signet ring from the pile of Ileosa. Thirdly, they learned that Ishani had indeed come here - he was now quite dead and artistically crucified on a construct Togomore had created. Anaurok then attempted to kill the mage. Maril parried it, declaring they would be no better than Ileosa. While they bickered, Tolo smacked Togomor with her axe, and he died with a peaceful smile. Maril screamed at Tolo, who sighed and immediately cast breath of life to restore the wizard...who begged them to not send him back there. The bickering continued for several OOC minutes before Maril declared she was escorting the mage outside. That taken care of, they set off for the study. Finding the room too cramped to do much, Anaurok, Toothless, and Maril slipped inside, using the ring Echo had found. They scoured the room finding an ancient tome called Truths of the Sihedron detailing a ritual for eternal youth via blood sacrifice, as well as a scroll tube made of gold and studded with rubies. Anaurok promptly opened it and read it, and the group decided to burn the contract. It was at this point that Maril noted the gigantic worm on the ceiling. Screaming, she led the party back outside, where the creature soon followed via turning ethereal. The party prepared for a confrontation, and as soon as the creature revealed itself, Anaurok's readed action to activate the rod of wonder went off. The devil turned to stone and fell thirty feet to the grassy floor, shattering on impact. With the knowledge of what Ileosa had planned now firmly in hand, the book more than enough to concern them in light of the "donations" collected by the Asmodeans on Ileosa's behalf, it was time to leave the castle. They discovered that the revolution had begun while they fought inside, started at the first alarms from within. With Kroft and Merrin's leadership, the city was well in-hand...so long as they could find Queen Ileosa before she ruined everything... Notable Quotes
Olivie: I have Infernal. Can I talk to it?
Anaurok: I want everything on you. Then you can leave.
We got a short session in yesterday, but not really enough to write up. It was a bad week for it.
Chapter 5: Crown of Fangs Sessions 1-2
After drawing Serithial, which Anaurok eagerly claimed, and Zellara's deck, the group teleported back to their cottage in Korvosa. Immediately, they saw a change had come over the city in the several weeks they had been gone - the streets were eerily silent. Chasing rumors eventually led them to the Pharasman Cathedral, where Bishop D'Bear escorted them to the ossuary below, leaving them in nervous silence a moment before a rather worse for the wear but relieved Cressida Kroft greeted them, soon ushering in Vencarlo, Neolandus, and Trinia, who had returned to Korvosa shortly after the party departed Harse for Scarwall. They briefly recounted their adventures in Scarwall to the nascent rebellion, and Kroft caught them up on Ileosa's mad crackdown on the city and the severe blows to morale. Her hope was to, one day soon, reveal Neolandus' survival and formally depose Ileosa through the law. However, she gave the PCs a lengthy list of problems to solve - there was supposedly a black wyrm in the city, the castle was rumored to be infested with devils, Seneschal Togomor existed as a legal hurdle to overcome with extreme prejudice, and the Grey Maidens posed a threat and would be best dealt with by going through Sabina Merrin, but after all that, they could move forward. The party just stared at her for a long moment. Soon made aware of the curfew, they decided the best way to get the Maidens' (and Merrin's) attention was to break it. Anaurok decided they would attack the Tower that Ileosa was stripping for her statues after dark. Tolo and Laori began to scream insults about the queen. This utter lack of stealth soon attracted the dragon-mounted Merrin, who...to their surprise, promptly landed the dragon in the middle of them and drew her blade. It took very little time for them to realize that she was deliberately hampering the dragon's movements, and the dragon realized as well...but a crit from Olivie, who happened to take dragons as her favored enemy after the last run-in with one, prevented it from following up on this information. Sabina promptly surrendered, and they took her back to the cottage, where she begged forgiveness for her cowardice in standing up to Ileosa's atrocities. Maril went to fetch seneschal and artist, and the three of them painted a fairly abstract outline of the three main floors - none of them having much detail on the dungeon or attics. They outlined a plan, and it was soon decided that they would compromise - Sabina's secret entrance in the armory was appreciated, so they would ignore the hidden door and teleport inside of it while Sabina went to rally the Maidens still patrolling the city, reasonably certain she could get through to those not brainwashed. They found one of the Maidens' barracks and made short work of them, preventing them from raising the alarm. Next, they checked the banquet hall, seeing it as the next room to where Sabina had indicated Togomor resided. Here were three barbed devils, two of which they managed to kill due to an insane crit train before the third fled in terror from Serithial. This left the path clear to the wizard. Anaurok and Toothless, covered by greater invisibility, dimension doored inside...landing in a pile of moldy chicken, which Toothless immediately began sniffing at. They, however, could see no one. Maril opened the door, and the rest filed in, Echo dropping a paranoid vomit swarm in the center of the room. Then, a golden cloud covered summoner and eidolon, outlining them. Angered, he cast see invisibility...and finally discovered the obese mage perched in the corner of the room's ceiling, having called upon spider climb and greater invisibility upon hearing their struggle in the hall. He sent Toothless to attack; Echo sent the swarm after, giving a half-hearted apology when it attacked the eidolon as well. Olivie, not bothering with the wizard, shot the rat in the corner until it died. The mage then aced his concentration check to dimension door out of the swarm...and presumably raise the alarm... Notable Quotes
DM: So, do you walk or teleport back to Korvosa?
Tolo: Can I see if my pet rock is okay?
Tolo: Hide!
GM Note: Navigating Scarwall is a migraine, and I'm certain I screwed up multiple times trying to figure out what doors went where. I am so glad we're done with this place. It is, mercifully, looking like we're on track to wrap Crown of Fangs before school lets out. Sessions 6-9
With considerable frustration, they began backtracking throughout the castle, searching for rooms that seemed important enough to hold the spirit anchors...mostly going off the logic of "that door seems imposing." They first found the chained spirit Mithrodar and, despite the miss chance frequently hating them, put him and his spectres down fairly quickly. Briefly. The spirit soon began to stir, waving its two remaining chains at them, and they fled with a panicked scream. Sial offhandedly mentioned that this would likely happen until they had defeated the other two, which was met with a "thanks for mentioning this sooner" glare from the party. Out of ideas, they returned to the tried-and-true pastime of wandering aimlessly until something tried to kill them. They found that quite easily in the form of a corpse orgy. Much screaming ensued as the ooze splorched toward them, and Toothless, Olivie, Corbin beat it quickly down with weapons while Echo lobbed explosives its way. Once it stopped moving, Maril begged for the chance to rest...but not in the gross corpse room. Anaurok sighed and walked into the next room, declaring it a good place to rest...just as a malevolent spirit rose up, screaming at them about being the only one who should wield Serithial. More weapons, explosives, and channeling ensued, and they barricaded the door to get a good night's sleep before continuing on. The next morning, they poked around the nearby rooms, encountering a frightened halfling woman. Anaurok and Tolo spoke with her, but Maril and Anaurok immediately poked holes in her story, and the halfling changed into a fearsome hag. However, rather than attack, they brokered a deal - the hag witch would escort them to the third anchor (they explained they had slain the dragon and the skeletal warrior) - if she was permitted to have its soul. Anaurok began muttering in muted tones about backstabbing her the first chance they got, to which the party simply groaned. The hag led them up to a high tower where waited a judgment devil, and some lucky crits from Olivie and Corbin (holy scythe OP) made short work of the infernal anchor. Cackling, the hag ran off with her new prize before the party could finish celebrating. Their joy was short-lived as they realized there was an obvious candidate for the final anchoring soul...the demilich they had avoided like the plague. A long, long discussion of tactics ensued, and they formulated a plan. However, this was immediately derailed as a familiar cackle sounded from nowhere, and a pit opened beneath them, dropping Corbin within. Maril, Anaurok, and Toothless moved to attack Rolth, while an invisible Jolistina harried them with her crossbow. Further adding to their panic, a wall of stone sprang into being just before the pit, leaving summoner and rogue alone with a mad necromancer...and the rest with an unseen sniper gleefully sneak attacking them at every opportunity. Sial summoned Asyra and directed her to work on beating down the wall. Fed up, Anaurok threw dispels at Rolth until he was certain he'd taken off everything preventing Toothless and Maril from murdering him, barely saving against Rolth's retaliatory finger of death. Maril sneak-critted the wizard to death a round later. Meanwhile, the dice finally turned the tide for Olivie (with a 19 vs Jolistina's 2), allowing her to spot the mad elf crouching on the courtyard stare. Laori blessed the group; Echo drank a fly extract and moved to retrieve Corbin. Sial charged the sniper, knocking her into negatives. After a brief argument, Echo coup de graced Jolistina. Anaurok claimed a scroll of dispel law from Rolth's corpse and formulated a plan . He dismissed Toothless and summoned an air elemental, which he directed to travel with the group well away from the demilich. He then read off the scroll, feeling the snap of the final anchor...and immediately activated the spell, switching places with the elemental while they went to fight Mithrodar. With his chains and spectre minions gone, the spirit lasted about two rounds as his miss chance failed to protect him. With a pained scream, Mithrodar collapsed in on himself and vanished, and the darkness faded from Castle Scarwall. Another shade appeared (Tolo was about to channel on sheer principle and habit), this one speaking to them in gratitude for cleansing the castle of its taint and correcting his failure. With an ominous warning that not all had been cleansed, and this waited in the Star Tower, he faded. The way now clear, they returned to the door of the tower, and Laori placed her hand upon the symbol, revealing the path inside. Their progress was halted, however, by an invisible voice speaking to them, seeking "one suited for the curate...and oh, it seems we have options..." It circled Sial and Laori, judging the pair...ultimately offering the duty to Sial. The group bid him farewell...and they could not tell if he was disappointed or relieved to be chosen. The rest pressed on, passing through the ominous mist into a room far beneath the surface. They ventured along the path, Echo discovering a pit and dropping an alchemist's fire down the shaft before losing interest and rejoining the group. They emerged into a collection of stone huts, from which in turn emerged a group of gugs. After a short fight, these fell. Anaurok made himself invisible as he attempted to approach Serithial; however the party's mere presence alerted both weapon and guardian, and the aberration Kleestad broke the surface of the water, expelling a foul mix of acid and blood upon them. However, this did not prevent Corbin, Laori, and Toothless, and Olivie from scoring a number of lucky crits to overwhelm his DR and ultimately send him sinking back beneath the surface. Thus was the way clear for them to claim the blade Serithial and return to Korvosa to see what had become of the place in the weeks of their absence... End of Chapter Notable Quotes
Echo:
Echo: Can we open the gate?
Olivie-OOC: Why do you always go straight for the body horror alchemist stuff? I want a tumor! I wanna grow eyes on my arm!
Maril: Did we rest?
Echo: No, my bombs are useless!
Tolo: I stabilize her.
Ildeverok: You...Laori Vaus...have become too attached to these heretics.
Part VI
Once back to the surface, they faced the prospect of causing a ruckus by openly carting the severely injured Councilor Baine through town. Zelda pulled Orbit aside to give him the special task of hurrying to the Foundry to bring Val to the Elegean temple, going so far as to bribe him with chocolate. He raced to the Foundry, first looking through the house...and discovered that the bedrooms had been ransacked in their absence. He found Val and passed on the message...and promptly forgot about the rooms as they hurried to catch up to the others. This done, the harpy draped her coat around the man for more covert transportation to the temple for treatment. Salvatrix carried Khonnir to a back room for Father Kyte to examine, then left Zelda to explain what had happened while she waited out in the foyer. Both of the women managed to note the odd thickness of Khonnir's gloves, the last finger on each being particularly wide. Kyte gave Zelda the bad news: the machines would require a remove disease to fully deal with, and he had not prayed for such and would have to see to it in the morning. Orbit and Val arrived shortly, the ael sprinting back to see Khonnir, now at least coherent thanks to the lesser restorations Kyte did have ready. After being (gently) tackle-hugged by the ael, Khonnir attempted to answer Zelda's questions, though he was still rather disoriented from the ordeal. At Kyte's suggestion, Val and Khonnir would stay overnight in the temple. Zelda stopped to meet with Councilor Steelclaw to inform her they had recovered Baine alive. As promised, Dolga handed over the reward of 4,000gp and a scroll of resurrection, which Zelda gratefully took to the party. Satisfied, the party set off to sell their wares...Zelda buying a small chocolate bar to fulfill her promise to Orbit. Not satisfied, Orbit took some of his earnings and bought an immense bag of chocolate, promptly eating the entire thing upon returning to the Foundry and spending the rest of the day sick. Salvatrix picked up the promised reward from Sonder's fiancee — an adamantine spiked shield — and spent the rest of the evening in the workshop on various tasks to help repay Val's hospitality. Zelda headed to her room to rest...and found the place ransacked. She frantically checked for anything missing, and while nearly everything - including her alchemical supplies - had been gone through and moved, nothing actually seemed to be missing. She then hurried to find the rest of the party, first Orbit - who mentioned that yeah, he'd meant to tell them but forgot -, then Cygnus - who had left only his spare outfit in the room and claimed to be livid that he saw a single sock slightly out of place -, and finally Salvatrix - who was quite used to the adventuring lifestyle and had left absolutely in her room. Further poking around showed that Val and Khonnir's rooms were likewise searched, but to the party's knowledge, nothing was missing. The tiefling showed no surprise that there had been an issue at a tavern where the only four people who had returned alive from the cavern were staying. With the hour growing late and the group still worn out from their excursion below, they decided to deal with it in the morning. The next morning, Orbit slipped off to town to find a moneychanger while the others late. They discovered him missing and were not pleased upon catching up to him at a butcher's stall, having been unable to find a proper bank. Salvatrix marched Orbit back to the Foundry, still irritated at his antics from the night before and putting him on janitorial duty. Cygnus and Zelda made their way to the temple to check on Khonnir and Val. Father Kyte announced that Khonnir was cured, though it had taken him multiple prayers to do so. The adventurers determined that they should probably tell the pair that their house had been robbed. Upon hearing more details, Val rather unconvincingly stated that she didn't know who could have done it. Cygnus called her on it, and Val clarified that there had been rumors of a Technic League spy in the area...which made the lack of theft make sense. Zelda and Cygnus turned to each other and began to formulate a plan to find their potential spy... Notable Quotes
Nope. Trying to get them through the story before the school year ends, and not enough time to get them through an extra chapter. As is, it's going to be a squeeze.
Part V
Zelda immediately beelined for the glowing screen at the desk, completely ignoring the blood along the northern corridor. Unable to read the screen, she called over the others. Cygnus identified the creature on the flickering display as a weedwhip; Salvatrix verified this, describing the text as "like a book." The screen then changed, and the tiefling declared it needed a restart. Zelda began pushing all of the buttons on the machine, first just making symbols matching the buttons appear, then decided to start pulling on the cords. Eventually, she got the machine turned off and reactivated...at which point it began asking for a password. Frustrated, the harpy grudgingly suggested they follow the blood. In the hallway, they noted mechanical rubble quite similar to the medical drone that had attacked them at the Foundry, concluding that there must be more robots afoot. Coming to a fork in the hallway, they went south. Zelda opened a door to note a couple of odd oozes that she identified as boilborn...and simply closed the door before they could be noticed, not wanting to risk them exploding. They continued on, meeting no resistance...though finding themselves at the door of a strange circular room. The harpy hung back, not trusting the floor to not drop out (despite...having wings...), but Orbit ran in to push buttons...to no effect. The room opened four ways; they found a locked door marked with a white strip. Zelda tried both the brown and black access cards to no avail. The group determined that they needed to double back to find a white card, first trying the room to the immediate north...partly due to the blood trail. Within was a medical drone and an ominous looking table with lots of pointy scalpels and syringes attached; the drone was quickly dealt with. The room yielded no card. Their next attempt was in the room with more blood leading to it, which followed adventuring logic. Within, Zelda's first comment was on the lack of blood on the floor. Cygnus and Salvatrix were more concerned with what the android identified as a cerebric fungus, which incidentally was carnivorous and had likely eaten the blood, and the party set to putting the creature down. Still no card, but they did find a lot of dirt samples. Reluctantly, the harpy decided that this meant the card was likely in the room with the "disease oozes." Backed up by Zelda's arrows, Salvatrix ran in to keep them from reaching the frailer members of the party, tanking their dying explosions with practiced ease. There was, however, no card. With some irritation, they returned to the entrance, checking the storage closet they had initially overlooked and claiming the spoils within...including a lockbox with the same white marking. Zelda fiddled with it for several minutes, finally springing the latch. It contained several explosives, but not a keycard. Returning to the "weird space oubliette" that Salvatrix said was likely just an elevator, based on the writing, they tried the southern route, finding a mass of dirt and overgrowth claimed by a weedwhip. The plant, while a danger to farms, was no danger to the party and easily fell. Further investigation into the room revealed the bodies of yet more explorers, these covered in fungal growth and split open at the torso. Cygnus determined this meant they had succumbed to the same mold they had found before...and become the incubators for vegepygmies. It did not take long for them to locate said creatures, felling most of them easily, their larger leader taking a good chunk out of Salvatrix before the tiefling slew him. Still no card. They did, however, find an unlocked door. Within was yet another medical drone and another, hardier, construct. The medical drone focused on Salvatrix and Cygnus until being reduced to a heap of scrap metal; the second robot stayed at range, firing blasts of nonlethal damage until the pair forced it into melee. Zelda continued to shoot arrows at it, finding minimal effect. Orbit likewise struggled to pierce the thick metal plating on the creature. Shortly after the fight began, they noticed a soft, rhytmic thudding from a pod in the corner of the room. Cygnus cast lead blades on Salvatrix, allowing her to reliably deal enough damage to leave a mark. Finally, the robot fell. They hurried over to open the pod and helped pull out the person inside. Zelda perked up, recognizing the man as matching Khonnir Baine's description. The wizard was incoherent and struggled to walk. Cygnus noted several small incisions across his head and body and recognized the familiar feeling of nanites within the man. The android's eyes glowed briefly blue as he activated his nanite surge, attempting to damage some of the tiny machines. This did nothing for Khonnir's condition, but he reasoned it might make it easier for a proper healer to treat. Rummaging about the room, they discovered some pi[air crystals[/i], which they used to safely transport the man back to the surface. Notable Quotes:
Cygnus: "It is called a weedwhip. You should not eat it. It smells and tastes bad and is poisonous."
Salvatrix: "WHY are we following the blood?? Shouldn't we be going AWAY from the blood?" DM: "Do you sit on the beds (in the surgical chamber)?"
Zelda: ".... why is the blood gone?" DM: "Congratulations! You do not contract leprosy!" Zelda: "So we should find four or eight of these plant-halfling-monster things hiding around here."
Name of PC: Echo, Corbin, Anaurok, Toothless, Tolo
Spoiler: The dragon's breath weapon downed Corbin and Echo deeply into negatives, though thanks to his tumor familiar and being close enough for breath of life, Echo soon resumed the fight. Anaurok, riding his eidolon, began to fall when Toothless was downed by a full attack that included a crit, to be caught by the alchemist...and knock himself into negatives with a rod-of-wonder-induced fireball while within the 20' radius from the dragon. This meant the now-single-digit-HP dragon had a perfect shot at the three of them as well as Sial for his recharged breath weapon. The wyrm was slain the very next round, and the remaining party members recovered their bodies for Laori to revive.
GM note: Been behind on writeups due to projects being due. Also, the rod of wonder is my favorite thing. Ch. 4 - Skeletons of Scarwall
Sessions 1-5
The priests of pain led the party to Scarwall, a journey taking several days. Anaurok announced that he liked Sial "because he was quiet." The rest of the party ignored him, continuing to joke with Laori. Finally, they found themselves poised to enter the keep. Sial mused on their three options - land, water, or sea. After some discussion, Tolo and Anaurok decided on air. Sial, Laori, and Tolo cast air walk on everyone but Anaurok, who opted to reduce person and ride Toothless into battle. Their approach soon alerted a flock of gargoyles, and Toothless, being able to move much more quickly than the air walking party, soon found himself ahead of the others and surrounded. Tolo moved forward to channel; Anaurok dimension doored away out of panic, far across the sky from the rest of the group. About half the gargoyles followed him, while the others focused on the now surroundable Tolo. Olivie kept to the back to full attack with arrows each round, Sial sticking with her. Maril and Echo stealthed amongst the clouds to reinforce the summoner, while Corbin and Laori moved to help Tolo. They took quite a beating from the gargoyles, continuing to let them separate and surround them, nearly killing Toothless, Anaurok, and Echo a few times, but they hung on, managing to down nine of the gargoyles. And then Belshallam woke up. The umbral dragon rose from the tower with a roar, flying toward them and the remaining three gargoyles. Corbin beat down the one nearest to him, while Olivie and Maril took down the second. Belshallam then dropped silence on Toothless, seeing the mage-looking passenger as the most likely threat. Laori threw a flame strike at him before becoming the remaining gargoyle's new best friend. Belshallam then cast deeper darkness on himself as he flew closer. Maril and Echo bombed their saves against his frightful presence, becoming shaken. All but Laori turned their attention to the dragon...as best they could in the sphere of blackness. Anaurok, unable to cast, fell back on the rod of wonder, shooting forth a stream of butterflies...then summoning a rhinoceros, which plummeted to its immediate death. Maril moved to, based on what she could hear, get into a flanking position, getting smacked around with the dragon's tail in the process. Corbin likewise moved into melee range, getting bitten while he flailed with his scythe. Then Belshallam breathed, killing Corbin and Echo outright, though the alchemist's tumor took half of the damage for him, and Tolo managed to breath of life him back to the world of the living; he quickly drank a fly extract. Olivie continued to fire into the sphere from safety . The silence wore off, and Anaurok attempted to dispel the darkness...failing the first time but succeeding the next round. His joy was short-lived as he thusly realized that he was literally right by the dragon's face...and he ordered Toothless to full attack. Naturally ticked off, Belshallam full attacked Toothless, desummoning the eidolon and causing Anaurok to fall. Echo flew to catch him before he could hit the water and slowly flew them back up to the fight. The summoner, low on spells, once again used the rod of wonder...creating more darkness. Sial and Olivie began moving closer to the party as Tolo desperately channeled to keep everyone else moving, while Laori finally stopped rolling below a 3 and killed the final gargoyle. Maril continued to harrass the dragon with her blades. Echo and Anaurok flew up to just below Tolo; Anaurok used the rod again, summoning a fireball...that he was not quite far enough away to avoid, knocking himself unconscious. Belshallam, now badly wounded, breathed one final time, killing Tolo, Echo, Anaurok, and Sial...who had just double-moved to catch up. Maril killed the beast with a crit the very next turn, sending it plummeting into the lake. The airways now clear, Laori, Maril, and Olivie set to recovering their companions' bodies and returning them to the safe shore. Laori raised them (Sial is not expected to live this down), and they resolved to, once recovered, continue their assault on Scarwall through the now-clear skies. Notable Quotes
Olivie: What kind of arrows can kill a ghost?
Anaurok: Did you buy diamonds?
Maril: Sial is failing his god!
DM: Okay, top of the initiative.
Olivie-OOC: No offense, but you're kind of the worst.
Olivie: I'm putting "is the worst" in my character description. Anaurok-OOC: Okay, everyone get your death songs ready.
DM: And...the rod creates a sphere of darkness/
That was my screw-up, then. Oh well.
It was that stupid swarm. He kept provoking AoOs when he tried to cast to attack them/escape it, and they had him pinned in but good. Vomit swarm in tight hallways OP. Oh, and Olivie and Maril's piercing weapons were still aligned, so so much for his DR. Glorio nearly survived. He'd gotten out of the swarm right before the elemental with tremorsense popped up unknowingly in the right position to bull rush him back into the wasps... Anaurok's currently angling for King. Most of the party is against this. As is...pretty much everyone who's met him, given his utter inability to make a Diplomacy check without undermining himself. The rod of wonder debacle in front of Neolandus is...not going to help his case. At all.
Name of PC: Toothless
Spoiler: A multi-armed and dangerous creature full-attacked multiple times with many crits. Things were not helped by the cleric's low rolls on healing and the summoner's fixation on seeing what his rod of wonder could do rather than casting rejuvenate eidolon per normal. Poor Toothless did his best but ultimately poofed away to recover on another plane.
Sessions 7-10
...and were promptly attacked by strange fungal creatures within the surprisingly beautiful garden, unable to put them down before one breathed its poisonous cloud. They continued on as swiftly and silently as they could, looting a bedroom before spying a hidden passage...and completely ignoring the ornate doors the other way. They found before them another fancy door flanked by statues of what Echo and Tolo identified as rakshasa. Maril and Olivie noted strange grooves in the floor. Echo saw and pulled a lever, causing the room to shake...and turn to face an entirely different hallway. Olivie decided to drink from the suspicious pool of water...and made her fort save easily. Maril promptly fell victim to the symbol of fear, forcing the party to intervene until she recovered her wits. Entering another room yielded a series of chests which were immediately scrutinized by a very suspicious Maril. Anaurok detected magic...and discovered a source of divination on both the bloodstone tiger head on the wall and on the ring Tolo had received from Arkona, prompting immediate denial and outrage as the implications of this sank in. They proceeded onward, triggering a symbol of pain and encountering another hallway...where Olivie found a hidden switch and deactivated the iron maiden slope trap before it could catch them. They had quite a shock in the next room, discovering a rather raggedy-looking Vencarlo. He asked what they were doing there; they responded looking for him. Maril, suspicious as always, wasn't buying it and began asking a series of pointed questions about her lessons with him. He evaded them. The rest began to grow wary but were unsure what to do until a frustrated Echo simply stabbed him...and as Vencarlo let out a howl of pain, his body shifted into that of a fox-headed female rakshasa. Echo reminded the group of the creatures' weaknesses, and Tolo cast align weapon and bless. The dice were not with either side, and the fight took a considerable while before she was finally brought down. Now worried about their friend, they pressed onward, recovering somewhat from the sonorous stone before finding a room filled with switches and spheres. They managed to prevent Tolo from touching everything. Maril pulled the downward switch upward, and Anaurok pulled the other to see what would happen...and they heard the now-familiar shifting of hallways. Walking to investigate, they were confronted by a darksphinx. Another lengthy combat ensued before she fell, leaving the path clear to another room. Within, they found Vencarlo...again. Tolo immediately set to healing him. Maril immediately set to interrogating him. He commented on her armor, recognizing his costume. This satisfied the party, and they freed him, Maril lending him her old chain shirt and a spare rapier (I don't know how she walks with all the blades she keeps on her). Tolo and Olivie then made a point of touching every sphere in the other room, walking back as needed through the now-cleared halls. They eventually found themselves back at the entrance, this time heading down the stairs. Two things immediately caught their attention: a man strapped to a rack...and a three-faced, six-armed woman with fangs, identified by Anaurok and Tolo as a type of asura. She moved to attack her new toys. Maril, Vencarlo, and Olivie got in some good hits...and then Anaurok revealed his prized possession: the rod of wonder recovered from Emperor Pilts. He waved the wand...and a burst of darkness enveloped the group, crippling all save Tolo and Toothless...and the asura, who gleefully pounded away on the eidolon. Tolo kept the bless coming while the others flailed in the darkness. Anaurok waved the wand again...turning purple. Echo, frustrated, tried to set the nearby table aflame in the hopes of seeing something. Anaurok's third attempt promptly created a brief downpour, putting out the fire. Echo was livid and used his infusion extract to spread communal darkvision to Maril, Corbin, Olivie, and himself, making a pointed note to exclude Anaurok. Toothless finally succumbed to the asura's assault, vanishing in a puff of smoke. Anaurok waved the wand again, hoping to avenge his companion...summoning a fireball. Unfortunately, the asura had evasion and didn't even notice the fire. The rest of the party...did. Fed up, Maril sneaked over and rolled an insane sleight of hand check to take the rod away from Anaurok and slipped over to the other side of the room. A lucky stab from Vencarlo whittled away the last of the asura's stamina, but the darkness remained. The group moved back into the light and went to tend to the man on the rack. It took little effort to identify him as Neolandus Kalepopolis, the seneschal of Castle Korvosa. Tolo tended his wounds while Vencarlo freed him from his bonds. Anaurok wasted no time in confirming the party's hatred of Ileosa...only to be interrupted by a scorching ray. Glorio Arkona (having spied on the party long enough to notice his prisoner about to be liberated...this, naturally, Would Not Do) and a rakshasa stood on the edge of the still-lingering darkness. Arkona vanished before they could react, and the party focused their efforts on dropping the remaining foe, Vencarlo standing off to the side to guard Neolandus. Anaurok likewise turned invisible and bluffed to throw his voice to the door (on which Arkona gloriously bombed his sense motive). Once Arkona revealed himself to cast a lightning bolt at Maril and Corbin, Echo dropped a vomit swarm on him. Maril and Corbin got in another good hit before he vanished again...this time pursued by Anaurok's newly-summoned earth elemental, who promptly located him with tremorsense and bull rushed him right back into the swarm of angry wasps, where he died and reverted to his true form: a tiger-headed rakshasa. All that remains now is to return unnoticed to the surface with two high-profile dissidents and fugitives. What could go wrong? End Chapter 3 Notable Quotes
Olivie: What happens if we eat the shroom guys?
Tolo-OOC: Zon-Kuthon's a dude, right? Echo: Is [Arkona] a furry, too?!
Maril: I sense motive on the lever.
DM: Hm...you sold that silver dagger, right.
Tolo: This is the right one, I feel it!
Anaurok: Go, Rod of Wonder!
I shall interrupt the complaining with a silly EDIT:...Why do urls look like regular text now? That is the opposite of helpful.
Nice delay on this one, due to the wonders of school cancellations. Winter can leave now. Sessions 4-6
Corbin stayed behind to tend Vencarlo's house while the rest set out for the Arkona home. Oddly, they did not immediately attempt diplomacy, letting Maril and Anaurok discuss the merits of sneaking in with dimension door while Tolo awkwardly coughed at the guards and ran away...before they remembered that lying was an option and bluffed their way in for an appointment. After a short wait, Glorio Arkona arrived to meet with them (and had refreshments brought), aaaaand Echo was instantly smitten by his "fabulous hair." Anaurok pressed the point rather heavily about wanting to know Arkona's position on Ileosa, growing increasingly frustrated with the man's evasive answers until Arkona dropped that "Ileosa was far more than she seemed." They hung on his every word, eagerly agreeing to his request that they "take care of Emperor Pilts" for him in exchange for more information. Back to the palace they went... And they didn't kill the Emperor and burn down his entire holdings? Things began predictably with Maril and Olivie sneaking inside and overhearing a heated debate about whether chokers have skeletons. Anaurok did not bother to sneak and immediately tried to join the conversation...as did Olivie, finding it legitimately a fun topic. Echo got bored and threw a bomb, clarifying that no, he was not using his precise bombs discovery. The wall of the rickety tower burst into flame, as did one of the guards. Fighting broke out. The flames continued to spread. The party ignored the flames and continued to fight. The flames continued to spread. The four guards were soon felled...and the fire had claimed half the room. Judging it beyond their ability to control, the party fled across the rickety bridge...and directly into Pilt's throne room. The flames continued to spread. The party now found themselves boxed in by the tiny barbarian Jabbyr and three guards...and the fire they had created themselves (except Maril, who acrobatics'd past them all to get into position behind Pilts). Pilts began to recite limericks. Jabbyr smashed. The party screamed. The flames continued to spread. The guards became all but ignored as it became a priority to stop Pilts' perfomance and drop the tiny wall of HP. Maril got off a nasty sneak attack on Pilts, knocking him quite low. In return, he confused her. Jabbyr continued to take chunks off of everyone within reach - Olivie, Toothless, and Anaurok took turns with this honor (and lots and lots of screaming). The flames continued to spread....now completely cutting off the prior building and their most known avenue of escape. Pilts dimension doored through the wall to take a moment to recover. Jabbyr and the guards continued to make the party miserable. Tolo channeled to undo some of the damage. Maril, confused, stabbed Echo. Anaurok fired his flaming crossbow, responding to Olivie's admonition with an assertion that it wasn't like he could make the current fire worse. Tolo, Echo, and Anaurok finally put down the guards, finally allowing them to focus on the gnome...who crit Toothless, knocking away 3/4 of the eidolon's HP in a single blow. Olivie fired a full round of arrows into the tiny juggernaut, finally dropping it. The flames continued to spread. Maril managed to gain a moment of lucidity and fled for the nearest door...finding Pilts, partially recovered, standing just on the other side. She acrobatics'd behind him to flank with Tolo. Pilts attempted a hold person on Tolo, who promptly aced her save and crit him with her flaming battleaxe, ending his reign. They then set their top priority to looting the bodies before the fire claimed them...and dragging the still intermittently mad Maril outside to safety. Notable Quotes
DM: I should roll to see if Laori did something while you slept...
DM: I never go to breakfast without my saves cloak. DM: ...you do not punch the cat, but you do weird it out. Glorio: Well, my good people, what can I do for you?
Olivie: Look, I have nothing wrong with killing people for no reason, but I was having a conversation. DM: So, that's 4 damage, plus whatever poison you used.
Maril: I'll run through the fire when I'm sane again. Anaurok: Oh, god, what can Toothless do?
Maril-OOC: See, you don't have to challenge us. We bring our own!
The diplomancer got to his dice first, and they had given their weapons to the guard. Murder was desired but not at this time feasible.
Session 3
The party was joined by an excitable elf in hooked chainmail who wore the symbol of Zon-Kuthon and called herself Laori. When Anaurok asked why she wanted to play, she said that Blood Pig was the best sport, why wouldn't she? She enthusiastically explained the rules to them, and the game was on. Luck loosed the first pig near them, and they immediately took to the task of beating the stuffing out of the opposing team, including a couple instances of Maril and Olivie shoving their opponents into the wolverine-infested pits. After their victory, the Emperor reluctantly agreed to speak with them in a few minutes' time. Laori gleefully thanked the party for letting her play. Anaurok asked if she wanted to come with them to speak to the Emperor. She told them yes, explaining she had a question about a local artist...which horrified the party as she casually pulled out half a dozen skulls, identifying them all as artists and craftsmen. Noting their fear, she clarified that they'd been dead when she got there, sheesh. She then waved a scrap of fabric at them, which most were able to recognize as a part of the uniform of Castle Korvosa's seneschal. Anaurok additionally recalled that the seneschal's office was the only one with the legal ability to depose a monarch and became very interested indeed. The Emperor called them in, and they asked after Vencarlo. He had little information to offer. Laori piped up, asking if he'd happened to know where she could find Salvator Scream. This, he was able to help them with, showing them to the artist's cell and, reluctantly, waiting outside. Scream immediately begged them to save him, and, with the promise that they would speak where it was safe, Anaurok used the wand of invisibility Kroft had given them to hide the artist while Echo stuffed the mattress to make it seem he was still there. They reclaimed their gear and departed the palace. Notable Quotes
Pilts: Well, looks like y'don't gots enough t'play. Unless there's a volunteer...
Anaurok: Let's knock him out together!
Laori: OH that was so much fun thank you for letting me play! OH did you hear him scream?
About 50/50. |
