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Ooo, what kind of Star Wars game?
Based on WEG d6 1st edition, with some house rules inspired by 2nd edition REUP. Homebrew campaign, I believe. Thane/Bit/Azriel is the GM.
But best not to burn out on the game.
Yeah, we're in it for the long haul.
And I look forward to seeing how Kyrademon does as a GM! :)
Me too, and War for the Crown should be particularly well tailored to his storytelling talents.
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Eh, I remember Saga being all about superpowered Jedis and underpowered muggles. Not my cup of tea.
We had fun with a short game of Edge of the Empire a while ago, even if the advantage/disadvantage system slowed us down and felt like a chore (I guess it gets better once you have a better idea how to use it). I also find the system with the ability trees rather offputting — most of them just feel like unnecessarily convoluted ways to get to Dedication. (A notable exception being the Gadgeteer. Good stuff.)
WEG d6 is supposed to be slim and elegant to give us a break from our Pathfinder addiction. I suspect it will do fine in that role.
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Heads up: While this WotR campaign is still on hold indefinitely, we're about to start our War for the Crown game as GMed by Kyrademon (Ice the mermaid, Mrriaál the catwoman, Tanaquil the evil sorceress). Stay tuned for the link!
Thank you for the heads up! :)
Here we go! :)
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part X: I Dreamed I Didn't Exist For 23 Months
NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING --
Aaaaa!
...
What a very strange nightmare.
Where was I?
Oh, yes. In the morning, our band set out on our mission to retake Drezen, 100 paladins as well as some faces both familiar and new. Irabeth and Anevia, of course, newly minted paladin Anvie, Aravhanshial, and Horgus brusquely taking charge of supplies, as well as Nurah and the couple Sosiel and Aron, whom I have mentioned previously.
Journeying on the other side of the river from the Worldwound itself made for a disturbing trip, as the shifting landscape overwhelmed by dark clouds and oily rain filled our vision at all times. An eerie red light sometimes seemed to flicker from the stones themselves.
On the first day, we made our way to the small village of Vala's Gift, which had been razed to the ground, perhaps in the same assault that overran Kenebras. There was some debate as to whether we should press on or search for supplies, and decided in the end that being properly supplied would be paramount as we entered the territory of the Worldwound, so we spent a day gathering what we could from the remains of the village and, at Sosiel's insistence, burying the dead.
As proceeded onward, I made a point of seeking out Nurah. My motives were a bit obscure, even to myself, but I will not delude myself by denying that the fate of Halflings is something of a concern to me. As we chatted, she probed at my thoughts about Cheliax, which I assumed was an attempt to divine my opinion of slavery, and I told her I thought it was an abomination. I do not know whether or not she believed me. She also seemed oddly cagey about her country of origin, and tried to steer me away from the topic; I am not sure why.
Anvie, I noticed, is training with Thane now. I wonder if he knows about her crush? He sometimes seems a bit clueless.
Further travel brought us to a ford which had recently been the subject of a demonic attack, the guard garrison there killed or captured for the pleasure of the cultists. Seeing they were disorganized, we thought our best approach was a quick and brutal frontal assault, which swiftly won the day against the (sigh) Tieflings -- but not before a demon present teleported away. I fear any chance we had to take Drezen by surprise has now vanished. Aravashnial "helpfully" asked why we did not simply kill the demon before it could teleport, as would have been his advice.
We rescued what remained of the garrison, and convinced them to join us in the assault on Drezen. They were initially reluctant, but presenting them with a vision of a world where they need no more fear attacks like the one that had overcome them won their hearts.
They told us, however, that the host we had defeated was but a fraction of the one that had attacked them. The rest had moved north to a canyon on the way to Drezen, perhaps to stage an ambush. Had our plans been revealed even before the demon spotted us? We decided to press on as planned, scouting ahead to get a sense of what we might be dealing with.
That night as we camped, though, we were assaulted by gargoyles as we slept! They were led by some kind of massive one who breathed acid upon the camp, while others abducted some of our cohort and flew away -- including Horgus, I very much fear. I cast a spell of flight on Jadni in the hopes that she could prevent the abductions, but she was too far away to be of help. Instead, we all found ourselves in isolated pitched battles. I saw Jadni and Zsoltan handily dispatch ordinary gargoyles, while Thane went toe to toe with the big one. Although he suffered quite a bit of damage at its claws, with a few massive smites from Radiance he brought it low. I suspect a lesser blade would have done much less damage against that beast.
Meanwhile, having sent Jadni off, I found myself alone against a gargoyle of my own. While my blows are not as mighty as my fellows, I like to think I held my own. After protecting myself with Mirror Images, I blew a puff of Glitterdust in its eyes and blinded it. One wildly flailing claw managed to cut me, but at that point I simply moved away and began blasting fire at it. When my comrades, done with their own battle, joined that fight, it was over very quickly.
But still not quickly enough, for all we heard of our abducted comrades were their wails as they vanished into the night, borne on stone wings ...
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XI: Zsoltan Rod Rogor and the Temple of Doom
In the wake of the gargoyle attack, we began to plan the rescue of our kidnapped comrades, trying to ascertain where they might have been taken ... and many of us became increasingly suspicious that a spy had entered our midst and was relaying our plans to the enemy.
The others, of course, began immediately detecting evil (and loudly announcing their intention of doing so), seemingly untroubled that the VERY FIRST THING a spy in the midst of 100 PALADINS would do is attempt to evade that particular approach. When this detected nothing but, you know, me, and the discussion continued to practical matters, I quietly began detecting magic to see if anyone might have an aura indicating that they had, for example, attempted to disguise their alignment with a spell, reasoning that avoiding this equally inconclusive but somewhat more indirect approach might be more difficult and be seen as less of an immediate problem. I discovered a number of people with auras, and after eliminating those that I judged from personal experience to be extremely unlikely to be turncoats or disguised substitutes (such as Irabeth), I was left with Nurah and Sosiel as possible suspects by this method.
Meanwhile, it was determined that given the direction the gargoyles were flying, they might have been heading to a ruined building Aron saw while scouting. Nurah found the site on and old map and said she thought it used to be a temple to "Iomedae or Ragathiel or someone." Which is ... interesting, since it was an obvious trap, and mentioning both could well serve as a lure to those among us who worship one or the other. Hmmm.
At any rate, we decided that trap or no, we had best spring it considering the circumstances, so a small group of us headed to perform this task. Before we left, I quietly took Irabeth aside, told her my findings, and suggested she ask Anevia to keep Nurah and Sosiel under watch, adding that in my judgement Nurah was the likelier of the two to be a spy (pretending to be a priest of one deity while worshipping another would be a difficult task!) She was, to my surprise, reluctant even to consider the possibility that a spy might be in our midst -- this, after all the evidence of infiltration we uncovered in Kenabres! I also got the distinct impression that she was wondering if I might be an infiltrator myself, attempting to sow discord and doubt, which came as no surprise to me. My only shock is that no one came to that conclusion sooner or accused me directly. So far. I do not expect my luck in that regard to last much longer. At any rate, I hope she realizes that my coming to her quietly and privately is an argument against such motives on my part. At least she agreed to put the matter to Anevia.
After that, Zsoltan, Thane, Aron, Jadni, and I went to find this temple while the rest of the army marched on. We encountered it soon enough. Aron stayed behind to guard our backs, while I helped most of the rest up the steep stairs with spells of flight. Zsoltan decided to climb up by himself, and proved ... far less graceful than I would have expected from a monk. He made it up eventually.
At the top, we found the temple complex, and had hardly begun exploring before we were assaulted by gargoyles who had disguised themselves as stonework. Well, we were clearly in the right place. We disposed of them with sword, fist, and magic missle, and made our way inside, where we found the first prisoners -- in the midst of being devoured by ghouls. We fought our way through them only to be challenged by a half-fiend who flung open the door and filled the room with an evil miasma, which of course did nothing to me. The benefits of leading an honest, healthy evil lifestyle.
He then called dire bane and judgement and smiting down upon poor Jadni, who was soon left bleeding on the floor. My spell of glitterdust did nothing more than glam our foe up a bit, but Thane and Zsoltan soon defeated him.
Further exploration led us to find some dead prisoners (not of our cadre) and a traumatized Horgus. We set him and the other survivors free, and began discussing what to do about the defiled temple. I deferred to the religious among us, and found them curiously hesitant to commit to its repair. Jadni wanted to clean up, but seemed to be struggling to find a practical consideration to guide her, such as using it as a redoubt (an unlikely proposition, given its relative inaccessibility). I would have thought the religious types would have been more avid about it.
While that talk proceeded, though, we were suddenly attacked by a foul demon from the depths of the abyss itself, the one who had defiled this temple and made of it a home. This was to prove a difficult fight. Low on useful spells, I began firing enchanted crossbow bolts at it, missing as often as I hit, while the others moved in to do close battle. It struck us with a gaze that drained away my very energy, and then, to our horror, though, a spell it cast left both Thane and Jadni paralyzed, leaving only Zsoltan going toe to toe with the fiend! He made great work of his monk training, though, sticking the monster in place by stomping on its foot and keeping it from slaying our frozen friends. I managed to tag it with a draining ray of my own that sapped its strength considerably, while Thane threw off the paralysis and set at it with a wild swing that accidentally left Zsoltan bleeding out below him. The demon flew into the air to rain spells down upon us, but was already greatly wounded, so I managed to bring it down with a final enchanted crossbow bolt.
Quiet descended upon the temple once more. Once again, we had all survived.
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XII: The Nurah Nurah Dance
Eventually, ceding to Jadni’s decision as the most religiously inclined among us, we elected to clean up the temple for an hour or so, but not go to the length of fully arranging for its rededication. There was, after all, a war on.
As we returned to camp, I noticed that Horgus was unusually quiet. While I assumed it was a result of trauma, it did not seem outside the boundary of possibility that one of the prisoners might, for example, be a disguised infiltrator intending to trick us, so I detected for magic. Jadni and Thane, likewise, checked for evil.
To our surprise, we spotted both of them lurking in Aron’s backpack! We asked if he had picked anything up while on guard at the temple, and he denied it. Wondering if perhaps something had crawled into his pack when he wasn’t looking, we asked to check his belongings. He argued with us, growing increasingly belligerent, until my suspicions were aroused and I asked Zsoltan to restrain him, at which point he attempted to flee on horseback.
A display of remarkably poor horsemanship on the part of both Aron and all of my friends left us in much the same situation as we all began, so I used one of my few remaining spells to Glitterdust Aron, leaving him blind. At that point, Zsoltan restrained him easily while Jadni cast spells in his pack, searching for the evil presence. I kept well away, knowing that it if I were the one restraining or rifling through the belongings of a low templar, it probably would not look favorable for me.
And in fact, we were near enough to the camp that Aron’s increasingly loud protest brought a pack of paladins to us, including Irabeth and a very irate Sosiel. While Thane attempted to explain the situation, Jadni produced a pair of potions from Aron’s pack, which I quickly identified as the highly addictive magical drug Shadow’s Blood. Sosiel went silent when they were brought forth, and rather than shaming Aron before the assembled cohort, I asked Irabeth if the matter could be spoken of in private.
In Irabeth’s tent, the truth came out. Aron, as was already known to Sosial, was an addict in recovery, but he claimed not to have brought the drug with him. He said that instead, he found it appear as if by magic among his things, and could not resist the temptation. A victim, I deduced, of the spy in our midst. Some wondered if he might be the spy himself, especially as Shadow’s Blood can make one more susceptible to mental domination by the shadow demon it comes from, but they generally came around to believing he was being truthful about what had happened.
Thane had very little patience with Aron and hurled insults at him, which I did not think was very charitable on his part. (Many paladins do not rate tolerance very highly among their supposed “good” virtues.) But the rest of us were more sympathetic to Aron’s plight, and in spite of his despair told him that recovery was always possible.
Sosiel vowed to care for Aron and said that they would leave if that was what we desired, and left to return to their tent. The rest of us assembled discussed both what to do about them, and what to do about the probable spy among us. I argued for keeping Aron and Sosiel among us, fearing that the shameful rejection of being sent away would be harmful to Aron’s recovery. Along with the more practical consideration that a temporary loss of our scout and our cleric might be better than a permanent one, this carried the day.
Aravashnial was summoned to help explain the potential effects of Shadow's Blood, but told us little of consequence.
As for the spy, I recruited Zsoltan to keep a close watch on Nurah, who remained at the top of my suspect list. I was accused of simply hurling out a random name, and was told that Zsoltan, whose uncle was a famous traitor, or I, for “obvious” reasons (sigh), might seem to be more obvious subjects of investigation. But it was pointed out that we had proved ourselves to the group many a time, and no one else seemed to have much of a better idea. Aravashnial helped by confirming that the aura I had seen around her was indeed one of abjuration, such as might be used to hide one's alignment,, and then warned me that, as a mere sorcerer instead of an educated wizard, I was at dire risk of exploding myself through sheer ignorance. Which he insists is a thing that happens.
Irabeth speculated that if Nurah did prove to be a traitor, the Queen herself might be compromised, but I thought that was rather getting ahead of ourselves. Most of us then decamped to bed, having been up all night long, while Zsoltan stayed awake to shadow our suspected spy.
Before sleeping, I went to check in on Horgus. If his unusual silence was not the result of a spell, I feared it must be the result of trauma. An indeed, instead of directing the baggage train, which had fallen into complete chaos without him, he was sitting silently in his tent, staring into empty space. He did not even notice I was there until I spoke.
When we did begin to converse, he was in the depths of depression, certain that we were all doomed to die in these lands. He had been through terrible tortures and seen his comrades die of them, and from my experience in Cheliax, I knew how heavily that could weigh upon the soul. Nothing that I said seemed to get through, and when I asked if he wanted a hug he seemed, er, repulsed.
I was rapidly running out of ideas when I almost casually mentioned how catastrophically the baggage train was suffering without him. His gaze immediately sharpened and he asked me for details. Before I was half finished, he was out of the tent, furiously barking orders and informing his subordinates what idiots they were. He seemed so contented in this that I at last went to bed.
The next day was to prove … eventful.
First, after our rest, Jadni could not be awakened and was feverish. Remembering our encounter with ghouls the day before, I went to fetch Sosiel. On the way, I ran into Zsoltan, who had been able to find neither hide nor hair of Nurah – not anywhere in the camp. Leaving Zsoltan to watch over Aron, Sosiel came to our tent and quickly diagnosed Jadni with ghoul fever. But he was, at that time, unable to cure it.
Not too many hours later, Anevia reported that her scouting had found the demonic army that we knew might be awaiting us in the gorge. While the paladins prepared for battle, I went with her to scout further, aided by a spell of flight and a potion of invisibility. She told me not to startle her upon my return, and when I asked how, she requested I sing a lullaby.
My own scouting merely confirmed what she had said. Their forces seemed unprepared for us, and a bold strategy seemed to be called for. I quietly sang Anevia a traditional Chelaxian lullaby --
As the sob of the breeze
Sweeps over the trees
And the mists lie low on the fen,
From grey tomb-stones
Are gathered the bones
That once were women and men --
but she did not seem to find it soothing.
Upon reporting back to Irabeth, the paladins prepared their charge. Remembering the poor horsemanship of my fellows, I gave my friends spells of flight as well.
The battle was furious. The paladins smashed into the ranks of the assembled Tieflings, causing great damage. A counterattack was soon to come, though, for they were not as unprepared as they had seemed; a flanking attack of hidden dretches burst out of a nearby ruin. Dretches, however, stood little chance against paladins, and were soon well smited.
As the battle raged to a conclusion, we noticed a horned figure in the back teleport to the top of the cliff to observe the events. When my comrades and I flew towards him, he vanished once again, this time we knew not where. Our movements are still being tracked.
The fight was successful – some even thought it too easy, but I judged them rather pessimistic – but the news was not all good. During the fracas, or perhaps before, someone had snuck into Aron’s tent and left him more Shadow’s Blood. He had consumed another vial and his already shaky recovery was in tatters. Realizing subtlety was no longer an issue, we searched Nurah’s caravan and asked around after her whereabouts. She had been seen that morning, but not since, and her personal items were gone. Kidnapping is a possibility some of the others seem partial to, but I think we have found our spy.
If so, though, she remains uncaught and at large.
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XIII: Shouldn't Vescavores Eat Vescas?
Further attempts to find Nurah came to naught, even though those of us who could see in the dark stayed up all night searching. Of course, if she was able to turn invisible, as I suspected – how else would she have snuck past Sosiel’s careful guard on Aron? – then we had little chance of spotting her anyway. Our magical resources are woefully inadequate against invisibility. Of course, it is entirely possible she attempted nothing, now that we are looking for her actively. Certainly no obvious sabotage came to light in the morning. The following day, the army moved on.
Half a day’s trek from Drezen, however, Anevia reported that something lay in our way. A fog of greenish vapor blocked our path along the narrow canyon defile. We went to investigate, taking Aravashnial along in case it proved to be some sort of magical trap. And indeed, he was able to identify it, although it was not precisely what we had envisioned. Rather than a cloud of gas, it was a horde of demonic insects – vescavores, he called them – emanating from an underground cavern of some kind.
So many were swarming around that he theorized that it could only be explained by the presence of a vescavore queen, and that if we disposed of the queen the rest of the swarm would disperse. This was troubling to us, as our magical resources are woefully inadequate against swarming creatures. In fact, I begin to wonder if our magical resources are particularly adequate against anything.
After quizzing Aravashnial as to whether he had any spells that might be of assistance, and meeting with repeated denials, he at last produced a wand of lightning bolts, albeit one that contained only three charges. With that in hand, and a few usable spells of my own, we decided that I would fight against any swarms and keep them occupied while my fellows pressed forward and assaulted the queen.
Just before we went in, Aravashnial remembered that vescavores hunger for not only flesh, but practically all matter, and were notorious for destroying equipment. Since everything I possessed was likely to be useless in the fight, and either of magical, material, or sentimental value – even my clothes were those gifted to me by Garn and Julli – I decided to strip down, counting on my colleagues’ professionalism to keep any untoward comments at bay. My confidence in them was misplaced.
The others debated leaving some of their equipment behind as well, but after determining that anything they were likely to lose was either essential to the fight or easy to replace (and Zsoltan, being a monk, had nothing besides his clothing anyway), I cast spells of flight and Zsoltan, Jadni, Thane and I descended into the depths.
We explored a series of connected caves, the insects fluttering ominously on every surface. Soon, they were amassed together in sufficient numbers to swarm us, and proved very difficult foes – will sapping, resistant to magical damage, confusing to fight, and prone to vomit acid on their victims. As expected, the attacks of the warriors proved useless, and the creatures swiftly devoured even their metal shields, so I began using the wand of lightning bolts. I kept perhaps half of the insects focused on me while my comrades flew forward to find the queen.
My battle was not without difficulty, with the insects driving me to distraction at some points. But between lightning and flames from my hands, I was eventually able to disperse the demonic vermin. Meanwhile, the others had encountered the queen, and that was to prove a more difficult fight. She was a monstrous creature, and before the end of the fight, Jadni lay bleeding on the ground before her. But though Zsoltan’s attacks did little damage, Thane’s mightly blows were able to put her down.
When she died, as expected, the other vescavores left the area. A quick search of the caves found something troubling – a direct portal from the Abyss itself to the material plane. We blocked it as best we could but could not destroy it, as our magical resources are woefully inadequate against Abyssal portals.
A definite theme is developing here.
With the obstruction gone, the army was able to press the rest of the way to Drezen. We camped overnight in sight of the city. Given that the next day was likely to be a difficult battle that not all would survive, I asked Jadni if she would like me to will her the Barony in the event of my death. After considering it, she opined that it was probably more trouble than it was worth. No doubt true. I shall die intestate, then, and let my horrible cousins battle it out amongst themselves. Maybe they will kill each other off and the world will be much enriched thereby.
Anevia set out to scout the enemy forces, sadly missing the assistance of Aron. I gave her my remaining potion of invisibility in case she needed a quick escape. Much to the relief of Irabeth, she returned unharmed.
The citadel of Drezen appears to be surrounded by loosely affiliated armed groups, unlikely to come to one another’s aid. To the south is an army of cultists and (sigh) tieflings, north of them (and a bit out of our way) is a group of demons guarding prisoners, and off to the west is a disturbingly haunted graveyard. At the bridge leading to the citadel itself, there are monstrous beasts, perhaps ready to pull it down in case of an attack.
After a strategy discussion, we resolved to attack the forces at the bridge in an attempt to preserve it, while also smashing through the cultists and proceeding on to the demons in the hopes that their prisoners will join our efforts. The graveyard, though, we are leaving alone for now.
Soon the battle will be joined. I hope luck is with us, because our magical resources are probably woefully inadequate.
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XIV: From the Pages of The Tick Steps... MAN EATING COW!
The assault on Drezen began remarkably well.
The army of paladins charged the tieflings on the southern bank, and smashed them into a chaotic rout. I don't think a single paladin fell.
Of course, immediately after, the cultists organized themselves into reinforcements, and their more cautious approach led to some difficult street-by-street fighting along the city blocks. The stalemate lasted for hours with neither side being able to take advantage. But once the tide began to turn, it turned swiftly; the paladins gained the upper hand, and victory was shortly achieved.
By then, it was mid-afternoon, and we turned our attention to taking the bridge leading to the citadel. A full-scale assault was deemed too risky; our enemies might collapse the bridge as soon as they got wind of the approach. Instead, it was decided that a small group of commandos should launch a surprise attack. Accordingly, Anevia snuck Thane, Zsoltan, and myself close enough to do what we do best. Jadni was busy doing inquisitor things or some such; I decided not to enquire too closely, since that side of her makes me a bit uncomfortable.
The ancient dwarven bridge was mounted on four pillars, and to each one was chained some kind of mutant aurochs, ready to pull the structure down on command. Guarding the bridge, a platoon of tieflings waited in readiness.
We decided that our priority should be the animals; nothing else would matter if the bridge fell. Zsoltan was first on the scene, but his fists at first achieved little against the beasts' tough hides. I could not, initially, get close enough to cast a useful spell upon the beasts, so I instead Suggested that the leader of the tieflings flee lest he meet the same fate as his brethren on the southern bank. When he did, it threw the remaining troops into some confusion. By then, Thane was attacking the cows, doing great damage to them with Radiance.
The tieflings organized themselves enough to fire crossbows at us, which mostly missed, and attempt to get their cows to pull on the pillars. Thane and Zsoltan were knocking cows unconscious on the eastern side (and occasionally getting gored), so I took to the west side and peppered the animals with spells of fire and weakness. One cow, even though weakened by magic, was able to pull its pillar down, but the sturdy dwarven structure remained intact nonetheless. Soon we had all the cows neutralized, and it wasn't difficult to convince the tieflings to follow their leader in panicked flight.
At this point, Thane examined the cows to determine if they were evil, and found they were.
Evil cows.
Terrorizing the grass, perhaps? Hatching vile plans to torture a field of flowers? No doubt they moo maniacally whilst they do so. This kind of thing is exactly why I say that most people's idea of "evil" is nothing but complete nonsense. If a COW can register as evil, the term is meaningless. You might as well call a gerbil evil when it eats its own young. Ot a bird when it kills a worm, for that matter. They cannot be judged in those terms, because if you do then the terms MAKE NO SENSE.
Anyway.
Evil cows.
Really.
We camped for the night, and early in the morning (VERY early, before sunup) Anvie woke us to relay the message that Irabeth had called for us. After checking in on Anvie -- she said she was fine, and I had no reason to disbelieve her -- we tumbled out of bed and stumbled towards Irabeth's tent. I asked Thane if he returned Anvie's possible romantic interest, but he thought her to be too young for him. I may be misjudging her intent, anyway. I am not, I have found, anything like an expert at understanding people.
When we reached Irabeth's tent, we found it was because Anevia had bad news. Her scouting had discovered an army of ghouls gathered in the graveyard, not a thing we were comfortable having on our left flank. We called an utterly exhausted Sosiel in as our local expert on the undead, and through discussion determined that they were likely gaining power from the unhallowed building Anevia had dubbed the "Haunted Mausoleum". He judged that if it was reconsecrated, the power of the undead would be vastly diminished and they would be easier to battle.
Once again, this seemed like a job for a small strike team, since otherwise we would have to fight through the army of ghouls to make it easier to fight the army of ghouls, if you take my meaning. Zsoltan, Thane, and I set off with Sosiel, leaving Jadni behind to look after poor Aron.
I will be frank -- I do not like the undead. I have become even less fond of them since my parents' experiments with them led directly to their deaths at the hands of "good" adventurers. I blame myself, mostly. If I hadn't begged for them to free their halfling slaves, they never would have looked into alternative labor methods, and our villagers would never have been terrified into seeking aid. But all that being said, I do not like undead.
Especially ghouls. Paralysis is particularly... unsettling.
Unsurprisingly, soon after we broke into the mausoleum, ghouls poured out of the walls to assault us. I'd hung back a bit (I've learned my lesson about being the first through a door), and was able to do quite a bit of damage with burning rays, but first Zsoltan and the Sosiel were locked into paralysis at the hands of the winged undead leading the ghouls (A... Benbecula? I forget what Sosiel later said it was called.) It was touch and go for a minute, and both Zsoltan and Sosiel came close to being slain, but quick action with a sword on Thane's part and a few spells from me managed to keep the worst from happening.
Soon after, Sosiel worked his clerical magic, consecrating the mausoleum (to Shelyn? Is it a party mausoleum now?) and we returned to the main camp before the larger ghoul army realized we were there.
There are demons and ghouls still left to fight before we even reach the main citadel. And that, Anevia says, may put all the initial fights to shame. It's built for just this kind of siege, and she saw someone or something was casting practice fireballs from one of the watchtowers. Unless that gets taken care of, no attack against it stands a chance.
I suspect my small group's skills will be called upon again for that...
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XV: The Battle of Five Armies, and Also Some Other Armies
The next morning the paladins set out to tackle the horde of goat-faced demons that was keeping a cadre of crusaders held captive in the northeastern section of the city. This was a literal uphill battle, as our forces had to charge up a steep slope, putting them at a considerable disadvantage. After a volley of arrows had little effect, the fighting once more dissolved into fierce back-and-forth melees in the city streets. The battle lasted all day, and more than a few paladins fell, but we were once again ultimately victorious.
And our victory brought with it a considerable reward ... the crusaders kept captive by the demon proved to be a force nearly twice our size, and eager to join us in the fight against their erstwhile tormentors! While they were not as skilled as the paladins, which overall made them a less effecting fighting force, they were nonetheless to prove decisive in the combats to come.
The next day, my small group -- the de facto commando team of the legion -- was sent to clear the fireball-throwing demons out of the citadel watchtowers. If they were left to hurl death and devastation upon us when we assaulted the citadel itself, the fight would be grim indeed. I granted the power of flight to my colleagues once again, and up we flew to deal with the problem, keeping widely spaced so that fireballs could strike no more than one of us at a time.
The fiery demons we found worked well in tandem strategically -- some hurling fire, some attempting to dispel our protections or power of flight, and some doing melee battle when the warriors moved in. I hung back and cast my longer range spells, and did a fair bit of damage to a demon or three that way, while my fellows went in for the kill. We didn't escape entirely unburnt, but our victory was never truly in doubt.
We returned to a fierce debate among the leaders of our expedition -- should we tackle the army of ghouls, and risk losing a vital part of our force to their paralyzing touch? Or should we leave them be, and risk leaving them at our rear? We debated shattering the bridge behind us when we crossed it, and Zsoltan was particularly fearful of their powers, but ultimately we decided to make a fight of it.
As it turns out, we need not have feared so much. With the Haunted Mausoleum reconsecrated, their powers were low, and we annihilated them with our arrows without taking so much as a scratch.
It was a day for good news in general. Aron had largely recovered from his withdrawal symptoms, much to our relief -- Anevia was likewise grateful to have his scouting assistance again. We needed what good news we could get, for on the morrow we would face the armies behind the citadel walls.
As we assembled in the morning, Irabeth remarked that if death were to come for us, dying fighting demons was an excellent way to go, and I heartily agreed. She said she was surprised by how much she had come to appreciate my presence, and after dissembling a bit and claiming that I was, of course, only there for selfish and evil reasons, I admitted that she had done much to dispel my prejudices against paladins, as I had not expected to meet any I respected so greatly as I respected her.
With these thoughts on our mind, we set out ... only to face horror before we even arrived at the citadel walls. A great Chimera, an unnatural mix of dragon, tiger, and goat, landed on the bridge to block our way, ripping apart a paladin in the vanguard as it did. It immediately sprayed us with its terrible dragon breath.
My group launched into action. I began casting spells of flight, fearing that if it took to the air, it could rain death down upon us with its breath without taking a counterblow. Zsoltan charged in boldly, and was nearly ripped to strips for his trouble in the first few instants. At that point, we began to worry things might be dire indeed.
But then Thane attacked the beast with Radiance, and with that mighty weapon needed only a few powerful blows to bring the monster down. Zsoltan was healed, and we escaped with much less damage to the army than might have been.
And with that, it was time to breach the citadel walls.
Five armies had gathered to do battle there. Our troop of paladins and the freed crusaders on one side. Three massed groups of tieflings, cultists, and dretches on the other. We broke through the gates, and the battle was joined.
The smiting powers of the paladins made short work of the dretches, which was fortunate -- their enchanted stench might have debilitated us otherwise. I had been placed in charge of a squadron of crusaders, and bade them fight defensively to protect their numbers while sapping away at the enemy's strength. After a successful initial sally against the cultists, this meant matters devolved into a stalemate on my side for a while.
Not so for the paladins. Mighty attacks were traded back and forth, the healing abilities of the paladins unable to keep pace with the damage they took. The army of tieflings fell before them, only for the cultists to launch a series of devastating counterattacks which nearly wiped them out.
At that point I broke my crusaders out from cover, and smashed the cultists between those forces and what was left of the paladins. The last of our foes perished.
We had won the day. But not without cost. Scarce a third of the paladins who set out from Kenabres survived the day. We checked on Anvie, but she proved to be among those who survived.
All this combat took place outside the citadel buildings themselves. While the armies defending it are gone, we would be foolish to think that no traps, demons, or other surprises are left within. Some small group capable of room-to-room fighting will have to clear it out before we can truly say that Drezen is once again ours.
Three guesses as to which small group that will be.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XVI: Yondah Lies Da Castle of Zsoltan's Uncle
After a council of war, it was determined that Zsoltan, Jadni, Thane, and I would fly in through the parapet in which the chimera had been nesting, in the hopes that the beast's death had left it lightly guarded. Aron gave us a rough map of the Citadel, including the location of a secret vault where the Sword of Valor used to be stored, although we doubted it still remained there. I asked Irabeth if she wanted to join, since she had a personal bone to pick with Staunton Vhane, but she worried that if she encountered him, she would be too overcome with rage to spare his life even if the situation called for it. I told her I would be happy to overreact in her stead. However, we agreed that we would do our best to take him alive and bring him to justice -- and Nurah, too, should we find her, for we speculated that she might have fled to the Citadel.
Our initial entry proved of little difficulty, except for the need to bash our way through stone doors of dwarven design. My fellows worried that this would put those within on the alert, but I pointed out that they had probably noticed the, you know, war going on outside already. One thing I have noticed about my companions is that they are strangely fussy. Every choice of which door to open, which direction to go, takes tedious ages and requires debate and a careful search of every room. It's almost as if they believe that the entire universe is run by some sentient, inimical force that means them personal harm and will punish them for any incorrect decision.
The chimera had left a hoard behind, which provided us with some useful items of magical potency. We left the gold and gems behind for the army's use, of course.
Shortly after descending the tower, we met a small group of demons and engaged them in battle. They were relatively easy to defeat, but apparently they had used some kind of spell that made Thane extremely rude to the rest of us. None of us noticed the difference.
Further exploration led us to the center of the castle, where we saw an enormous Vrock demon. Beyond our sight, as it turned out, there were also cultists skilled in archery and fire demons who caused magical explosions. The Vrock demon led with a paralyzing scream, and only my experience with demons enabled me to resist it.
In the pitched battle that followed, Jadni was infected by the Vrock's poisoned spores and, bearing the brunt of its attacks, was brought to death's very door. I sapped its strength in an attempt to help her, and drained its essence with a potent spell of vampiric touch, but it proved a difficult foe, throwing up mirror images to spoil our attacks. Thane and Zsoltan waded in and eventually brought it down, and then began picking off the lesser enemies while I revived my cousin with a potion. I was struck with several balls of fire, and if not for the extra vampiric essence from my spell I surely would have fallen. But in the end, we prevailed.
Heading towards the secret vault, we crossed through a chapel of Torag which had been despoiled and dedicated to a plague demon. Jadni attempted to clean it up a bit, but was unable to achieve much. When we made our way through the secret doors to the vault, we saw what appeared to be the Sword of Valor, although we doubted very much it was the real one. Nonetheless, when magical analysis appeared to confirm it's provenance, we picked it up -- only to be buffeted by waved of negative energy which we were fortunately able to resist. It was, as we thought, a fake. Oh, well.
We then explored a vast armory, where there was nothing much of interest, and made our way to the officer's quarters, where we thought Staunton Vhane might have installed himself. And indeed, upon opening a door, we saw an unfamiliar dwarf arguing with an all-too-familiar halfling...
Oh, I forgot about the minotaurs.
At some point, there were minotaurs.
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Hey Ragathiel —
(Can I call you Rags? Raggy? Raggamuffin? No...?)
I am sure getting my ass handed to me a lot these days. I feel like I spend more time healing myself back up (badly) than dishing out the pain in the other direction. Serves me well for rushing in first every time, but... isn't that what you would do as well?
Then again, I doubt you need to call medic at the first clash with the enemy. I'm told you wrestled a demonic serpent for 16 years. Probably didn't b%*~@ about it either. I get it, I'll shut up now.
I'm rather proud of how we fared with Joran Vhane and Nurah, though. Honestly, after seeing how Aron suffered under Nurah's manipulations, I had expected to strike her down in wrath at first sight. But she seemed so pitiful when we finally found her, like her work for the demons had cost her more than us. Tanaquil brilliantly stood her ground even when it turned out Nurah had been a slave to her reprehensible family back in Cheliax. Zsoltan managed to reach out to his uncle's family heart even though he been a toddler when he had last met him. While Nurah ultimately fled the scene under cover of invisibility, Joran was willing to guide us to the tapestry and then take his chances with us. I have high hopes for his redemption.
On the flipside, Staunton Vhane gave no indication of being redeemable, so we had to defeat him the old-fashioned way. He and Thane more or less dueled each other, Antipaladin against Paladin, Evil against Good: a clash of extremes. If Tanaquil hadn't landed a truly Mythic Enervation on Staunton and I hadn't slapped some timely healing into Thane's back, he would likely have fallen. But then, having friends to back you up is part of being Good, so fair game in my book. We were even going to spare Staunton's life, but as soon as he fell unconscious, his body consumed itself in oddly crystalline-looking purple flames. Tanaquil called the color something like porpy-porpy and linked it to a certain place in the domain of the demon goddess Nocticula, so who knows, perhaps this display was meant to cheat death rather than to embrace it. We'll see.
Ugh, but then the mage in the dungeon... a relative of Tanaquil's, apparently (what are the odds?), in the midst of performing some ritual to bring down the citadel, Drezen and everything around it in some new cataclysm. Protected by countless spells as she was, she herself proved rather unassailable. Meanwhile, I was stuck behind a wall of force and had to climb my way back out most ignominiously (in armor!), only to be taken out of the fight with a magical cloud of Chelaxian sewer gas. She eventually got annoyed of our cumbersome attempts on her life and made an exit. Oh well. At least we managed to interrupt the ritual.
By the way, did you see my new armor? It's from the chimera's hoard on the tower we came in through. I love how light it feels — I wouldn't have made it over that wall in my old plate! I'm told it will change its heraldry to match my creed one it gets accustomed to me. I still have to learn how not to embarass you as a holy warrior, but at least I'll look the part now.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XVII: He's So Vhane, I Bet He Thinks This War Is About Him
I have been left with much to think about.
The dwarf turned out not to be Staunton Vhane, but Zsoltan’s other uncle Joran, discussing the merits of fleeing or staying with Nurah. Zsoltan recognized him at once, but Joran Vhane had not seen Zsoltan since his infancy, and was not aware of their relationship until it was explained.
Zsoltan did not particularly wish to harm his uncle, and a long discussion ensued in which we attempted to convince the pair of them to surrender, or at least leave without doing further harm. Joran’s experiences had led him to a nihilistic philosophy, which made him resistant to these ideas. The others attempted to convince him that redemption was still possible.
Redemption. As if such a thing exists. As if there is any balance in the cold, uncaring universe. As if you could say, “Ah, I have now saved 1,000 babies, and my previous murders have therefore been redeemed.” Like a coupon. Joran correctly perceived the nature of the universe, even if he responded to it poorly.
The fact is, past sins are never “redeemed”. People are never “redeemed”. The past has happened and cannot be undone, and the weight of it hangs around our necks eternally. The only thing we can do is move forward as best we can, doing the best we can, trying to be better than we have been. But let us not pretend this is “redemption”. Let us not tell ourselves the happy lie that we can erase what we have done.
Which brings me to Nurah.
While the others focused on Joran, I primarily talked to her. And in doing so, I found out where she was from.
Halikarnassos. She had been my parents’ slave.
My slave, for all I had no say in the matter at the time.
I didn’t even remember her. She must have escaped long before I reached the age of majority.
I tried to tell her that I had freed the others, asked if she had family, told her I could put her in contact with them. She didn’t believe me. Why should she? What had my family ever done to convince her that any of us would ever put her welfare first? What had we done but convince her the only thing that matters is power, and the only real power is the power to put your boot in another’s face. No wonder she turned to...
Well.
I have been thinking more about the nature of evil.
I am not wrong. I KNOW I am not wrong. Evil is not what people think. How can it be, when there are evil healing spells? Evil spells of protection? There is something fundamentally wrong in everyone’s interpretation of it.
But it is everyone’s interpretation. Everyone but mine. If I have seen the truth, does it matter? My parents did horrible things in the name of evil. My country has done horrible things in the name of evil. The demons ravage in the name of evil. And if they are all wrong... so what?
Have I ever convinced a single person of the truth? And in the meantime, does my dedication to evil tacitly support these horrors? I can say, no evil is not that, it is this, but all people hear, all they ever hear, is that I am evil, and therefore my allegiance is to selfishness, to spitefulness, to bigotry, to agony.
If I remain evil to uphold the beliefs of my parents, what does it mean if my beliefs are no longer theirs anyway? Why do I cling to it, if I never convince anyone of the truth? If I only make them suspect that I am part of the lie?
What my family did to Nurah is unconscionable. It can never be "redeemed". I can only try to do better moving forward.
I wish there were someone I could talk to about this. I'm not sure even Jadni would truly understand.
In any event... we had, I think, convinced Nurah and Joran that we had no wish for further bloodshed and would let them and Staunton leave unharmed, when Staunton and his demonic allies attacked us. Joran bellowed that this was not what they had agreed, but Staunton did not seem to care. He nearly cut Thane down while I fought against a demon. When Zsoltan tried to attack Staunton, Joran restrained him, loathe to let kin battle kin. Nurah stayed out of the fray, and eventually turned invisible and slipped away without interference on our part.
After a great battle in which I drained much of Staunton’s life force, he was left tottering on his last legs, so I sent a small missile of magic at him, intending to knock him unconscious so we could bring him in for trial, and he simply disintegrated. Dissolved into porphyry dust, oddly reminiscent of the Abyssal realm of Alushinyrra. Hmm.
Joran surrendered to us, and told us that the Sword of Valor could be found in the Citadel’s basement, beyond a secret door in the cells. We followed his directions, and encountered a forge serviced by salamanders. Although none of us spoke their language, Jadni was able to communicate that we meant to pass them by without doing harm, and they let us go.
Beyond, we found an astonishingly attractive tiefling enacting a powerful ritual with some of the Goatfaced Killah demons, a ritual that might be powerful enough to open a second Worldwound! Obviously, we interrupted their designs, and the battle that followed was... a complete stalemate. We dealt with the demons handily, but the tiefling was another matter. We resisted her spells and attacks, she resisted ours, she trapped some of us behind a wall of force, they got out, and so on. She led by trying to enchant me with a Charm, and I followed up by Suggesting that she come over and kiss me. Neither worked, although we continued to flirt throughout the battle. Eventually, she used some manner of teleportation to make her exit.
Why are the pretty ones always demon worshippers?
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XVIII: Beyond Good and Evil, Chapter Three -- The Alignment Brood
Our further adventures beneath Citadel Drezen were, as it turned out, quite boring, so much of this section will concern my ongoing ethical crisis.
I no longer wish to be associated with evil; no matter what I know to be true, it has been irrevocably tainted by the use others have put it to. There are even demons that are now, apparently, eschewing their very natures in revulsion.
However, the idea of becoming "good" seems like the ultimate betrayal of my parents, who were murdered by "good" adventurers. And whatever their faults -- and they had many -- I loved my parents and they loved me, this I know. It has, of course, occurred to me that neutrality is an available option, but it seems so... pointless. "What is your stand on the ultimate questions of ethical philosophy?" "Eh, pass." Not to mention, of course, that most so-called "neutral" people are anything but, little more than an excuse to avoid damage from aligned spells while they indulge their rapacious appetites in the case of the "chaotic" neutral, or fight invariably on the side of good for the sake of "balance" in the case of the "lawful" or "true" neutral... Ugh. The hypocrisy makes me sick.
There's no one I can TALK to about this. Jadni is hardly an expert in ethical philosophy, and Thane and Zsoltan are, I'm afraid, infinitely worse. There's Irabeth, I suppose, but confessing to a paladin that I am considering conversion feels like such a failure. As if I were proving all the smug moralizing of the good correct. Anevia? Might be more able to empathize with my plight, but again is hardly a philosopher.
What do I DO with this?
Anyway. We continued on through the dungeon, and found ourselves in a kind of demonic cathedral, with another false Sword of Valor hanging on the wall. We suspected it was another fake (it detected as neither good nor magic), but examined it anyway, and, of course, sprung the trap. Illusory demons burst from the wall to decapitate us, but fortunately we did not fall for the trick, although Zsoltan nearly succumbed.
A bit further on, we found a walkway around a pit, concealed by a powerful spell of darkness. Jadni dispelled it was a casting of daylight from a wand, and then there was much dickering until I got bored and went ahead. And the same thing happens to me that always happens when I go ahead; I got smacked down for my trouble. A trap thrust me into the pit, through the illusory floor, and into the pit of green slime. A spell of flight got me out of the pit, but the green slime was rapidly killing me until someone recalled that it was vulnerable to fire -- which I am not, very much, so I turned a spell of Burning Hands upon myself. A few healing spells later, and I was right as rain (and set off the trap again, but this time I was flying and it did no harm.) I brought the others over in our bag of holding to prevent them from meeting a similar fate.
In the room beyond, again draped in darkness, we heard a voice that chilled Jadni and me to our very souls. For there was the very demon who attacked us when we were children.
Or, attacked Jadni, as it turned out. Apparently, he had no actual interest in me whatsoever. I was simply collateral damage.
I'm a bit miffed about that, actually.
The battle nearly went badly at the very start, when the demon possessed my body -- an extremely unpleasant experience I do not recommend. But Jadni was able to expel the monster with a spell almost immediately. Another casting of daylight made the shadowy creature visible; perhaps it was the very shadow demon who had provided the drug to Nurah? And as we moved in to attack, its undead shadowy minions emerged from the wall.
The battle that followed was ridiculous.
After a casting of mirror images to evade the shadows -- I have little enough strength to lose -- and an enervation that missed the demon's shadowy coils, I was entirely out of spells. Every single one. Down to whatever equipment I had on me. I used a wand of magic missiles to good effect against the shadows, at least.
In the meantime, the demon moved in to attack Thane, correctly guessing he was the deadliest foe, and did grievous damage, but a few healing spells put that right. Thane answered with Radiance, and struck mighty blows against the demon.
The problem was, Radiance was the *only* weapon capable of really hurting the demon. Nothing else had much of an effect. I hit him with a demonbane crossbow bolt right in the face, and it did nothing at all. Zsoltan's mighty kicks might as well have been love taps. Once the demon realized this, he flew to the ceiling, out of Thane's range. We did minor damage to him after that -- I managed to tag him with magic missiles from the wand, Zsoltan actually managed to leap up and kick him once -- but nothing more.
The thing was, he couldn't do much to us either. His spells were pathetic. Illusory shadow fireballs and lightning bolts that we easily saw through and took negligible damage from.
If I'd had a spell of flight left, I could have cast it on Thane. If I'd had spells of attack left, I could have fired them at range. But I had nothing.
We had dispatched the shadows without much trouble, and I was on the point of suggesting Thane throw the damned sword at the demon when the demon became as fed up with the whole thing as we were and left.
The Sword of Valour lay crumpled up in a corner.
So, with an anticlimactic whimper, we have secured the Citadel from the foe. The banner protects it against demonic incursion, and now we have a beachhead in the Worldwound itself. Soon we shall begin to see what we can find there.
And in the meantime, we have encountered intriguing things in the notes of Staunton Vhane. Crystals that can be used to increase demonic might somehow. And a strange report of a "heretic" demon, one they were desperate to find. Perhaps a demon that has renounced its heritage?
Strange days.
Hey Ragathiel—
I never subscribed to the notion that you should never meet your heroes. If your heroes don't hold up to scrutiny, you're just bad at picking heroes, as far as I'm concerned. It certainly helps to have picked a god! On the contrary: If I were ever to meet you, I would be the one to make a fool of themselves, no question. I mean, I just recently met my first queen face to face and managed to interrupt her.
Don't get me wrong, I would still want to meet you. I've always had a weakness for stories where devout protagonists face their gods and melt into a quivering puddle from sheer awe and honor. And then of course the god is all, rise, my faithful knight, it is you who bring me honor, let's sing an aria together, that sort of thing. I didn't think I'd be the type for it, but man, I miss Taldor... I miss having nothing more pressing to do than listening to an opera and going out for late-night angel bobs afterwards.
For all the faux pas I'd be doing, at least I think you'd be pretty happy with my new look. The Armor of the Pious attuned to me, and it's a beaut'. All bronze and blacks, sheer mithral flashing through here and there; embossed patterns and liturgies everywhere. I look like a walking castle. Best of all, the armor grew a blood-red cape with feathered edges, as if I'd found your sixth wing and decided to wear it! No offense to your actual sixth wing, may it rest in peace.
Now, heroes aside, I absolutely think you should never meet your childhood nemeses. I did, and it was humiliating. I wouldn't have minded meeting that demon who nearly killed me as a defenseless child and pay it back with a swift death now that I was all grown and trained, but I was almost as powerless against it as I was back then. My Cold Bastard just whooshed through its shadowy form, leaving barely a mark, even though I had charged it with a demonbane liturgy. Only Thane's legendary sword seemed to bite against it, and it evaded that easily enough simply by flying. At least it didn't manage to hurt us either, and had the good sense to escape before we found the Sword of Valor and locked it in within the citadel. I guess it does pay to be a trained adult. But we can add ranged combattants and incorporeals to the long list of tasks we are ill-suited to — at least, resource-depleted as we were.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XIX: What Shall We Do With The Evil Mutants, What Shall We Do With The Evil Mutants, What Shall We Do With The Evil Mutants, Early In The Morning?
After some days spent getting Drezen sorted and settled after the battles, Irabeth called an early morning meeting to deal with a pressing question. The city was not entirely uninhabited; in fact, there was a small remnant population, some of whom had been tainted by Abyssal energies and detected as evil. What, it was asked, were we to do with them, given the fears of the same kind of infiltration and betrayal that had occurred in Kenabres?
Early suggestions ranged from imprisonment to banishment to forced re-education. All of these sat ill with me, considering we were discussing people who had committed no known crimes. I detect as evil, after all, for the grave sin of casting spells of healing and protection upon myself.
I found an ally in Sosiel, who thought that mistreatment of the populace would interfere with their rehabilitation, and together we were able to convince the rest to mostly let things be -- taking the precaution of placing extra security on any sensitive or dangerous areas.
Interesting how quickly "good" can fall into doing exactly what it purports to despise. I am glad it was averted.
That being said, after the meeting, I had a quick chat with Irabeth about the "issue of redemption". She quickly saw through my efforts to frame it as an abstract question -- I am not skilled at deception, even by omission -- and realized I was asked about myself. She first proposed religion as a method, but that always struck me as a way to avoid ethical questions rather than answer them, by placing blind faith in a being who theoretically "knows better". When she saw that missed the mark, she told me that deeds were what mattered. I will think on that, although clearly it is not true; see what I said earlier about spells of healing and protection.
Irabeth, incidentally, has been placed in charge of Drezen, to the surprise of no one but herself. She will do an excellent job, and hate it. Fate save us all from being promoted into administration.
At any rate, there were a number of tasks that my group was asked to see to -- checking on various locations, dealing with a potential barbarian threat to the south, finding this "heretic demon", and tracking down a missing priest of Erastil. The last one seemed the most pressing, so we started with that.
We began at the chapel he had been rededicating, which seemed... decidedly un-rededicated. Evidence suggested he had come under the sway of some bizarre Erastitelian cult, which eschewed any group or population higher than some small arbitrary number. We thought he might have gone to the tomb of the cult's founder.
When we got there, in the lava-streaked wilds, we found the priest indeed, and determined he was a victim of demonic possession, poor fellow. We managed to drive out the demon -- an odd creature that looked half-demonic and half-angelic -- and destroy it, but the priest was shattered and lost by the deeds he had done when influenced by the demon's whispers. He felt that all was lost and nothing had any point. So far, the greatest threat to our cause has been nihilism, far more so than outright wickedness. Zsoltan is having similar problems getting through to his uncle.
Incidentally, the tomb of the cult leader cracked open, revealing a number of powerful magical artefacts and weapons. So... thanks, weird dead cult leader?
We left the priest in the hands of Sosiel, and went on to our next task.
Early suggestions ranged from imprisonment to banishment to forced re-education. All of these sat ill with me, considering we were discussing people who had committed no known crimes. I detect as evil, after all, for the grave sin of casting spells of healing and protection upon myself.
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XX: Jadni Insists That I Name This One "Call Him Mr. Vhane"
Many things in my life have not gone the way I expected them to.
I expected that when I died, I would be steeped in evil and descend to Hell to see my parents. Now I am... not so sure of that.
The spells I'd intended to take as I ascended through the levels of sorcerous power have been planned out for years. At the ninth level, I would take the Excruciating Deformation, a hideously evil spell. Although I do not understand why it is more "evil" than, say, Dominate Person, which apparently I can use all day long without affecting my alignment. But in any case, I didn't take it. My excuse at that time was practical. Our group was sadly lacking in utility spells, and the ability to dispel magic seemed more important than another debilitating spell when I already have several in my arsenal.
Well, I thought it was a practical choice at the time. But now, at the 10th level, I have traded away Infernal Healing, the "evil" spell I used to use to treat my wounds (why is it more "evil" than spells of harm?). It still has practical uses, but I no longer wish to use it any more.
And I'd also planned to learn the Cone of Cold, to add a much-needed direct damage spell to my list. I have few. But I have not taken that, for other reason. Instead, I have learned Sending. There is someone I... wish to talk to, if I can.
Are you out there?
Where are you?
Who are you?
I should resume my chronicle.
The laundry list of tasks we needed to see to in the Wounded Lands continued to increase. Some six-legged dragonish creature has been spotted, Anevia found a lookout point of some kind that needs investigation, and so on and so forth. We started with one of the earlier tasks, searching a nearby village for survivors or threats.
Of survivors there were none, but there was one non-survivor who demanded our attention. At a family crypt labeled "Vhane", we encountered the ghost of... another of Zsoltan's uncles. Or great-uncles, I think. Apparently, his family has been in the business of crusading for generations, and the Wounded Lands are absolutely littered with his family, living and dead.
In any case, this Vhane said a demon had been despoiling his tomb. He attempted to mentally compel us to fight the demon, which was completely unnecessary since we immediately agreed to fight the demon. Zsoltan aside, I have not been impressed with the Vhane family thus far.
On entering the crypt, we first encountered some undead creature, which we disposed of without too much trouble. I hope it wasn't another of Zsoltan's relatives. Shortly after, we met the demon itself, munching on the bones of Zsoltan's great-grandmother.
It proved a tricky one to fight. It had a life-sucking gaze attack which took me a ninth of the way to death, a magical axe, and a propensity for stealing the vital energies of its opponents and adding them to its own. Thane was damaged by such an attack, leading to the odd circumstance that when I did the same to it, I ended up with Thane's life energies. They felt weird.
When the battle began to go against it, it left the battlefield with some spell. I searched for it, but it was able to take the time to cast a spell of potent darkness, and summon a number of Babau demons to its side. Fortunately I had surrounded myself with mirror images, so I took no damage when it struck at me from the dark, but its magic proved too powerful for me to dispel, despite repeated attempts.
By then, though, the others had joined me, and went through the darkness to the other side. There were some tense moments as the demons surrounded them and probed at their weaknesses, but the outcome by then was in little doubt. We won the day soon after.
The ghost of Zsoltan's great-uncle, however, was still restless; we needed to reconsecrate the mausoleum, which required the help of a cleric. So, back to Drezen we went to find Sosiel. Who was utterly exahusted, with all he had to do. We need more clerics here. Perhaps Jadni can help in some ways? In any case, he agreed to accompany us back to the village in the morning.
That night, I had a dream. A Dream, actually, although that shouldn't be possible, since you can only send a Dream to someone you have touched, and I would remember if she had ever touched me.
She said she needed my help. She said she was trapped, and they were looking for her. She said she understood what I was going through.
I said that of course I would help.
I did not say that I felt thunderstruck the moment I saw her.
I woke in the wee hours of the morning, and went to the map room to see if I could determine her location from the clues in the dream. Irabeth was there, still working, and helped me some, but we did not have the skills to pinpoint it. While we waited for Anevia to wake up, as she was more knowledgeable of such matters, I learned from her that the butterflies I had seen in the dream were a symbol of the Chaos Goddess Desna, which may explain how the Dream was possible at all.
Irabeth asked me if, perhaps, the Dream was a trap. You'd think I'd assume it might be, given the involvement of a Chaos Goddess. Like anyone sensible, I have little trust for the forces of Chaos. But I did not believe it to be a trap.
I asked how Irabeth met Anevia, and if she'd fallen in love immediately. She told me the story of how they met in the River Kingdoms, but said the process took some time, and that Anevia wasn't then who she is now. I gleaned her meaning for that, I think, when she asked if I had ever thought about changing my body with magic, perhaps to rid myself of my horns, wings, and tail. (My body is as it is, though, and I am well used to it by now.)
When Anevia arrived, she was indeed better able to pin down a location from the clues in my Dream, although the potential area was very wide. I wonder if I might be able to get a better sense of things from that lookout point Anevia discovered.
In the morning, we gathered Sosiel and set out for the village again. From there, we shall continue our tasks.
And I shall search for a spare ten minutes to send a message...
Oh, and incidentally -- Anvie has volunteered to join us on our various tasks and missions. We have tried to ensure that she is properly armed and armored for the task.
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXI: Her Eyes Have All The Seeming Of A Demon That Is Dreaming
I am nearly as exhausted as Sosiel. Every time we solve one problem, three more spring up, hydra-like, to take its place. I've honestly lost track of all the dangers that must be investigated at this point.
Before we left, I had a conversation with Irabeth and Anevia which somehow led to a discussion of my parents' final days -- their summoning of undead minions to replace the halflings I insisted they let go free, and how that ultimately led to their deaths at the hands of adventurers. Irabeth seemed a bit taken aback by the story. It is a disturbing one. I avoided having any truck with the undead even when I was still casting evil spells. I do not like them.
Following that, at Anevia's urging, we had a conversation with Sosiel, whom she said was troubled about his sibling. After failing to get an answer out of him subtly, we managed to pry out of him that his sibling had gone on patrol some days ago and never returned. We promised to keep an eye out, and headed in the direction the patrol had gone, to begin with. Not a grave inconvenience, since danger lies in every possible direction we could go.
Jadni turned out to be an expert tracker. Who would have thought? Apparently it is part of the skill set inquisitors use to track down the unfaithful and set them on fire, or however inquisiting is done.
Thanks to her skills, we soon found the site of a massacre. The patrol had been slain by claw and acid, by a creature that left no tracks. A dragon? The number of bodies remaining did not equal the whole of the patrol, and we feared the creature might have taken them to wherever it laired. With that in mind, we continued to the lookout point Anevia had identified, in case we saw something useful.
During our travels, I began a lively correspondence by Sending with my dream visitor, who revealed her name to be Arueshalae. She is trapped where she is, but safe for now, although she did not know for how long. She is charming.
But then, she would be.
When we reached the lookout point, we saw several spots of interest -- more dangers to investigate -- including an island in the lava sparking with blue lightning, a series of caves where the dragon might potentially be lairing, and I remember not what else. I could not spot the location of Arueshalae's hideout. We decided to aim for the caves by way of a possible evil temple we'd been alerted to, and then on to a cliff where we might get a better look.
On the way to the temple, Jadni and Anvie both began feeling ill, but paid no mind to their symptoms. That was a mistake. In the morning, they had come down with Demon Plague, and fled from us in paranoia, hallucinating plots against them. Jadni managed to throw off the effects after a while, and I calmed Anvie down with a casting of Charm -- possibly the only ethical use of that kind of spell. After an hour of prayer, Thane was able to instantiate a spell that temporarily suppressed the effects of the disease. It's the best we can do for now.
Onward to the temple, which proved to be filled with Baphomet worshippers. They were armed with polearms and led by a peculiar magic user with a draconic sidekick. Zsoltan found himself the subject of multiple smites, and Anvie was hurt severely, but the end of the fight wasn't ever really in doubt.
After the battle, we discovered their records (Baphomet worshippers seem to love leaving incriminating evidence behind) and made some disturbing discoveries. They said they had slipped an unnamed infiltrator into Drezen, which wasn't good news. We also found a great deal of material about their attempts to track down the rebel succubus who had fled from Staunton Vhane's prison, and might have been privy to important information.
It was not, I am ashamed to say, until that moment that I realized that the succubus in question had to be Arueshalae. One of the very beings I have dedicated my life to eradicating.
I guess sometimes the pretty ones aren't demon worshippers.
Sometimes they are actual demons.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXII: The Rabbits Quake in Fear Before General Woundworm
I will keep this entry brief, since shortly we have to go out and get slaughtered by rather a lot of demons.
After the temple, we headed south and looked for the lair of the acid-breathing dragonlike creature, which we were eventually able to identify from its fewmets as a powerful, abyss-tainted Woundworm. We found its lair -- or at least one of its lairs -- and hid in wait for its return, but our plans were stymied when it failed to drop by its home. After a day, we decided that other pressing matters required our attention, and we moved on.
A day later, from a high cliff bluff, we were at last able to spot the location I had seen in my dream! Moving on from there, within days we arrived at Arueshalae's holdout. In spite of her warnings, however, a pair of wyrm-riding demons circling the place were able to get the drop on us, out in the open where their advantage was at its greatest. Their powerful lance charges wrought terror in our ranks before I had a chance to cast a single spell. Jadni was brought to the brink of death and turned invisible to save herself. And Anvi, who had been keeping us all upright with her channelled healing, was slain -- at least for the moment -- by a single blow.
With much painstaking effort, though, we were able to turn the battle around. I managed to drop a demon with repeated Enervations, giving Zsoltan and Jadni the space to annihilate the rest. Wounded and weary, we made our way to the tower where Arueshalae waited.
... And I nearly died for it. The powerful protections against demons wrought on the tower by the grace of Desna pegged me as a potentially inimical foe, and I got fried like an egg when I passed through the wards. I survived it, though, and at last met the woman of... the woman from my dreams.
She was less enthused to see us than I expected, more hesitant. She may have been wondering what our reception of her would be; certainly when we suggested that she would find safety among the paladins, she found the concept laughable. As I would have, once, and still would for many, but I trust Irabeth. Possibly we can convince her of the same.
She informed us that we were surrounded by demons led by a hag, and left us alone to recover and use a scroll to resurrect poor Anvi, who seemed a bit discombobulated by the experience. Understandably.
Once our spells and powers are regained, we shall do our best to bust Arueshalae out of her prison. It promises to be a tough fight. Before that, however, I hope to have a chance to talk to her alone. I have had none, as of yet.
I would very much like to have a conversation of her more than 25 words in length.
Hey Ragathiel
Gods and devils, and here I thought Heroism felt good. Now that I've had a taste of channeling Resurrection, everything else feels stale and pedestrian. You know I've never been the type to burn with faith or zeal, but the sheer magnitude of power you exerted through my hands, the way Nature herself relinquishes Death — her most final and fundamental principle — to your Divine Will... that sort of thing will turn an apricot stone into an ardent believer. I bet people would use Resurrection recreationally if it weren't so expensive.
Mmm, apricots. I still miss Oppara. I should remind Horgus about my request for procuring tea, at least. How hard can it be? The stuff is light as a feather and keeps for years.
Arueshalae seems nice. I had sort of dreaded the confrontation and the responsibility of judging her nature and intentions, but when it came to it, I was just like, yeah, she's alright. Sure, demons are known to play harmless to deceive their marks, and succubi doubly so, but somehow there's something about her insecurity and anxiety that feels... meek? ...in such a human way that I can't imagine a demon pulling it off convincingly. A demon in the traditional sense, that is. I suspect a lot of textbooks are going to have to be rewritten after we properly get to know her.
She seems less ready to trust the lot of us just now — me in particular, of course, because something something Inquisitor. If we ever get back to our normal lives, we should perhaps hire some bards to work on our public image.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXIII: Dungeons And/Or Dragons
I finally got my chance to have a tete-a-tete with Arueshalae, when I went upstairs to tell her of our plans to break her out of imprisonment in her comfortable dungeon. She seemed interested in the questions of ethics -- and unfamiliar with them, which I suppose should not come as a surprise -- and asked why we had resurrected Anvie, and if that was something I would do for any of my friends. I did not wish to bore her, so I gave her the quickest possible sketch of altruism theory, barely more than a few sentences. Nonetheless, she seemed rather bemused, and asked if I went through such tortuous mental gymnastics every time I made a decision, and I had to confess that yes, I rather did; having grown up inculcated in the ways of evil I've had to work my way through that labyrinth on a regular basis. I wonder if she is interested in the intricacies of ethical philosophy. That would be almost as great a miracle as a nonevil demon. No one is ever interested in the intricacies of ethical philosophy.
Speaking of nonevil demons, my friends spent a great deal of time before I went up the stairs attempting to figure out a way to prove to themselves whether or not she was trustworthy, starting with the standby of detecting for evil -- as if they had not been traveling with me for MONTHS now. I had to explain once again how useless that would be, particularly in this case, since even a "good" demon, still being metaphysically made from evil, would still register as evil to the spell. Is there any magic more useless? When I took my leave of them, they were debating more intrusive magical measures, without once considering exactly how that would affect her trust of us. Happily, if there is one thing I can trust my companions to do, it is talk endlessly without settling on a plan of action, so I have every confidence such measures will remain unused.
Although, to be fair, we did manage to settle on a plan for crossing the courtyard. We would immediately head, we decided, for a covered stairwell, to keep the demons from trapping us out in the open once again.
This plan, unfortunately, fell to pieces as soon as we entered the courtyard and saw a horde of demons waiting to attack us. Obviously, we could not possibly all get to the stairwell before we were waylaid, so sticking ot the original plan would have split our forces and left us at a terrible disadvantage. Well, obvious to everyone but Zsoltan, who sped through the courtyard and into the stairwell before anyone else had a chance to react, blithely trusting that the plan had not changed. As soon as he was away, the demons set upon us.
A fierce battle followed. A spider-like demon shot webs at us. Another actually peeled poor Thane out of his armor, leaving it broken on the ground, and then injured him grievously in the bargain. There were other setbacks -- Thane at one point had to be told to attack the demons trying to kill us, rather than the large scavengers totally ignoring us, and Anvie, apparently having learned nothing from her recent death, charged headlong into battle and rather came out the worse for it. But Arueshalae turned out to be a capable archer, and once we were able to get everyone pointed in the right direction, we did our usual deadly job.
Well, everyone but Zsoltan, of course. He was gone for the whole of the fight, and we later learned he had fought a one-on-one battle of his own with an Annis Hag. Her weakness turned out to be being punched in the face, so Zsoltan actually was the best one to face her anyway.
We departed the keep, and Arueshalae revealed to us what was no doubt one of the reasons she was being hunted so eagerly by the other demons; she knew the location of the Ivory Templar's fortress. We were low on food by that time, though, and elected to return to Drezen to resupply. Arueshalae did not wish to enter a nest of paladins, for which I cannot blame her, and said she would monitor the Templars and meet up with us when we made our assault, keeping in contact through Sending.
On the way back, we stopped by the smaller Templar hideout to gather some temporary armor for Thane -- it does look odd to see him dressed as a worshipper of Baphomet -- and tried once more to waylay the Woundworm. This time, it was in its lair when we entered, and got the drop on us. We had prepared well, however, rendering ourselves resistant to its acid, and took far less damage then it might have hoped. I rendered it even less effective with a debilitating ray, and then Thane and Anvie did the bulk of the work of smiting it into the ground. This time, Anvie's penchant for hurling herself headlong into peril proved quite effective. She should be proud. After that, we had the sad work of gathering up the bodies the Woundworm had slain, including Sosiel's poor sibling.
Before we entered Drezen, I asked the more religiously learned among my friends what they knew about Desna, Arueshalae's chosen (choosing?) goddess. Neither Jadni nor Zsoltan are much for book learning, so details were lacking, but they did manage to convey that Desna is considered quite different outside of Cheliax than she is within it. She is not, for example, generally considered a monstrous force of chaos that insidiously invades the dreams of the helplessly sleeping to spread her subversive messages of disorder. Nor are butterflies considered an invasive pest in most of Golarion. I suppose I should have realized earlier she was more trustworthy than I had been led to believe, given her widespread support among those in Cheliax who work behind the scenes to free halflings from their bondage. But it is difficult to see beyond what we have been raised to think, sometimes.
Much to consider there.
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXIV: Our Demons Come Home to Roost
I have, at times in this chronicle, been somewhat judgemental of my colleagues. I like to think, however, that I am capable of being even-handed in my assessments, able to realize both when I have been in the wrong and someone else has been in the right. So I will begin this chapter by saying this:
I should have listened to Jadni more.
Many things went into the dire situation we currently find ourselves in, including some factors we had little control over. But if we had paid more attention to her warnings, the danger might have been considerably mitigated. I suppose I have been foolish not to imagine that while we were making plans against our foes, our foes would be making similar plans against us...
To explain --
We made our return to Drezen expecting little more than a quiet morning followed by a chance for a decent night's sleep. We arrived instead to find a stream of refugees rushing through the gates, a mysterious crowd at the cathedral, and the remains of the armies shoring up the defenses. We quickly made our way to Irabeth to discover what was amiss. She was, to my surprise, somewhat disappointed to see it was us. She had summoned the clerics and been expecting them to put in an appearance, but there had been no sign of them as of yet.
Nonetheless, she quickly explained the situation. The curious lightning storm we'd seen from the high vantage point days ago had been nothing less than a ritual to summon a demonic army. A demonic army that was even now marching on Drezen with the intent to take it back before reinforcements could arrive.
Jadni had opined that the storm might be something that required our urgent attention. But at the time, we had so many tasks pressing upon us, all seeming of the utmost urgency, that I was unable to prioritize one above another.
I should have listened.
We had a quick debate as to where we would be best placed for the defense. Jadni thought that the Sword of Valor was the key to our victory, and had to be guarded against flying foes. Others thought there would be little for it to guard if the demons broke through the walls and slew all those within. I deferred to Irabeth, who eventually decided that we should guard the front gate, with a signal to be sent by Aravashniel if we were needed at the tower.
Once again, Jadni was not wrong. I do not think we all should have been at the tower, but as it turned out, we should have split our forces from the beginning, to save precious time.
That being decided, we decamped to shore up the defenses as best we could. I unearthed a scroll of Move Earth I had been saving for such a purpose, and spent the next half hour or so rendering the bridge unusable to our foes. I was nearly assaulted by a mob for my troubles, when rumors began that I was in league with the demons and stranding the refugees outside the walls, but I managed to calm them down by pointing out that the soldiers would not simply be watching me if my purpose was inimical, and with promises that I would make sure all stragglers made it in.
Meanwhile... HORRIBLE THINGS I still do not fully understand were apparently happening with the walls.
While I was working, a group of barely-armed soldiers WALKED OUT OF DREZEN INTO THE WOUNDED LANDS. I asked what was going on, and they said Thane had told them to leave. (!?) I asked them why he had asked them to desert the city and walk directly into the path of a demon army, and they DID NOT KNOW. (!?) Then one started insulting me. I ordered them to ignore Thane, get back in the city, grab weapons, and defend the walls. All but the one who was insulting me did so. He grabbed me, held a knife to my throat, and demanded to be allowed to desert and die. I had little patience for this, so I Suggested he turn himself in for desertion. I barely managed to cast the spell from within the grapple, but fortunately he was of weak will, and once it went off he duly demanded his own arrest. What was that about?
I finished with the bridge and used another scroll of Dimension Door to bring in the last few refugees, as I had promised (and as I would have done had I made no such promise.) As I took my position on the gate, Thane, Zsoltan, and Jadni joined me -- and Jadni was distraught and covered in blood, although apparently not her own? Something else had gone horribly wrong, but I had no time to learn what before we noticed fighting on the tower. Was someone attempting to filch the Sword of Valor? Who was it? The infiltrator we had never identified?
As I hurriedly cast spells on our group and the guards, the demon army approached, Vrocks and Bebiliths, and drake-riding demon knights, all led by none other than the Tiefling who'd dueled me with spells in the dungeon of Drezen citadel, the one who'd been enacting a foul and dangerous ritual. It was probably too much to hope, when she'd escaped, that we would hear no more of her...
We decided to split our forces, Jadni and Zsoltan heading to the tower, while Thane and I remained to keep the gate from being overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the Vrocks performed a mid-air ritual which shattered our defensive walls in a deafening explosion.
We our not without resources. We have not been taken by surprise this time, their approach has been impeded, and the Sword of Valor will weaken them. But our forces are split, and there are... a lot of demons.
A lot.
Memories of the fall of Kenabres are uncomfortably close to mind.
I should have listened to Jadni more.
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Sorry about that; I am somewhat short on breath on account of all the running and shouting and hurtling toward towers at break-neck speeds. Drezen is about to fall to an overwhelming force of demons, rendering our entire expedition moot, and also dead.
I suppose we could have seen it coming, had we had our wits together. I did, in fact, see it coming to some degree, but didn't have the self-respect to convince myself of the urgency of my suspicions, let alone the others. Gods, why is it that you so rarely bequeath wisdom and confidence unto the same people? Something to consider when you guys inevitably scrap this burning shipwreck of a world and start over. While you're at it, you might also want to rethink your minimal-intervention philosophy. We really could have used a few more pointers. Perhaps you cannot really conceive of how limited our point of view is, dirtside in the wounded lands, while you float somewhere remote in blissful omnisapience.
In any case, while we were off gallivanting across the land for days so Tanaquil could collect her sexy dream succubus who wasn't even in a hurry to be saved, the Tiefling mage from the citadel's basement had all the time in the world to reattempt her apocalyptic ritual with a fresh batch of vrocks. (One of which, by the way, is of mythic proportions and glowing — no doubt another of those freakishly overgrown monstrosities like the chimera and the wyrm that this land likes to spwan.)
All of that would be bad enough if our meagre ranks weren't consuming themselves in madness and corruption. I found Jesker, the wreck of an Erastil cleric we rescued from the lava cave a while ago, babbling in self-deprecating desperation while preparing to hurtle himself off the temple walls. It took both me and Thane our utmost to first talk and then shout him out of it. While Thane went off to rally the troops, I meant to traverse the temple to reach Jesker but was stopped by the sight of Sosiel cradling the corpse of Aron in a puddle of blood, throat freshly cut. Clearly the two of them hadn't suffered enough in the past weeks. I tried to talk to Sosiel, but he was mad with grief and attacked me with his sacred glaive before slumping back down next to his lover's corpse, clearly beyond any capability of lending our forces his much-needed clerical aid and succour.
When I reached Jesker, I found him drenched in fresh blood, which seemed to implicate him as the murderer (along with his crazed wailing about his horrible deeds), but since neither he nor Sosiel were willing to stoop to speaking a word to me about what had happened, I wasn't going to leap to assumptions. What if he had merely ineffectually tried to save Aron? I wasn't going to be the inquisitor who beheaded bystanders at a mere suspicion, tempted though I was. Instead, I threw him over my shoulder like a bag of turnips and carried him all the way to Irabeth. Even if he is guilty of the murder — be it by demonic possession or by ridiculously bad judgment — we might still get a few spells out of him, and that's better than having no cleric at all. I would much rather have saved Sosiel, but I had done what I could on that front. I'm afraid he will die alone in the temple when the demons breach the walls. Maybe we'll be lucky for once, and the demons will head straight for the citadel.
However exactly that murder ploy played out, it took out both of our two clerics and one of our two experienced scouts. No doubt this was the work of the infiltrator from the Baphomet temple (whether or not that person was Jesker). Well played. I would have loved the opportunity to root them out ahead of time. I was kind of looking forward to actually doing my job as an inquisitor for once, and perhaps even garner some positive public recognition for the profession, but no... we were gallivanting across the hinterlands in search of a sexy demoness while the infiltrator wrought their evil, and now it's too late.
And now I find myself guarding some pointless gate against ground troops while, far above us, the Sword of Valor is under attack and exposed to the vrocks and dragonriders. If it falls, any demon in the region and their demonic dog can teleport in, and the battle will be over. It's certainly what I would do in the invaders' shoes, and I did voice that concern to Irabeth and the others... but not convincingly enough, it would seem.
Maybe I should have a meltdown of guilt and self-pity too; it's certainly all the rage among the divine servants around here. But truth be told, I'd rather go out barreling up toward the tower like a vrocking cannonball, sword in hand, crimson cape billowing. Let's see if I can't distract them from the tapestry for long enough to make a difference.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXV: This Machine Kills Demons
Well. We have successfully defended the city, albeit at great cost.
Aron is dead, killed by Jesker, the priest of Erastil, who apparently went mad and has since disappeared. With both that and the death of his sibling, Sosiel is devastated, half-mad himself, and has renounced his god.
Aravashniel is dead, slain by lightning in a wizard's duel. We had our differences, but he has been a stalwart companion since the beginning of all of this. Now gone.
Many guards on the gate perished in the battle.
And Nurah is dead, dying as she lived, betraying our world to the demons. I doubt many others will mourn her, but I will. I played my own part in what she became.
Looking back on it, our choices still seemed to make sense at the time. Had we dealt with the barbarians instead of fighting the great wyrm, we might have had reinforcements come to our aid in time -- but would our assailants then have had a great dragon raining devastation down upon the city when they attacked? If we had spent more time in the city rather than clearing the cultists out of their lair, would we have spotted the signs that Nurah had returned, or that the priest of Erastil was losing his mind? But then, would the army attacking the city have been bolstered by the cultists? Looking back, we should have investigated the ritual that summoned the army before rescuing Arushaelae. But at the time, it seemed important to find out what the renegade demon knew -- intelligence that will indeed soon let us strike at the heart of enemy operations in this area -- before looking into what might have been a natural phenomenon of the Wounded Lands.
Or that's what I convinced myself. Oh so cleverly. Clever-clever Tanaquil who thinks she always knows best. Clever-clever Tanaquil who used clever-clever philosophy to successfully talk herself into following the path of evil. Clever-clever Tanaquil who cleverly ignored the fact that sometimes wisdom, like her cousin's, is more important than cleverness.
I've been a terrible cousin.
I've been a terrible friend.
I've been angry, impatient, imperious, unkind. Entirely because I've been dealing with my own s%&%. All the stuff from my past -- my parents, my choices. I've been angry at myself, and I've been taking it out on everyone around me. For goodness sake, I should treat Jadni more considerately than I treat Horgus.
I have to do better. People are dead because I haven't done better.
Well. All that being said.
When Thane and I joined the defence of the gate to keep the nonflying demons from pouring into the city and slaying all within, it quickly became apparent that our most important duty would be to take care of the Big Ones. Which we did, with fair speed. I cast debilitating spells until they were barely capable of crawling, and then Thane tore them to pieces with his sword. Things were clearly happening up on the tower while we fought -- the Sword of Valor came down, then went back up again -- but we of course could not assist until we were done. Fortuitously, we vanquished the last of the demons just as Aravashniel's signal came to summon reinforcements to the tower. We left behind us many dead crusaders, but also many who would have likewise perished without our help. And the civilians within the city walls for the most part survived. That isn't nothing.
When Thane and I arrived at the tower, we discovered that a fierce battle had been fought with an invisible Nurah, who had stabbed Anvie unconscious and brought down the Sword of Valor. Nurah was felled, however, by what sounded like a wild, lucky blow from Zsoltan. And Zsoltan's wild, lucky blows are nothing if not powerful. She was killed on the spot.
Soon after, Thane and I arrived on the scene at the same time as a demon commando team. A host of Vrocks, led by their glowing, powerful leader and the Tiefling ritualist wizard. Faced against them were myself, Thane, Jadni, Zsoltan, Anvie, Aravashniel, and Anevia.
And, well. My team may not be the best of strategists -- I certainly have learned that I am not, at any rate -- but as small group tacticians, there is one thing we do very, very well.
And that is kill demons.
They led their assault with some kind of a devastating Vrock dance that lashed us with lightning. Finding us vulnerable to this, the Tiefling followed up with a lightning bolt that slew poor Aravhasniel. The Vrocks were surrounded by mirror images that rendered many of my more powerful spells useless, a tactic I have employed to great advantage myself (I will have to acquire the spell of true sight sooner rather than late if I am to depend on such spells.)
I was not without resources, however, and soon determined that my best tactic was to distract, lead off, or otherwise render ineffective as many opponents as possible to keep my friends from being overwhelmed by numbers and outflanked. With judicious use of glitterdust, mirror image, suggestion, flight, my scrolls of greater dispel magic, and other spells, by the end I was leading two Vrocks on a merry chase, both of them fruitlessly trying to injure me while my friends stabbed and punched the others to death. I am fairly sure that I at least saved the lives of Anvie and Anevia that way, if not others, so that is something to be proud of.
The Tiefling hurled generic insults at us, much less interesting than last time and not worth the dignity of a reply. Having learned from our last encounter, I made her the target of my dispels, and without her powerful magic protections she proved little match for Zsoltan and Jadni. The demons likewise fell to them and Thane's holy sword.
And so we carried the day. Reinforcements have now arrived, and at least they have come to a city damaged rather than one occupied by a horde of demons.
And I am contemplating what I did wrong that led to this. I will try to do better.
And I think... I think we must take more responsibility for those we capture or turn instead of kill. I should encourage Zsoltan to talk to his uncle. I should talk more with Arushaelae. Nurah and Jesker are lessons we should not ignore.
There are many lessons here I should not ignore.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXVI: She's No Fun, She Fell Right Over
This entry is likely to be short; in many ways, not much has happened.
We spent sone time after the battle picking up the pieces. I made my apology to Jadni, who seemed to think I had little to apologize for. This horrifies me, since it likely means my irritation with everyone has been going on for so long that it's been taken as my normal behavior. And we all went to help Sosial bury Aron. Sosiel has lost his love and his faith, and is in a bad way. He had little time for platitudes, which I certainly understand. He is angry. I hope he knows he is not alone in that.
Jesker vanished during the battle. Jadni seems to think that the evidence does not absolutely point to him (or a demon possessing him) having killed Aron. I will admit that it is circumstantial, but nonetheless I thought it seemed fairly damning. I have attempted to contact him via Sending. He responded at first, asking me to leave him alone, and then stopped answering as the days passed. I will probably persist anyway. He may not wish to hear my 25 words each day, but it offers him a line to respond and ask for help if he ever needs to make use of it.
Once we were assured the city was safe and secure, we decamped to make our way to the secret redoubt of the cultists.
We met Arueshalae in the Wastelands, and I gave her a holy symbol of Desna I had acquired for her in town, by way of Horgus -- an icon formerly owned by a now-dead defender of the Citadel. I cleaned and repaired it. I like to think whoever it was would have appreciated its continued use in respecting their goddess. In any case, Arueshalae seemed to appreciate it. At one point, I thought she was on the verge of giving me a hug, but she refrained.
The entrance to the hiding spot was covered by an illusion that made it seem part of the cliff face, but as intended, I have now learned the use of True Sight, so I was able to pierce it easily. A lowered portcullis lay beyond. I caught a glimpse of guards in the shadows, so it seemed unlikely we could slip in unnoticed. We decided on frontal assault. I sprayed the guards with a Cone of Cold while my fellows attempted to bash through the portcullis.
The guards were the fiendish minotaurs who seem to be typical minions of the worshippers of Baphomet. Although they were resistant to the cold, the spell I began with still seemed to be the best use of my magic, as there were rather a lot of them and only a few of my spells cover multiple targets. Aruseshalae fired her arrows to great effect as well. The stabbed at us with their polearms through the bars, which were designed for such defenese, and cast some rather nasty miasmic spells. They caused some painful injuries thereby. But once my comrades had broken through, they did not last very long. I threw some spells that debilitated their strength once I could no longer cast area spells without hitting my fellows, and Thane and Jadni carved them into pieces.
We explored a bit more, and in a room to the side found an elf maiden presiding over a torture chamber. She seemed to recognize us. Unsure of the situation, Jadni attempted to subdue her without harm, and I cast a spell designed merely to exhaust her. But she took this amiss, revealed herself to be a demon in disguise, and cast a spell that blasted Jadni down to her bones (she got better.) Thane waded in and dispatched the demon entirely with a few mighty blows.
Her torture chamber was full of items of magic, including, oddly enough, a hot tub. We'll have to sort them all out later.
And that is where things stand.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXVII: The Diet Of Worms
Another short entry, I think.
We fought our way through most of the complex without much trouble. A set of spider-like entities sizzled us with lightning (Arueshalae asked after my health in the aftermath, which I thought was very kind of her.) Some demons appeared and attacked as Jadni tried to sneak invisibly past a room. We are experienced monster-slayers by this point, and disposed of both threats without much trouble. I think this may have made us a bit overconfident.
I was beginning to wonder where all the demon-cultists were in this demon-cultist headquarters when we opened a door and found the lot of them, a squad of warriors and wizards seeking to do us harm. One of them led with a stinking cloud, which rendered Arueshalae and myself helplessly vomiting. When I finally recovered, I dispelled it, and found myself faced with a dire sight. While the corpses of cultists littered the floor, all of my comrades seemed to be on their last legs. Thane was only moderately wounded, but Zsoltan was on the point of collapse, and Jadni was knocked unconscious even as I watched. Swarms of magic missiles from the wizards, I later learned, had taken a ferocious toll.
I waded in and began castings of my recently-learned spell Cone of Cold, which helped alter the odds as I was able to take out multiple foes at once. Jadni was revived, and the tables soon turned. Even the entrance of some enormous hunter demons, the kind who had been in pursuit of Arueshalae, did little to halt our second wind. But then a cultist used a dimensional door to go and alert her superior of our assault (a warning that resulting in her death at the hands of that superior, we later discovered.)
A hideous wizard made entirely of worms, as if they had devoured his corpse but retained its shape, strode into the room and began blasting us with deadly spells, leading with a killing cloud. We had been warned of his existence, but the warning did little good, as there wasn't much we could have done to prepare. Soon, he hurled a spell of disintegration that blasted poor Jadni down to her component atoms AGAIN. And this time, she didn't shrug it off (fortunately, we found some scolls which eventually enabled us to revive her.)
The battle that followed was a long fight of attrition -- we could barely hit our foe due to his spells. We ended up wearing our enemy down slowly with what little attacks our damage could do when they chanced to hit, while he blasted us with magic. But many small cuts have their effect in time, and finally we had worn him down so much that Thane was able to end it with a final strike from Radiance.
And that's all, really. We carried the day, and the holdout of the Ivory Templars is no more.
So, anyway. I've been thinking more about the issue of being good. Is what I've been doing enough? Fighting demons and cultists, defending cities, that's all very well, but couldn't any neutral mercenary have done the same? So what's the difference? My motivation? A vague and abstract quality at best. How does one distinguish between someone who saves puppies for altruistic reasons and someone who saves puppies for selfish reasons? Still, motivation might lead to differences in behavior over time, so should not be dismissed out of hand.
However, as everyone no doubt knows, all the motivation in the world achieves little without action. And have my actions truly been sufficient? What does good call for? What is its nature? Self-sacrifice? Selflessness? Empathy? Simple kindness? Whatever my murky motivations, when will I have done enough to begin to fullfill the precepts?
A puzzling, possibly endless question. Do paladins wrestle with these issues every day? From what I have seen, some do, and some very much do not. And that, possibly, is something I should take into account as well. At what point does one intermalize it enough that one stops doing good, and starts being good?
Hey Ragathiel—
so... was that you?
I suppose I should put too much trust in my recollections, given how disoriented I was when I returned from death. You seemed surprisingly informal and approachable for a god, and even for a general... no vast throne room, no chorus of archons singing your praises, just you and me against a featureless white backdrop. I wonder whether my mind just made it up, or whether you kindly reduced the complexity so I could make sense of it.
Either way, thanks for the kind words. There's a lot more work to do, and I'm here for it.
Death by disintegration is more painful than one might think, given how quick it is. Maybe it rends mind, body and soul alike? But then, I feel healthier and more focused now than before, like an oak on a hilltop. Maybe it's because of my shiny new body. I hear only a handful of dust remained of my old one. (What is that dust, by the way? The slag? That would explain it.)
Or maybe you pulled some strings when you sent me back, ironed out a few cracks and fault lines. I won't tell anyone if you don't.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXVIII: Only Trouble Is, Gee Whiz, I'm Dreaming My Life Away
The past week has mostly been focused upon preparation, for we have a grave, perhaps even stupid, mission ahead of us.
Some recovery time was needed -- all those who have come back from the dead seem rather shaken by the experience. It even shattered Jadni's usual insouciance.
I was also grateful to have an opportunity to speak more with Arueshalae. I discovered that she is troubled by her newfound ability to dream -- demons do not, it seems -- and we discussed the meaning of dreams, and the difficulties of attempting to lead a non-evil life. I think in some ways I am a good sounding board for such issues, since I have done extensive research on it, and in some ways a terrible one. I can offer none of the casual reassurances that my fellows can -- that redemption is possible, that there are rewards in the afterlife for the good and punishments for the bad, that leading a good life is in some way meaningful to the universe as a whole. Those all seem like nonsense to me. Candy rewards for children who behave in the desired manner. If a system of ethics is based on reward, for example, then changing what is rewarded changes the ethics. What kind of basis for morality is that?
Zsoltan also took some time to speak with his uncle, who as a result is now on some kind of work-release program. I can only see this as a positive development. Thane also requested that the execution of the deserter be delayed, at least until he returns from our upcoming travels -- more on that in a moment -- to sort things out. Perhaps he plans an act of mercy? I am not certain.
We debated for many hours over what to do with our scroll of resurrection, the whys and wherefores -- bring back Aron, Aravashnial, or keep it for our own use? Eventually, we decided to leave the decision in the hands of Irabeth, with a recommendation that it be used on Aron. However, she ultimately decided that it would be used on Aravashnial, for a purely practical reason; his skills were essential in the next mission we would be undertaking.
That mission? To travel to the Abyss itself, closing the portal behind us as we went, in order to negotiate with the Demon Lord Nocticula in the hopes that she would prevent further mining of the crystals being used to grant the demon invaders the incredible powers we have seen some exhibit.
This is, of course, completely insane. Should we even survive a jaunt to the Abyss, we have been given nothing to offer Nocticula, have no leverage to use upon her, and may have difficulty even getting her attention in the first place. The one point we have on our side is that she has not given permission for her realms to be mined, and may be incensed that her fellow Demon Lords have gone ahead with it anyway. Will that be enough to sway her? We shall see. At least having Arushaelae as a guide will be an important asset; she has been to Nocticula's lands. Without her help, I can only imagine we would be completely lost.
Which makes me glad that Irabeth, after listening to our assurances, made Arueshalae welcome in Drezen, even if she did not offer her complete trust. After discussion with Aruseshalae, we had brought her there in disguise, to avoid any difficulties with... crusaders who might be overly hasty to judge.
In any case, Aravashnial is crucial because a ritual must be enacted to close the portal, which requires someone remaining upon the mortal plane, and he is best suited for the task on that end. We have, at least, been granted a scroll of Plane Shift to enable our return.
If the ritual proves successful, a larger-scale version might someday be used on the Worldwound itself! So it is crucial to test it out. Which brings me to our task itself.
We travelled to the location we had been given for the portal -- something called The Lost Thane, possibly named after a relative of our paladin? -- and to our surprise, were greeted not with an attack, but with an offer to negotiate. Incubi ushered us inside, where an illusory projection of a demon named Minago, whom we had vaguely heard of, offered to let us be on our way through the portal, and even said she would grant us a wish for our trouble!
This was, of course, an obvious trap, and I am somewhat worried that Zsoltan seemed eager to take her up on it. I am not sure if that augurs well for his behavior on the plane of temptation itself.
In any event, she said closing the portal could not happen and was a non-negotiable point, and since that is non-negotiable on our side as well, I declared we were at an impasse, hoping my fellows would take the hint and start the attack. And indeed they did, but not all the demons surrounding us were fooled...
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXIX: Some Of Us Heard Yanniel And Some Of Us Heard Lauriel
The battle was quickly joined. Some of our foes raced in to attack us immediately, others were taken by surprise. There were incubi and giants on one side, demons and a tiefling on the other. Aruseshalae asked, not without reason, if starting a fight when we were completely surrounded was the best idea. It wasn't, but I had been genuinely hoping they would negotiate. Pity Minago's offer was both untenable and an obvious trap.
The tiefling turned invisible early on and left in disgust. I could see him, of course, but I let him go. No need to engage a foe who doesn't seek it. Minago also left, as I'd expected, after casting a few spells. The demons poured spells on us, but honestly fell without a lot of trouble; Thane had a bit of difficulty with a big one made of mucus and eyes, but it dropped pretty quickly when Zsoltan stepped in.
No, the big problem turned out to be the giants, especially once they were joined by a snake-bodied woman who seemed enraged to the point of insanity. I guess she'd really been counting on the negotiations succeeding. The giants pummelled us with mighty blows of their pickaxes, and Thane was nearly brought to death's door by them twice, with only Jadni's quick healing spells saving his life. Nonetheless, the giants fell in the end, as did the snake-woman.
Exploring the rest of the place revealed the portal itself, and also a peculiar discovery -- a woman, seemingly dead, wrapped in some kind of cocoon. We determined that this was a method that demons of Minago's ilk used to trap their foes and take their forms, and that freeing the victim without killing her would be a tricky procedure. We enlisted Aravashniel's help, and after some fiddly spell work, we set her free.
And it proved to be none other than the famous paladin Yanniel, original wielder of the sword Radiance, who had vanished mysteriously many years ago! Thane attempted to give her the sword and armor back, but she said they had chosen him and were his to use now. They seemed strangely invigorated by her presence -- I wonder if it will last. After that, Thane spent quite a lot of time trying to browbeat her into accompanying us to the Abyss, but she declined.
Incidentally, I had asked Arueshalae if she wanted to disguise herself before we freed a stranger who probably had every reason to detest demons, but she has decided that she has spent enough time disguising herself, and will do so no more. I must say I think this is a positive step for her in finding her way in her new life.
I also will admit I don't at all mind looking at her undisguised.
In any case, after much discussion with Yanniel -- she had been to the Abyss, but not the part of it where we were going -- we went to the portal to begin the ritual, Aravashnial staying on one side to perform his half, joined by Anvie and her fellows in our escort, and me going through to perform the other with Thane, Zsoltan, Jadni, and Arueshalae.
We emerged in a mineshaft studded with purple crystals. Even in the first moments, I could feel the oppressive weight of the Abyss itself.
Aravashnial and I began the ritual to close the portal.
And that, of course, is when the demon emerged from the portal and attacked.
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Some Of Us Heard Yanniel And Some Of Us Heard Lauriel
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXX: Dark City, Featuring Kiefer Succubus
Annoyingly, the first thing the demon did was turn Aravashnial's mind into a puddle of goo, effectively ending the ritual. Aravashnial has been having a hard time of it lately. The demon was also difficult to target, flipping back and forth from one side of the portal to another and turning near-incorporeal whenever we were on the wrong side. Eventually, though, we were able to wear it down and slay it.
We restored Aravashnial's mind, and finally proceeded with the ritual. Thane, Jadni, Zsoltan, Arueshalae, and myself were now in the Abyss itself, cut off from the mortal plane, with only a single scroll to return us home.
We began in the caverns that the invading demons had been mining for the strange crystals. Those crystals, it turns out, are the congealed blood of Demon Lords that Nocticula has slain. In fact, her entire realm, The Midnight Isles, is built out of their corpses. Remind me not to get on her bad side.
After exiting the caves, we wandered in the strange, dark wilderness for a time -- there is no sun here, plunging the entire realm into eternal night -- until we came across a set of four statues of Noctiicula which, we determined, could be used to transport us to her capital city if a particular set of rituals was enacted. This proved a bit difficult.
One statue required a spell of darkness, which I was able to provide thanks to my infernal heritage. Another required a spell of evil or chaos -- and I can cast evil spells due to that same heritage, but I refuse to do so now. Fortunately, Jadni proved capable of casting a spell of chaos; I wouldn't have expected it of her. My cousin has hidden depths.
Another required rather a lot of blood, which Thane volunteered to provide, and the last needed a kiss. Arueshalae said she would do this, since it would be equivalent to kissing a succubus, which is apparently very dangerous. Thane, however, was able to ward her against death, which prevented the negative effects from occurring. I'll have to remember that.
And so we were taken to the phantasmagorical city in the Abyss. A place of excessive beauty, ugliness, and unknown dangers, as well as a hub of interplanar commerce. With Arueshalae as our guide, we were able to obtain transportation (by canal boat, since walking is impractical in a city designed for teleportation, which I cannot yet do) and lodgings without much incident. The lodgings were at a place where Arueshalae used to be employed herself, and we were offered many temptations at the mere price of our souls. We of course refused, because... well, because frankly so far the demons here seem to be pretty crap at temptation. I haven't been offered a single thing I actually want yet, much less something I both want and would find difficult to obtain elsewhere. It doesn't seem to have occurred to them that tempting people with stuff they want and don't have might be the most effective way to do it. I can only imagine that in general, people who come here are already primed for temptation and are easy marks. Which would make sense, to be fair. I don't think we've come here for the usual reasons.
Thane did fall afoul of temptation once and ate a demon, but that was something of an accident.
Once we had rested, we spent our time looking for ways to attract Nocticula's attention, so as to proceed with the next stage of our plan. So far, we've come up with three possibilities:
1) Participating in a deadly tournament. This will, frankly, play to our strengths more than anything else.
2) Putting on a show for a bored succubus. We are not skilled entertainers, but have come up with a plan that will put our martial, magical, and acrobatic skills most in focus, and we are good at what we do, so perhaps it will suffice. Arueshalae seems to know the succubus in question; I don't know if that will cause any complications.
3) Free some high-profile slaves by purchase, ideally crusaders we can bring home with us.
We can only hope this is sufficient, and we will have to come up with more...
I finally found a great name for my Sword of the Planes. At first I was trying to come up with puns on «planes», but the choices were atrocious throughout. Plane Vanilla? Plane and Simple? Snakes on a Plane? Ugh.
No, I have named it Symmetry — proper amount of gravitas, fits well alongside Radiance, resonates with the Planes by its geometric connotations, and implies law and order, and thus anathema to demonkind. It sounds nice, too. Perfect.
It's time for the axis of Symmetry to bisect some demons.