Forgive me player for I have sinned. It has been 168 days since my last post. Wow, have I totally dropped the ball on that one.
Well, here’s to picking the ball back up and hopefully keeping it aloft for another year.
Due to the LARGE amount of game time, I will be doing a lot of summing up and getting progressively more and more detailed as we approach present game sessions.
You may want to peruse the Tuesday July 8 Post to catch you up on where I am starting from…..
While training in Jenna you also bought a lot of items to help do some rituals for Alakast. Not to mention a lot of sending spells back and forth to Anna Taskerhill. You find out that the politics in Cauldron are bad. Maavu gave himself up in order to save the city of Redgorge. Skellerag accepts Maavu’s surrender and brings the attacking army back to Cauldron and promptly puts Maavu to death in a public execution.
The Churches are in disagreement. The Cathedral of WeeJas is being accused of blocking the suns rays for the temple to Pelor. St. Cuthbert has a huge recruitment session going on and Jennya is having less and less to do with the management of the church.
The party begins making their way towards Caulderon… a 500 mile journey. Making their way through the rough scrub into the mountains the party is attacked by a large group of Babau demons. The party barely makes it out alive but takes out the Babau.
The next day the party is attacked again.. this time by a larger group. Chasing after the Babau is a short cowled sorcerer. He immediately enters the fray reading a scroll that banishes 3 of the Babau from the plane. Then he flashes into combat rittling the enemy with magic missiles. With his help the Babau are easily disposed of.
The Sorcerer introduces himself as Kaurophon. He continues to say he was sent “by the power of smoking eye” to guide the party to the outer plane of Occipitus. If the party can pass the Test of the Smoking Eye. They can cleanse Occipitus of evil and win a great victory for the forces of good.
After a bunch of questions to Kaurophon, you find out the following:
What’s Occipitus? Occipitus is another plane, once part of Celestia but now corrupted and consumed by evil. I’ve traveled its lands for years, and I think I’ve uncovered the secret of controlling the plane and cleansing it.
Who lives there? Few creatures do. Even demons regard it as haunted, because the light of good still shines there. Yet the evil is so strong that the angels of Celestia count it as lost forever. Unfortunately, some demons and other creatures have moved there, trying to pass the Test of the Smoking Eye and expunge what good remains there.
What is the Test of the Smoking Eye? It’s a test created by the former ruler of the plane, who disappeared years ago. Whoever passes the Test of the Smoking Eye becomes the new rightful ruler of Occipitus. I know the test has three parts, each hidden somewhere on Occipitus. Passing the first part of the test reveals the location of the second part, and so on. I stumbled upon the location of the first test, but I’m not powerful enough to pass it. The prophet’s final words give me hope that you have sufficient power.
Who ruled Occipitus before? A demon lord named Adimarchus, I believe. He vanished fifty years ago, likely slain by one of his countless enemies.
Where did the Babaus come from? Your recent actions against the forces of evil got you noticed by someone, and that someone sent the babaus out to finish you off. In fact, I suspect the attack may have something to do with the true enemy you face.
There is a lot more but this is the guts of what you find out.
You also learn that Kaurophon is evil due to the fact that he is ½ demon half human. However he is trying to change this about himself.
So, Minding the dying wish of Tercival you follow the smoking eye to Occipitus.
You all plane shift to Occipitus, the 507 layer of the Abyss. While most of the Abyss is crawling with demons, Occipitus has areas where the power of good hasn’t been completely expunged, so many fiends give the layer a wide berth.
This isn’t to say that Occipitus is a hospitable place to visit. When the part of the celestial landscape fell into Occipitus, Adimarchus used the power of the layer itself to consume the wreckage. This had the side effect of twisting Occipitus into the vaguely organic layer it is today. And the consumption of the celestial landscape is neither complete nor a one-way process. Parts of Occipitus remain a testament to the enduring power of good.
Occipitus appears as a great basin surrounded by impossibly steep mountains that rise to the sky. Near the center of the basin is a low mountain that looks likea half-buried skull. Amoeba-like blobs, known as plasms, bathe the entire landscape in a reddish light.
Despite its unusual nature, Occipitus is still a part of the Abyss, and the layer is mildly evil-aligned and mildly chaos-aligned.
When you arrive:
The Sky seems to be made fo flame, bathing every thing in a reddish flow. Off in the distance looms a massive skull: a white monolith the size of a small mountain. Clouds of flame stream from the skull’s single exposed eye socket and up in the sky. About a half-mile ahead stands a cluster of gently curving white pillars, almost oas if giant rib bones had been stuck in the ground. In the distance looms a steep mountain ridge whose top seems to touch the fiery sky. It stretches around the entire horizon – as if you were standing inside a vast bowl with a fiery lid. The ground is spongy and wrinkled. It’s more like skin than dirt.
Kauraphon quickly gets his berrings and begins leading you away from the ridge of cliffs infested with Slaadi.
You have an entertaining combat with a grey Slaadi and come across some local fauna.
The most important encounter you come across is with a group of Vrock. Eventually you have a long and frightening agreement with the Vrock. The agreement is that they are to take out another group of Demons on the other side of Occipitus. By removing them, the Vrock become the “ruling” band on the plane.
After these negotiations you make your way to the Cathedral of Feathers, a ruined structure once part of Celestia. The cathedral is in terrible disrepair, and is sitting at a slight angle. There are holes in the ceiling and the floor is covered in areas of light to very heavy rubble.
Every once in a while the whole structure flickers back to its original grandeur. It only lasts for about 10 seconds or so, but when it does, healing and spells of good and light are automatically maximized. The cathedral is gorgeous and fills your souls with warmth and wonder. Then the images crash back to the reality of the cathedrals current state.
The party searches the cathedral finding books and ancient bits of religious artifacts. While looking around the main Sanctuary you are attacked by a Succubus and spell wielding Noble Salamander. After these two enemies are dealt with you have some more time. You realize that some one has built a statue of Orcus in place of the statue of some other god. The party dismantles the statue and finds a stairwell leading down.
Kaurophan finds out that he is unable to descend the stairs and enter the first test of the Smoking eye
More updates to come shortly.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
4E must haves
Hello everyone.
I just got a heads up from a friend of mine about some pretty cool tools for 4E. Check them out HERE.
Also... there official erratta posted on June 11. They make some clarifications and some rule changes. Check em out.
I just got a heads up from a friend of mine about some pretty cool tools for 4E. Check them out HERE.
Also... there official erratta posted on June 11. They make some clarifications and some rule changes. Check em out.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Finding Alek and Losing him (7/6/08)
Dugobras (the very intelligent and talented firegiant) eagerly put his equipment away and is ready to help you with the upcoming battle. He explains the rest of the dungeon and makes some agreements with the party in regards to who can live in the compound and some other party members have some ideas for trade relations.
Being quite happy with the outcome of the talks, he hands over a two handed blade to Connell who looks at the +3 blade and covets it gleefully. Dugobras says that Connell can have it if they agree to the aforementioned discussions about who can live in the compound with Dugobras.
With that the party sets out to slay the rest of the inhabitants contained within. Dugobras is quite adamant that he will not enter the room with the mirrors.
Moving ahead the party enters a room that looks quite holy. Four pillars support the ceiling and inset into each pillar is transparent globe, half full of a purplish liquid. this liquid flows out of the globe and down a channel cut onto the inside of each pillar into a central pool. Here, there is a shallow pool of the liquid and a beautiful golden chalice. Barrett quickly swipes the chalice and Dugobras warns the party that the liquid is VERY powerful, but is also very, very addictive and ultimately leaves the imbiber much worse off.
The next room is a throne room with bas releaf carved at the base of the 7' tall dias. the throne is huge with three sets of arm rests (obviously for the spell weavers). Dugobras says there is some nasty undead that the hags have made. At this the party moves to the next room. In the room is the last remaining Hag and six, 6 armed, huge skellitons.
Pepper gives everyone a haste and Dugobras wades into the fray taking down two of these skeletons in 4 swings. Then the amazing undead basher Bolgrim has a turn and to everyones shock he evaporates only one. the combat ensues, but between Dugobras and Bolgrim, the skeletons pose very little threat and the Hag is no match for the five others.
After searching the room the party finds quite a bit of treasure, but most importantly they find Alkalast and 20,000 GP. It is decided that Churchkey will wield Alkalast. So in a private chamber Churchkey does a short ceremony, imbibes the potion given to the party by Nidrama and awakes the soul of Alkalast.
In the mean time the rest of the party is going through the loot and conversing with Dugobras.
After churchkey emerges the party heads into the "Throne" room. It is bizarre chamber....that.... that... oh, its too hard to explain. Let me find some pictures and post them.
Sitting on the throne is Alek. He looks withdrawn and slack jawed. The Mirror is black and perfectly reflective. The party moves into the room being careful not to cross the "thresh hold" of the colored tiles and lines on the floor. Others are searching the mirror and around the mirror and yet others are trying to talk with Alek.
Alek is morbid and sad. He stands and stumble steps his way over towards Pepper. He then drops the dagger that was in his hands and with that four creatures emerge from the mirror akin to Stargate special effects. The battle ensues. Most remarkably is that Alek brandishes from seemingly know where a crystal blade and slides the blade deep into Peppers back. It takes no time at all for the party to rip this crystalline creatures apart.
It becomes quite evident that "Alek" is not the real Alek but a disguised crystalline creature. However, the dagger he was holding is a dagger with the symbols of the Tercival family engraved on it.
With this the question is how to enter the mirror and what are the clues.
To make a long story short the mirror puzzles is quite complex. If you don't have both the order of the colors and the number pattern then you are totally hosed. However, even if you have both it took many minutes of contemplation and communication with one another to solve the puzzle. A couple of intelligence checks later and some ideas came forward to help solve the puzzle.
Upon completion of the puzzle the party shows up in some kind of burial chamber. there are 12 7 foot tall urns (6 on each side of the room) a huge iron door is on the other side of the room from which the party appeared and leaning against the door is a severely mentally unbalance Alek Tercival. He has been stuck in the mirrors for a few days before he figured out the puzzle and then has spent a few weeks stuck in this room.
He has come to the conclusion that despite his heart being true, he was blindsided and used by the hags to carry out their evil deeds. He thought he was conquering evil, when in fact he was helping evil carry out a larger plan. The destruction of Cauldron. Alek is mental broken as is his spirit.
It takes some work, but after a few hours they party is able to break down the Iron door. They opt, that when the door is about a 1/2 hour from coming down that they should sleep, memorize spells etc.
The door comes down and they enter a hall with steps that climb about 15' and enter into a large room that exits into a rough, rocky, scrub desert. It is morning and the heat is already in the 80's. The party gets ready to head out and see what they can find when telporting next to them is a huge 15' tall, 4 armed daemon. He spouts angerly at Alek and the party, "My work shall not be thwarted, Cauldron will fall and that means that Alek must die!". At this Alek charges into melee having regained his strength and spirit.
Battle ensues against this behemoth. The Demon seems to forgo his other abilities and seems to just focus on killing Alek. The rest of the party swings and finds that not only it this creature amazingly well armored, but has many damage resistances. However, Alkalast seems to cut through the daemons resistances like butter.
Alek screams, "You shall fall to the ground and lick the sand Nabthatoron! Just as I may do the same, you will come with me."
Unfortunately Alek is totally decimated the following round. His leg is severed and a good part of his intestines are spilling out onto the sandy soil. However, Nabthatoron his heavily wounded. Having become so single minded in his actions he let his defenses down and teleports away from the party.
At this... Alek begins to breath. Churchkey runs to his side where coming from Aleks mouth are the following words:
There is naught left for you in Cauldron, heroes! To return is to enter your own graves and to bring doom upon all you love! Trust the sign of the Smoking Eye if you wish to save them all."
Those words are spoken in the voice of Nidrama.
At this the party spends some time preparing the body of Alek and deciding what to do. There are some message spells sent back and forth to Anna Taskerhill and among those messages is the information that the Lord Mayor is missing and that Vhalantru has taken over the ruling of the city. Anna is doing some research on "the smoking eye" and will get back to the party ASAP.
By the end of the day the party finds a rough road cut into the desert scrub. It is not much, but it is something. Connell determines that the party is far south of their homeland (from the stars) but no idea how far east or west.
In another day they make their way to a community that is more like a watering hole for travelers and another 2 days from there they come to the city of Jennen. A large city of around 5,000 permanent residence about close to 300 visitors are in the city at any time. For this is the last major inhabitants before one is to cross the desert.
the party finds they are about 500 miles from Cauldron but spend the week in Jennen training, buying equipment and resting after the arduous last week.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
4E character sheets
Although we have at least another year before we finish "The Shackled City" I thought it would be nice to share a bit about some upcoming 4E features. Here is a bit of fun for everyone. Heroforge has already been pumping out the 4E characters sheets. It still takes a book to make a character, but it also help solidify what a character will look like.
Enjoy and happy character making.
Your happy little GM
Claude
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Giants hurt like, like a lot.
Picking up where we left off before....
the party forms back up and charges down the corridor where there are three healthy hill giants and the terribly wounded one in the back.
Gulp.
The wounded hill giant goes down with a well place kai strike. The other three turns out of be a battle blood and well... lets just say if it wasn't for Pepper and that spell he casts that gives "emergency hit points" when a party member falls. We might be three party members lower than we are now.
The battle was tough and obviously quite bloody. Donner fell, Churchkey fell and Conell fell. Not to mention that Barrett and Pepper were both reduced to near 0 hit points at one point or another.
Long story short. The party was victorious when as they are cleaning up the mess and looting they hear some doors opening down a corridor. The party runs like the dickens. They are in no condition to fight.
The party runs except for Barrett who uses his invisibility potion and his boots of spider climbing. takes a twenty and hides in a perch near the ceiling. Playing reconnaissance, Barrette determines that there are 5 ettens, a fire giant and three strange women with bug like arms and a third eye in their forehead. These women are obviously in charge. Two Ettens go off with the fire giant and return moments later with bolts, lumber, nails etc.
Two other go and play watch up top and the last Etten heads off with the three women. The two with the building materials work for a good 1/2 hour and then return to help guard with the other two ettens and the last etten returns to help take shifts.
Barrett sneaks out invisible and finds the party that is resting in the giant mettle tube about 1/2 a mile away.
The next day the group makes a bit of a venture up to the two "smoke stacks" and realize that going in that way is not only nearly death but they have no idea what is below and is probably way too dangerous. They do venture further up and find that there is another possible entrance into the the caves but this one is blocked by giant tree trunks and braced on the back side with nails, bolts etc.
With this, a plot comes together. Two party members begin to set the wooden blockade on fire with 4 flasks of oil and notching the logs to help start the tinder.
Then, Churchkey... mounted calls out the Ettens on the ledge. As they show themselves throwing javelin's. Bolgrim casts a mass command spell on them. It works. Barrett...with a silent stone in hand, climbs the wall and will eventually throw the stone into the opening to block the sound from alerting the rest of the Ettens. As the Ettens climb down the wall the rest of the party jumps out to attack them.
One Etten makes a save their second round and begins climbing back into the balcony, the other Etten continues to move towards Bolgrim. Barrett, in an attempt to stop the other Etten charges into the room and does a CRAP load of damage. The Etten responds with A CRAP load of of damage. Fortunatly, Barrett is able to kill the Etten before it can respond again.
The party makes quick work of the Etten on the ground.
Gathering themselves back up on the balcony the begin to make their way down into the "Hill Giant Room". Here they encounter an Etten on watch and two others sleeping. The Etten on watch spots Barrett sneaking and screams. The others leap to life while the awake guard charges forward. A bloody battle ensues. At one point the party sees a Firegiant enter the room and leave.
When the party finally takes out the Ettens they can hear sounds coming from behind some huge doors at the end of a 50 foot hallway. The group is watching and searching the room when a three women show up out of know where as a magical cage appears around Connel.
Churchkey orders the group to attack the women and ignor the giant. Use the magical cage as a barrier for the giant. At that the party leaps into action. These women are a lot tougher than anticipated. They leap deftly out of the way of Pepper lighting bolt. One of them lashes out with her warty claw and drains the strength from Barrett. The others step back and cast some spells. Churchkey sloughs off one of the spells and Donner is able to resist another.
The group attacks as best they can doing damage but they are very good at resisting attacks. Pepper casts a wall of fire to segregate two of the women from the one in melee. The group then descends on the lone Hag. When unexpectedly the other two fly over the wall of fire and land ready for combat. When a number of good attacks take place and two of the woman fall. The last runs through the fire and Churchkey charges after.
Churchkey runs down a corridor and yells I'm chasing her when as he runs he comes to a dead end but sees a Fire Giant that also seems a bit shocked to see Churchkey. The rest of the party closes in with the Firegiant but as combat is about to begin the Giant yells in very good common, "Stop... lets talk"
In essense, Churchkey and the giant parle a 10 min time where the giant will gather his equipment and walk away with no combat. When the giant packs up a silver and platinum cage with runes carved into it. At this another discussion ensues. Combat looks almost inevitable. Basically what the party realizes is that the Giant really is a blacksmith and is here because of the magical forge. He doesn't care about the other creatures here other than they keep him protected from the dangers of the demonskar.
The giant offers to help destroy the Hag, give a map of the rest of the caves and will remove the force cage around Connel if they will let him stay.
The Giant puts his equipment down... draws a wand and lets Connel out of the cage. He then introduces himself as Dugobras. Sets his smithing equipment back up and offers to make the party equipment if they need it.
They later find out that this is probably the physically strongest FireGiant they will ever encounter and when they find out he has three attacks per round are quite happy they didn't combat this behemoth of an opponent. Especially after the previous combats. Party members would definitely hit the pavement and hard.
That is agreed upon that he can stay as long as he helps and it is here that we finished.
the party forms back up and charges down the corridor where there are three healthy hill giants and the terribly wounded one in the back.
Gulp.
The wounded hill giant goes down with a well place kai strike. The other three turns out of be a battle blood and well... lets just say if it wasn't for Pepper and that spell he casts that gives "emergency hit points" when a party member falls. We might be three party members lower than we are now.
The battle was tough and obviously quite bloody. Donner fell, Churchkey fell and Conell fell. Not to mention that Barrett and Pepper were both reduced to near 0 hit points at one point or another.
Long story short. The party was victorious when as they are cleaning up the mess and looting they hear some doors opening down a corridor. The party runs like the dickens. They are in no condition to fight.
The party runs except for Barrett who uses his invisibility potion and his boots of spider climbing. takes a twenty and hides in a perch near the ceiling. Playing reconnaissance, Barrette determines that there are 5 ettens, a fire giant and three strange women with bug like arms and a third eye in their forehead. These women are obviously in charge. Two Ettens go off with the fire giant and return moments later with bolts, lumber, nails etc.
Two other go and play watch up top and the last Etten heads off with the three women. The two with the building materials work for a good 1/2 hour and then return to help guard with the other two ettens and the last etten returns to help take shifts.
Barrett sneaks out invisible and finds the party that is resting in the giant mettle tube about 1/2 a mile away.
The next day the group makes a bit of a venture up to the two "smoke stacks" and realize that going in that way is not only nearly death but they have no idea what is below and is probably way too dangerous. They do venture further up and find that there is another possible entrance into the the caves but this one is blocked by giant tree trunks and braced on the back side with nails, bolts etc.
With this, a plot comes together. Two party members begin to set the wooden blockade on fire with 4 flasks of oil and notching the logs to help start the tinder.
Then, Churchkey... mounted calls out the Ettens on the ledge. As they show themselves throwing javelin's. Bolgrim casts a mass command spell on them. It works. Barrett...with a silent stone in hand, climbs the wall and will eventually throw the stone into the opening to block the sound from alerting the rest of the Ettens. As the Ettens climb down the wall the rest of the party jumps out to attack them.
One Etten makes a save their second round and begins climbing back into the balcony, the other Etten continues to move towards Bolgrim. Barrett, in an attempt to stop the other Etten charges into the room and does a CRAP load of damage. The Etten responds with A CRAP load of of damage. Fortunatly, Barrett is able to kill the Etten before it can respond again.
The party makes quick work of the Etten on the ground.
Gathering themselves back up on the balcony the begin to make their way down into the "Hill Giant Room". Here they encounter an Etten on watch and two others sleeping. The Etten on watch spots Barrett sneaking and screams. The others leap to life while the awake guard charges forward. A bloody battle ensues. At one point the party sees a Firegiant enter the room and leave.
When the party finally takes out the Ettens they can hear sounds coming from behind some huge doors at the end of a 50 foot hallway. The group is watching and searching the room when a three women show up out of know where as a magical cage appears around Connel.
Churchkey orders the group to attack the women and ignor the giant. Use the magical cage as a barrier for the giant. At that the party leaps into action. These women are a lot tougher than anticipated. They leap deftly out of the way of Pepper lighting bolt. One of them lashes out with her warty claw and drains the strength from Barrett. The others step back and cast some spells. Churchkey sloughs off one of the spells and Donner is able to resist another.
The group attacks as best they can doing damage but they are very good at resisting attacks. Pepper casts a wall of fire to segregate two of the women from the one in melee. The group then descends on the lone Hag. When unexpectedly the other two fly over the wall of fire and land ready for combat. When a number of good attacks take place and two of the woman fall. The last runs through the fire and Churchkey charges after.
Churchkey runs down a corridor and yells I'm chasing her when as he runs he comes to a dead end but sees a Fire Giant that also seems a bit shocked to see Churchkey. The rest of the party closes in with the Firegiant but as combat is about to begin the Giant yells in very good common, "Stop... lets talk"
In essense, Churchkey and the giant parle a 10 min time where the giant will gather his equipment and walk away with no combat. When the giant packs up a silver and platinum cage with runes carved into it. At this another discussion ensues. Combat looks almost inevitable. Basically what the party realizes is that the Giant really is a blacksmith and is here because of the magical forge. He doesn't care about the other creatures here other than they keep him protected from the dangers of the demonskar.
The giant offers to help destroy the Hag, give a map of the rest of the caves and will remove the force cage around Connel if they will let him stay.
The Giant puts his equipment down... draws a wand and lets Connel out of the cage. He then introduces himself as Dugobras. Sets his smithing equipment back up and offers to make the party equipment if they need it.
They later find out that this is probably the physically strongest FireGiant they will ever encounter and when they find out he has three attacks per round are quite happy they didn't combat this behemoth of an opponent. Especially after the previous combats. Party members would definitely hit the pavement and hard.
That is agreed upon that he can stay as long as he helps and it is here that we finished.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
I'm such a slacker (5/30/08)
I am so terribly sorry for the late updates. End of the school year has kept from doing the hobbies in my life. Oh that and selling Sara's house and looking for a house and planning a wedding and... well you get the idea.
Jooj.... great posts. I enjoyed reading them and I have some responses for you.
But... on to the real guts... a relatively short and important update on our last two sessions. This will be brief, but at least everyone will know whats up.
After the riots in Cauldron there was a meeting with many of the nobles and the current leadership of Cauldron including the Lord Mayor, Vhalantru and Skellerang (as well as others). They agreement was to let all of the prisoners go free. Have a public day of morning for the 25 or so deaths (many of whom where city guards) not to mentions the hundreds of injuries. The 1/2 Orcs will move to an encampment outside the city walls and there will be a three month reprieve in the city taxes.
However Maavu is still responsible for his actions and is seen as the head raconteur and thus is still wanted. Due to the speech Maavu made which using the original law laid down Alek Tercival (one of the original founding families) is challenging Skellerang for his position (under charges that Skellerang is corrupt) but now Alex is missing. So the party starts looking for Alek
They find out that Alek has been living in poverty because he has been using all of his adventuring money to pay off ancient family debts and has been selling many of his goods to a Merchant named Tygot. He is the Antique and Archaeologist of the city. Many people who want info about old non-magical objects and/or buy old artifacts peruse his shop.
The party visits Tygot and find a lot of bizarre things on his ledger that Alek has sold to Tygot... but one catches the parties eye. An ancient silver tablet with a crude map carved on the back.
After much research and talking with a variety of people over time... the party discovers a lot of info about this Hegemonic tablet. I am incorporating many days research and chatting in one place even though the info was found out over time:
Eventually the party makes their way to the town of Redgorge. After a brief encounter in the local tavern they are brought to a hidden underground shrine and headcorders for The Chisel. A group dedicated to protecting the region and support arts and craftsmen. Lately the largest threat to both is a group they have come to know as The Cagewrights. They are most anxious because many of their members have violated the Chisel's code and become selfish and neutral toward the governments actions.
What the party finds out with the Chisel is the following:
The party gets some Canoes and food and heads down stream where they have confirmed there is a headless statue about 4 or so hours from Redgorge.
As the party is approaching the statue they are ambushed by a bunch of Gnolls. It is a little dicey as first but after about 30 seconds of combat it is quite apparent who the victors will be. The two gnolls get away.
As the party searches the area the realize the statue is that of a daemon. They also find Alek's boat upside down and covered with branches and vines.
Later the party follows a game trial and eventually a small bluff forms to their north. After a bit longer they come across a cave. There is some kind of creature that has taken up residence in the cave and they quickly dispatch it. inside the cave they find a cot, hooks etc. But obviously for something quite large (8-10' in hight) but they also find a spent wand with the Church of St. Cuthbert stamped into the bottom of the wand.
The party continues to travel west, north west and as dusk approaches they make camp. Not long after dark a winged vulture/woman attacks and is vicious. She can make duplicates of her self at will and moves like the wind cutting and scratching. Eventually the party takes the beast down... but they are exhausted.
About 5 min after the beasts demise the jungle goes quite and then a pinpoint of pure white lite opens and out steps a beautiful winged Angle who introduces herself as Nidrama. (the same angle that helped Surabar Spellmason).
After casting a number of spells she begins to speak:
"Powerful forces of chaos and evil are afoot. I dare not remain here long lest my presence attract the attention of those forces. Yet I could not sit by and watch you march into danger without warning you. The Lord of the Demonskar knows of your approach, and even now his minions prepare for your arrival. They shall use deceit and treachery against you, just as they have done with Alek Tercival before you. You must remain resolute; Alek Tercival must be saved. I have no aid to offer you but knowledge and a few spells. In ages past, I provided to Surbar Spellmason a powerful weapon to assist him in his conflict with the Lord of the Demonskar. This was Alakast, a quarterstaff infused with an undying hatred of the fiends of the outer rifts. I know for my brother and I forged this weapon to aid Surbar. Alakast is not just a quarter staff, it is my brother... the staff contains the soul of the movanic deva Alakast an ardent warrior against demons and devils.
Unfortunately, Alakast was stolen centuries ago, ripped from Spellmason's tomb by a grave robber. Yet do not despair, for it is fated that Alakast would be wielded again against the lord of the Demonskar. It has found its way to your , and all that needs to be done is for you to claim it. Seek Alakast in the lair of my false sisters, behold the watchful eyes of the north. This is all I am at liberty to say... I wish you well in your travails, heroes, and never loose sight of your goals."
With this she closes her eyes and the ill effects of fighting the demon slough off of the party and wounds heal. At this Nidrama herself slips back into the glow of pure light and winks out of existence.
The adventurers sleep that night much better then expected. The next morning they continue down the hunting trial. It ends abruptly and the trees thin out considerably, granting a clear view of the sky. To the north, roiling yellow and brown clouds boil above the jagged baron horizon. The jagged line of the Demonskar's rim broods at the base of these clouds. The ground itself between here and the rim is strewn with razor-sharp ridges of volcanic glass and jagged stone. Ruined strips of what can only be the metal framework of ancient structures protrude from the ground. One particularly large structure juts from the ground only twenty feet from the end of the trail. The ruin appears like nothing more than a massive pipe protruding from the ground, its twenty foot wide, two foot thick frame sloping down into the tortured earth at a gentle slope.
At this point the vanguard enters the tube and follows the crude map on the back of the hegemonic plate. They ignore the mass of smaller tunnels and continue following the main tunnel. After what must be 5 or more miles of walking they begin to hear some strange inhuman screaming. It comes and goes at random times.
As the party moves forward the sound gets louder and louder. eventually the party exits the tube into the center of some craggy crevasse torn into the earth. Somewhere in the Demonskar.
Out of the dark passage sharp jagged rocks hang over a small ledge in the southeast part of a wide pit. The pit, roughly one hundred and fifty feet in diameter is set at the bottom of a large fisure among the arid, crystalline hills that boarder the Demonskar. Puffs of eye-watering smoke seep from a pool at the bottom of the chasm, about fifty feet below. On the other side of the chasm, a pair of gigantic metal tubes protrudes from the rock, extending nearly fifty feet and out of the fissure. The burning stink of sulfur and acid is everywhere and the ground and walls are wet with with foul smelling condensation. A ramp of roughly hewn stone steps winds down into the pit.
As the wind rises ans sweeps through the fissure, the two looming metal chimneys issue a thundering deep bellow that echoes across the landscape.
As they are moving down the ramp a few members spot a very small winged creature come out of the sulfur pool and move very quickly toward a hidden cave entrance. The few members that see the thing react. Donner dashes across the floor of the pit and a few spells are fired... namely a lightening bolt. It retaliates and disappears into the cave. Donner sees that it halts as it is opening a 2' tall door on the top of HUGE portcullis. He makes a swipe and misses. As the creature emerges on the other side of the portcullis Donner summons his internal energy and Ki strike brings down the winged beast.
To quickly sum up.. the party finds that there is a cave above the portcullis and there is a balcony overlooking the cavern floor. Inside is the larges Hill giant they have ever seen. Combat ensues and after a few rounds the giant runs. The party all enter the cave system from the balcony and note murder holes and a trail of blood. They are about to follow the trail of blood.
Jooj.... great posts. I enjoyed reading them and I have some responses for you.
But... on to the real guts... a relatively short and important update on our last two sessions. This will be brief, but at least everyone will know whats up.
After the riots in Cauldron there was a meeting with many of the nobles and the current leadership of Cauldron including the Lord Mayor, Vhalantru and Skellerang (as well as others). They agreement was to let all of the prisoners go free. Have a public day of morning for the 25 or so deaths (many of whom where city guards) not to mentions the hundreds of injuries. The 1/2 Orcs will move to an encampment outside the city walls and there will be a three month reprieve in the city taxes.
However Maavu is still responsible for his actions and is seen as the head raconteur and thus is still wanted. Due to the speech Maavu made which using the original law laid down Alek Tercival (one of the original founding families) is challenging Skellerang for his position (under charges that Skellerang is corrupt) but now Alex is missing. So the party starts looking for Alek
They find out that Alek has been living in poverty because he has been using all of his adventuring money to pay off ancient family debts and has been selling many of his goods to a Merchant named Tygot. He is the Antique and Archaeologist of the city. Many people who want info about old non-magical objects and/or buy old artifacts peruse his shop.
The party visits Tygot and find a lot of bizarre things on his ledger that Alek has sold to Tygot... but one catches the parties eye. An ancient silver tablet with a crude map carved on the back.
After much research and talking with a variety of people over time... the party discovers a lot of info about this Hegemonic tablet. I am incorporating many days research and chatting in one place even though the info was found out over time:- The large figures are called Spell Weavers. Ancient being who used to dwell in the area.
- The figures that are being used as slave laborers are Ogres
- The figure held over the head of the Spell Weaver on the right is called a "Starry Mirror"
- the string of cyphers under mirror are numbers listed in the following order: 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3.
- On the left side are images that are read from bottom to top.
- The spell weavers are using ogre slaves to build the planar travel installation that malfunctioned and eventually created the "SCAR"
- The next scene are the same Ogres being given some magic elixir called "Amaranth" and shows the great improvement in how the Ogres work.
- The top scene shows the planar travel installation in its complete glory.
- On the back is some crude map carved with a knife or dagger.
Eventually the party makes their way to the town of Redgorge. After a brief encounter in the local tavern they are brought to a hidden underground shrine and headcorders for The Chisel. A group dedicated to protecting the region and support arts and craftsmen. Lately the largest threat to both is a group they have come to know as The Cagewrights. They are most anxious because many of their members have violated the Chisel's code and become selfish and neutral toward the governments actions.
What the party finds out with the Chisel is the following:
- the leader is named Oliron Masht
- Maavu is a senior member
- Mikimax is a Bard and senior member
- Alek was working with them and trying to help but he has gone missing.
- Fearful that the Chisel is becoming the scapegoat for the issues occurring in Calderon and more specifically Maavu.
- Information has it that Skellerang is going to march down to Redgorge in the next week or so with the 1/2 orcs and ransack the community
- the only thing to stop a second battle at Redgorge is to have Alek Tercival show back up thus bringing the issue back to law and to the noble families not on a battle field.
- Alek is the primary goal...
The party gets some Canoes and food and heads down stream where they have confirmed there is a headless statue about 4 or so hours from Redgorge.
As the party is approaching the statue they are ambushed by a bunch of Gnolls. It is a little dicey as first but after about 30 seconds of combat it is quite apparent who the victors will be. The two gnolls get away.
As the party searches the area the realize the statue is that of a daemon. They also find Alek's boat upside down and covered with branches and vines.
Later the party follows a game trial and eventually a small bluff forms to their north. After a bit longer they come across a cave. There is some kind of creature that has taken up residence in the cave and they quickly dispatch it. inside the cave they find a cot, hooks etc. But obviously for something quite large (8-10' in hight) but they also find a spent wand with the Church of St. Cuthbert stamped into the bottom of the wand.
The party continues to travel west, north west and as dusk approaches they make camp. Not long after dark a winged vulture/woman attacks and is vicious. She can make duplicates of her self at will and moves like the wind cutting and scratching. Eventually the party takes the beast down... but they are exhausted.
About 5 min after the beasts demise the jungle goes quite and then a pinpoint of pure white lite opens and out steps a beautiful winged Angle who introduces herself as Nidrama. (the same angle that helped Surabar Spellmason).
After casting a number of spells she begins to speak:
"Powerful forces of chaos and evil are afoot. I dare not remain here long lest my presence attract the attention of those forces. Yet I could not sit by and watch you march into danger without warning you. The Lord of the Demonskar knows of your approach, and even now his minions prepare for your arrival. They shall use deceit and treachery against you, just as they have done with Alek Tercival before you. You must remain resolute; Alek Tercival must be saved. I have no aid to offer you but knowledge and a few spells. In ages past, I provided to Surbar Spellmason a powerful weapon to assist him in his conflict with the Lord of the Demonskar. This was Alakast, a quarterstaff infused with an undying hatred of the fiends of the outer rifts. I know for my brother and I forged this weapon to aid Surbar. Alakast is not just a quarter staff, it is my brother... the staff contains the soul of the movanic deva Alakast an ardent warrior against demons and devils.
Unfortunately, Alakast was stolen centuries ago, ripped from Spellmason's tomb by a grave robber. Yet do not despair, for it is fated that Alakast would be wielded again against the lord of the Demonskar. It has found its way to your , and all that needs to be done is for you to claim it. Seek Alakast in the lair of my false sisters, behold the watchful eyes of the north. This is all I am at liberty to say... I wish you well in your travails, heroes, and never loose sight of your goals."
With this she closes her eyes and the ill effects of fighting the demon slough off of the party and wounds heal. At this Nidrama herself slips back into the glow of pure light and winks out of existence.
The adventurers sleep that night much better then expected. The next morning they continue down the hunting trial. It ends abruptly and the trees thin out considerably, granting a clear view of the sky. To the north, roiling yellow and brown clouds boil above the jagged baron horizon. The jagged line of the Demonskar's rim broods at the base of these clouds. The ground itself between here and the rim is strewn with razor-sharp ridges of volcanic glass and jagged stone. Ruined strips of what can only be the metal framework of ancient structures protrude from the ground. One particularly large structure juts from the ground only twenty feet from the end of the trail. The ruin appears like nothing more than a massive pipe protruding from the ground, its twenty foot wide, two foot thick frame sloping down into the tortured earth at a gentle slope.
At this point the vanguard enters the tube and follows the crude map on the back of the hegemonic plate. They ignore the mass of smaller tunnels and continue following the main tunnel. After what must be 5 or more miles of walking they begin to hear some strange inhuman screaming. It comes and goes at random times.
As the party moves forward the sound gets louder and louder. eventually the party exits the tube into the center of some craggy crevasse torn into the earth. Somewhere in the Demonskar.
Out of the dark passage sharp jagged rocks hang over a small ledge in the southeast part of a wide pit. The pit, roughly one hundred and fifty feet in diameter is set at the bottom of a large fisure among the arid, crystalline hills that boarder the Demonskar. Puffs of eye-watering smoke seep from a pool at the bottom of the chasm, about fifty feet below. On the other side of the chasm, a pair of gigantic metal tubes protrudes from the rock, extending nearly fifty feet and out of the fissure. The burning stink of sulfur and acid is everywhere and the ground and walls are wet with with foul smelling condensation. A ramp of roughly hewn stone steps winds down into the pit.
As the wind rises ans sweeps through the fissure, the two looming metal chimneys issue a thundering deep bellow that echoes across the landscape.
As they are moving down the ramp a few members spot a very small winged creature come out of the sulfur pool and move very quickly toward a hidden cave entrance. The few members that see the thing react. Donner dashes across the floor of the pit and a few spells are fired... namely a lightening bolt. It retaliates and disappears into the cave. Donner sees that it halts as it is opening a 2' tall door on the top of HUGE portcullis. He makes a swipe and misses. As the creature emerges on the other side of the portcullis Donner summons his internal energy and Ki strike brings down the winged beast.
To quickly sum up.. the party finds that there is a cave above the portcullis and there is a balcony overlooking the cavern floor. Inside is the larges Hill giant they have ever seen. Combat ensues and after a few rounds the giant runs. The party all enter the cave system from the balcony and note murder holes and a trail of blood. They are about to follow the trail of blood.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Riots are a fun and good time... 4/13/08
The party spends a few days at the Lucky Monkey. They heal up, and spend some time getting to know the Red Shields a bit more, who also happen to be at the Lucky Monkey. They were their protecting it while it was being rebuilt. The Necrocants proved to be too tough for them by a factor of ..... well lets just say it would be like a 2 year old and a Mack Truck playing chicken.
After spending a few days helping at rest the party decides that they really need to track down Maavu. Remembering that it was his warehouses that had the Umberhulk tear them to peaces. He was also a member of a secret order called "The Chisel" not to mention he is the merchant leading many of the current anger towards the government. Doing a bit of geographic analysis the group realizes it is faster to take the road back to Cauldron... skirt the city and make their way down to Redgorge.
Upon reaching the city gates Churchkey enters the city to check on Connel's armor. There he not only finds Connel's armor but a number of places where 1/2 orc guards have removed some broadsides and are being quite physical with the locals. Churchkey runs into this phenomena on a few occasions when he comes across a group of merchants who seem to becoming almost to blows with the 1/2 orcs. Anger is very high and weapons are drawn on both sides. luckily by the time Churchkey interveins only verbal barbs have been passed back and forth.
What the 1/2 orcs have been taking down are large broadsides that say this:
It is also quite important to note that Maavu is the one speaking at the meeting that night.
Churchkey quickly fetches the party and into the city they go. They take the day to clean-up and prepare. many people go about and do their own thing... Churchkey gathers his family, the Taskerhills, Aslanthans and some other noble families. They formulate a plan and head down to the city hall.
The streets are packed with easily 1ooo plus people... mostly merchant class who are angry and ready for action. Many are holding rocks, rotten fruit and some even have dirks in hand. To help matters (yea right) 1/2 orc guards in full armor and weapons have been stationed all over the streets, some are even on the roof of city hall with bows ready. At a balcony at an adjoining building are Churchkeys parents, and those of some of the other noble families. The balcony at City hall hold Vhalantru and the young Mayor himself with the protection of Terson Skellerang.
Anna, ready to speak when necessary stations herself on the streets near the city hall protected by Churchkey, Cora and Zachary. As the other party members are situating themselves the crowd is getting rowdy. They note a new, well made platform and podium that has been erected at a spot on the street to maximize both crowd and full view of the city hall balcony.
Tensions are high. 1/2 orcs two deep protect the city hall itself and they seem to be less than restrained in their dealings with the crowd. Meanwhile the crowd, packed tight, is screaming about the taxes, the guards, lack of government control and corruption.
At this time Sargent Krewis and a few 1/2 orcs station themselves about 30 feet from the podium with their backs against a building... they wait. This group seems to be the most well behaved of the guards. Krewis sees to this.
Moments later Maavu climbs the prominent dais and raises a hand the demonstrators calm down a bit. After a moment of silence, Maavu address the audience resolutely:
At this a youth from somewhere in the crowd screams, "Let's kill these half-orc brigands!" At this the gurgling scream of half-a-dozen guards are drowned out by the surging voices of the mob as it erupts into a full fledged riot.
At this litteral chaos ensues. Maavu casts a spell on himself. Krewis and his band of 1/2 orcs are being attacked by the crowd. Bolgrim sees the bloodied Krewis and links their life lines together.
The other major noticeable feature of the mob is that the archers on the roof top begin to fire into the crowd showing deadly force. However a goodly number of them are aiming directly at Maavu.
About 30 seconds later the nobles are missing and total destruction and violence has broken out. Krewis plays dead after being struck by Donner. Bolgrim casts airwalk on Donner and some wicked air-like creature becomes visible in front of Maavu and begins to lay siege on the Merchant.
More and more arrows punction the skin of this leader of the Merchant class and overcoming attacks by half-orcs and arrows is able to quaff a potion and turn to gas. The Merchant "runs" but the air creature follows.
Donner and the creature have a marry chase and combat. Krewis is also saved from the nightmare and deposited on a roof a few blocks away. Maavu gives thanks and flees the city begging the party to meet him at Redgorge.
Merchants have broken into a local liquor distribution warehouse and molotov cocktails, and battering rams are being created and used liberally.
Not long after the riot begins, the entire town guard breaks up the primary mob and restores order around City Hall by arresting and beating many citizens. Isolated pockets of rioters and looters continue to plague the city for a few hours. At this time Vhalantru and the lord mayor appear on the City Hall's balcony where they make a very public promise:
1. taxes will not be levied for three full months
2. half-orc guards will be curtailed and put on a shorter leash.
Town criers quickly spread the word around town and by dawn piece has taken hold of the city. guards are more prominent then ever, but all the guards are human. NO half-orcs are present in the city.
Later it becomes quite obvious that most of this was the result of a very serious discussion by the noble families and the city government officials.
That next evening, a few hours after sunset, the City Hall bell begins to ring, warning the population of a fire. Quickly reacting there is a local inn that is fiercely on fire. a bucket brigade has formed but it is noted that a number of people have refused to help put out the fire because the Inn in question houses a number of half-orcs.
As the party approaches they see a number of burly half-orcs begin chopping down the outlying wooden structures near the inn with their double bladed axes. This is an obvious attempt to prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings. From the crowd that is watching the party can hear shouts from random citizens ("go back to the hell you come from mongrels!", "Lets burn away the rot from your human half... FREAKS!") Of course to counter this angery 1/2 of Caulderon another large group of people are busily bucket brigading.
In front of the flaming inn is Pilok Minuta and a mercenary sergeant Rokewko arguing. The innkeeper pulls at his hair, crying and yelling to the big half-orc, "Your thugs are demolishing my inn! Stop Them!" Rokewko ignores the innkeeper and turns away to tell his axemen in Orc to continue. Pilok grabs at Rokewko's arm in an attempt to get the sergeant's attention. Bewildered, sweaty, and visibly scorched by fire Rokewko loses his temper and throws the innkeeper to the ground. The half-orc grabs Pilok's neck with a single hand, puts his foaming mouth so close to the innkeepers face that they are sharing air and yells, "You tiny idiot! You don't get it! Flame-deamons inside kill us! Fire unstoppable! Blades Useless!" As Pilok whines incoherently, the half-orc puls out a twisted scimitar that is only semifunctional after being warped from the heat.
At this a few member of the party dart into the inn to rescue the trapped scullery boy (from the orphanage) while other hunt for the deamon. It doesn't take long because two massive hulking 25' tall giants of animated flam begin attacking those trying to put out the fires.
Bolgrim pulls out a randomly memorized spell from his spell list and POOF! one of the fire creatures disappears. The party assaults the other. After a deadly and scorching combat the fire creature is vanquished. It doesn't take much research for Bolgrim and Pepper to find evidence that these creatures where summoned.
To shorten the events... the next day they party does some research on Alex Tercival and finds a local merchant that Alex has been doing a lot of business with lately. Apparently Alex has been tithing 10% of his earnings to the church and saving another 10%. But the other 80% has been going to paying off his debts and trying to buy back his ancestral land.
Amongst the items Alex brought back to sell for gold are varied and strange. The one with the most noteworth and worth purchasing from the store was a Hegemonic Plate.
The party makes their way to Redgorge to find out more about this plate and Alex Terceval.
After spending a few days helping at rest the party decides that they really need to track down Maavu. Remembering that it was his warehouses that had the Umberhulk tear them to peaces. He was also a member of a secret order called "The Chisel" not to mention he is the merchant leading many of the current anger towards the government. Doing a bit of geographic analysis the group realizes it is faster to take the road back to Cauldron... skirt the city and make their way down to Redgorge.
Upon reaching the city gates Churchkey enters the city to check on Connel's armor. There he not only finds Connel's armor but a number of places where 1/2 orc guards have removed some broadsides and are being quite physical with the locals. Churchkey runs into this phenomena on a few occasions when he comes across a group of merchants who seem to becoming almost to blows with the 1/2 orcs. Anger is very high and weapons are drawn on both sides. luckily by the time Churchkey interveins only verbal barbs have been passed back and forth.
What the 1/2 orcs have been taking down are large broadsides that say this:
It is also quite important to note that Maavu is the one speaking at the meeting that night.
Churchkey quickly fetches the party and into the city they go. They take the day to clean-up and prepare. many people go about and do their own thing... Churchkey gathers his family, the Taskerhills, Aslanthans and some other noble families. They formulate a plan and head down to the city hall.
The streets are packed with easily 1ooo plus people... mostly merchant class who are angry and ready for action. Many are holding rocks, rotten fruit and some even have dirks in hand. To help matters (yea right) 1/2 orc guards in full armor and weapons have been stationed all over the streets, some are even on the roof of city hall with bows ready. At a balcony at an adjoining building are Churchkeys parents, and those of some of the other noble families. The balcony at City hall hold Vhalantru and the young Mayor himself with the protection of Terson Skellerang.
Anna, ready to speak when necessary stations herself on the streets near the city hall protected by Churchkey, Cora and Zachary. As the other party members are situating themselves the crowd is getting rowdy. They note a new, well made platform and podium that has been erected at a spot on the street to maximize both crowd and full view of the city hall balcony.
Tensions are high. 1/2 orcs two deep protect the city hall itself and they seem to be less than restrained in their dealings with the crowd. Meanwhile the crowd, packed tight, is screaming about the taxes, the guards, lack of government control and corruption.
At this time Sargent Krewis and a few 1/2 orcs station themselves about 30 feet from the podium with their backs against a building... they wait. This group seems to be the most well behaved of the guards. Krewis sees to this.
Moments later Maavu climbs the prominent dais and raises a hand the demonstrators calm down a bit. After a moment of silence, Maavu address the audience resolutely:
"Fellow citizens, hear me! Hear my voice, and repeat my words tenfold so that those who have turned their backs on us are forced to hear! Hear me, for I speak for all of us!
My name is Maavu Arlintal, and I am one of you! I call Cauldron my home! I live and I do business here, and have for many years! Many of you know me, and I know you… We are all hard-working, trustworhy people!
Hard times have fallen upon this land! The roads grow more dangerous, and threatens to cut us off from our neighbors and partners in trade! An inn full of people – one of them the high priest of one of our own temples – were all senselessly murdered not a days ride from here! In recent days, dragons – yes, dragons – have threatened the skies and the passes! Stories of creatures unthinkable lurk in the fringes of the wild.
But we are a tough people, and have weathered tough times before! Heroes (at this Maavu points to members of the Vanguard and the Stormblades) and brave citizens like yourself have answered the challenges of protecting us and our lands, though others have been charged with that duty…
But the troubles have also found us at home… We have suffered in recent months, as our sons and daughters were stolen away from us by evil lurking beneath our streets! We have suffered as the rains came and flooded our dear city, and threatened to erode the very foundations of our livelihoods! A vile umber hulk from the darkened tunnels of the Abyss itself have torn through our homes and businesses in broad daylight – I know, for I suffered a great loss that day, though I came away with my life, and consider myself fortunate, and mourn those who perished.
But again we have not lain down, for we know how to get through hard times. Again, we have been blessed by the actions of brave citizens who have put their lives on the line to defend the defenseless. And again, others who should have answered that call have done nothing!
Alas, I misspeak, for actions have been taken. The leaders of Cauldron have spoken through the voice of the tax collectors! They offer promises with each outstretched palm, with each cut they take! For the good of Cauldron, they say! To repair the damage, they claim! To help those in need, they promise.
But what have they done with your hard earned coin? Nothing! Where are the repairs to the buildings damaged by the flood? They haven’t done any! Warehouses stand abandoned, about to fall into the lake! Where are the repairs to the street and the structures attacked by the hulk? They have not been done! And I was not the only one to lose business and property that day… There are many who have received nothing but empty words for their suffering!
As I said, many of you know me, and you know me as a man of action. I am not one to complain without a plan of recourse! I am here to say that Cauldron needs new leadership, a new protector who is not corrupt on power or gold. I am here to tell you that a challenge has been issued for the removal of Terseon Skellerang as Captain of the Town Guard.
I have here in my hand the formal written challenge, which has been presented to Skellerang and the Lord Mayor. This challenge invokes one of Cauldron’s oldest laws, the Law of Peers. Under this law, the five founding families of Cauldron have the right to challenge the office of the Captain of the Town Guard if one of them should feel that he unworthy, immoral, or incapable of seeing to his duties, which is the protection of the people. This law, laid down with the founding stones of our city, has never been needed – until now.
By the Law of Peers, only one of the five founding noble families has the right to challenge the Captain of the Guard. This does not leave much hope that one with the interests of the common citizen – of you and I – will be represented. But I am here to tell you that the one who has issued the challenge is such a person. They herald from one of the founding lineages, but their life has not been one of pampered luxury. They know what it means to suffer, as you do, and to rise above it, as you have before. The challenger is indeed one of the brave, heroic citizens who I have spoken of, who is willing to risk death to protect and help our city.
I am speaking of Alek Tercival.
At this Anna is pulling on Churchkeys arm in alarm. She is completely mute. No sound utters from her body. Cora pulls out a blade and drops into a defensive stance... Churchkey does the same. As does pepper and Zachary casts a spell.
At this a youth from somewhere in the crowd screams, "Let's kill these half-orc brigands!" At this the gurgling scream of half-a-dozen guards are drowned out by the surging voices of the mob as it erupts into a full fledged riot.
At this litteral chaos ensues. Maavu casts a spell on himself. Krewis and his band of 1/2 orcs are being attacked by the crowd. Bolgrim sees the bloodied Krewis and links their life lines together.
The other major noticeable feature of the mob is that the archers on the roof top begin to fire into the crowd showing deadly force. However a goodly number of them are aiming directly at Maavu.
About 30 seconds later the nobles are missing and total destruction and violence has broken out. Krewis plays dead after being struck by Donner. Bolgrim casts airwalk on Donner and some wicked air-like creature becomes visible in front of Maavu and begins to lay siege on the Merchant.
More and more arrows punction the skin of this leader of the Merchant class and overcoming attacks by half-orcs and arrows is able to quaff a potion and turn to gas. The Merchant "runs" but the air creature follows.
Donner and the creature have a marry chase and combat. Krewis is also saved from the nightmare and deposited on a roof a few blocks away. Maavu gives thanks and flees the city begging the party to meet him at Redgorge.
Merchants have broken into a local liquor distribution warehouse and molotov cocktails, and battering rams are being created and used liberally.
Not long after the riot begins, the entire town guard breaks up the primary mob and restores order around City Hall by arresting and beating many citizens. Isolated pockets of rioters and looters continue to plague the city for a few hours. At this time Vhalantru and the lord mayor appear on the City Hall's balcony where they make a very public promise:
1. taxes will not be levied for three full months
2. half-orc guards will be curtailed and put on a shorter leash.
Town criers quickly spread the word around town and by dawn piece has taken hold of the city. guards are more prominent then ever, but all the guards are human. NO half-orcs are present in the city.
Later it becomes quite obvious that most of this was the result of a very serious discussion by the noble families and the city government officials.
That next evening, a few hours after sunset, the City Hall bell begins to ring, warning the population of a fire. Quickly reacting there is a local inn that is fiercely on fire. a bucket brigade has formed but it is noted that a number of people have refused to help put out the fire because the Inn in question houses a number of half-orcs.
As the party approaches they see a number of burly half-orcs begin chopping down the outlying wooden structures near the inn with their double bladed axes. This is an obvious attempt to prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings. From the crowd that is watching the party can hear shouts from random citizens ("go back to the hell you come from mongrels!", "Lets burn away the rot from your human half... FREAKS!") Of course to counter this angery 1/2 of Caulderon another large group of people are busily bucket brigading.
In front of the flaming inn is Pilok Minuta and a mercenary sergeant Rokewko arguing. The innkeeper pulls at his hair, crying and yelling to the big half-orc, "Your thugs are demolishing my inn! Stop Them!" Rokewko ignores the innkeeper and turns away to tell his axemen in Orc to continue. Pilok grabs at Rokewko's arm in an attempt to get the sergeant's attention. Bewildered, sweaty, and visibly scorched by fire Rokewko loses his temper and throws the innkeeper to the ground. The half-orc grabs Pilok's neck with a single hand, puts his foaming mouth so close to the innkeepers face that they are sharing air and yells, "You tiny idiot! You don't get it! Flame-deamons inside kill us! Fire unstoppable! Blades Useless!" As Pilok whines incoherently, the half-orc puls out a twisted scimitar that is only semifunctional after being warped from the heat.
At this a few member of the party dart into the inn to rescue the trapped scullery boy (from the orphanage) while other hunt for the deamon. It doesn't take long because two massive hulking 25' tall giants of animated flam begin attacking those trying to put out the fires.
Bolgrim pulls out a randomly memorized spell from his spell list and POOF! one of the fire creatures disappears. The party assaults the other. After a deadly and scorching combat the fire creature is vanquished. It doesn't take much research for Bolgrim and Pepper to find evidence that these creatures where summoned.
To shorten the events... the next day they party does some research on Alex Tercival and finds a local merchant that Alex has been doing a lot of business with lately. Apparently Alex has been tithing 10% of his earnings to the church and saving another 10%. But the other 80% has been going to paying off his debts and trying to buy back his ancestral land.
Amongst the items Alex brought back to sell for gold are varied and strange. The one with the most noteworth and worth purchasing from the store was a Hegemonic Plate.
The party makes their way to Redgorge to find out more about this plate and Alex Terceval.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)