Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry, and sings to things she shouldn't
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Wizard; "The Dark Conjurer;" summoner of demon bunnies, and Andolin's twin
Skye Vindhalle, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies
Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter
Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders
Pimbin, the Halfling Shadow Monk of Nerull
Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and Cleric of Moradin, Guardian of the Book of Vile Darkness
Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins
Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin
Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon
Comrades we have lost:
Jayce, killed by Josiah
Jarrid, killed by Pharin, Pimbin, Andolin, and Dervish during the Championship in Kester
Pieces of Vecna acquired: Hand and Eye
Other components being kept out of the cult's hands: Book of Vile Darkness, Fang of Kas, and the sword hilt
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person.
***** Escape to Oryn's demiplane
When we finally made it back to the inn, which had fortunately not caught on fire, we spied thirty guards waiting just outside. It was clear they were waiting for us, and considering the chaos we had unleashed in the last hour, it was a pretty safe assumption that they were waiting to arrest us. Dervish panicked and used something to open a portal that would take us to Oryn. Everyone except for Lan decided to step through the portal to what we hoped was safety; the paladin was true to his nature and stayed to see what the guards wanted.
On the other side of the portal we found ourselves in a grey, barren wasteland- Oryn's personal demiplane. A few moments after our arrival Oryn came to see us, and we began to catch him up on the events of the last few days. Jarrid was dead, we lost the Head and Arm to the vampires, and Lan was with the sultan's guards. I was reprimanded by Oryn for dispelling the field around the arena, apparently our employer doesn't approve of me accidentally starting a riot and getting half of a town set on fire. I didn't mean to dispel the barrier, I was trying to dispel the anti-magic field; I wanted to help, though the riot will make a fantastic poem or ballad.
We learned that Oryn can see through our eyes, which is creepy, even if it is extremely useful. It was from this creepy ability of Oryn's that we learned Lan had been captured- the sultan was a cultist, the entire thing had been a trap; which wasn't terribly surprising since we have two cults after us. Lan was being tortured at that moment, but we needed a little bit of time before we could face whatever was inside that palace; we were exhausted and our resources were low. Using some sort of time dilation field, Oryn was able to make 72 hours pass in his plane while only a few minutes passed in the real world; he also granted each of us a gift to help in the coming trials we would face, I got an Efreeti Bottle.
When our time was up, Pharin suggested we make a quick trip to Ekbir to get better supplies before we went to the palace- I'll admit, the damned drow was right, we needed better gear to face this challenge. Everyone else argued about it, saying they didn't want to leave Lan in the clutches of the cult for too long, every minute he was in their hands was another minute they had to try to turn him against us. While the idea of facing evil Lan didn't sound good, walking into a trap where we were definitely outnumbered and outgunned didn't sound good either. The cult had far more time to prepare for this than we did, and unlike us, they knew exactly who they would be facing. Since they had had Jarrid on their side, they knew enough about our abilities to put things in place that could counter them. Pharin got tired of arguing with our comrades about this and exited the plane, returning to the spot we had entered, just a few minutes later. Andolin and I followed, and the rest of the group came after us- it was decided we would hit the Underbazaar in Kester for supplies, and we would not spend more than an hour.
The fire had spread into the Underbazaar in the minutes we were gone, and there was mass looting occurring... it was a good thing Lan wasn't with us, for we obviously joined in the looting. When we met back up an hour later we came up with a plan that we hoped would work. Pharin, Andolin, and Nanu would walk right into the palace, Pharin was the Champion after all, and he wanted his prize. Since Andolin was supposed to be dead he disguised himself as a high elf female- he was actually dead sexy. Nanu was disguised as a regular nightmare, since we didn't think they would let her waltz in to the palace as she was. Dervish, Skye, and I were also donning disguises- Dervish was a sovani, and Skye and I were drow- the three of us would attempt to sneak in through one of the back entrances to the palace that I had read about.
***** The Palace
When we arrived at the palace Andolin approached the guards at the gate to announce that the Champion had arrived to claim his prize. While he was talking to the guards, my team broke away to begin going around the side of the hill the palace was on. We didn't get far before some of the guards called out for Dervish to stop- he had the Hand, and the fuckers can sense the stupid pieces. He used something that gave him an illusion of himself, while his actual body turned invisible. I could feel his hand on my back briefly, ushering me to keep moving forward. To stay in character, since it would be suspicious if Skye and I just kept going, I called over my shoulder that we would see him later. The false Dervish went back toward the guards, while the real one went airborne to stash the Hand. He confused the guards, since it looked like he was there, but they didn't sense the Hand on him anymore.
Skye and I were able to move a little further away before the guards called at us to stop... She spoke before I was able to, and things began rapidly declining for us from that moment. I attempted damage control, but no matter how well I lied, they weren't completely believing me; it didn't help that Skye talked a couple more times, damaging every inch of progress I made. Before we knew it there were about twenty guards surrounding us. I took a chance and tried to charm them all with my dance of seduction, but it only worked on one guard, who was killed instantly by the others. The guards closed in on us before I was able to try to use my dimension door to get us out. They wrapped their arms around me and covered my mouth and eyes, I could have made one last attempt to get away with dimension door, since I can hum my spells if need be, but with the way that day had been going I figured it would be best not to try. Skye and I were cuffed with manacles that cut us off from our magics, blindfolded, and taken to the dungeon below. As soon as I was in my cell, I discovered I could not sense Beauty, my familiar, it was like she had just vanished. I later learned that Pharin experienced this with his familiar too, as did Skye with her animal companion.
Dervish witnessed from above what was happening to Skye and Aurora and decided to try to help them, which resulted in him getting thrown in the dungeons as well. At least he had hidden the Hand before attempting to intervene.
Pharin, Andolin, and Nanu had a much easier time getting in the palace than their friends did. They were led directly into the sultan's throne room, which contained a huge mithril channeling circle. This place had been designed to cast some serious magic, but Pharin's ego made him confident that he could overcome even that. The sultan began questioning Pharin on his victory, feigning surprise that he had "killed" Dervish, Andolin, and Pimbin since they were all part of his team. Pharin tried to play up the sneaky drow card, something the mad wizard was skilled at, but unbeknownst to him the sultan could see through Andolin and Nanu's disguises.The sultan reveled to the group that this had all been an elaborate trap for Oryn, he believed if he kept the group in chains long enough that their benefactor would come save them.
He cast some spell that caused Andolin and Nanu extreme mental pain, but could not get past Pharin's mental protections. The fight to escape had begun. Pharin tried to cast several spells to defend himself and attempt to get out of the palace to no avail. The giant channeling circle was completely blocking his magic, so every spell the drow tried fizzled out. Unbeknownst to the group, Nanu had found an item during their "shopping" trip in the bazaar that would grant her a single wish. After watching in horror as Pharin tried and failed repeatedly to cast spells, the nightmorc decided it was time to use her wish. Just as Pharin found a gate spell that could get around the sultan's defenses, Nanu wished for the entire group to be safe in their suite in Ekbir.
***** Ekbir
I was struggling to reach a potion that might help me out of these stupid manacles when suddenly I could hear the others again. I was still cuffed and blindfolded, but I could tell I wasn't in that cell anymore- I could also sense Beauty again. Lan had several knives in him, and was on the brink of death; Nanu had to use the hammer Dervish had that would raise dead. After our cuffs were finally off, the guards of the inn showed up at our room to investigate the noises they had heard- we hadn't walked in the door, so the room was supposed to be vacant.
Pharin decided to summon thirty-two fucking bunnies to deal with the guards... I don't know what that daft drow was thinking. The horrid hares proceeded to trip one of the guards and eat his clothing. Lan went into the hallway to talk to the innkeeper, while the rabbits tortured the guards. One guard stabbed the other in the face trying to kill the bunnies... which resulted in his arrest for murder. I swear that wizard is going to get us banned from every city in Flanaess. Once that business was finally settled, and Lan was done dealing with the innkeeper, we heard a loud bang, and Oryn stormed into our room.
Without preamble, he snapped his fingers at Dervish and ordered him to retrieve the Hand; Dervish suddenly found himself back in Kester. It turned out that Oryn had come to try to rescue us, and showed up only moments after Nanu had wished us away. That halfling is terrifying when angry, and being on the receiving end of his wrath was petrifying. After spending a few minutes yelling at us all, and bringing Dervish back with the Hand, our employer placed a memory stone on the table and stormed out. I greatly hope we never have to see him that angry again. The stone showed us the lengths Oryn had gone to in order to try to save us. He bombarded the palace with a missile storm- the greatly upgraded magic missile, like the scroll he gave to Pharin for dire circumstances- the storm was followed by a comet, and soon the palace was no more. Between Pharin's fire and Oryn's anger, little of Kester was left standing; we had completely destroyed a once great city.
After our encounter with Oryn, we decided to spend a little time shopping in Ekbir before heading south once more. We still needed to get to the Forgotten City and get Kas' Sword before either cult did. I stayed behind to go into reverie, the events of the last few hours had exhausted me, Lan left, Skye went shopping in Ekbir proper, and everyone else went to the Underdark Bazaar. When I came out of reverie, I used my birthmark to send a message to my parents, telling them Ilryne had been taken captive as a slave, and they needed to find her before the Vale Curse activated, which would make her whither and die. I also warned them about what Andolin had told me, that the Cult of Kas had a huge gathering of vampires in the Vale looking for something; if they had somehow managed to stay hidden, which I doubted, the Vale needed to be warned.
Moonhollow, my home town, is on the opposite side of the Vale from the Black Keep, the Mage's residence, as well as the mage town of Seer, and Ebonwood, the capital, but the Citadel of the Mage is near my home. The Citadel of the Mage began its life as the palace of our king; the first King of the Vale had it built after binding my people to the Chaos that rules our valley. After the first Mage rose to power, he decided to have the Black Keep built, and turned the Citadel into a fortress that rumored to be filled with treasure and artifacts, but it is so filled with traps that none leave it alive- except the Mage, of course. While I would like to think my town is safe, since the Hollow is so far from the major areas of the Vale, I had this feeling that the vampires would be going toward the Citadel; I hoped my message came in time for my family to set up defenses.
When I was finished with that business I met up with Skye, and since there was nothing interesting for sale in town, we headed toward the Underbazaar. I disguised myself as a drow- again- and Skye acted as my slave. Though when we reached the entrance to the bazaar I remembered I don't speak the drow dialect of elvish... I cast a spell that would allow me to understand them, and sent Pharin and Andolin a note asking for help. Convincing the guards that I was indeed a drow and I had just forgotten the language was challenging, but with my superior acting skills I managed to pull it off. Eventually Pharin's guards came to get Skye and myself and we were taken to our group.
While the group was waiting for Aurora and Skye they saw people breaking in to one of the closed shops in the bazaar, and decided to stop them. Instead of a lengthy combat though, Pharin cast endless abyss in front of the would-be thieves, and threw them in it. They would be trapped in their until someone cast that spell in that exact spot again- by the time that was likely to occur they would be long-dead from starvation. Pharin wrote the owners a note saying that his new business, Braz'Dracon Shipping or Mercantile, or something- every time he says it the name is slightly different- would be "protecting" them in the same manner known to the human mafia. While Pharin was doing that, Andolin robbed the store.
Shortly after we met up with the group again, we heard a commotion in the streets. Outside we found a huge, sexy, barbarian man merrily pounding on some fool who had challenged him. His name is Narg, and Dervish met him once before Oryn had assembled us. Dervish gave him five gold and received an awesome magic item, I don't remember what, I was a bit busy ogling him. We went around doing this until finally it was Andolin's turn. The bastard gave him an Anstruth Harp! I have been wanting one of those for years! I didn't think they still existed! I tried to buy it from Andolin, but apparently Narg has some stupid rule thing that you can't sell or give away anything you buy from him. I then tried to trade him the stupid mind reading potion Narg gave me, but that wasn't acceptable either. I'm not sure if I like this Narg fellow.
The harp gave Andolin a sense of bliss, and he spent the next few minutes running around playing the harp and merrily breaking into buildings. Pharin came along behind him and wrote more of those protection notes. Eventually we all headed to the tavern to call it a night.
Shortly after our arrival at the tavern Ralliakkan showed up saying she had an announcement. But before she could tell us what was up, Pharin burst into the room and announced that he had found a banshee we needed to go kill. For some reason we all decided to follow him immediately without waiting to find out the reason Ralliakkan had come looking for us.
Ralliakkan had shown up to ask for help carrying bags filled with billions of gold and treasures that she had stolen from Kester. The rogue had robbed the town blind, and was going to give the party a cut if they helped her carry it all. Instead she found Lan, gave him the money and kept the treasures for herself. She never actually told the rest of the group what the reason was for her presence.
We showed up at the abandoned compound where the banshee was residing, and after spending a minute preparing our defensive spells, we strode in ready to face her. Upon entering we heard someone sobbing, which I thought was a trap, and a human woman came running out at us. I said we should be cautious, since I have read tales of banshee-like beings disguising themselves as human women to lure victims. The woman ran straight into Nanu's arms, and once she had a firm hold on the nightmorc, she began cackling- it turns out she was a hag, not a banshee. Before we could react she hit Nanu with a ray of enfeeblement, rendering her useless; then the hag vanished to the ethereal plane.
Pharin was able to blink himself onto the ethereal plane, following the hag. He used torture chains to bind her, though she managed to break out of them far more quickly than we would have liked. After escaping the chains she returned to the material plane, where the rest of us were laying in wait for an assault. Skye entangled her, Dervish peppered her with arrows, and Andolin, Nanu, and I stabbed her; by the time Pharin returned to the material plane we had killed her. He claimed the house as property of house Braz'Dracon, and his empire began.
This map shows the regions the party was in during this chapter.
When we arrived at the palace Andolin approached the guards at the gate to announce that the Champion had arrived to claim his prize. While he was talking to the guards, my team broke away to begin going around the side of the hill the palace was on. We didn't get far before some of the guards called out for Dervish to stop- he had the Hand, and the fuckers can sense the stupid pieces. He used something that gave him an illusion of himself, while his actual body turned invisible. I could feel his hand on my back briefly, ushering me to keep moving forward. To stay in character, since it would be suspicious if Skye and I just kept going, I called over my shoulder that we would see him later. The false Dervish went back toward the guards, while the real one went airborne to stash the Hand. He confused the guards, since it looked like he was there, but they didn't sense the Hand on him anymore.
Skye and I were able to move a little further away before the guards called at us to stop... She spoke before I was able to, and things began rapidly declining for us from that moment. I attempted damage control, but no matter how well I lied, they weren't completely believing me; it didn't help that Skye talked a couple more times, damaging every inch of progress I made. Before we knew it there were about twenty guards surrounding us. I took a chance and tried to charm them all with my dance of seduction, but it only worked on one guard, who was killed instantly by the others. The guards closed in on us before I was able to try to use my dimension door to get us out. They wrapped their arms around me and covered my mouth and eyes, I could have made one last attempt to get away with dimension door, since I can hum my spells if need be, but with the way that day had been going I figured it would be best not to try. Skye and I were cuffed with manacles that cut us off from our magics, blindfolded, and taken to the dungeon below. As soon as I was in my cell, I discovered I could not sense Beauty, my familiar, it was like she had just vanished. I later learned that Pharin experienced this with his familiar too, as did Skye with her animal companion.
Dervish witnessed from above what was happening to Skye and Aurora and decided to try to help them, which resulted in him getting thrown in the dungeons as well. At least he had hidden the Hand before attempting to intervene.
Pharin, Andolin, and Nanu had a much easier time getting in the palace than their friends did. They were led directly into the sultan's throne room, which contained a huge mithril channeling circle. This place had been designed to cast some serious magic, but Pharin's ego made him confident that he could overcome even that. The sultan began questioning Pharin on his victory, feigning surprise that he had "killed" Dervish, Andolin, and Pimbin since they were all part of his team. Pharin tried to play up the sneaky drow card, something the mad wizard was skilled at, but unbeknownst to him the sultan could see through Andolin and Nanu's disguises.The sultan reveled to the group that this had all been an elaborate trap for Oryn, he believed if he kept the group in chains long enough that their benefactor would come save them.
He cast some spell that caused Andolin and Nanu extreme mental pain, but could not get past Pharin's mental protections. The fight to escape had begun. Pharin tried to cast several spells to defend himself and attempt to get out of the palace to no avail. The giant channeling circle was completely blocking his magic, so every spell the drow tried fizzled out. Unbeknownst to the group, Nanu had found an item during their "shopping" trip in the bazaar that would grant her a single wish. After watching in horror as Pharin tried and failed repeatedly to cast spells, the nightmorc decided it was time to use her wish. Just as Pharin found a gate spell that could get around the sultan's defenses, Nanu wished for the entire group to be safe in their suite in Ekbir.
***** Ekbir
I was struggling to reach a potion that might help me out of these stupid manacles when suddenly I could hear the others again. I was still cuffed and blindfolded, but I could tell I wasn't in that cell anymore- I could also sense Beauty again. Lan had several knives in him, and was on the brink of death; Nanu had to use the hammer Dervish had that would raise dead. After our cuffs were finally off, the guards of the inn showed up at our room to investigate the noises they had heard- we hadn't walked in the door, so the room was supposed to be vacant.
Pharin decided to summon thirty-two fucking bunnies to deal with the guards... I don't know what that daft drow was thinking. The horrid hares proceeded to trip one of the guards and eat his clothing. Lan went into the hallway to talk to the innkeeper, while the rabbits tortured the guards. One guard stabbed the other in the face trying to kill the bunnies... which resulted in his arrest for murder. I swear that wizard is going to get us banned from every city in Flanaess. Once that business was finally settled, and Lan was done dealing with the innkeeper, we heard a loud bang, and Oryn stormed into our room.
Without preamble, he snapped his fingers at Dervish and ordered him to retrieve the Hand; Dervish suddenly found himself back in Kester. It turned out that Oryn had come to try to rescue us, and showed up only moments after Nanu had wished us away. That halfling is terrifying when angry, and being on the receiving end of his wrath was petrifying. After spending a few minutes yelling at us all, and bringing Dervish back with the Hand, our employer placed a memory stone on the table and stormed out. I greatly hope we never have to see him that angry again. The stone showed us the lengths Oryn had gone to in order to try to save us. He bombarded the palace with a missile storm- the greatly upgraded magic missile, like the scroll he gave to Pharin for dire circumstances- the storm was followed by a comet, and soon the palace was no more. Between Pharin's fire and Oryn's anger, little of Kester was left standing; we had completely destroyed a once great city.
After our encounter with Oryn, we decided to spend a little time shopping in Ekbir before heading south once more. We still needed to get to the Forgotten City and get Kas' Sword before either cult did. I stayed behind to go into reverie, the events of the last few hours had exhausted me, Lan left, Skye went shopping in Ekbir proper, and everyone else went to the Underdark Bazaar. When I came out of reverie, I used my birthmark to send a message to my parents, telling them Ilryne had been taken captive as a slave, and they needed to find her before the Vale Curse activated, which would make her whither and die. I also warned them about what Andolin had told me, that the Cult of Kas had a huge gathering of vampires in the Vale looking for something; if they had somehow managed to stay hidden, which I doubted, the Vale needed to be warned.
Moonhollow, my home town, is on the opposite side of the Vale from the Black Keep, the Mage's residence, as well as the mage town of Seer, and Ebonwood, the capital, but the Citadel of the Mage is near my home. The Citadel of the Mage began its life as the palace of our king; the first King of the Vale had it built after binding my people to the Chaos that rules our valley. After the first Mage rose to power, he decided to have the Black Keep built, and turned the Citadel into a fortress that rumored to be filled with treasure and artifacts, but it is so filled with traps that none leave it alive- except the Mage, of course. While I would like to think my town is safe, since the Hollow is so far from the major areas of the Vale, I had this feeling that the vampires would be going toward the Citadel; I hoped my message came in time for my family to set up defenses.
When I was finished with that business I met up with Skye, and since there was nothing interesting for sale in town, we headed toward the Underbazaar. I disguised myself as a drow- again- and Skye acted as my slave. Though when we reached the entrance to the bazaar I remembered I don't speak the drow dialect of elvish... I cast a spell that would allow me to understand them, and sent Pharin and Andolin a note asking for help. Convincing the guards that I was indeed a drow and I had just forgotten the language was challenging, but with my superior acting skills I managed to pull it off. Eventually Pharin's guards came to get Skye and myself and we were taken to our group.
While the group was waiting for Aurora and Skye they saw people breaking in to one of the closed shops in the bazaar, and decided to stop them. Instead of a lengthy combat though, Pharin cast endless abyss in front of the would-be thieves, and threw them in it. They would be trapped in their until someone cast that spell in that exact spot again- by the time that was likely to occur they would be long-dead from starvation. Pharin wrote the owners a note saying that his new business, Braz'Dracon Shipping or Mercantile, or something- every time he says it the name is slightly different- would be "protecting" them in the same manner known to the human mafia. While Pharin was doing that, Andolin robbed the store.
Shortly after we met up with the group again, we heard a commotion in the streets. Outside we found a huge, sexy, barbarian man merrily pounding on some fool who had challenged him. His name is Narg, and Dervish met him once before Oryn had assembled us. Dervish gave him five gold and received an awesome magic item, I don't remember what, I was a bit busy ogling him. We went around doing this until finally it was Andolin's turn. The bastard gave him an Anstruth Harp! I have been wanting one of those for years! I didn't think they still existed! I tried to buy it from Andolin, but apparently Narg has some stupid rule thing that you can't sell or give away anything you buy from him. I then tried to trade him the stupid mind reading potion Narg gave me, but that wasn't acceptable either. I'm not sure if I like this Narg fellow.
The harp gave Andolin a sense of bliss, and he spent the next few minutes running around playing the harp and merrily breaking into buildings. Pharin came along behind him and wrote more of those protection notes. Eventually we all headed to the tavern to call it a night.
Shortly after our arrival at the tavern Ralliakkan showed up saying she had an announcement. But before she could tell us what was up, Pharin burst into the room and announced that he had found a banshee we needed to go kill. For some reason we all decided to follow him immediately without waiting to find out the reason Ralliakkan had come looking for us.
Ralliakkan had shown up to ask for help carrying bags filled with billions of gold and treasures that she had stolen from Kester. The rogue had robbed the town blind, and was going to give the party a cut if they helped her carry it all. Instead she found Lan, gave him the money and kept the treasures for herself. She never actually told the rest of the group what the reason was for her presence.
We showed up at the abandoned compound where the banshee was residing, and after spending a minute preparing our defensive spells, we strode in ready to face her. Upon entering we heard someone sobbing, which I thought was a trap, and a human woman came running out at us. I said we should be cautious, since I have read tales of banshee-like beings disguising themselves as human women to lure victims. The woman ran straight into Nanu's arms, and once she had a firm hold on the nightmorc, she began cackling- it turns out she was a hag, not a banshee. Before we could react she hit Nanu with a ray of enfeeblement, rendering her useless; then the hag vanished to the ethereal plane.
Pharin was able to blink himself onto the ethereal plane, following the hag. He used torture chains to bind her, though she managed to break out of them far more quickly than we would have liked. After escaping the chains she returned to the material plane, where the rest of us were laying in wait for an assault. Skye entangled her, Dervish peppered her with arrows, and Andolin, Nanu, and I stabbed her; by the time Pharin returned to the material plane we had killed her. He claimed the house as property of house Braz'Dracon, and his empire began.
This map shows the regions the party was in during this chapter.
No comments:
Post a Comment