Adventures in and around the City-State of the World Emperor
RETURN TO THE SAGE'S TEMPLE
Blackmoon 14-16, 4433
Characters:
To Question the Sage, Again
After dealing with some details in the Moonlit Zone and resting up, the group ventured westward to the Forgotten Village and then on to the Sage's Temple. They were not troubled by any passing foes during this time... the forest was ominously quiet.
They found the temple mostly as they remembered it, a tall rectangular structure covered in carvings, surmounted by a cupola dome. Scented smoke drifted from the shuttered windows, and it seemed deserted.
The party looked into the first level only enough to find the stairs upwards. They progressed through the top floor, discovering rooms both familiar and new. They were surprised by undead in a dead garden, but Phalaros' necromancy and Uriah's turning sorted them out quickly.
After learning the undead command was of short duration and the creature would have to be destroyed in a few rounds:
Justin: "Just tell him to picture the bunny rabbits!"
They found the ritual room with a coffin of severed hands, but these proved more dangerous than before, animating and attempting to choke the group! They were turned and quickly sizzled in their coffin with several vials of holy water.
[The group visited some familiar rooms, no need to repeat everything. See the stories of the first visit]
The party found the three crone statues and attempted to trade their statistics, with some success [spending hero points helped here].
In a staircase room, they fought a brass soldier which was armed with a throwing discus, and had a sinister red glow in its eyes - the sage's guardians had been upgraded recently. This became clear when it exploded in flames after being destroyed! Salzige harvested a glowing, everburning magma-rock from the construct's remains.
The group ascended to the roof dome where they spoke with the False Sage, accompanied by nine more brass soldiers. Her manner was strange and unnerving as always, but things did not begin with hostilities. She convinced Finrod, Uriah, Getorix, Xénos, Owen, Salzige, Joe Spruce and Cassia to gaze into her moon-reflecting pool and experience a vision [Full report to come on these].
The only member of the party who didn't accept the offer was Black Phalaros, who had his own plans.
Cassia asked "Show me your true face" and was greeted with a horrifying monster reflected back at her. As she was experiencing this vision, Phalaros carefully snuck up behind the False Sage and delivered a touch attack with a rigor mortis spell, paralyzing her for half an hour.
The fight was on! Ominous red light began to shine from the brass soldiers' eyes and a tense battle developed with the party carefully trying to dance around the deadly but slow-moving automatons, while the False Sage was carried to safety by another two. Several were destroyed, but things reached a crescendo of danger when the purpose of the magma-rock cores was revealed: three statues opened their mouths and breathed jets of flame, enveloping most of the group in an inferno!
[Lord have mercy I wish I had taken a screen cap of this moment.]
When the smoke cleared, Owen the Vitalizer was unconscious and Black Phalaros was nothing but a charred corpse [coming all the way down to -20 hit points!].
While they had winged the False Sage with some arrow fire, her brass soldiers lifted her on to the reflecting pool and they floated up through the cupola dome, disappearing up into the night sky!
The party knew that the crucial moment had arrived, and chose discretion. They hustled out of the room ahead of the pursuing brass soldiers, with Joe Spruce heroically dragging Owen behind him under a storm of discus-fire. After reaching (relative) safety outside the Moon Temple, the group packed their treasure out of Room I and returned to Viridistan to offload all their loot, identify magic items, study their treasures and plot their next move!
Stay tuned for:
- Treasure, magic item & XP breakdown post
- Black Phalaros' last will and testament
- Moon visions for everyone
- Downtime thread!
THE PARTY: CONCLUSION!
The Inn is Under Attack!
A horde of creatures emerged from the woods and swarmed towards the Night Wolf Inn.
The Wretched Company sallied forth, along with several high-ranking Guild members to meet the foe and buy time for the Inn's employees and other noncombatants to get to safety. Deploying the Four Winds Bar and their spells, they cut through the enemy's ranks until the more powerful foes got closer, and then fought a delaying action for several minutes, eventually retreating into the Inn itself.
The Inn's magical defenses (a group of gargoyles in the shape of winged wolves) helped out, crunching through the weaker foes outside.
Meanwhile, Karakaël appeared in the tavern to report a horde of enemies rising up from below the Inn's cellars! The Wretched Company hurried downstairs to fight on this second front.
A horde of the same wretched creatures waited behind some locked portcullis gates. One of the 'leaders', a hideous and short fishlike entity, was able to speak. It addressed the party, asking for its "sister" Oolpoollib. The Wretched Company didn't know what to do, especially when the beasts produced several wood elves and a few unfortunate Guild members as hostages, including the young & helpless Ruby Stone!
The conversation was short and unproductive. The creature spoke harshly but cryptically about the Guild Master.
Just when it seemed there was nothing anybody could do, terrible magics were unleashed. A few party members collapsed with crippling headaches while the monsters began to explode, unleashing a storm of blood & gore throughout the cellars. Waves of fire and lightning followed, destroying whole packs of creatures. The magical assault emanated from a stooped, cloaked figure leaning on a staff, surrounded by a dark halo of energy...
Was this the mysterious Inn Master?
Monsters Killed:
tons!!
Treasure Gained:
none
Experience:
[This is a "story award" for lack of a better term, based on character level and how many days of the festival characters attended. There was no opportunity to gain treasure, and the mass combat XP would have been divided among a huge number of allies. So this award is my thanks for showing up and trying out a different game session from the usual! This XP award is unique and breaks past training caps, just this once. It has already been added to your XP totals. - DM]
THE SHADOW MARKET
 |
| Coach Avenue |
Thistleburn 11, 4433
The Wretched Company celebrated their new expanded membership roster by whooping it up at The Sign of Olive & Lotus, spending well over ten thousand silver pieces! Even the normally impassive eunuch Merinius is impressed - the group is moving into the ranks of the Emerald City's most decadent.
Clif hit the house spending limit last night (4000 silver pieces!), hoovering up liquor, throwing dice, grabbing the girls, sniffing powders and buying rounds for everyone. Somehow in this state he gambled especially well, winning some extra money [already added]
Finrod gambled especially poorly, losing extra money [already deducted]
Black Phalaris was in his cups and said something rude to an officer of the City Guard! This will surely cause problems for the group later...
Xénos drunkenly invited a young man named Vasu Cervantes on the group's next adventure! He seems to be the third son of some noble house and if he comes to any harm there will surely be trouble. [He will come along on the next session that Xénos plays in]
Hirath, the city guard sergeant who Finrod charmed, actually showed up to have a few drinks with the group. He hung out for a while and left at some point, you don't really remember when. He seemed pretty chill for a guard, anyway.
Machado, Tafari & Kelci have all spent some of their shares on carousing and each gained a level.
Rumours & News:
When the characters go carousing they will automatically get cool rumours based on money spent. It's assumed that they are buying people drinks, chatting folks up, etc. What you hear might change depending on where you carouse (nobleman's chatter at expensive places, the 'word on the street' in dive bars, etc). If you want to just ask around town, the rumours will be the more generic news of the day in the marketplace or whatever.
***
- The undead war is still on, troops are mustering but there have been no decisive moves made yet. What is the Emperor waiting for?
- An elf over in Otherside is bragging that he has explored the legendary lost Temple of Esma and returned alive.
- Clif's mentor, the powerful elementalist Unazhon Conchobar told him a strange tale: long ago a lich-lord named Shodredh Dachod built a flying sanctum on the astral plane. Many treasure-hunters have sought the wondrous wealth inside, but a strange magic protects the place: the more powerful the searcher is, the harder the sanctum is to find! Unazhon himself cannot reach it; perhaps Clif and his friends will be able to?
- The church of Seker may have a task for Uriah in the near future, he should check back soon.
- Overheard at The Sign of Olive & Lotus: a man with a military bearing, perhaps an off-duty Legion officer was speaking about the undead war: "The vasthosts are ready but we haven't marched yet! The Emperor is going to let Shah Kijdawr deal with himself - and when the restless dead have wrecked all of Smyrsis Province, it'll be all the reason necessary to depose him and install someone new in Tell Qa. The two have never seen eye to eye."
- The necromancer Zalán has a request for his two apprentices, Black Phalaros and Salzige: find the mysterious Shadow Market. This enchanted location can only be found at night, by secret alleys & passages unknown in the daytime. The precise route is obscure, but a sorcerer named Rogat has been overheard discussing the matter - perhaps you can ask him?
- Finrod's mentor is an elf woman named Melpomene. She is something of a local figure in Elftown, wearing a simple black & white robe resembling a nun's outfit. She is concerned about rumours of a new criminal gang popping up called the Night-Born. Apparently they are exclusively elven and have access to strange magics that nobody else recognizes.
Downtime Activities:
Finrod read the Libram of Silver Magic, raising himself from 2nd to 3rd level! A precipitous increase for the elf.
Salzige read the Libram of Gainful Conjurations, raising himself from 3rd to 4th level! He also left the mysterious stone idol with Zalán, hoping his mentor could understand more about it.
Daqqa-Jin and Salzige have been overcome by the darkness of the Moonlit Zones! They have developed neurotic lassitude & are plagued by doubts and fears. This causes them to hesitate in battle. They will be surprised 50% of the time and suffer -1 to initiative rolls.
Uriah cannot carouse due to his paladin's code, but he may spend money on philanthropy. He decides to spend 338 silver on a worthy cause and donates to The White Hand, a tradesman's group that focuses on neighbourhood improvements in the Old City and Dockside. It goes well for a first attempt and although he is an unknown adventurer, a few folks take notice of him and are enthused to see a real-life paladin involved in their cause.
Philanthropy:
Donating money to various causes. Anyone can attempt this but it is (right now) the only option for paladins and others similarly restricted by a special code of conduct. It includes donating to various causes around town, attending events, or even giving out meals to the poor by hand.
Philanthropic donations are capped by the character's social class. Right now everyone's is low (since they are mercenaries and assorted lowlifes). Although temples are powerful social forces, individual priests & paladins (especially those that go on adventures) can still be of low social class.
At your current class we will try out a cap of 1000 sp for doing philanthropy between adventures. After engaging in this activity and spending silver, make a save vs. spells and we'll see if anything special happens - there may be bad or good events, just like with carousing!
Cost of Living:
Prices have gone up with the undead army spreading from the Starrcrag Mountains. Suppliers of all kinds are finding lucrative deals with the troops so getting good stuff in town is becoming a bit difficult. Standard cost of living is up, which is reflected in the totals below.
I will remind you of these next session but here they are for now.
Experience Totals:
After carousing and using magic books, the party's experience totals are here:
THE SLAUGHTER AT THE TOWERS
Thistleburn 6-11, 4433
5 real days passed during the sessions, including 10 subjective days in the Forest of Dreams
Characters:
Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4
Robert the Unconscious, fighter 5
Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2
Xénos, spy 2
Uriah Sunstrife, paladin 1
Cassia Tannin, fighter 1
Black Phalaros, necromancer 2
Finrod, elf 1
Clif, elementalist 3
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4 (NPC)
The party was trapped in a moonlit zone prison tower, surrounded by a small army of gnolls and their leader the moon-giant Kucmalog.
Investigating the ground floor brought the attention of two animated statues. Their stone surfaces were hard to crack, and Robert shattered his magical Executioner's Axe during the fight! The group opened up another prison cell and fought two werewolves. They rescued five knights of the Behringer family in the process, swelling their army's numbers further.
The party negotiated with the moon-giant and convinced him to open the doors of the prison. At that point, battle was joined! Kucmalog laid down terrible strikes with his enchanted sword and called curses on the group, blinding Daqqa-Jin and Hamon and turning them invisible. His gnoll squads swarmed around the tower and a pitched two-rank battle was joined at the doorway.
The slaughter was terrible! Almost 30 gnolls driven mad with hunger, fear and rage, pressing forward with halberds. Occasionally one would stop to chew on a downed foe, or even one of their own number. The party led them into a trap with flaming oil, blinded them with the fireworks of the Four Winds Bar and then battled them nose-to-nose with the help of the Behringer family knights.
One by one the party members were knocked out, blinded or otherwise incapacitated until only Uriah was still fighting. Just when it seemed like the gnolls might push through, the rest of the shades arrived from deep inside the tower, alerted by a flying Xénos. Picking up the fallen gnolls' weapons, the 100-strong rebel army pushed forward, slaying the ravenous beasts to the last.
The group was in possession of the field, but still in a tricky position - most of them were knocked out or crippled, the clerics were out of spells and several Behringer knights and shade soldiers had been killed in the battle.
Even so, fate was with them. Other than a small pack of snarling gnolls who did not attack, the party was not molested on their way out of the Moonlit Zone and back to the rebel camp by the lake.
Rauffe welcomed the group with all the hospitality he could manage. A great meeting took place with the rebel leaders and the party, with everyone sharing their stories and trying to piece together events. Reymund the Pale agreed to make an extraordinary bow for Gorr, as soon as a workshop can be assembled for him (costing about 8000 silver). Rauffe happily presented Daqqa-Jin with a glass lantern filled with ethereal fireflies as a gift for rescuing so many of his men.
The party was asked to assist the rebellion further:
-- The surviving Behringer knights want to recapture their ancestral home from the gnolls, but they need help.
-- The two priestesses are convinced something is wrong with the Sage of Lune - she has gone mad, or been possessed, or something! They want to cure this ailment and turn her back to the path of good, rather than destroying her for allying with the Mad King.
After being outside the moonlit zone for a day or so, the moonlight curse faded from Daqqa-Jin and Hamon. The party rested up, dealt with some logistical issues, brought some equipment in for the rebels and then headed out.
Back in the Night Wolf Inn tavern there were some interesting people. Uriah signed up to the guild for cheap, because he was broke. A ventriloquist was doing a spicy act about the Emperor. Some guild members were mourning a fallen comrade, others were preparing for a mission. A blue-haired elf in black chain named Karakaël was friendly and voluble. He was interested in the party after hearing they had found their Four Winds Bar behind the clock in the library. News of the group's success seems to have spread amongst other guild members.
The group returned to Viridistan to sell their loot, train, identify items and carouse.
New Arrivals
Meanwhile, the party who had recently raided the Vault of the Warlord in the distant north [see the special play report a while back] finally made it to Viridistan with their revived friend St. Nolan, patriarch of Seker. After Black Phalaris gave him back his Staff of Healing, he was so happy that he removed the curses afflicting the group from Warlord's gold.
After then paying to have the cursed gold itself un-cursed, the Vault crew still had 50,000 sp of trade bars left (!!!) which they split up into equal shares.
Other details were figured out: Gorr had his madness healed with a Cure Disease spell and a cursed item removed by the church of MAN-PAC. Spellcasters dealt with their mentors and got new spells. Party members identified items, traded equipment and sorted out who could use which intelligent weapons.
With new alliances formed, the group agreed they would call themselves THE WRETCHED COMPANY.
To carouse as much as they wanted the group headed up to the Cliffside district, to the Sign of Olive & Lotus. Finrod charmed the gate guard, who was happy to let them pass with an invitation to join them for a drink later. At one of the most expensive joints in town, the group got ready to take some richly deserved R&R...
[More details on rumours, mentors etc. coming in DOWNTIME POST.]
Monsters Defeated:
28 gnolls (1316 xp)
1 needlebeak (190 xp)
2 werewolves (380 xp)
2 caryatid columns (560 xp)
Treasure Gained:
firefly lantern
friendship
Treasure Sold:
topaz eye gems (2*1400 sp)
sapphire eye gems (4*900 sp)
robes with gold thread (1800 sp)
cursed mace -1 (0)
vacuous grimoires (2*1000 sp)
Money Gained:
most players noted already
Xénos - 585 sp gained after carousing costs [see next post]
Characters:
Finrod, elf 1
Black Phalaros, necromancer 1
Clif, elementalist 1
Kelci Hind, spy 1 (Lost an arm. Demoted to NPC after the adventure)Jan, cleric 1 (NPC)
Machado, fighter 1 (NPC)
Tafari, cleric 1 (NPC)
In the distant east, halfway to the City-State of the Invincible overlord, a group of adventurers gathered at a remote lake. At the bidding of a priestess of the dragon-god Bahamut, they were on an expedition into an ancient tomb. Their goal: to find the legendary Black Blade, a cursed sword once wielded by a long-forgotten warlord.
The tomb turned out to be infested with zombies, a sleeping vampire, a zombie crocodile, another vampire, living statues, a ghoul, & a gigantic slime monster!
Machado the fighter carried a Lawful magic sword, and managed to stay alive through wave after wave of zombie attacks, and far worse.
Clif's elementines were tremendously useful, keeping zombies at bay and solving problems throughout the dungeon.
Finrod the elf had his ribs broken by a zombie and had to sit out the rest of the adventure, recuperating back at camp.
Black Phalaros the necromancer was able to animate plenty of corpses in the dungeon (including with a handy scroll he found), and used the skeletons & zombies in clever ways to deal with the dungeon's many monsters & obstacles.
The group sent a sleeping vampire to his final rest, and confiscated his magic weapons. Both were curved blades of ancient & exotic make, one larger and one smaller. Their full properties are unknown.
[DM NOTE - these swords prompted me to double-check the magic weapon rules. Some of these might not be usable by the same characters, but nobody will take damage from them when play resumes -- we will assume that the proper character has been handling them. Their alignments are posted below. No more oopsies on this matter will occur!]
Jan the cleric was killed after reading an enchanted book in the library - his brain just melted!
Kelci Hind stabbed a vampiress in the back, dealing a powerful blow, but for his troubles he had his arm torn clean off and barely survived! Only clever magical preparations on Clif's part saved the whole group from certain doom in that battle.
Black Phalaros: "If you like, I could re-animate your hand for you..."
Tafari the cleric of Asmodeus was helpful, healing the group whenever possible, but didn't really say much - was it natural reticence, or something more? We don't know yet.
The group found many strange & deadly traps and illusions. Clif touched an embroidered green carpet and was assaulted by a spectral horror only he could see! Clutching his chest, he managed to survive the almost heart-stopping horror...
Clif: "I saw the price tag, guys!"
They found The Singularity, a strange illusionary man who berated and confounded them with illusions - its only purpose seemingly to waste their time. It was guarding a vault of trade bars! The party loaded 115 gold bars out of the dungeon with the help of their zombie servants, a massive hoard! Unfortunately they learned too late that that the gold was all cursed...
They disturbed a gigantic purplish-black puddle of slime, which chased them out of the dungeon completely! When they returned, the slime had eaten all the organic matter in sight. Dead bodies, wooden shelves, leftover books, everything else. From then on, they had to keep watch for the giant slime-puddle and occasionally run away from it, or have one character lead it on a chase away from their goals.
The party found several preserved body-parts throughout the dungeon. A softly mumbling severed head on a shelf, a petrified arm in a basilisk's lair, a set of legs inside the stomach of a zombie crocodile. Slowly they assembled the pieces, which had not decayed at all, into an intact man. When they used a Stone to Flesh scroll on the petrified portion, the man returned to life. He was confused and helpless, but led them to the Warlord's final resting place.
In the extra-dimensional space where the Warlord was buried, four pillars held his final ghoulish lieutenants. These were destroyed one at a time by the group, and the black coffin fell open: inside was only a pile of dust, and the Black Blade. This cursed weapon was secured safely (thank goodness) and transported swiftly back to High Priestess Annavalaxia at the church of Bahamut. She rewarded the party with 1,200 gold pieces, and promised to destroy this weapon of evil before it could fall into the wrong hands.
The confused man was recognized at the church, and Annavalaxia brought forth a book about his legendary life: he was St. Nolan, a powerful Patriarch who lived over a century ago, lost without a trace on his adventures.
St. Nolan wished to rejoin his church in Viridistan, and asked the group to accompany him. As they had spent some of their cursed gold before anyone realized its ominous properties, the locals were only too eager to see them gone!
The State of Things:
- The party is traveling to Viridistan, accompanying St. Nolan as he returns to the temple of Seker.
- They have their gold bars & other treasures loaded on a cart & team of horses.
- Finrod is recovering from his injuries, but we will assume that when the group gets to Viridistan and are available to play, he will be fully healed.
- Everyone except Finrod (he wasn't there when it was taken from the dungeon) is has been cursed by the gold bars, and suffers -4 on attacks/saves, and possibly other effects, until this curse is removed. Note that unless the curse is removed from the gold itself, it will fall on any person who accepts even a single bar.
Monsters Defeated:
Zombies (many)
Sleeping Vampire (no XP though)
Blinded Vampiress
Living Statue
Ghoul
Zombie Crocodile
Warlord's Guardians
Treasure Obtained:
*** please note who is carrying what if you haven't already ***
Drum set
4 dangerous magical books (used & sold)
magic scimitar - Manhunter (Chaotic)
magic great scimitar - Aeon Blade (stats as greatsword) (Neutral)
scroll of wizard lockscroll of stone to flesh (used)
metal scroll case
scroll of flyscroll of remove curse (used)
assortment of potions (healing & some others unidentified)
some silver coins (already distributed)
wand of fireballs (1 charge remaining)
ring of spell storing (M-U)
dagger +1
chainmail +1
immovable rodstaff of healing (given back to St. Nolan)
115 cursed gold trade bars
(6 bars spent, 109 bars remaining - 54,500 silver pieces total value!)
Treasure Sold & Shares:
glowing topaz (500 sp)
chest of wizard's books, non-magical (1000 sp)
silver brooch w/ emeralds (3000 sp)
sapphire (1000 sp)
1,200 gold piece reward for finding the Black Blade
(split 6 ways is 200 gp each)
Cost-of-living and the cost of identifying some magic items has already been deducted.
Finrod: 193 sp + 200 gp
Clif: 1185 sp + 200 gp
Kelci: 1185 sp + 200 gp
Black Phalaros: 858 sp + 200 gp
Machado: 526 sp + 200 gp
Tafari: 526 sp + 200 gp
Experience:
Black Phalaros, Machado and Tafari reached level 2!!
Clif and Kelci have reached level 3!!!
Finrod is still at level 1... such is the struggle of elves in this decadent age.
Machado & Tafari can be upgraded to PCs, or come on adventures as hirelings, but because they have classes & levels they'll get their own shares of XP automatically.
