Story HourPost your ongoing tales from your campaigns, and read those from others for inspiration. Lots of other RPG boards post "Story Hours", but this is where it started!
We began our voyage, and I can say – with no amount of uncertainty – it would have been a very boring trip if not for the work Corven and I have been doing. Zeke has also been a treat, making us laugh and doing all sorts of tricks. He has managed to keep himself out of trouble and is learning to behave. I am glad we have made this new friend, and more importantly, he is on the good guys’ team.
I spend little time socializing with those who are on this voyage, but during the dinner sessions we do chat and there is always some lively discussion, especially when religious talks come about. Nameless scoffs at my views, Six finds my beliefs in things you cannot see, hear, touch or feel to be confusing, and Luna believes the gods are doing nothing but corrupting the heart of the land. Either way, I think it is the closest thing we have done together since being together.
On the evening of the second day of our voyage, we encounter another ship – a wind galleon – which is a ship that I hear can go four or five times as fast as our ship. We prepare for the worst, but the Captain reminds us this could just be a routine passing. The Captain speaks with the Captain from the wind galleon – a ship by the name Merry celestial. There was some other ship, a slower ship that left Stormreach two days ago and the Merry Celestial did not pass it – and they should have passed it. The Merry Celestial takes off, and we continue along our path. I spend the night praying with Corven, and invite anyone else who worships the Silver Flame. One of the other passengers joins us but leaves after only the first hour of prayers.
Two days later, while working downstairs the ship suddenly jolts and rocks. I hear screams coming from top side. Immediately Corven and I jump up. Zeke zooms to the deck before I can yell for him to stop. I charge to the other side of the ship, luckily the door was unlocked and enter a room. Some poor soul is there cowering, and looking out the port hole I see one of the renowned Kraken! A deadly creature which, I hear can swallow ships whole. Realizing I would be largely ineffectual against this creature if I went top-side, in fact I might drown, I pull out my bow and start shooting arrows at it. The arrows largely bounce off its tough hide, and one of my arrows accidentally kills an injured summoned crocodile – I think Nameless summoned that one. This was getting me nowhere, and just as I went to leave to find the tentacles lodged into the ship I hear a familiar voice. Zeke is yanked by claws, and I stare at him in horror as he yells “BOSS! HE…” and the Kraken squeeze him to death. I scream in anger and pull out Kizmet, feeling its comforting power throb in my hands. I charge down the deck looking for the tentacles lodged into the ship, and just as I was about cut one down, the thing pulls away – everything goes quiet and I sit there crying for Zeke – I give him a prayer and hope the Silver Flame will make an exception for one such as him, and let him join the eternal flame. I spend the rest of the day, doing my work – quietly – with Corven, not saying much of a word. We need to get off this blasted boat.
The next day, the ship is much quieter. We suffered many deaths from the Kraken, and while the Captain thanks us for saving the ship – it is still a sad time for all of us. We reach Shargon’s Teeth and the Captain blows on a conch shell to summon his Sahuagin contacts. After a few hours nothing happens, and Nameless suggests that Luna turn into a dolphin and lead the ship. The Captain decides to wait a bit longer and this pays off as they appear. After some conversation, the Captain calls our group over and asks us if we would help the Sahuagin. He says they are experiencing problems from Scrags – Sea Trolls – and if we help kill them the Captain will give us some of our trip fees back. I agree to help destroy these vile creatures – though I start asking for specifics, and later we receive the details. We spend the night preparing for the trip and battle. The Sahuagin cast spells of breathing on us, while Corven and Nameless cast other spells – such as a Freedom of Movement spell. I cast a Circle Protection Against evil, and then cast a protection from evil on Nameless.
After being taken to the area where the Scrags are hiding out, we swim down and travel ahead. It is an interesting feeling, being able to breathe and see under water. Also, my movement is not hampered at all – I can swing Kizmet as if I were in fresh, open air. We start to approach our targets and hide behind a wall. Nameless casts a few preparation spells – including an enlargement spell on me. This will make me a bigger target, but will also greatly improve my combat. Nameless also casts a spell of Cats Grace on me to increase my ability to avoid being hit. This should offset the size increase. Corven enchants our weapons with giant bane – this will help us greatly against the Scrags- who conveniently wear no armor! One of the Sahuagin goes out as bait – or as they say in the see “chum” – and lures a Scrag and his shark companions out to us. As they get close, Nameless summons a fireball and kills the sharks while greatly injuring the Scrag. Six leaps out and charges the Scrag performing some of his tumbling tricks to land a solid blow on the Scrag. I then charge out and cleft the Scrag with the most powerful attack I could muster.
After we beat this Scrag the Sahuagins start to cheer and dance, but the rest of us push forward to encounter some more sharks, and another group of four Scrags. Six and I charge up the middle to deal with the two. The Sahuagin go to the right and left to get the extreme ending Scrags. Luna goes to the far left to fight that one. Nameless casts a haste spell, and Six then smacks that Scrag in the face, while I charge up and smite it using all of my divine might to cut it down. Six then works with me and we finish it off. Nameless launches a fireball and injures two other Scrags, just after it injured him. Then I take my full swings on the Scrag that hits me, fully cutting it down and continuing to hit it even after it is down. Six continues on to his left to beat the Scrag. Soon I see a large shark and a hag, and the shark charges me and takes a huge bite into me. I feel if not for the Silver Flame, I would have been dead – but I pass out.
After some time, I am sure it was not more then a few seconds, I wake up due to healing Nameless performed on me using our newly created magical rock*. Kizmet still in hand, due to the locked gauntlet, I step up and smite the Scrag taking every swing I can and taking it down. All I hear is Corven in the back screaming “Damn it, that glory hound!” Then I see two scorching rays blast through the Scrag – which apparently is a lycanthrope. Luckily, even though it bit me, the Silver Flame protects me from such afflictions.
We search the remnants of the Merry Celestial, which we think was taken down due to a storm. We grab some of the items there and go top side. We turn these over to the captain, though we are told we can keep a magical shield and a masterwork sword that we found. We also found a magical ring on the hag, which we will examine later – I am sure.
The Sahuagin are happy with us, and they guide us through Shargon’s Teeth.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
The journey through Shargon's Teeth takes a little longer than a day, with four sahuagin guiding the Wave's Bounty. They alternately stand at the stern with Bly to give directions or leap overboard to swim through and indicate a path. It is quickly evident that the ship would have had a very difficult time making it through the maze of rock and water without their aid. Eventually, the ship emerges from Shargon's Teeth during the morning of the 24th. The sahuagin promptly say goodbye and leap overboard.
The ship continues south. On the morning of the 24th, just before dawn, the lookout calls out that he has sighted Stormreach. Those who ascend to the deck can see the lights of the city on the horizon and as the sun gradually rises on their left, they near it. Soon they are close enough to see that the city sits at the tip of the landmass that it is on, which they know is Xen'drik's northernmost peninsula.
As the ship enters the natural harbor that the city sits on, the passengers see that the docks are quite crowded. Among the varied ships is a Lyrandar wind galleon, moored at a dock specifically designed for it, the elemental that drives it now quiescent. At one end of the docks is a boat town, consisting of boats linked together by rope bridges and rickety platforms, as there was in Sharn. A couple of smaller boats come out and guide the Wave's Bounty into a dock of its own.
The passengers quickly disembark, saying goodbye to Syrina and Bly along the way. They follow Dala onto the docks and follow her into the city. Along the way they pass people of varied races, including a pair of sahuagin standing near the edge of the docks and speaking to some people. After passing from the docks into a clearly low-class area that she identifies as Floodhold, Dala leads them into what seems to be an adventurers quarter. The group of ten (consisting of the Angels, the four other members of the expedition, and Dala) soon arrives at a large inn-cum-tavern, with a sign outside identifying it as the Bloody Giant. Next door is another tavern, this one called the Iron Arm. Between and behind them is another building with a large sign, which identifies it as the Welcome Wench, evidently a brothel of some kind.
Proceeding into the Bloody Giant, Dala speaks to the ogre bouncer, who sends her to the dwarf behind the bar. He identifies himself as the owner, Grelan Parenson. He is expecting her and says that Arrok asked him to hold four rooms for them. Arrok also left a message that he will be by in the evening. On the way up to their rooms, Dala says that Arrok Doone is the guide, and he's one of the best in Stormreach. After dividing themselves up between the rooms, some of the Angels relax at the inn, while others wander around the area. Nameless and Corven find that their respective mage guilds both have a small chapterhouse in the city. Luna and Six go wandering around the marketplace and gets their first glimpse of a giant, in this case a huge, hairy brute who looks completely out of place haggling with a shopkeeper. Gareth locates the local Sivis station and sends a message to Lalia.
In the evening, when all of them have returned, the tavern's common room is a lot more crowded. At least some of the women moving around in there are prostitutes from the Welcome Wench, here to pick up an early buck. While waiting for Arrok to show up, Gareth notices a young man at the rear of the room, dressed like him in full-plate adorned with symbols of the Silver Flame. He is talking to a scruffy-looking man who has a prostitute sitting on his lap. Gareth goes over and introduces himself, followed by Six. The young man turns out to be Magnus, a templar from Thrane, while the scruffy man introduces himself as Cedric (and the girl on his lap as Lily).
The two ask Gareth and Six to join them, with Cedric commenting that there aren't usually many worshippers of the Flame in Stormreach. When he hears that they are from Sharn, he asks Gareth about Flamebearer Mazin Tana at Coldflame Keep. Gareth has heard the name but doesn't know the man, who Cedric says is an old friend. As the conversation continues, Cedric expresses some degree of dislike for the Archierophant Ythana Morr, who he says he's been more than a little unimpressed with when he met her.
Gareth eventually mentions his full name, causing Cedric to mention that his surname is Galan. Gareth recognizes him as a Brelish paladin whom he had heard about from his grandmother, being famous for his efforts against the Lords of Dust (the rakshasa servitors of the rakshasa rajahs who were bound away by the dragons many millennia ago) and known for being a bit of an eccentric. Nameless, who has wandered over to join the group, apparently knows about Cedric too, since he makes a joking comment about how he's heard tales of Cedric standing valiantly against the darkness, steadfastly and without complaint, to which Cedric responds that if the story didn't mention the six bottles he needed to drink before that, it left something out. Cedric eventually takes his leave, inviting Gareth to stop by and meet him at the Welcome Wench, where he is staying. Gareth agrees, though slightly confused by the location.
Shortly after the three return to join the others, Dala says, "There's Arrok." The adventurers see a big, husky half-orc in armor walking towards them. Instead of stopping he walks past the table, to reveal a tall gnome behind him. The latter walks up with a big smile to greet Dala, and then introduces himself as Arrok Doone. He tells the group that they should discuss what he has to say in one of the rooms, so they all head up.
In the room, Arrok says that he's been working as a guide in Xen'drik for 15 years, but has been planning on one big job for the last five years. He asks if they've heard the local story of the Island in the Mist. Both Nameless and Corven know a little about it, and Arrok fills in the rest. It's a story that somewhere off the mainland of Xen'drik is an island that contained a giant outpost. Since it wasn't as directly affected by the fall of the giant civilization as the mainland was, there is a chance that there are artifacts and maybe even a functioning giant city there. The story says that the place is perpetually shrouded in mist, which makes it difficult to locate. A couple of times people have claimed to have located it, but their stories were never proved. The fact that all magical searching for the place has been futile hasn't helped either.
A couple of years ago, Arrok found someone who claimed to have actually come from the area decades ago, which they corroborated magically, with the help of research and divinations. Which, as Luna points out, means only that the person himself believes that he came from there. Arrok says that they have gradually managed to work out exactly where this place should be, and that's where this expedition is to head. He's been in touch with Kidro and Dala and they've been planning this for two years. This could be a huge discovery, so they need to go about it very quietly. Arrok has spoken to the captain of a Lyrandar wind galleon (who owes him a favor) that's heading back to Sharn on the 2nd. The plan is for the expedition to get on the ship late on the 28th, and the ship to leave before dawn on the 1st. That gives them an extra day, which they'll spend in sailing to the island (which is approximately 500 miles from Stormreach). They'll be dropped there and the ship will be back in exactly 21 days to pick them up. After relating all this, Arrok says he'll be back with the drow guide shortly while they discuss whether they're in or not. Even before he can reach the door, everyone has agreed.
Arrok returns a few minutes later with a hooded figure, who drops the hood when he enters, to reveal that he's a drow. He is wearing a mithral chain shirt and has two scimitars on his back*. He introduces himself as Urden and goes on to relate his story. He claims that he was raised on the island, being born to one among a number of drow tribes there. He doesn't remember that much about it, since it was thirty years ago, but he remembers there was a giant wall. The members of his tribe were forbidden from crossing it, because it was supposed to keep some great monster** from crossing over, and he did so out of curiosity. When he returned, he was banished, being put on a canoe and put out to sea. He drifted for weeks, only surviving because his mother secretly hid food and water in the canoe for him, before being picked up by a ship that was on the way to Xen'drik and had been blown off-course in a storm. In Xen'drik, he got off and worked as a servant, a mercenary, a guide, etc. Eventually, he met Arrok some years ago, and when Arrok learned about his background, he persuaded Urden to give him whatever information he could, and to come along on the expedition. So here he is.
Once he's done, the others ask him a number of questions. They learn that the drow tribes on the island believe that it's the world and all that exists beyond it is the ocean. What the wall is built to keep out (or in, since it surrounds the island) is unknown to Urden. He does say that he has seen artifacts on the island that he now knows are of giant manufacture.
Once they are done, Arrok and Urden take their leave, after Arrok tells everyone to get whatever supplies they need to the next day, though mundane equipment has already been taken care of. The Angels spend the rest of the evening discussing the expedition. Gareth visits the Welcome Wench and has an interesting talk with Cedric.
***
The next day, the Angels do whatever shopping they need to. Their budget is slightly larger than planned, since Bly stops by the inn and drops off 2,500 galifars for them, which he says is the reward for the information and the things they recovered from the wreck of the Merry Celestial.
After dinner, the group heads down to the docks, where they locate the wind galleon the Sea Sprite. Boarding it, they meet the captain, Sovelon d'Lyrandar. He has them shown to their quarters, which are much more cramped and less comfortable than the ones they had on the Wave's Bounty. Arrok and Urden are all on board, along with the 8 porters who will be accompanying them.
The ship leaves before dawn on the 1st, traveling at substantial speed out into the Thunder Sea. The adventurers see neither another sail nor any sign of land for the entirety of the day. Early the next morning, they are awoken by sailors sent to tell them that the ship may have sighted what they were looking for. Reaching the deck, they find that there is a huge fog bank directly ahead, stretching across the sea as far as they can see. Arrok and Urden confirm that this is the place and Sovelon guides the ship into the mist, dropping to quarter speed as he does so. Visibility is almost non-existent here, and the Angels feel the mist to be unusually clammy.
Nameless, standing among them, has a strange feeling as the mist envelops him, and it triggers a memory that he didn't know he had. Like the other buried ones that have emerged, it is extremely strong, almost as if he were visualizing it right now. He remembers ...
... stumbling along a stone tunnel, surrounded by a similar mist, which roils and moves around him. He can only glimpse the sides of the tunnel at rare intervals, but keeps a hand on one wall to guide him. He is wearing nothing above the waist and the mist feels cold on his bare skin. There is something wet on his face and when he raises a hand to touch it, he finds it to be blood. There is more blood on his chest and arms. Looking down, he can actually see his ribs laid bare at one point. Somewhere deep inside him, he thinks that he probably should be dead, with a wound like that. His wrists are not bleeding, but feel raw, as if they had been tied. Both ankles have a similar feeling. He tries to think why that is, but his brain doesn't seem to be responding. His head seems full of the same mist around him. All he can think of is that something important just happened. Very important. He must let people know. There was death. And pain. But it's safe for now. He's safe. Nobody knows he's here. They knew (and even within the muzziness in his head he's mildly surprised that he can't remember who they are - or were), but they're dead now. He's alone. Except for the voice. And that's when he vaguely notices the voice in his head. It speaks soothingly to him, telling him that he should turn around and come back to it. It can give him things, shiny things, powerful things, if only he comes back to it. But he knows it's lying. And however much it speaks to him, it can't force him to come back. He's too confused, too tired, too hurt, but somewhere deep beyond that, he's just too stubborn. As he keeps moving forward, now stumbling over what he thinks might be bodies, bumping against walls and feeling his way to the next opening and then the next, the voice keeps cajoling, but it's growing steadily weaker. Finally it starts screaming in a language he does not understand (though, in the present, Nameless now recognizes that language as daelkyr, and the screaming as mostly incoherent rambling about time and a prison) and then fades away. At the same time, his hands encounter a door and he shoves it open. As he steps through, for a moment the mists in front of him part, though they remain as a shroud covering the sky above him. He finds herself standing at the bottom of a hill, looking out over a large plain. Bodies litter the ground, comprising two distinct groups of people. One group, forming a ring around the doorway, is dressed in motley clothes and armor, ranging from people in robes with no weapons to a couple of people in polished mail. Facing them are what seem to be military men, all wearing Cyran uniforms. Most of the dead have frozen looks of horror on their faces. In the distance far beyond these two groups, he sees more bodies here and there, as far as his eye can see. Even within the muzziness in his head, he thinks (or does he just hear someone thinking?), "They will call this the Day of Mourning." Slowly, he stumbles away from the doorway and onto the plain of the dead. As he goes, he think that there's something important he is forgetting, but for the life of he, he couldn't say what...
Nameless calmly files away the memory for later consideration and characteristically, does not mention it to anyone. The ship continues into the mist for about fifteen minutes, having covered over two miles even at the lowered speed, before people can hear the sound of waves on rock. Moments later, the two lookouts posted in the stern with powerful lanterns yell that they see rocks. Sovelon instantly brings the ship to a stop, as only an elemental galleon can, but not before a couple of large rocks loom out of the mist only a dozen feet from the ship. Turning to Arrok, who is near him, the captain says that he cannot further risk his ship and will offload them via boat, so that they can land.
The group of twenty is broken up between two large boats crewed by sailors from the ship and lowered into the water. As they head in the direction of the unseen shore, they gradually pass scores, or maybe hundreds, of rocks. Some look like they may have once had huge faces or skulls carved on them, but as close to unrecognizable now due to the effects of wind and water. Urden says that now he's sure this is the island, since these were the rocks around it.
Suddenly, the boats break out of the mist, which stops like a wall behind them. It also rises up to form a ceiling about 200 ft above, which eventually breaks up in the distance (about a quarter mile away), revealing blue sky and sun above. The three Cyrans in the group find it very reminiscent of the Mournland, except that the ceiling doesn't end there. The island is only some fifty feet away. There is almost no beach, consisting rather of a rocky outcropping before a large rock cliff that seems to run left & right as far as the eye can see. There are clefts and breaks in various areas through the cliff, some quite wide.
The boats pull up on the rock shelf and off-load the passengers, as well as the boxes of equipment and supplies. These also include some slightly unusual items, ranging from the small pull-cart that Six has insisted he bring along, and the two traveling alchemist's labs, one of which Corven's homunculus is perched upon. Once they are unloaded, the boats quickly leave, none of the sailors seeming to want to hang around.
While the others make the last preparations before heading in, Luna walks up to the edge of the beach and casts a detect magic, hoping to decipher if the mist or the area is magical. To her surprise, she has the unusual experience of her spell flickering like a candle in a wind, till it finally winks out. She mentions this to Nameless, who is near her. He tries the same, and though his spell too flickers, it eventually settles into a weak and narrow cone shape. He finds that he can detect magic on Luna and himself, but items beyond twenty feet do not show up as they should. Nameless tells Luna what happened but cannot explain it, and the pair head back to join the others.
Six, Luna and Arrok then scout the immediate area, looking for tracks, but the stone ground makes it impossible for them to find anything they can be sure of. They do, however, find a cleft that passes through the cliff, which seems to be a few hundred feet wide. The group takes up a formation with Six, Luna and Arrok in the lead, followed by the porters, who are in pairs and carrying boxes strung on poles, with Gareth in the rear. The others spread themselves among the porters.
The procession heads through the cliff. After a minute or two, one of the porters gives a warning yell and drops his pole. Everyone quickly sees what he has noticed, as five creatures leap up from their concealment in the rocks on either side of the cleft. They slightly resemble malformed wolves, though they are shorter and more squat, with patchy fur covering shrunken unhealthy-looking hide that sticks to their bony sides. Their eyes are blank white, set in a feral, low-slung skull.
As others drop what they are carrying and grab for weapons, each of the creatures lets out a wailing yowl that strikes fear into those who hear it. Only Gareth, with his divinely granted immunity, resists the supernatural effect. The creatures swiftly move to attack, leaping from the rocks. Urden, who has apparently seen them before, yells, "They're yowlers! Careful - they are hard to hit."
Apparently the creatures are not just hard to hit but capable of hitting hard themselves, since two of them bear Urden and Corven to the ground, while the other three attack Six, Gareth and the unfortunate porter who first saw them. Luckily for the others, Arrok has ensured that everyone is wearing armor and carrying some weapon and a light crossbow, so they are soon launching a volley of missiles at the creatures. Which quickly illustrates what Urden meant, since some bolts seem to pass right through the creatures, though others hit. "There's some displacement effect on them," warns Nameless, moments after he has slowed a couple of the creatures. He switches to magic missiles, knowing that they hit with unerring accuracy.
The sheer numbers of the expedition make sure some of their attacks get through, though Urden and Corven are soon badly hurt. Urden, rolling on the ground and slapping at the creature with his scimitars, shouts, "Use fire on them!", causing Luna to summon three small fire elementals. One attacks the creature that Six has already seriously wounded, fortuitously setting it on fire. The creature screams in fear and flees, followed by the one that has been worrying Corven, at least partly impelled by a blast of his scorching ray wand fired right into its maw.
This lets the group concentrate their attacks on the three remaining, which soon turn tail and flee. The 'yowlers' are apparently preternaturally strong, having taken considerable damage without going down. Nameless hits the last fleeing one with a parting volley of magic missiles, and it stumbles but keeps going, to disappear into the rocks. Gareth, who has had a hard time hitting his opponent, grimaces and says, "Those things were tough!", before going to tend to the porter who was badly wounded.
Luckily, nobody is mortally wounded, and after some healing, the expedition moves on. When they emerge through the cliff, they find themselves on the verge of a thick tropical forest, which springs up only some thirty feet away. Luna comments, "This isn't natural." Urden adds that this is true of the entire island, which is ringed by the cliff and the forest, which he says is about a quarter of a mile wide. Beyond it is a slightly smaller space before the wall, where the drow tribes live.
They notice that a well-worn trail emerges from the forest about a hundred feet away. Near where it does, set against the cliff, are a couple of small huts, with half a dozen canoes stacked near them. Urden comments that he was sent off to sea in one like that and that all of the tribes use them. Though it was a long time ago, he doubts these belong to the tribe he came from. As he is speaking, Corven sees movement among the trees and catches a glimpse of two drow running off. They are almost naked, wearing hides. He quickly points it out, but they are gone by then. Urden says that they'd probably be very curious, more than hostile, since they'll never have seen any races other than drow.
The group heads along the trail and after about ten minutes, sees a dozen drow coming towards them. The drow come to a stop, looking wary but not threatening, and Urden steps forward and signals them to approach. A couple do, one asking the group in a very strange dialect of elven where they are from. Corven and Collus translate for the others, Collus commenting that it sounds like an incredibly archaic variant of elven. They quickly discover that they drow have no conception of the Common tongue used elsewhere in Khorvaire. They also notice that while the drow carry crude spears and shields, made of wood and hides, two have well-made steel weapons and one has a large steel shield. The drow ask the group to come to their village and accompany them.
Within five minutes of travelling, the adventurers can see a stone wall in the distance, which must be about forty feet high, with the tops of some trees sticking above it. The forest soon ends abruptly, stopping a few hundred feet before the wall. The wall is about 40 ft tall, though it is a little lower in places where the top (which consists of a crenellated parapet) has broken. It looks very well made, though there are places that have crumbled and been replaced crudely by rocks. There are also some crude stone walkways that lead to the top. The village in front of it consists of dozens of large huts, with scores of drow walking around. On either side of the village are some small fields. The huts are all made of very crude materials, with unusual items here and there that stick out. A ten-foot high steel shield makes up part of a wall, while a large spear with an apparently adamantine blade supports a roof. Nearby, two huts are built connected to a 15 ft stone pillar that has stylized symbols (which both Collus and Imre identify as giant in make).
There is a large crowd gathered to see them, many with weapons in hand. The drow with the group call something to them (which Corven translates as "Get Rezan"), and they slowly get out of the way of the group. As they advance, an elderly drow woman comes through the crowd, accompanied by an unusually tall male. The latter wears a fine breastplate and carries a heavy pick, and they are followed closely by six more drow in chain shirts and carrying metal weapons.
The woman introduces herself as Rezan, shaman of the village, and the tall warrior as the chief, Uthgen. She asks if she can touch them and when Corven agrees, comes up to touch his face and arms to check if he is painted. Seeing that he isn't, which draws murmurs from the crowd, she asks them where they came from. When they say they came from across the ocean, she pauses and then asks them to accompany her. She leads them to the center of the village, outside her large hut. Once they are seated on mats placed for their benefit, she asks the other drow to disperse, Uthgen included. They do so, only to stop about fifty feet away and stare at the newcomers.
With this limited privacy, she says that they should not lie. There is nowhere beyond the ocean to come from. There is only the world and the mist (refers to the island as the world) and the ocean beyond. Her forefathers say there were other worlds once, but when the scaled ones came, they took away the other worlds and set up the mist, to keep "the people" (what she calls the drow) safe here. Urden corroborates the others' claim, saying that he came from the island, but though Rezan listens politely, she doesn't seem too convinced.
Some of the adventurers are interested in the story of the scaled ones. Corven asks her if they were dragons, only to discover that she does not have the word for "dragons" in her vocabulary. Rezan relates the story of history that she and her people believe in. The Scaled Masters made the world, which they then give to the High Ones. The High Ones ruled the world, rode the seas and made the wall, but they then angered the Scaled Masters, who cast down the High Ones, made the mist and gave the people (drow) the law, that they were to guard the wall and none were ever to cross it. There were other worlds too, but the Scaled Ones destroyed them in their anger, so there is only this world now. Collus, Nameless and Corven opine that it is the drow's story for the casting down of the giant civilization by the dragons of Argonessen.
Rezan also asks what the adventurers are here for, and when they explain that they plan to travel across the wall, she tries to persuade them not to do so. She says only that it would be very bad. When the adventurers ask about what is on the other side of the wall, she says that is where the High Ones were, but now there are only monsters. In order to avoid alarming Rezan, Corven and the others who can speak elven tell her that they will not cross the wall, which seems to mollify her. She asks them to stay at the village as they wish.
While the rest of the group rests and talks about what they have discovered (and make plans to stay at the village for a day or two, pretend to leave, get some distance away and then cross the wall), Luna wanders away into the forest, planning to do some investigation of her own. She finds a couple of drow following her, but loses them by stepping behind a tree and changing form into an eagle.
She flies above the trees and over the wall. She sees that it is about ten feet wide on the top. The stone on the other side is covered with scorch marks in large sections, as if it had been hit by huge explosions. On the far side is a tropical forest, spreading left and right as far as she can see, as does the wall. The most obvious natural formation is a low mountain that must be about forty miles away. From its position, it might be the center of the island, which would then be close to a hundred miles in diameter.
As Luna flies along the wall, she sees that there are some streams running through the forest, seeming to come from the direction of the mountain. She also sees some large open areas, a couple of them many miles wide. Noticing movement in the closest one, some five miles away, she flies closer and finds that it is occupied by small herds of grazing dinosaurs. The largest is a small family of triceratops. As she watches, a dozen velociraptors come running out of the forest. They cut a couple of the smaller dinosaurs out of a herd and bring them down quickly, before starting to feed.
Moving on, Luna notices that there are a few trails through the thick forest, though they are few and far between. Deciding to find out as much about it as she can, she finds a smaller eagle and casts a spell to speak with animals. The other bird is the usual mixture of laconic and dumb that most animals are, and after a couple of minutes, Luna leaves it and flies off. She manages to snare an unwary squirrel and speak to it too, once she has managed to persuade it that it's not about to die and work past its focus on nuts. Between the two animals, she learns that among the dangers of the forest are the "singing tree" and that the trails are made by "two-feets" that have "yellow skin" and "hunt, kill, eat" many things (including squirrels).
Deciding that she has learned as much as possible, Luna releases the squirrel (which promptly tries to go speak to another bird and gets eaten) and flies back, heading for the wall and the drow camp.
* Yup, that's the one
** No, he doesn't mention a legendary dire ape
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
We continue on our journey, everything seeming quiet as Captain Bly and the Sahuagin go through their routine to ensure our safe passage. Finally, after a long trip, we reach the shores of Stormreach on the 24th. Stormreach is not what I expected – I thought I would see a hovel of a village, but it is quite an expansive town with a lot of infrastructure. The people who built Stormreach have done a great job into making this a town.
We navigate our way through the town, following Dala, and enter the Bloody Giant inn. Dala goes and speaks with the proprietor to confirm our room reservations. Looking around, I decide to head out to house Sivis and from there I send a message to Lalia – informing her of my safe arrival. This message, apparently, will not get out for a few days as the house has a lot of orders. I travel around Stormreach a bit more, exploring the area and later that evening I head back to the Bloody Giant.
Inside the inn I see two people, one of which is wearing full-plate with symbols of the Silver Flame. I walk over, and introduce myself to him. He introduces himself as Thrane, and his friend – who has a prostitute with him – is Cedric. They invite us to sit down, and Six and I do so. We talk for a few minutes and at this point I learn that Cedric is also a follower of the flame, not to what extent, but I have this feeling he is a brother to arms – though he does not dress or act like those I have met before – not many, but still a lot by most peoples standards. I then give my full-name to Cedric and Magnus, realizing I was rude to only give my first name. Cedric mentions his last name, Galan, and I remember a story of a Brelish paladin – who is well known against the Lords of Dust. I piece his name with the feeling I get from him, and this man who has a prostitute on his legs is brother – a fellow paladin of the Silver Flame. At this point Nameless strolls in and upon learning who Cedric is starts shaking his hand and seems quite happy to meet him. Cedric then leaves, at the urging of his prostitute, and he invites me for drinks at the Welcome Wench.
We then see Dala come back with two other people and she introduces them as some more companions who will travel with us. The first of which I notice is a half-orc in, behind him is a tall gnome who goes by the name Arrok Doone. We begin to discuss what we should expect, and apparently Arrok has a lot of experience in this profession – about fifteen years, and he has been spending the past five or so planning this trip. Knowing this now, I think we have a good chance of surviving this expedition – which apparently nobody has ever taken before. According to Arrok, others have heard of this place but it is supposed to be a myth. Arrok then asks us if we would like to take this expedition, and we agree. He then leaves and comes back with a drow by the name of Urden, who wears a mithral chain shirt and wields two scimitars on his back. Nameless’ scrutinizes Urden and breaths a sigh, why I am not sure – I highly doubt Nameless has met this person, but who knows what secrets reside in Nameless’ head.
Urden tells us of a story, how he was banished from his home – this island we are going to – and although he should have died at sea on a small skiff, he managed to stay alive by the food and water his mother snuck to him before he left, and pure luck of being picked up by another ship. Once in Xen’drik, Arrok worked as a servant, and eventually a guide and sell-sword. An interesting tale, and his experiences should prove invaluable. Everyone turns in for the night, but I take my leave and head over to speak with Cedric.
Upon going to the Welcome Wench, the place Cedric is staying in, I am greeted by a guard who instructs me to leave Kizmet by the cupboard. I instinctively touch Kizmet, but am not about to leave it lying around – especially not in a place like this. I am saved an argument when the owner, Katryna, comes down and says I am expected guest and can retain my sword. Katryna walks me upstairs, and I speak with her briefly. She tells me that Cedric comes here every now and again, paying – in excess – for their services and providing healing to any of the girls who need it. We enter the room, where Cedric has three women with him, and he is telling them of one of his adventures. Katryna takes the girls out of the room so Cedric and I can speak in private.
Cedric and I speak on many topics, mainly how we view the world, drinking whatever concoction he hands me. It is interesting, this Cedric Galan, he holds many views that I do – and definitely the call of the Silver Flame – but he is uncouth. He has great honor, but his diplomacy is about as refined as Luna’s. I like him though – he is honest, and considering how many liars, thieves, and tricksters I have been dealing with lately – it is refreshing. Cedric and I part company, as he walks downstairs asking how he can get a hold of me in the future when he stops by Sharn. I tell him I will look forward to meeting him again, and I will meet his friend Flamebearer Mazin Tana at Coldflame Keep. I head back to the inn, with a little too much drink in me and go to sleep for the night.
Waking up in the morning, with a massive headache – I pray to the Silver Flame, and add in a bit about getting some help from this hangover. I think this is why I was taught to not drink.
We have breakfast, and Captain Bly stops by the inn to give us 2,500 Galifars for helping with the Merry Celestial. This was the reward money for the items and information we recovered. We go about, doing some shopping, and I buy a couple of potions for the trip – particularly in areas where I cannot help – poisons. We spend most of the day shopping and relaxing, and finally this hangover leaves me. Six is curious about this feeling, Luna tells me I deserve as much, and Nameless just laughs at me. The only sympathy is from Corven, but even that came with a lecture about drinking too much.
That evening, we have a good dinner – probably the last good dinner for a while – and head down to the docks where we board a ship named the Sea Sprite. We meet the captain, a Sovelon d’Lrandar and the ship leaves pre-dawn. We travel and by the next morning a huge fog bank was spotted. We traverse inside of this fog and eventually come close enough to land where we use canoes to travel to shore. As we do travel, the mist – all of a sudden – just ends. This mist is magical to say the least, and it is confirmed when Luna and Nameless casts a detect magic spell; however, as they does so, it starts to putter in and out. Nameless has slightly better results then Luna, but his field of view is narrowed. I do not try, deciding to save my spells for later use, but I figure I will not be too better off then they will.
We dismount from the boats and our porters – who are fairly well armed – start carrying the boxes on poles. After walking for a bit, we are walking in a path between cliffs…I feel like this would make for a great ambush, and this brings me worry. I keep Kizmet at the ready – as always – and then odd looking wolves appear on opposite sides of the cliffs. Their eyes are white and their skulls are misshapen as the rest of their bodies. Everyone prepares for the oncoming attack, and the creatures try and emit an affect fear to stun the group. The Silver Flame protects me from such tricks, but some in our group are not so lucky. The battle ensues, and spells start to fly – Nameless casts slow on a small group of these creatures dramatically reducing their effectiveness. Nameless screams these things have sort of displacement ability. Realizing that hitting them is not due to armor, but pure luck if their displacement kicks in, I start to attack with all the power I can muster, and miss the first couple of times. Finally these things are taken out with the combined effort of the group, and the remainders flee. We heal the group, and then continue on our trek.
Walking for a while longer we bypass the cliffs and enter a forest that Luna says is not natural. Urden tells us to expect this because it happens often here. We see a trail in the distance and some huts with canoes. Urden comments this is what he was sent off in – for banishment. After seeing the canoes, banishment is just the way these people execute their members without calling it that. Corven then see’s two draw running in the distance and Urden tells us we are more likely to get a curious reaction then a violent one. I am glad; I do not want to fight an entire tribe because they are xenophobic. We walk a little bit further, and twelve drow come up towards us – most of their equipment is crude, but two have high quality steal weapons and a shield. They speak to us, in an ancient form of elven, and ask us to go to their village.
The village is not far, about ten minutes away, and we get there unmolested. The village is strange. It is crude, which is what I expected, but what makes it strange is that some of the buildings are supported by gigantic pieces of equipment. One hut uses a ten-foot high steel shield as part of the wall, and then there is a large spear with an adamantine blade to hold the roof of another. This land was once roamed by giants.
We meet a woman, Rezan, who is the shaman of the village. She speaks with Corven and he tells us she would like to touch our faces – she thinks we are painted this color. Apparantly, she has never seen anyone with our complexians before. Corven tells her where we are from, and she takes us to her hut. We sit there, outside the hut, and begin to speak. Rezan tells us we should not lie to her, she does not believe that we came from beyond the mists as there is no such thing as a world beyond the mists. Taking her story, Nameless, Corven and Collus relate it to the history of the dragons of Argonessen and the destruction of the giant civilization. We tell Rezan of our desire to cross the wall, but she tells us it is forbidden to go there and it would be bad if we do. Corven calms her and tells her we will not cross the wall. Rezan tells us we can stay in the village as long as we would like to.
We rest up in the village, and Luna sneaks off to explore the surrounding forest. She comes back a bit later, and tells us of some of the things she has seen. Luna tells us that she has seen some dinosaurs, and has spoken to a squirrel which said it has seen two legged creatures with yellow skin that kill various animals for food.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Session 21 (1/21/06) - Over the Wall (or "40,000 Years of Rubbing")
Luna nears the wall without trouble but just as she reaches it, she flies smack-dab into an invisible barrier, flattening herself against it with a surprised "squawk!", falling, and then righting herself. She casts a detect magic, which seems to work without trouble, and detects a moderate aura of evocation, as well as some divination and universal magic, mostly in the shape of a barrier in front of her. It stretches as far upwards and on either side as she can detect. She surmises that it is a wall of force and tries flying further away or higher and getting by. Experimentation reveals that it stretches along the inner surface of the stone wall as far as she goes, and as high as she goes. Luna then tries dropping down to the ground and changing shape into an ape and climbing up the wall, which reveals that the wall of force extends to the ground too. Eventually, after trying various things, she tries to climb over the wall in her normal form and is able to do so. Slightly bruised, she heads back to join her companions.
When she reaches the village, where some of the drow look at her suspiciously but ask no questions, she finds the others in the middle of a discussion. Six has been suggesting that the island itself is as big a treasure as anything that could be found beyond the wall. He suggests that the group consider setting up an outpost and trying to control/aid/benefit from travel into the interior, just as Stormreach does in Xen'drik. The others have differing opinions about the feasibility of the enterprise. Dala says, "I'm quite sure that as soon as news of this discovery gets out, people will be swarming to this place, so while it's an interesting idea, I'd say we should still get as much out of here as we can this time." Luna returns at this point to report what she saw and experienced. Nameless theorizes that the wall of force might be triggered by a combination of someone trying to leave and doing so by magical means. Luna suggests he try out the theory, but Nameless declines.
Rezan returns shortly afterwards to let the group know that accommodation has been arranged at a large hut for them. She also spends some time asking them more questions, especially about their plans for the next day. Nameless and others tell her that they will not cross the wall but will simply go speak to some of the other tribes. She warns that other tribes might be more hostile, and Nameless replies, "In which case, they will rapidly become much smaller tribes."
Six asks about the stone walkways leading to the top of the wall, and Rezan says that they are used to post sentries on the wall if they hear dangerous creatures on the other side. She also says that supposedly some generations ago, a few of the surviving High Ones had tried to cross the wall and the drow had used them to fight them back. Six also asks her what they use for money on the island, a concept she seems unclear about. Corven produces a copper, silver and gold coin as examples. Rezan asks, "Like this?" and produces a golden disk from a large pouch she carries around, this one weighing about 5 pounds. Imre, the appraiser in the group, opines that it contains about 250 galifars worth of gold. Unfortunately any marks that it might once have had have been removed by thousands of years of being carried around, so it has no value as a historical artifact.
After some discussion, a couple more drow let Rezan know that dinner has been served, and she leads the group to a large open space, where mats have been set for them, with plates and bowls of food nearby. Dozens of other drow join them, though they sit at a discreet distance. During the meal, a small group of drow perform a dance that sets out the history of the world as the tribe sees it, acting as the Scaled Masters and the High Ones in turn.
After the dance and dinner, Rezan tells the group to rest and says she will see them the next day. Urden suggests that the group post watches, since he doesn't really trust the tribe, so they do so (with Six remaining on watch throughout, as always). Late in the night, Six, Gareth and Niff notice a small group of drow approach the hut. When they are a little over a hundred feet away, they stop and then head away. Other than that, nothing of note occurs.
***
The next morning, the group joins Rezan for breakfast. As usual, she has the silent Uthgen and the six armored drow with her. Over breakfast, she asks again about the group's plans and Nameless repeats what they said before. Rezan then excuses herself for a few moments and goes to her hut, with Uthgen in tow.
The two return and approach the group, and then Rezan shouts, "Kill the liars! They must not cross the wall!" She hurls a small bead in their direction, which explodes with concussive force, battering Corven, Gareth and a couple of others. It expands out into a globe of force that almost engulfs Gareth, but he manages to dodge away. Uthgen rushes forward and strikes at Luna, wounding her slightly. As the other drow grab at their weapons and attack, the Angels and other members of the expedition quickly defend themselves.
Nameless is the quickest, casting a spell even before he bothers to stand up, which conjures up a field of black tentacles, which wrap themselves around Rezan and a drow warrior. "I warned you!" he says, as he stands up. Nearby, Corven quickly uses an infusion to make Six's weapon more deadly to drow, and the warforged attacks Uthgen. Which rapidly becomes embarrassing as he tries to trip the drow chieftain and fails to do so, having to drop the chain before being pulled off his own feet instead. Luna steps away from Uthgen and casts produce flame, hitting him with a bolt of flame that pierces his resistance to magic. Gareth attacks one of the other drow with Kizmet.
With the combination of the adventurers, Arrok and Urden, Dala and the four others from Sharn, and the eight porters, the drow are quickly in dire straits, with a couple being quickly cut down. Rezan and the other trapped drow show no sign of being about to escape. A few dozen drow are in the process of rushing to join the fight when Nameless casts a well-placed web spell from one hut to another, catching a number of them. These drow apparently have no idea about such magic, since a couple try to break through by throwing themselves at the web, promptly sticking fast. Uthgen is the only one who seems to be holding his own, managing to wound Six as he retrieves his spiked chain, but Six and Luna then combine to wound him badly.
In desperation, Rezan pulls a bead from her necklace and hurls it. To the momentary surprise of the group (and from her expression - hers too), it blossoms into a fireball, scorching a number of people. More alarmingly, it reveals that some of the downed drow are wearing such necklaces of fireball, since it ignites another, which then ignites another, and so on. A total of four fireballs explode in quick succession. When the explosions end, Corven, three porters and the student scribe Maura are all lying on the ground unconscious, while everyone else is scorched to some degree. Not one of the drow besides Uthgen survive.
The drow villagers who were hurrying to join the fight stop in horror, scream in terror and flee. Their flight is doubly motivated by the two pseudonatural bison that Nameless had just summoned, which he now commands to kill the drow. They charge off, goring or trampling on the unlucky ones they find. Six, meanwhile, cuts down Uthgen with a mighty blow*, while Rezan and the other drow are squeezed to death by the tentacles. The others hurry to revive the unconscious people and find that luckily none are dead.
With the battle quickly terminated, the group does a cursory check of the dead drow, finding two unaffected necklaces (each with one bead) and collecting the large gold piece that they had seen the day before. Six also goes and collects the adamantine spearhead that they had seen used as a roof support. He notices that the vast majority of the drow have managed to flee successfully into the forest, except for the few who are now barricaded in their huts or sitting on a roof screaming with fear while a tentacled bison tries to reach them.
Once he rejoins the others, the expedition proceeds over the wall. Reaching the top via the stone walkways, they find it exactly as Luna had described. While they lower themselves and the supplies with ropes, Luna wildshapes into an eagle and flies around to try and spot the nearest trail. She finds one that leads in the general direction of the mountain, and returns to lead the group in that direction. Urden, having seen the mountain, says, "My tribe believed that was the center of the island." Arrok says, "Then I'm guessing if there is something to find, it's there. Let's go."
With that, the expedition heads into the forest. Arrok, Urden and Six take the lead, followed by a line of porters, with Corven and Nameless in the middle and Gareth at the rear. Collus and Maura are about a quarter of the way down, while Imre and Niff are about the same distance ahead of Gareth. Luna flies overhead and ahead, using her increased speed to scout ahead and returning at intervals to report with gestures and scratching in the ground.
As they proceed over the next few hours, they discover a number of things about the forest. It is a very heavily wooded one, with a canopy that exists on three general levels. The highest trees are over a hundred feet tall, with a lower layer at around sixty feet, and then a third one at about thirty. This arrangement makes it difficult for Luna to get a clear view of the area ahead. Also, they soon discover that the floor of the forest is at various levels. It often falls away to a depth of a hundred feet or more, and then rises abruptly at other times. A few large crevasses are encountered, splitting the ground to deeper depths. These undulations in the terrain are also difficult for Luna to make out if flying above the canopy, and she is eventually reduced to flying about fifty feet above her companions, avoiding the taller trees as she goes.
The forest has more than its fair share of fauna, and there are sometimes animal tracks on or near the trail. At one point, Arrok spots a set of humanoid-shaped tracks. They are slightly larger than human-sized, but are oddly misshapen. Arrok and Urden consult but aren't sure what it could be. Since they head along the trail in the same direction that the expedition is heading, and also happen to be no more than a day old, they recommend caution (a little redundantly, since everyone is on alert anyway) and continue. A short time later, Six notices a much larger track. This one must have come from a creature at least fifteen feet tall, also humanoid in general shape, which drags or rests on its knuckles as it walks. It is difficult to say if there was more than one. Arrok and Urden say that they could be hill giants, but the fingers seem more misshapen and hill giants are usually only about 10 feet tall, or 12 feet at the biggest. These tracks seem a little older.
The first sign of danger for the group comes from a much smaller set of enemies. A number of the group hear distant chirping, like that of a number of birds. Luna, who is nearby, flies in that direction and returns soon. Unable to explain in detail, she changes back to normal form and explains that she heard a lot more of the sounds but couldn't see anything, though there was rustling in the undergrowth below. Her comment is quickly corroborated as the chirping breaks out nearby, followed by the appearance of a dozen or so small green dinosaurs from the bushes nearby. They are a foot tall and have a large beak-like mouth, with disproportionately large teeth.
The dinosaurs scamper forward, eyeing the group with their beady eyes and chirping as they come. One reaches Gareth and looks up at him. The paladin is apparently not an animal-lover, since he says, "I don't trust these," and takes a swing at it with his sword. To the surprise and amusement of the rest, he misses by a mile** as the creature quickly darts aside. Luna begins to yell, "Gareth - there's no need fo..." but is cut off by a chorus of chirping, as hundreds of the creatures swarm out of the bushes at the group.
Everyone has weapons and wands prepared, so the creatures take a volley of shots, but that only leaves a few of them dead. Nameless manages to cast a spell and fly up above them, but they literally roll over the others, biting and scratching with glee. Six is the first to realize that discretion is much the better part of valor here and runs for the closest tree, trailing dinosaurs as he goes. He leaps up and grabs a branch and pulls himself off the ground. Luna swears in anger and then unleashes a flame strike, which roasts dozens of the creatures, clearing a space for her to also run and get up a tree.
After some abortive attempts to cut down some, many of the others manage to do the same, though Corven and most of the porters are hampered by the pain*** of lots of small teeth and claws ripping at them. After a few seconds, they too manage to make their way to some plant or the other. Only two of the porters are unable to flee. Nameless swoops down and manages to barely pull one off the ground, but it's too late for the other. The dinosaurs literally rip apart the screaming man, feasting on him even before he's dead. After depositing the unconscious porter near Gareth, who barely made it off the ground with his armor, so that he can be healed, Nameless summons three pseudonatural bison. Their magical resistance to damage stands them in good stead against the creatures and after they have trampled a fair number (Six has already nailed a number with a fireball via one of the beads from the drow), the dinosaurs disperse.
The remaining members of the expedition slowly climb down and tend to their wounds. The remains of the dead porter, who has been reduced almost to a skeleton, are interred in a shallow grave nearby and the reduced group continues on its way. Someone jokes that they just got treed by the equivalent of a swarm of featherless, green chickens. Nobody seems to find the comment that amusing.
After a couple more hours of traveling, by which time the trail has ended abruptly and been left behind, Arrok suggests that they now make camp. The group picks a site near the base of one of the abrupt descents that they have found in the forest floor, so that they are protected from a couple of sides. The area has a broad open space in the forest canopy above it, and while they are making camp, they see dozens of bats rise from the forest about a mile away. This wouldn't be unusual, but after they account for the distance, they realize that the bats must be about the size of small ponies. But apparently they aren't the largest things in the island's sky. As they fly about, a pair of much larger winged creatures (evidently some sort of dinosaur) zoom up out of the forest near them. They swiftly grab a bat each and wing away with their struggling prey, long leathery wings propelling them away from the party.
"You know," comments Six after seeing that, "Suddenly I'm glad that I'm not the one flying around as a bird." Nameless points out that if Luna's swallowed by one of those things, she can turn into a porcupine or some such, but Luna doesn't seem that enthused about the possibility.
***
The night passes without trouble, though some of those on watch hear large creatures moving around in the distance, and at one point, a loud roar wakes the sleepers. The next morning, the group heads on. Luna, flying above, estimates that they have covered about a dozen miles from the wall, and that it will take them two more days or so to reach the mountain.
An hour or so after they head out, the group stumbles across a strange area. To the view of those behind him Six, who is only a few steps ahead of Arrok and Urden, suddenly appears to be four times the distance away. Six himself notes that the area around him seems to have suddenly expanded in distance. He promptly leaps back, looking to those outside as if he covered a large distance in a second.
The porters promptly stop, while the other Angels and the experts from Sharn hurry up to join Six. Nameless uses a detect magic to discover that the area ahead is highly magical, in the shape of a large cylinder that must be about two hundred feet in width and forty in height. Powerful auras of transmutation, enchantment and universal magic fill the area, but they apparently do not come from extant spells.
While he is discovering this and discussing it with the others, Corven enters the area, with Six accompanying him. Those outside see the same distortion in space that they had, and soon realize there is a distortion in time as well, with those inside seeming to move much faster. Experimentation and discussion reveals that the area within is four times as wide as it seems to be from the outside, and time within moves four times as fast. A dropped coin, for example, falls at normal speed inside but for those outside, seems to fall in slow motion. Even more interestingly, this spatial distortion applies only to distance, with trees, people and other such things appearing exactly the same size. Perhaps due to these strange effects, this section of the forest has no birds or animals within it that the group can see.
The expedition members spend some time studying the area and conjecturing what its source could be. Collus surmises that it might be some after-effect of the destruction of the giants by the dragons. Six is more interested in practical aspects, wondering whether they would be able to rest within this area for 2 hours in the outside world and gain the full benefits of the 8 hrs of time that would pass within. Though they've broken camp too recently to try the experiment, the cartographer Niff marks the area carefully in the map that he's been making of the island, so that they can perhaps try it on their return.
The group continues onwards, changing direction slightly to start using a nearby trail that Luna has spotted. Around noon, a few of them hear movement among the trees to their right. The source is quickly revealed, as five humanoid-shaped figures emerge from among the trees to hurl javelins, winging Arrok and badly wounding Collus. As he cries out and drops to the ground, those who spotted the creatures return fire or cry warnings to the others. As the creatures move closer, the adventurers see that they resemble trolls but are only slightly taller than humans, with warty yellowish-green skin. They wear no armor, or clothing for that matter besides a couple of pouches and straps, but have a pair of javelins strapped to their backs.
Luna comes flying back in eagle form, casting a spell to entangle the creatures, but only one is affected, being stuck in place with vegetation wreathed around its legs. The other four move closer, hurling more javelins, even as the porters, Imre, Dala and Niff respond with a volley of crossbow bolts. Nameless sends a fireball that explodes in their midst, scorching them all, though they seem able to dodge the worst of the blast. Urden charges forward with scimitars flashing, followed closely by Arrok, who yells a warning of "Forest trolls! Careful - they use poison!" Six, who has waited momentarily to fire his bow moves up as well. Gareth, a little far from the attackers due to his position at the rear, moves up too, blessing those around him. Corven, who has infused his wand to fire twin rays at once also does so, and characteristically enough, fails to activate it**** when in range.
The amount of crossbow bolts being fired means a few hit home, and by the time Arrok, Urden and Six reach the enemy, all of the trolls are wounded. As they attack, they see that the trolls' wounds are gradually closing, though not as effectively as a normal troll's would. They hack into the creatures, causing further damage. All of them take a few minor wounds in turn, but one troll quickly goes down. The entangled one staggers under a volley of crossbow bolts and a hurled produce flame from Luna, but manages to hurl one last javelin. It ricochets off a porter's pack and buries itself in the already wounded and poisoned Collus, killing him instantly. Maura, next to him, gives a scream and hurls herself at the body, trying vainly to revive the elderly scholar. A pair of scorching rays that Corven finally manages to fire slam into the troll's chest and drops it in a heap.
The remaining three trolls attempt to flee, but Six and Arrok cut one down as it goes. The other two head back into the trees, their flesh changing color slightly to blend into the background and making them difficult to see. Gareth, who has just managed to move up to join Corven, watches in frustration, knowing that he cannot catch them in his heavy armor.
Nameless, launching magic missiles from behind a tree on the other side of the porters, where he has taken cover against stray spears, gives a yell of pain as a javelin slashes his side. This one comes from behind him, on the opposite side of the trail from where the trolls attacked. Spinning around, he sees another five trolls heading for the group, these ones above the ground and moving along the overhanging tree-branches. Besides the javelin that hit him, four more fly into the porters, hitting one of them. Maura, weeping over Collus' still form, barely has time to look up as one pins her to the ground.
Nameless feels the sting of poison on the javelin-tip but manages to resist it, moving back around the tree. He casts a stinking cloud spell that envelops all the trolls. He hears growls and cries of surprise, followed by a 'thump' as one falls out of a tree. By the time four of them emerge from the cloud, Urden, Six and Corven are racing back and have almost reached him, with the slower Arrok and Gareth some distance behind.
While Luna hurls more bolts of flame, Nameless uses another spell to slow the trolls, though only one is affected. Another, the fifth and last to emerge, has apparently been affected by the cloud and is unable to fight, choking and coughing. One troll comes rushing up with a snarl and swings at Nameless, but he manages to dodge away. Corven appears next to him and levels his wand, blasting the troll back. The others are soon there too, and quickly engage the rest.
Gareth slashes one badly, is clawed in turn, and quickly realizes that the trolls have poisoned claws too, as he feels his vitality lowered. Still, he wounds it again, as does Six, causing it to try to flee. A pseudonatural bison appears beside it and smashes it to the ground. Arrok and Urden, who apparently have some expertise at fighting together and against such creatures, take the slowed one down. Corven blasts a third off its feet. The nauseated one has already fled and so does the remaining one, pursued by the bison.
Corven, who has very clearly been enjoying his wand's effectiveness, thinks for a moment of pursuing, but decides not to. He returns to rejoin the others and heads back to the porters, to take stock of losses and heal the wounded. They find that Collus and Maura are both dead, as is another porter, while two others are wounded and poisoned.
* Crits with drow-bane spiked chains hurt!
** Natural 1
*** i.e. nauseated
**** Rolled a 4 when he needs a 5
***** Only person in the group who could save on a 2. Rolls a 1.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Sitting down we discuss various topics and Six seems to want to take the safe and easy way out by just leaving and selling tickets to this place. I disagree with Six, and agree with Dala that would not work – to say the least. For one, the sheer size of the island would make it impossible to prevent entry, but people like Dala do not want to setup an amusement park, they want to explore – and frankly, so do I. Luna flies in, as a crow, and then changes explaining to us she was having some problems coming back from the wall. She says some kind of wall of force was in place, but only activated when she was in animal form. Maybe this wall keeps the animals from coming over here? Given that she mentioned seeing dinosaurs that may not be such a bad idea.
At this point Rezan returns and speaks with us some more asking us what we plan to do if we are not going to climb the wall. Nameless tells her we will not cross the wall but will examine it instead and will speak to the other tribes. Rezan mentions some of the tribes may be hostile, and Nameless informs her that the tribes will not survive our onslaught. I think diplomacy was thrown out the window as the threat sounded directed towards any of the tribes here, including the one which is hosting us. We discuss other things and dinner is served, while a show is presented. Apparently this is a show of their version of the world history. Once the show and dinner are over we proceed to sleep, setting up guards. On my watch, with Six and Niff – Niff spots a group of drow. Since they do not advance towards us we let it go – this is, after all, a drow village.
We wake up the following morning and have breakfast with Rezan. She asks us about our plans, and when Nameless repeats his previous story, Rezan curiously leaves for a few minutes. She comes back and suddenly attacks us! A battle ensues, which catches us – as well as her guards – by surprise. Rezan throws a bead of force at us and I narrowly dodge its powers which would have immobilized me. We proceed into our well trained routine – Nameless casting spells to disable the area around our enemies – which sometimes hinders us as well. Luna charging in, and Six working on tripping everyone while Corven provides us with initial support. I proceed to hack away at other drow. While we are outnumbered, we make up for it in sheer power and training – these drow are definitely under matched for us. Rezan, in a last act, hurls a bead from her necklace of fireballs. This blows up – doing a little damage to us, but then sets off a chain reaction as her allies – that also have such necklaces – start to explode. The chain reaction causes a lot of damage, killing many drow and hurting us – and dropping Corven. I proceed to Corven and provide him with some healing, to bring him up to walking status. Nameless’ pseudo natural bison proceed to attack some of the other drow warriors. The battle is over, very quickly, and unfortunately many have died – fortunately, it was not on our side. On a side note, I wish Rezan did not attack us. I understand her fears, but to attack us was foolhardy.
We collect our gear and some of the drow’s gear and walk to the wall. I suggest we stay on the opposite side of the wall, resting there. We would be close enough to hop back if trouble happens, but would be safe from the drow – which surely will get their neighboring tribesman. We proceed with the expedition underway and as we travel we encounter little tiny dinosaurs who seem to follow us…something seems puzzling about them, and after looking at them I realize they mean us harm – I swing Kizmet at one and it dodges my attack. Then, out of nowhere, hundreds of them appear and begin to swarm us. I swing at them, hitting but as one takes a hit, five more takes its place. Nameless casts a spell of fly to get above the creatures, while Six leaps ups a tree. Luna casts a flame strike spell and noticing myself being swarmed I leap up a tree and manage to climb it – in full plate. Corven manages to make it up the tree, but slowly, and Nameless is flies down to get one of the porters…the other porter, unfortunately fell to the onslaught of the swarm. Nameless summons more of his bison and they do a good job on the dinosaurs who cannot seem to do much – if any – damage to them. After some rounds go by, the dinosaurs run away, being chased by the bison.
We travel for a while longer and we then make camp, finding a good spot. We see an amazing sight – bats in the distance, large bats – the size of small ponies, but they get eaten by flying dinosaurs of some sort which are much bigger. This land is strange, but there is much to explore here. I have to say I am excited about heading into the dungeons of the scaled ones. We go to sleep, and wake up the next day – refreshed and feeling good about continuing our journey.
Walking for a while, we notice Six taking a step or two, and then jumps ahead what we later calculate to be about four times the distance. After spending some time we find this area has some weird time effect where things inside operate four times as faster then outside. This might not be a bad place for us to rest, assuming time is of the essence.
Traveling a bit further we encounter some creatures that resemble trolls, though a bit shorter. They attack us with javelins – which are heavily poisoned to sap our health. A battle ensues, and I charge up the front – ducking behind trees so I will not present myself as a target. Everyone is fighting and I cast a spell of bless to give our porters extra help in their attacks. Just as I get to within striking distance, I see Nameless attacked from behind. Now being surrounded by these trolls I charge back where I came from. Nameless casts a stinking cloud which makes the trolls fall out of the trees they were hiding in. I come up to one smiting it with all the might the Silver Flame can give me and gash it deeply. Finally as the battle turns more and more our way, the Trolls begin to flee.
Unfortunately, this battle has left some of our number dead, including Collus and some porters. We regroup ourselves, healing those who were drained – including me. We prepare ourselves, allowing those to bury the dead.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Session 22 (1/28/06) - Fighting The Big Stuff (or "Why Haven't We Leveled? Why? WHY?!")
While the poisoned people are healed, the adventurers check the six dead trolls. All of them carry the barest amount of clothing, consisting mainly of straps and bags made of dinosaur skin. Only one has something worth taking, a thick golden belt studded with diamonds. After examining it, Dala suggests that it was a giant's armband. Imre estimates it as worth 2 to 3,000 galifars, maybe more to a collector. The Angels discuss whether to follow the trolls that fled, but eventually decide not to.
Collus, Maura and the dead porter are buried nearby. The remaining six porters are understandably upset about the death toll on this trip, but unable to do much, since retreating would mean traveling across more than a dozen miles of forest alone. To mollify them slightly, Arrok has a significant amount of the provisions buried in a cache, so that the porters have less to carry and can move faster. He says that since the provisions were to ensure that they have enough to return, the expedition can safely do without and recover them on the way back. As the group continues, some can hear the porters muttering darkly, "IF we make it back."
As the group continues on, Six offers to scout a little distance ahead. He says that there's a chance that he will detect dangerous creatures before they reach them, especially since Luna has trouble doing that (due to the multi-layered forest canopy) if she's flying overhead. Arrok agrees and Six takes point about fifty feet ahead of the group, moving as quietly and stealthily as he can. About half an hour later, he sees three carnivorous dinosaurs, all slightly taller than him but their long tails making them more than twice as long, heading towards the group. They have not detected him and seem more curious than hostile. Six drops back to warn the group and everyone stops, readying weapons just in case.
The three dinosaurs emerge from the forest some sixty feet away, stopping to look at the party. Arrok says quietly, "Bigger version of the Talenta clawfoot," drawing attention to the big hooked talons on the dinosaurs' feet. These three do not seem threatening, and after some ten seconds of staring at the group, turn and disappear into the woods. After giving them a little time to get far enough away, Six returns to his position and they continue through the forest.
The trail gradually ends. About an hour after it does, Six catches a glint of light on something a couple hundred feet away, which he soon sees to be a broken stone structure. He tells the others and the expedition quickly detours towards it. They find the structure to be the remnants of a stone floor and a 20 ft wide set of stone steps (of which only two steps and part of a third remain), each of which is three ft tall, with the remnants of the parapet on one side. The steps are cracked, with a large split between the top of the second step and the half-existent bottom of the third. A little searching reveals shorter shattered columns and pieces of stone in the area.
Nameless casts a spell and detects magic from within the split on the steps. He finds a magical adamantine dagger wedged within, sized for a user about ten feet or taller. It is extracted with some difficulty and found to be still usable, so Six carries it for the time being. Besides the dagger, they find no worthwhile artifacts in the area. Urden finds the bottom of a pillar with part of a word on it - "Pra'xi..." ("Pra'x" meaning "forest" in Giant). Luna flies around but finds no other such area, and the expedition continues.
Shortly afterwards, Luna warns that they are about to hit one of the large open spaces, about a mile in width. There are large dinosaurs out there, but not in the immediate vicinity. After some discussion, the group decides to travel across it as Arrok suggests, rather than take a huge detour. When they emerge from the forest, they find that the area is shaped like a bowl, with gentle slopes descending to about a hundred feet below the level of the forest floor. As they carefully and quickly proceed across it, Nameless and Six discuss whether it's natural or not. Six says, "I wonder if it's a giant's bowl" and stops to produce the adamantine dagger and dig it into the ground as deep as its blade will go. It doesn't hit anything, so he pulls it out and continues.
Though they see some large dinosaurs in the distance, none of the creatures seem interested in them, and after half an hour the expedition passes into the trees on the far side of the open area. They proceed for another couple of hours, before deciding to make camp. As before, they pick an area where the ground drops and make camp at the bottom. Or prepare to. As they are in the process of doing so, a soft whispering sound reaches them, which turns into a haunting song.
Everyone experiences the song in a different way, but to each of them it is the saddest thing they could hear. Corven hears the sound of Cyrans dying on the day of Mourning, Gareth hears the weeping of his mother and grandmother at his father's grave, and Nameless ... well, Nameless probably hears tentacle soup being spilled somewhere. Luna shakes her head at the sound and says, "Hey - maybe this is that singing tree I heard about!" The opinion doesn't seem to get the hearing it deserves, as all around her, the other Angels and the members of the expedition quickly drop whatever they were doing, rise to their feet, and head into the forest in the direction of the sound. Luna, Arrok, Dala, Imre and one of the porters are the only ones who are unaffected.
After a few seconds of calling to the others and trying to physically stop them, which they discover is possible but difficult, Luna uses an entangle spell to ensnare as many as she can. Nameless, Niff and most of the porters are affected, but Nameless and a couple of others quickly manage to extricate themselves and continue on. Arrok and Luna leave Dala, Imre and the porter to restrain the remaining ones if they escape, and hurry after the others.
That group manages to reach the source of the singing, which is a tall tree with dark-gray bark and strangely leafless branches. Six, the fastest of the group, is the first to reach it. As he walks up to it and gazes upwards, one of the branches swings downwards, clubbing him brutally on the head. This promptly ends the strange effect that the tree's singing had, but only upon him, as the others keep moving towards it. As Six dodges away from the tree, Urden and Corven reach it, followed by a couple of the porters. More branches lash out at them, knocking them into sensibility. At least Urden and Corven, that is, since the two porters are both smashed to the ground.
Racing up to the scene, Luna sees what's happening and yells to those conscious, "Use fire! Plants are weak against it!" She illustrates her point by calling down a flame strike. The tree actually tries to bend away from the blast but is too large to do so, and branches wither and bark chars under the magical inferno. Arrok fires a couple of arrows at it, but finds that they are ineffectual. He shouts to Luna, "Keep doing what you're doing," and turns to try and hold back those trying to get to the tree.
Nameless and Gareth are already too close for Arrok to stop and each of them suffers a heavy blow, which at least makes them recover their faculties. Near them, Urden tries to dodge away from the tree, but stumbles on a hidden root*. Before he can recover, a branch shoots down like a spear, impaling him to the ground. Corven, right next to him, decides that he can't get out of reach and pulls out a wand instead. He unleashes a scorching ray that chars the tree's bark.
While Luna begins to call lightning down on the tree and Six abortively unleashes a series of arrows, Nameless backs off as far as he can and summons three pseudonatural bison, which begin trying to butt and gore the tree. Their attacks draw its attention, as more branches smash down at them. Unfortunately, it has multiple branches, and another swings down at Corven. It slams him full-length into the ground, breaking bones and knocking him unconscious**. Gareth too takes a heavy blow as he retreats, but manages to get out of range and begins to heal himself.
Over the next few seconds, Luna lashes the tree with bolts of lightning and Nameless uses an acid arrow, while the bison keep attacking it, but the tree has incredible vitality, and it smashes the life out of two of the bison. This leaves one bison and the retreating Nameless as the only targets. Realizing that one blow will kill the already wounded mage, Luna (who has been yelling futilely at Gareth to get in there with his sword, only to be met with an "It'll kill me in one hit!") decides to take a considered risk and runs forward, waving her arms and yelling, "Come on, you ugly weed - I bet you can't hit me!"
Fortunately for Nameless but not for her, she apparently does catch the tree's attention. To the surprise of the watchers, it pulls a huge root out of the ground and places it in front of it, pivoting as if on a foot. Three huge branches swing down at Luna, all of them hitting. The druid is flung backwards, battered and broken***. The focus on Luna does, however, give Nameless an opportunity to fire off another volley of magic missiles, even as his earlier acid arrow burns further into the plant and the bison slams into it one more time. The tree teeters and then keels over, barely missing some of the unconscious people.
Those still standing rush to those who are down and attempt to revive them. Urden is stone dead, as is one of the porters, but the other is barely revived, along with Corven and Luna.
Nameless, having ordered the bison to keep battering the tree just in case, gives Gareth a dirty look and says, "How about healing them?"
Seeing the look, Gareth asks in puzzlement, "What did I do?"
"Nothing - that's what!" snarls Nameless and stalks off to see to the others.
Once those still alive are revived and all the wounded are healed, the adventurers cautiously search the area. They find that the tree had actually walked (as the root impression show) to this point from an area a couple hundred feet away, which is piled with the bones of its past victims. These include a couple of skeletons that may have come from forest trolls and one giant-sized one. There is no useful equipment or treasure to be found, and the group quickly heads back to camp. Luna suggests camping near the now-dead tree, since creatures that know about it would be scared of approaching, but nobody wants to risk the chance that "maybe it has friends!"
Once they return to the camp, Urden and the dead porter are buried. Arrok seems a little more obviously upset than he has been with the previous deaths, saying that Urden was a reliable friend of his. He takes most of the drow's possessions, but offers the others use of some of his things, saying that Urden had no family and would have preferred the equipment to see some use. Six and Luna take one of the scimitars each, while Corven takes a Cloak of Protection.
***
There are no more interruptions and the rest of the evening and night passes peacefully. Corven's homunculus, which has been working on Six's spiked chain (since the previous night) while the others are asleep, has completed enchanting it by dawn. The group soon breaks camp and heads out. Arrok asks Luna if she can take a couple of hours and fly as close to the mountain (which is now a little over fifteen miles away) as possible, specifically to look for structures and signs of habitation. She agrees, changes form into an eagle, and flies off.
The others continue on foot. After traveling for a little over an hour, they hear the sounds of loud bellowing (evidently from a number of huge creatures) and crashing trees off somewhere about 4-500 feet to their right. They quickly conceal themselves. The bellowing quickly devolves into screams of pain and is abruptly cut off. Six suggests that they remain where they are till Luna returns and can find out what it is, and they do so.
Luna, meanwhile, heads directly towards the mountain. On the way, she passes over the largest of the open spaces that she has seen, about 3 miles across and like a bowl set about 300-400 ft below the level of the forest. It is strangely formed, as if someone dug out huge chunks of the ground, leaving deep gullies and trenches. There is a lake about a quarter mile across in the middle. Despite the distance, she can see large dinosaurs there, as well as in other parts of the bowl. When she is almost across, she also catches sight of some large humanoid shapes in the distance. A quick detour reveals them to be seven large hill giants (though they seem larger and even uglier than hill giants she has seen or seen pictures of) stalking a herd of dinosaur. After watching them for a little bit, she heads on.
As she nears the mountain, Luna still sees no signs of any structures near it. When she is less than six miles from the mountain, she does notice something strange. Ahead of her are a few birds that appear to be perched in mid-air, floating a few feet above the tallest branches of the trees below them. They seem otherwise normal - or as normal as a bird floating in mid-air and preening itself can be. Luna flies closer, circling around to study the strange sight, and suddenly crosses an invisible barrier. Though the general sight in front of her remains the same, the details change a lot. Many of the trees are taller and it turns out that the birds she saw were actually sitting in the branches of trees that were masked by the illusion that seems to cover the area. Even more interestingly, Luna can now see a city sitting at the base of the mountain. It is about two miles across and despite the distance, she is sure that the buildings in it (which seem to be in ruins, though she can't be sure) are giant-sized. It is apparently inhabited, as indicated by a couple of thin plumes of dark smoke rising from it.
Having found what she was looking for, Luna heads back to the group. As she goes, she notes that the illusion doesn't affect those within the area when looking out. Arriving back with the others, she finds them waiting for her. They explain what happened and she flies off to check. Some 400 ft from their position, she finds a number of knocked-down trees and the corpse of a large dinosaur, which has been killed by a series of very large bites. Huge chunks of meat are missing. A swarm of small carnivorous dinosaurs are feeding on it. Luna's doubts that they killed it are quickly confirmed, as a tyrannosaurus (also known as the swordtooth) comes charging out of the trees. The small dinosaurs flee as the huge reptile takes a big bite out of the corpse, rushing back as it turns away.
Luna heads back to join the others and changes shape so that she can report what she saw there and near the mountain. After her description, Corven and Nameless surmise that it is some sort of a hallucinatory terrain spell, which can affect the appearance of natural terrain and artificial structures, but not living creatures. Nameless also points out that since the average hallucinatory terrain would cover an area a few hundred feet long and wide and maybe sixty feet high, this is by far the largest one he's heard of.
The group continues, Luna now traveling in shifter form with them. Eventually, they reach the large open space she told them of. Picking one of the gullies that will get them across quickly but also not take them towards the center of the 'bowl', they quickly head across. When they are most of the way across, the adventurers hear thunder. It takes only a moment of looking up to see a complete lack of clouds, followed by the feel of the ground trembling and the sound of loud bellowing breaking out behind them to confirm what it is. "Dinosaur stampede!" yells Arrok, "Get the heck out of here!"
With little time to respond, if the thundering of huge dinosaur feet is any guide, people respond in various ways. While backing away as far as he can, Nameless quickly casts a web spanning the roughly thirty to forty foot width of the gully, some sixty feet from their position. "That'll slow them down!" he says, then snapping to the nearby porters, "Stay close - I'll get you out." Two of them comply, though clearly shaken. Three others are not as trusting, screaming in fear and running as fast as they can. Nameless quickly casts a fly spell on one of the porters and says, "Get him out!" The porter immediately grabs the other and begins to rise upwards.
Six and Arrok both rush to the rough rocky sides of the sixty foot deep gully and begin to climb as fast as they can, Six quickly outpacing the slower gnome. It's quite clear, however, that neither will reach the top before the dinosaurs get there. Gareth, after one look at the walls and another at his heavy armor, also rushes to the side. But instead of trying to climb, he tries to back into an indentation in the walls. Just in case, he casts a shield of faith and throws in a quick prayer for good measure, followed by a shouted, "Someone throw down a rope!"
"Sure!" says Luna, changing form into an eagle. She soars up to the top and changes back again. As she does so, she also gets the first good view of what's thundering down towards the adventurers. Above the walls of the gully around the turn, she sees the long necks of a dozen brontosaurs, jostling for position and racing forward as only a panicked dinosaur can. The reason for their panic is not immediately evident, until a break in the gully wall reveals the sight of not one but two tyrannosaurs charging after them, jaws agape. Just to round off the tableau, a few pterosaurs fly in their wake, toothed beaks agape in excitement. "Oh bugger!" says Luna fervently, as she begins to pull a rope from her pack.
Still down in the gully, Imre has pulled out a potion and swigged it. "Grab hold!" she cries to Niff and seizes the gnome cartographer. Both of them begin to rise slowly upwards. Dala follows suit, using a potion of her own. Seeing them, Corven hurriedly pulls out a similar potion of levitate that he has been carrying for weeks on end. He follows suit and begins to rise. It's only when he's a few feet off the ground that he remembers how slowly the spell works. Corven quickly begins to cast a bear's endurance on himself, figuring he can use all the protection he can get. Close enough to both see and hear him, Gareth quickly follows suit.
And this is the point when the first two brontosaurs turn the corner and hit the web. The magical obstruction creaks and stretches, holding for a few moments despite the fact that it isn't designed to take this kind of stress. A number of strands snap, but the web holds and the brontosaurs' momentum slows. For a couple of seconds, it looks like they might be stopped - until the rest of the brontosaurs pile into them from the rear. One brontosaur is actually knocked off its feet by the impact and a couple of others almost climb onto it, and the web finally gives way. The watchers are treated to the sight of multiple tons of confused, terrified, bellowing dinosaur sliding through the gully like the world's largest cork being popped. With a chorus of moans, bellows and screams, the dinosaurs are upon them.
Or almost all of them. The seconds that the web lasts is just enough for Nameless, having made his way as far down the gully as he could while casting his spells, to summon a trio of pseudonatural creatures. He barely has enough time to mount one and as the dinosaurs come surging down the gully, the hippogriff soars out in the nick of time. The other two, at his command, pursue the fleeing porters. "They're here to help!" he yells after the porters, but with the distance and the noise he doubts they will hear.
The others - except for Luna at the top - are not as lucky. Though they all try to take up as little space as possible, each is smashed against the gully's side to some degree, though that would count as being brushed by the creatures in passing. What is lucky for them is that they are all off the ground and above the bulk of the brontosaurs, so they are not actually squeezed into the gully's sides or stepped on. Other than Gareth, who sees a huge foot descending near him. He shoves himself as deep into the gully wall as possible, which stops the foot from more than brushing his shoulder, though that is enough to rattle his teeth.
The sight of the dinosaurs passing below her are distracting enough for Luna, but quickly added to it is the fact that she seems to have caught the attention of two of the pterosaurs, which turn and fly in her direction. She hurriedly throws Gareth the rope and begins to cast a spell. It's only a second after she has begun that she realizes that in her hurry, she didn't actually anchor the rope before throwing it down. Gareth realizes it a moment later. As he looks up past thirty feet of rushing dinosaur, he sees the rope descend next to him. His happy "Yes!" is quickly cut off as the rest of the rope then hits him in the face, leading to a couple of comments that Cedric might have appreciated. His mood isn't improved as he looks beneath the huge legs of the brontosaurs and sees something Luna couldn't see from the gully top. A few clawfoot dinosaurs race along below the brontosaurs, snapping at them like excitable terriers. One of them spots him and charges at him. Luckily for him, as it hurls itself forward with talons raised, a brontosaur foot brushes its side, bruising it badly and sending it sliding off to the side.
Above Gareth, the various levitating and flying people reach the gully top. Corven, nursing some bruised ribs and having had the singular experience of his life as well as four brontosaurs flash before his eyes, is among the first to do so. Seeing the two pterosaurs heading for them, he quickly pulls out his wand and begins to apply an infusion to double its power. The two porters, Dala, Imre and Niff also emerge nearby. Nameless is further along the gully, and he quickly dismounts and sends his hippogriff to join the other two in rescuing the porters.
Some distance below the gully top, both Arrok and Six have managed to hold on to the sides despite the battering they have taken. As they try to climb closer to the top, a chunk of rock that Six was holding onto comes off in his hand. He claws vainly at the surface and then drops. Luckily, his fall is cushioned by a passing brontosaurus. Six hits on its side and bounces off, desperately trying to hold on. He finally hits the ground, bruised and battered, and desperately rolls away from the huge feet pounding around him, though the bare touch of him slams him against the gully-side. A nearby clawfoot, apparently deciding that Six must be dinner from the sky, rushes towards him.
Meanwhile, on the gully top, both Luna and Corven dodge away from the pterosaurs, which squawk in disappointment and continue on. Before they can make another pass, Luna finishes her spell, summoning three hippogriffs to surround and attack them. Corven, seeing what has just happened to Six, decides to go help him. Then, seeing what is about to pass by, he politely waits until each tyrannosaurus can pass by. Once they have, he steps off the gully top and begins to levitate down.
The clawfoot that attacked Gareth still shows fight, leaping forward to slash him with his talons. Being stepped on has left it a little wobbly, however, and Gareth cuts it down with Kizmet. Six, realizing that after the fall he is in no condition to fight, pulls out a potion. Before he can drink it, the clawfoot is on him in a flurry of teeth and claws, and he slumps to the ground, unconscious. The clawfoot hesitates for a moment, apparently having found his combination of wood, metal and fibres somewhat unappetizing, and that's just enough time for Corven. He levels his wand and fires, sending two scorching rays through its head, killing it instantly. Corven then descends to the gully floor and revives Six.
With the dinosaurs far enough away (though the sounds indicate that the tyrannosaurs have managed to kill at least one brontosaur), the expedition-members quickly fall to healing. Amazingly, not one of them has been killed, with the three fleeing porters having reappeared, struggling and screaming in the grasp of the hippogriffs. The creatures drop them near Nameless and fly off to join Luna's summoned creatures in dealing with the pterosaurs. Once everyone is healed, the group quickly descends into the next gully, hurrying to exit this area as soon as they can. As they leave, Nameless points out to the porters how much effort he had to put in to save them and suggests that they stick close to him and follow directions next time.
***
In comparison to being caught in a dinosaur stampede, the rest of the day's travel is completely uneventful. By the time the group makes camp, they are only about a mile from the border of the hallucinatory terrain and four miles from the giant city's outskirts, Luna estimating that they will reach it around noon the next day. As usual, the group makes camp near the bottom of a slope, picking a spot that gives you a little space between the bottom of the slope and the trees.
Shortly after they have made camp, most of them hear the sounds of multiple large creatures moving through the trees towards the camp. The expedition-members either back away and ready weapons or conceal themselves as well as they can in the undergrowth. Except for Gareth and two of the porters, whom he is giving a crash course in the worship of the Silver Flame. The three of them are too engrossed in the conversation and only realize something is afoot when they look around to find half the expedition apparently missing and the others pointing crossbows at the forest.
Gareth just has time to rise and say, "What...?", when a hulking shape emerges from the trees. It resembles a hill giant, but stands close to one and a half times as tall, and is significantly deformed, with a twisted face and one hunched shoulder higher than the other. It wears a chain shirt and carries a club that is the size of a small tree. Three more, slightly shorter, figures move through the shadows behind it.
The prepared adventurers hold their fire, just in case the giants are not hostile, but the hope is quickly dispelled. The giant raises a trunk-like arm and points at Gareth and the others visible in the middle of the camp and bellows a word, which Corven and others translate as either "Food!" or "Poop!" Presuming it's the former, the group promptly unleashes a hail of weapons and spells on the creatures.
Arrows hit a number of the giants, though they seem to have little effect. More troublesome for them is the fog cloud that Luna drops around them, which is followed by a black tentacles spell from Nameless. Though the others cannot see it, the grunts of surprise and pain from within the mist signify to its efficacy.
While the others reload or move closer, Luna casts another spell, creating a spike growth in the area around the cloud. Her action is timely, as the big giant rushes out of the cloud. It promptly stumbles into the spikes, and with a howl of pain, rushes through the area. Gareth, running forward to attack it, takes a blow from the club that rocks him from head to toe. The three other giants also emerge a moment later, to step on the spike growth and also be surrounded by a glitterdust from Nameless. Two of them are blinded, taking them out of the fight, and one of them is lamed too.
The remaining giant manages to resist being blinded but by the time it makes its way through the spikes, it is hobbling. With a cry of rage, it rushes at Corven, who has just blasted it with his wand. Corven's cries of "No, no - not me! Look at the big armored guys!" apparently doesn't convince it and he barely avoids being crushed to the ground by a blow that leaves him bruised and battered.
Arrok and Six have been sniping with great effectiveness all this time and they focus their fire on the giant threatening Corven. The porters, Dala, Imre and Niff have also been doing their part with their crossbows, and with the two blind giants blundering off (one of whom wanders back into the tentacles****) after having been blasted by a fireball from Nameless, they switch to the two remaining targets too. While Luna uses produce flame and hurls bolts of fire, Nameless further summons two pseudonatural bison to attack the giant facing Gareth.
The big giant seems very surprised at the appearance of the creatures and Gareth seizes the opportunity to smite it with all his strength and the power of the Silver Flame. Badly wounded, the creature bellows in anger and brings down its club with all its strength - on Kizmet. There is a tinny sound and the sword shatters, leaving only a hilt-shard in Gareth's hand. As he screams in anger, the giant turns and smashes one of the bison.
Across the clearing, Corven realizes he is too close to escape and levels his wand at point-blank range, blasting the giant looming over him. It screams in rage and swings, hitting Corven amidships. Ribs crack as he is lifted off his feet and hurled backwards, landing in a heap ten feet away. The giant promptly turns to flee.
The giants' momentary triumphs are completely transient. More spells and arrows slam into them, as do the two bison, and they both collapse. An angry Gareth uses the remaining fragment of Kizmet to dispatch the one next to him, having to literally saw its huge throat open.
As Luna rushes to heal Corven and the others move forward to ensure that the giant stuck in the black tentacles is dead, Gareth picks up the fragments of Kizmet. Once he has collected them, he asks Six if he can try using the magical adamantine dagger they found, to see if its magic helps heal Kizmet. Luna, having got Corven back on his feet, offers Urden's scimitar too. Gareth places the two in contact with Kizmet, before placing the pieces of Kizmet in order. As the others watch curiously, he places his hands on them and prays to the Flame.
There is no change in the other weapons, but there is a short flash of light and the pieces of Kizmet gradually knit together. As they do so, Gareth feels the same draining sensation that he had when first doing this, after the sword had been sundered by Desro. The feeling is stronger this time. As he picks up the now complete sword, Gareth feels a dim sense of relief. It takes him a couple of seconds to realize it, but the emotion is not his own. As far as he can tell, the sword in his hands is relieved, and he can feel it.
* Also known as John cursing him so that I rolled a 1.
** Well past -10 - the first time for Corven.
*** Took her from completely healed and 75 hp to below -10; also a first for Luna.
**** Poor guy was shot, sneak attacked, burned, blind, lame (down to 1/8 speed!) and grappled.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
We finish up with the battle and heal our numbers, as well as search the bodies of our dead prey. We gained a giant’s armband, worth a lot of money, but we also had some deaths – Collus and Maura, plus a dead porter. That is a travesty – these were not combatants, but scholars who were on an exploration for knowledge. We redistribute our supplies, including burying some of our supplies, since the porters cannot carry everything.
We continue along our path, and eventually find some big hooked talon tracks. According to Arrok, it looks like a Talenta clawfoot, only bigger. We eventually come to some ruins and we search around. Nameless casts his detect magic, and even I even perform a detect evil. We find a magical adamantine dagger that is sized for a giant. We give it to Six to hold, though I would imagine it is quite unwieldy for any of us. We travel some more, and go through a huge crater, which provides some interesting banter for Six and Nameless.
Eventually, after a long day of traveling, we make camp. Later that night – I wake up, and I hear a sad song – it reminds me of my mother and grandmother – when we buried my father. I am not sure where this song comes from, but I head towards it. Who or what hear could possible know the sadness I experienced at this funeral? Maybe they can help me, maybe they have magically contacted my father and he wants to pass a message to me. I travel onward, and for some reason things try and get in my way. Something tries to entangle me, but it will not hold me down. I must find what is causing me this sad memory – what message is trying to come across to me. Finally I reach a gigantic tree, and cannot help but stand there and listen to the sad tale. I try and converse with it, but it does not respond – it just sings to me, and I want to cry. Then, as I do not think something can get any sadder I get smashed in the face by a branch. I was charmed, how I do not know, but I retreat, and get hit again – just barely standing, only because I healed myself before I moved. I get out of the way of the tree, knowing that melee combat with it will prove futile. Spells start to fly, and I realize this battle is not something I can contribute to. The awesome blows of this creature are too much for me to handle and ranged attacks are the only method we can use…unfortunately, as I have seen – Six’s arrows are bouncing harmlessly off the creature. Luna and Nameless all start hurling spells. Eventually, after many spells, the tree collapses. We go and heal people – though Urdern and one of the porters died. Nameless starts berating me for not entering the combat – but I guess he would have preferred if I walked in and got killed in one hit. I saw the creature hit Luna – that hit would he killed me as it almost killed her. We head back to camp and bury the dead as well as go back to sleep.
After traveling we encounter some more sounds, creatures fighting each other – but at least they are not fighting us, so we hide and let nature take its course. We eventually encounter a large gully, that Luna found, and we go inside that way. We hear a loud noise, almost like a heard only to find out as Arrok screams it is a dinosaur stampede. Nameless starts casting web to hopefully hold the stampede or slow them down. I ask him to cast fly on myself so I can get the porters out of here, but instead he casts fly on the porters – which I question. They are unreliable, in my opinion, and how much can each of these porters carry. Six climbs out of the crevice and Corven uses a potion of levitate. Luna is off flying somewhere, so I am left down below with a couple of porters. I look for a niche in the wall and try and flatten myself, casting shield of faith and shouting to someone to get me a rope. I then feel a rope being thrown at me, unfortunately, Luna threw the entire rope. Seeing the hopeless position I am in, I cast bears endurance to give myself some extra health.
I then see an amazing sight, two gigantic dinosaurs charge head first into the web knocking them off balance and causing a cascade effect as other dinosaurs run into them. I then get clipped by a dinosaur, luckily not squashed, but still a pretty good hit. And then, I see something even worse, some clawfoot dinosaurs – small dinosaurs – that get very hungry come jumping towards me. The first clawfoot gets stepped on by a bigger dinosaur. It then recovers and comes at me again, but I slice at it with Kizmet. Note: At this point I am in serious trouble. Without any allies, if I get surrounded by anymore of these little dinosaurs I will not make it. Luckily, the stampede – by this point – passed us. We recover our numbers and I found out the true reason why Nameless casted those spells on the porters instead of me. He is trying to curry some special favor with them. This is confusing on a number of different levels. While the porters are helpfully at what they do, they offer very little in the way of combat prowess – not to mention they cannot heal, and let us not forget – Nameless and I are group mates. I am a bit more reliable then a hired porter when it comes to helping the group. I remember Nameless trying to gain control over Zeke a while back – is Nameless trying to dominate people and becomes some lord? This is something worth keeping an eye on. Megalomania has no place in this world – it leads to evil. We got lucky without casualties, and continued on our path.
Going along we encounter an area of magical illusion. It is a large area, according to Nameless larger then what a spell of this type is normally. Whoever casted this spell must have used some great magic. We are close to the city and decide it is best to camp now, and get to the city refreshed in the morning.
At night, I am giving some of the porters a lesson about the Silver Flame. I eventually notice the rest of the group is not around and as I stand up to look for the group I see a giant walking in. I tell the porters to stand back, but do not attack – just in case the giants are non-hostile. The giants begin to shout in their language and Corven says they are calling us food. We go into battle – with spells flying – Nameless and Luna start to disable their targets with area spells that blind and hamper movement. Impressive! I charge forward to attack one of the giants, and he hits me once before I get to him. Then Nameless gives me some support by throwing two of his pseudonatural bison at the giant I am fighting. As the creature is distracted, I smite it with all my strength and divine might doing considerable damage. This creature, cries in pain and then turns to me. I have a feeling he would kill me, but then he smashes down on Kizmet – shattering it to pieces!! Not again! I scream in anger, and the giant turns and ignores me for the bison. Then the giant goes down, and I ensure it’s death by stabbing the remains of Kizmet into it’s throat.
As the group goes to make sure the other giants are dead, I gather Kizmet and carefully put it together, assembling the pieces on the ground – the porters look at me oddly. I then place my hands upon it, praying to the Silver Flame to grant the same miracle as it did once before. My hands start to glow, and Kizmet forms back on itself – I am exhausted – a lot more then the last time. It feels as if more of my souls has been sucked from me – but Kizmet is whole and it seems stronger then before.
I grab Kizmet and I feel a sensation of relief, but it takes me a moment and I realize the sensation is not my own, but of Kizmets! It feels now, and I can tell that it feels! Kizmet is sentient.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Session 23 - Pra'xirek (or "A plan? You want us to actually have a plan?")
While Gareth tries to mentally communicate with his sword and discovers that it apparently hasn't developed conversational skills yet, the others take care of healing everyone and examining the dead giants. They find that the largest one's chain shirt is finely crafted and remove it, since Dala says that it will be valuable. The giant also carries a brass cup the size of a bucket with inset opals. Imre estimates it to be originally worth about 1,000 galifars, but it is quite battered and now about half as valuable. The cup detects faintly of conjuration magic. Another giant is wearing a platinum ring engraved with a leaf pattern (worth about 2000 galifars). Between the three, they have four silver coins the size of the one recovered from the drow and another golden one. All five have a stylized picture of a tree and a tower above it. Dala and Imre surmise that by the system of symbology that the giant's used in their art, it would mean something like "the house of/in the forest".
While searching them, the Angels also notice that the bigger giant has a tattoo on his left shoulder, depicting a serpent wrapped around a gem (probably a dragonshard). Both Corven and Nameless recognize it as something they have seen in a book, which said it is supposed to represent the dragons of Argonessen.
After having taken what they want off the bodies, the expedition decamps, moving a few hundred feet away from the corpses. After they have remade the camp and started on supper, Six discusses the giant attack, pointing out that the alacrity with which the giants attacked, rather than showing any surprise at their appearance, implies that the giants have experience of humanoid-shaped creatures of their size. They also discuss what to do when they reach the city, some thinking that it would help to find a place near it to hole up and then investigate carefully.
***
The next morning, a couple of people mention a dream they had. It turns out that everyone in the group (except Six, who can't sleep) had a dream where a faint voice was speaking to them from a distance. They saw nothing and its words were unclear, but they realized that it was asking them to free it from its captors and promising great rewards. Though Gareth does not mention it to the others, he had a variation. In his dream, he saw Kizmet appear, floating in mid-air and glowing. He sensed great fear and anger in the blade and the voice faded away.
While they discuss the dream, Nameless identifies the magical cup. It turns out to be what the group quickly names a Bucket of Beer, which fills up with a gallon of strong beer thrice a day. "Oh well," says Corven at the news, "At least we have a backup if we ever need to retire and open a bar!"
The group breaks camp and heads out. About ten minutes later, they run across the corpse of a giant, evidently the one that had managed to survive the battle the previous night. It has been slain by multiple wounds, some from slashing and some from piercing weapons, evidently manufactured ones around the size that the group carry. The body has been stripped of equipment other than the hide armor and the greatclub. Six and Arrok cast around for tracks, and they agree that whoever or whatever it is that slew the giant had taken care to remove tracks. Six does find a partly obscured print of what is probably a boot-print form a humanoid the size of a human being.
The group continues on, traveling for an hour before crossing the hallucinatory terrain barrier. The difference between the illusion and the reality is much more obvious at ground level, making it clear that the scene depicted is sparser than the level of vegetation in the forest currently. Continuing on, it takes them another three hours to reach the edge of the city.
The forest ends right on the edge of the city, and the adventurers carefully look out and study the area. The city is about two miles across. The buildings are clearly giant-sized, though most are in ruins, with only a few dozen mostly intact. The largest one is in the center, standing about two hundred feet in height and separated from the rest by a wide space. This one is in reasonably good shape, though it seems like the sides are broken, as if it were originally part of a larger building. Unlike the rest of the stone construction, it has a large metal dome at the top, with small metal protuberances. The entire city has a huge crevasse around it, about 200 ft wide. A single stone bridge (about 30 ft wide) crosses it. There was evidently a wall on the inner side, which is in pieces now. Just as Luna had done earlier, they see smoke rising from a couple of places in the city.
The group stands around and discusses their options for entering the city, until suddenly interrupted. A voice from behind them says in accented elven, "Impressive, isn't it?" The speaker, a drow, steps out of the trees nearby. He is tall and muscular, with large white tattoos on body and face, as some in the group know Xen'drik drow tend to use. Unlike the drow outside the wall, his equipment is finely made. He wears a fine chain shirt, with small chitin us plates attached to the shoulders and upper chest. A coiled chain weapon hangs by his side, like the spiked chain Six uses, but without spikes and with a long blade at each end.
Though wary, the adventurers greet him, with those who understand elven translating. He introduces himself as Ek'ann, of the Ka'ki'kur clan. Arrok comments that it's unusual for Xen'drik drow to provide their family and clan names, Ek'ann's lack of response indicating that he doesn't understand the common tongue either.
A discussion ensues, with Ek'ann expressing interest in the group, saying that they must be from beyond the island. He says that though his people have never traveled beyond it, they know that there are "worlds beyond", unlike the "savages" beyond the wall, whom he seems dismissive of. He says that the city "Pra'xirek" (which translates to 'forest home' in giantish) belonged to his people as friends and servants of the Guardians, but they are now dispossessed by the giants. When they ask, he says that the Guardians are dragons, though only one is left. He dissuades the group from entering the city since they will be killed, saying that the local giants are quite violent. Nameless hazards a guess and says that they realized that since they fought some yesterday, though Ek'ann already knows that. Ek'ann admits that one of their patrols did notice the fight and slay the last giant, but he says those giants did not come from the city. He suggests they talk to the clan-leader Ghyrra, who will tell them more about everything.
The group quickly agrees, with a couple being surprised that Gareth says they shouldn't distrust Ek'ann just because those outside the wall proved untrustworthy. Dala and Arrok are both a little wary, but say they agree to go along. Once they agree, Ek'ann turns and claps his hands, causing five more drow to emerge from hidden places in the forest some sixty feet away. None of the adventurers are really surprised. Ek'ann comments that it is dangerous to be alone here, and then leads them towards the mountain, having said that their lair is at its base.
As they go, Gareth scans them and comments that two of them are evil, causing Nameless to ask whether water is wet. They continue to talk along the way. Six examines Ek'ann's chain weapon and finds that it works a lot like his own chain. Ek'ann comments at one point that it is interesting that they have "metal men" too, indicating Six, which interests the warforged a lot. When asked, he says that though there were never many here, the giants did have some metal men and were planning to build more. They were useful against the quori and their ability to manipulate dreams, since they did not sleep, and they were also used against the elves when they revolted. Nameless, Dala and Six discuss how valuable this information could be back in Khorvaire, considering the theories about the origin of the warforged in Xen'drik, especially if they can find material proof of it.
The group has gone most of the way around the city when some strange creatures appear over the side of the crevasse near them. Six of them are dolgrims, like those the Angels had fought in Sharn, with their squat bodies, doubled heads, and four arms. These have thick greenish-black scales on their bodies, unlike the ones in Sharn. Levitating out of the crevasse behind them is another creature, looking like a male drow to the waist and having the body of a scorpion below. "Drider!" shouts Arrok upon seeing it.
"Dolgrim!" cry the drow warriors instantly, charging the creatures as they climb over the crevasse's lip and slashing at them with long knives. Though a couple hit, the dolgrims' scales seem resistant to damage. From behind them, the drider calls out (interestingly enough, in the common tongue), saying, "Join with us. The drow will betray you. Work with the Three and we will reward you."
Nameless' response is to summon three bison. At his command, the two that can reach the dolgrim promptly rush forward and butt them into the air. The two startled dolgrim scream and wave their arms as they describe a short arc and disappear into the depths. Their screams fade away, with no sound of hitting bottom.
The drider says again, "We are offering you another opportunity. Join us!" Evidently not trusting the group's restraint, it casts a spell, creating a fog cloud that envelops much of the group. Gareth and Corven, still outside the area, move up but are unable to affect anyone, Gareth because the drow are in the way and Corven because he, as ever, fails to activate his wand. Ek'ann and Six both move out of the fog cloud and strike at the dolgrims with their chain weapons, Ek'ann actually wounding one while Six fails to trip another.
The four remaining dolgrim reveal a hidden ability, opening their mouths and vomiting streams of slime at those around them. With the various overlapping streams, everyone nearby is hit and feels the slime burn them. The effect also stuns many, including all of the drow except Ek'ann, as well as two of the bison.
Arrok and Luna quickly provide reinforcements, emerging from the fog cloud too and moving towards the fight. Nameless, on the other hand, figures that the fog cloud is good protection and remains within, simply summoning two hippogriffs, which attack the flying drider, one wounding it. Evidently not considering them a threat, the drider ignores them and casts a fireball, which scorches many of its enemies.
Despite its magical aid, the fight quickly goes against the dolgrim. Gareth shoves past a stunned drow and cuts one in half with two powerful swipes. Six trips another and wounds it, allowing the bison near him to finish the job of treading it into the ground. Ek'ann and Arrok combine to drop another. Corven finally gets his and to work and blasts the drider with a scorching ray, while Luna hits it with a bolt of call lightning.
With Nameless deciding to emerge from the cloud and add a volley of magic missiles, the wounded drider tries to take out its enemies via a method besides spells, moving forward (and being wounded by another hippogriff in the process) to vomit a much larger cone of slime over Nameless, Luna and Corven. Unfortunately for it, though all of them are hurt, they remain on their feet. Luna lashes the drider with another lightning bolt, and as it staggers, Corven hits it right in the face with a scorching ray.
With an anguished scream, it plummets downwards. A last cry of "You are fools! You will have to face the Threeeee..." fades into the depths with it. Nameless thinks for a moment and gives a command in the tongue-twisting language of the daelkyr. A momentary look of bovine surprise crosses the bison's faces, followed quickly by a combination of irritation and resignation. They charge toward the edge and leap out, before plummeting downwards in the same general area as the drider. "That's gonna hurt!" says Nameless with a satisfied smile, turning away from the edge.
Nearby, Ek'ann, Arrok and Six have finished off the last dolgrim, while Gareth has disengaged to heal himself. The group looks around at their enemies but have little time for celebration. A large boulder arcs over and slams into the wall of the crevasse, close to the group. Looking across, they can see a couple of large figures preparing to hurl more rocks. The group instantly heads into the forest, avoiding the couple of rocks that come their way. Nameless yells a command to the hippogriffs, sending them off to distract the giants.
Once they are safely away, Ek'ann leads them on towards the mountain, commenting only that the giants normally don't stay this close to the wall, but their fight and all the magical effects must have attracted some. As they go, the others ask about the Three. He says that they are a trio of mindflayers that have emerged from the depths of the crevasse recently, with a number of aberrations, and have been attacking both the drow and the giants. They are interested in freeing the Bound One, or so the drow believe. When asked about it, he says only that the Bound One is a creature that came here thousands of years ago and was bound by the dragons, but Ghyrra should be the one to talk about it. He also mentions that the Three can apparently affect creatures in some strange way by drilling holes in their brains and inserting a type of slime, which allows them to control them from a distance and see through their eyes. There was a small tribe of driders nearby, which were slain by the Three, with the drider attacking them being an example. This account explains the small holes in the heads of both the drider and the dolgrims that some of the adventurers had noticed while fighting them.
The group eventually reaches the mountain, which the trees abruptly stop short of. Ek'ann leads them to a set of concealed cave-entrances. Taking them past the curious guards at the entrance, he leads them down to the home of the drow, which consists of a huge complex of interlocking caves. After a sparse entrance area, they are quite well appointed and decorated with paintings, carvings and tapestries. Most of them depict giants, dragons and drow. While the giants and drow are shown in various situations, the dragons are almost always simply depicted singly on an ornate background or shown battling giants. One picture shows figures that resemble warforged, fighting on the side of giants against the drow.
As they proceed deeper into the complex, the group passes more drow, with Ek'ann deflecting all questions with a quick "They need to be taken to Ghyrra." In one large tunnel, they pass a pair of drow accompanied by two scorpions the size of big dogs, with a single specimen the size of a cow following behind. Nearby, they hear growling speech from behind a large door, which sounds like "Me hungry!" in bastardized giantish. When asked, Ek'ann says that it is a cave troll, a couple of which the drow have fighting for them.
Eventually, Ek'ann brings the group to a large, well-furnished chamber, containing a number of armed drow. At the end of the room is a large stone seat carved in the shape of a giant scorpion, where a short and slender drow woman is sitting. Ek'ann introduces her as Ghyrra, the leader of the Ka'ki'kur. She greets the group and asks them to make themselves comfortable. Once they have and she has sent for food and drink, she has a lot of questions about who they are. Like Ek'ann, she seems to know something about the world beyond the island, admitting that it is mainly because of magic and because of what the Guardians told her people. When Nameless asks who the Guardians are, Ghyrra begins to relate the history of the island, adding sections as the adventurers raise more questions. The explanation takes a long time, since she speaks no common, and those who understand elven must translate her story, as well as any questions that are asked.
Ghyrra says that Pra’xirek was one of the few outposts outside Xen'drik that the giants had just built when the Quori war occurred. The giants had planned for the city to be at the center of the island, which would also have a couple of ports and would be a stopping point for long sea voyages. However, the one port was destroyed in the war and the others were never made. When the elves here rebelled (upon learning that their compatriots in Xen'drik had), the giants prepared to use the magics they had used against the quori. They were destroyed by the dragons, though many giants fled into the forest and lived there, slowly descending into savagery. The dragons rebuilt the defensive wall the giants had begun, leaving the drow tribes on the outside. A family of dragons, who were sages and studied the stars, remained in Pra'xirek. They allowed one tribe of drow, who'd fought bravely against the giants, to live with them. These were the Ka'ki'kur. They lived in the city, as allies of the dragons, whom they called the Guardians.
Then, 9,000 yrs ago (which Nameless, Corven and Dala realize matches well with the Daelkyr invasion of Khorvaire), a strange creature from beyond the world invaded the island with an army. It slew a number of dragons, but the survivors managed to trap it using their magic (thus naming it the Bound One). Its army was destroyed, the few survivors fleeing into the mile-deep crevasse around the city. As centuries passed, the few surviving dragons began to show signs of strange behavior. They stopped returning to their homeland, which they had used to do. They also became paranoid, talking perpetually about the Bound One (saying it was speaking to them) and about some prophecy. They became suspicious of the drow and eventually drove them out, going so far as to bring some of their old enemies - the giants - back into the city.
That is the way it has been for the last two thousand years. The drow were forced to flee into the caves and watch the giants inhabit the city. From the caves, they would clash with the giants whenever possible. The few remaining Guardians, now warped by malice and the effects of the Bound One (or so the drow surmise), would sometimes fight for the giants. But gradually, the older ones died out, till there were only two left. The older and stronger one died in the last open battle that the drow dared to fight, devastating what remained of the city and slaying most of the greatest of the drow warriors and spellcasters. Now, only the last Guardian, named Tyrass, remains. He never leaves the central palace any more.
Ghyrra says that the drow have been plotting an attack for a long time, but have not acted yet, because they might be able to defeat the giants (of which there must be thirty or more) or the Guardian if they could face them individually, but not both together. An added wrinkle is that the Three have recently appeared, a trio of mindflayers that skulk in the depths and send their minions to harass the drow and/or the giants. Another reason they were waiting, Ghyrra says, is that their seers have foreseen that help would come from beyond the ocean, to "wash away the taint from Pra'xirek". The adventurers must be these people. She says that if they help the drow fight the giants and the Guardian, the drow will be very grateful and will pay them with magic and historical artifacts from the city. As a token, she gives each of the expedition-members a golden disk with a dragonshard embedded in it.
Along with the disks, the drow bring food and drink. As they are eating and drinking, Dala comments that it's probably not a good idea to ask what the meat they're eating is. Once they are done, Ghyrra suggests that they talk it over among themselves. Either way, they should stay the night here, since it is one of the "nights of memory" and they will see something that she can promise they have never seen before.
She has the group taken to a pair of large rooms where they can rest and talk. Dala is all for helping the drow, while Arrok is somewhat suspicious of them. Imre, Niff and the porters generally don't care, but many are uncomfortable about the drow. The Angels are unusually unanimous in their decision to help, at least partly because (as Nameless points out) if the Bound One is a daelkyr, the last thing they could possibly want is for one of those to be loose, especially near them. Gareth comments that though most of the drow are not evil, Ghyrra is, so the group should be careful how much they trust them. Arrok adds that if they do help, the porters, Imre, Niff and Dala should stay out of harm's way. Dala promptly refuses, saying she's the one who organized this expedition and is "not missing any of the fun".
After some time, Ghyrra and a few others come to tell them that it is time to see what she promised. The Angels tell her that they have agreed to help, which pleased her immensely. While leading them through the tunnels, she says that there are passages under the city that are still in existence. When the giants ruled the city, the elves were not allowed to walk in certain parts of the city, and would access have to them underground. The giants can't travel through the tunnels since they're too small, and though they've tried and managed to destroy some, much remains. The drow can use them to get the group far into the city, whether to places from which they can attack giants or almost to the central palace. Ghyrra adds that the Three have burrowed into the tunnels and sometimes unleash strange creatures in there to incommode the drow, but they don't usually utilize the tunnels.
Eventually, the group emerges onto the mountainside, through a tunnel some 200 ft above the one they entered through. It is night outside, but there are lights glowing above the city. As they watch, the lights expand into scenes that begin as misty shapes and gradually develop into perfect clarity. Ghyrra says they show visions from the battles between the giants and the dragons. It is a fascinating sight, as if a number of brilliant illusionists were at work simultaneously. At one point, a cloud giant wrestles a dragon. Elsewhere, a squad of giants hurl spells, bringing down a dragon, before three more descend upon them with fangs and claws flashing. A higher vision reveals a flight of half a dozen dragons, soaring through the air and breathing streams of dragon-fire as they go. If the visions were not completely soundless, they might seem as if the watchers were actually present during the battle, rather than watching moments of an age nearly 40,000 years old. Ghyrra comments that the drow have no idea why the scenes occur, but once every month they do.
The other thing that the group notices is that the palace has changed. The metal dome on the roof is now a raised globe over a hundred feet across, standing at the top of a 20-ft wide, metallic shaft. The protuberances on it are glowing softly. Ghyrra says that it is the Guardians' observatory, which they build some time after coming to Pra'xirek. Tyrass must be within, studying the stars as he is wont to do, especially on the nights of memory.
Luna promptly says, "I want to fly over and try to see the dragon." Her comment is met by various responses, ranging from, "Are you sure that's a good idea?" through "You're kidding, right?" up to "Are you fricking NUTS?!" Corven and Nameless, both of whom have read a significant amount of lore about dragons, hasten to explain to Luna about the amazingly sharp senses dragons have, how quickly they can fly, and the dangers of encountering a creature warped by close proximity to a bound daelkyr. Six points out that there are no birds in the area around the globe, presumably scared away by the visions appearing and disappearing in the air. Gareth says that if she is noticed and attacked, the group will not be able to reach her at all, leave alone help in any way.
Once they are done explaining, Luna looks around at them, and then says, "I still want to try it." As various palms smack foreheads around her, she changes form into a falcon and rises into the air, arrowing towards the globe. As she goes, Ghyrra comments to Corven, "Your friend is very brave - or foolish." Corven nods in a resigned manner and says, "Both!"
As Luna darts over the city, she notes that firelight is visible through windows and cracks in the roof of some of the buildings, indicating the presence of giants there. No giants are out on the streets, although a large head protrudes momentarily from a window or two, as giants look out at the visions in the air.
Reaching the globe, Luna finds that its surface is covered with large triangular metal sections. The protuberances are now revealed to be large lenses made of a translucent crystal, lit by both the visions outside and a glow from within. Each crystal is set in its own metal section, with Luna estimating there are twelve or thirteen in all. She comes to a landing near one and cranes her neck to peer in.
The crystal makes details unclear, but she is able to make out some details. The room she is looking into takes up the entire top half of the globe. It is currently occupied by a large reptilian form, which must be anywhere from thirty to forty feet from nose to tail-tip. The dragon Tyrass moves around the chamber, peering out of one crystal and then another. Sometimes, he stops to pull on large levers that are attached to the curved sides of the room. As he pulls each lever, one or more of the metal sections slides over or under an adjoining one, changing the alignment of the lenses. At one point, Luna has to do a quick sidestep to avoid having her tail feathers caught in one such sliding section. Ghyrra had said that Tyrass was originally silver in color but had begun changing. Luna notes that the dragon is mostly a dark gray in color, with only streaks of silver still marking its form. Although the crystal lenses make it difficult to be sure, she thinks she also sees large open sores on parts of its body.
Having carefully studied the dragon and deciding not to push her luck, Luna leaps into the air and flies back. She thinks for a moment that the dragon lifted its head at the motion, but can't be sure, and there is no alarm raised. Within a few minutes, she is back with her companions at the mountain. She quickly reports what she saw. Ghyrra suggests they return within and the group does so.
Once they are back near the rooms they have been given, Ghyrra then bids the group goodbye, thanking them again for their promised aid. She wishes them a good night and leaves. The adventurers spend a long time discussing options and exactly what it is that they are going to do. Ideas and strategies range from attacking a few giants at a time to weaken them, to charming a bunch of dinosaurs from the forest, shrinking them down and taking them through the tunnels to attack the dragon, to sneaking into the palace and going after the dragon while the drow attack the giants, to heading into the palace vaults (where Ghyrra said there are likely to be powerful magical items left from the giants or made by the dragons) and trying to recover items to use against the dragon.
Another area of concern is the question of sleep, with many fearing that the Bound One might affect them through their dreams (everyone is certain that's what spoke to them earlier). After discussing many options and realizing there just isn't any magical protection that will last all night, they reluctantly head to bed. Six, who is beginning to believe that half the problems with the other species comes because they sleep, keeps a very careful eye on them. He notices a couple move their lips at times as they sleep, but nothing really suspicious happens.
***
When they awake the next morning, the adventurers realize that all of them had exactly the same dream as before, with the voice asking them to release it and promising them many things in return. Nameless, who spent some time in the dream swearing at the voice in daelkyr, is fairly confident that it is unable to affect them now, though he's not sure whether that is a permanent situation.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Session 24 - Giants and Dragons (or "Oh crap! We're All Going to Die")
Corven ir’Lanya Deneith - Human Art8
Gareth Byron Deneith - Human Pal3/Clr2/Exorcist of the Silver Flame3
Luna - Shifter Drd8
Mithral 6 of 6 - Warforged Ftr2/Scout4/Extreme Explorer2
Nameless - Human Wiz6/Alienist2
While the adventurers are discussing their options and tucking into the breakfast the drow delivered for them, Ghyrra and a pair of drow drop in on them. She introduces the others, who are Kir'ris, a priest of Vulkoor, and Manar, the warchief of the Ka'ki'kur, and then says that there's some news. A small group of giants has left the city and gone into the forest. It consists of four hill giants and one of the fire giants that are currently the leaders of the place. It is probably just a hunting expedition, though sometimes they try to capture some of the wilder giants and bring them back and force them to work in the city. The drow sometimes harass these groups but usually don't attack them in force, since the losses are too high. But they are considering an attack on these ones in hope of capturing the fire giant and finding out more about the dragon's current situation. Also, one of the drow patrols that had been sent through the tunnels to spy on the giants hasn't returned. Ghyrra wants to send some drow in to check on what happened to them. She says that she would really appreciate it if they would help with one of the two jobs, and asks which one they'd prefer.
Gareth says to the others, "I think it would be beneficial to slay these giants and capture or slay the fire giant. We are severely outnumbered and this might be what we need. Even better, if they send out a rescue operation - later - we can take that one out too. This will be a tough fight, but then - so will fighting all of the giants in their home. Who knows, maybe if we attack the giants - and in the process save one of the wild giants - that giant may decide to help us out."
Nameless agrees, saying, "I'm for the giant mission as well. Stealth is not our greatest strength."
Ghyrra says that she will send Ek'ann and three drow warriors with them and leaves, giving the group time to prepare and plan. The Angels naturally decide to they will leave the porters and experts at the drow lair. Arrok says that he will come along and Dala says she will as well, since she's "not about to miss out on any of the fun." She does promise that she'll stay safely in the back.
After they have made their preparations, the group departs with Ek'ann and the other three drow. They travel back towards and around the city, this time staying further away from the crevasse. Ek'ann leads the group to an area in the forest half a mile from the bridge. He suggests they set an ambush there, while two of the drow and Six move a couple hundred feet ahead and keep watch.
Eventually, after a wait of around an hour, Six hears the sounds of large creatures heading in their direction. He and the drow head back quickly to let the others know they're on their way. The ambushers prepare themselves with spells and when the giants emerge through the trees some distance away, the ambush is sprung.
It begins well, with Nameless using haste to let his allies move faster and attack more often, and then using a slow spell to affect a few of the giants. Meanwhile the drow, Dala and Corven open fire with ranged weapons, hitting a number of the giants. Six and Ek'ann, who seems to enjoy using his scorpion chain with Six's spiked one, move in at an angle towards the hill giant on the flank, both striking and wounding it. Luna, now in the form of a large brown bear, and Arrok, rush in side by side and wound another hill giant. Gareth, who has been enlarged to be as tall as the giants by Nameless, moves in more ponderously behind them.
And that's when it goes bad - for Luna. While two of the hill giants are busy with Six and Ek'ann, the other two hill giants have only her and Arrok as a target, and next to her bulk the gnome is almost invisible. One hill giant catches her a powerful blow on the side, and so does the other, crunching ribs as they hit. More troublingly, the red-bearded fire giant that has been walking behind the first two hill giants (wearing ornate half-plate armor, unlike its hide-wearing companions) rushes forward, drawing its large greatsword as it comes. The greatsword slams down on the bear's skull, driving it to the forest floor, unconscious and bleeding*.
For a few moments, this leaves the gnome alone facing three giants. The moments could have been longer, as Gareth, shocked to see Luna go down so easily, takes a few steps to the side as if moving to help Six and Ek'ann. Whether it's Nameless' shout of "Gareth, you cowardly bastard - get in there and help him!", or the slightly more polite yells from Six and Corven, or Arrok's worried, "Um, guys - some backup here?", something changes his mind and he does head towards the giants facing Arrok. To the future (nobody laughs about it till after the fight) amusement of the others, Gareth actually stops behind Arrok, keeping him between himself and the fire giant. He smites one of the hill giants, wounding him severely.
As those in the rear continue to move in and shoot, Nameless releases another spell, bringing down a rain of glitterdust around the giants near Arrok. The fire giant is blinded and flails around blindly in the direction of Gareth, the one large target it has seen. Most of its blows go wild, but one hits home perfectly, almost cutting Gareth in half**. With a cry of pain, the paladin collapses, again leaving Arrok facing three giants. Luckily, the big one is now blind, and the hasted Arrok steps in between its legs and launches a series of pinpoint blows, sending blood spurting and drawing cries of pain and swearing in giant.
Corven hurries forward towards Luna and Gareth, stopping on the way to fire a giant-bane-infused crossbow bolt into one of the giants. Six and Ek'ann, meanwhile, have badly wounded the first giant they attacked and Six rips its throat open with his chain. They quickly go on to engage the next one, which is already wounded and then speedily blinded by another glitterdust from Nameless. Six tries to trip it but the blinded creature manages to pull away his chain. Six calmly picks up the chain again, dodging its wild blows as he does so, and trips it on the second attempt. It is promptly dispatched by Ek'ann and him.
The blind fire giant, meanwhile, is running streams of blood down its legs from Arrok's unending attacks***. One of its wild blows grazes the gnome's shoulder but that's all the damage it does, its blindness and his size making him almost impossible to hit. While it is tottering, Corven reaches and heals Gareth back to consciousness. Rising groggily to his feet, Gareth sees the tottering fire giant and smashes it to the ground with the flat of his sword, so that they can question it.
While Corven heals Luna back to consciousness too, the others take care of the remaining giants. While the wounded are healed, they strip the fire giant of weapons and equipment, tying it as securely as can be. They also go through the equipment of the other giants. Though they find nothing magical, there are a couple of items that Dala thinks are worth taking. The adventurers also notice that all of the giants have the same tattoo of a snake wrapped around a gem/dragonshard on them. When one comments on it, Ek'ann says that the dragons all started wearing that tattoo shortly after the Bound One was defeated. They also paint it on all the giants that serve them. None of the drow know why.
Finally, the group wakes the giant. Originally, it is understandably defiant and even though threatened by Nameless, refuses to speak to them, since they will only kill it anyway. After some discussion, Corven infuses a suggestion and uses it on the giant, suggesting that if it gives them some information, they will free it. The giant succumbs to the spell and becomes much more helpful, providing a lot of information.
The fire giant's name is Logoran. He says that there are currently another twenty or so hill giant warriors, plus around ten non-combatants. There are also a few stone giants (6, plus 2 non-combatants) and a trio of fire giants (which includes Logoran). They live mostly in the buildings near the palace. though the fire giants have been spreading them out a bit so that they can cover more space. There were originally four fire giants, but the last time some of them spoke to the dragon (a little over a week ago), one argued with him and Tyrass simply breathed on him, paralyzing him, and then ripped him apart. Logoran says that Tyrass is steadily getting more mercurial and violent, and now seems to have little interest in the city outside. He has also become more paranoid, saying that the giants should be prepared for dangers they haven't seen before, and continually asking they giants if they hear voices in their sleep (which none have).
Tyrass has also produced two new guards from somewhere, which stay at or near the front door of the palace. Logoran has no idea what they are, since they wear ornate full plate that hides their features, revealing only two glowing eyes. They are built like giants, but are over 15 ft tall, and Logoran (who's been here for twenty years) hasn't seen any giants that size. Tyrass has warned the giants not to try to proceed into the palace since he has awakened more guardians. Logoran hasn't seen much of it, since Tyrass always speaks to the giants in the entrance hall or the large chamber beyond. He believes the dragon stays in the upper levels, since he usually descends to meet them.
When asked exactly what the relationship between the dragons and the giants is, Logoran says that the dragon has promised to protect them from dangers that could destroy the city, and allows them to live in the city in return for service and information. One example of the service (and of Tyrass' paranoia) is in the fact that Tyrass got the giants to seal up all entrances and exits to the palace besides the front door, and sealed up the entrances on the higher levels himself, since he would not allow the giants to go there.
Having got whatever information they could, the Angels tell the drow to do what they will, and the latter promptly kill the giant. After having done so, they begin to cut steaks off Logoran and the other giants, to go with the large pieces of dinosaur meat that the giants had been carrying. When the Angels ask about them eating giant meat (which Arrok says isn't at all common in Xen'drik), Ek'ann says that it is a tradition among the drow to eat their enemies. Plus giant tastes good if treated right, as the group has already found out in their meal the previous night. A couple of the Angels turn a little green at that information.
The group returns to the drow lair. Ghyrra meets them and says that the soldiers they sent after the initial patrol in the tunnels returned to say that all three are missing and presumed dead. They found a dropped sword, blood and slime, and marks that indicate they were dragged off. They are quite sure that it was creatures associated with the Three.
She is also very interested in what they found out from the giant. After hearing the details, she suggests an excursion into the palace early next day, after they've had a day to prepare as much as needed. The drow will attack the giants at the same time, to draw them away . Ghyrra has been studying whatever records they have of the palace, which are very sketchy since they could not enter it while the giants ruled, and did not do so much after the dragons took over. She gives the group a rough map that she has put together based on the accounts. It indicates that beyond the entrance hall is another one, which has stairs leading up, and then a huge audience chamber. The audience chamber apparently has a hidden entrance to the lower levels behind the throne, which the ruler could use for a quick exit if needed. She says that it might be a good way to get to the vaults below and see what they can find.
Six, who is the most suspicious of entering the front way, and says that he would much prefer to find another way in, asks Luna if she would mind checking out the area in bird form. To nobody's surprise, she agrees promptly, and a few minutes later, is winging her way down the mountainside and towards the city.
Reaching the palace, she finds one of the main thirty-foot tall double doors ajar, and promptly heads inside. Inside, as expected, is a large chamber, a hundred feet wide and fifty feet high. Despite the fact that all windows are sealed up securely, the chamber is lit dimly by continual flame torches set into the walls. There are decorations along the walls and on the ceiling, but covered in dust and cobwebs. In the center of the hall is a dais some twenty feet tall. All there is on it are the bottoms of two feet, broken off at mid-shin. A golden inscription below says something that Luna cannot read. There is also a large open set of doors leading inwards to a huge hall, where she can see more open doors and stairs leading up. Next to the doors are two huge figures in full-plate (bearing the serpent/gem symbol), each carrying a morningstar nearly as tall as itself.
They do not respond in any way to the entrance of the bird as she flies in and perches on the dais. Trying to make out whether they are alive or not, the fearless druid flies over and perches on one's helm, and then begins to preen herself. There is no response, and she flies into the next hall. Here she finds two sets of stairs curving up the sides of an equally large hall to a closed doorway leading up to the next level. Between the stairs is another open set of double doors, revealing a pillar-filled chamber. Luna flies into this one too and discovers it to be the throne room, with a huge obsidian throne on a plinth at one end. Two sets of pillars march down the hall. There are other doors leading out of this room, but each is closed.
After checking around, Luna flies out and around the palace. She quickly discovers that while she can find a number of entrances, each of them has been sealed up securely. Based on what she has already seen and since the walls are to giant proportions, she decides that spells to affect stone like her stone shape will be useless here due to the sheer size of the seals. Deciding that she has seen enough, she flies back to the mountain and the camp.
Once she rejoins them and says what she has seen, the group makes plans and prepares for the morrow, with Nameless, Gareth and Luna working with Corven and his homunculus to create a number of scrolls. Now that the decision is made, Ghyrra provides them with some magical items too, including scrolls of healing and the loan of a bag of holding to bring any recovered items out. To Nameless, she gives a golden disk with a dragonshard set in it. She calls it a disk of absorptive negation and says that if he uses it while casting a dispel magic spell, it'll trap some of the spell energy dispelled and let him use it to power his own magic.
She also loans him a necklace of the phantom library, a golden chain, with five lozenge-shaped Siberys dragonshards spaced at discrete intervals, and shows him how to use it. When he puts it on, golden sigils appear floating in the air in front of him. They represent the spells scribed within the item and he can move from spell to spell with a thought, deciding what to prepare. Though few of the spells are new to him, Nameless finds that it holds significantly more than his own spellbooks. A couple of the new spells that he does find useful are an improved version of his mage armor spell and a spell that will allow him to protect all of the group from cold, which should be invaluable in fighting a silver dragon.
After providing the group with the items, Ghyrra asks them if they would join her in an oath-taking ceremony at the Shrine of Vulkoor to ensure that they do not betray the drow and vice versa. The group agrees, though Gareth says he will only swear by the Silver Flame, which Ghyrra accepts. The ceremony is quite short, performed by the priest Kir'ris in front of a huge statue of the half-drow half-scorpion Vulkoor. It involves a zone of truth spell, which all of the group stand within and speak the oath. So too do Ghyrra, Manar and Kir'ris.
After that, the adventurers retire to supper and a good night's rest. As is now becoming a habit, they have the same dream as before, except that this time the voice threatens that if they do not free it, someone else will and will reap the rewards. This time, Nameless settles for taunting it in fluent daelkyr. Most don't have the dream last long, perhaps because Six makes a habit of poking them if they murmur in their sleep (which, sadly, sometimes happens even when they aren't having the dream).
***
The next day, after making their preparations, the group leaves with the two drow warriors that are to guide them. Arrok and Dala accompany the Angels. They enter a chamber that has a large opening, which they climb down to a dark tunnel below. This is one of the tunnels that the drow have created from their mountain lair to the tunnels under the city. As the group heads down the tunnels, they find them crude and narrow, but after both descending a few hundred feet and traveling about half a mile, they expand into well-made stone ones that are a little less than 10 ft tall and wide. They pass a few sections that have collapsed, the drow guides saying that these are the results of the giants' attempts to destroy the tunnels. A couple of times, the guides stop at a place that has a hidden opening above and cautiously check the area above to orient themselves. Finally, after an hour of traveling, they emerge into an abandoned building near the palace. The top levels of the building have been destroyed, but the bottom remains.
After nearly half an hour, they hear the sounds of giant shouting and metal gongs ringing far in the distance. Through the high windows, they see some hill giants emerge with weapons from a building nearby and hurry towards the sound. The drow tell them to go, saying that they'll be waiting here in hiding for them. The adventurers quickly cast a large number of protective spells, ending with a silence spell on a stone that Six carries. Then they head quickly across the two hundred and fifty feet separating them from the palace.
Nobody seems to notice them and they reach their destination, finding the door ajar as Luna had. As they hurry through, they see exactly what she had before, with the addition that those who can read giant realize that the golden inscription on the dais below the shattered feet says "Ozy..."****. There is little time for appreciating the scenery, however, since the two huge armored figures promptly heft their morningstars and attack.
The battle is violent but short, and just as silent as the group had hoped, due to the silence stone Six carries. Luna - in bear form again - engages one of the creatures alone, while Gareth, Six and Arrok engage the other. Nameless and Corven blast them with spells from the rear, while Dala uses her crossbow (mostly with no effect). Early in the fight, one of Luna's claw swipes tears away some of the armor, revealing that the creatures are actually giant skeletons.
Luna and the skeleton she is fighting exchange mighty blows, wounding each other drastically, Luna continually moving in and forcing the creature to back up to be able to swing at her. On the other side, both Six and Gareth take serious wounds too, though Six is partly protected by the stone construct infusion that Corven has used to strengthen his form. Gareth eventually backs out and blasts the creatures with positive energy. This wounds the one closest to them enough for Six, who has switched from using his chain (which is less effective against the bone of the skeletons) to using his fists, to smash its knee and bring it down in a heap.
On the other side, though direly wounded, Luna backs the skeleton into a corner so that it has to back up around her and give her a chance to disengage. Corven promptly blasts it with his wand and Six tumbles across to slam it in the knee too, bringing it down like the first one.
With the creatures down, the group hurries through the chamber with the stairs and into the audience chamber, casting healing spells on the way. Six and Corven search the area behind the throne and find a well-hidden door, which pivots more smoothly on its hinges than its 15 foot high size would indicate. The area beyond is a tunnel the size of the door, lit by more magical torches, which leads to a set of stairs leading down. The area has dust on the floor, with the marks of huge clawed footprints and a dragging tail in the dust.
The group heads down the stairs, but quickly discover that the giant-sized steps are dangerous to climb down. Nameless slips and falls, but Luna lunges and grabs him. The group switches to using a rope to climb down. They descend for about 200 ft before reaching a blank wall with another hidden door. This one opens into the end of a huge hall, about 50 tall, 80 ft wide and 200 ft long, again lit by continual flame torches in the four corners.
There is a huge doorway on the far side, which had a stone door but it is broken and lying in fragments. There are four more doors, two on each side. This hall is dusty too, with similar marks of a dragon's passage. There are large webs in the corners of the room. The closest corner has what seems to be three large humanoid shapes wrapped tightly in webbing. Nameless tries vainly to prevent Luna from messing with them, but the druid goes ahead and does so. She finds that they are not web-wrapped but seem to actually be made of webbing, with their otherwise featureless faces bearing eight blank eyes. Luna promptly goes back and pulls Nameless towards them. After examining them, he and Corven decide that they must be web golems, which the giants of Xen'drik are known to have invented. These ones have been destroyed, evidently a while ago, by large claws.
The group heads for the closest door. Experimentation reveals that it has some kind of proximity trigger, causing it to slide up into the ceiling when someone is standing next to it, sliding down again in ten seconds. Beyond is a 40 foot long corridor, leading to a similar door. Beyond is a cubical room (30 feet to a side), containing large stone shelves and racks with numerous items on them, many of which Nameless detects as magical. The room also contains four alcoves, holding creatures that resemble a warforged, though much more like the versions that pre-dated the truly sentient versions that were created thirty-three years ago. Each has a two-handed flail held in both hands and wears a metallic harness, linking a starburst on the chest, a thick metal belt and two large metal boots.
Presuming that they are guardians of some kind, Six enters the room cautiously, but they show no signs of life. Nameless suggests that they might be activated by someone disturbing the items, so Six and Gareth stand with weapons ready in front of one, while Luna takes up position in front of the other. Nameless picks up a gnarled wooden staff and the creatures promptly come to life, stepping forward with weapons raised.
Their "life", however, is very short-lived. The adventurers quickly cut down the two they were ready for and Nameless webs the other two, allowing the others to deal with them in turn. When the creatures are slain and collapse, the star explodes as they hit the ground, damaging those immediately nearby and destroying the harness. Luna manages to catch one in her mouth before it hits the ground and Six removes the harness, finding that it is all in one piece. Nameless discovers that it is magical and Six sticks it in the bag of holding for later usage. Along with that, go the other magical and non-magical items in the room. The magical items include the wooden staff, a Necklace of the Phantom Library, a set of metal bracers, a wooden wand, a cloak, a rod, two rings, a scarab, a small case of what seems to be ointment, a coiled rope, and a set of boots. There is also a giant-sized shield and huge warhammer, but these are far too long to fit through the opening of the bag and the group leaves it.
Gareth decides to try on the boots and a ring. Experimentation reveals that they are Boots of Striding and Springing and the ring is like a Necklace of Adaptation, surrounding him with a blanket of fresh air. Nameless points out that the ring will protect against the dragon's paralysis breath and suggests that either Corven or he use it, since Gareth's divine protections mean he has the best chance of resisting the breath anyway. Gareth complains that he was the one who risked trying it on and should get to use it, but after Nameless berates him for being a selfish so-and-so and Luna steps in to say the same, he gives up and hands it over. Corven says that his temporary magical protections make him slightly more resistant now, so Nameless puts on the ring.
Leaving the room, the adventurers head for the next door. They have only taken a few steps when they notice something drop from the ceiling above. It looks like a pebble and bounces away, but it makes no sound as it does so, as if it too had a silence upon it. Looking up, they see a huge dragon appear above them, looking down from where it crouches on the ceiling. It snarls down at them and says, "I have been expecting you. Now we make the future!" And then its huge nostrils flare and it breathes...
* Luna went from 84 hit pts to -5 in that round. Power-attacking giants hurt!
** Made the 50% miss chance and confirmed a crit for 80 pts.
*** Arrok alone did nearly 90 pts of damage to the fire giant
**** Yes, of course P.B. Shelley was a giant.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
We spend some time with the drow, listening to their problems and eating their exotic foods. The meats taste much different, and I am not entirely sure I want to know what some of this is – I just hope it is not giant flesh. We are then told about a group of giants who left their base to go hunting for food. After a recommendation, we decide the best course of action is to go and ambush these giants, but try and bring them back alive – at least their leader, which happens to be a fire giant. We then prepare for the trek and the oncoming battle.
We get to the area and see our opponents. I yell to Six and Luna "let us go in together" and immediately both of them charge up at different angles – Six to my left and Luna to my right – but way to far for me to go straight up the middle and not be left alone. I then decide to go towards Six, but as I do so Luna is knocked down – beaten by two giants. Nameless casts a spell of haste upon us, followed by a spell of slow on the giants – which greatly hinders them. Earlier, Nameless had enlarged my size and this not only helps me do more damage, but makes me a bigger target.
I then hear Nameless yell at me and call me a coward, not knowing why, and then I see he was referring to Luna, who just got pummeled to the ground by two of the hill giants and the fire giant. Note: If we only charged up as a team, things would have been a bit different. I then change direction and run right to the giant, but am behind Arrok, who looks so small right now. With my reach, I am easily able to target the creatures over his head. I then hit one of the hill giants, smiting him but I do not manage to take him down. This is followed by Nameless casting his Glitterdust spell, blinding a number of the giants, including the fire giant. The fire giant wildly swings his weapon, and actually connects with me knocking me out.
Some time later, but still in time for the battle, I wake up – as Corven just healed me. I then, from the floor swing at the giant with the flat of my blade – finishing off the work of the other group members. The giant lays on the ground, unconscious. Seeing the other giants down, we heal each other up and tie the fire giant securely. We start to question the giant, but it does not respond to us so Corven casts a spell of suggestion. The giant then begins to tell us everything we want to know – their numbers, who is in charge, what they are doing and so forth. We also learn the dragon seems to becoming more and more insane, maybe due to the magics around him. The giant also breaths paralyzing gas – and Nameless mentions Silver Dragons tend to do that. After we are done questioning him, the drow proceed to kill him. Normally I would want to turn in a criminal to the local authority- but this creature is evil and there is no authority here. To let him go would only ensure that he warns his comrades as well as fight us at a later point. I then learn, to my horror, the dinner we ate last night was giant meat!
We start to make our way back to the drow camp.
OOC: At this point I left the game so my story will not continue
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Session 25 - Dragons and Daelkyr (or "CR 20? Phffttt!")
Even as thoughts of "ohcrapohcrapI'mgoingtodieohcrap" run through the adventurers' minds, the dragon breathes, blasting them with a cone of incredibly cold air. Even though all of them are protected by a spell to resist energy (cold), the targets feel the icy breath chill them to the bone, weakening muscles and draining vitality. Most of them, that is. Six, timing it just right, manages to spin around and pull his magical cloak over his head, leaving him untouched by the blast. More surprisingly, for the others, Dala - near the edge of the blast, drops and rolls under it, leaving her unscathed as well*.
A split second after it breathes, the dragon lets go and drops off the ceiling. Rather than crashing to the floor forty feet below, he drops slowly, evidently benefiting from a featherfall effect. As he does so, he flaps his huge wings, driving himself closer to the group. In barely a couple of seconds, he lands next to them, fangs and claws at the ready. As he lands, Tyrass roars, sending shivers running up the spines of the adventurers. Aided by the aura of courage that Gareth radiates, most of them shake off the effects, but Six and Corven succumb, feeling their hands tremble, fear taking the edge off their skill. They, do however, stand their ground.
Even if they had actually seen a live dragon before, Tyrass would be a singular sight. The dragon is a huge creature, fully forty feet long from nosetip to tail. A large frill crowns his head and runs down his neck. His body is mainly gray, made up of blotches of different shades. Small streaks of pure silver are visible in between. His eyes are silver too, with a darker silver eyeball, but they are cloudy, with red veins forming webbing over each eye. Small sores cover his body, with a few that are 2-3 feet across, all of them red and oozing. The most noticeable thing about Tyrass is a large dark-blue tattoo covering his chest section, depicting the serpent around the gem that the Angels have seen before. One of the claws gleams, a large golden ring encircling it.
Not that anyone stops to appreciate the sight. Nameless, who already has the disk from Ghyrra in his hand, steps back and casts a spell, trying to dispel any protections Tyrass may have. He realizes he has had at least some success, as he feels the disk grow warm and realizes that it now stores the power of a spell of the second valence.**
Six and Luna leap forward together. Six's spiked chain, enchanted by Corven against dragons, bites into the Tyrass' shoulder, ripping a two-foot long gash in it and drawing a snarl that mixes both pain and surprise. Luna rears up to her full height of ten feet bites and claws at Tyrass' right leg, leaving large gashes. She tries to grab hold and bring him down, but even with her bulk the huge dragon is much too big.
Gareth is only a moment behind the other two, but his action is not as offensive, though it is more aesthetic. He takes a step forward and then breaks into a jig, leaping and capering in the same place***. The look of shock on his face is replaced by frustration and anger. "The Flame help me!" he cries, as he desperately tries to tear the boots off his feet, still making fancy moves while doing so. For a moment, even the dragon pauses and looks confused at the sight.
Dala, meanwhile, has pulled a scroll from her pack and used it to heal the bulk of Arrok's wounds. As she does, the gnome charges forward, coming up on the dragon's flank. He strikes with his diminutive shortsword, only to see it bounce off a scale as big as his head.
As Arrok is charging, Dala backs up to the wall. Next to her is Corven, who is quickly infusing his wand for extra power and muttering, "I am a wizard! I am a wizard! I really hope I am a wizard!"
Luckily for him and for Nameless, even with Gareth temporarily out of the fight, Six, Luna and Arrok are keeping Tyrass busy - that is, giving him more immediate targets. The dragon lashes out at his enemies in a flurry of bite, claws, wing and tail. Luna is the worst hit, the dragon seizing her in his claws and rending**** her between them, laying her entire side open. Arrok is almost taken off his feet by a slap of the tail. Six is wounded too, but the protections from Corven keep out much of the damage he would otherwise have taken. The dragon does, however, seize him in its mouth and lift him off the ground.
Ignoring the pain, Six calls out in Giant, "Tyrass - if you kill us, we can't tell you about the prophecy!" To his surprise and that of the others, the dragon actually tries to answer. As it does so, its grip loosens and he slips out. Tyrass glares down and replies in Giant, "Fools! I know of the Prophecy! I will kill you all!"
"In that case...", shrugs Six, swinging back with his chain to again wound the dragon. Luna follows suit, continuing to claw and bite despite the blood streaming down her body.
From behind them Nameless, who is continuing to back up, casts another spell. A thick bank of solid fog appears around much of the dragon's body, clearly limiting its movement. As it appears, an aggrieved, "Hey!!!" rings out from within it, from Arrok, who is within the area.
"Don't worry, Arrok," shouts Nameless, "It'll protect you." Within the fog, Arrok swears to himself in Gnome and stabs at the dragon's leg. This time, partly to his surprise, and apparently the dragon's, he inflicts a shallow wound.
Gareth, having managed to throw off the boots, now moves in with Kizmet in hand. The paladin yells to Dala as he goes, "Healing! We need more healing!" And I need not to be fighting a huge dragon in my socks!
Dala complies, pulling another scroll from her bag. She hurriedly pronounces the words of the spell and all of the group feel some of their wounds close. "That's the only one of that kind I have!" she yells.
Corven says quickly, "I've got another in my haversack," but realizes offense is better now. He triggers his wand, sending two scorching rays at the dragon. One fails to penetrate its resistance to magic but the other gets through, burning into one of the large sores.
Tyrass screams in rage and pain and explodes into an even more violent flurry of attacks. Luna, in her already weakened state, collapses in a pool of blood, while Six is wounded again, more of his protections being stripped away. To the later amusement of the group, from within the fog Arrok shouts, "Missed me!" as the dragon's tail swishes by his head. He follows with a cry of "Gotcha!" as he manages to stab the dragon again.
Outside the fog, Six lands another blow. Gareth, having reached the dragon's side, calls upon the Flame to aid him and smites the dragon. Kizmet kindles in his hands and bites deep into the dragon's side, slashing a huge wound, followed by another one as he smites again.
As Tyrass screams, Nameless yells, "That's it!" and casts another spell, hurling an acid orb. To his surprise and disgust, it splashes harmlessly on the dragon's neck. Acid immunity? Bloody hell!*****
Corven is more effective, another scorching ray getting through the dragon's resistance, as he backs around to the side. Dala, previously near him, hurries forward towards the fight with another scroll in hand. She uses it on Luna. Though she remains grievously wounded, the druid muzzily opens her eyes. Looking up at the dragon slashing at her allies, she snarls and slowly backs away, knowing that she is in no shape to attack physically.
Tyrass is too busy to notice her revival, focusing on the enemies that are continuing to wound him. He seizes Six with both claws, rending him as he did Luna previously. With his protection having been stripped away by its previous attacks, Six has his entire chest section ripped open and drops******, unconscious and leaking fluid.
Gareth is no luckier. The dragon bites down on him viciously and lifts him up, before dropping him again. Badly wounded, Gareth tries to keep his feet but stumbles. As he hits the ground, he looks up to see a wing slam down. He too drops unconscious, bleeding from his mouth.*******
The one lucky person, as evidenced by his cheery, "Missed me - again!" is Arrok, wherever he is within the fog. That doesn't reassure Nameless much, as he sees Six and Gareth lying there, with Luna literally out on her feet. He casts again, sending a fireball to explode against Tyrass' side.
The dragon screams at the fiery attack, and the scream is extended as Luna brings down a flame strike right in the middle of its back. Scales and flesh burn away under the magical onslaught. Tyrass totters, his huge body covered in blood and burnt flesh.
Seeing the opportunity, Corven takes careful aim and fires. To his horror, one ray misses completely and another fails to have any effect.
The dragon, seeing Nameless and Luna as the biggest threats, and unable to reach both of them due to distance and the solid fog takes another breath. And then he exhales, sending a cloud of paralyzation gas washing over them.
Dala, who has just healed Luna again, goes completely rigid, paralyzed immediately. Unknown to Tyrass, however, Nameless is wearing the Ring of Adaptation from the treasure room and Luna has cast a freedom of movement on herself earlier. As Tyrass sags with pain and weakness, expecting to see his enemies paralyzed, the druid-bear comes charging out of the cloud of gas.
Luna lunges forward, seizing the dragon's chest with her claws and biting deep into the base of his throat. Her teeth sink deep into a huge sore, ripping through diseased and weakened skin and flesh. She literally rips away an entire side of Tyrass' throat. The dragon screams and convulses, knocking her away as he collapses in an ever-expanding pool of blood and pus.
"Hey! What happened out there? This thing just fell over!" shouts Arrok from inside the fog. Nameless replies, "It's down and looks dead, but I'm about to make sure," calls back Nameless, preparing to cast a summon spell. Time to turn you into paste!
As he is about to cast, Tyrass reopens his eyes. After his initial shock, Nameless notices that they are now clear of the red webbing previously covering them. Painfully, Tyrass gasps in Draconic, "Wait!" Luna, who has backed off and been spitting and trying to get the taste of dragon pus out of her mouth, looks around in surprise.
"What did it say?" asks Nameless, hand still raised to complete his spell. Corven, who is coming closer carefully with wand raised, says, "It said 'Wait'."
Tyrass continues speaking, seeming to address the group rather than any one of them, pausing intermittently to gasp in pain. "Thank you. You have freed me ... as I knew you would, even within my madness. But now you - and your Khorvaire - are in danger. I, Tyrass, was the last guardian and the Key is bound to me."
As he is speaking, Luna notices that the tattoo on its chest is beginning to break apart, like a sand dune being blown away by the wind. She waves a paw to indicate it to the others.
Tyrass coughs up a gout of blood and then continues, "Your actions will spark the future." The phrase reminds Corven (and Nameless, as Corven translates) of Flamewind's prophecy - Where present and future spark, where light is turned to dark, to the ghost of the city where the past awaits.
They do not have time to discuss that, as the dying dragon continues. "You must get there before the Bound One gets free. It is weaker for the moment, much weaker, but it is still beyond your power. Use the Key and it will keep it bound, if you have the will. And guard the other Key, from those who will want its power."
Again, he pauses to cough up more blood. Luna steps - or rather, shambles - forward and raises a paw to touch the dragon, calling up a healing spell. The spell simply fizzles. Tyrass gazes at her for a moment, and then says painfully, "It is too late. I am dead already."
He then adds, "You will need my blood. Put some on your skin. All of you. At least one must drink it, so that you can speak to the guardians. Take my ring too. Go now. Down the stairs outside. Always head down."
"What Key?" says Luna, but unfortunately, this only emerges as a series of growls. Corven, however, asks the question at the same time.
As he speaks, there is a tremor beneath the adventurers' feet. The dragon arches its half-severed neck and takes a panicky breath, groaning at the pain, "It is trying to escape! Go now! GO! Remember that the prophecy is..."
Then there is a pregnant pause and the dragon's head falls. This time, it is clearly dead. The last remnant of the tattoo fades from its chest.
Luna, Corven and Arrok, who has cautiously emerged from the solid fog, quickly revive Gareth and Six. Dala too soon emerges from her paralysis. As they begin healing their severe wounds, Corven quickly explains to everyone what the dragon said.
"If the Bound One is what I'm thinking," says Nameless, "We need to get there - fast!" With that, he walks over to the dragon and, with some straining, removes its ring. He then takes two handfuls of blood and cakes his face and arms with it. Then he pulls out a spoon, dips it in the blood, and swallows it.
"What the - ?!" begins Gareth, when Corven adds that the dragon said they need to. Everyone does so, though with significantly less relish than Nameless. Luna, her snout wrinkled in disgust, also laps a little blood in case someone else needs to have done so. She feels a slight tingle but no other noticeable effect.
Six, who is at the doorway now, says, "Giant-sized steps leading up and down. This'll take a while."
As another tremor underlines the words, Nameless says, "We need to get downstairs fast. Luna!" The druid, who has been pulling out a couple of the dragon's teeth as souvenirs, ambles over. Nameless reaches out and casts a spell on her, causing her to expand till she is nearly twenty feet long. "There!" says the mage in satisfaction. "Transport!"
Everyone quickly climbs onto the huge bear, including Gareth, who has been trying to work out what kind of armor the dragonhide would make, and she heads out and down the stairs. As she goes, the others quickly discuss what they have learned and what it might mean. Corven, Six, Gareth and Nameless especially discuss the details of Flamewind's prophecy, noting that the phrases "Where present and future spark" and "to the ghost of the city where the past awaits" clearly relates to their current situation, as seems to be "Dragon's wings". The primary question they have is what this Key is. Flamewind said, "The sword is the key, but the key is not the sword," but they are not sure what it means.
"If it means I'm going to give up my sword, I'm going to be really unhappy!" comments Gareth, praying inwardly that it won't be required.
While they are speaking, Luna descends a couple of levels, passing large landings, where other tunnels and chambers lead off. As she goes, she can feel more small rumbles in the stone, which seem to grow stronger as she descends.
The stairs finally end in front of a large archway with double stone doors. After a quick check by Corven and Six, Luna shoves them open, revealing a tunnel beyond ending in a similar archway and door. It is featureless except for small crystals set into the sides and ceiling, which emit a dim light. Nameless throws a copper crown down the tunnel but there is no response. The group heads in.
As they near the far end, panels open in the walls and two large metal figures step through. They are evidently iron golems, though these look more lithe and less blocky than most. They raise their arms, revealing large blades affixed to their fingers, but make no other move. Nameless opens his mouth to speak and feels a tingle (minty-fresh, which turns his stomach). Small sparks appear as he speaks. He has barely finished a word before the golems step back into the receptacles they came from.
"Come with us!" says Nameless firmly, but the only response is as the panels slide down. "Okay," he says, "Guess not!"
Luna shoves open the door and steps into the chamber beyond. This one is cylindrical, or presumably so, since the adventurers cannot see all of it. It is sixty feet high and presumably a hundred feet across, but there is a cylindrical wall of mist from ceiling to floor about ten feet in. It resembles the one around the island (and, to the Cyrans, the one around the Mournland). There are continual flame torches around the walls, and the adventurers see their light palpably streaming into the mist and being converted into darkness.
"Where light is turned to dark?" asks Corven rhetorically, as Luna enters. A moment later, a huge rumble shakes the entire room, actually knocking Luna off her feet. Luckily, those on her manage to either land on theirs or roll away before the huge bear can land on them. As she regains her feet with a growl, Nameless says, "This is it, all right!"
After a few seconds casting protective spells, the group enters the mist together. It is impossible to see through, even with Gareth's darkvision, so they hold hands (or paw). The mist is only about five feet thick and the group emerges into the central area at once.
Inside the mist is a 70 ft wide open space, in the center of which is a dimensional seal, which looks just like the one that the Angels saw when they met Gurr'khan. There are only two things different about it. One is that there is what looks like a two-foot long dragonshard lying near the middle of it. This one has been carved into a cylinder with pointed ends, and is decorated with sigils like the dimensional seal. The sigils on the shard are glowing, as they are on the seal. Though it is half-hidden, the adventurers can see that the shard has a picture of the serpent/dragonshard symbol on it. The other different thing about this seal is a thick amber column of light, which rises from the center of it to the ceiling.
While the others see only a dimensional seal, a dragonshard and a beam of light, the sight triggers another of Nameless' memories:
He is lying spreadeagled on just such a seal, naked from the chest up. He is not alone. He can see others like him - five more. He knows that he knows them, that they are comrades of his, but right now he cannot recall their names. The six of them have been laid out in a rough pattern, with each one's right hand tied to the left foot of the next person. His hands and feet feel raw, as if they have been tied for a long time.
Behind and above him, someone says, "Let it begin!" Nameless - or the person he is in the memory - twists painfully and looks up at the figures standing just outside the dimensional seal. All of them are hooded and cloaked, the hoods hiding their features. A couple wear large symbols on their chests, which he recognizes as the symbol of the Dragon Below. One, who stands in the middle, holds up a large, strangely shaped dragonshard. The Nameless having the memory recognizes it now as exactly the same as the one lying on the seal.
As he watches, the dragonshard glows with an amber light, which then sends beams arcing to strike him and his companions. Instantly there is a sharp pain and an insistent, relentless pulling sensation, as it begins to drain his vitality. He gasps at the sensation and tries to fight it. His companions scream and convulse. He sees the beams leading to them pulse and begin to grow, as they thrash around. The one leading to him grows only slightly wider, as he continues to fight the sensation with all that he has.
Noticing it, one of the robed men steps forward. He kicks Nameless brutally in the face, instantly sending blood flowing into his eyes, and snarls, "Fool! You cannot fight it!" His hood falls away at the effort and Nameless sees a pallid, bony face, topped by two utterly insane eyes.
Behind him, Nameless sees the large dragonshard glowing bright amber now and it sends forth a larger beam, this one made of multiple smaller interweaving ones, to strike the center of the dimensional seal. Immediately, the draining sensation gets stronger, and he feels a huge weight pressing him to the seal. The symbols on the seal begin to glow. He cannot look up any more, but his last look makes him certain that his companions are unconscious or dead. Still, he continues to fight the draining effect.
Suddenly, a blast of energy erupts beside him, but whether from the seal or from something to the seal, he does not know. There is a sharp, cracking sound and he hears screams of terror from the men standing above him. Suddenly, he hears a voice in his head. It says ...
And the memory fades away. But it leaves Nameless with some knowledge. He realizes somehow that the dragonshard is what the dragon Tyrass called the Key. As the name says, it is a Key to both close and open a dimensional seal. He realizes that he has to get to it and use it (somehow, he knows that he will be able to), by asking his companions to give it their life energy. When the Key has enough, he can use it to drive the Bound One back into its prison and seal it. He also knows (just as Tyrass said) that the Bound One will be temporarily weak after it is released, which is the only opportunity his companions will have to keep it busy while he uses the Key on it.
Nameless opens his mouth to tell his companions what they need to do, and in barely an instant, the amber column grows thin and winks out. What it leaves behind is a tall, thin, gray figure. The creature resembles a tall human in shape, but its body is made up of unvariegated gray flesh. If that were not enough, there is a long tentacles where each arm should be. The head is a smooth gray ovoid, with no facial features.
This time it is Six who has a memory, recalling the invisible gray figure he had seen in the mirror in the dolgrims' lair months ago, in the Cogs of Sharn. The creature raises its head and two large pupil-less eyes appear in the face. The Angels, except for Luna, recognize these eyes too, as similar to the one they had seen in that mirror before it exploded.
There is no time for discussing these revelations - or coincidences. As the creature gazes at them, the adventurers feel an awesome will bending theirs down before it. It is not even malevolent so much as completely and utterly alien. As they gaze at it, momentarily unable to act in any way, they get a tiny glimpse of its perspective. For a second, they see the entire planet of Eberron as it might look from space, its continents as large patches of green and brown swimming in a blue ocean, the cold white of the Frostfell at one end, the gleaming ring of Siberys circling it.
But they are not alone in the void watching the planet. There are other creatures around them, creatures of no earthly shape or intent, whose existence and thought processes are completely and utterly alien to theirs. To them, Eberron is only a subject to be shaped and twisted to their desire, not because of anger or hate, but simply because they can. As their thoughts brush against those of the adventurers, they feel their mental faculties recoiling in horror.
Physically, the adventurers are still present in the chamber, and on some tiny level they are aware that the creature in front of them is changing. Its face develops features like that of a handsome human, but there is something slightly malformed about it. Its tentacles turn into arms tipped with long claws. The flesh all over its body bulges and contorts, transforming into armor, with a long toothed whip growing from one arm.
While the others feel the daelkyr insinuating its reality into theirs and holding them immobile, Corven manages to break away with a massive mental effort. Unsurprisingly, Nameless (whose reality is a little bigger than theirs anyway) does so too, his hands moving in the motions of a spell even as Corven lurches away, pulling out his wand.
A pseudonatural bison appears next to the daelkyr and hurls itself forward, slamming into its shoulder. Having already seen a confused dragon today, the group now gets to see a slightly confused daelkyr. And a concerned-sounding pseudonatural bison, whose somewhat despondent "MOOO!" could probably translate into, "I am never going to live this down back in Xoriat!"
Nameless, not pausing to appreciate the irony of attacking a daelkyr with a pseudonatural creature, zooms forward under the effects of a fly spell he fortuitously cast just outside the mist. I'm actually rushing towards a daelkyr, he thinks to himself in a mix of wonder and fear, tinged with mild amusement. As he reaches it, passing around the bison, the daelkyr lashes out with its whip, laying open his shoulder. As it does so, all of the others in the chamber feel the mental pressure disappear. They are in control of their faculties again, though each of them is left with a pounding headache.
Ignoring the pain, Nameless grabs the dragonshard. The daelkyr growls, "No! That is mine!" and strikes again, but its haste and the attacking bison throws it off. With a snarl of frustration it smacks the bison away with the whip. By now, the still-growing whip has a claw at the tip, which instantly drains some of the bison's vitality. The daelkyr lashes back, this time catching Nameless' chest. The alienist immediately feels part of his intellect drain away.
He is, however, already in full retreat, flying backwards as fast as he can. As he reaches the mist, twenty feet above the ground, he feels the Key grow warm in his grasp. He senses that it is dimly sentient in its own way, not as an actual living creature is, but more like an object that is both aware of and interested in the purpose for its creation. As he holds it up, thin beams of amber light shoot out to hit him and all of his companions (as well as Dala and Arrok).
"Give me all the energy you can!" yells Nameless. "It's our only chance!"
With no time for discussion, his companions respond promptly, giving up as much as they can and actually remain on their feet********. As they do, the beams of light widen appreciably for a moment and then wink out. It is replaced by a thicker beam, made of thinner interlacing rays, which shoots out of the Key and hits the daelkyr full in the chest.
It staggers for a moment, but regains its feet. "Now!" shouts Nameless. "Hit it while it's weak!"
The next few seconds are utter mayhem, as the weakened but desperate adventurers charge in with a series of very timely attacks. Corven possibly saves a couple of lives, managing to target the whip with a blast of his wand that reduces it to ashes. The daelkyr promptly begins to grow another one, but that takes time which it doesn't have. Six, moving into position beside the bison, manages to wrap his chain around its leg and pull it off its feet, allowing the bison to batter it again. Arrok rushes it from the other side. Gareth and Luna, both slower to react, move in behind the others.
Though the daelkyr does not seem badly hurt by the attacks, the amber beam (which continues to shine on it and grows brighter) clearly keeps it somewhat off-balance. Those close to it can see that the armor on its body and even certain parts of its form do not seem to be completely there, with gaps where nothing seems to exist. Even so, it seems to be gradually gathering its strength and it rises again, a wave of force emanating from it that shoves its attackers back.
Gareth is about to charge it when he feels an unmistakable empathic command from Kizmet. He has a sudden memory of his father standing over him at the Battle of Grace, facing the demon that had just wounded Gareth, raising a shining Kizmet over his head. He gets a very strong urge that he should do the same.
Getting as close to the daelkyr as possible, Gareth raises the sword above his head. "In the memory of Byron d'Deneith!" he cries, calling on the Silver Flame to aid him. As he does so, Kizmet begins to shimmer, the glow spreading quickly to cover the room. A brighter circle shines out to encase the daelkyr. The creature stumbles and those nearby see streams of gray begin to float from it to the sword. What are presumably wounds appear on it, strips simply disappearing from its body.
The daelkyr snarls and then says something in the tongue-twisting syllables of its native language, which only Nameless understands. Nobody else has time to see, but the mage looks confused, since what he thinks it says is - "Fool! You cannot consume me, and no fiend can stand against me." A second later, Gareth goes flying backwards twenty feet as if hit by a giant fist. He collapses unconscious on the ground, the glow fading instantly from Kizmet. Dala, whom Gareth lands next to, promptly heals the paladin back to consciousness. He immediately realizes that not only does he not feel any empathic commands from Kizmet, but the sword is as dull as a simple weapon in his hands. Kizmet is now non-magical.
Meanwhile, almost as an afterthought, the daelkyr cuts down the bison and then disappears, only to reappear next to the mist on the far side of the room. The adventurers charge after it. Six, the first to reach it, sees that the wounds left by whatever it is Kizmet did have not healed, and as he strikes it with his chain, part of the daelkyr's leg actually crumbles to powder under the blow. It, however, remains upright and cuts down Six with the now regrown whip.
Nameless, who has been struggling to control the Key and cast a spell, finally manages to cast one, summoning three more bison. These shove the daelkyr towards the seal, the sigils on which are now glowing brightly. The beam from the Key too seems to be pulling it backwards. Corven hits it with another scorching ray, further wounding it. Gareth hits it with a blast of positive energy, which it ignores. Luna - unable to reach the fight - summons a unicorn. The unicorn appears and with a loud neigh, hurls itself forward. Its horn smashes into the back of the daelkyr, propelling it forward onto the seal.
Instantly, the amber beam that the group had seen upon entering emerges from the seal's center. The beams from the Key give one final jerk, pulling the daelkyr into the beam. There is a momentary flash of light and a loud rumble - and the beam winks out. All it leaves behind is a foot-wide hole. There is no sign of the daelkyr. As the adventurers look around, unsure whether it's gone, the Key flies out of Nameless' hand. It flashes through the air till it reaches the seal and drops down, slotting itself into the hole, which shuts tight around it. There is another rumble and a flash from the seal's sigils. They begin to dim a moment later and the wall of mist disappears
Nameless flies down to join the weak and weary group, while Corven hurries to revive Six. "Holy crap!" says Arrok succinctly, "Is it gone?"
"I believe it has been locked away again," says Nameless. As he speaks, a receptacle opens in the wall on the far side, a now-familiar amber light shining through. Nameless flies across to find another dragonshard, just like the first. It quivers as he nears and when he touches it, nestles comfortably in his grasp. "This must be the second Key."
As he is speaking, there is another huge rumble, this one throwing a number of the adventurers off their feet. The sound of tortured and protesting stone fills their ears as a crack appears in the floor next to the dimensional seal and runs across to, and up, the wall.
"Crap!" says Arrok again. "We need to get out."
Nameless flies back, carrying the dragonshard, while the rest pile onto Luna's back. The enlarged brown bear hurries out the doorway and through the corridor beyond, the sounds of more cracking stone accompanying her. As they pass through, the two golems appear again.
Nameless turns and yells, "Follow us!" There is no response and the golems simply stand and watch, even as a chunk of stone comes off the ceiling of the corridor and bounces off one.
Luna shoves through the door and bounds up the stairs as fast as she can go, the others desperately holding onto clumps of her long hair, which elicits a growl or two (trans: "Watch those hands!"). They hurry past the other landings, Nameless gazing sadly down them as they go and wondering what arcane secrets lie concealed within. More cracks appear as they go, with the sound of falling stone (and the sight of a couple of falling lumps) accompanying them and growing louder.
Emerging onto the landing near the treasure vaults, Luna skids and turns right, haring through the chamber with the dead dragon. Gareth gives an anguished groan - " I wanted some dragonhide, dammit!" - but everyone ignores him as Luna shoves open the secret door and leaps up the stairs.
She is halfway to the top when there is the largest rumble that the group has heard so far. They look up to see the huge spiderweb of cracks that covers the ceiling - and see it give way. The entire top half of the giant palace collapses on them.
A few seconds later, all that is left in the area is a mountain of broken stone. The wounded and bleeding adventurers find themselves pinned painfully under rubble and nearly choked with dust. Six, having managed to evade the worst of the damage, asks, "Can anyone get us out?"
Nameless begins, "I don't think ...", but is interrupted by an amber glow. It emanates from the dragonshard still gripped in his hand. As the adventurers watch, the glow quickly changes into a small bubble of light, which begins to expand. As it does, it slowly but inexorably pushes the rubble around it out of the way. The adventurers, however, pass smoothly through the surface of the bubble.
Within moments, it grows to envelop Nameless and then the others. "Are you doing that?" asks Corven curiously, as he lands on the curved surface inside the bubble, having a huge rock lifted off his legs.
"No," says Nameless, carefully examining the dragonshard, "It's some sort of defensive mechanism." He taps the bubble, which now is impervious to him from the inside, and says, "It's a variation on a resilient sphere, I think."
"Whatever it is, I'm not complaining!" says Arrok, as he begins to revive an unconscious Dala.
When the bubble has completely encompassed the group, it begins to rise slowly, rubble sliding out of its path. As it moves, those inside can hear more loud rumbles in the area around them. Eventually, a couple of minutes later, the globe breaks into the open, revealing a scene of complete devastation.
The giant city is in a state of even greater ruin than before, most of the buildings having fallen apart under the reverberations. Huge splits and crevasses run through the city like the world's largest spiderweb, quickly expanding and swallowing more of the city. Nobody has much interest in them right now, since they have a more impressive sight in view, just over a mile away. The nearby mountain is missing its entire top half and the lower part is covered in lava, huge plumes of smoke covering the sky.
Luna, now back in shifter form, stares in fascination and says slowly, "D-a-m-n!" After a second, she adds, "I think we might have lost the porters."
As they are watching, the globe floats higher and higher, till it is a good two hundred feet above the ground. This gives the group a perfect view of the increasing devastation around them. It is quickly clear that this is not just a really powerful earthquake-cum-volcanic eruption. Huge explosions begin to occur all over the island, as if things underground were erupting, sending up puffs of earth and clouds of smoke. Clearly magical effects begin to appear in exponentially larger numbers. What seem to be huge fireballs explode here and there, with lightning lashing back and forth or leaping from the earth to the sky. A huge bank of clouds appears within moments, accompanied by thunderclaps that almost deafen the hearers. Black, acidic rain pours down, accompanied by a fusillade of lightning bolts, and a shower of hailstones.
Corven looks at the other spellcasters. "Storm of vengeance?!" Both Nameless and Luna nod silently and go back to watching the outside.
Beneath them, the city and the island continues to break apart, the crevasses growing wider and deeper. At one point, some of them think they see something colossal (much larger than the dragon) twisting and turning deep below in one of the crevasses, but then the falling debris covers it. Over the next fifteen minutes, the majority of the city is either destroyed or simply subsides into the ground.
Finally, there are a few moments of relative silence. "You think it's over?" asks Gareth.
"No," says Six, pointing towards the mountain. As the others turn to look where he is pointing, the entire mountain is simply vaporized in a blast of brilliant light. Six, who is facing right towards it, has his mechanical eyes seared and rendered blind immediately, as does Dala, while the others manage to shield themselves just in time. The blast explodes outwards, enveloping the globe with the adventurers in searing light. Luckily for them, the bubble seems impervious to the effects.
A few seconds later, light fades away, to reveal that the mountain is missing, with a huge mushroom-shaped cloud in its place. The island as a whole is almost denuded of vegetation, only charred husks and ashes left in the aftermath of the blast. But the final effect is yet to come. As the adventurers watch in awe, the island literally crumbles apart beneath them. It gradually subsides into the ocean around it, leaving behind only small barren islands to form presumably the world's quickest-formed archipelago, where a hundred mile wide island was less than an hour ago. A huge tidal wave rushes away into the distance as a sign of the island's passing, while the mushroom cloud still marks where its central mountain last stood.
As the blast passes, the bubble slowly descends to the surface of the small island below. Once it settles on the rocky surface, it disappears, leaving them standing on the ground. The adventurers stare around at the area and each other, before Nameless sums up what just happened. "I think we can scratch that idea for having our own special vacation spot!"
***
The group gets to spend the next 15 days waiting for the ship to return to fetch them, exploring the area, discussing what happened and what the future holds, examining the magic items they recovered, and generally keeping themselves occupied as best they can. Luckily, both Six and Dala recover their vision in around a day, so they can help with all of the activities.
Experimentation and the use of multiple identify spells reveals what the various magic items are. While many are similar to (though all stronger) magic items that the Angels possess and others are at least ones they have heard of, some are new to them. The three especially interesting ones are the warforged harness, the wand and the staff. The harness is designed to boost the strength and toughness of a warforged, with the linked boots allowing movement under difficult circumstances. There is also a self-destruct mechanism if the wearer is slain, as the group already knows. Corven manages to disable the last and also to remove the boots from the rest of the harness, on Six's request.
The wand, once per day, lets the user access a cubical (2 ft on a side) storage space that exists extradimensionally. After some discussion, the group lets Corven retain it. He temporarily uses it to store his homunculus, which has thus far been traveling in the bag of holding that Ghyrra had loaned the group (which Nameless takes, since it seems that Ghyrra will not be needing it returned).
The staff is even more idiosyncratic and perfect for the group's unexpected situation. Once a day, when placed upright and activated, it grows into a twenty-foot tall sapling, which forms an opaque sphere around it that provides protection from the elements. The sapling also appears with a number of berries (which work as a goodberry spell), one apple (which replicates a vigor) and one tangerine (with the effects of a combined remove disease and neutralize poison), which wither away if not eaten within a minute of plucking.
The most important magic item, of course, is the dragonshard. Nameless first studies it with a detect magic, learning that it not only gives of strong auras of every magical school, but also has overwhelming auras of divination and abjuration. While he is studying it, Gareth is nearby using a detect magic on Kizmet, which has regained its magical powers a day after the explosion. Gareth suddenly notices that not only does he not detect anything from the dragonshard (about thirty feet away), but Nameless and his magical items do not detect as magical either. He points this out and, after some experimentation, the group learns that the shard not only cannot be detected as magical from more than ten feet away, but also prevents anything within five feet of it from detecting as magical either.
The Angels learn is that it is designed as a key to work with dimensional locks, being able to both lock them more tightly and to open them. It is, however, dependent on life energy from living creatures. Evidently creatures that provide it energy (assuming they survive) are bonded to it in some way. These discoveries are as dependent on supposition and what they have seen as on the identify spell, which provides little real information about it.
As far as being bonded to the shard is concerned, each of the adventurers discovers in a day's time that he or she has developed a small deep blue tattoo on the chest. So too have Dala and Arrok. The tattoos detect faintly of magic too, with moderate auras of divination, enchantment and abjuration. The Angels have varying amounts of suspicion where these tattoos are concerned, with Six being especially uncomfortable.
The group discusses what to do with the dragonshard and how to keep it safe. Nameless is especially proprietary about it, carrying it around strapped to his chest. Corven raises the question of whether it would be safer in an extradimensional space but Nameless says that might be risky. Gareth is especially uncomfortable about Nameless' ability to use the shard (when he asks about it, the mage says only, "I know what I know") and his interest in it.
The paladin, however, has other issues to distract him. He asks Nameless what the daelkyr said to him after he used Kizmet on it and Nameless translates, saying that it called Gareth a fiend. The others also ask about the sword and Gareth relates how his father owned it before him and the story of the Battle of Grace, where he gained the sword and his paladinhood. After that, he spends a lot of his time praying and attempting to commune with the sword, mostly to no avail. All he achieves is feelings of satisfaction and relief from the sword, and nothing else.
The group also spends some time exploring the remnants of the island in the ocean below them, or rather Nameless, Luna and Six do. Nameless finds a number of useful spells in the necklace of the phantom library to aid there, while Six's lack of a need to breathe and Luna's ability to turn into a fish allows all three to spend significant time underwater. They discover that the island has actually subsided to the ocean floor half a mile below and that it still retains the misty barrier around it, which now covers it like a shell. This causes some problems for them but they do eventually manage to penetrate it. Though most of the island and the city is now undifferentiated rubble, they do manage to recover a few relics that Dala says will be valuable to Kidro. Strangely, they encounter almost no dead bodies (none have floated to the surface either), whether of animals or elves or giants, almost as if they had been completely wiped out of existence.
Nameless spends some time talking to both Dala and Arrok, impressing upon them the importance of not letting anyone know about the dragonshard. He explains that they've already seen what kind of devastation it could cause and that many dangerous individuals and groups would be interested in it. Dala agrees and promises to not mention it in the detailed description of the expedition that she has been making. She says that he will simply mention the battle against the daelkyr and the following cataclysm, without any reference to a second dragonshard being recovered. Arrok is not particularly interested in the dragonshard and is instead concerned about what this whole bonding issue means. Nameless says that he will investigate and let both of them know what he finds out. He also tells them that if they ever need help, they should contact him and he will aid them in whatever way they can. Both Arrok and Dala thank him and comment that, in view of what they've already experienced with the Angels and seen of their prowess, they are very appreciative of the offer.
Corven, who has been especially interested in the similarities between the cataclysm and what he knows of the Day of Mourning, makes copious notes about whatever the others tell him about the island's remnants and accompanies them on a couple of occasions. Nameless points out to him too that he should be careful about whom he shares that information with. Corven says that he definitely will be wary, but finding out about the source of the Day of Mourning is something that is very important to him (as well as to most Cyrans), so this may be an important event to that end. He promises to be careful to not endanger the group in any way through his investigations.
Lastly, the group travels, via magic and Luna ferrying people over in wildshape, from island to island until they reach the edge of the new archipelago. Figuring that they are at the approximate point where they expect the ship to show up, they make camp and continue with their various activities.
***
During the morning of the 23rd, Luna changes into an eagle and flies some distance out to sea. After an hour or two of soaring high in the sky, she spots an approaching wind galleon. Flying down, she finds it to be the Sea Sprite, and lands next to the helm, transforming back into her shifter form and startling captain Sovelon. She quickly tells him that they "blew up the island but are safe", which confuses him even further. However, he steers the ship in the direction she indicates and soon reaches the little island where the group is.
After the group is ferried to the ship on one of its boats, Sovelon has a huge number of questions for them. Arrok deals with him while the others depart to some comfortable berths, and the ship heads for Stormreach. The gnome soon rejoins the others to say that apparently Stormreach was hit by the storm surge created by the explosion of the island (as Six had surmised), but it did no real damage due to having dissipated over the five hundred mile distance.
The wind galleon makes good time, reaching Stormreach early the next day. The group thanks captain Sovelon and embarks. Arrok has his own place to stay and leaves, saying he will meet the others at the inn. The rest head to the Bloody Giant and get themselves rooms. Dala says that they will be leaving for Sharn in two days and departs to send a message to Kidro from the Sivis station. Gareth accompanies her. At the station he finds a letter from his family that arrived three weeks ago, the day that they left for the island. There is also a shorter one from Lalia that arrived around the same time.
When he returns to the inn, the Angels have a protracted discussion about what sources they can safely utilize to learn more about the Key. Nameless and Gareth get into one of their usual disagreements, with Gareth wanting to consult the Archierophant and Nameless wishing to show it to Trillia, with neither of them really trusting the other's choice. As a compromise, Nameless suggests that they contact the Gatekeeper druids in Sharn. Since the Gatekeepers were the ones who created the dimensional seals that block the connection of Xoriat to Eberron, they should be the best people to talk to about something that apparently works with the seals. Both Corven and Six support his idea, and Gareth agrees. Interestingly, Luna is the one who seems least interested in dealing with the druids. When asked why she isn't expressing an opinion about the matter, she finally admits that she's not that keen on the other druids because they "keep asking me to do stuff for them!" She does, however, say that she thinks they're the best option mentioned thus far.
With that decision made, Gareth and Nameless then find another subject for disagreement, namely the fact that Nameless is walking around with the Key strapped to his chest. Gareth thinks this is an incredibly unsafe way of transporting the Key, not to mention being openly uncomfortable about Nameless having such control over it. Nameless argues that the Key is safer with him than with anyone else and (presumably made a little cocky by having survived a dragon and a daelkyr) that any fool who tries to take it from a mage of his power might as well be committing suicide. This disagreement spirals, as ever, into accusations about each other's reliability and trustworthiness.
With the argument showing no real sign of being resolved, the others cut it short by saying that they're off to get something to eat. The squabbling pair grudgingly end their fighting and follow suit.
* As I told John, who was expressing the opinion that the NPCs would be toast in the 1st rd - "Never doubt my NPC's skills!"
** Nameless, crucially, managed to dispel a Mage Armor, Shield and a Resist Energy (fire) spell, without which the dragon would have had an AC of 39 (effectively unhittable for the PCs) and fire resistance 20.
*** Gareth picked the one cursed item in the room to try on. I let him use 2 action pts to get them off.
**** Took her exactly to -10. To quote John: "Rend? It has REND?!" (Which was followed moments later in the fight by Avi: “Action points? Your dragon has ACTION POINTS?!”)
***** One piece of info the PCs' Knowledge checks didn't give them.
****** Went to -20+
******* Exactly -10 too
******** I had the players, without discussion, each write on a sheet of paper how many hit pts they were willing to give up. Other than Six, who retained 10, every PC (and Dala and Arrok) gave up all except 1 hp, which would have effectively killed them if their Bear's Endurance spells ran out. Very impressive - and crucial.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
We walk through the cavern, and enter a room only to see a Silver Dragon as it is about to breath heavily upon us a blast of cold. Most of us are able to make it OK from the blast and we quickly jump into battle. After a few moments I notice the dragon has some lesions on it. I start to run up to fight and my boots take control; I start to dance – only to realize my boots are cursed with Otto's Irresistible Dance! I drop to the floor, and through grace of the Silver Flame am able to remove the boots. This wastes valuable time, and the rest of the group is in their grove. Nameless casts his area spells, but catches Arrok – on purpose – inside the sphere. Note: I need to speak to Nameless about sacrificing group members for his plots. While it turned out OK in this instance, it is not OK to sacrifice group members. The ends do not justify the means. The dragon begins to radiate her fear power, which I am – through the grace of the Silver Flame – immune to. My convictions, and courage inspire the group and help those near me, though Six and Corven are terrified – and rightfully so.
Six tries to talk to the dragon – why I do not know, but even with my skill in diplomacy, I do not try such a tactic – as I think it would be a waste. The dragon responds and tells us she will kill us.
Finally, after removing the boots I am able to get up, I charge the dragon and call upon the power of the Silver flame to smite her causing some serious wounds in two hits. While hurting the Tyrass, it also draws her attention. She bites down on me and after I fall, she slams me with one of her wings – winking me out of consciousness.
I wake up later, to find the dragon dead and Nameless bathing in it's blood – drinking as deeply as possible. He shouts to us "Bathe in the blood" and I do so, but I do not drink it. Nameless has a crazed look in his eye, and this worries me – especially considering what he likes to delve into. The ground starts to shake, and the group runs down a corridor. We encounter two iron golems along the way, but Nameless is able to control them – probably due to the drinking of the Tyrass's blood. We then climb onto Luna, who is in dragon form and she bounds off taking us faster then we could normally run.
The group mentions the dragon said "The sword is the key, but the key is not the sword." Everyone looks at me, and then at Kizmet. I tell them it was a good thing we went and rescued Kizmet, though I worry if I will have to sacrifice Kizmet to stop this menace. We finally reach our destination.
We prepare ourselves for what will have to be a huge battle – and luckily we do. There is a mist in front of us, and my dark vision cannot penetrate it. We hold onto each other and walk through – but only a short walk. What we see is a large chamber, and in the center of it is a dimensional seal. This is similar to one we have seen in our earlier exploits – when we met the druid Gurr'khan. On the seal lays a two foot long dragon shard and a column of light.
We then feel this imposing presence on our heads, and we get a view of Eberron from high above the sky. We see creatures next to us – and they stare at Eberron and we realize they shape Eberron to their will. It is a strange sight, and I think this information will be valuable to the church.
Nameless summons his bison and there is some grin on his face – I am not sure why, but it looks like he is chuckling to himself. Then, Nameless does something very uncharacteristic of him – and I later find out it was due to some vision – he flies towards the dragon shard to grab it, putting himself in harms way of the Dalkyr that just materialized – though not fully. After he grabs it, he flies back and tells us that we need to sacrifice our health for the dragon shard to work. I sacrifice everything I have, short of dropping me unconscious.
A beam of light shoots from the dragon shard and hits that daelkyr in the chest. The creature looks injured and I step into action. Corven destroys the tail of the daelkyr, removing a great threat. Six trips the creature, while the Bison continue their assault. I charge up ahead and raise Kizmet to strike at it, when a vision enters my head.
I am at the Battle of Grace, looking through the eyes of my father. I know this, because I can feel Kizmet in my hands, and I can see my limp body a few feet away. I feel anguish at the falling of my son, and then a sensation pervades my body – Kizmet is giving me a command. I raise Kizmet to the sky and an intense shimmering field surrounds me and the demon – the demon is banished.
Instead of swinging Kizmet onto the creature, I hold it up and a shimmering light appears. The same as before, the field engulfs the daelkyr and the creature's skin starts to flake away. Then the daelkyr says something odd, something I do not learn until later due to the nature of the language. It calls me a fiend. I am not sure why it would call me that – but I do not think it was lying – as it has no need to lie. I also do not think it was incorrect. I then get slammed by the daelkyr by a wave of force and I hit the wall – unconscious. A moment later, Dala stands next to me healing me – the first thing on my mind is the lack of sentience from Kizmet, in addition to that – all of it's previous power – I do not sense it. This seems to happen often, but not having time to dwell on some issue I stand up and try and exorcise it hoping to stun it for a moment. Unfortunately, there is no effect on the creature. The group continues to pound it, with more bison being summoned. Everyone begins working on trying to get the daelkr into the seal and as he gets close the seal absorbs him.
The dragon shard, all of a sudden, leaves Nameless and is placed into the dimensional seal, firmly in place and hopefully keeping what is there locked up. The ground begins to shake, and Nameless spies another Dragon shard. He grabs it, holding onto it tightly. We mount up on Luna and get out of there as soon as possible. We charge the way up as the mountain starts to collapse on our heads.
A few moments later we all rouse up, realizing we are stuck under a mountain of rubble – probably going to die here. We can still hear rumbling in the distance, and then the dragon shard starts to glow and a sphere of some kind emerges – growing ever so, encompassing all of us and moving the rocks out of the way. The dragon shard flies up, taking us to safety and as we are in the air we can see the mass destruction. Nameless, Luna and Corven mumble the words "storm of vengeance" There is a huge flash of light, and as we turn around we can see the entire area was vaporized, and the island just sank. We land on a barron piece of rock, what could arguably be called an island.
We spend the next few days identifying the items we found and splitting them up. I got the ring I tried on earlier – Nameless finally agreeing with me. He is more happy about this decision because he can then use his poisonous spells without having to worry if I will get hindered by them. Luna, Six, and Nameless delve into the water to look for anything they can find, and only do find some mundane artifacts which we give to Dala.
Nameless straps the dragon shard to his wait, which given his size – a two foot long piece looks odd. He says he will hold onto the shard and we should keep it a secret. We start to argue. I tell him that he is not going to hold onto it- none of us are. We are simply not equipped to be a safe house for this device – which we have no idea what it is capable of. For fifteen days we argue, while the rest of the group contemplates suicide or drowning Nameless and I.
Finally the boat arrives, and we start making our way back to Stormreach. I receive a couple of letters from my mother, and grandmother as well as a letter from Lalia. I write back to them. We prepare to head back to Sharn – and I am looking forward to getting there.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Gareth Byron Deneith - Human Pal3/Clr2/Exorcist of the Silver Flame3
Korm'akhan - Orc Drd7/Hexer1 (replacing Corven)
Luna - Shifter Drd8
Mithral 6 of 6 - Warforged Ftr2/Scout4/Extreme Explorer2
Nameless - Human Wiz6/Alienist2
Dala returns soon to say that she has sent off a letter to Kidro and expects that they will receive a reply the next day. She also brings the group the second part of their payment, as well as news about things that have been going on in the month and a half that the expedition has been gone. Six also goes and gets some copies of the Korranberg Chronicle to supplement her information.
Sharn has apparently been suffering from an epidemic, which began very shortly after the group. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people fell ill, with perhaps scores dying. It seems that the problem was with the water supply, which is also why the fish in Sharn Bay had been dying and becoming sparse (the Angels had heard of this before they left) for a few weeks before the disease hit. Luckily, the epidemic seems to be dying down now.
They also hear that Merrix d'Cannith has made a controversial offer to the warforged in Sharn, promising that House Cannith will find jobs for any of them who come to work for it and, if possible, buy out the contracts that many signed immediately after the War, which effectively function as indentured servitude in the Cogs. Merrix apparently addressed the Sharn city council about it, and the council has neither ratified the offer nor have they enacted any legislation against it (which translates to a tacit acceptance). People have had reactions ranging from seeing it as a very humanitarian offer to one that is intended to allow House Cannith to build up a warforged army. People with the latter belief claim that an ongoing fact-finding expedition into the Mournland, organized by Merrix with the aid of Morgrave University and Prince Oargev ir'Wynarn of New Cyre, is only intended to further increase Cannith power.
Of less interest to the group is the news of the Race of Eight Winds, the primary annual sporting spectacle in Sharn, having taken place. Dala, on the other hand, is quite excited, the person she bet on having won her a nice sum.
In news from other parts of Khorvaire, Queen Aurala has agreed to meet King Boranel in Wroat to further develop ties between Aundair and Breland. In a more unusual diplomatic move, Boranel has signed a treaty with Droaam for the latter to provide aquatic troops to defend Brelish ships, which have recently suffered from attacks by sahuagin and other creatures. "Oh, great!" says Gareth at this piece of news. "Now we'll have sea trolls along officially!"
An equally controversial move is Aundair's decision to ask the Church of the Silver Flame to help with a sudden increase in lycanthropic activity in western Aundair. These new lycanthropes are apparently of the 'horrid' variety that some of the druidic faiths breed and some Aundairans accuse the Eldeen Reachers of sending them into Aundair. The Church - and Thrane - have accepted and are sending priests and templars into Aundair to investigate. Nameless says to Luna, "And here we go with another purge!"
Karrnath, on the other hand, seems less interested in building bridges with its erstwhile enemies. The Academy of Magical Warfare has opened in Rekkenmark, to a huge uproar in other countries (and from moderates in Karrnath), who claim that it is tantamount to an open preparation for war. Karrnathi representatives, naturally, claim that this Academy is simply a matter of self-defense. Gareth isn't surprised at this news, since he has already read about it in the letters from his family.
An unintended piece of support to their claim has emerged from the Mror Holds. For the last few months, House Lyrandar has been working with the Mror clans on a project to build a large tunnel right through the southern mountains, which would make trade between Karrnath, the Mror Holds and the Lhazaar Principalities much easier. A few weeks ago, those working on the tunnel broke through into a huge cavern leading to the depths of Khyber. This cavern promptly disgorged thousands of aberrations, which slaughtered the workers and are now causing significant destruction in the southern Holds, with some having entered eastern Karrnath. In the aftermath of the event, Dulkan of Valshar'rak, the primary planner for the tunnel, was revealed to be a Cultist of the Dragon Below and fled his home in Fairhaven. An embarrassed House Lyrandar has announced a significant reward for information about his whereabouts, while the Mror clans have announced an even larger reward for anyone who can close the cavern. While reading about this story, Nameless remembers something he had seen months ago in Sharn. In a chamber occupied by a group of dolgrims and dolgaunts, he had read scrawls on the wall about a hoped-for attack on the surface world, with references to a tunnel leading from light into dark and releasing the darkness. Not having bothered to translate it for his companions then, he doesn't bring it up now.
Besides the news from mainland Khorvaire, the Angels also hear from people in Stormreach about recent events here, such as a small tidal wave hitting the area a couple weeks ago (presumably the one created by the destruction of the island), a sahuagin tribe killing a kraken which was attacking a ship just entering the northernmost Straits of Shargon, and an announcement by House Vadalis of plans to set up hunting expeditions for wealthy clients to Xen'drik.
After checking all the news and wrapping up supper, the group slowly heads up to their rooms. While they are doing so, Nameless receives a sending from Trillia, which says, "Trillia here. How are you? Busy with research. Attempting new spell for detecting Xoriat denizens and creations. Finally achieved valences of fifth power. Any news?"
Nameless quickly replies, "Congratulations. We fought dragon and daelkyr. Gained insights. Prophecy follows us. Will need to consult you. Need dragonshard info, but secrecy paramount importance."
Before retiring, the group discusses what to do with the Key, which they decide is too cumbersome - and risky - to carry around as Nameless has been. They eventually decide to keep it in the Hidden Chest that Corven's wand opens. They activate the wand, place it in there and close it. With no evident effects to the action, they head to bed. Other than Six, who goes back to his usual night-time crafting.
Around six hours or so after they put the Key into the extradimensional space, Six notices a strange throbbing (but no pain) where the tattoo on his chest is, along with a very strong desire to be close to the Key. Going to wake his companions, he finds that all of them have awoken with the same effect. Corven tries to open the Hidden Chest, but unfortunately, it is not yet accessible. With no real choice, the Angels go back to bed. Despite the discomfort from the throbbing, they do manage to fall asleep.
***
When they wake from uncomfortable sleep, the throbbing sensation is stronger. This time Corven manages to activate the wand and they quickly remove the Shard. Immediately, the feeling of wanting to be near the Key fades away, and the throbbing does so slowly. Nameless tries putting the Key in his magical haversack, which is also an extradimensional space, and the effect begins again. He quickly removes it and the group discusses what to do. They eventually decide to get a case for the Key and carry it around, later getting one for each of them so that it is difficult for someone to locate and take from them.
Shortly after they awake, Arrok stops by to say that he experienced the same feeling as they did at night. Not wanting to wake them in the middle of the night, he put up with it till the morning and came to the inn. Naturally, he is not happy about this development and asks the group to let him know as soon as they work out what all of this means.
While he is there, Nameless receives another sending from Trillia, this one sounding very curious about what he said, especially the daelkyr. He explains as much as he can in 25 words and reiterates the need for secrecy.
When Arrok leaves, Dala goes with him. She returns with Kidro's reply. She says that once they are back in Sharn, Kidro and she will take care of cataloguing the items that they recovered. While the Angels can retain the magical items they have, Kidro should get to see them, though she doubts he will want any. Lastly, within a couple of days of their return, they will have to talk to people at Morgrave University about the expedition, which is also probably where the story will get into the papers.
The rest of the day is spent in making plans and doing some shopping in Stormreach. Gareth writes and sends off letters to his family through the Sivis station. The Angels also experiment a little more with the Key and work out that it is exactly six hours of time in an extradimensional space that triggers the throbbing and strange desire. They also notice that their tattoos are very slightly larger.
***
Early the next morning, the group embarks on the ship back to Sharn. It is the Wave's Bounty, the same ship they came to Xen'drik on, and the captain Syrina d'Lyrandar and her first mate Bly are there to welcome them. Even the reclusive Aereni artificer Daelan makes a quick appearance and then disappears below decks again. Arrok accompanies the group to the ship and takes his leave, saying that he will meet them in Sharn in a week or so, after he has dealt with some work that he needs to.
The ship pulls away within an hour and heads north. The adventurers settle back into their shipboard routines. To their partial surprise, the voyage is completely uneventful, or at least uneventful when it comes to creatures trying to (a) board the ship, (b) eat them, (c) both of the above. There are, however, a couple of interesting experiences along the way.
Four days into the voyage, Gareth has a strange dream...
He finds himself floating in the middle of a featureless expanse, surrounded by gray mist, which resembles what he saw around the island. Some distance in front of him floats Nameless, facing away at an angle. In front of Nameless floats the Key. He reaches forward to grasp it. The Key flares with amber light, which fades quickly. Nameless pulls the shard towards him, doing so in small jerks, as if it were resisting in some way. Finally, he pulls it to his chest. As he does so, he steps back as if something knocked him backwards, but he remains upright, the Key still held where it is.
Then he seems to realize that Gareth is there and turns slowly to face him. When he does, Gareth sees that his eyes are completely white, with no variation between pupil and eyeball. They remind him of the eyes of the daelkyr.
And then Gareth wakes up.
The same night, Nameless is having a remarkably similar dream. In his case...
He too finds himself floating in the middle of a featureless expanse, surrounded by gray mist, which resembles what he saw around the island. In front of him floats the Key, and equidistant from it on the opposite side, is a daelkyr. It doesn't speak, but it reaches up with its right hand and grasps the dragonshard, even as Nameless does so. The Key flares with amber light, which fades quickly. The daelkyr pulls on the shard but Nameless' grasp is firm. After a second or two, he pulls the shard closer to himself. The daelkyr's expression doesn't change and it says nothing, but he can feel its anger and frustration. It raises its left hand and Nameless hear the hiss of its whip. The whip lashes out, hitting him on the chest, but it bounces off as if he were made of adamantine. Nameless pulls the shard a little closer. This time, a scowl crosses the daelkyr's face. Its brow furrows in concentration and he feels it attempting to insinuate its will into his. Again, Nameless feels it fail. This time, the daelkyr actually shudders and its form begins to dissipate. So does its grip on the shard and Nameless pulls it closer. As the shard touches his chest, the fading daelkyr lunges forward. As it does so, it changes form, its humanoid shape turning into that of a small dart-like tentacle. The tentacle strikes Nameless square on the forehead, knocking him back a step or two. This time, there is a sharp pain. There is a piercing sensation and he can actually feel the tentacle slide through his forehead into his head. Then the pain fades away. The daelkyr is completely gone and Nameless has the Key safe in his grasp, held tight against his chest.
That's when he gets the feeling that someone is watching him. Nameless turns to see a humanoid form half-hidden by the mist. The mist begins to part and then ... he awakes.
The next morning, Gareth tells everyone, including Nameless, what he dreamt of. Nameless also explains what it was that he saw. The Angels discuss what it could mean, especially the fact that each was in the other's dreams (which does lead to some ribbing from the others). Gareth theorizes that the daelkyr is still trying to control Nameless. Nameless thinks that might be possible but confidently says that it won't succeed. He also says that he should know more once he has been able to spend some time with Trillia, who has been using sendings daily to learn more about the group's discoveries. Nameless also mentions that they might want to talk to Havakhad, since his people know about the quori and the plane of dreams.
In general, the Angels spend a fair amount of time discussing what they will do once back in Sharn. Corven tells the others that he is going to talk to people at the Cyran embassy about what they discovered (he promises not to mention the Key they have) and if possible, head back to the remnants of the island to study its relationship with what happened in Cyre to create the Mournland. This is something that is personally important to him and it is his first priority. He says that he will stay in contact with the rest of the group and thanks all of them for their aid in the time he has spent with them.
The only other thing of note as far as the voyage is concerned is that the tattoos continue to grow, until they are nearly four inches in diameter, before stopping. The fact that they have apparently stopped growing only mildly reassures the adventurers, none of whom is happy with their unforeseen venture into body art. Six, with his hat of disguise, manages to keep the one on his chest hidden, but is not any happier about them than the others.
***
Meanwhile...
...in a dark room somewhere, lit only by a solitary torch, shadows swirl around a large desk. The room is sparse, with little furniture except for the desk, three comfortable chairs around it, and a series of large bookshelves, which stretch from floor to ceiling.
A cloaked figure lounges at the desk, the shadows making his form indistinct, his digits tapping idly on the wood in front of him, rhythmically repeating the same pattern, over and over and over. The woman sitting across from him leans forward and asks, "And you are sure that they will return?"
The reply is deep and calm, but with an undertone of amusement. "Yes. They are already on the way."
"Very well. But does it really matter? Why them?"
"Because they will be perfect for our ... for my purposes. There are many other adventurers in Khorvaire, but these are uniquely suited to the work I have in mind. Much more uniquely than most. Believe me, I've looked."
The woman doesn't sound convinced. "What makes them that perfect? That prophecy?"
The other person laughs derisively. "Pah! Prophecies are for fools. We can make or mar them as we please."
The woman shrugs and says, "If you say so. But what if they will not perform as you wish?"
There is a pause and then a short chuckle, rife with anticipation of forthcoming amusement. "Oh, they will perform all right. And if it isn't exactly what I have in mind then I will find another way to use them ... or break them. A tool is always useful, even if sometimes only to hone another tool on."
***
Eleven days after it left Stormreach, and forty-eight days after the expedition left Sharn, the Wave's Bounty pulls into the docks of Grayflood. Six looks up at the cliffs and, above them, the towers of Sharn. With a shake of his head, he says, "Giants, dragons and daelkyr, I can take. But this place is the one that worries me."
With wry grins, the others join him in making ready to disembark. The process, as usual, is longer than they'd like. The group has to work through all the various groups checking on customs issues, identification, etc. Even though Dala takes care of most of the paperwork and there are a couple of people from Kidro waiting to help the group, it takes them the better part of an hour to be done. Once they are, Dala takes her leave of the Angels, asking them to stop by Kidro's shop in the evening.
After a short discussion, the Angels decide to visit Trillia first, so that Nameless can introduce them to her. They take one of the few skycoaches that comes to the Docks and head to Deathsgate. Trillia's house is a tower apartment a short distance from the Guild of Starlight and Shadows. It is unremarkable on the outside, other than having the Guild's sigil to indicate a member lives there. When Nameless knocks, the door is opened by a middle-aged man, whom he greets as Glauster.
He looks a little surprised at the number of people standing outside, but says that the lady has been expecting them and invites the group in. The inside of the apartment doesn't look much like a mage's abode, except for the odd arcane item, as well as a couple of slightly tentacular statues to indicate her interests. Glauster leads the group to a comfortable sitting room and leaves them there.
A couple of minutes later, Trillia enters to greet them. She is a pleasant-looking woman who looks to be in her early thirties, with bright green eyes and short blonde hair, a single streak of black running down the middle. Trillia wears comfortable robes as many of the middle-class wear, which again give no indication of her occupation.
She greets Nameless warmly and follows suit to the others, as he makes the introductions. "I've heard a good deal about all of you," she says, adding with a broad smile to Gareth, "Especially you!"
Settling down comfortably, she asks the group to expand on their experiences, which she already has some idea of due to the sendings to Nameless. He provides a quite detailed coverage, with the others chipping as needed. Trillia asks a number of questions, seeming most interested about the Key. Nameless shows it to her and she asks whether the group would mind if she took some time to study it. Nobody disagrees, though Gareth adds that he would prefer it if at least a couple of them are present throughout. Trillia says she has no problem with that.
After hearing the entire story, Trillia admits that she has never heard of an item such as the Key. She has also not heard of dimensional seals in Xen'drik either, but says that it makes sense that the dragons would be involved with it, since supposedly it was a dragon called Vvaraak who trained the Gatekeeper druids, and they are the ones who created the dimensional seals. Nameless says that the group is planning to consult the Gatekeepers in Sharn and asks what she thinks. Trillia says she thinks it is a good idea, since the Gatekeepers are unlikely to spread the information around, which she warns the group to be careful of. After all, they have the first evidence that she has heard of a daelkyr being present in (or rather, near) Xen'drik, and there are more than a few individuals and groups who will be interested in that information.
At this point, Gareth mentions that he also wants to talk to the Archierophant about the Key, which promptly turns into another argument with Nameless. Trillia seems amused by the interaction between the two, simply watching until it begins to turn into a shouting match. Then she cuts in to say that the one downside with letting Ythana Morr (who she only knows by reputation) know is that she answers to the institution and hierarchy of the Church of the Silver Flame, so she has less freedom to act as she wishes than someone like Trillia has. Gareth agrees but says that the resources of the Church, which are significantly higher than that of either Trillia or the Gatekeepers, are worth tapping into. Corven then suggests that perhaps Gareth could simply wait for a couple of days, while Trillia studies the Key, before letting Ythana know. Gareth agrees, with the caveat that there should be complete disclosure of anything that is discovered about the Key, and that Nameless, who has been reticent to share his knowledge about using it, should do so too.
Nameless agrees and, for the first time, expands on what happened with his use of the Key. He says, "Actually, I don't really know how I activated it. When I saw it I knew what it was, and I knew I would be able to use it, though I didn't know how. And when I touched it, I immediately knew how to activate it. It's not so much conscious knowledge as if it was something I knew and could do automatically, like whistling a tune without thinking about it. Even now, I couldn't activate it by choice."
After hearing that explanation, Trillia wonders aloud if the ability has something to do with the dreams Nameless has had. Nameless suddenly suggests that she try the new spell she has developed on him. She looks slightly surprised but then does so. After some seconds of concentration, she says, "Interesting! Unless I am doing something wrong, you are apparently an aberration. A powerful one."
Nameless doesn't look particularly surprised, though this sets off another discussion of what it means. Gareth wonder aloud if the contact with the daelkyr and/or the close contact with the Key is changing Nameless in some way. Trillia confirms that Nameless is the only person in the group who appears as an aberration to her spell. With no real explanation at this point, she promises to study the issue further and see what she can discover.
Trillia then asks the group to join her for lunch, which they agree to do. During the meal they find her to be a witty and pleasant conversationalist. Gareth, to his partial surprise, finds her actually agreeing with him in a couple of places where Nameless and he disagree, though she does also tease him with a couple of off-color jokes about paladins. One of the primary topics of discussion is the Angels' apparent bond with the Key. Having heard about their reactions to having the Key separated from them by an extradimensional space, Trillia opines that it seems akin to a geas of some kind, compelling them to stay near and protect the Key. None of the Angels seem happy about the idea, especially Luna and Six.
Once they are done eating, the group prepares to leave. Nameless asks Trillia if it will be all right for him to stay at her place temporarily, and she says that would be fine. Gareth suggests that it would be safer to have at least one person with Nameless, so Six offers to stay, which Trillia also accepts.
After leaving Trillia's home, the group heads to Central Plateau and Carosten Park. Walking into the park, they head for the edge of the plateau, where the small stone building called the Gatehouse is located. When Six knocks on the door, it is opened by the half-orc druid Surr'kal. He looks surprised and says, "I didn't know that you were in town. Come in." As the Angels follow him through the small antechamber, a couple of them notice that he gives Luna a bit of a frosty look. They quickly discover the reason.
Surr'kal leads them into a small sitting room, already occupied by the shifter Teln and another figure. This one is a large and heavily muscled half-orc, with a scarred and remarkably ugly visage. He wears no armor and has on a long hooded robe, worn over clothing with tribal markings on it. He also carries an unusual-looking sword strapped to his back. Surr'kal introduces him as Korm'akhan, a druid who came to Sharn a little over a month ago. Luna and he recognize each other, having spent some time together nearly five years ago. Korm'akhan says that he saw Luna's former mentor, Gathaan, in the Eldeen Reaches nearly a few months ago, where he was tending a Gatekeeper observatory.
Once Luna and Korm'akhan have finished talking, Surr'kal says, "We could have used your help here recently. Remember the Children of Winter I had said were in the city?" He bestows another look on Luna and adds, "Whom I had asked you to check on?" Luna bristles a bit, thinking of commenting that they have a number of calls on their time and don't take orders, but restrains herself.
Surr'kal goes on to explain that the two Children of Winter had apparently created a lair in the Depths and found access to Sharn's water purification chambers. They had been poisoning the water supply with a disease-causing agent, and this was the origin of the recent epidemic. Korm'akhan and the other druids had been helping aid the sick in the poorer areas with magical and mundane healing, when they had met two members of the Church of the Silver Flame (a paladin named Cedric and a templar called Magnus) who were doing the same. The Angels immediately recognize Cedric and Magnus as the pair they had met in the Bloody Giant inn at Stormreach.
Korm'akhan, two druids who had come to Sharn with him, Cedric and Magnus managed to track the Children of Winter (a human druid and a shifter warrior) to their lair. After a mighty battle, during which the other two druids and Magnus were slain, they forced the severely wounded Children of Winter to flee. Korm'akhan and Cedric destroyed the poison-creating apparatus and returned to the surface. Thanks to their efforts, the epidemic is now apparently over, though there are still many sick people who will take time to recover. Having caught them up with the news, Surr'kal asks what they can do for the adventurers, though his tone of voice indicates that he might not be too inclined towards helping them in any way.
The tone changes quickly as the Angels relate some of their recent adventures, which occurs with constant interrupting questions such as "You killed a dragon?" or "You fought a DAELKYR?!" Once the Angels are done and have shown them the Key, Surr'kal says that this is one of the most fascinating stories he has ever heard. He also admits that he does not know about anything like the Key. After all, he points out, the dimensional seals that keep Xoriat at bay or the daelkyr prisoner were constructed 9,000 years ago. However, some of the greater loremasters among the Gatekeepers might know, and he promises to try to contact some of those outside Sharn. When he hears that the Angels have spoken to Trillia and she will be studying the Key, Surr'kal asks if he could join her. Nameless says that he doubts she would mind.
The Angels especially mention the issue of their bond with the Key as something they are concerned about. Teln suggests that since Nameless was able to activate it before, perhaps he could try to use it and remove the bond. Surr'kal looks a little skeptical but Nameless agrees to try. Corven volunteers as a test subject, saying that he is planning to travel back to the island (or its remnants) and study the phenomenon of the mist around it, and that becomes significantly difficult with the bond.
Nameless takes the dragonshard in his hands, and as he thinks of removing the bond, once again he seems to know exactly how to activate it. A thick amber beam shoots out to hit Corven in the chest and he feels a draining sensation. To the surprise of everyone present, the beam then splits into two, half of it breaking off to hit Korm'akhan in the chest. The big orc looks surprised as he feels the same sensation. Nameless, though surprised too, continues to concentrate on removing Corven's bond. The amber beams pulse and both Corven and Korm'akahan turn ashen with the strain as the draining sensation intensifies to an incredible degree, making each feel as if he were dying.
The beams suddenly wink off, with both of them almost collapsing from weakness when they do. Quick investigation reveals that the tattoo has disappeared from Corven's chest and reappeared on Korm'akhan's (though smaller, like it had originally been on Corven and the others).
"Well, that was ... unexpected," says Nameless succinctly.
"And painful," says Corven, wiping away sweat from his brow with a shaking hand. "It almost killed me!"* Korm'akhan, who looks even grayer than he originally did, rumbles, "Me too!"**
Surr'kal hurriedly says, "I do not think we should try that again! Or at least not right now."
Everyone agrees. Nameless adding that when he used the Key, he got the impression that the bonds can only be transferred to another random person within range (though he's not sure what that range is). Korm'akhan is naturally curious about what this bond entails for him and Nameless explains what they know. Even though Corven uses a couple of infusions to partly heal Korm'akhan and himself, the big orc agrees that they shouldn't try to remove his new bond yet, especially since they don't know whom it would attach itself to.
When the Angels are taking their leave, Surr'kal asks if they'd be willing to take Korm'akhan with them as added security for the Key. Corven points out that he will be leaving soon*** and the group could use another healer and Teln comments that Korm'akhan is a mighty warrior. The big orc says that he would be happy to accompany the group for the time being and the Angels agree.
The group heads towards Menthis Plateau, exchanging information with Korm'akhan as they go. He says that he is trained in a rare branch of druidic ability, lacking Luna's ability to change shape into an actual animal, though he can change his form slightly to gain some natural abilities. He also claims to be a berserker.
Gareth is especially interested in his unusually shaped sword, which is made of a dark gray metal. Korm'akhan says, "It was forged from the heart of a fallen star."
The group reaches Kidro's shop, Window on Yesterday, to find both Dala and him present. Kidro is very pleased to see them and, after being introduced to Korm'akhan, asks them to tell him everything that happened, even though Dala has already gone over it.
Kidro listens with rapt attention to them, asking every once in a while, "And the island blew up?"
After they are done, he asks if he could examine the magical items they found. Once he has done so, he says they can keep them and that he will get them a record of legal acquisition, which they will need to retain and use them. Kidro also says that they will need a letter of marque if they want to sell them, and in that case he might be interested.
Kidro also tells the Angels that there will be a meeting at Morgrave University two days later, on the 10th, where some of the recovered artifacts will be displayed and they will be expected to talk about their expedition. He says that there will be reporters from the Korranberg Chronicle and the Sharn Inquisitive present, and opines that they will be on the front page of each newspaper once their story is told.
Lastly, Kidro provides the adventurers with the last third of their payment via a Kundarak banknote worth 5000 galifars. When he does, Nameless asks Kidro if he knows if the people who were lost on the expedition have families. Kidro says that he is taking care of it by selling some of the minor magical items that the group turned over to Dala and thanks him for his concern.
Six pokes Gareth in the ribs and says, "Shouldn't you be the one caring about that?" but Gareth doesn't bother to respond.
When the group is leaving, Dala says that she will see them out. When they are outside, she asks if there has been anything strange with the Key. When Nameless asks why, she says that there was a message from Arrok waiting for her at home, which he had sent via the Sivis station the day after they left. It said that his tattoo became warm and began throbbing the day they left with the Key and he got this weird feeling that he should get close to it, just as he (and they) had felt when the Key was in the Hidden Chest.
Arrok tried to ignore it but soon began to feel extremely ill. According to the message, he was taking a ship to Sharn early the next day, and he wanted them to make sure not to go anywhere or do anything with the Key. Dala asks where the group's accommodations are, since Arrok will presumably be there the next day and she can bring him to them.
This sets off another discussion, since various members of the group want to stay in different places. Finally, they decide that Nameless and Six will put up temporarily with Trillia. Gareth decides to go to the Cathedral of the Cleansing Flame, while Corven says he figures the Esoteric Order of Aureon will be as safe as can be. Korm'akhan says that he would be more comfortable staying at Carosten Park with the other druids and Luna decides to do the same. With that decided, the Angels take their leave of Dala and split up, heading in the various directions they want.
When Gareth goes to the Cathedral, he finds (to his mild surprise) Bodo still there, studying at the school run by the Cathedral and now working there as a novice. The reason is quickly explained, since Bodo seems quite excited about the Silver Flame now, mainly because there are all these "cool stories about smiting bad guys" that he's heard and he believes that if he sticks it out long enough he'll eventually learn to use weapons and maybe get armor and a sword. Plus, he says, the food's quite good.
***
The next morning, Gareth has a not-so-welcome visitor in the shape of Flan. He says that Killian has been expecting the Angels back and told him that they returned the previous day. Killian asks if the group can come by and meet him that evening, since he has some news and a proposition for them. Gareth says that he will tell the others and tentatively accepts.
Shortly after Flan leaves, Dala stops by with Arrok, who reached Sharn only an hour ago. They accompany Gareth to Trillia's home, where they speak to Nameless, Six and her. Arrok says that he is fine now, the sickness having disappeared a day after he took ship from Stormreach. The tattoo still had a mild warmth to it until he got to within a couple hour's sail from Sharn. He asks them if they have any explanation for it, saying that this is a serious problem for him and they need to help him get rid of this link to the Key.
Nameless explains that they may be able to remove it, but it would be very dangerous and would only attach itself to someone else. Trillia reiterates her original theory about the geas, saying that the effects Arrok suffered sound a lot like what one could expect from the spell. She also says that perhaps after studying the Key they may be able to find another way to break the bond.
Arrok doesn't seem very reassured, but sees that he has no real option besides patience. He says that he will be staying in Middle Dura and will see them at Morgrave University the next day. Dala and he then leave.
Once they are gone, Gareth tells the others (including Luna and Korm'akhan, who have stopped in by then) about the offer from Killian. Some of the others aren't keen on it, especially Six, but they agree to go along. So does Corven, who arrives a little later. The group then disperses again.
Gareth stops off at the Deneith enclave, where he finds Lalia very happy to see him back in town. She invites him to join her for an early lunch, during which he tells her about everything that happened on the trip (but omits anything about the Key). Lalia seems to find the story fascinating, saying that it'll probably be all over the newspapers after the talk at Morgrave University. As for herself, she says that she has been doing fine and has mostly been in the city in the interim. Tasra is fine too and both of them may be involved in a case shortly, since there's a possibility that some people are planning to sabotage the meeting between Queen Aurala of Aundair and King Boranel in Wroat. That's usually the kind of thing handled by the Citadel (the elite Brelish forces answering directly to the King, which also have an outpost in Sharn), but they may bring House Deneith in, just in case. She also inquires about Gareth's immediate and future plans, asking if he will he be in the city for long and whether he is planning to join the enclave after all?
Gareth replies that he does plan to be in the city for a while now and is interested in joining the enclave. He also offers any help he can about King Boranel and Queen Aurala. Lalia laughs at the latter offer, saying that even though she trusts him, the chances of a Karrnathi paladin being included in security issues for the King of Breland and the Queen of Aundair is only slightly more likely than Sharn being leased to Thrane. She does, however, promise to speak to people at the enclave about Gareth's interest in joining. She then takes her leave, since she is busy with the job that she mentioned.
After leaving her, Gareth goes to the High Hope district in Middle Northedge, where he finds Coldflame Keep, the local Silver Flame temple. There he meets Cedric as well as the elderly priest Mazin Tana, who is quite happy to see him. There are only a couple of acolytes, a crippled scribe and eight templars occupying the temple, which was clearly built to house maybe ten times the number and looks like it has fallen on bad times.
Cedric confirms that is the case, saying that the Cathedral doesn't send as much money in the direction of the Keep as it could. Gareth and he discuss their recent experiences (during which Cedric mentions fighting the Children of Winter by Korm'akhan's side) while helping care for the remaining patients from the epidemic. The older paladin is very interested in the group's activities. Gareth asks Cedric and Mazin if either of them know about someone who might be an expert on outsiders, especially daelkyr, but that's only an area of partial interest for Cedric and Mazin has no expertise in it. Mazin says that there's nobody specialized in that kind of subject among the Silver Flame worshippers he knows of, not even the Archierophant, and suggests Gareth contact one of the local mage guilds. They both invite Gareth to stop by any time.
While leaving the Keep, Gareth notices a strange sight some distance away. There is a thick 12 foot tall densewood pillar in the middle of an open space, which has an old gnome sitting on the top. She seems to be quite comfortable, sitting and chatting with people passing below, and evidently well-known, from the number of people who greet her as they go.
Curious, Gareth goes over and greets her. She responds in kind and, during the following conversation, he learns that her name is Daca and she is a worshipper of Boldrei who has been living on top of the pillar for the last 120 years, keeping an eye on the community around her. While standing below her, Gareth feels a sense of calm and peacefulness that he has not elsewhere.
Nameless, meanwhile, has been helping Trillia study the Key. This primarily consists of casting spells on it and finding that they have no effect. She also tries her detect aberrations spell on him and has the same result as earlier.
Six, having spent some time with the two of them, finally gets bored and decides to take a walk around the city, as he often does. While he does so, he stops to buy a new bow that matches his enhanced strength and also checks on the House Cannith offer that he heard of in Stormreach. The opinions are as varied as he had both heard and expected.
Corven visits the Cyran embassy and meets with Tyrala. She is happy to see him back and curious about his absence for so long. He relates some of what happened on the trip and, as he expected, she is especially interested in his news about the similarity between the mist around the island and what he saw around the Mournland. When Corven expresses an interest in leading an expedition back there, she says that she doesn't really have the authority or funds to immediately make that a reality, but she suggests that he visit New Cyre and speak to Prince Oargev himself. Someone of Corven's abilities would be an asset to New Cyre even if he were not now the official head of his house. Corven tentatively agrees, asking her to contact Prince Oargev and let him know what he says.
Luna and Korm'akhan mainly remain in Carosten Park sharing stories of their experiences and engaging in some sparring practice. Luna, as is becoming her habit, also spends some time in eagle form, flying around and through the towers of the city.
All of them meet at Trillia's home in the evening, before heading down to Firelight and the Lucky Nines casino. On the way, Korm'akhan asks about this person they are going to meet and gets a number of opprobrious comments from the various Angels, with a minor defense from Gareth, based on their lacking proof of Killian's guilt.
At the casino, they meet Killian at the same table as usual. After having been introduced to Korm'akhan, he is simultaneously jocular and sarcastic as ever, but is quickly cut off by Six, who says that he needs to get to the point about why they are there before they walk out.
Killian then says that he has both news and a proposition. The news is about the gang war that had just erupted when the Angels left town, sparked by their attack on the Daask payroll. Killian says that the Boromars clearly had the best of it, inflicting heavy losses, destroying whatever gains Daask had made in lower and middle Sharn and forcing them back into the Cogs. With the difficulty of attacking Daask in their lair, they were unable to drive Daask out of Sharn, but seriously weakened them. "Now if people like you," says Killian with a mock-admonishing manner, "Had been there to take a hand, maybe they could have been broken and driven out completely."
"Not our business," says Six. "Is that your proposition?"
Killian looks a trifle irritated but says, "Yes. Would you be interested in helping drive Daask out?"
Six immediately says, "No" and the others agree, though Gareth suggests they consider the offer. Killian says that he's a little disappointed, but the Angels should let him know if they change their minds.
Then he quickly changes tack, talking about their trip and how much he's looking forward to reading their talk at Morgrave University. Suddenly, he says, "By the way, I hope you are taking care of that Key."
Though somewhat surprised his knowledge of it, all of the Angels try to hide their reaction. In fact, nobody even responds to it. Six says that he's had enough, rises and leaves, quickly followed by Luna and then the others, leaving Gareth the only one at the table with Killian. The gnome tries to get some information about of the paladin but fails to do so and Gareth takes his leave a couple minutes after the others did.
He finds them waiting for him in the entrance hall, where Nameless asks if he decided to do any work for Killian, since then he'll be working alone. Gareth replied that he didn't and the group departs, splitting up shortly afterwards.
***
The next morning, they reconvene at Morgrave University. Before doing so, for reasons of security, they place the Key in Nameless' bag of holding, figuring that they will remove it as soon as they can, long before it can be a problem for them. The talk is in a large hall in the Dezina Museum of Antiquities. Dala and Kidro are already present, with Arrok expected soon. The reporters from the two newspapers are also there, with the KC one being Flim Turen, the Angels having told Dala to ask specifically for him in view of their previous interaction with him. There are also a large number of professors, students, antiquarians and generally interested people.
Shortly after they arrive, it is time to start and the Angels take their places. As they are doing so, the sphinx Flamewind walks in. She waves genially at the group and sits expectantly at the rear of the room. One of the professors present introduces Kidro. He, in turn, does a quick introduction of the people involved and talks a little about the planning for the expedition, before handing over to Dala. She does the majority of the talking, with a few comments from the Angels when asked.
Once Dala is done, Kidro opens the floor for questions. As they had been warned, there are a lot of queries, especially about the island exploding. A couple of people 'politely' raise the issue of whether this is a neat way to avoid proving that the expedition actually happened, but Kidro quickly unveils the display of a number of the recovered artifacts. The questions then become a lot more general, at least a few having to do with the issue of the daelkyr, which the majority of the people present only know as a type of planar creature, and that too because they are at the University.
After nearly an hour of questions, Kidro announces that the talk is over, promising that more information will be provided through the University and all of the artifacts will soon be on display. The meeting breaks up, with some people leaving and others coming up to talk to Kidro, Dala and the adventurers. Among them is Flamewind, who walks up to say that she's happy to see them all alive and back. Nameless tells her that they did manage to fulfill her prophecy, as she would have noted from their story. Flamewind smiles and says that he might be overestimating how complete it is, inviting them to join her some time to discuss the subject and perhaps answer some questions she might have.
As Nameless is agreeing, he is politely interrupted by a serious-looking gnome, who has just entered the hall along with four guards in City Watch uniforms. He says, "Are you the mage known as ... um, Nameless, belonging to the Guild of Starlight and Shadows?"
Nameless says, "Yes, I am. Is there a problem?"
"I need to speak to you privately, please."
A little suspicious, considering their current situation with the Key, Nameless says, "I would prefer to have my companions present."
"This cannot wait," says the gnome insistently. "Please come with me."
While the others are distracted with other people, Six notices the discussion and comes over. Nameless says, "Just my companion Six, then?"
The gnome hesitates for a moment and then says, "Very well. Please - come this way."
Nameless and Six accompany the gnome out of the hall and he leads them into the nearest unoccupied room, which is a large classroom. Once they enter, he gestures and two of the guards close and stand in front of the door.
"So, what is this about?" asks Nameless.
The gnome looks up, quickly produces a wand (which he has evidently been holding concealed within his sleeve), and points it at Nameless. In a significantly more formal voice, he says, "Nameless - I arrest you for the crime of murder. Will you come quietly?"
Even as Six goes "What?!", Nameless - though surprised - calmly asks, "Whom am I supposed to have murdered?"
"Arrok Doone."
"When was I supposed to have killed Arrok?" asks Nameless.
"Around 7 pm last night."
Six and Nameless exchange glances, and Six says, "That's when we left Trillia's place last night." Nameless turns to the gnome and says, "I have half a dozen witnesses who were with me at the time. In fact, they are outside right now. Can I call them?"
"No. We'd prefer to keep this as private as possible. Please come with me. If your friends were with you, their testimony should help your case. I should say, however, that there were also a large number of witnesses to the murder."
"And that's proof in a city full of changelings and spellcasters?" says Nameless sarcastically.
The gnome's expression gets a little grimmer and he says firmly, "Be that as it may, please come with me. Now."
Nameless and Six spend a few seconds trying to persuade the gnome to let them inform the other Angels, to no avail. Six decides on another method and begins to shout loudly, "This is an outrage! You cannot treat us like this!"
In the hall outside, Korm'akhan has been standing silently and watching the people mill around and talk. Despite the various voices around him, his keen ears hear Six's raised voice. "I think your friend is in trouble," he tells Luna, who is nearby. Both of them gesture at Gareth and Corven, who are talking to Dala and a professor nearby.
The four of them head down the corridor and knock on the door, before Gareth tries to open it. The guards inside promptly try to hold it closed. "Hey - what's going on in there?" asks Gareth.
"Nameless is being arrested for murder," calls Six.
"What?" says Gareth, shoving the door, which opens slightly before the guards push it closed. "This is Watch business! Please wait outside!" calls the gnome, which everyone ignores.
Korm'akhan joins Gareth and with his added bulk and strength, the two guards are easily shoved out of the way, allowing the four adventurers (and Dala, who has followed them) to troop in. The guards look helplessly at the gnome, who looks disgusted but says nothing to them.
The next couple of minutes are spent in explanations, with the gnome trying in vain to get the group moving. The other adventurers all vouch for Nameless' whereabouts, and the gnome only says that their testimony will be noted at the Watch House. Gareth asks for identification, and the gnome displays the insignia of the Blackened Book (the branch of the Sharn Watch focused on magical crimes) and identifies himself as Warden Hasal Dalian.
Finally, after the situation has been explained to the others, Nameless agrees to go along with Hasal. The next problem occurs as he goes to hand his bag of holding (which holds the Key) to Six.
"Excuse me," says Hasal, "But I need to take all of your equipment into custody, in case they're germane to the investigation."
Nameless shakes his head and says, "I'm sorry, but the items in here are not mine. They belong to the group."
"That's fine. If they aren't relevant they'll be handed over. Please give it to him." Hasal indicates one of the guards.
This promptly leads to another disagreement, with the Angels continuing to argue that the items in the bag belong to them and not to Nameless and are irrelevant to the case. The only result, of course, is to clearly make Hasal more and more curious about what the bag contains.
It doesn't help, either, when Six says that they've had enough interactions with people who they don't trust. "What if you just take the bag and teleport away? We know many people who can do that!" Hasal's response to that is to raise an eyebrow and comment drily that Six must be mixing with more powerful mages than most in Sharn, in that case.
The adventurers vainly try a number of methods to persuade Hasal to let them retain the bag. Nameless even finds himself in the unusual position of asking, "Don't you trust the word of a paladin of the Silver Flame?" when Gareth vouches for him and the contents of the bag. Due to the situation, nobody finds they might otherwise. Hasal responds, "I respect your position, which is why I'm glad you're not the accused. If you were, however, you'd be treated as anyone else. As will your testimony."
It's quite obvious that they are at an impasse. Nameless and the others refuse to hand over the bag and Hasal refuses to let Nameless hand the contents over to someone else. Hasal also, of course, lacks the manpower to take Nameless by force with the others present, and is apparently aware of that, having said that he has checked on the group at the Clifftop Adventurers Guild and on Nameless at the Guild of Starlight and Shadows.
Finally, Nameless suggests the compromise of getting Lalia d'Deneith to vouch for the group and possibly carry the bag for them. Hasal agrees that the Angels can send someone to contact her, but also sends off one of the guards at the same time, to inform the Watch House of the situation. Luna is the one to go and she leaves the building, transforms into an eagle and flies north. As she does, she sees the guard leave too and hurry off.
* Took 10 pts of Con damage during the process, dropping him to 4 Con and 15 hit pts
** As above
*** Korm'akhan is Corven's player's new PC
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Nameless says, "Officer - while we are waiting, if you could be so kind as to describe to me how I am supposed to have murdered Arrok? I am most eager to learn how I am supposed to have done this. Please spare no details. I am interested to see if I can figure out why I was stupid enough to murder him in front of so many witnesses."
Hasal gives Nameless a dirty look and then turns to look at the people already in the room, with many more of the curious onlookers. He looks at the two guards blocking the entrance and says loudly, so that everyone outside can hear, "Clear the area outside." Then, raising his voice, he says even more loudly, addressing those outside, "This is official Watch business. Please leave now, for your own safety."
The two guards look warily at the number of you in the room and then exit. You can see and hear them firmly persuading people to leave, who grudgingly do so. Flamewind, who has padded down the corridor to look into the room, looks past them at your group and smiles. "It seems like excitement dogs you in more ways than one. Once you are free, drop in on me." She turns and leaves. Dala, who had quickly entered the room when Gareth and Korm'akhan did, calls to the concerned (and confused) looking Kidro that she will see him later and that she's sure the problem will quickly be resolved.
Once the corridor is clear, the guards return and - at the Warden's order - shut the door. Once they have done so, he says, "I cannot share too many details, since they may matter to our determination of your innocence, but I can say that Arrok Doone was killed by a series of magical spells," he grins mirthlessly and adds, "in a particularly cowardly manner. The first of them rendered him too weak to resist and the next two killed him, as well as destroying substantial property in the inn. Apparently he knew his murderer, since he was speaking to him in the inn's common room when he attacked."
He shifts in his seat, continuing to keep the wand pointed at Nameless, and adds, throwing a look at the bag. "Frankly, I would have considered that you might be innocent, if it were not for your refusal to hand over whatever is in there, even if it means hindering a member of the Watch in his work. Now, innocent or not, I can promise that you will see the inside of a cell today. And we will find out what you are hiding."
Gareth puts in, "Speaking with someone does not imply familiarity with them. I speak with store vendors all the time. I speak with people on the street about the virtues of the Silver Flame - at no point does any of that imply that I know them or they know me. When you ask directions to get to some place, does that imply you know the person you are speaking with? I didn't think so. Also, in this day and age with changelings and spells of illusion - do you think it is that hard for someone who wants to frame Nameless? Nameless, who happens to be well known in many circles is a prime target for fraud."
"As for the evidence of the bag, I can assure you it has no relevance to this matter, and the bag and its contents are private. They also do not belong to Nameless - he is just an interim bearer. As for witnesses, you have all of the people in this room - people in good standing with the law, and have served the community in a positive manner - such as the incident with Zokar - who are witness to Nameless being in our presence during the time of murder. There will be no jail time for my client, who is innocent - and I might add - is cooperating with this farce of legal proceedings. The evidence, at best, is worthless."
Nameless also adds, ""Ah, I am disappointed to hear this, I had expected more from whom ever is trying to frame me. The person who murdered Arrok was shockingly sloppy to have killed him in this fashion. Since necromancy is a barred school of magic to me and thus I am incapable of having cast Ray of Enfeeblement to drain him of his strength. Though I am uncertain as to how one would prove this to a non-mage. My mentor Trillia Lelleir may be able to enlighten you further on this score However, I do have some bad news for you on this score. It does indicate that whom ever did frame me is likely considerably more powerful than I am. Since Arrok was no weakling, it would likely take someone significantly more powerful than I am to have drained him with a single spell. Was he rendered unable to move at all or was he simply trapped by the weight of his equipment? That information may help you narrow down the list of candidates."
"I am aware of how suspicious my behavior with regards to the bag is and I apologize for all the hassles we are putting you through on this score. Unfortunately, proving my innocence in this matter is not my highest consideration in this matter and the items in the bag are not mine to surrender. It is highly likely that the whole point of this exercise officer, is in fact to separate me from the items I was carrying. I would recommend in particular, that you place especially close guard on the necklace that I was wearing. If we are very lucky then that is all they are seeking. In any case I would expect at least one attempt to steal something."
"One further point I would make is that we are all just returned from an extremely hazardous expedition to Xen'drik. Of which Arrok was one of the few survivors. We can fill you in on the details, but if I had wished for Arrok to die, it would have been simplicity itself to have had him perish on that expedition. Despite our best efforts, all too many did."
The gnome gives Gareth a look and says, "You may be a paladin of the Flame, but you talk like a lawyer. And as someone who knows the law, you know that any of his possessions - private or otherwise - are possibly evidence, and that he doesn't really have a legal choice in the matter. In refusing to hand that bag over and accompany me to the Watch House, he's down for resisting arrest and obstructing an officer of the law. Which, frankly, all of you are too now. Witnesses or no, murder means a trial and jail time before the trial. Your testimony would be really helpful during the trial, but it doesn't change the fact that he's currently under arrest."
He pauses and then adds, "As for the person who killed Arrok, he apparently walked into the common room and was greeted by him, before they took a seat at the table, where they began to talk. Or so a few people verified. As for framing your friend here, I think you're either overestimating his importance - or you have other secrets to reveal. While people at the Guild of Starlight and Shadows said that Nameless is a powerful mage, and I know you have appeared in the Chronicle, I'd hardly call him a great target for fraud."
When Nameless comments further on the frame-up, the gnome perks up. "Interesting! Arrok was actually affected by a ray of enfeeblement first, and since all I said was that he was rendered too weak to resist, I wonder how you knew that was what I was talking of. As you would know, there are other ways to weaken a target. As for the question of necromantic magic and whether you can use it or not, even to a non-mage you'd only have your word to prove it." He smirks and adds, "Or were you planning to prove that you cannot cast such spells by not casting them?"
Nameless' following comments about the bag and someone wanting his items do seem to intrigue him. "What the heck are you people carrying that you're so paranoid about it? Especially to the point where holding on to that bag is worth more than proving your innocence? Or that necklace? Since I'd offered to let all of you accompany me, it's not like that's something you should really worry about since you'd be there to protect it from thieves, as well as me and my men. Unless you're going to say that you think I'm here to steal all your special things too." He gives Six a dirty look and says, "Since you think I'm about to grab it and teleport out of here. Do you know how few people can do that?"
Dala, who's been standing quietly and digesting all of the above, says at this point, "Be that as it may, Warden Dalian - we do have some reasons for being worried, which we cannot share. Personally, I would have warned you that this is probably a frame-up intended to obtain some of our valuables, handed over the bag and accompanied you in a group. But since that's not an option any more, I hope you won't hold our caution against us. Arrok was a friend of mine and I definitely want his killer caught."
The gnome looks only slightly mollified at her speech and says, "Call me Hasal. And if you want the killer caught, you'd help with our inquiries rather than wasting my time here. Dagger take you - do you think this changes anything? Unless your friend is one of these great teleporters, she's never going to make it back here before one of my superiors arrives. And when that happens, I'm going to have to take you," he nods at Nameless, "in - bag, necklace and all. Unless you decide to resist arrest with violence, of course, in which case you're going to be in a lot deeper a pile of than you already are."
Hasal scowls and adds, "Just remember - I am an officer of the law, representing the city of Sharn and the nation of Breland. I am fully empowered to use any magical means in the carrying out of my duty, and I will fulfill them, whatever the risk to myself." The wand in his hand twitches, as if to underline his statement. From the looks on the faces of the three guards in the room, they're not as keen on the idea of having to take your entire group down.
Gareth replies diplomatically, while trying to look directly but non-offensively at Hasal, "I sound like a lawyer because I study the law. I like to keep informed of these things, especially when situations may arise and I need to be familiar. I am aware of our legal rights, and your legal rights."
Looking a bit sympathetically towards the gnome, he continues. "We are not trying to impede your investigation, we are not trying to resist arrest. I am a paladin of the flame, a blood member of the Deneith enclave, and soon to be an active member. Personally I have no desire to jeopardize any of those claims, I also have no desire to start a war with Sharn - which while it may cause the death of me and my friends, would surely cause a lot of collateral damage for Sharn."
Pausing for a second, to help emphasize the point, he adds, "We have helped Sharn in many ways - some we can lay claim to, and some we will never lay claim to - just because it endangers innocents. The reason we cannot turn the contents of this bag to you are simple - the contents do not belong to any of us in this group" Raising a hand to silence any protest, "It is not stolen, but I cannot explain further. We cannot give you these contents, not for this investigation or any investigation. If this means you will hold us in contempt - well c'est la vie. I would hope that you wait until Sentinel Marshall Lalia Deneith shows up. She will be able to disarm the entire situation. If you can't, I understand, but please bear no ill-will towards us, for we do what we have to do - not what we want to do. Just please note, and I must emphasize - not through any threat from us - this association with us has put your life, as well as the lives of everyone in this room in grave danger. In the case of my group, it has increased our chances of being murdered. Please bear with us and if your watch commander shows up, convince him that we have no desire to hinder an investigation. On my word as a paladin of the Silver Flame I swear this. In the end, you might even ask us to find this killer for you - especially if he is powerful enough to kill Arrok."
Hasal listens quietly to what Gareth says and it does seem to improve his attitude a bit. In fact, he does seem a little amused by part of what he hears. He laughs and says, "Start a war with Sharn? You folks are really funny. What do you think you are - the Karrnathi army?" The laughter, however, is more friendly than earlier.
When he stops, he leans forward and says, "Listen - I can see, unless you're all really good at faking things, that you seem to think you're doing what you need to. But you have to understand my position too. Whether you want to hinder an investigation or not, you're doing so. I'm not supposed to be sitting here and talking to you right now. The only reason I'm doing so is because I'm trying as hard as I can to avoid having to use force. All of your fascination with that bag and its contents doesn't change the fact that I do need to take it - and everything else on you, Nameless - into custody. And while I'd be happy to have Lalia d'Deneith carry it, she too will have to hand it and the contents over when we get to the Watch House. She doesn't have jurisdiction here, and even if she did, I doubt she'd try to change the laws for you."
He seems to think for a moment, and then says, "I'm asking you politely one more time to hand it over and accompany me. All of you will be along to protect whatever the hell it is you want to, and so will myself and my guards. If people are after you and whatever you're carrying, and if that's the reason why Arrok Doone was murdered, then you're in just as much danger here as accompanying me, so that shouldn't change anything. The only reason you could possibly have for not handing this over and accompanying me is because you think I'm personally trying to take whatever it is away from you. Is that what you think?"
Gareth replies, "I appreciate all that you can do for us. While I definitely understand your position, please understand ours. I know the Watch is not concerned with our affairs, other than this murder investigation, but they are of concern to us. As innocent citizens, for our affairs to be destroyed would be also an injustice and we just ask for a little bit of patience. We will even help find who the real murderer is. I am willing to wager Arrok was killed because he was an associate of ours, but how anyone in Sharn knew this - since Arrok just arrived is beyond me. There is only one person, that I know of, who always seems to know what this group is doing - but I do not know why he would want Arrok - a complete stranger to this land - dead." Pausing for a moment, "That is neither here nor now. If you can at least wait until Sentinel Marshal Lalia d'Deneith arrives, that would make things a bit easier for us. We do carry valuable objects, and we are wary about those - but we carry things that we must retain - not because of any form of greed, but for safety sake."
Hasal shrugs and says, "Like I said, I'm willing to wait for the Sentinel Marshal, but I had to let the Watch House know, so it may be out of my hands shortly."
"As for Arrok, he's not really a stranger here, though he generally stays in Stormreach, I believe. Since he came here by ship, it presumably took some planning and maybe he let someone - or more than one - here know he was on the way. And even if he didn't, it's not that difficult - and doesn't take that long - to get information across from Stormreach to Sharn. And we're talking about at least one pretty proficient spellcaster here, after all." He looks speculatively at Nameless as he speaks.
Dala interrupts and says, "If it helps, thought we did not know Arrok would be coming here when he left Stormreach, he sent me a message through Sivis here to say he left the next day."
Hasal scratches his chin and says, "Thanks. Somebody could have got hold of that message, and maybe there's more we don't know of yet."
After a few seconds of thought, he asks, "And who is this person who you said knows what this group is doing? He might have no connection with this murder, but one never knows."
Gareth responds politely, "Thank you for at least giving us the time that you can. What Dala says is true - we did not know Arrok was on his way until he had already left. I am not sure if I understand what you said - has Arrok been here before? As far as I knew he has never been to Sharn - but then I have not known him long. He fought by my side, but we did not have time to get personal. This person, as we know him, I will not mention his name in the presence of your other soldiers. That will be something left to those who will question us privately."
Pausing for a second, he adds, "You and your organization may never be able to find him. Once this nonsense about it being Nameless who committed the murder, we will be happy to find him for you."
Hasal gives Gareth a long look and then says, "Has anyone told you that you people are a little paranoid? And about things other than being part of a murder investigation - and, whether it is your intent or not, obstructing an officer of the law - which does tend to be the primary focus for most people in your situations. Still, we all know you adventurer-types tend to be a little ... unhinged. As for finding this person who you're so reluctant to name, I think you might be a little surprised at your resources. Still, assuming you all end up in jail for hindering an investigation - which is possible - perhaps helping us would be one way for you to show your good faith. Once we're done with this nonsense, as you term it." His tone of voice says that he didn't appreciate the 'nonsense' comment, though he doesn't sound too offended.
Hasal continues, "As for Arrok, according to our information, he lived in Stormreach, having moved there years ago, but used to visit Sharn on and off. Many people at the inn knew him." As he says this, Dala corroborates with a nod of her head and a "Yes."
Hasal doesn't respond but continues, "The fact that Nameless isn't a Brelish citizen, as is true for many of you, does also affect this investigation. Even if Nameless is innocent, for the time being we have a case where an non-Brelander has killed a Brelish citizen. Be glad I got here first and not the Guardians of the Gate. Though - considering the delay you have caused me - that may not be the case much longer."
Realizing the slight, Gareth says, "No offense was meant, my apologies. I am just frustrated at this. You are doing your job, and being very diplomatic as well as showing great concern for people you do not even know. You are correct, we are a bit paranoid - but we have dealt with many things - including assassins - on top of the 'normal' denizens of dread such as dragons, daelkyr, vampires, and that doesn't even cover the scum of the earth - other humanoids who show no respect for the good of the world."
"I did not know that about Arrok. I thought he was a complete stranger to Sharn. Maybe someone here, who knew him, wanted him dead and figured we were good scapegoats. At the very least, it is causing you to spend time with us as opposed to searching for the murderer(s)."
Feeling a bit of a twinge when Hasal mentions the difference of rights from a natural born citizen to a foreigner, Gareth continues, "Will our testimony - all of our testimony - not be enough to corroborate his whereabouts last night?"
Hasal waves away the apology with a "No problem," though that belies his earlier tone of voice. He says, "Yes, I heard that you'd have some interesting tales to tell about your expedition to Xen'drik. Pity I couldn't attend." He grins and adds, "I was too busy getting ready to arrest Nameless."
When Gareth brings up the possibility of some enemy of Arrok's killing him, Hasal says, "Perhaps, but even that person would have to be someone with a fair amount of knowledge about you, in order to - even temporarily - fool him into thinking that he was Nameless."
"As for your testimony, since it seems that so many of you were with him at the time, it should suffice. Foreigner or no, you still have your rights under the Code of Galifar. At the trial you'll be standing on an Eye of Aureon and there will be other checks in place to ensure that you are unlikely to all be able to lie on Nameless' behalf, even with magical aid. Remember, this isn't the first time we've had magic used to try and frame someone. If you have been framed, Nameless, we'll find out soon enough."
Meanwhile, Luna flies straight for the Dragon Towers area, where the dragonmarked houses have their enclaves. Luckily that's among the closest sections of Central Plateau to where she starts from. Even so, it's a good mile away, but her speed as an eagle eats up the distance quickly. Though she has to slow down to make her way through the towers to the Deneith enclave, it's still only a little over five minutes before she gets there.
Luna quickly lands in the area before the doorway to the Deneith enclave, startling a number of the people passing in and out. The guards move to stop her, but they lower their weapons when she explains that she's there to meet Lalia and has been sent by Gareth. They let her in but she quickly discovers that Lalia is away, as is Tasra, on some job for the enclave. The receptionist says that he can check to see if someone knows where one of them might be.
Luna realizes that doing so, then tracking Lalia down and taking her to Morgrave University will take a long while, assuming she is even able to do so. She flies back to let the others know.
She reaches Morgrave University and arrives outside the entrance to the building they were in perhaps twenty minutes after she left. As she arrives and before she can change form, Luna sees a group of five people heading into the building.
Three of them are wearing Watch uniforms and breastplates, as well as carrying halberds, as were the guards who accompanied the gnome trying to arrest Nameless. One is the guard who left. Beside them is a middle-aged man with long hair tied back in a ponytail and a neat beard. He wears no armor or obvious weapons other than a dagger at his belt, and as Luna sees him, is putting away a wand. Next to him is a serious-looking dwarf, dressed in well-crafted plate mail, which bears the symbols of Breland and Sharn. He has a flail in his right hand and is carrying a tower shield that is actually taller than him.
The dwarf seems to be arguing with the wand-user. Luna hears him say, "Damn it, Balan! I'm telling you - we should have brought more men. If they're resisting arrest, what's to stop them attacking us or trying to flee?"
The human replies calmly, "They haven't attacked Hasal or his men, have they? Let's just see what is going on." Then he enters the building, followed by the grumbling dwarf and the guards.
Luna considers a distraction such as setting something nearby on fire or perhaps even summoning a pack of dire badgers or the like. Considering that she is in the middle of a heavily populated campus, as well as the fact that her companions might not want a violent response - or at least not right now - she reluctantly gives up the option of flame and mayhem. Instead, she quickly flies down and towards the window to the room her friends are in.
Inside the room, the conversation/argument has mostly died down, when everyone is momentarily startled by an eagle flying in the window and landing on the floor. The startled guards raise their weapons, while Hasal jerks back in his seat. The eagle quickly changes form, enlarging and growing into the shape of Luna.
"Humph!" says Hasal, a disgusted expression on his face, whether for the guards (whom he motions to lower their weapons), the adventurers, or himself. "I should have remembered that your friend here is a druid. Well? What about Lalia d'Deneith? Has she decided to leave you holding the bag?"
Luna explains that unfortunately Lalia was not available, since she was on a job for the enclave, as was her sister.
She is just completing her explanation when there is a knock on the door, followed by a voice asking, "Hasal?"
Hasal calls, "Yes, we're in here." As the guards are opening the door, he says, "That's Warden Balan Cord. He's one of my superiors. You can explain the problem to him." He sounds relieved.
The door opens to reveal a middle-aged man with long hair tied back in a ponytail and a neat beard. He wears no armor or obvious weapons other than a dagger at his belt. His cloak has the sigil of the Blackened Book on it. Next to him is a glum-looking dwarf, dressed in well-crafted plate mail, which bears the symbols of Breland and Sharn. He has a flail in his right hand and is carrying a tower shield that is actually taller than him. Behind them are another three men in the armor of the Watch, carrying halberds, one of whom is the man sent to the Watch House.
They troop into the room, which is now beginning to get significantly crowded, with the six adventurers, Dala, Hasal, the two new arrivals, and the six guards. As they enter, the dwarf begins, "What the bloody hell is goi...", but is cut off by the bearded man. "Please, Kestran," he says, causing the dwarf to subside into a glowering silence.
The bearded man continues, speaking in a friendly manner, "Greetings. I am Warden Balan Cord of the Blackened Book. This," he indicates the dwarf, "is Lieutenant Kestran Dal, of the Guardians of the Gate."
"I believe there is some ... problem here?"
Hasal quickly replies, "These people say that they were all with Nameless at the time of the murder. I told them that they could give their testimony at the Watch House but he," pointing at Nameless, "Wouldn't hand over his belongings before we left. Or rather, that bag. There's something in there that they won't hand over. They seem to think this was all a setup to get whatever it is."
He looks a little apologetic as he ends with, "I figured I should try to let you know, rather than trying to use force."
The dwarf looks like he's about to say something but is forestalled by Balan, who says, "Good choice," and then addresses all of you.
"You must understand our situation here. We are in the midst of a murder investigation, and one that involves a former Cyran killing a Brelander in front of a crowd of people. While it may be the frame-up you claim it is, the situation is still a sensitive one. The fact that your refusal to comply with Hasal's directions means that you are effectively aiding and abetting Nameless in resisting arrest doesn't help matters. I ask you, Nameless, with all due politeness, please hand over the bag and your other possessions. I promise that whatever you have of value will be kept safe and handed over to you or your companions as soon as possible."
Balan is obviously a trained speaker, and he's clearly trying to be as diplomatic and persuasive as can be.
Nameless says, "I apologize for the trouble we have caused you and your men over this issue. I simply wish to have my companions accompany us and that at least one of us stay with the bag at all times."
"This is for the sake of your men as much as anything else. It is not that we question the honesty or reliability of your men, but that if my fears are correct and someone is after the bag and its contents. Then your men are likely to prove insufficiently powerful to protect it. Someone with a substantial amount of magical power, has gone to a fair amount of effort to frame me for the murder of someone I have no reason to kill and can easily prove I did not. It is unlikely that they did so simply to inconvenience me and that they are prepared to overcome whatever your normal protections and defenses are."
Before Balan can reply, Kestran breaks in. "Listen, you - this isn't your decision to make! Just because Hasal didn't have the balls to [there's an indignant "Hey!" from the gnome at this point] drag your ass to..."
Balan, looking significantly pained, reaches out and puts a hand on Kestran's shoulder. "Please," he says, politely but firmly, "Let me handle this."
Kestran rounds on Balan. "You know the Guardians have jurisdiction here, Balan. He's a Cyran and this is a case involving foreign criminals. This is our job."
Balan holds the angry dwarf's gaze for a long moment and then says, this time less politely and more firmly, "Magical crime. The Blackened Book. That's all I need to know. And you don't have the resources to deal with this kind of situation. If you have problems with that, take it up with the court."
He turns back to Nameless, leaving a fuming Kestran, and says politely (pointedly more than he just was to Kestran), "I have absolutely no problem with your friends accompanying us, especially since their testimony will eventually be important. Similarly, they can be present while we check the bag and the rest of your belongings. If we find nothing that seems germane to the case, we will hand the items over to them."
He continues, addressing all of the room almost as if speaking before a jury, "At this moment, we have only the testimony of your friends that you were with them at the time of the murder. Until that is verified, I do have to take all necessary precautions, especially since you are apparently a very competent mage. Obviously I cannot allow you to travel in public with us while you have access to any magical and other dangerous items. If you believe we may be attacked along the way, the items should be no less safe with me, since all of you will be along to protect it, as will my men and I."
"Would you kindly hand over the bag to me then, if I allow all of you to accompany us?"
Korm'akhan speaks up, addressing Balan "My name is Korm'akhan, and I speak for the Gatekeeper druids. I only met these people two days ago, so I cannot speak of their characters. But I can speak of the contents of the bag. Their concerns about it falling into the wrong hands are legitimate."
"I am not connected to them or to you. I am neutral. So I will watch over the bag, here and inside your headquarters, if you will allow it."
Balan looks at Hasal, who shrugs and says, "I don't know him. He wasn't in the records I checked."
Balan looks back at Korm'akhan. "You are free to accompany us and keep an eye on the bag, both on the way and at our headquarters, if you so wish and if you [he looks at Nameless] and your companions don't mind."
"Now if you'd hand the bag over and allow Hasal to check the rest of your equipment, we can be on our way."
Gareth, who has been keeping silent and trying to process everything, says, "I understand your concerns but we also have concerns. If you trust us to walk with you - fully armed - then why would it be an issue if we hold onto the bag? We are not attempting to resist any arrest, and we are all going to work to clear our friend's name - but the circumstances of this murder are very suspect. The only thing that can be linked to Nameless is that someone who looks like him committed this crime and that the person using the crime cast a spell that Nameless is not able to cast under any circumstances. Given the free range of illusion spells, changelings, and the like - we only ask for this one leniency. We want this murderer killed as he killed a companion of ours - but our fallen companion would agree with us if he were here to speak of it."
Pausing after his speech, he asks, "What say you? We can end this quickly - Nameless will not have hold any equipment, I will hold the bag. I swear an oath as a Paladin of the Silver Flame that we are not trying to deceive you."
Kestran immediately breaks in, "Silver Flame, Schmilver Flame! Just because yo..."
This time Balan snaps, "Kestran!" He quickly turns to Gareth and says, "There is a difference between allowing all of you to accompany us peacefully and allowing you to keep possession of possibly incriminating items. They would be easy to dispose of on the way, which it would be difficult for you to do in front of all of us here." He raises a hand and says, "Not that I'm saying you would, of course, but I'm just explaining why we need to take precautions. I must also admit that your vehement refusal to hand over the bag makes me a little suspicious. Let me emphasize that you are all being extended extraordinary levels of courtesy here. I hope you appreciate that."
Balan pauses and then says, "In view of your position as a member of the Church [he ignores some muttering from Kestran at this point], I'll let you carry the bag. All I ask is that you let me look at the bag's contents here, so that I will know on our arrival at the Watch House if anything has been removed."
Balan steps toward Nameless, with Kestran promptly keeping step with him. Perhaps coincidentally, Balan takes a step to the side as he does so, keeping himself partly between Kestran and Nameless. Balan then extends a hand. "May I?"
Ignoring Kestran, and listening to Balan, Gareth says, "That is acceptable with us, Balan. We appreciate everything you are doing for us. You have my sincere thanks."
"You're welcome," says Balan. "I prefer to deal with issues such as these amicably, if possible." He grins and says, "The fact that I know a little something about your group's abilities, of course, has nothing to do with that decision."
With that little bit of levity, and ignoring the accompanying snort of disgust from Kestran, he turns to Nameless and reaches for the bag.
Email interchange ends here
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Session 27 - A Walk in the Park (or "How Big a Wolf?")
Korm, who has been holding onto the bag, places it on the table between Nameless and Hasal and (with Nameless' agreement) removes the items from it. Among them is the Key, which is wrapped in a cloth, and which Balan asks him to unwrap.
Once all the items are on the table, Balan asks Hasal to check them for magic, which he does. The gnome studies the items carefully and begins to say, "Well, none of them are magica...", when he stops and furrows his brow. Some of the adventurers exchange glances, realizing what he has probably discovered.
Sure enough, Hasal looks carefully at those of them near the table and then around at the others in the room. Then he tells Balan, sounding a little puzzled, "Try a detect magic yourself."
"Something wrong?" asks Balan, even as he casts the spell.
"Just check the items and tell me what you see."
"Hmm - none of them appear magical, just as you were saying." And then Balan too realizes what Hasal has discovered. Not only do none of the items appear magical but none of the people around the table detect as magical either, despite the equipment they carry. And as they look around the room, they realize that the spells are working, since others in the room do detect appropriately.
"So," says Balan, looking at Nameless, "What's going on here?"
Nameless provides a quick explanation of the Key blocking some divinations, without going into any further details. Balan asks about its origin and is told that they found it on the island. Korm replaces it in the bag to prove what Nameless just said and Hasal and Balan check over the remaining items.
Naturally, they have a few more questions, but Nameless emphasizes that it would be better to discuss these privately. Despite Kestran's evident and loudly expressed displeasure, Balan - who is clearly very curious about this news - agrees. He asks Nameless to hand over his spell component pouch and all magical items to Hasal, which the alienist does.
Once he has, Balan comments that something else on him detects as magical, indicating the center of his chest. Nameless reveals the tattoo, and the others comment that they have them too, when Hasal points out that the others have similar auras. Balan, who comments on the fact that the tattoo has the same symbol as on the dragonshard, asks about the tattoo and Nameless emphasizes that this too should be discussed in private.
After considering it for a few seconds, Balan decides that they should return to the Watch House. He says that now that they know exactly what is in the bag, they will know if anything is missing when they get there, and there is nothing there that they currently believe would be germane to the investigation.
With that, the now quite large group exits from the room. And are promptly accosted around the first turn by Flim Turen, with a barrage of questions about whether they're all being arrested, why they are, what the Blackened Book wants with them, why the Guardians of the Gate are involved, and so on.
Balan, who evidently knows him, fobs him off politely but firmly with the promise that he'll be told if there is any important news. All he says is that the Angels are required for an investigation and that's all. Flim tries directly questioning the adventurers or Kestran (who looks like he might brain the gnome), to no avail. He settles for promising to talk to the Angels later, especially their spokesperson Luna. Which leads to Gareth threatening (jokingly - probably) to gag her if she talks to Flim without the others and Luna to respond with a threat to sit on him as a bear.
After leaving Flim behind, the group emerges from the building. Naturally, they draw a fair amount of attention from the students, professors and other people moving around the campus. Once they are outside the grounds of Morgrave University, Balan leads them to the nearest tower stairs leading down.
The group descends to Middle Menthis and the Warden Towers district, which is clearly dedicated to the city Watch. Men in uniform move around the area, several of them greeting Balan and Hasal as they pass by. A large group of Watch members are practicing combat drills nearby on a field consisting of a huge platform linked to four towers. As Balan leads the Angels towards the central garrison building, he tells them that the Blackened Book has its headquarters here, which is why he arrived at the University so soon after Hasal sent the guard to fetch him.
Once they reach the garrison building, Balan leads the group through the halls and corridors within to a large door that bears the sigil of the Blackened Book. The guards there salute and quickly let the group through into a large central chamber. Balan gives a couple of orders and dismisses most of the guards. Hasal too leaves.
Balan leads them into a large office, occupied by a couple of clerks and more guards. Here, Nameless is asked for his statement about his activities at the time of the murder, while two of his companions (Luna and Six) are simultaneously taken into separate rooms and have their statements recorded too.
After that, Balan asks about the Key and the tattoo. Nameless reiterates that he would like to discuss these in front of as few people as possible, causing Kestran (who has been grumbling and complaining throughout the procedures) to snap and grab him by his shirt, hauling his face down and yelling, "That's not your bloody choice! Just answer the damn questions, you murdering bastard!" Nameless restrains himself and settles for fixing the dwarf with an unnerving stare, which he seems a little too irate to notice.
At which point Balan pointedly asks Kestran to let Nameless go and then asks the two guards present to escort him out, telling him that the Guardians of the Gate will be informed if their services are relevant here. A now even more incensed and protesting Kestran departs, swearing that this isn't over. Balan sends the remaining guards with him and dismisses the clerk as well.
Once he is alone with the group, Balan becomes much less formal than before and (after commenting on the joys of working with Kestran, whom he describes as "actually mental enough to think he's doing the right thing") begins to ask a number of questions. The Angels answer a lot of them telling him a little about the dragonshard, which they basically claim to have discovered on the island and know little about, and the tattoos, which they claim appeared on them after the battle with the daelkyr (which Balan apparently knows a little about).
An unknown reason for Balan's interest in the tattoo is revealed when Hasal returns to confirm what Balan sent him to find out. Arrok had a patch of skin removed from his chest, exactly where the tattoo would have been on him. Along with that information, Balan gives the group more details of the murder. It occurred at an inn (The Gray Goose) in Overlook, where Arrok was staying. He had just come down to the common room when the person impersonating Nameless entered. They greeted each other and took a side table, where they spoke for a couple of minutes before Nameless cast a ray of enfeeblement, which weakened Arrok too much for him to move. The mage then fired a lightning bolt at point blank range, almost killing Arrok and damaging tables and furniture, though none of the patrons (who were fleeing as soon as the spellcasting began) were hurt. He finished Arrok off with a volley of magic missiles, before picking his corpse up and leaving. As he left, he turned invisible. Arrok's body was found later, stripped naked and dumped, three towers away. Besides the missing skin, the only other noticeable thing about the body was the marks of what seemed to be a set of large claws on the shoulder.
Nameless comments that illusion spells like invisibility are also among those he cannot cast and then asks if they have any information what the two spoke of. Balan says that a serving girl had served them. Though she couldn't recall much, she said Arrok was asking the other if his research had found anything.
Balan checks about the people who knew about the dragonshard and the tattoos, and the Angels confirm that it's effectively those of them in the room with him. Though a couple of others (namely Trillia, Surr'kal and Teln) know about the dragonshard, none of them knew Arrok.
Balan also asks about the individual that some of them had mentioned as possibly involved with the murder or knowing about it. The Angels tell him what they can about Killian, whom he doesn't recognize by name or description. They confirm that they had been in the Lucky Nines casino to meet him. Nameless opines that he doesn't think the murder was his doing, since it seems much too overt, and says that they have some evidence that powerful people are aware of their activities.
After covering every helpful topic that they could think of, Balan tells the group that while he believes Nameless is innocent, they will have to continue the investigation and check with people at the casino and elsewhere who can corroborate Nameless' whereabouts. And, whatever information they gather, the case will have to go to trial, in anywhere from 2-6 days. During that period, Nameless will have to remain in custody, since the Blackened Book cannot afford to let a powerful mage who is a murder suspect wander the city, especially in view of his position as a foreigner. Balan adds that the Guardians of the Gate will probably try to have more of an involvement in the case, but he doubts they will succeed.
Nameless has no objections to the incarceration, but asks if at least his companions can take the bag of holding. Balan agrees, saying that he has no indication that anything contained within, including the dragonshard, is relevant to the case.
Before the Angels take their leave, Balan asks them to stop by the next morning, since he may be able to come up with something to expedite Nameless' release. They agree to do so and leave. Six suggests that they return to Morgrave University and speak to Flamewind, as he has been wanting to do. The others agree and head up there with him.
Once they reach Upper Menthis, Dala takes her leave, saying that she needs to meet Kidro and tell him a little about what has happened, though she promises to not reveal any of the information she has been keeping secret. Gareth asks if it's safe for her to be off alone, but she says that she has far too many things to do to be able to spend all her time under their protection. She promises to be careful and leaves. Corven says that he needs to leave too, since he has to meet Tyrala at the Cyran embassy. The others head towards Morgrave.
Nameless, meanwhile, is escorted to a small prison area. The route is along a couple of corridors covered in wardings and glyphs, which Balan has to allow Nameless and his guards to pass through. The cellblock consists of only three cells, all of them more comfortable than in a standard city jail. Balan explains that - while he is sure Nameless will do nothing silly in view of his accommodating behavior thus far - the cellblock is warded against teleportation magic and if someone tries to use it to enter or exit, he will be shunted through a number of the protective spells in the corridor outside. He also apologizes for the inconvenience of the stay here but Nameless assures him that he has known worse and understands that Balan has no other choice. Before leaving, Balan says that he will be back in the evening to speak to Nameless, both about whatever he discovers and about some options he has in mind.
Once he is gone, Nameless settles down to an engrossing, if slightly one-sided, conversation with his pet rock, Edgar.
The others make a quick stop at the Commons, a large open-air plaza where dozens of vendors in food carts offer cuisine from around Khorvaire. Since most of the customers are students, the adventurers attract some attention, with a few people claiming that they had seen them on previous visits or during the talk that morning. The Angels chat about their past and make sure to provide noncommital answers to most of the questions about their current and future plans.
Afterwards, they travel to Lareth Hall and ascend to the top of the dome, where Flamewind has her chambers. The gynosphinx is home and invites them in. The adventurers settle down, availing of the fact that her chambers are both luxurious and seem primarily designed for a human occupant (other than for things like the giant scratching post).
After being introduced to Korm'akhan, Flamewind asks where Nameless and Corven are. Six explains what happened with Nameless but says it's not a problem. Then they begin discussing the adventurers' experiences on the island and Flamewind's prophecy. She says that, from their description, obviously they have experienced certain aspects of it, but she is not sure when the other aspects will come into play. Though she has no control over her visions and only limited understanding of what they show, her experience shows that they generally take a long time to be completed.
Six also shows her his tattoo and says that they all developed these after the battle with the daelkyr. He asks if she recognizes the symbol. Flamewind says that the serpent portion is one she knows as connected to the dragons of Argonessen and the other part is either a gem or a dragonshard. She also says that she hasn't seen the pair in combination before.
Six then asks if Flamewind knows about any way to contact the dragons or anyone who can do so, which sends Flamewind into a laughing fit. She says that she's never been asked that question before, though she did have a prophecy that involved a certain group of people traveling to Argonessen. And they didn't return.
Six explains that he believes the dragons have some connection with what has happened to them, and he has read in the library at Morgrave University that certain scholars believe some dragons involve themselves with the affairs of Khorvaire in disguise. Considering that their experiences will be all over the Korranberg Chronicle soon, it's possible that they will draw the attention of such creatures, and he asks Flamewind to let him know if she learns anything about it. She says she'll do so, though she warns that it's quite possible a lot of other people, not all of them friendly, will also become very interested in the Angels once the news is out.
Flamewind also asks if the group minds her studying the tattoos magically. The adventurers agree and she concentrates for a few seconds, before staring fixedly at Six's tattoo. Then she says, "Interesting. I just used the equivalent of the spell your people call analyze dweomer, which is one of the more powerful divinations, and I can detect absolutely no function to the tattoo." She looks at a couple of others and has the same response.
Korm then thinks of something. He turns his back, produces the Key from the bag, and says, "Try it again." A clearly puzzled Flamewind complies and says she has the same result. "What was that about?" she asks. Korm replaces the Key and turns around, saying, "I just thought of something that might produce a result. Apparently not."
After a little more discussion, the group takes their leave of Flamewind, with a promise from both sides to contact the other if they learn something that might be of use or interest.
They then head to Carosten Park, where they find Teln sitting outside the locked door of the Gatehouse. He says that Surr'kal is away arranging for a message to be sent to someone who can help with their questions. The Angels let him know what has happened, which worries Teln a lot. He is heading back to lower Northedge, where he normally lives, but suggests that they all stay in Carosten Park.
Luna, Korm and Six decide to do so, but Gareth says he will stay at Coldflame Keep with Cedric and Mazin Tana. He travels to Northedge with Teln, who leaves Gareth eventually to head down to the Stoneyard district, where the shifter tends the parks and orchards. Gareth heads to the Keep, where he finds both Cedric and Mazin. When he tells them what has happened to Nameless, they both offer to help in any way they can, but there is little they can do.
The other three visit Deathsgate to let Trillia know what has happened to Nameless. She seems more amused than worried about him, and says that though she doesn't know Balan Cord personally, she has heard that he is a reliable and conscientious officer. Trillia tells the three that they are welcome to stay the night if they want, but they say their accommodations are taken care of and leave. By the time they are back at Carosten Park, night is falling.
Nameless, at approximately the same time, is visited by Balan again. He says that their investigations are proceeding and he has a fair amount of information corroborating Nameless' presence elsewhere at the time of the murder. Of course, as he has said before, this doesn't change the fact that the case needs to go to trial or that Nameless needs to stay in custody, but it makes him even more willing than before to trust Nameless and the Angels.
Balan then asks Nameless, "By the way, are you and your companions currently involved in any work for anybody, or expecting to be?"
"Not right now. Why?"
"I may have a proposition for you. If you are interested in helping us - and I mean not just the Blackened Book but the Watch in general - with some investigation or other way, that would allow me to let you free. And depending on your degree of success, it might make the authorities in Sharn look with some favor on your group, which is always helpful."
"Sure. What did you have in mind?"
"Let me think about it and let you know tomorrow, once all your companions are back."
With that, Balan departs, leaving Nameless to his thoughts.
***
Next morning, the rest of the adventurers arrive at the garrison building. They are clearly expected and are soon sitting in a comfortable meeting room, where they are joined by Balan and Nameless. The Warden sends the guards outside and shuts the door behind them.
Resuming his seat, he tells the group that Trillia has corroborated that they departed from her house at the time they'd mentioned. A few people at the Lucky Nines casino have also confirmed that they were there and speaking to Killian. The gnome was not there at the time.
"In that case," says Six, "We know one thing. His ass isn't actually attached to that seat."
Balan looks a little confused and Six explains that they've never seen Killian anywhere other than at the same table. Gareth also mentions that as far as they know his name isn't Killian, but all they know is that the first syllable is "Thur".
Balan asks how they know and Six relates a little about Killian mimicking the appearance of Kylyman d'Sivis. He also mentions that Killian wasn't actually pretending to be Kylyman and that Kylyman both knew him and didn't seem to actually be upset about it.
Balan says, "Yes - the Sivis gnomes have a strange idea of games and competition. Anyway, if I do find anything important about this Killian or 'Thur ... whatever', especially if he's involved with the case in any way, I'll let you know."
Balan then goes on to tell the others about the offer he made to Nameless and that he has a couple of options in mind. One involves gladiatorial combat in Sharn, which is illegal but has a strong underground presence. There is one called the Burning Ring in Lower Menthis that the Watch is especially interested in shutting down. It is difficult to pin down since it appears at various locations and, or so Balan believes, the owners have links with the Menthis branch of the Watch. The Blackened Book has recently got involved since they believe that magical combats have been added to the list. There has also supposedly been a rise in fatalities.
The job is for the Angels to find out about the Burning Ring and preferably have at least one of them actually scheduled to fight in it, since they could inform Balan magically about the location as the fights were actually taking place.
Another job has to do with the Sharn drug trade. The costliest and most dangerous drug on the street (or below it, since it's usually available in the shadow markets of the Cogs) is called dragon's blood, and is solely sold by the Daask gang, who seem to have the secrets of its manufacture. Balan says he has information that it is transported into Sharn in some other form and then converted to the actual drug. He needs a significant amount of the drug, both to test this theory and to try to create an antidote.
This particular job, therefore, will involve the adventurers traveling into the Cogs, attacking a location where Balan believes they can find quantities of dragon's blood (both in its final form and in the original version), and returning to him with it.
The last job is also the most nebulous of all. Balan says that the King's Citadel, the organization that functions as the eyes, ears and oftentimes sword of King Boranel, might be interested in their services. Considering the secretive nature of the organization, Balan cannot say anything about the job, since he frankly doesn't know what it is.
What he does know is that if the Angels make the Citadel happy with their work, they will have made their future activities and life in Breland much easier. He warns them, however, that if the group does choose to accept the Citadel assignment, there will be no backing out after they have received the details of the job. So they should be very certain before they accept it.
The Angels then proceed to discuss the choices. Corven tells the others that he is going to be leaving them and heading to New Cyre later that day, so he doesn't take part in the discussion. Despite the lack of detailed information, most of the Angels prefer the Citadel job. Ironically Luna, the only Brelish citizen in the group, is the most skeptical about it, saying that getting involved with "the bloody Secret Service" is all she needs now! However, she agrees to go along with what the others decide. Korm, who knows little about the Citadel, is slightly skeptical too but says that Surr'kal asked him to keep an eye on and protect the others, and if that means working for the Citadel, then so be it.
Six asks Gareth whether his personal code will cause any problems for them, if it conflicts with what they are asked to do. Gareth tells Balan that Six has a point and says that he'd like Balan to inform the Citadel that he won't do anything that offends his personal code. Balan says that he doesn't think it'll be a problem, but they can bring that up themselves before getting any details of the job.
He produces an envelope that is addressed to Captain Talleon Haliar Tonan and sealed with the mark of the Blackened Book. Balan hands it over to Nameless and tells him that he should present it at the Citadel in Ambassador Towers, the building housing the main city jail as well as the headquarters of the King's Citadel in Sharn. The group should be there at 10 am the next day.
With that, Balan tells Nameless that he is free to go. As long as the case remains under investigation, none of the group should leave Sharn. It's quite likely, in fact, that the Guardians of the Gate have their names and descriptions out to all areas of egress from the city. Corven is a little concerned at the news and asks if he might have trouble, and Balan suggests that he get extra documentation from the Cyran embassy.
The Angels then depart and head back to Central Plateau. There, Corven leaves the others to make preparations for his journey. He says that he's planning to arrange an expedition to the island (or its remnants) as soon as possible, but it's likely to take months. He also says that he will most likely be in New Cyre throughout the time that he isn't in Sharn and asks them to contact him via the Sivis station there if they learn anything that might help him in his quest to learn more about the creation of the Mournland or if they need his help in any way.
After he leaves, the others ascend to Carosten Park. There, they walk to the Gatehouse, where they find the door open and Surr'kal and Teln inside. Surr'kal welcomes them in, saying that Teln had told him what happened and that he's relieved to see Nameless free.
He also says that he contacted a trusted traveler heading west from near the city, who will contact Gurr'khan and ask him to visit. Gurr'khan prefers not to visit the city, but with his ability to travel huge distances via plants, he will be able to do so as soon as he gets the news. And he is probably the best option in Breland for both finding and bringing one of the greater loremasters from the Shadow Marches or the Eldeen Reaches. It will, however, take well over a week for the message to reach him.
The Angels then begin to tell him a little about their experiences since they last met him, when they are interrupted by the sound of multiple screams from some distance outside the cottage, quickly followed by growling. Loud growling.
The adventurers, as well as Teln and Surr'kal, rush out. The source of the sounds is obvious. About a hundred or so feet from the cottage are four animals of immense size. Two are badgers, but each of them is fully ten feet long. And they are dwarfed by the other animals, two wolves which stand ten feet tall at the shoulder and stretch nearly twenty feet in length. The large dire bat flying above them is similarly dwarfed, while the burly shifter standing behind them is almost invisible in comparison. The animals are mauling an unfortunate family, who had presumably been enjoying the sights of the park only moments ago.
As soon the Angels emerge, the dire bat flies towards them, screeching something as it goes. As if in response, one wolf and badger charge at them, though the other two continue to chew on the now dead family. The shifter too races forward at preternatural speed, his already feral expression turning more bestial. As he comes he roars aloud and large claws emerge from his fingers. Leaping through the air, he buries them deep in the pelt of Luna, who is the closest to him and already in bear form. She roars in anger and pain and claws back.
One of the last to emerge from the Gatehouse, Korm draws his unusual sword and then swears in orc as he recognizes the assailant. "It's the Children of Winter I fought!" Throwing a quick look at the dire bat, he yells, "That must be the other one. Spread out!"
Before the others can comply, the bat screeches again and a thicket of thorny branches erupts from the ground around Korm and the others, holding most of them securely in place. The druids Surr'kal and Teln are able to pass smoothly through the branches as if they didn't exist, as is Luna, who ignores the fact that the her hindquarters are within the thicket. Korm, though he lacks their ability, simply shoves his way through the branches, ignoring the scratches they leave. Gareth is unable to do the same, but his heavy armor protects him from the thorns. Having emerged, Korm speaks an arcane word and hurls his sword at the dire bat. The sword zooms like an arrow at the creature, but at the last moment the bat swerves away and the sword flies back to Korm's hand.
Six, who is outside the area of the wall of thorns when it appears, has problems of his own. The huge wolf looms over him and bites down into his shoulder, pulling him off his feet. Surr'kal, having emerged from the far side of the wall, is attacked by the badger, which forces him to retreat back into the thorns and use them as a shield. Luna is already badly wounded by the immensely powerful shifter, and even though she manages to inflict deep wounds of her own, they seem to have less effect on her clearly berserk opponent. Teln heals her somewhat, but blood still streams down her fur.
The other two animals, having disposed of their victims, also head towards the fight, while the druid in bat form above brings down bolts of lightning. Just as things are looking very dire*, Nameless takes a hand. Ignoring the scratches from the thorns, he drops a dispel magic on the area outside, catching two of the animals and Luna's opponent. Though no change is apparent to two of them, the wolf that tripped Six promptly shrinks to a smaller size (albeit one nearly ten feet in length), with a comical look of lupine surprise. Nameless follows up by conjuring up a bank of solid fog centred on the bat, causing it to disappear from view with an angry squawk. He then follows up by dimension dooring out of the wall, with a relieved Gareth in tow.
With the bat no longer bringing spells down on them, the adventurers begin to inflict substantial damage to their enemies. Six badly wounds the dire wolf and cuts it down with Gareth's aid. The creature is clearly summoned, since it disappears as soon as it drops. As does the dire badger that is quickly brought down by Six and Gareth, along with the three pseudonatural bison Nameless summons.
Korm, on the other side of the fight, has badly wounded the dire badger that attacked Surr'kal, when he is bowled off his feet by the charge of the remaining huge wolf. Lying on the ground, with the two animals looming over him, Korm taps into the roots of his orcish heritage and his unusual training. His movements blur, as he speaks the words of a spell to cure some of his wounds and then rolls over, lashing out with desperate speed as his muscles swell with berserker strength. A mighty blow lays the badger's throat open and it disappears as it falls. Even as the wolf lays his side open, Korm strikes back from the ground and brings it down by neatly removing one of its legs.
By the time the dire bat manages to emerge from the solid fog (barely avoiding two more bats that Surr'kal has summoned) and reaches a position from which it can bring down another lightning bolt, Nameless has summoned a pair of pseudonatural hippogriffs and commanded them to grapple it. The dire bat manages to bring down a flame strike on Nameless, which the alienist dodges the brunt of, before being grabbed by a hippogriff. Which, at Nameless command, drops from the air nearly sixty feet up, bringing the bat down with it. Two of the bison promptly rush over and attempt to stamp on it.
Luna, meanwhile, has somehow managed to stay on her feet despite the wounds inflicted on her. Seeing her tottering, Gareth rushes up and touches her with Kizmet, causing the sword to bestow its healing on her and closing the majority of her wounds. Seeing his enemy being healed, the shifter screams in fury. He swings with all his strength, jamming both handfuls of claws into Luna's neck, ripping her throat open and dropping her in a pool of blood.** The shifter howls in triumph as she drops.
But even as Luna falls, a bloody Korm rises on the other side of her enemy with sword swinging. It bites deep, severing the spine and almost cutting the shifter in half.***
Even as he falls, the dire bat (some of whose wounds close even though he appears to have cast no spell) somehow manages to drag itself out of the hippogriff's grasp, its magical protections protecting it from the efforts of the attacking bison. It flaps into the air as fast as it can and heads away. Nameless promptly summons a griffon, which tries vainly to grab it, as do Surr'kal's bats.
Korm, turning from the body of the shifter, concentrates for a moment and large wings sprout from his shoulder blades****. He leaps into the air, racing after the fleeing druid. The hippogriffs, slower and more awkward than the bats, also rise clumsily from the ground and wing after it. Unfortunately, the fleeing druid still has a couple of tricks left. A sleet storm appears right behind it, blinding and slowing down its enemies, allowing it to build up enough speed to escape.
Realizing that chasing is futile, Korm flaps his way back to rejoin the others. Gareth, having just revived Luna before she could bleed to death, looks up at an exclamation from Six, who has been examining the dead shifter.
"Hey - it's not a guy. She's a woman!"
Nameless looks down at the figure and says, "How can you tell? Look at those muscles. And the sideburns!"
Gareth takes a look at the expression on the face of Luna, who has just turned back into a shaky-looking - and now irritated-looking - shifter and quickly adds, "We should check on the other people they attacked. Right now."
* Animal growthed and dire, to be precise
** Gareth got her to 40 hp and I rolled a crit, that unfortunately took her to 2 hp. Since she was still on her feet the shifter took the follow-up attack, taking Luna straight to -17.
*** Korm got three confirmed crits in the space of three rounds. Made a big difference to the fight.
**** We're using the UA variant of Aspects of Nature (modified) for Korm'akhan, to set him apart from Luna.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
We had just completed assisting in the speech at Morgrave University, giving an account of our adventure to the mysterious island, though we left certain things blank. We received some looks of admiration, but I think most thought this was some farce or that we were all insane. Given the circumstances of our expedition, and some of the things that happened, I wouldn’t mind if everyone blew us off as insane.
We are outside of the presentation hall when an officer of the watch asks to speak with Nameless in private, and without the rest of the group. Given that we know what Nameless is carrying, the Dragon Shard, we insist that at least one party member join Nameless or we are not going anywhere. While this is not a good start to any kind of meeting with the Watch, there are certain things we must protect. Nameless and Six go inside. And a few minutes later, trouble bellows in the voice of Six “This is an outrage! You cannot treat us like this!” Korm’akhan turns to us and lets us know he heard something, we head towards the room and while standing outside the door. We knock on the door as I proceed to open it, but it is held firm by two people on the opposite side. Realizing this is not good I shout demanding answers – what I hear Six say is not good, “Nameless is being arrested for murder.”
Korm’akhan helps me open the door, shoving the two guards aside and the entire group enters a very small room. I keep myself at the ready, I do not want to fight members of the watch – they are just doing their job – but there is a greater good which I need to keep in mind.
We spend the next bit of time, maybe twenty or so minutes arguing with this gnome named Hasal. Trying to recall the little bit of law that I studied I do realize that Hasal is being really nice to us. Maybe because of our connections or the fact we are known as adventurers who can cause a lot of damage – I don’t know, and at the moment I do not care.
We do finally agree to join Hasal and go to the Watch House for the questioning, but then Hasal demands that Nameless remove all of his equipment and hand it over. Nameless begins to do so reluctantly, but stops at the bag of holding – which holds the Dragon shard. We try to explain to Hasal that Nameless does not own the bag, it is something he is just holding for the party. Hasal refuses and we are at an impasse. Hasal, at this time, refocuses his magical wand at Nameless. I am not sure what it is, but it is probably something powerful and harmful – though I think Hasal realizes he is not in a good position right now. If this ends in a fight, which I hope it doesn’t, then at least this battle will mean that Hasal and his fellow Watch members are dead.
And then, I am shocked by Nameless – something I previously thought not possible, he says “Don’t you trust the word of a paladin of the Silver Flame?” For all the arguments we have had in the past, and even times where Nameless has said that a paladins word means little, he then invokes my life’s work to support honesty? While I have no objection, as he said nothing wrong, I wonder what this implies for the future. Hasal, however, only says that he is thankful – because I am a paladin – that he is not arresting me. While the Silver Flame is not in power in Sharn, it would present many problems to Sharn – politically – if they arrested a Paladin of the Silver Flame. Would it be something the Church would sanction a war because of – that is possible – I would certainly go to war to protect a fellow brother – but luckily we are not at issues with that.
Nameless then suggests that we get Lalia to help by carrying the bag for us. Hasal is in agreement with this and we send Luna out, in eagle form, to get Lalia. While waiting we discuss what happens the night of Arrok’s murder – describing our relationship with our fallen comrade. I notice through the course of conversation that every time one of the group members speak they seem to offend Hasal and I remember they can be as diplomatic as a starving boar. I cut in, and use my best diplomatic tactics to get my message across to Hasal. I inform him that we are trying to work with him, but as adventurers who delve into powerful things there are greater concerns – concerns which could harm the life of everyone in Sharn – if not the world. I also inform him that while we do not wish a fight, if we do fight – a war with Sharn would arise. Hasal takes this as a joke, and laughs – while I do not see this as a funny situation – I accept it since it helps reduce the burden a bit.
As we continue to discuss things Luna returns, but with news that Lalia and Tasra are not available. Just as that happens, there is a knock on the door and another Warden - by the name of Balan Cord a Warden of the Blackened Book– comes in. He is Hasal’s boss. In addition to Balan, another person walks in with him – a dwarf, and then three more men who carry halberds. The dwarf, who we find out is named Kestran Dal of the Guardians of the Gate, immediately begins in a flurry of insults only to be cut-off by Balan – who seems to be in charge of the group.
We then speak with Balan and Kestran, the former being more diplomatic and we go back over the issues we discussed before. At least, Balan has a bit more authority then Hasal does and so we are able to get slightly better results. We finally come to an agreement that Balan will inspect the contents of the bag in the room and then I would carry the bag back to the watch house.
Balan does inspect the contents, and does a detect magic – he is confused with the results of his spell. None of the items detect as magic and neither does anyone standing next to the item. Balan then has Hasal cast a detect magic and Hasal says that Balan radiates as magic dead. When they see the results Balan starts to question us and we inform him that we are not sure of everything that is going on and that we cannot comment on what we do know other then the shard blocks some divinations. We give a little more information – that we found the shard on the island we destroyed – which again raises some eyebrows. Nameless then asks that we speak about this in private. With that, we pack the bag up and head towards the watch house.
When the shard goes into the bag, the Detect magic spell picks up the tattoos on our chests. We again reiterate our need to speak about this in private and Balan agrees. We walk the street, our very large group, and head to the Warden Towers district – luckily without any incident. Once inside Luna and Six are escorted to different rooms for questioning, while the rest of us join Nameless in a private room. Nameless asks that we have some privacy and Kestran grabs Nameless pulling him down and demanding that he does as told. Balan – again – commands Kestran to relax – which he does only barely. The room is cleared out with the exception of Balan and the remainder of our group.
We describe to Balan a bit of what we know – not everything – but what we think is relevant enough for him to know. Hasal comes back and lets us know that Arrok had a patch of skin removed from his chest – right about where the tattoo would have been located. This is disconcerting for us as someone not only knows about the tattoo, and its significance, but they know who bears these marks.
Balan tells us, in greater detail, what happened to Arrok and Nameless comments that in addition to Necromancy, Illusion is also a banned school for him – and this killer of Arrok utilized a necromancy spell and an illusion spell.
After the meeting Balan tells us that Nameless will have to remain in the watch house for then next two to six days. Nameless asks if the group can take possession of the bag and Balan agrees to those terms. We take the items and leave.
We then make our way out of the Watch’s building and head to see Flamewind, a gynosphinx who has proved a valuable resource. NOTE: Flamewind is one person who we have not checked out her background too much. While I may be growing overly paranoid, she could very well be the leak we have been worried about.
We have our meeting with her, Six leading the discussion as he is most familiar with her. She gives us some vague information, but nothing that we didn’t already surmise. We do learn, however, that the tattoos provide no function – at least as far as Flamewind can tell when she utilizes the Analyze Dweomer spell – a powerful spell. After the meeting we walk over to Carosten Park, but since we do not find Surr’kal the group decides to turn in for the night. While the rest of the group decides to stay in the park I make my way to Coldflame Keep where I speak with Cedric and Mazin tana. I also help provide any healing and comforting that I can. It is a rare that I get to help people in this fashion, and it is definitely comforting knowing that I can do some good – even without violence.
The following morning I make my way back to the Watch House where I meet the rest of the group. We go in to visit Nameless, and I have to say it is kind of funny seeing him there – alone in his cell. I have thought I would see Nameless many ways – in total control of a situation, fleeing a situation, or just dead because of a situation – but I never thought I would see him locked up – especially knowing his abilities to escape when needed.
We discuss a bit more about what happened on the night of Arok’s murder. I am sure it is more to see if our stories change – a tactic that is often utilized to capture a liar. Balan then informs us of a simpler way for us to be done with this legal business and that is if we were to accept a mission for the government. He offers us three jobs, and we take what sounds to be the one he thought we would not choose – and that is to work for the Citadel. To work for the secret service of the King is a great honor, and a chance to do something really important. We discuss our options and then Corven informs us that he will be taking his leave since he wants to do some more research into the island – particularly to find out how it may relate to the Day of Mourning. Note: I am saddened to see Corven leave. I was closest with him, both as a family relation and as a companion. I hope everything goes well for him.
Once we have agreed to work with the Citadel, we leave (with Nameless) the Watch House and proceed to Carosten Park. We meet with Surr’kal and he lets us know that while it will take time, Gurr’khan will be able to come to Sharn to help us with the issues with the dragonshard and the daelkyr issue. In the middle of our conversation we are interrupted by some noise and screaming outside. We exit the tent where we see four enormous animals attacking innocents. Korm then shouts something about the “Children of Winter” as we head into battle.
The battle begins, and the Children of winter cast a Wall of Thorns which prevents me from moving. As such, I spend the time casting spells to increase my combat ability, while Nameless thinks of a way to get me free. The rest of the group goes into battle, and as soon as Nameless Dimension Door’s with me I walk up to a dire wolf and hack at it – helping Six finish it off. Then we walk towards another animal, a dire badger, and cut it down as Nameless brings in his pseudo natural bison to assist. I notice, just then, that Luna is bleeding very badly – wobbeling in her animal form. I touch her with the tip of Kizmet, healing her critical wounds. Just then, one of the Children of Winter strikes Luna, and due the to graces of the Silver Flame she is spared death.
The Child of Winter flies off, and Korm tries following him for a bit before he returns saying he cannot catch up with the shifter.
We examine the remains of the dead.
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
Session 28 - The King's Citadel (or "Gnomes! Why Does it Have to be Gnomes?")
The Angels, Surr'kal and Teln go check on those who'd been attacked by the summoned creatures. They find it was a family consisting of the parents and two young children, all of whom are dead (and in a couple of cases, partly eaten). While they are checking the corpses, they are approached a couple of scared-looking people who emerge from behind nearby bushes and one who descends awkwardly from the branches of a tree.
These individuals had apparently hidden themselves when the creatures appeared and need some reassurance that they won't return (especially the man who has a large yellow stain running down his pants). They explain that they were walking through the park when a tall man (who fits the description of the druid named Cainan, whom Korm had fought earlier) and the shifter had come hurrying up, with the former then summoning the creatures and enlarging them. The unfortunate family had just wandered around a clump of trees nearby and promptly been attacked and killed. The three onlookers hid themselves and saw the druid turn into a dire bat and the ensuing battle with the adventurers.
This discussion is interrupted by a loud call of "What's going on here?" It comes from four Watch guards that come hurrying towards the gathering, prompting a disgusted Six to comment, "It figures. They were probably outside having a smoke till we took care of everything!"
Though the adventurers are standing in the middle of some dead and half-eaten corpses, with more blood and the dead shifter further along the area, this time they have no real trouble with the Watch. The three onlookers explain what they saw, with a little embellishment here and there. The guards apparently know who both Surr'kal and Teln are and listen attentively while they add their account as well.
By the time they are done, the guards are convinced that the Angels are not to blame in any way. When they check the adventurers' papers, they recognize them by name and reputation, with one commenting that he has a nephew who's at Morgrave University and had told him about being at the presentation about their expedition.
The guards do ask the Angels to stop by the local Watch house and make a report, but after a polite explanation from Gareth that it might be better to get the other witnesses to do so, they agree and leave with the three civilians. None of whom seem very comfortable about having to help carry the corpses of the dead family with them.
Once they are gone, the group returns to the Gatehouse, as Surr'kal and Teln both comment on how impressed they are with the Angels' abilities. They check the body of the dead shifter, whom Korm said Cainan had called Dusk. Among the limited equipment that she carries is a pair of boots that gave her the incredible speed she displayed. Gareth asks to use them, since that'll make it likelier that he can actually get to a fight at the same time as the others, and nobody disagrees.
While examining the body, Surr'kal asks Korm, "Do you think that Cainan will be back?"
"Quite possibly," Korm grimly replies. "He may want revenge for his companion. I hope I am here if he does return."
Nameless suggests that Surr'kal and Teln arrange a funeral for the shifter, since that would ensure Cainan cannot try something like reincarnating her later. Surr'kal says it is a good idea and the two druids take care of it, with some help from the Angels.
Afterwards, the group splits up as usual, with Korm accompanying Nameless as he visits Trillia, while Luna flies around the area as an eagle, keeping an eye out for Cainan. Gareth heads to the Deneith enclave to check on Lalia and Six goes off on his own.
When Nameless shows up, Trillia asks what happened with his arrest. He provides a detailed coverage of what occurred, and she is quite amused that the group has actually decided to work for the Citadel. She says that he's unlikely to be able to share the details with her, but if he can, she'll be curious to know what it is.
They also discuss the whole issue of Arrok's murder and who might be involved. Nameless asks if Trillia thinks there is anyone at the Guild who might be involved. Trillia says that she sincerely doubts anyone from there is involved, but, naturally, anything is possible. At any given time there are usually only a dozen members in Sharn capable of casting spells of the third valence, as the murder was, and half of that is people like Trillia who actually live in the city.
Currently she thinks she's as powerful a spellcaster as anyone in the Guild who's in Sharn, unless Naziam (a half-elf transmuter) or Dimass (a gnome sorcerer) have got stronger. It's accepted at the Guild (as at the Esoteric Order, which has approximately the same number of powerful spellcasters) that members should inform the Guild when they have achieved access to a new level of valences, so it would be easy to find out. She mentions that Nameless should also let them know how good he's getting.
Nameless says that he was mainly interested in finding out what other powerful arcanists there are in the city, and that he figured most of them would be members of the Guild or Order. Trillia says that many are, but it's not necessarily the case. Out of the powerful arcane spellcasters in the city who aren't members of the Guild or Order, she mentions the dwarf Kalphan Riak, high priest of Kol Korran at the Korranath in Upper Central (who is a sorcerer, not a cleric). She says that while he's a bit of a greedy bastard, she doubts he's running around killing people to frame Nameless. Warden Balan Cord is supposed to be good too, though she's heard his forte is things that affect people and control crowds, rather than actual killing spells. Presumably Lady Warden Maira ir'Talan, commander of the Blackened Book, is a good spellcaster too, but she's mainly an administrator rather than a field operative. The Boromars and Daask (especially the latter) are supposed to have a few strong spellcasters in their employ, and there have got to be a couple among the diplomatic corps in Sharn, though the better they are the less likely anyone is to know about them. Which also goes for any underworld figures unaffiliated with the Boromars and Daask.
Korm, who's been listening to this, says that it sounds next to impossible to find any really useful information in this city. Trillia says that while it may seem very complicated, depending on who did it and how, there may be some unofficial ways to get information about it. If the murder was committed by someone hired to do it, especially among the criminal community, probably the best bet for info is what is known as the Tyrants. They are supposed to be a changeling gang which deals almost purely in information and have a much bigger handle on that than the Boromars and Daask (who supposedly have dealings with them). They're supposed to have eyes and ears everywhere, so just dropping a little coin and saying that one wants to contact them should get their attention. Supposedly they have an especially strong presence in the Dragoneyes red light district (Lower Tavick's Landing, just below the Deathsgate district that Trillia's house is in) and also in the Callestan inn district (Lower Dura).
Korm and Nameless file the information away for possible later use. Trillia goes on to ask Nameless if he's still interested in her idea of a visit to Yarkuun Draal. He says that he definitely is, but it would depend on what the group is involved with next. The Citadel assignment, for example, may keep them busy for a while. He won't know for sure until the actual meeting.
Korm, who wasn't there when she first made the proposal, asks about it. He mentions that he'd heard that Yarkuun Draal was a Dhakaani ruin. Trillia says that he's right and it is located to the southwest of Sharn, near the coast in the Siln Highlands. She tells Korm a little of what she's already told Nameless about the place, her previous visit to it, the aberrations that overrun it, and the possibility of a dimensional seal being present there. Korm asks if she intends to tamper with the seal at all and she reassures him that she's "not mental enough" to want a daelkyr wandering around Khorvaire. She simply wishes to study the creations of the daelkyr further. Now, with her own increased power and the varied abilities of the Angels, she believes they could explore the ruins there and survive.
Korm says that he too would be interested in seeing the place, especially if there is some lurking danger that the Gatekeepers should know of. He then leaves Nameless with Trillia and heads back to Carosten Park. Once there, he joins Luna in a long, peaceful flight around and among the towers, though the sight of a large winged orc does draw some attention from passers-by.
Six, meanwhile, goes to the one shop he frequents and sells the sculptures that he has been working on for the last few weeks. Then he wanders the streets of Sharn as is his habit, eventually heading to Trillia's home to join Nameless there.
Gareth first goes to the Deneith enclave, where he learns that Lalia and Tasra are both outside Sharn on work. He then visits the Cathedral, where he meets Bodo. He also receives a letter from his mother and grandmother, which was delivered to the Cathedral by a Sivis messenger.
His mother's letter is mostly about the events on the island, saying that she's happy that he's fine and that she's looking forward to reading about it in the Korranberg Chronicle. She also mentions having looked up daelkyr after getting his letter and is quite fascinated by the fact that he's encountered something that is effectively legendary at this point. She comments in passing about his plan to join the Deneith enclave in Sharn, simply saying that he should do whatever works for him, though she does think it's a good idea and at least a more stable job than the adventuring life.
His grandmother's letter is longer and is basically about three things - the daelkyr/dragon, Kizmet and the enclave. Regarding the first, she knows a little more about daelkyr but says she has also read up on it recently. She says that his encounters with it and with the dragon clearly show that (as she always figured) he is destined for special things by the Silver Flame, and that she's looking forward to hearing and reading more about these events. She considers the growing bond with the sword as more proof of the fact, especially since it sounds like the sword is growing more powerful than it ever was in Gareth's father's or grandfather's hands. As for the enclave, she says she's happy that he's thinking of joining it, since the Sharn enclave is one of the major ones outside Karrnath and it could use someone of his standards to cleanse and improve it. Who knows, perhaps this could be the first step in him improving not just the Deneith enclave in Sharn but eventually the House as a whole across Khorvaire.
While Gareth is reading the letters, an acolyte tells him that the Archierophant asked that he be told to stop by when he is here next. Since she is present at the Cathedral, Gareth goes to her office and meets her. Ythana Morr greets him and talks a little about his recent adventures. She also asks about his time at Coldflame Keep and what he thinks of it. Gareth says that he thinks Mazin is a worthy man and is doing a lot for the community there and it's a pity that the temple there is in such disrepair.
Ythana says that Mazin has been one of the longest serving members of the Flame in Sharn, which is why he was assigned to Coldflame Keep, in hopes of improving the situation there. Unfortunately, the community there hasn't been as receptive as would be desirable for a long time, partly because there's a strong shifter population in Middle and Lower Northedge. Ythana says that she does still have some plans that may help improve not just the situation of Coldflame Keep but the status of the Silver Flame in Sharn, where it has consistently taken second place to the worship of the Sovereign Host. She asks Gareth if he is willing to help in that regard, since someone of his skills could be very helpful. Gareth replies that he'd be happy to help in any way.
Ythana also says that she believes he has met Cedric Galan and asks what Gareth thinks of him. Gareth says that Cedric is definitely unusual, to which she agrees. He adds that some of Cedric's beliefs contradict with his own, but evidently Cedric is a good paladin, both in what Gareth's seen of him and the fact that the Flame finds him worthy of paladinhood. As long as Cedric does what he wants on his own time, Gareth says, he has no problem with recognizing him as a comrade and a friend.
The Archierophant listens carefully and says that she was curious, since Cedric does stretch the mold in ways most paladins do not and she has heard very differing opinions of him. She has had little interaction with him, since he prefers to worship at Coldflame Keep rather than at the Cathedral.
Ythana then checks on Gareth's future plans before ending the discussion. She says that he can tell Mazin that she is planning to send him some help regarding the temple.
Gareth does head to Coldflame Keep from the Cathedral, after stopping at the Kundarak bank on the way. He finds both Mazin and Cedric at the Keep and tells them about his discussion with Ythana Morr. He also gives Mazin the hundred galifars that he picked up at the bank, as a contribution to the temple. Mazin thanks him and says that he's pleased to hear the Archierophant is planning to help the temple. Cedric, on the other hand, just snorts and says, "I'll bloody well believe it when I see it."
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
The next morning, all of the adventurers gather at the Park and then head down to Middle Central. They find the Citadel to be a huge fortified structure, which occupies the middle levels of Andith Tower. Not only does its bare, gray appearance set it apart from the surrounding embassies, shops and restaurants of Ambassador Towers, but it’s also exceptional in the fact that no skybridges connect to its various levels. In fact, there is no visible entrance. Numerous buildings stand around the base, with guards in Watch uniform moving back and forth. A skycoach dock also stands nearby.
Nameless stops a guard and says that they have an appointment. Once he shows the letter, the Angels are quickly shepherded onto a nearby skycoach. It flies upwards until it reaches a huge balcony, guarded by numerous people in both Watch uniform and the armor of the Knights of the Citadel. Disembarking, the adventurers present the letter and are asked to accompany a pair of guards within.
They are led through a number of corridors that twist and turn, heading deeper into the body of the Citadel. They soon arrive at a large guarded gate, decorated with both the snarling bear of Breland and the shield of the King's Citadel. After presenting the letter again, the Angels are led inside and eventually arrive at an office.
Inside the office is a uniformed gnome sitting at a desk and talking to a half-elf. Six mutters something indistinct about gnomes, as he introduces himself as Captain Talleon. He takes the letter and after skimming it, tells the half-elf to inform 'Ras' that he'll need him in half an hour. While the half-elf leaves, Talleon picks up a sheaf of files off his desk and leads the group into an adjoining meeting room.
Once they are all seated, he drops the files on the table (perhaps not-so-coincidentally in a position that lets them see that they bear the names of the various adventurers) and says, "Balan has told me something about you and I've done a little checking myself." He smiles a little and adds, "You people aren't that difficult to find information on."
Then he looks at Korm and adds, "You, however, I know comparatively less about." He taps a significantly slimmer file with 'Korm'akhan' on the cover and says. "Let's see - you are a foreigner to Breland, are a member of the Gatekeeper sect of druids, and have been in Sharn for a few weeks. Correct?"
Korm simply replies, "Yes," not vouchsafing any more information.
"All right," says Talleon, before turning to Gareth. "Gareth Byron Deneith, originally of Karrlakton. You are a paladin of the Silver Flame, right?"
"Yes."
"Then please do that detection thing you paladins do. Use it on me."
More than a little surprised at the request, considering it's one that nobody has ever made to him, Gareth complies, quickly discovering that Talleon detects faintly of evil.
Talleon calmly continues, "I've had a couple of people tell me before that I appear to be slightly or mildly evil to that ability, and I've met more than a couple of paranoid paladins, so I figured I'd mention it in the interests of honesty." He leans forward and adds, "Presumably it has something to do with my methods. But I don't give a damn about things like that. I have more important things to worry about."
"So you're one of the 'end justifies the means' kind of people?" asks Nameless, with a grin.
An unsmiling Talleon replies, "My life is dedicated to protecting my King and my country. I don't have the luxury of worrying about means and ends. I do what I need to." He glances at Gareth and says, "Don't worry - you won't be asked to do anything that will ... offend your morality. Speaking of which, what exactly do you draw the line at?"
Gareth says, "There are many things I could say, but the main one is that I won't kill an innocent."
Talleon asks, "So what is an innocent?"
Gareth quickly replies, "I don't know what it means for you, but for me it's someone who isn't evil and isn't harming other people."
"What about when someone is likely to be a danger?"
"Listen," says Gareth, "We could talk ethics and judgement for a year and we'd probably still not be able to agree."
"That's all right. As I said, it won't be an issue for you."
"The rest of us," Nameless interjects, "Are a little more flexible than Gareth here, if it matters."
"Noted. Now, before I can tell you what the assignment is, I'd like to test your capabilities. It would very likely be dangerous and I don't want to get you killed because you can't handle it. Do you mind passing a test? It'll be dangerous, but then your line of work puts you in danger all the time. And I'll ensure it isn't fatal."
The adventurers look at each other and shrug. Talleon leads them out of the room to another part of the complex, where they eventually arrive at a large stone door. It slides open to reveal a huge rectangular room, full of obstructions and barriers of various sizes, walls pockmarked with the signs of explosions. There is a large translucent window midway up the side of the room.
Talleon asks them to enter and wait for orders. Once they do, door closes behind them. Nameless puts his back to the door and begins to cast protective spells. The others spellcasters do the same, while some draw weapons and Luna turns into a large brown bear. As they are setting themselves into a rough semicircle around Nameless' position, the window turns transparent, revealing Talleon and three more people in a room behind it. "Please defend yourselves," says Talleon.
A couple of seconds later, five large apes appear around the Angels, one within reach of each adventurer, bellowing and beating their chests in challenge. Their glowing red eyes and the sulphuric smell that surrounds them mark them as fiendish in nature.
Despite their impressive appearance, however, the creatures are clearly not a match for the Angels and go down in seconds beneath a flurry of weapons and claws, with a pair of summoned pseudonatural bison only hastening their demise.
Gareth looks around as the last of the summoned creatures drops and vanishes, before calling across the room to Talleon, "Is that all?"
The comment is answered immediately, as three dire wolves appear in the room along with two giant wasps (all of these are celestial in nature). These last slightly longer than the apes, with the wasps stinging Nameless and Korm, though both shrug off the effects of their poison. Even so, barely half a minute after the apes appeared, the wolves and wasps are gone too.
Gareth again speaks up, asking, "Don't you have anything better?" Even as Nameless growls, "Dammit, Gareth - don't piss off the...", five more creatures appear. Each carries a large, saw-toothed glaive, which marks it out to those in the know as much as the pointed ears, scaly skin, long tail, clawed limbs, and snaky, spiky beard do.
"Barbazu from Shavarath," says Nameless, and Gareth and Korm nod as they also recognize the creatures. "Watch the beards."
The devils promptly scream wordless battle cries and hurl themselves at the adventurers, landing some powerful blows. A wounded Nameless is forced to get out of range by dimension dooring halfway across the room, while Six switches to defensive fighting, whirling his chain in an impenetrable wall around himself.
Gareth's armor protects him from the glaives, but unfortunately for him, he's right in the middle when Korm sends an arc of lightning racing across three of the devils. Even as they convulse in pain, Gareth yells too. "Watch what you do!" he shouts, before turning to swing at a barbazu, anger fueling his blade.
Despite their initial success and general toughness, the barbazu go down one by one, the last one being actually cut into two halves by Gareth*. As the bleeding paladin turns towards Talleon and opens his mouth, Luna (to whom Nameless had just said, "Shut him up!") rears up and places a large paw over his mouth (or rather, face) and muffling whatever he was about to say.
"I hope we're done now," says Nameless instead, and Talleon replies, "Yes. And very impressively so."
The window turns translucent again and moments later, the stone door slides back to reveal Talleon and two uniformed men with wands, who enter the room and set to healing the adventurers.
Gareth, having been released by Luna, gives her a dirty look and then bestows an even dirtier one on Korm. "What do you think you were doing?" he asks angrily. "You could have killed me!"
"No," says Korm confidently, "It wasn't that powerful a spell. You were quite safe."
"That's not the point!" says Gareth and proceeds to chew Korm out about tactics and responsibility, most of which the big orc ignores.
Talleon watches the byplay between the two and then says, "Very impressive. You're obviously as skilled as I'd heard." With that, he turns around and leads the Angels back towards his office.
When they reach it, they find a muscular, uniformed half-orc waiting for them. He rises at their entrance and Talleon turns to the Angels to say, "This is Raskalorn, one of my finest operatives. We generally call him Ras. Ras, these are the Angels."
Leading Ras and the others into the meeting room, Talleon takes a seat and says that, in view of what he's just seen, he thinks the Angels would be perfect for the job. He goes on to say that he heads the King's Dark Lanterns, the intelligence branch of the Citadel, in Sharn. Though dangerous work is common for the Lanterns, Ras is involved in a particularly dangerous case and it is quite likely that he has already had a bounty put on his head by some people whom Talleon can't mention for security reasons. In short, Talleon needs powerful and experienced people unconnected to the Citadel to keep an eye on Ras, which is the assignment for the Angels.
For the next few days, they will be told about various locations where Ras will be, usually with about a day's advance notice. They will make sure to "coincidentally" be present at the same location and time. Sometimes they will also need to keep an eye on Ras as he travels to and from these locations. They will protect him from anyone who attacks him, and are free to take such attackers down "by any means necessary".
Talleon says that the locations will usually be in middle to lower Sharn and possibly even the Cogs. Of course, he assumes, this shouldn't be a problem for the adventurers. Nameless comments that they'd prefer it to not be Malleon's Gate, since some people there might not want to see them return, but otherwise it shouldn't be a problem.
Talleon notes it and adds that they should need the Angels on and off for ten days to a fortnight, but not on a daily basis. He asks for a contact location where he can send them the information as needed, and is told to use Trillia's home and, failing that, the Gatehouse in Carosten Park.
The adventurers have a couple of minor questions, but otherwise simply take in the information. So does Raskalorn, who simply says that he is pleased to meet them and hopes that their expertise won't be needed. Talleon tells the group to study both Raskalorn's current appearance and also the disguise he'll most commonly use, which Ras demonstrates by turning into a scarred human. Once that is done, with no questions forthcoming, he dismisses both Ras and the group.
The adventurers head back towards the exit with their two guards. Just as they are about to reach the large gate that led into this section, a halfling steps into the corridor ahead of them. Though none of them recognize him, he seems to be expecting them, since he waits till they get closer and then flashes a badge at the guards. As the guards stop, he says, "In here," to the adventurers, adding, "We need to talk."
The Angels look at each other, shrug and follow him into the room, though Six mutters something about almost having made it out. The halfling shuts the door with the guards outside. Then he changes into Captain Talleon, drawing a couple of sighs from the Angels, and tells them to sit down. Doing so himself, he says, "Now here's the real job."
He quickly goes on to say that there's more to the job than he said in front of Ras. While it's true that Ras is one of his best operatives, he has information that Ras is a double agent and has been selling information to the Royal Eyes of Aundair, the spy service that answers to Queen Aurala. Which, incidentally, is why the Angels fit his needs, since he wanted a group with no Aundairans. Since Ras is a long-serving member of the Citadel and the Dark Lanterns, Talleon needs external people to keep an eye on Ras, people who Ras will allow to stay close to him. The assignment to protect Ras takes care of that angle.
While the Angels are truly supposed to protect Ras, they're also supposed to keep an eye on anything suspicious he does. They should watch for people who show up at consistently at the places they will be going to. They should note whoever he speaks to. Or if he exchanges any items with anyone. In short, Talleon wants them to note anything he does that is the least bit suspicious.
Talleon adds that when he sends them the information about meeting/guarding Ras, it will be in the form of a letter and will contain separate information about their actual job in the form of a secret page spell. The command word "Sumar" will allow them to access it.
When Talleon asks them if they have any questions, this time there are a number of queries. Nameless asks, "What do we do if we detect anything definitely suspicious? Do we stop Ras?"
"No. Simply report back to me about it later. I will probably meet you again after you've had a couple of days."
Gareth, who's just used his detect evil on Talleon and, for the first time in his life, been a little relieved at detecting a faint level of evil, queries, "Is there actually a bounty out on Ras?"
"No, I lied," says Talleon blandly. "Of course, it's likely that some people would like him dead, but I have no information about any impending attempt on his life. The odds are that you will simply need to observe Ras, rather than fight anyone."
Nameless puts in, "I should point out that we are a lot better at the fighting than at subtlety."
"That's all right. You're clearly experienced and versatile in your skills. I'm sure you'll make do."
Six apparently has more material concerns. "Do we have an expense account?" he inquires, drawing a snicker from Luna.
Talleon almost looks surprised as he answers, "Your incidental expenses will be covered. Emphasis on incidental."
After answering a couple more minor questions, Talleon ends the impromptu meeting. He then changes back to a halfling, lets them out and closes the door. The guards see them out to the balcony and to a waiting skycoach, which drops them to the bottom of the Citadel tower.
As the Angels move off, Six shakes his head and says, "Great. Just great. There just had to be a double-cross in there."
Gareth shrugs. "I'm not surprised that happened. The first job seemed a little simple for people of our skills."
Korm replies, "Considering what I have seen of gnomes, especially in this city, there's probably a triple- or a quadruple-cross in there somewhere." He throws a look at the cloudy sky above, though most of it is blocked by the huge shape of Skyway floating above. "The wilds are a lot simpler than this place."
Luna isn't the only person in the group who nods in agreement.
* Crit on a power-attacking smite with divine might, doing 90+ pts of damage on one hit
__________________ shilsen is broken - Crothian (and this is why)
My Eberron Story Hour. Updated November 12. Almost at the climax!
The first message from Talleon arrives soon, showing up at Trillia's the next morning. It tells the group to have dinner the next day at Mizano Rupa's, a popular dinner theater in the Smoky Towers district of Middle Menthis. They should be there at 7 pm, Reservations will have been made for them at 7 pm. Raskalorn will be two tables away. There is unlikely to be any danger at dinner, but they should escort Ras at a distance back to Ambassador Towers, where he’ll enter Athania’s Companions (an escort service). Once he enters, they can leave.
After they use the command word, the letter fades and more writing appears. It says that they should keep an eye out for anyone who speaks to Ras at Mizano Rupa’s, especially a bearded man with deep blue eyes. Also, when Ras enters Athania’s, at least one person should wait until he emerges and follow him till he returns to the Citadel, noting if he stops anywhere.
After receiving the information, the Angels keep themselves busy in various ways throughout the day. As has now become a habit for them, they check the Korranberg Chronicle to see what is occurring in both Sharn and across Khorvaire. They read about an alarm at the Floating Towers of Arcanix (where the Arcane Congress of Aundair is located), though the Chronicle's reporters were not allowed any information. There was also an assassination attempt on the figurehead Queen Diani of Thrane, shortly after her meeting with Queen Aurala, by a pair of assassins wearing marks of House Medani, though they were clearly impostors. Medani, which had recently been banned from Flamekeep, has been allowed in again and are leading the investigation into the attacks.
As for Sharn, there is mention of a huge auction at the end of Barrakas at the Grand Spires auction house, where most of the collection of Sulan Sardenian (a recently deceased former explorer of the Wayfinder Foundation) is to be disposed of. Sulan left the collection to Lord Boroman ir'Dayne, who has donated some to the Dezina Museum at Morgrave University and is having the rest auctioned. The crown of the auction is to be the famous Lazura Diamond, reputed to be a cause of strange misfortune for its owners. Another interesting bit of news on Sharn, especially for Gareth, is the story in the social section of a cat-fight at the Tain Gala on the 6th between Lalia d'Deneith and the Valenar ambassador Daera Sorandal over Caerlyn Tyrell, head of the Sharn-located mercenary troop, Caerlyn's Blades. Lalia was apparently seen around town for a few weeks with Caerlyn while his on-again off-again girlfriend Daera was outside Sharn, and took exception to Caerlyn's visit to the Gala with Daera. Gareth, perhaps due to the others' presence, displays no real reaction to the article.
The KC also makes a closer appearance in the form of Flim Turen, who catches the Angels while they are at Carosten Park. He has a lot of questions, both about what occurred after the presentation at Morgrave University and the fight two days ago at the Park. The adventurers say little about the Morgrave incident and Korm involuntarily ends up distracting Flim by mentioning that the Children of Winter were the ones who caused the recent epidemic.
Flim spends some time noting down what Korm says about the Children of Winter, the epidemic, and the worshippers of the Flame who helped him. He is also quite interested in exactly who Korm is and whether he's a member of the Angels. Korm says that he wouldn't call himself a member but he is definitely going to be working with them for the time being. He also says that he's a member of the Gatekeepers, which Flim notes.
Flim also asks about the group's plans and whether they're still planning to "clean up Sharn," as Luna had told him that they were. Luna, whom the others are generally keeping from doing much talking to him, grins and says it's on the 'to do' list. Flim comments that the Angels are pretty good for news purposes, since things seem to happen to them. Things have been at a bit of a loose end since the Blades of Arakhain left town, but it looks like the Angels are going to more than make up for the absence. He promises to stop by and check on them soon and also to help with information in any way he can.
After he has gone, the adventurers split up as usual. Six, who is a little short on cash, borrows some from Gareth and pays a long visit to one of the larger Cannith shops in town. There, he has his body plating permanently enchanted to provide greater protection in battle. Later that day, he also visits a weaponsmith in the city and provides the man with as detailed a description of the drow scorpion chains he'd seen on the island. The weaponsmith says he's never seen such a weapon and isn't sure that he can manufacture one, but says that he'll give it a try.
***
The next day, as ordered by Talleon, the Angels make their way to Middle Menthis, making sure to arrive fifteen minutes early. Smoky Towers is a district clearly focused on entertainment, with dinner theaters, recital halls and the grand Classic theater drawing people to it, as do the restaurants that cater to the people visiting the district. Mizano Rupa's is one of the dinner theaters that blend food and entertainment and even before they enter, the Angels realize why they were provided a reservation. A large number of people wait outside, clearly hoping for a table.
The adventurers enter and, after handing over their weapons in the foyer, move into the main hall, where they are ushered to their reserved table. Six, as the only warforged in the place, draws more than a couple of looks but no comments. The tables are set around the large stage that juts out of one wall, topped by an orchestra section. A large program announces the next set of performances, both theatrical and musical, beginning at 7 pm.
Raskalorn enters just before seven, with an attractive young woman on his arm, wearing the human appearance that he had shown the Angels in the Citadel. He takes a table near the group, walking past their table and showing absolutely no sign of recognition. Moments after he takes his seat, the performances begin.
The adventurers spend the next hour and a half being both well-fed and well-entertained. The food at Mizano Rupa's is quite good, and while the performers are not the best that Menthis boasts, they are obviously skilled.
Despite the comfortable ambience and the distractions of food and music, the Angels do their job, keeping a very close, if surreptitious, eye on Ras. The Dark Lantern seems quite focused on his date and the entertainment, laughing and talking with her and giving her all of his attention. He only leaves the table on two occasions, once to visit the restroom (when Six, who hasn't had the others' chance to indulge in the food and is slightly bored, suggests that he go in there and stare at Ras, just to have something to do) and once to get a couple of glasses of wine from the long bar against one wall.
When he reaches the bar, Ras exchanges a word or two with a well-dressed elf next to him while waiting for his drinks, but doesn't do anything suspicious. On the way back, however, he brushes past a man who fits the description (bearded and startlingly blue-eyed) that the Angels have been told to watch out for. This figure turns to glance in the general direction of Ras' table and seems to give a tiny start of recognition on seeing the adventurers, or so it seems to Six and Luna.
A few minutes later, the bearded man walks by Ras' table and bumps into the agent. He quickly apologizes and Ras and he shake hands. A couple of the Angels think they catch a tiny speck of white, like perhaps a folded note, changing hands as they do so. The adventurers watch as the bearded man rejoins his dinner companions, two more men, at a table across the room.
About fifteen minutes later, the three of them end their meal and leave. Luna suggests that she follow him, while the rest stick with Ras, since she can track him as an animal. She follows him and his companions out the door. The others remain at the table and begin to wrap up their meal, seeing that Ras and his date are doing so. About ten minutes after Luna left, they are heading out the door too.
Ras and his date board a skycoach and head north, followed by the Angels, disembarking at Ambassador Towers. The two of them stroll along the skybridges till they reach a tower building and enter. A discreet sign outside identifies it simply as Athania's.
After a quick discussion about what to do next, Korm, Gareth and Nameless head into a nearby cafe, while Six uses his hat of disguise to change into the appearance of a human merchant*. He then proceeds into Athania's. Entering it, he finds himself in what looks like the lobby of a large, well-decorated apartment. The difference is the two open doors that reveal a number of well-dressed men and women sitting around in two large lounges. And the not-very-surreptitious bouncer sitting on a chair in the corner. And the beautiful woman dressed like a society matron, who walks towards Six with a welcoming smile as soon as he enters.
"Welcome to Athania's. How may I help you?"
Six puts on his best impersonation of a human voice and claims to be a merchant who is new to town and has had Athania's recommended by his friends. The woman asks what he has been told and if he is looking for something specific in mind, and Six does a reasonably good impersonation of being quite uninformed about Athania's and unsure what to ask for (probably because it's not really an impersonation).
Six asks if he can wait to have a drink and get a sense of the place, and the woman, though apparently slightly puzzled, ushers him into one of the lounges. It happens to be the one where Ras is sitting, involved in a card game with three other people, and Six takes a seat across the room from them.
He is quickly provided with a drink and, shortly afterwards, some of the other people in the room ask him to make a fourth for a game of cards. Six agrees and spends the next half an hour playing cards and doing more acting than he's ever had to. One of the other players comments that it sounds like he's coming down with a cold, but otherwise nobody seems to notice the subterfuge.
While playing, Six notes that Ras seems to be a regular here, from the comments of the people playing with him and the people working at Athania's. He also learns a fair amount about Athania's Companions. The service is named after its owner, the elven lady Athania, and provides escorts to both visiting diplomats in the area and clients in other well-to-do areas of Sharn. The escorts (a number of whom are present) are men and women of beauty and intelligence, trained to provide interesting conversation as well as physical companionship.
About half an hour after he entered, Six sees Ras rise and leave. Knowing that the others are outside and not wanting to be obvious, Six waits for five minutes before taking his leave too. He is stopped on the way out by the woman who spoke to him when he entered. She asks politely why he's leaving and if the place didn't catch his fancy. Six quickly explains that he needs to be somewhere else but will be back another time.
When they see Ras emerge, Nameless and Korm decide to follow him, figuring that Gareth and his armor will be too obvious. He remains behind to await Six. The other two follow Ras, staying far enough away to hopefully be unnoticed while they can keep an eye on him.
Shortly after having left Athania's, Ras walks into a particularly dark area and emerges in his half-orc form. He then proceeds to head directly back to the Citadel, only stopping along the way to look at a couple of shops, though he does not enter. Once at the base of the Citadel, Ras takes one of the ever-present skycoaches and heads up to the guarded balcony entrance.
After watching him enter, Nameless and Korm head back to rejoin
- Crothian (and 
