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Bill T's WotBS campaign, reincarnated
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<blockquote data-quote="Bill T." data-source="post: 6986221" data-attributes="member: 6795693"><p><strong>Adventure IV: From Macon To The Watchtower</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>Adventure IV: From Macon To The Watchtower</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Dramatis Personae</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> <strong>Amelia</strong>, a human spellthieving acetomancer</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> <strong>Erielle</strong>, an half-orc (formerly elven) archer ranger</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> <strong>Kjolmar</strong>, a dour dwarven dungeoncrashing deepwarden</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> <strong>Commander Hertiage</strong> (known to his friends as "Commander")</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>These notes are courtesy of Kjolmar. Hurray! </em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> Cavalry Escort and Training Grounds </span></p><p></p><p>A mounted detachment approaches, and after a brief moment of concern, Jinis recognizes Hertiage, a Gallo cavalry officer -- and dwarf? They'ze old buds. They escort us to Gallo's Fend, past thousands of drilling trainees. Kjolmar approves.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> Lunch and Politics </span></p><p></p><p>Gallo greets us... professionally? He's a military commander at heart, in a perilous position. We candidly describe our mission and our journey and what we witnessed before and in Steppengard's court in Bresk, of our imprisonment and escape with Jinis.</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Kjolmar is undiplomatically blunt in stating that Steppengard may be enspelled by agents of Ragesia. Jinis and Amelia try to soften the message -- but only a little bit.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Gallo replies that magic protects the King of Dassen from such enchantments.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Kjolmar asks if magic protects advisors, such as Glibglammer?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Jinis supports the suggestion that Glibglammer has been acting strangely, and relates his own experience of being under some kind of memory alteration -- which seems gone now, but he'd be happy if somebody would check him for residual effects.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Jinis, Eriel and others summarize the "oddities": Glibglammer's command of the Talon, the imprisonments, Balan's Ragesian torturer &c.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Gallo "takes this under advisement" and dismisses us.</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>Thank you, RangerWickett, for clearing up Nina's history -- I'd not have been able to have Jinis contribute otherwise.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> Your Mission, Jim... </span></p><p></p><p>Gallo summons us the next morning. He's not heard from the watchtower nearest Dassen, and wants us to investigate. Kjolmar is up and halfway out of the hall before he finishes by offering us 2k gold in support. Jinis demands more on our behalf because "they saved my son's life" (? huh?), and Gallo ups the ante to 4k gold.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> Tower Tour </span></p><p></p><p>We set out with Hertiage to cover the 30 miles to the silenced tower in one day, healing the horses as needed to push on. We pass several towers with the briefest of waves, but stop a bit longer at the penultimate tower. There is no fresh news, but they are still in direct communication with Gallo. We proceed on foot for the final five miles.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding here -- "able to instantly send a message" somehow got translated into "direct contact", which meant that Kjolmar kept using his at-will </em>Animal Messenger<em> spell-like ability to contact the previous tower on the theory that those messages somehow got back to Gallo. I don't think I fully understood the confusion until just now, although it probably doesn't matter at this point.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> Let's Just Take A Quick Peek... </span></p><p></p><p>We halt with the final tower just over the ridge; Eriel sneaks forward for a peak. Nothing untoward. Kjolmar finds a down-on-its-luck rabbit (check that it still has four feet) to send a message back to previous tower:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Arrived at final tower. No obvious signs of assault or guards. Expect update within hour.</li> </ul><p>Eriel decides to work her way up the opposing ridge line so she can see who or what is on top of the tower. Amelia gets impatient and decides to follow. Kjolmar spends the time finding another small, freezing creature.</p><p></p><p>Eriel spots .. <em>A Dragon!</em> and she hides. Amelia gets spotted by ... <strong>A Dragon!</strong> and she doesn't hide -- well, she did try! The dragon spots ... "Dwarves on the Trail!" ... wow, that's one perceptive dragon!</p><p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>Amelia got bored and, thanks to a spell to improve her hide bonus, cocky -- and I forgot the distance modifier for spotting someone across the valley from the tower. Oh well, with Eriel the archer, it worked out well for the party.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p>Eriel also sees a couple of half-orcs atop the tower, clearly not Gallo's troops.</p><p></p><p>The dragon prepares to launch, and the half-orcs ready the ballista and bow. Eriel, she of few words and many arrows, let's fly - she hits the dragon, even nicks an archer. Amelia slams the dragon with multiple magic missiles. The dragon rises ... and then flies down the stairs into the tower?!? The ballista murders a shrub. Eriel and Amelia start working back towards the dwarves. Eriel wings another half-orc who emerges from the stairs. She of Many Arrows...</p><p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>The wyvern went back for healing and his rider.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p>Kjolmar composes another message:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Tower held by Ragesian force with dragon. Unknown additional forces. Looks like fun! We'll get back to you.</li> </ul><p>We regroup. Well, so much for surprise: What's plan B? Amelia disses the winged beast: "It's just a wyvern, not a real dragon at all!"</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> Bombs Away! </span></p><p></p><p>The dragon flies up off the tower carrying a human(?) rider, armed with a crossbow. Seriously, didn't you learn anything about She Of Many Arrows yet? He fires at us; we (by which I think I only mean Eriel) pepper the wyvern.</p><p></p><p>He flies over us and cracks wise: "Gift from Jaas(?)!" He drops a silver sphere of Explosive Flaming Death... or mild burning sensation, at any rate. Yeah, but that means he's right over us at close range -- even Kjolmar can make that shot! Dead wyvern plunges to earth with wounded rider.</p><p></p><p>"I surrender, I surrender...Just kidding, eat hot bolt!" Kjolmar disarms him - maybe removing his arm. But we keep him alive to question.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>I'm not sure where the "gift from Jaas" came from. In any case, I decided to have the rider pretend to surrender so he could guzzle down a couple of cure potions while hiding in the snow, and then try his luck with a crossbow bolt, which failed miserably. To confuse the issue, the players decided that the encounter was over as soon as they heard the surrender, leading to a lot of confusion all around.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p>Hertiage intimidates him, and we learn about Crona the Inquisitor, Jaas(?) and the rest of the occupying force. And he tells us "that captives would be held in the lowest level" -- which we misunderstand as captives are being held. Silly us!</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Wyvern deliveries flown while dark. Why was the wyvern and rider still around late afternoon? Do they arrive one night and need a day to recover for the flight back?</li> </ul><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> Invisible Clouds, You Say? </span></p><p></p><p>We hatch our plan: Invisible Geishas!!!</p><p></p><p>OK, it takes a few cycles to straighten out the details... sneak in, kill Crona first, then whatever is left.</p><p></p><p>Amelia casts on each of us in turn</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Protection from Arrows</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Gaseous Form</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Invisibility</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>...and it's game over for the infiltrators. The first two spells are among the things they picked up using the gold they got from Duke Gallo, and the third was in Amelia's pocket to begin with. The hardest part of the encounter was that the other players kept hearing "Gaseous Form" as "Geisha Swarm" (New Yorker pronunciation, I guess) and were having a hard time understanding how that would help them take the tower.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p>We glide in over the wall, down the stairs, into Crona's room where she, evil mask and all, is writing at a desk. Kjolmar smashes her into the desk, Amelia stabs her to steal a spell, Eriel ... "she's dead, Jim." Huh? Wasn't that a little too easy? The rest fall quickly -- except for the barracks, which decides to try waiting us out after the first two through the door die horribly.</p><p></p><p>Hertiage searches the basement, but finds no survivors.</p><p></p><p>Kjolmar surprises a sleepy stoat this time:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tower secure. No survivors. Captured Ragesian orders: mages to cause early thaw for invasion "when they learn if Madness succeeded or failed." Orders?</li> </ul><p>So why do these guys have silver and cold iron weapons? Do they know about something coming up?</p><p></p><p>How many wyverns does the enemy army have?</p><p></p><p>Is <em>Madness</em> a person, tactic or virus?</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Also, the ice will thaw and the invasion will commence when they "learn if Madness succeeded <strong>or</strong> failed". We must prevent either conclusion from being known until we can counter the invasion.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Crystin, staring through Jineer: "Your father will be caged by madness."</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> <em>I'm not sure how they're going to prevent the Ragesians from knowing about an unknown plan being executed by someone they haven't fully identified yet (although they seem to be on the right track), but it's a good goal.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bill T., post: 6986221, member: 6795693"] [b]Adventure IV: From Macon To The Watchtower[/b] [SIZE=2][B]Adventure IV: From Macon To The Watchtower[/B] Dramatis Personae [/SIZE] [LIST] [*] [B]Amelia[/B], a human spellthieving acetomancer [*] [B]Erielle[/B], an half-orc (formerly elven) archer ranger [*] [B]Kjolmar[/B], a dour dwarven dungeoncrashing deepwarden [*] [B]Commander Hertiage[/B] (known to his friends as "Commander") [/LIST][INDENT] [i]These notes are courtesy of Kjolmar. Hurray! [/i] [/INDENT] [SIZE=2] Cavalry Escort and Training Grounds [/SIZE] A mounted detachment approaches, and after a brief moment of concern, Jinis recognizes Hertiage, a Gallo cavalry officer -- and dwarf? They'ze old buds. They escort us to Gallo's Fend, past thousands of drilling trainees. Kjolmar approves. [SIZE=2] Lunch and Politics [/SIZE] Gallo greets us... professionally? He's a military commander at heart, in a perilous position. We candidly describe our mission and our journey and what we witnessed before and in Steppengard's court in Bresk, of our imprisonment and escape with Jinis. [LIST] [*] Kjolmar is undiplomatically blunt in stating that Steppengard may be enspelled by agents of Ragesia. Jinis and Amelia try to soften the message -- but only a little bit. [*] Gallo replies that magic protects the King of Dassen from such enchantments. [*] Kjolmar asks if magic protects advisors, such as Glibglammer? [*] Jinis supports the suggestion that Glibglammer has been acting strangely, and relates his own experience of being under some kind of memory alteration -- which seems gone now, but he'd be happy if somebody would check him for residual effects. [*] Jinis, Eriel and others summarize the "oddities": Glibglammer's command of the Talon, the imprisonments, Balan's Ragesian torturer &c. [*] Gallo "takes this under advisement" and dismisses us. [/LIST][INDENT] [i]Thank you, RangerWickett, for clearing up Nina's history -- I'd not have been able to have Jinis contribute otherwise.[/i] [/INDENT] [SIZE=2] Your Mission, Jim... [/SIZE] Gallo summons us the next morning. He's not heard from the watchtower nearest Dassen, and wants us to investigate. Kjolmar is up and halfway out of the hall before he finishes by offering us 2k gold in support. Jinis demands more on our behalf because "they saved my son's life" (? huh?), and Gallo ups the ante to 4k gold. [SIZE=2] Tower Tour [/SIZE] We set out with Hertiage to cover the 30 miles to the silenced tower in one day, healing the horses as needed to push on. We pass several towers with the briefest of waves, but stop a bit longer at the penultimate tower. There is no fresh news, but they are still in direct communication with Gallo. We proceed on foot for the final five miles. [INDENT] [i]There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding here -- "able to instantly send a message" somehow got translated into "direct contact", which meant that Kjolmar kept using his at-will [/i]Animal Messenger[i] spell-like ability to contact the previous tower on the theory that those messages somehow got back to Gallo. I don't think I fully understood the confusion until just now, although it probably doesn't matter at this point.[/i] [/INDENT] [SIZE=2] Let's Just Take A Quick Peek... [/SIZE] We halt with the final tower just over the ridge; Eriel sneaks forward for a peak. Nothing untoward. Kjolmar finds a down-on-its-luck rabbit (check that it still has four feet) to send a message back to previous tower: [LIST] [*] Arrived at final tower. No obvious signs of assault or guards. Expect update within hour. [/LIST] Eriel decides to work her way up the opposing ridge line so she can see who or what is on top of the tower. Amelia gets impatient and decides to follow. Kjolmar spends the time finding another small, freezing creature. Eriel spots .. [i]A Dragon![/i] and she hides. Amelia gets spotted by ... [b]A Dragon![/b] and she doesn't hide -- well, she did try! The dragon spots ... "Dwarves on the Trail!" ... wow, that's one perceptive dragon! [INDENT] [i]Amelia got bored and, thanks to a spell to improve her hide bonus, cocky -- and I forgot the distance modifier for spotting someone across the valley from the tower. Oh well, with Eriel the archer, it worked out well for the party.[/i] [/INDENT] Eriel also sees a couple of half-orcs atop the tower, clearly not Gallo's troops. The dragon prepares to launch, and the half-orcs ready the ballista and bow. Eriel, she of few words and many arrows, let's fly - she hits the dragon, even nicks an archer. Amelia slams the dragon with multiple magic missiles. The dragon rises ... and then flies down the stairs into the tower?!? The ballista murders a shrub. Eriel and Amelia start working back towards the dwarves. Eriel wings another half-orc who emerges from the stairs. She of Many Arrows... [INDENT] [i]The wyvern went back for healing and his rider.[/i] [/INDENT] Kjolmar composes another message: [LIST] [*] Tower held by Ragesian force with dragon. Unknown additional forces. Looks like fun! We'll get back to you. [/LIST] We regroup. Well, so much for surprise: What's plan B? Amelia disses the winged beast: "It's just a wyvern, not a real dragon at all!" [SIZE=2] Bombs Away! [/SIZE] The dragon flies up off the tower carrying a human(?) rider, armed with a crossbow. Seriously, didn't you learn anything about She Of Many Arrows yet? He fires at us; we (by which I think I only mean Eriel) pepper the wyvern. He flies over us and cracks wise: "Gift from Jaas(?)!" He drops a silver sphere of Explosive Flaming Death... or mild burning sensation, at any rate. Yeah, but that means he's right over us at close range -- even Kjolmar can make that shot! Dead wyvern plunges to earth with wounded rider. "I surrender, I surrender...Just kidding, eat hot bolt!" Kjolmar disarms him - maybe removing his arm. But we keep him alive to question. [INDENT] [i]I'm not sure where the "gift from Jaas" came from. In any case, I decided to have the rider pretend to surrender so he could guzzle down a couple of cure potions while hiding in the snow, and then try his luck with a crossbow bolt, which failed miserably. To confuse the issue, the players decided that the encounter was over as soon as they heard the surrender, leading to a lot of confusion all around.[/i] [/INDENT] Hertiage intimidates him, and we learn about Crona the Inquisitor, Jaas(?) and the rest of the occupying force. And he tells us "that captives would be held in the lowest level" -- which we misunderstand as captives are being held. Silly us! [LIST] [*] Wyvern deliveries flown while dark. Why was the wyvern and rider still around late afternoon? Do they arrive one night and need a day to recover for the flight back? [/list] [SIZE=2] Invisible Clouds, You Say? [/SIZE] We hatch our plan: Invisible Geishas!!! OK, it takes a few cycles to straighten out the details... sneak in, kill Crona first, then whatever is left. Amelia casts on each of us in turn [LIST] [*] Protection from Arrows [*] Gaseous Form [*] Invisibility [/list][INDENT] [i]...and it's game over for the infiltrators. The first two spells are among the things they picked up using the gold they got from Duke Gallo, and the third was in Amelia's pocket to begin with. The hardest part of the encounter was that the other players kept hearing "Gaseous Form" as "Geisha Swarm" (New Yorker pronunciation, I guess) and were having a hard time understanding how that would help them take the tower.[/i] [/INDENT] We glide in over the wall, down the stairs, into Crona's room where she, evil mask and all, is writing at a desk. Kjolmar smashes her into the desk, Amelia stabs her to steal a spell, Eriel ... "she's dead, Jim." Huh? Wasn't that a little too easy? The rest fall quickly -- except for the barracks, which decides to try waiting us out after the first two through the door die horribly. Hertiage searches the basement, but finds no survivors. Kjolmar surprises a sleepy stoat this time: [LIST] [*]Tower secure. No survivors. Captured Ragesian orders: mages to cause early thaw for invasion "when they learn if Madness succeeded or failed." Orders? [/list] So why do these guys have silver and cold iron weapons? Do they know about something coming up? How many wyverns does the enemy army have? Is [i]Madness[/i] a person, tactic or virus? [LIST] [*]Also, the ice will thaw and the invasion will commence when they "learn if Madness succeeded [b]or[/b] failed". We must prevent either conclusion from being known until we can counter the invasion. [*] Crystin, staring through Jineer: "Your father will be caged by madness." [/list] [INDENT] [i]I'm not sure how they're going to prevent the Ragesians from knowing about an unknown plan being executed by someone they haven't fully identified yet (although they seem to be on the right track), but it's a good goal.[/i] [/INDENT] [/QUOTE]
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