drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour presents: Monte Cook's QUEEN OF LIES
Ah, yes. We're starting to get into the part the reminds me of 'Why I don't want to hang out with the Drow' or 'Top 10 Reasons why Drow Don't Make Good Babysitters.'
After we get past the point that we've met up with the halflings, I believe that the amount of sheer violence skyrockets beyond anything that we've ever done in the Freeport campaign.
It's good to see DrN posting again! I'll try to keep him motivated for more posting, so that another 5 months doesn't go by before the next update.
After we get past the point that we've met up with the halflings, I believe that the amount of sheer violence skyrockets beyond anything that we've ever done in the Freeport campaign.
It's good to see DrN posting again! I'll try to keep him motivated for more posting, so that another 5 months doesn't go by before the next update.
drnuncheon
Explorer
EXT - UL-DRAKKAN
[The fortress of Ul-Drakkan looks over the cavern, illuminated by the eerie glow of the fungus fields. This is the same fortress we saw briefly earlier: three pillars of stone stretching hundreds of feet from cavern floor to ceiling, connected with thin arches that act as bridges.]
DRU (v.o.): Have these Pure Ones brought in any captives?
ALTON (v.o.): There was a raid on the surface, but they did not bring back many slaves. Only a handful. Before that...
[The gates begin to grind open, admitting a small army of Twisted Ones - some with only faint spiderlike features, others so far gone as to scuttle along the floor on eight limbs. A Pure One leads them, a woman, haughty and beautiful - SENETYS. Beside her and behind is the tracker ENIAMIAN, scowling and unkempt, and following the pair are two enormous Twisted Ones, strange centauroid creatures with the upper bodies of elves and the lower bodies of giant spiders - DRIDERS. They drag a stumbling, battered, barely conscious form between them, covered in blood, hands bound with silken ropes.]
[We see ALTON and several other slaves stealing looks at the prisoner as he is dragged past. As ALTON watches, the prisoner looks at him through his hair - it is none other than TENSIN. ALTON watches as be is dragged onwards, until the shadow of a Twisted One falls over him and he hurriedly returns to work.]
INT - CAVERN
[DI'FIER, DRU, the SOLDIERS, the MERCENARIES, and the FORMER SLAVES have camped. The leaders sit around a small, smoky fire.]
DRU: But nobody else?
ALTON: No other prisoners, no.
DI'FIER: Then Galanodel is still out there somewhere.
DRU: If he's still aive. Enialis...
DI'FIER: What lies between us and this Ul-Drakkan?
ALTON: You're going there? You're mad! This army isn't big enough...turn around, save your lives.
DRU (very calm, very cold): That man you saw was my father.
[ALTON locks eyes with DRU, then looks away, subdued.]
ALTON: There is a watchtower. Five days journey from here. It is hard to see - suspended from the cavern ceiling.
DRU: Let me guess. Webs?
DI'FIER: Must be a big spider.
ALTON: A demon.
DRU: Naturally.
[JAREN and ZAETRA, the mercenary leaders, begin to look worried.]
ALTON (shaken, continuing): Once you have reached the watchtower, it is no more than a day to the fortress itself.
EXT - UL-DRAKKAN
[As before, although now it seems as if troops are mustering to leave. THARIUST and THARION stand watching as their soldiers prepare.]
ALTON (v.o.): There are hundreds of Twisted Ones there - you will be outnumbered, and the Pure Ones themselves...
[The camera pans over the Twisted Ones. Some seem almost like Pure Ones, others are barely more than spiders walking upright. They range in size from towering soldiers with four arms and spider heads, to the pair of tiny, pale creatures that hang from a web - one spinning and twisting the other as it applies thick strands of webbing from its abdomen. The silk hardens visibly and it is clear this is some kind of armor. They scuttle into place beside more of their kind.]
DRU (v.o.): I guess it's a good thing they don't know we're coming, then.
[The dark elves begin to march.]
[The fortress of Ul-Drakkan looks over the cavern, illuminated by the eerie glow of the fungus fields. This is the same fortress we saw briefly earlier: three pillars of stone stretching hundreds of feet from cavern floor to ceiling, connected with thin arches that act as bridges.]
DRU (v.o.): Have these Pure Ones brought in any captives?
ALTON (v.o.): There was a raid on the surface, but they did not bring back many slaves. Only a handful. Before that...
[The gates begin to grind open, admitting a small army of Twisted Ones - some with only faint spiderlike features, others so far gone as to scuttle along the floor on eight limbs. A Pure One leads them, a woman, haughty and beautiful - SENETYS. Beside her and behind is the tracker ENIAMIAN, scowling and unkempt, and following the pair are two enormous Twisted Ones, strange centauroid creatures with the upper bodies of elves and the lower bodies of giant spiders - DRIDERS. They drag a stumbling, battered, barely conscious form between them, covered in blood, hands bound with silken ropes.]
[We see ALTON and several other slaves stealing looks at the prisoner as he is dragged past. As ALTON watches, the prisoner looks at him through his hair - it is none other than TENSIN. ALTON watches as be is dragged onwards, until the shadow of a Twisted One falls over him and he hurriedly returns to work.]
INT - CAVERN
[DI'FIER, DRU, the SOLDIERS, the MERCENARIES, and the FORMER SLAVES have camped. The leaders sit around a small, smoky fire.]
DRU: But nobody else?
ALTON: No other prisoners, no.
DI'FIER: Then Galanodel is still out there somewhere.
DRU: If he's still aive. Enialis...
DI'FIER: What lies between us and this Ul-Drakkan?
ALTON: You're going there? You're mad! This army isn't big enough...turn around, save your lives.
DRU (very calm, very cold): That man you saw was my father.
[ALTON locks eyes with DRU, then looks away, subdued.]
ALTON: There is a watchtower. Five days journey from here. It is hard to see - suspended from the cavern ceiling.
DRU: Let me guess. Webs?
DI'FIER: Must be a big spider.
ALTON: A demon.
DRU: Naturally.
[JAREN and ZAETRA, the mercenary leaders, begin to look worried.]
ALTON (shaken, continuing): Once you have reached the watchtower, it is no more than a day to the fortress itself.
EXT - UL-DRAKKAN
[As before, although now it seems as if troops are mustering to leave. THARIUST and THARION stand watching as their soldiers prepare.]
ALTON (v.o.): There are hundreds of Twisted Ones there - you will be outnumbered, and the Pure Ones themselves...
[The camera pans over the Twisted Ones. Some seem almost like Pure Ones, others are barely more than spiders walking upright. They range in size from towering soldiers with four arms and spider heads, to the pair of tiny, pale creatures that hang from a web - one spinning and twisting the other as it applies thick strands of webbing from its abdomen. The silk hardens visibly and it is clear this is some kind of armor. They scuttle into place beside more of their kind.]
DRU (v.o.): I guess it's a good thing they don't know we're coming, then.
[The dark elves begin to march.]
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
W00t! Dru and Di'Fier return!
Welcome back drnuncheon...
Welcome back drnuncheon...
drnuncheon
Explorer
Lela said:
Dru, the eternal optimist. It's just one of those things where life has it in for her - sort of like Di'Fier making a speech to the Captain's Council. I believe he's tried once in each book so far...maybe in Book V.
J
drnuncheon
Explorer
drnuncheon
Explorer
EXT - CAVERN
[Montage of images as the two forces grow closer together: THARION and THARIUST meeting with a third Pure One - QUIRILASH, head of the watchtower - superimposed on the image of their troops moving through the cavern below; FADE to DRU talking to FOWLER as the MERCENARIES rappel down a cliff behind her; FADE to the TWISTED ONES as they ford a narrow stream; FADE to the MERCENARY LEADERS, spitting mad at each other, with DRU and DI'FIER between trying to mediate; FADE to FOWLER creeping through the darkness.]
[A light noise. FOWLER freezes, then creeps forward a bit more. Through his darkvision, we see that he has entered a large cavern, down the center of which a small canyon runs, flanked to either side by 'hills' - a perfect place for an ambush. At the far side, a stone bridge crosses arches over a narrow river. Nervously, the gnome proceeds, and his attention flicks up and to the right - we see movement behind some rocks. FOWLER slowly turns and creeps back the way he came.]
EXT - CAVERN
[DRU stands sharpening her sword, looking up as FOWLER comes jogging into the camp.]
DRU: What is it?
FOWLER (picking up his pack and blunderbuss): Fowler sees ambush ahead.
DI'FIER (approaching): Ambush?
FOWLER (nods): Fowler only saw a few, but could have been more, hidden.
DRU: There's no alternate routes.
DI'FIER: I was afraid you'd say that.
DRU: We'll have to go right through them.
DI'FIER: I was even more afraid you were going to say that. But who's going to spring the trap?
DRU (to MERCENARIES): Jaren!
[The leader of the MERCENARIES steps forward, adjusting his back-slung scabbard.]
JAREN: Aye?
DRU: Time to earn some hazard pay.
EXT - CAVERN
[The same cavern that FOWLER explored before. JAREN and the others have their blades out, shields ready. Two of them men bear torches instead of swords. They creep forward, slowly, into the darkness whichs eems to swallow them.]
[CUT to a scene of DI'FIER, DRU, EGIL and the others waiting tensely in the dark.]
DI'FIER (to EGIL): Be ready.
EGIL: The cavern will be as bright as day.
[CUT back to the MERCENARIES, almost invisible in the darkness. A tiny speck of glowing red arcs towards them.]
DI'FIER (v.o.): NO!
[Fire explodes outward, silhouetting the MERCENARIES and scattering them. We hear EGIL chanting, and a brilliant glow erupts, as if the sun had just lit up. THARION hovers in midair at the source of the fireball, flinching at the light. GARTO cries in Dwarven, and a fireball heads towards him, exploding.]
[CUT to flames, which clear to reveal THARION, hovering in midair, unscathed.]
GARTO: The bastard's protected from fire!
DI'FIER (eyes locked on THARION, shouts and gestures): Valignat arcaniss!
[THARION seems to wobble in midair as streams of mystical energy unwrap from his body - then he plummets to the ground.]
DI'FIER: Not any more.
DRU: Kreth! Hold the bridge! Zaetra, your archers - cover them!
[KRETH and the serpentmen charge forward, spears ready. The elves step out of hiding, their bows rising simultaneously to the same angle - then they let fly, and arrows begin to rain down on top of one of the ridges. The falling arrows bring a tide of TWISTED ONES to the edge - tke silk-armored, four-armed creatures, each bearing javelins which they launch into the air. Most fall short, ineffectual. Meanwhile, on the other ridge, another force gathers - these ones larger, with spiderlike heads. THARIUST is at their back, exhorting them onward.]
DI'FIER: Garto! The other leader!
GARTO: I'm on her!
[DI'FIER climbs up and begins to charge, his MILITIAMEN following him. GARTO speaks in Dwarven again, sending another fireball arcing towards them. It explodes, burning the TWISTED ONES, but again the Pure One is unharmed.]
GARTO: Are all these damn elves fireproof?
[DI'FIER and the MILITIAMEN run into a group of the most elven-looking of the TWISTED ONES - cavalry mounted on reptilian steeds. DI'FIER pulls up short, his blade appearing by magic in his hand, and speaks a word, which is quickly drowned out by the gale-force winds blasting from his mouth and slamming into the TWISTED ONES. The leader tries to take shelter behind his shield, but frost forms on it and it shatters. The entire troop slowly topples to one side or the other.]
[Brief shot of two of the MILITIAMEN looking at each other - they had no idea that their leige lord had this kind of power.]
[DI'FIER is looking around when five streaks of golden energy slam into him from above, sending him to one knee. He looks up to see THARION, battered and bloody from his fall. Still on one knee, DI'FIER speaks a word, and suddenly everyone around him slows. He hoists himself to his feet, pointing at THARION.]
DI'FIER: Svent'arcaniss!
[A pulsing stream of golden light flies from DI'FIER's fingers, resolving into five golden darts. They illuminate Tharion's face as he starts to throw up an arm in an attempt to shield himself - and then they fizzle out just before impact. THARION, still in slow motion, lowers his arm - and then the world speeds up again as we see his look of glee for half a second before an explosion echoes through the cavern and it disappears in a spray of blood.]
[CUT to DRU, a smoking pistol still leveled at the toppling corpse.]
DRU: Resist that.
NOTES:
1) Some house rules in evidence here - dispelling fly doesn't drop you gently in the Freeportverse.
2) Di'Fier cast the perfect Magic Missile. He rolled the damage - all the dice came up 4. The look on everyone's face was indescribable when I told him he had to make a caster level check...and he rolled a '1', failing to penetrate Tharion's SR.
[Montage of images as the two forces grow closer together: THARION and THARIUST meeting with a third Pure One - QUIRILASH, head of the watchtower - superimposed on the image of their troops moving through the cavern below; FADE to DRU talking to FOWLER as the MERCENARIES rappel down a cliff behind her; FADE to the TWISTED ONES as they ford a narrow stream; FADE to the MERCENARY LEADERS, spitting mad at each other, with DRU and DI'FIER between trying to mediate; FADE to FOWLER creeping through the darkness.]
[A light noise. FOWLER freezes, then creeps forward a bit more. Through his darkvision, we see that he has entered a large cavern, down the center of which a small canyon runs, flanked to either side by 'hills' - a perfect place for an ambush. At the far side, a stone bridge crosses arches over a narrow river. Nervously, the gnome proceeds, and his attention flicks up and to the right - we see movement behind some rocks. FOWLER slowly turns and creeps back the way he came.]
EXT - CAVERN
[DRU stands sharpening her sword, looking up as FOWLER comes jogging into the camp.]
DRU: What is it?
FOWLER (picking up his pack and blunderbuss): Fowler sees ambush ahead.
DI'FIER (approaching): Ambush?
FOWLER (nods): Fowler only saw a few, but could have been more, hidden.
DRU: There's no alternate routes.
DI'FIER: I was afraid you'd say that.
DRU: We'll have to go right through them.
DI'FIER: I was even more afraid you were going to say that. But who's going to spring the trap?
DRU (to MERCENARIES): Jaren!
[The leader of the MERCENARIES steps forward, adjusting his back-slung scabbard.]
JAREN: Aye?
DRU: Time to earn some hazard pay.
EXT - CAVERN
[The same cavern that FOWLER explored before. JAREN and the others have their blades out, shields ready. Two of them men bear torches instead of swords. They creep forward, slowly, into the darkness whichs eems to swallow them.]
[CUT to a scene of DI'FIER, DRU, EGIL and the others waiting tensely in the dark.]
DI'FIER (to EGIL): Be ready.
EGIL: The cavern will be as bright as day.
[CUT back to the MERCENARIES, almost invisible in the darkness. A tiny speck of glowing red arcs towards them.]
DI'FIER (v.o.): NO!
[Fire explodes outward, silhouetting the MERCENARIES and scattering them. We hear EGIL chanting, and a brilliant glow erupts, as if the sun had just lit up. THARION hovers in midair at the source of the fireball, flinching at the light. GARTO cries in Dwarven, and a fireball heads towards him, exploding.]
[CUT to flames, which clear to reveal THARION, hovering in midair, unscathed.]
GARTO: The bastard's protected from fire!
DI'FIER (eyes locked on THARION, shouts and gestures): Valignat arcaniss!
[THARION seems to wobble in midair as streams of mystical energy unwrap from his body - then he plummets to the ground.]
DI'FIER: Not any more.
DRU: Kreth! Hold the bridge! Zaetra, your archers - cover them!
[KRETH and the serpentmen charge forward, spears ready. The elves step out of hiding, their bows rising simultaneously to the same angle - then they let fly, and arrows begin to rain down on top of one of the ridges. The falling arrows bring a tide of TWISTED ONES to the edge - tke silk-armored, four-armed creatures, each bearing javelins which they launch into the air. Most fall short, ineffectual. Meanwhile, on the other ridge, another force gathers - these ones larger, with spiderlike heads. THARIUST is at their back, exhorting them onward.]
DI'FIER: Garto! The other leader!
GARTO: I'm on her!
[DI'FIER climbs up and begins to charge, his MILITIAMEN following him. GARTO speaks in Dwarven again, sending another fireball arcing towards them. It explodes, burning the TWISTED ONES, but again the Pure One is unharmed.]
GARTO: Are all these damn elves fireproof?
[DI'FIER and the MILITIAMEN run into a group of the most elven-looking of the TWISTED ONES - cavalry mounted on reptilian steeds. DI'FIER pulls up short, his blade appearing by magic in his hand, and speaks a word, which is quickly drowned out by the gale-force winds blasting from his mouth and slamming into the TWISTED ONES. The leader tries to take shelter behind his shield, but frost forms on it and it shatters. The entire troop slowly topples to one side or the other.]
[Brief shot of two of the MILITIAMEN looking at each other - they had no idea that their leige lord had this kind of power.]
[DI'FIER is looking around when five streaks of golden energy slam into him from above, sending him to one knee. He looks up to see THARION, battered and bloody from his fall. Still on one knee, DI'FIER speaks a word, and suddenly everyone around him slows. He hoists himself to his feet, pointing at THARION.]
DI'FIER: Svent'arcaniss!
[A pulsing stream of golden light flies from DI'FIER's fingers, resolving into five golden darts. They illuminate Tharion's face as he starts to throw up an arm in an attempt to shield himself - and then they fizzle out just before impact. THARION, still in slow motion, lowers his arm - and then the world speeds up again as we see his look of glee for half a second before an explosion echoes through the cavern and it disappears in a spray of blood.]
[CUT to DRU, a smoking pistol still leveled at the toppling corpse.]
DRU: Resist that.
NOTES:
1) Some house rules in evidence here - dispelling fly doesn't drop you gently in the Freeportverse.
2) Di'Fier cast the perfect Magic Missile. He rolled the damage - all the dice came up 4. The look on everyone's face was indescribable when I told him he had to make a caster level check...and he rolled a '1', failing to penetrate Tharion's SR.
