Little Psionic Keep on the Borderlands

[James McMurray]

They push their way through the thick branches that have overgrown the bridge, and come out into a well cleared and cleaned area. Up ahead on the bridge are two men wearing brightly colored clothes over leather armor. Nadeem drops into a fighting stance but the man on the right calls out, “Hello there! Welcome to Rusva Nias!”

Taken aback at the friendly greeting, the party parlays with caution. They find out that these men work for Conrad, who was trapped here by the elves before their city fell. Conrad supplies them with food, drink, and even women (but only when asked for). In return they greet travelers and take them to meet Conrad.

The party decides to use these two as their path to the chained being and see what happens.

The two ex-bandits lead the group past a well-kept noble’s tree house and into the palace. At the bottom of a flight of stairs the party finds a shut door whose archway is covered in runes. They are leery of walking through, but the two men spur them on and lead the way. Seeing it is safe the group continues into the palace’s basement / dungeon.

The large chamber at the base of the stairs is large but sparsely furnished. The outer area is empty wood, but the center contains a fine rug, bookcase, desk and bed. Seated at the desk is a slender man with pointed ears. He is tied to a ring in the floor by two tiny ribbons of silk, and his head is slumped forward over the desk in weariness.

Between the group and Conrad stands a large ogre dressed in silver and iron piecemeal armor. The ogre turns towards the elf. “Pardon me sir, but it appears that you have visitors.” Conrad looks up and his eyes brighten.

“Hello there good sirs. What brings you here?”

The party explains that they are exploring, and they learn of the treachery of the nobles and the pact that brought the city prosperity and then ruin. Conrad offers to fulfill their wishes however he can if they would free him. But it will not be easy, as the ribbon is immune to nonmagical attack and encased in an antimagic shield.

Nadeem has heard legends of soul knives who could create their mind blades even with no energy in the air, and he tries. The first time he swings his blade it fizzles into nothingness and Conrad’s spirits drop. But the second time it slices cleanly through the ribbon.

Out of the corner of their eyes the party sees the ogre grow slightly larger and his head grow slightly bigger. Its wish to be smarter and stronger is being fulfilled. Nadeem swings again and the second ribbon breaks.

Conrad shouts in joy and triumph, and then hi face becomes business. “I have promised you a boon, what would you have of me?”

Nadeem wishes to be more agile, and it is so. Lord Djonnimar revels his inner desires by wishing for riches. The large sack of platinum coins that appears at his feet is almost too heavy for him to carry. Vides wishes to be more charismatic and stronger, and it is so.

Tor and The Duerf are torn as to what to ask for, and so Conrad gives them each a small silver rod. He tells them to break it when they have decided and he will come to them. He thanks the party again, and learning that they are mercenaries tells them he will come to them if he finds himself in need of aid. He then tell them that he is ready to exact his revenge, but will wait until the party has left the city before completing the bargain.

Ever vengeful, the party heads to the roof of the palace with the intent to hunt down and kill all of the griffins. But when they get there and find at least 4 griffins sitting in nests and 5 more circling lazily in the sky, they decide to just leave.

As their feet hit the ground by the ladder into Rusva Nias, the ground behind them erupts in a curtain of fire. The flames shoot to the sky, and when they subside there is only ash. Rusva Nias is no more.

 

[James McMurray]

The day after the party's return from Rusva Nias, Tahm receives a sealed and stamped letter from the Castellan.

Dearest Lord Djonnimar,

The Castellan graciously requests your presence tomorrow at the noon hour. You may bring your mercenary group if you wish, as it is a matter of business.

Jarvis Ketch,
Advisor to Castellan Woodridge

Tahm tells everyone else about it, and the group goes into the Inner Bailey the next day. The grounds of the bailey are trampled flat, and a quick glance around shows this to have been caused by troops. Across the inner bailey are several large groups of men practicing horseback fighting, halberd formations, archery, and the heavy crossbow. A single strip of lush green grass leads from the wrought iron gate to the front of the Castellan's Castle.

The group is ushered inside and into a large meeting hall. At the head of a table sits a smallish man, who looks up as the mercenaries enter. "Welcome friends, As you probably already surmised, I have a business proposition for you. Recently a band of slavers have been raiding near Corbet, the last stop on the supply lines into our keep. Although they have not impacted trade to here, it is not something I'd like to see continued. I have learned that they base themselves in my lands, and they have not contribute the proper percentages of taxes. As such, I would like to make an example of them. That is where you come in.

"We have an inside man in their organization, and he has supplied us with maps both to their encampment in a temple, and a map of the temple itself. He has also assured me that one week from today he will be able to divert the main bulk of the guards to outside duties. He is not sure how long he will be able t keep them out, but it should make it slightly easier for you to move about the place. Not everyone will be gone, but at least the armed patrols around the halls will be.

Unfortunately our man has not been there long enough to gather full details of the dungeon beneath the church where the group's leaders are holed up, but I am quite confident in your ability to handle whatever they have down there.

Although it appalls me to have to resort to such measures, the only thing that these men will understand is brutality. I ask that you plant the heads of the group's leaders on pikes outside the front of the temple. Then open this bottle and return here when it is done.

I can pay you in coin or goods, whichever you prefer. My associate Mr. Ketch s skilled in the ways of artifice, and can provide you with psionic goods if that is what you wish. If not, 5,000 gold shall be your bounty. And of course you may keep anything that you find there, but for one item. One of the leaders is wearing a ring that I would have. Bring it to me and I shall give you another 1,000 gold as payment. The ring is solid platinum and bears the symbol of a falling comet.

Are these terms acceptable to you Lord Djonnimar?"

 

[omrob]

Oh yeah...

Are these terms acceptable to you Lord Djonnimar?"

[Low-Level Character replies] "Oh yeah, that'll be fine."

I like this party's use of "tactical redeployment" as needed. Federico is always ready to get the upper hand miles away from harm.

 

[James McMurray]

Federico?

EDIT: Sorry, I just saw your sig.

I've been impressed witht he party's tactics this campaign as well. In general our group is a "kill 'em all in as up-front a manner as possible" type of game.

 

[James McMurray]

Tahm agrees, and the group is given a rough map of the slavers’ base. It is a burnt out stronghold to the South east of Ironside Keep. They are told that the map was delivered to them by carrier pigeon from an insider in the slaver base. The informant was to follow the map in with more detailed information, but only managed to send a note giving a time and day when guard patrols would be weakened. The party sets out, and finds themselves at a secret back entrance the day of the diversion.

Tor takes the lead, and opens the door. Behind is another secret door, but this one is not hidden from this side. When Tor moves to open it, a loud SPRANG is heard, and a spiked board slams itself through the door into Tor’s arm. However, he is unharmed due to his psychic vigor. The group moves inward.

To the right is a room with a boarded up door, which the party decides to leave alone. Their map shows the door opening into a large courtyard with no other exists. To the left they find a room with a door whose hinges and metal fittings have melted, firmly securing the door. Tor slams his shoulder into the door and is surprised when it falls inward with little resistance. He stumbles, but maintains his footing, just in time to see 3 rotting mobile corpses leap from ledges above. The stench threatens to overwhelm the mercenary band, but they persevere.

Tor is clawed by one of the creatures and an unnatural chill fills his bones, dropping him to the floor. The rest of the group moves up, and although Duerf succumbs to the stench and Tahm is paralyzed by the cold, the party still manages to destroy the foul ghouls and their ghast master.

After a few moment the two fallen member stand back up, and the group presses onwards. In th next room they find that the floor has collapsed and a makeshift bridge of beams goes across a cellar thirty feet down below. Tor tries to take the right-hand wall, but falls into the cellar. Nadeem eases across the left hand wall and then tosses Tor a rope. The remainder of the group easily navigates the left-hand wall. Up ahead they find a large patch of sunflowers growing in a lightless room. Tor’s eyes waver and shift, and he sees a party filled with good food and even better women. He walks in and begins to mingle, confusing his friends.

The plant in the room lashes out with several mind blasts, and a pale gray work whose head is a mass of teeth slithers out from behind it. The battle rages and the large plant is beaten into quiescence. The party continues forward and into the stables, where they kill several ½ orcs. One of them tries to flee, but Lord Tahm lays him low with an energy missile.

They continue their exploration, killing a few more ½ orcs and exploring a large garden. Lord Tahm moves ahead and the plants of the garden move to block his retreat. Trusting in his friends to catch up to him, Tahm continues and checks out the crypt. Inside he finds stairs leading downward, and a flesh harrower intent on devouring him. He begins to fight defensively and awaits his friends’ arrival.

 

[James McMurray]

His friends arrive and kill the harrower with very little damage to Tahm himself. As the battle ends, a dark-skinned dwarf stomps his foot and appears in the middle of the room next to Vides. The dwarf wears brightly colored full plate and carries a large shield. In a cheery but somewhat manic voice he says, “Hello there friend. Welcome to the slaver’s outpost! I’m Argol, and you must be the raiders sent by Castellan Woodridge. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to explain the map, but I was engaged in the pressing business of distracting the guards. I’m not sure how long they’ll remain gone, but for now we should have fairly free run of the joint.”

The group introduces themselves warily, and heads down the stairs into unlit caverns with their new companion in tow. They learn that Argol was not trusted enough to travel unattended in the lower levels, instead being always blindfolded except when talking to the leader or his second in command. Without a guide, they follow their maxim “right is right.” Turning right, they find a room filled with spare food, and a trapdoor in the ceiling. They elect to continue exploring the lower level before checking out the hatch.

Back down the tunnel they find a room with a large udoroot and several harrowers. Deciding they do not need to waste resources on an unmoving foe, they flee for now. The flesh harrowers guarding their mother plant do not pursue.

In another small series of caverns, they find and fight several more harrowers. As the battle is joined, it becomes apparent that they have invaded some sort of breeding area, as the large toothed-mawed worms pour out of every tunnel into their room. It is a long and hard fight, and the party is sore pressed. They manage to survive with no casualties, but it has taken so much of their resources that they are forced to leave the area. They know that when they return they’ll be unable to count on not having any patrols roaming the halls and tunnels.

They return to camp and decide that The Duerf should remain behind and safe. He will act as a bas camp and medic of sorts, where the party can return for healing should they need it.

 

[James McMurray]

The next day the group slips back into the slaver’s stockade. The upper area is still empty, and they head down the stairs again. Exploring a few dead ends, they finally come across a strange room.

A sewer moat surrounds a central platform, with four bridges at each cardinal point. In the center is a man standing beside a desk. All around is a small flock of what looks to be lamprey eels. The eels burrow up and down through the ground, swimming through earth like fish. Also in the room are eight orcs: four in the front of the room and four I the back. All eight hold crossbows at the ready.

The scouting Nadeem waves the group forward, and Vides asks if he should send constructs forward first. His call definitely alerts the guards if they were not already aware of the party’s approach. The front four orcs head towards the tunnel and Nadeem puts a soul blade into one’s throat. The others crowd the tunnel, drawing swords and pushing each other in their eagerness to draw blood.

The orcs prove to be no math for Nadeem and an astral construct created by Vides. Before Vides can create another one, the land lampreys burrow up through the ground. One latches onto Argol, but is quickly blasted by Tahm. Another latches onto Tor and begins to suck the lifeblood from the psychic warrior. It is soon killed be Nadeem, but not before it does its dirty work, leaving Tor feeling weakened and fatigued.

Vides sends forth another construct, but two bright flashes explode forth from the room. Nobody sees what happened, but when they enter the room the party finds that there are no more constructs. Vides creates another, and the party moves in to fight orcs and several flesh harrowers who appear to have come through double doors at the far end of the room.

As they fight, the man that had been standing at the desk appears out of thin air, his fist outstretched towards Nadeem. A shimmering star of fire and light shoots out of a comet signet ring and slams into the soul knife. It explodes in a burst that sends Tor and Nadeem reeling, and also explodes one of the harrowers.

Tor charges the slaver and take a mighty swing. The slaver again raises the ring and a shower of electrical sparks lashes out at Nadeem and Tor, sending their muscles into spasms as the electricity overrides their normal impulses and clenches every muscle tight. They shake it off but are still pained. Tor attacks again but the agile man evades the blows.

Meanwhile Vides’ construct is attacking orcs and flesh harrowers. Orcs die almost instantly but the more resilient harrowers prove tougher to kill. Tahm, unable to get a lear shot, holds back and waits defensively for an opening.

The slaver rumbles away and quaffs a potion, disappearing into thin air. Nadeem hurls his blade to the spot where the man disappeared, and it connects. The results of the blow are unseen, but a grunt of pain lets them know the man is not amused. Throughout the room orcs are dying and flesh harrowers are stubbornly refusing to do the same.

Vides presses forward through the doorway and enters a hall. At the end of the hall he finds a strange room. The floor is made up of 1’ wide beams. Below floor level are cages holding human prisoners. Balanced on the beams are several orcs and two humans. On wears full plate, the other an aristocrat’s outfit. As Vides calls out his find, the walls of the cages fold upwards, creating a full floor. The full plated warrior charges forward and slams his bastard sword into the wilder, as the floors drop back down. Behind Vides a shimmering curtain of electricity appears, and sparks from it lash out at him.

The man he chased appears again, with his comet ring pointed at Vides. A shimmering orb of light hurtles forth, but misses Vides. The resulting fireball still hurts, but nowhere near as bad as it would have had it been a direct hit. Vides lashes out and kills the enemy. Vides moves up and grabs the ring off of the man’s hand, stowing it in his backpack to deliver to Castellan Woodridge as ordered.

The fight with the warrior continues and the rest of the group moves forward, except for Tor, who fights a seemingly unending battle with the remaining harrower, both combatants unable to land a telling blow.

Tahm tries twice to remove the curtain of energy but fails, and he decides to step though. He comes out he other side with muscles clenched tight, and the enemy psion creates another wall of electricity, trapping Tahm, Vides, and the warrior. Their battle is waged across the double-doored passageway, and doors are both opened and closed to block escape routs and wall emanations.

The enemy psion’s head pokes itself out of the floor between the two walls of electricity, and he tries unsuccessfully to brain lock Vides. The enemy fighter is killed, and one of Tahm’s energy rays passes harmlessly through the incorporeal foe.

The rest of the group finally arrives at the battle, and Nadeem’s mind blade strikes home, slamming into the bodiless foe. Finding himself outnumbered, the slaver flees through the floor.

The group pushes forward into the room, with Nadeem easily balancing his way across he beams to a door. Inside the door is a flesh harrower and several metal levers. The harrower lashes out at Nadeem, who is hurt but avoids falling. Tor run around the walls and into the chamber. The two psychics easily finish off the harrower, and operate the levers to raise the floors so the remainder of the party can catch up.

In the next room the party finds more cages filled with slaves, as well as two storage rooms. The slaves have not seen the enemy’s flight, sot he party decides to flee the slaves and retreat to rest. They use rope found in the storage rooms to free the slaves from the pit room, and lead them all to the surface.

On the way out they are attacked by more of the land lampreys. Several of the slaves are killed, and Tor is yet again sucked on. This time he is left almost dead, and the group flees the surviving lampreys in the corridor. They reach the top without further incident, and return to The Duerf’s base camp. The slaves are given directions back to town and sent on their way. Lord Djonnimar tells them the if any of them are looking for work, they can contact him. A few express interest.

 

[James McMurray]

The next day the group returns and luckily avoids guard patrols. Having fully explored the underground area they head to the trap door they found. Direction sense tells them that it will most likely open into the section of the stockade that was separated from where they snuck in.

Above the trap door is a hallway, which Nadeem scouts out. He finds one burnt out room with fallen and rickety beams, which he elects not to explore. The earlier experiences with rubble filled rooms has made hi wisely cautious. Heading back the other way down the hall he finds a door, behind which can be heard guttural voices. He waves the party forward and Vides summons a construct with the orders to go in and attack.

Nadeem opens the door. Inside are two half-orcs and several humans. One half-orc is wearing studded leather armor and cracking a whip at the human slaves that are shackled to the walls. The other is wearing full plate and giving him orders.

Vides’s construct follows its orders, moving into the room and attacking the first thing it can reach: a chained human. Unfortunately, Vides’s surge dazed him and he cannot call the creature off.

Nadeem moves in and throws his blade at the one brandishing the whip. Tor also moves in and meets the full-plated warrior in battle. In unison, the humans chained to the walls reach behind themselves and draw short swords from hidden recesses. Their fake chains are pulled from the walls and they move in to attack.

The half-orc with the whip drops his prop and draws a sword, moving into position to flank Nadeem. When he gets there, he plants his blade firmly into the soul knife’s side. The warrior priest also attacks, missing the agile xeph.

Tahm moves forward and begins systematically killing humans with energy missiles, while Vides regains his senses and attacks as well. It isn’t long before the false slaves and their “masters” are all lying dead on the floor.

Continuing his scouting Nadeem finds a section of hallway with a collapsed floor. Raw sewage floats through the tunnel below, and at the far end is a door. Electing not to swim to the door, he returns to the room and opens the only remaining exit.

Behind the door is an ancient garden. The trees are all dead and bare, and the ground is choked with weeds. Sitting in the trees are four filthy winged women. Despite their hideous appearances, their voices raise in captivating song, and everyone but Lord Djonnimar finds themselves drawn inexorably towards the women.

Tor is the first to reach his goal, and he is welcomed there with two sound blows from a club. The song continues, and he waits patiently for his mistress to rain more wonderful blows upon his head.

Lord Tahm moves forward and energy missiles two of the harpies. The are wounded but not killed, and the harpies leave off from killing their captivated prey. Swooping and dodging, they assault the kineticist. Each one in turn flies past him, swinging with her club, landing blows more often than not. In return, Tahm lashes out with blasts of fire. The harpies seem to have learned quickly that if they are too close he can hit both of them. One of the harpies dies, and her captive is freed. With more than one person attacking, the group soon overwhelms the remaining harpies. As the group searhes the area, Argol moves back into the room with the dead slaves and searches one of the ha;f-orc bodies briefly, before returning to the group empty-handed.

They proceed cautiously through the remainder of the garden, but not before Tor takes the opportunity to do a little scouting. He runs up the wall and onto the roof, where he spies a courtyard. Inside are several orcs and half-orcs. They are near overturned tables and the half-orcs are manning a large contraption. A covered wagon with a large bellows points towards the doorway.

The group gathers together and heads in for their assault. Nadeem moves forward, drops prone, and opens the door. Several crossbow bolts fly over his head, and alchemist’s fire splashes near his head. The group moves in and makes short work of their foes, leaving the courtyard smoking from where the liquid fire dropped.

A closed portcullis blocks the exit to the courtyard, but large double doors draw the explorers forward. Nadeem opens the door, finding a long hallway lined with alcoves. In each alcove is a statue. The statues alternate between orcs and gargoyles. Each orc holds a different weapon, poised to attack the hall, while each gargoyle is perched on its toes, ready to pounce.

Fearing a magical trap, Tor buffs himself up and moves in. He destroys the first two statues with no resistance, and then decides just to hit each one once, reckoning that if it is actually alive, it will react when hit. He moves forward and hits 12 of them, with Tahm at his side. When he moves to hit the 13th several gouts of fire lash out at the surrounding statues. Each statue rocks on its base and falls forward. One brushes strongly against Tor, and another drops squarely onto Tahm, crushing him beneath its weight. The rest of the group (except Vides) moves forward.

At the far end of the corridor are two more double doors. When they are opened, the party finds themselves in a large altar room. Raised high on a dais is a statue of a bloated bat-winged, goat-headed man brandishing a sword over his head.

Arranged in fighting positions are 3 full plated half-orcs. Behind them and to the right of the dais stands a woman in full plate. Behind them and to the left of the altar is a human wearing a scholar’s outfit.

Nadeem and Tor move in, Tor’s charge killing a fighter before he can even react. Nadeem’s soul blade slams into the priestess, but she recovers quickly. A shimmering wall of electricity appears across the doorway, blocking the remainder of the group’s access. Meanwhile in the hallway, Argol unleashes a fearsome mind thrust at Vides. The strong-willed wilder shakes it off and calls out the treachery before returning fire with a crystalline shard.
Just when the group begins to realize that they are out-numbered and out-gunned, a huge troll jumps out from a tiny poor box beside the entryway, blocking off Nadeem’s retreat. The party decides to exercise the better part of virtue and everyone makes for the exits. Tor rushes through the shimmering wall of sparks and comes out the other side shaken but not badly hurt. Nadeem tumbles around the troll, which takes a swipe at him but misses. The priestess attempts to stop his escape with a blast of sound that leaves him shaken. It fails to stun him as intended though.

Out in the hallway, the scholarly human has walked casually through the wall of sparks unharmed. He tries in vain to lock Vides’ brain in place, which would leave him as easy prey for the remainder of the group.

Out in the courtyard Tor speeds his escape by heading over the walls and out into the surrounding wilderness. He makes for camp to meet the party later. As he flees, he looks over his shoulder and sees the scholarly psion flying through the roof and over the courtyard. As the party flees under him, the psion again tries to grab a mind, but Nadeem shrugs the assault off and continues his flight. The psion dips through the floor, and when Nadeem rounds a corner he sees a familiar head poking out of a wall. This time he is unable to shake off the assault, and he stops in his tracks, mindless and dazed.

Lord Tahm rounds the corner and sends a small gout of flames towards the head, the last of his power for the day. It splashes against the wall harmlessly, and when the psion sends Nadeem into the future with Time Hop, Lord Djonnimar knows he will be unable to save the Xeph and flees.

A little over a minute later Nadeem returns to the time stream and finds himself yet again held frozen by the mind of his powerful adversary. The full plated fighters grab his unresponsive form and carry it back to the altar room. The priestess reaches into a hidden cubbyhole behind the statue and draws forth a pulsating and slimy egg sac. She breaks it next to Nadeem’s arm and he can only watch helplessly as a fist-sized slug ozzes out and onto his hand. It slowly makes its way under his shirt, where it nestles itself comfortably up against his spine.

He feels the slightest of pricks, less than that of a hungry mosquito, and suddenly he is in heaven. This creature is not disgusting at all. It is in fact his only true friend, the love of his life, and the only family he has ever had all rolled into one. For the love of this heavenly being Nadeem will do anything. He looks around the room as his newfound friends welcome him to the fold.