Werewolf_26
First Post
Here is a summary/session log of the adventures that I am running. The campaign world is one of my own making, fleshed out by the various adventuring parties over the years (game and real time). I hope ya’ll enjoy them.
The Current Political situation is rather chaotic. The Empire of Emperor Rondran Morenstern I was recently founded (9-11 ADD) and peace has not graced his rule yet. His wife and queen, Empress Kaylyn Von Vidrake-Morenstern, had a terrible past and if it was not for the efforts of the Heroes of Paradur (one of the various titles of the party) she would have parished in a rather horrible situation. Her terrible past included spending her younger days as a Half-Orc Chieftan’s adopted daughter (reason and story gets kinda intricate, but I will explain) performing all of the typical raids, slaughters, and pillages that the Orcs of the Northern Lands are known for. The Heroes rescued her from this life, showed her the heritage that she was unaware of, and assisted her in reclaiming her throne after being assured of her reform.
During Kaylyn’s younger days, the Half-Orc was also entrusted with a dwarven princess. Kaylyn didn’t get along with the dwarf, going so far as to inconvience her when she was younger and torture the dwarf when she was older. The Dwarven Princess hated the human with almost all of her heart.
The Human Princess Kaylyn and the dwarven princess were rescued from the orcs at the same time, but the dwarven princess used her influence to cut off all contact with Kaylyn’s father’s lands. During the time that she cut off contact, she rallied the dwarves into a frenzy against the Humans of the Vidrake Kingdom. This took many years to pull off, but eventually she convinced the majority of the kingdom that it was right to war with the "ex-orc queen".
During the years the Dwarven Princess was campaigning for war, Kaylyn made several life changes. She attends many of the good aligned temples regularly, donates heavily to all good causes, used her late-father’s tax money to make many improvements to the kingdom. She was trying to turn over a new leaf, as they say. Her days of leading Orcs to raid villages were over. She wasn’t like that anymore.
The Kingdom of Holm was in turmoil soon after Princess Kaylyn became Queen. The leaders of that kingdom had determined via oracles and divinations that it was the right time to invade Paradur (the Hero’s Homeland). Queen Kaylyn lead her father’s armies south to Paradur and aided the Party in defeating the horde of warriors that poured out of Holm.
Since the Party was sworn to Rondran’s Father, The King sent his son to train under the Great Heroes. This is how Rondran became aware of the beautiful Queeen Kaylyn. She looked as though she had not aged past her early twenties, but tales accounted her age being in the upper thirty’s or forties. She looked absolutely enchanting to him, so he chose to court her after he left the Party’s ranks, even with the strange tales surrounding her.
Rondran’s father died of old age not to long after the wedding of Rondran and Kaylyn. The combined diplomatic efforts of Rondran, Kaylyn, and the Party brought about the forming of the first empire in Azurison’s history (most of the kingdom’s major cities had been destroyed by an ill tempered red dragon known in legend only as "Big Red"). From that point on, Emperor Rondran and the Empress sought to include others in the empire, with goals of peace, prosperity, and commerce in mind.
The Empire began its first steps, but a thorn twists itself towards its uneasy feet. Due to an assassination performed by humans baring the Vidrake seals, the dwarven princess is made Queen. The Queen pressed the grieving masses of her people towards war as a means of revenge and they listened. Her diplomats in strange foreign lands had brought forth many new allies against the growing empire and her forces were already assembled from the years spent preparing for the war.
The Dwarves quickly began suprise assaults on several human strongholds recently.
(This small history gives a basic reason to why the Queen is ticked off at the Empress. The Queen also does not believe that the Empress is reformed and nothing will convince her of it.)
After a temporary retirement our heroes take up their swords again (Various titles include: the Heroes of Paradur, the Knights of Doom, the Brozne Dragoons, THEM, The Heroes, Deamoni’s Party, the Saviours of Aristria, Azurison’s Champions, and others that are screamed by dying or angry villains.) to defend the Empire. The decision came after a contingent of dwarven assassins made their way to the various homes of the heroes to slay them. The dwarves failed and were captured in some cases. After some interrogation, it was found out that the Dwarven Queen sent them. Her plan was to take out the most powerful of the Emperor’s Allies and lower the moral of his forces by defeating the heroes they have looked up to for 20+ years.
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The High Level Party:
Lady/Countess Deamoni "Snake Licker / Dragon Candy" Salsbane-Vanderburg-Marshfox, Protector of the city of Shore, Wife to Royal Prince (due to marrage) Rasmus Vanderburg, Elven Warrioress, One under the effects of Warris’s Font (now ageless), Master of the Elven Thinblade (Aristocrat 3, Wizard 1, Ranger 1, Fighter 8, Gladiator 3, Knight of the Middle Circle 2). Party Occupation: Diplomat & Hit Point Sponge.
King Delta Valentine, Ruler of Aristria, husband to Queen Arista. Human in reincarnated Elven Body. (Fighter 8, Paladin 2, Sorcerer 4, Blade Dancer 2). Party Occupation: Leader-type, Master of Mobile Combat, Secondary healer, Diplomat.
Lady Jun, Queen of Black Dragon Castle, wife to the cleric Thomas Coril. Human, Under the effects of Warris’s Font (now ageless) (Fighter 10, Barbarian 5, Ranger 1). Party Occupation: Melee Tank.
Lady Veronica, Defensive Sorceress and Warrior. (Sorcerer 10, Fighter 5). Party Occupation: N/A (player rarely shows up enough to carve out a niche in the party)
Lao Kin, Baron of the town of Riverton, Husband to Talvada Eltrid, Elven Cleric of Osig (Cleric 11, Contemplative X, Lore Master X). Party Occupation: Healer, Diplomat, Defensive and Offensive caster.
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In response to the late night assassination attempt, Lady Jun summoned Lady Veronica to her castle. They soon found that they were both targets of different dwarven assassins. After a bit of planning, Jun decided that they could end the war with the dwarves rather quickly if they could converse with the Dwarven Queen.
Veronica summoned forth the arcane powers at her command and scried upon the Queen. As the image came into focus, they discovered that the little dwarf was sleeping. Jun felt that this was an appropriate time to suprise the Dwarven Queen, as the assassins she sent attacked Jun while she was sleeping as well.
The Pair of Adventurer’s prepared to teleport into the chamber of the queen, hoping to confront her and force a truce with her. Veronica held Jun’s arm as she spoke the incantations for the teleportation spell. . .
Each felt the strange feeling associated with teleportation, something they had become used to over the years. But then they felt something NEW. It felt like being spun quickly around after running into a wall. When the pair ceased their travel, the world was dark around them.
The clatter of a falling torch greated them. In the dim light of the torch they could see their surroundings: four very smooth walls and an uneven floor. A gruff voice called out from beyond the darkness, "Welcome, my prisoners, to the dungeon. Please place ALL of your belongings in this large basket we are lowering
down. We want full cooperation ladies. The basket also contains your new wardrobe; prisoners clothing."
The Adventurers panicked and Veronica chanted the words to her teleportation spell. She suddenly felt powerless, as the magical energies she could normally channel were no were to be found. They began to worry.
Veronica called back to the voice, "And what happens if we don’t cooperate?"
Another torch lit in response to her question, revealing a large metal grating covering the ten foot wide cieling to their cell. A rolling sound approached the edge of the pit, bringing a large flexible pipe into view. The dwarves chuckled as they pulled and reset a heavy lever somewhere else down the hall. Before the lever was reset, a liquid poured out from the pipe and landed the far corner of the cell. The liquid hissed and sizzled as it pooled in the corner.
Quickly, the adventurer’s placed all their worldly belongings into the basket and changed into the prisoners garb. Jun demanded to speak to the queen, but the guard only laughed, "She’ll see you when she feels like it. Your our prisoner now, so behave like one."
The torch continued to burn for a short while longer, then it faded leaving the pair in darkness.
Time passed more quickly for Deamoni, who quickly thwarted her assassin and sent him packing with a message for the Dwarven Queen. With her current courtly duties fufilled, Deamoni decided to take a trip to the kingdom of Vashon, which lied far to the south and was across a great sea. She invited Lao Kin and his wizardess wife, Talvada, to go with her. The Trio teleported to the grand city of Vashon. Once they arrived, the sea breeze greeted them with the smell of sea water and fish. A brief journey through the city brought them to the inner keep, where the guards showed them to a waiting chamber. An hour passed before the royal prince of Vashon entered the chamber.
The small party greeted the prince, but they expected King Henry. With a heavy heart, the Prince explained that he was the new king. His mother had been stabbed by a hand maiden assassin, but the wound was unpoisoned and not fatal; or so they thought. Several weeks later, a strange wolf-beast was found devouring the king in his bed chamber and the royal guards slew the beast. It quickly changed back into a human, proving that it was a lycanthrope, but the human was his mother. Apparently, the hand maiden’s dagger had been cursed and the curse transfered to the Queen. Due to his elder sister still recovering from the arcane ceremony that removed the terrible power that had been given to her by the Villainous mage, Azure Blackthorn, Prince Henry became King Henry II.
Deamoni was outraged by the news, as she had warned the old King to beware of lycanthropes and shape changers upon their last meeting. King Henry II also warned the party that the nobles of his land and a good amount of the people wanted to war with the Empire, fearing that it would try to take their lands by force. All that they wait for now is the propper omen to signal the right time to strike.
With this horrible news, Lao Kin and Talvada returned home. Deamoni wished to see the recovering princess. She had assisted Eward the Mage in perfroming th ceremony that removed the magical powers that his apprentice Azure had given the young and spiteful princess. The ceremony had left the princess quivering, frightened out of her mind, as it had involved pulling amounts of energy from the negative planes to drain away her power. Deamoni felt that the Princess’s condition was one of her failures as an adventurer, and she was concerned for her friend’s daughter. She had known Queen Sularra for 20 years and wished to be a friend of her daughter, unfortuantely the princess and Deamoni had first met as adversaries. Now the Princess was kept in a tower of the castle and carefully monitored.
The Guards escorted Deamoni to the tower that Princess Sularra II now dwelt in. The chamber in which Deamoni entered was rather large, with tall canvas walls sectioning off the grand room into smaller chambers. The sound of chisel and hammer could be heard in the distance. A grand statue stood in the back chamber, with a young lady chiseling the leg of the statue out of the stone. The young lady turned around slowly, smiling. The Princess appeared to be quiet happy that Deamoni was there to visit. Sularra stated that the adepts of the castle thought she was quiet better now and they allowed her to start sculpting as a past time. Clay, stone, and marble were her mediums mostly, although she wanted to start painting as well.
The Princess then wished to show Deamoni her favorite pieces. Grasping Deamoni’s wrist, the Princess lead the Elf into one of the sectioned off rooms. She then threw back a curtain, revealing numerous creatures and monsters of the realm in clay statue form. She lead Deamoni to another small chamber, which held several celestials, demons, and devils carved into stone. Finally, Sularra brought Deamoni to her absolute favorite works. Casting back a heavy curtain, Deamoni found that she was staring at herself. A stone and plaster statue, painted to match her exactly was sitting on a shelf. The elf drew closer to the statues and examined them closely. Each of the party members were found here, painted to an almost life-like detail. She searched over each statue for several minutes. Something was odd about these statues. They each seemed as if they had been created recently, in the exact image of the subject. This made Deamoni uneasy, as the party had not seen the Princess in over two years. Jun’s statue included her new hair cut and Deamoni’s had her rather recent marrage tattoos clearly visible. What disturbed Deamoni the most was the replicas of fallen heroes. Fallen commrades like Megosh the barbarian, Bob the Fighter, Chance the cleric, and several others that had been dead for years, were also here in statue form. Most of them had been slain long before the Princess even said her first word and here they were, perfect as the day before they died.
When Deamoni asked the Princess how she was able to create this set, the Princess replied calmly, "My friends deept within the earth aided in their creation."
She then laughed quiet loudly and stated, "That was a joke Deamoni, you should really learn to take thing less seriously. I read the tales that the bards of your country scribbed and received a recent visit from a bard from Volmiria (a city in Deamoni’s country). I would be very pleased if you and your companions would visit me again soon."
Feeling rather disturbed by the encounter, Deamoni then left for her home.
After the torch had been out for a moment, a small light came into the view of Jun and Veronica. A new guard dropped down a small candle to light the bottom of the pit the ladies were trapped in. It dropped the 60 something feet without going out. Upon closer examination, Veronica noticed that the candle was an everburning candle. This small sign meant that whatever magical wards that had prevented her spellcasting earlier must have worn off now.
Jun was quiet happy with this discovery, as she had hidden her portable hole in the folds of her prison clothes. The women waited until the guard had moved away from the pit before acting. They extinguished the candle (by placing it in the portable hole) and Jun drew forth her back up set of armor and weapons, as well as 2 brooms of flying. After a few moments the guard commanded the prisoners to bring the light back out so he could see them.
A moment later, a chime sounded and the grating burst open, send the guards into alarm. Out of the depths of the pit flew the re-equipped adventurers, swinging their blades into their captures. The blood of the dwarves quickly painted what little of their surroundings the women could see. They began to slowly move down the halls of the dungeon.
Screams and shouts echoed in the distance. They passed many doors and empty cells as they made their way out of the dungeon. The whistle of arrows joined them as they rounded the corner. Even with suprise, the dwarves only landed 3 arrows in their targets. This enraged Jun and she charged down the dark corridor as Veronica summoned forth a magic light to illuminate their assault. After a few swings, the small squad of dwarves were hurrying to meet the prison guards in the afterlife.
Jun and Veronica then proceeded further through the tunnels of the dungeon. After a few minutes of walking from their last encounter, Jun and Veronica found a set of jail cells. They were occupied by various townsfolk and town guards by the prisoners claims, which lead Jun to believe they were quiet a long way away from where they thought they had originally teleported.
As Veronica began unlocking the cells, the clatter of bones rang out from further down the hall. Jun drew their light closer to the noise to discover a staircase at the end of the hall. Descending the stair case were eight skeletons, to which Jun showed no fear. She raised her greatsword on high, ready to charge the creatures, when they let out a echoing hiss. Along with the noise, the skeletons pointed at Jun and Veronica. Sickly green energies lept from their skeletal fingers and struck Jun several times, suprising her. The energy bolts halted only a fingers length from Veronica, as she was still warded by her protective spells cast during the fight with the dwarves only moments ago.
Jun rushed into the small horde of skeletons, only to find another suprise. As she swung her greatsword over her head, the skeleton faded and shimmered. Her sword cleaved into the stone where the skeleton once stood; her foes had become incorporeal. Due to these skeletal creatures incorporeal state, they were able to fight the adventurers for several minutes before they actually fell to Jun’s Sword.
The battle with the dwarves and the skeletal creatures was now wearing upon Jun’s endurance, but she felt confident that she oculd lead the prisoners out of the stronghold. Veronica aided those that were to weak to walk and Jun lead the way.
The stairway lead to a larger chamber, lit by torches along its walls. In the reddish glow of the torches stood a small band of dwarves. Eight of the dwarves resembled the assassins that had been sent to Jun’s home not to long ago, while the nineth dwarf looked drastically different. Chains rapped his body and were woven into his beard. The shadowy light made it difficult to see the small barbs that were forged into the chains. The dwarf unraveled one of the many chains, as if he had no fear of the barbs on it or the woman he was about to face.
The Dwarf called to Jun, "You’ve done quiet well so far, Lady Jun. But now I ask you to surrender your sword and go back to your cell. We shall not allow you to pass."
Jun did not surrender her blade, but raised it in challenge to the dwarfs words.
The combat was brief and fierce between them. The Dwarf’s speed took Jun by suprise, allowing him to land a shot with his spiked chain. The wound was startling to Jun, as it had greater force behind it than she expected. As the whistling chain left her, the barbs on the chain broke off, leaving the metal deep in her arm. The chain began to glow as well and as it arced away from her, a spell activated. A horrible coldness shook through Jun’s body, like her life force was being drained away. With the first swing the dwarf had done more damage to her than all of her fights in the dungeon had thus far and the spell the chain cast seemed to make the dwarf glow sinisterly. Frantically, Jun counter attacked.
The dwarf survived the first onslaught of Jun’s blade, but he abandoned his spiked chain for another. This new chain crackled with arcane energies, which made Jun rather worried. The chain hit her armor squarely, discharging a great amount of magical energies similar to lightning into her.
Jun changed tactics at this point in the battle. If the dwarf continued to hit her with these magical chains at this rate, she would fall in the next few hits. She elected to disarm the dwarf of his chain. It took her several rounds to succeed at this, but she finally caught the chain with her sword "just right" and yanked it away.
It was the dwarf’s turn to be suprised. He had not expected this from her, but was always prepared; he brought forth a third chain. Much to Jun’s liking, this chain seemed mundane in every sense. The two exchanged blows for a few more rounds, each wound each other rather viciously.
Jun’s greatsword came to rest in the dwarf’s chest through his shoulder as the combat ended. Battered, bloodied, and bleeding, Jun looked to the Assassins expecting to have to fight them as well. The now dead chain warrior slumped to the ground with a loud clang.
Another dwarf decended the stairs at the other end of the room. He introduced himself as the general of the Queen’s Army.
The Genral made an offer, "Leave now Lady Jun and do not return. You can walk out of here peacefully, or I can call our DRAGON allies to give you a proper fight, now that you’ve bested our master of chains. It is your choice. I will grant you this one favor for saving our queen from the clutches of the Empress long ago. I will not be so kind upon our next meeting."
Jun and Veronica accepted the offer and left the dungeon to find that they were over two hundred miles off target, in a town known as Van Drake’s Keep. The Keep had recently fallen to the dwarven armies and the Human forces were sieging it to the best of their ability. After walking to the Humans front line, Jun and Veronica teleported home.
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That’s it for now. We play this high level game once or twice a week, so thats hopefully how often I’ll be able to update this story.
Werewolf_26
"Red Warrior needs food badly."
The Current Political situation is rather chaotic. The Empire of Emperor Rondran Morenstern I was recently founded (9-11 ADD) and peace has not graced his rule yet. His wife and queen, Empress Kaylyn Von Vidrake-Morenstern, had a terrible past and if it was not for the efforts of the Heroes of Paradur (one of the various titles of the party) she would have parished in a rather horrible situation. Her terrible past included spending her younger days as a Half-Orc Chieftan’s adopted daughter (reason and story gets kinda intricate, but I will explain) performing all of the typical raids, slaughters, and pillages that the Orcs of the Northern Lands are known for. The Heroes rescued her from this life, showed her the heritage that she was unaware of, and assisted her in reclaiming her throne after being assured of her reform.
During Kaylyn’s younger days, the Half-Orc was also entrusted with a dwarven princess. Kaylyn didn’t get along with the dwarf, going so far as to inconvience her when she was younger and torture the dwarf when she was older. The Dwarven Princess hated the human with almost all of her heart.
The Human Princess Kaylyn and the dwarven princess were rescued from the orcs at the same time, but the dwarven princess used her influence to cut off all contact with Kaylyn’s father’s lands. During the time that she cut off contact, she rallied the dwarves into a frenzy against the Humans of the Vidrake Kingdom. This took many years to pull off, but eventually she convinced the majority of the kingdom that it was right to war with the "ex-orc queen".
During the years the Dwarven Princess was campaigning for war, Kaylyn made several life changes. She attends many of the good aligned temples regularly, donates heavily to all good causes, used her late-father’s tax money to make many improvements to the kingdom. She was trying to turn over a new leaf, as they say. Her days of leading Orcs to raid villages were over. She wasn’t like that anymore.
The Kingdom of Holm was in turmoil soon after Princess Kaylyn became Queen. The leaders of that kingdom had determined via oracles and divinations that it was the right time to invade Paradur (the Hero’s Homeland). Queen Kaylyn lead her father’s armies south to Paradur and aided the Party in defeating the horde of warriors that poured out of Holm.
Since the Party was sworn to Rondran’s Father, The King sent his son to train under the Great Heroes. This is how Rondran became aware of the beautiful Queeen Kaylyn. She looked as though she had not aged past her early twenties, but tales accounted her age being in the upper thirty’s or forties. She looked absolutely enchanting to him, so he chose to court her after he left the Party’s ranks, even with the strange tales surrounding her.
Rondran’s father died of old age not to long after the wedding of Rondran and Kaylyn. The combined diplomatic efforts of Rondran, Kaylyn, and the Party brought about the forming of the first empire in Azurison’s history (most of the kingdom’s major cities had been destroyed by an ill tempered red dragon known in legend only as "Big Red"). From that point on, Emperor Rondran and the Empress sought to include others in the empire, with goals of peace, prosperity, and commerce in mind.
The Empire began its first steps, but a thorn twists itself towards its uneasy feet. Due to an assassination performed by humans baring the Vidrake seals, the dwarven princess is made Queen. The Queen pressed the grieving masses of her people towards war as a means of revenge and they listened. Her diplomats in strange foreign lands had brought forth many new allies against the growing empire and her forces were already assembled from the years spent preparing for the war.
The Dwarves quickly began suprise assaults on several human strongholds recently.
(This small history gives a basic reason to why the Queen is ticked off at the Empress. The Queen also does not believe that the Empress is reformed and nothing will convince her of it.)
After a temporary retirement our heroes take up their swords again (Various titles include: the Heroes of Paradur, the Knights of Doom, the Brozne Dragoons, THEM, The Heroes, Deamoni’s Party, the Saviours of Aristria, Azurison’s Champions, and others that are screamed by dying or angry villains.) to defend the Empire. The decision came after a contingent of dwarven assassins made their way to the various homes of the heroes to slay them. The dwarves failed and were captured in some cases. After some interrogation, it was found out that the Dwarven Queen sent them. Her plan was to take out the most powerful of the Emperor’s Allies and lower the moral of his forces by defeating the heroes they have looked up to for 20+ years.
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The High Level Party:
Lady/Countess Deamoni "Snake Licker / Dragon Candy" Salsbane-Vanderburg-Marshfox, Protector of the city of Shore, Wife to Royal Prince (due to marrage) Rasmus Vanderburg, Elven Warrioress, One under the effects of Warris’s Font (now ageless), Master of the Elven Thinblade (Aristocrat 3, Wizard 1, Ranger 1, Fighter 8, Gladiator 3, Knight of the Middle Circle 2). Party Occupation: Diplomat & Hit Point Sponge.
King Delta Valentine, Ruler of Aristria, husband to Queen Arista. Human in reincarnated Elven Body. (Fighter 8, Paladin 2, Sorcerer 4, Blade Dancer 2). Party Occupation: Leader-type, Master of Mobile Combat, Secondary healer, Diplomat.
Lady Jun, Queen of Black Dragon Castle, wife to the cleric Thomas Coril. Human, Under the effects of Warris’s Font (now ageless) (Fighter 10, Barbarian 5, Ranger 1). Party Occupation: Melee Tank.
Lady Veronica, Defensive Sorceress and Warrior. (Sorcerer 10, Fighter 5). Party Occupation: N/A (player rarely shows up enough to carve out a niche in the party)
Lao Kin, Baron of the town of Riverton, Husband to Talvada Eltrid, Elven Cleric of Osig (Cleric 11, Contemplative X, Lore Master X). Party Occupation: Healer, Diplomat, Defensive and Offensive caster.
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In response to the late night assassination attempt, Lady Jun summoned Lady Veronica to her castle. They soon found that they were both targets of different dwarven assassins. After a bit of planning, Jun decided that they could end the war with the dwarves rather quickly if they could converse with the Dwarven Queen.
Veronica summoned forth the arcane powers at her command and scried upon the Queen. As the image came into focus, they discovered that the little dwarf was sleeping. Jun felt that this was an appropriate time to suprise the Dwarven Queen, as the assassins she sent attacked Jun while she was sleeping as well.
The Pair of Adventurer’s prepared to teleport into the chamber of the queen, hoping to confront her and force a truce with her. Veronica held Jun’s arm as she spoke the incantations for the teleportation spell. . .
Each felt the strange feeling associated with teleportation, something they had become used to over the years. But then they felt something NEW. It felt like being spun quickly around after running into a wall. When the pair ceased their travel, the world was dark around them.
The clatter of a falling torch greated them. In the dim light of the torch they could see their surroundings: four very smooth walls and an uneven floor. A gruff voice called out from beyond the darkness, "Welcome, my prisoners, to the dungeon. Please place ALL of your belongings in this large basket we are lowering
down. We want full cooperation ladies. The basket also contains your new wardrobe; prisoners clothing."
The Adventurers panicked and Veronica chanted the words to her teleportation spell. She suddenly felt powerless, as the magical energies she could normally channel were no were to be found. They began to worry.
Veronica called back to the voice, "And what happens if we don’t cooperate?"
Another torch lit in response to her question, revealing a large metal grating covering the ten foot wide cieling to their cell. A rolling sound approached the edge of the pit, bringing a large flexible pipe into view. The dwarves chuckled as they pulled and reset a heavy lever somewhere else down the hall. Before the lever was reset, a liquid poured out from the pipe and landed the far corner of the cell. The liquid hissed and sizzled as it pooled in the corner.
Quickly, the adventurer’s placed all their worldly belongings into the basket and changed into the prisoners garb. Jun demanded to speak to the queen, but the guard only laughed, "She’ll see you when she feels like it. Your our prisoner now, so behave like one."
The torch continued to burn for a short while longer, then it faded leaving the pair in darkness.
Time passed more quickly for Deamoni, who quickly thwarted her assassin and sent him packing with a message for the Dwarven Queen. With her current courtly duties fufilled, Deamoni decided to take a trip to the kingdom of Vashon, which lied far to the south and was across a great sea. She invited Lao Kin and his wizardess wife, Talvada, to go with her. The Trio teleported to the grand city of Vashon. Once they arrived, the sea breeze greeted them with the smell of sea water and fish. A brief journey through the city brought them to the inner keep, where the guards showed them to a waiting chamber. An hour passed before the royal prince of Vashon entered the chamber.
The small party greeted the prince, but they expected King Henry. With a heavy heart, the Prince explained that he was the new king. His mother had been stabbed by a hand maiden assassin, but the wound was unpoisoned and not fatal; or so they thought. Several weeks later, a strange wolf-beast was found devouring the king in his bed chamber and the royal guards slew the beast. It quickly changed back into a human, proving that it was a lycanthrope, but the human was his mother. Apparently, the hand maiden’s dagger had been cursed and the curse transfered to the Queen. Due to his elder sister still recovering from the arcane ceremony that removed the terrible power that had been given to her by the Villainous mage, Azure Blackthorn, Prince Henry became King Henry II.
Deamoni was outraged by the news, as she had warned the old King to beware of lycanthropes and shape changers upon their last meeting. King Henry II also warned the party that the nobles of his land and a good amount of the people wanted to war with the Empire, fearing that it would try to take their lands by force. All that they wait for now is the propper omen to signal the right time to strike.
With this horrible news, Lao Kin and Talvada returned home. Deamoni wished to see the recovering princess. She had assisted Eward the Mage in perfroming th ceremony that removed the magical powers that his apprentice Azure had given the young and spiteful princess. The ceremony had left the princess quivering, frightened out of her mind, as it had involved pulling amounts of energy from the negative planes to drain away her power. Deamoni felt that the Princess’s condition was one of her failures as an adventurer, and she was concerned for her friend’s daughter. She had known Queen Sularra for 20 years and wished to be a friend of her daughter, unfortuantely the princess and Deamoni had first met as adversaries. Now the Princess was kept in a tower of the castle and carefully monitored.
The Guards escorted Deamoni to the tower that Princess Sularra II now dwelt in. The chamber in which Deamoni entered was rather large, with tall canvas walls sectioning off the grand room into smaller chambers. The sound of chisel and hammer could be heard in the distance. A grand statue stood in the back chamber, with a young lady chiseling the leg of the statue out of the stone. The young lady turned around slowly, smiling. The Princess appeared to be quiet happy that Deamoni was there to visit. Sularra stated that the adepts of the castle thought she was quiet better now and they allowed her to start sculpting as a past time. Clay, stone, and marble were her mediums mostly, although she wanted to start painting as well.
The Princess then wished to show Deamoni her favorite pieces. Grasping Deamoni’s wrist, the Princess lead the Elf into one of the sectioned off rooms. She then threw back a curtain, revealing numerous creatures and monsters of the realm in clay statue form. She lead Deamoni to another small chamber, which held several celestials, demons, and devils carved into stone. Finally, Sularra brought Deamoni to her absolute favorite works. Casting back a heavy curtain, Deamoni found that she was staring at herself. A stone and plaster statue, painted to match her exactly was sitting on a shelf. The elf drew closer to the statues and examined them closely. Each of the party members were found here, painted to an almost life-like detail. She searched over each statue for several minutes. Something was odd about these statues. They each seemed as if they had been created recently, in the exact image of the subject. This made Deamoni uneasy, as the party had not seen the Princess in over two years. Jun’s statue included her new hair cut and Deamoni’s had her rather recent marrage tattoos clearly visible. What disturbed Deamoni the most was the replicas of fallen heroes. Fallen commrades like Megosh the barbarian, Bob the Fighter, Chance the cleric, and several others that had been dead for years, were also here in statue form. Most of them had been slain long before the Princess even said her first word and here they were, perfect as the day before they died.
When Deamoni asked the Princess how she was able to create this set, the Princess replied calmly, "My friends deept within the earth aided in their creation."
She then laughed quiet loudly and stated, "That was a joke Deamoni, you should really learn to take thing less seriously. I read the tales that the bards of your country scribbed and received a recent visit from a bard from Volmiria (a city in Deamoni’s country). I would be very pleased if you and your companions would visit me again soon."
Feeling rather disturbed by the encounter, Deamoni then left for her home.
After the torch had been out for a moment, a small light came into the view of Jun and Veronica. A new guard dropped down a small candle to light the bottom of the pit the ladies were trapped in. It dropped the 60 something feet without going out. Upon closer examination, Veronica noticed that the candle was an everburning candle. This small sign meant that whatever magical wards that had prevented her spellcasting earlier must have worn off now.
Jun was quiet happy with this discovery, as she had hidden her portable hole in the folds of her prison clothes. The women waited until the guard had moved away from the pit before acting. They extinguished the candle (by placing it in the portable hole) and Jun drew forth her back up set of armor and weapons, as well as 2 brooms of flying. After a few moments the guard commanded the prisoners to bring the light back out so he could see them.
A moment later, a chime sounded and the grating burst open, send the guards into alarm. Out of the depths of the pit flew the re-equipped adventurers, swinging their blades into their captures. The blood of the dwarves quickly painted what little of their surroundings the women could see. They began to slowly move down the halls of the dungeon.
Screams and shouts echoed in the distance. They passed many doors and empty cells as they made their way out of the dungeon. The whistle of arrows joined them as they rounded the corner. Even with suprise, the dwarves only landed 3 arrows in their targets. This enraged Jun and she charged down the dark corridor as Veronica summoned forth a magic light to illuminate their assault. After a few swings, the small squad of dwarves were hurrying to meet the prison guards in the afterlife.
Jun and Veronica then proceeded further through the tunnels of the dungeon. After a few minutes of walking from their last encounter, Jun and Veronica found a set of jail cells. They were occupied by various townsfolk and town guards by the prisoners claims, which lead Jun to believe they were quiet a long way away from where they thought they had originally teleported.
As Veronica began unlocking the cells, the clatter of bones rang out from further down the hall. Jun drew their light closer to the noise to discover a staircase at the end of the hall. Descending the stair case were eight skeletons, to which Jun showed no fear. She raised her greatsword on high, ready to charge the creatures, when they let out a echoing hiss. Along with the noise, the skeletons pointed at Jun and Veronica. Sickly green energies lept from their skeletal fingers and struck Jun several times, suprising her. The energy bolts halted only a fingers length from Veronica, as she was still warded by her protective spells cast during the fight with the dwarves only moments ago.
Jun rushed into the small horde of skeletons, only to find another suprise. As she swung her greatsword over her head, the skeleton faded and shimmered. Her sword cleaved into the stone where the skeleton once stood; her foes had become incorporeal. Due to these skeletal creatures incorporeal state, they were able to fight the adventurers for several minutes before they actually fell to Jun’s Sword.
The battle with the dwarves and the skeletal creatures was now wearing upon Jun’s endurance, but she felt confident that she oculd lead the prisoners out of the stronghold. Veronica aided those that were to weak to walk and Jun lead the way.
The stairway lead to a larger chamber, lit by torches along its walls. In the reddish glow of the torches stood a small band of dwarves. Eight of the dwarves resembled the assassins that had been sent to Jun’s home not to long ago, while the nineth dwarf looked drastically different. Chains rapped his body and were woven into his beard. The shadowy light made it difficult to see the small barbs that were forged into the chains. The dwarf unraveled one of the many chains, as if he had no fear of the barbs on it or the woman he was about to face.
The Dwarf called to Jun, "You’ve done quiet well so far, Lady Jun. But now I ask you to surrender your sword and go back to your cell. We shall not allow you to pass."
Jun did not surrender her blade, but raised it in challenge to the dwarfs words.
The combat was brief and fierce between them. The Dwarf’s speed took Jun by suprise, allowing him to land a shot with his spiked chain. The wound was startling to Jun, as it had greater force behind it than she expected. As the whistling chain left her, the barbs on the chain broke off, leaving the metal deep in her arm. The chain began to glow as well and as it arced away from her, a spell activated. A horrible coldness shook through Jun’s body, like her life force was being drained away. With the first swing the dwarf had done more damage to her than all of her fights in the dungeon had thus far and the spell the chain cast seemed to make the dwarf glow sinisterly. Frantically, Jun counter attacked.
The dwarf survived the first onslaught of Jun’s blade, but he abandoned his spiked chain for another. This new chain crackled with arcane energies, which made Jun rather worried. The chain hit her armor squarely, discharging a great amount of magical energies similar to lightning into her.
Jun changed tactics at this point in the battle. If the dwarf continued to hit her with these magical chains at this rate, she would fall in the next few hits. She elected to disarm the dwarf of his chain. It took her several rounds to succeed at this, but she finally caught the chain with her sword "just right" and yanked it away.
It was the dwarf’s turn to be suprised. He had not expected this from her, but was always prepared; he brought forth a third chain. Much to Jun’s liking, this chain seemed mundane in every sense. The two exchanged blows for a few more rounds, each wound each other rather viciously.
Jun’s greatsword came to rest in the dwarf’s chest through his shoulder as the combat ended. Battered, bloodied, and bleeding, Jun looked to the Assassins expecting to have to fight them as well. The now dead chain warrior slumped to the ground with a loud clang.
Another dwarf decended the stairs at the other end of the room. He introduced himself as the general of the Queen’s Army.
The Genral made an offer, "Leave now Lady Jun and do not return. You can walk out of here peacefully, or I can call our DRAGON allies to give you a proper fight, now that you’ve bested our master of chains. It is your choice. I will grant you this one favor for saving our queen from the clutches of the Empress long ago. I will not be so kind upon our next meeting."
Jun and Veronica accepted the offer and left the dungeon to find that they were over two hundred miles off target, in a town known as Van Drake’s Keep. The Keep had recently fallen to the dwarven armies and the Human forces were sieging it to the best of their ability. After walking to the Humans front line, Jun and Veronica teleported home.
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That’s it for now. We play this high level game once or twice a week, so thats hopefully how often I’ll be able to update this story.
Werewolf_26
"Red Warrior needs food badly."
