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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7557719" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 36: GRANDFATHER CLAUSE</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 11</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 30 January 2019</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The day began with a summons from Skevros, through the magical rings each of the conscripts wore. "Come immediately to the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>," the king's adviser commanded. "Dow has been kidnapped!"</p><p></p><p>"Big flippin' deal!" scoffed Syngaard to himself as he buckled on his armor, grabbed up his shield and weapons, and said a hasty goodbye to his other employer, Katarina. She ran a cathouse not too far from the closed tavern which served as the headquarters for the five people who had been pressed into the king's service as troubleshooters. But despite Syngaard's disdain for the doll-like homunculus Skevros had created decades ago for his now-deceased young daughter, the bald fighter raced along the streets of the town at his best speed - after all, there was a good chance this would be a paying mission!</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, it was. Syngaard entered the tavern to find the others already there - no surprise, as they each chose to live in the rooms above the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>, whereas Syngaard preferred the room and board he got for working as a bouncer at Kat's. Skevros sat at their main table, upon which lay Dow's unmoving doll-body and a piece of parchment.</p><p></p><p>"Ah, Syngaard, there you are," Skevros said as the scarred fighter took his place at the table. "The others have already read this over - take a look at it yourself." And he pushed the parchment over to Syngaard, who frowned as he read it. The parchment read:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>"What's with the funky writing?" Syngaard asked. Indeed, the message had been obviously written by a host of different people, judging by the way the handwriting differed several ways between even the letters of the same word.</p><p></p><p>"That's an old anti-scrying trick," Orion explained. "If you don't want anybody to be able to trace who wrote the letter, you get a whole bunch of people to write different parts of it. It makes it harder to focus on any one individual that way - you often end up spending your time tracking down a bunch of people who had been hired to add a few letters where indicated and know nothing about the letter's intended purpose. But one thing puzzles me."</p><p></p><p>"Only one?" scoffed Syngaard, looking down at his halfling verbal nemesis.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, only one," retorted Orion. "Who in the world would want Syngaard? For anything?"</p><p></p><p>"That's easy: Karlo Maladucci, the crime lord I used to work for as a bodyguard - and my dead wife's father. I been wonderin' when he'd pop his ugly head back up." Orion opened her mouth to mention how hypocritical it was for Syngaard - whose face was covered in a maze of scars from years of combats in the streets growing up - to call anyone "ugly," but decided it was too easy a blow.</p><p></p><p>"You believe this Karlo Maladucci was the one behind Dow's kidnapping?" demanded Skevros.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, that'd be his way of doin' business. I guess he knows I work for you, so he kidnapped someone you'd want back to make sure you turn me over to him. Thing I don't get is how he got to Dow. Don't she pretty much stay here in the tavern, or else your two manors?" Skevros had an extradimensional manor hidden in the back room of the tavern, and it was connected via a <em>teleport gate</em> in the fireplace with his actual manor in the Azure Glade, the place of his birth.</p><p></p><p>"She has restricted herself to those three locales, yes," Skevros affirmed.</p><p></p><p>"Hey, halfling, go make yourself useful: see if the front door's been jimmied," Syngaard suggested. Orion bit back a retort, choosing to take the bald human's command as a tacit admission that she was the one most skilled at making such a determination. Thus, without a word, she went through the front door and examined it closely from the outside. "Yep, the lock's been tampered with," she replied. "Somebody broke in here - last night, I'd assume."</p><p></p><p>"Dow's consciousness was inside the astral golem," Skevros mused, "and she's taken to wearing the <em>hat of disguise</em> to look more like a normal person. It's entirely possible the abductors have no idea she isn't exactly what she would appear to be: a human woman, likely in my employ."</p><p></p><p>"So you don't think this has anything to do with the Ossirnans trying to steal your astral golem?" Galen asked.</p><p></p><p>"I would presume not. Well then: to the matter at hand! Dow has been abducted; I want her returned to me unharmed. I will pay you each 2,000 pieces of gold - or their equivalent in gemstones - for her return. The ransom note shows where she's being held. I will <em>teleport</em> you to that location, where you will effect her rescue. Any questions?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, I got one," Syngaard spat out. "We plannin' on just turnin' me over to Maladucci?"</p><p></p><p>"We'll need you present," Galen pointed out. "If Maladucci - or whoever wrote the note - wants you as a condition for Dow's release, then it's going to look suspicious if we arrive without you."</p><p></p><p>"I have a question," piped up Kaspar. "If Dow is inhabiting the astral golem, why does she not simply exit the construct and return here, in her original body?" The elf monk indicated the discarded doll-body lying upon the table.</p><p></p><p>"To do so would be to lose the astral golem and her <em>hat of disguise</em>," Skevros pointed out. "I doubt she wishes to lose either. Plus, as a construct, she's not in any actual physical danger. It isn't as if they can actually cause her pain."</p><p></p><p>"Have you had an opportunity to <em>scry</em> upon this tower mentioned in the ransom note?" asked Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"I have, with negative results," admitted Skevros. "The fact that it is magically blocked from <em>scrying</em> is a good indicator that it is indeed being used to house Dow." He turned to face Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard. "You know the tower well: it's the one the goblin bandits were using as a base of operations on the first mission I assigned you."</p><p></p><p>"So how we doin' this?" Syngaard asked, cutting to the chase. He wasn't pleased with simply being turned over to Karlo Maladucci. He'd worked with the man for years and knew his reputation for ruthlessness was well-founded. Demanding Syngaard be handed over to him did not bode well for the scarred fighter - and the "preferably alive" part didn't sit particularly well with him, either.</p><p></p><p>"Let's go there, like Skevros suggested, and see what we're up against," said Galen. As a paladin, he tended to favor the more straightforward approach. "I'll have Burt with me from the beginning - that will certainly make us look more intimidating."</p><p></p><p>Orion snickered. "And maybe you can try intimidating him with your Dick, Syngaard," she suggested, whistling for her own mount. Carl heard the call and materialized into the tavern. The halfling jumped up into the <em>ghost touch saddle</em> that allowed her to ride the manifested spirit of her slain riding dog. Once she'd been attuned to the saddle, she pulled a <em>potion of mage armor</em> from her belt and reached forward to give it to her dog. Carl drank it down happily; as a ghost, he didn't need to eat or drink but he remembered the sensation and enjoyed doing so whenever possible - which wasn't often in his incorporeal state. (Sometimes Orion sat in the saddle just to feed Carl a bowl of unneeded-but-enjoyable-nonetheless water.)</p><p></p><p>"No way," Syngaard countered. "Mr. Maladucci don't know about my Dick - I'm keeping it safe in my pants where he won't see it. That way I can whip it out when he don't suspect nothing."</p><p></p><p>"Then it would seem we have an adequate strategy to keep you safe," reasoned Daleth. He turned to Skevros. "I believe we are ready," he told the king's adviser.</p><p></p><p>"Hang on!" said Galen, calling across the planes for his dire lion bonded mount. Burt likewise materialized in the tavern and the paladin leaped up upon his broad back.</p><p></p><p>Orion saw the worried look on Syngaard's face and offered him a bit of comfort. "I'll tell you what," she said. "We can have Skevros <em>teleport</em> us far enough away that we won't be seen arriving. Then I'll have Carl go ethereal and we can scout the place out before we go in. Then at least we'll know what we're dealing with."</p><p></p><p>"You can do that?" Syngaard asked.</p><p></p><p>"Sure," Orion replied confidently - although she'd never actually tried it. She was also aware that if she somehow got separated from Carl while on the Ethereal Plane she'd have no way of getting back...but she trusted Skevros would be able to help her if it came to that.</p><p></p><p>"I assume this Karlo Maladucci is of an evil bent?" Daleth asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Oh yeah - big time." The elven wizard nodded knowingly and cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell upon himself. Even if they wouldn't be dealing with the crime lord directly, anyone who kidnapped innocents to get others to do their bidding had to be of an evil nature. He followed that spell up with a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> that linked four of the conscripts together; the wizard hadn't trained enough with the spell yet to also include Kaspar in the link but as the elven monk was one of their most self-sufficient members, Daleth felt he'd be the one best left out. He then nodded their readiness to Skevros, Skevros cast the <em>teleport</em> spell, and the conscripts, Burt, and Carl were suddenly in a field with a grove of trees immediately before them.</p><p></p><p>"The tower keep's on the other side of the trees," Galen observed.</p><p></p><p>"Then I'll be right back," Orion said, but was cut off by Syngaard. "Hang on, before you go, lemme tell you what Mr. Maladucci looks like." He then proceeded to describe the crime lord, who fortunately had a rather distinctive look: he shaved the sides of his head, leaving only a strip of hair along the top of his skull. He also shaved his chin but allowed his sideburns to grow directly into his mustache, sporting a mutton-chop style not frequently worn in the Durnhill environs. But it served Karlo Maladucci's purpose, allowing him to stand out among a crowd.</p><p></p><p>"Back in a bit," Orion promised, guiding Carl to slip between the dimensions and enter the Ethereal Plane.</p><p></p><p>To the rest of the conscripts, Orion and Carl simply faded from view. But from the halfling's perspective, all color leeched from the world until it became a dreary land of black, white, and gray. "Can you hear me?" Orion asked, but got no response from the other members of her team - she hadn't expected the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell to be able to cross dimensional boundaries, but since she could hear what was going on in the Material Plane she'd hoped they might likewise be able to hear her. "Oh well," she told Carl. "Let's go check out the tower."</p><p></p><p>Carl responded with a happy "whuff!" and dashed forward, darting between the trees and heading straight for the tower keep. He ran straight through the front door; Orion held back a squeal of anticipation of an impending crash but passed safely through the thick, wooden door without incident. It was clear that getting used to ethereal travel would take some time!</p><p></p><p>Standing inside the lower level of the tower keep were two figures, one of them accurately fitting the description Syngaard had given of Karlo Maladucci; the other, a hobgoblin in heavy armor - mithral plate, by the look of it. Neither seemed to notice Orion or her ghostly mount, which was something else the halfling would have to get used to. But rather than hang around and tempt Fate, she urged Carl to head up the stairs. Carl, in a bit of whimsy, opted to rise straight up through the first floor's ceiling instead, rising up out of the floor on the second level. There they saw Dow tightly bound in the corner, looking bored but unhurt. (The halfling mentally chided herself for thinking the homunculus could actually be hurt inside the astral golem; once again she was thinking of Dow as a human because she currently looked like a human.) There was nobody guarding the captive, which Orion found odd. Were they really only dealing with two people here? If so, this was likely to be a rather easy mission!</p><p></p><p>Still, just to be safe, Orion sent Carl up through the ceiling of the second level and up onto the roof. That was fortunate, for she immediately spotted a wizard - identifiable by the Azure Glade robes he wore, although Orion couldn't make out what color they were in this black-and-white world and thus pinpoint his specialty - hunkered down in the corner of the rooftop, keeping his head below the top of the battlements. A light crossbow sat on the floor at his side, likely a backup weapon for when he ran out of spells. This was likely Maladucci's plan: make it seem like it was just the two of them the conscripts would have to deal with, then have his hidden wizard start lobbing <em>fireballs</em> or what-have-you from the roof of the keep! That was definitely information worth passing on to the rest of the group!</p><p></p><p>Carl leapt through the crenellations of the roof's top and went racing through the sky, heading back down to the rest of the group still hidden on the other side of the trees. Once returning to their sides, Orion had Carl slide back into the Material Plane, the two of them suddenly appearing back into view. As she did so, her mind snapped back into the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell effect, where the others had apparently been having an animated - if silent - conversation. But seeing Orion and Carl reappear, they broke off their argument long enough for the halfling to explain what she had seen.</p><p></p><p><So just the three combatants?> asked Galen over the link. <We should be able to take them down easily enough.></p><p></p><p><Hey, here's an idea,> thought Syngaard. <We're gettin' paid to rescue Dow, right? Howzabout we just <em>teleport</em> up to the second floor, grab Dow, and scoot the Hell out of here?></p><p></p><p><Technically, I would be employing the <em>dimension door</em> spell,> argued Daleth.</p><p></p><p><That would just be delaying the inevitable,> countered Galen. <There's nothing preventing Maladucci from finding another way to get access to Syngaard. We should confront him now and be done with it.> He mused a moment. <Syngaard, this Maladucci isn't a spellcaster by any chance, is he?></p><p></p><p><What? No. Just a powerful crime lord with others to do his dirty work for him. But he's still plenty tough himself - I seen it. He once choked a guy to death with one hand for botching a simple heist.></p><p></p><p><It would seem the wizard is the biggest threat, then. We should take him out first.></p><p></p><p><Well, that doesn't seem very friendly.></p><p></p><p>The conscripts all looked around to see who had just spoken over their telepathic link - even Kaspar, who wasn't tied into the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell and thus hadn't heard any of the prior discussion.</p><p></p><p><Mr. Maladucci just wants to talk to you, Syngaard,> said the voice. <He doesn't like being lied to.></p><p></p><p><Who's that?> demanded Syngaard. <This is a private conversation!></p><p></p><p><A pseudodragon?> guessed Galen. Daleth had recently obtained a pseudodragon familiar, and the paladin knew Todd could converse as easily as a human using his inherent telepathic abilities.</p><p></p><p><More likely an imp or a quasit,> added Daleth. <Our hidden wizard likely has a more powerful familiar than normal, like I do.> Galen immediately began concentrating on ferreting out the noticeable miasma of evil; there seemed to be a source of evil nearby. "He's over here!" Galen said, forgetting in his excitement to talk over the telepathic link. He then began the words to a <em>bless weapon</em> spell.</p><p></p><p><You guys are panicking over nothing,> insisted the invisible imp. <Mr. Maladucci just wants to talk with Syngaard, and then he'll release the young woman.> As if to prove the imp's point, the door to the keep opened up and Karlo Maladucci strode purposefully out the front door, his long strides taking him towards the grove of trees behind which the conscripts were hiding. "He's coming this way!" Syngaard hissed.</p><p></p><p>"Then let's go meet him," Galen replied, urging Burt forward. With a growl, Syngaard walked beside the dire lion, not wanting to be shown up by the paladin.</p><p></p><p>"Syngaard!" the crime lord called. "We must talk! I am very upset with you!"</p><p></p><p>"What for?" Syngaard called back. "I didn't do nothin'."</p><p></p><p>"On the contrary: you lied to me, about the death of my grandchild!"</p><p></p><p>"I didn't lie."</p><p></p><p>"You told me my granddaughter had died."</p><p></p><p>"Told you Mezz lost the baby. That was true. She did...when she died."</p><p></p><p>"Very well, then," countered the crime lord. "You misled me. But never fear: I have a way for you to make it up to me, and then all will be forgiven." The two parties had met in the field before the tower keep at this point, and stood facing each other. Orion and Carl had shifted to the Ethereal Plane and stood nearby, unseen, while the two elves and Todd the pseudodragon kept back by the trees. There was no point in letting Maladucci know how many people had accompanied Syngaard to this meeting - assuming the invisible imp hadn't already filled him in.</p><p></p><p>"I was actually relieved when you told me Mezz had lost the baby during childbirth - I assumed it was the devil with whom I had made my bargain collecting his payment. So you can imagine my rage when I discovered the baby was still alive and the payment for my increased powers had not occurred."</p><p></p><p>"Devil?" repeated Syngaard. "Payment?"</p><p></p><p>"Quite so. A powerful devil by the name of the Hope Ender, who granted me power beyond my wildest dreams - in exchange for my unborn grandchild. Quite the bargain, if I must say so; they normally traffic in souls. Although I suppose this is still such a deal, although the soul in question is not mine, thankfully - just that of some brat my daughter bore." It took all of Syngaard's will to keep his scarred face impassive during this exchange: Karlo Maladucci had intended for little Hope to be turned over to a pit fiend! Was he in league with the Seekers of Eternity, too? It seemed like those guys were everywhere you turned!</p><p></p><p>"Still, all is not lost," Karlo Maladucci continued. "I need only turn the child over to the Hope Ender and all is forgiven. So I need you to fetch me the child - you know where she is, I assume? - and then return to my service, and all will be as it was before."</p><p></p><p>"That's it?" Syngaard asked. "And no hard feelings?"</p><p></p><p>"None whatsoever."</p><p></p><p>"Well, all right then!" Syngaard said, visibly smiling. "I'll have to go get her - I'll be back in about an hour!" And with that, Syngaard spun about and returned to the elves, Galen and Burt following on his heels. Once the group was back together, Syngaard looked at Daleth and, without saying a word - and trying not to "think" any words over the <em>telepathic bond</em>, knowing there was an imp listening in, pointed at Daleth, Kaspar, and himself in turn, then up at the tower roof.</p><p></p><p>Daleth took the hint. Starting the words to a <em>dimension door</em> spell, the elf wizard was surprised when all of a sudden Karlo Maladucci popped into view beside him and stabbed at him with an unsheathed blade. Despite the surprise attack, the elf managed to send the three conscripts (and Todd, who Syngaard hadn't specified but whom Daleth wanted along nonetheless) up to the rooftop of the tower keep, behind the human wizard still crouching to stay out of view.</p><p></p><p>Back behind the trees, surprise reigned. Galen wasn't sure how Maladucci had gotten there so suddenly - could he <em>teleport</em> as well? They had just been talking to him over by the tower and had left him back there when Syngaard had walked back behind the tree-line. Little did he know that the "Karlo Maladucci" they'd been talking to was none other than the hobgoblin wearing Dow's own <em>hat of disguise</em>, while an invisible Karlo Maladucci had been using the powers of ventriloquism (gained by the doffing of a potion of the same name) to make it seem as if the fake crime lord were doing the talking. Invisibly, he'd kept pace with Syngaard, Galen, and Burt when they returned to their spot behind the trees, and he'd known he needed to strike once the elf wizard started casting some spell. Sure, it broke the <em>invisibility</em> spell but it was worth the risk - it didn't seem likely that Syngaard was going to bring him the crime lord's granddaughter if he was in the habit of hanging around with paladins!</p><p></p><p>Up on the tower's rooftop, Todd flew forward and struck at the crouching wizard with the pointed stinger at the tip of his tail. The stinger-tip penetrated the wizard's robes, injecting the sleep poison into the man's system. The venom took effect immediately and the wizard was snoring before his head hit the roof's floor. Kaspar stepped quietly forward and struck a killing blow with his right hand, shattering the wizard's skull with the force of his attack - and the full power of his <em>tenryutsume</em> behind it. The snores stopped as abruptly as the wizard's life.</p><p></p><p>The group heard the telepathic cries of outrage from the unseen imp at the death of his master, but the invisible devil seemed unwilling to put his life on the line to try to do anything about taking revenge on his master's slayers.</p><p></p><p>At his own master's urging, Burt dashed forward, tearing into Maladucci's arm with his front claws as Galen, mounted upon the dire lion, brought the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> crashing down onto the crime lord's shoulder, the full force of Hieroneous's power flowing through the blade. Maladucci gave a cry of pain, which only intensified when Burt brought one of his hind legs into play, scraping the back claws along Karlo's thigh. Then, to make matters worse for the crime lord, Orion and Carl materialized behind him and the halfling sent her <em>flaming short sword</em> stabbing deep into his torso.</p><p></p><p>"I'll deal with you later!" Maladucci snarled, sending a <em>blasphemy</em> spell ripping through his opponents. Burt was instantly banished back to his home plane, tumbling uncontrollably through the heavens until he found his footing back on the Beastlands. Unable to return to his master's side by his own will, he roared his frustration to the skies. Carl's incorporeal body was vaporized into nothingness, but as he was already undead his ghostly body would simply rematerialize in a few days. Galen and Orion, however, were instantly paralyzed, the paladin crashing to the ground on his back and the halfling slowly settling to the ground due to her <em>ring of feather falling</em> before she too toppled backwards, staring helplessly up at the tree limbs above her. Seeing all was as he had expected, Karlo Maladucci stormed back towards the tower keep, intent on finding Syngaard. He'd torture his granddaughter's location out of the scarred idiot, no doubt adding a few new scars before he killed the oaf.</p><p></p><p>As all of this had happened behind the tree-line, Syngaard saw none of it from his vantage point at the top of the tower's battlements. Instead, he saw what he believed to be Karlo Maladucci standing below him at the front of the tower. Since the wizard had been taken care of by the elves, Syngaard fumbled in his pants pocket, whipped out his Dick, and leapt upon it as the griffon dived down at the figure of the crime lord below. Dick screeched in fury as he dove, but the hobgoblin wearing Maladucci's form was too battle-ready to allow that to freeze him into immobility; he dodged the incoming claws and while Syngaard got in a good whack with his <em>human bane scimitar</em>, it didn't do nearly as much damage as the scarred fighter had hoped.</p><p></p><p>Surprisingly, this Maladucci pulled out a flail and sent its head on a crash course with Syngaard's skull; the fighter had just barely enough time to dodge under the blow, all the time wondering when Mr. Maladucci started wielding a flail. In all the years Syngaard had worked for the man, he'd never known the crime lord to use a flail in battle. But then the <em>hat of disguise</em> slipped from the hobgoblin's head and all was made clear - even to someone of Syngaard's limited intellectual capacity.</p><p></p><p>Daleth watched the battle from the tower's roof and was in place to see the real Maladucci round the trees and head towards his former duplicate and his son-in-law. The elf wizard channeled a <em>shocking grasp</em> into his familiar and sent Todd flying down to attack Maladucci. Once again Todd's stinger struck true, but the electrical spell didn't seem to do much to the man and the sleep venom did absolutely nothing. Maladucci swatted the pseudodragon out of his way the way he would an irritating mosquito and continued on his approach toward his erstwhile son-in-law, who was somehow astride a griffon and battling his hobgoblin lieutenant.</p><p></p><p>Coming up beside his fellow elf, Kaspar took in the scene below and touched his <em>amber amulet of vermin</em>, calling forth the giant stag beetle whose spirit dwelled within. John materialized beside Maladucci; the beetle's mandibles snapped shut but the intended prey was not caught between them as anticipated. Coming to aid his beetle, Kaspar ran down the vertical side of the tower keep, his <em>slippers of spider climbing</em> preventing him from simply plummeting to the ground. Upon reaching the ground, the monk sprinted at the human now actively fighting his insect friend.</p><p></p><p>Channeling another spell-like ability through his half-fiendish frame, Karlo Maladucci caused a <em>horrid wilting</em> effect to weaken Syngaard, Dick, John, and Kaspar. Dick's wings faltered and he barely kept his footing as he landed awkwardly on the ground, struggling to stay upright. John was completely overwhelmed by the effect, vanishing immediately and returning to the elf's amulet.</p><p></p><p>Dick, in an extreme effort, lashed out with a set of claws, scoring a hit across Maladucci's face. But the effort cost him dearly, for by focusing on Maladucci the griffon allowed the hobgoblin to strike him down with his magical flail. As the griffon reverted instantly to its statuette form and fell to the ground, the hobgoblin brought his flail into a cleaving blow, striking at where he thought Syngaard would have fallen. However, to the hobgoblin's great surprise, Syngaard remained where he was, riding absolutely nothing now - certainly not a griffon - but remaining airborne nonetheless. It was the fighter's <em>boots of levitation</em> that kept him in the air and thus helped him avoid the hobgoblin's crashing flail.</p><p></p><p>Daleth sent a <em>scorching ray</em> spell flying down from the tower roof, channeled through his <em>metamagic rod</em> to power it up significantly. One ray missed entirely, scorching nothing more than a patch of grass; the other hit the true Karlo Maladucci straight in the chest, but he shrugged it off as if it were nothing. Apparently the "power" the Hope Ender had granted the crime lord in exchange for his grandchild's soul included protection from several of the main energy types, fire obviously among them.</p><p></p><p>Todd struck out at the hobgoblin with his tail-stinger, but failed to connect. Kaspar rounded on the crime lord, striking him with his most powerful blow, dropping him instantly. The monk then delivered the rest of his attacks to the hobgoblin, who was obviously surprised to see his master fall like that. But Syngaard wasted no time; dropping back down to the ground by deactivating his magic boots, he grabbed the <em>flaming brilliant energy morningstar</em> at his belt, raised it high above his head, and brought it crashing down upon his father-in-law's skull. The weapon-head smashed through the crime lord's head with the wet sound of a pumpkin exploding and Syngaard released an involuntary cry of exultation at Mr. Maladucci's death.</p><p></p><p>The bald fighter, straddling Maladucci's corpse, looked over at the hobgoblin. "I got no beef with you!" he called out. "I'll give you one chance to surrender, or you're gonna end up like your boss here!"</p><p></p><p>"You son of a bitch - you killed my brother!" snarled the hobgoblin, confusing Syngaard enough to look down at the corpse of the crime lord as he tried to figure out how the obviously human Karlo Maladucci could be a hobgoblin's brother. "I will avenge his honor!" the hobgoblin promised, striking his flail at the nearest enemy - Kaspar, as it turned out, who handily dodged the blow. Then Daleth sent another <em>empowered scorching ray</em> spell down at the sole remaining foe and the hobgoblin dropped to the ground, dead.</p><p></p><p>"That don't make no sense," Syngaard said, clearly still puzzled.</p><p></p><p>"He no doubt means the hobgoblin we fought here on our first assignment," Kaspar explained patiently.</p><p></p><p>"O-o-o-o-oh!" Syngaard replied. That certainly did make a lot more sense!</p><p></p><p><I will see about freeing Dow,> Daleth said to the others over the <em>Rary's telepathic link</em> spell, before opening the trap door on the floor of the roof and climbing the ladder beneath it down to the keep's top floor.</p><p></p><p>"Say...." said Syngaard, walking back over to the area behind the trees while Kaspar began removing the armor and weapons from their slain foes. Syngaard hadn't seen Galen and Orion during the fight, and there they both were, lying on their backs staring up into the branches above. As he approached, Syngaard could see them breathing so he knew they were both alive, but it looked like they'd been paralyzed somehow during the fight.</p><p></p><p>A sudden grin crossed the fighter's face as he approached Orion's still form. She still held her <em>flaming short sword</em> in her right hand and her legs were splayed out wide as if still sitting in the saddle. "Seems to me somebody once swapped potion vials on me, and shrunk me down to halfling size during a battle against cultists," Syngaard observed. "Some might say the offender was owed a bit of payback...."</p><p></p><p>The <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell was still in effect, so even though she was paralyzed to the point she couldn't speak, Orion could still communicate to the others in the link, Syngaard included. <Syngaard, please don't--> she began, disliking the pleading tone of her mental voice but not being able to help it, before being cut off by the bald human towering over her immobile form.</p><p></p><p>"...But you did good, scouting out that tower with your dog like you did," Syngaard added, causing Orion to stop her mental broadcast to hear what he was going to say. Syngaard squatted down next to her, so she could get a good look at his scarred face. "There's plenty I could do to you right now, and not a single thing you could do to stop it. But you helped me take down that piece of crap Maladucci and I appreciate it. So you just remember which of us is the bigger man." Then he realized what he had just said and snickered. "Heh. 'Bigger man,' to a halfling!"</p><p></p><p>When the paralyzation effect finally wore off several minutes later, Syngaard helped Orion up without a word and then walked over to Kaspar. Galen rose on his own and joined them. "Mithral armor, two sets," the elf said, indicating the armor he'd taken from the two corpses - one breastplate and one set of full plate, along with a pair of mithral shields, one light and one heavy. Then he pointed to the weapons he'd set beside the armor. "A flail and a longsword, both seem to be magical to some extent." Syngaard grunted when he saw Maladucci's sword, which held a copy of his family crest at the base of the blade. "Throw 'em in a <em>bag of holding</em>," he suggested. "We'll sort 'em out later."</p><p></p><p>Galen bent down beside the corpses and turned their heads to the sides, inspecting the backs of their necks for the tell-tale hourglass tattoo indicating membership in the Seekers of Eternity. He was somewhat surprised to find their necks bare; sometimes it seemed like the Seekers were everywhere.</p><p></p><p>Daleth exited the keep with a magical crossbow over his shoulder and Dow in tow, operating the astral golem that gave her human size if her own normal exaggerated features. "I will take this back," she said, bending down to fetch her stolen <em>hat of disguise</em>. Placing it on her head, her own features blurred and she became indistinguishable from a normal human woman - this particular model a brunette with wavy curls and an ankle-length flared dress. (Dow liked to change her appearance frequently.)</p><p></p><p>Kaspar finished putting the loot into his extradimensional bag as directed. "What do we want to do with them?" he asked, indicating Karlo Maladucci and his hobgoblin lieutenant.</p><p></p><p>"Leave 'em for the crows," Syngaard snarled. "You got the <em>ring of return</em>?" he asked the monk. Kaspar retrieved the item from inside his robes and held it out for the others to grab onto.</p><p></p><p>"Then let's get the Hell outta here," Syngaard said. Kaspar activated the ring and the conscripts were gone.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was another refreshing change: we actually got to kill somebody who's going to stay dead! Logan explained that not only are Karlo Maladucci and his hobgoblin henchman <em>not</em> members of the Seekers of Eternity, but the Hope Ender's not going to allow Maladucci to be resurrected in any case; he has an eternity of torment lined up for the man who was to offer up Hope Syngaard as payment for the pit fiend having granted a mere mortal crime lord the powers of a half-fiend. We also got a butt-ton (I believe that's the accurate terminology) of XP for this adventure, as Karlo Maladucci was a fighter 10/rogue 5 with the half-fiend template added on for good measure. As a result, each of the five PCs leveled up.</p><p></p><p>And I definitely surprised Vicki by not having Syngaard take his revenge on Orion when the opportunity was right there. (Dan broke out laughing as soon as I said "I move over towards Orion" once the fighting was finished.) She later admitted she had expected me to have Syngaard pee on Orion or something as revenge for being shrunken to halfling size back in adventure 9. But I felt bad that Dan and Vicki had had their PCs taken out of the action. (Given the short nature of the adventures in this campaign we don't have "backup PCs" to pass around, so I offered to let Dan run Dick and Harry likewise gave John's sheet to Vicki to run so they'd have something to do for the rest of the session.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7557719, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 36: GRANDFATHER CLAUSE[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 10 Galen Thorne, human paladin 11 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 11 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 11 Syngaard, human fighter 11[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 30 January 2019 - - - The day began with a summons from Skevros, through the magical rings each of the conscripts wore. "Come immediately to the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i]," the king's adviser commanded. "Dow has been kidnapped!" "Big flippin' deal!" scoffed Syngaard to himself as he buckled on his armor, grabbed up his shield and weapons, and said a hasty goodbye to his other employer, Katarina. She ran a cathouse not too far from the closed tavern which served as the headquarters for the five people who had been pressed into the king's service as troubleshooters. But despite Syngaard's disdain for the doll-like homunculus Skevros had created decades ago for his now-deceased young daughter, the bald fighter raced along the streets of the town at his best speed - after all, there was a good chance this would be a paying mission! Sure enough, it was. Syngaard entered the tavern to find the others already there - no surprise, as they each chose to live in the rooms above the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i], whereas Syngaard preferred the room and board he got for working as a bouncer at Kat's. Skevros sat at their main table, upon which lay Dow's unmoving doll-body and a piece of parchment. "Ah, Syngaard, there you are," Skevros said as the scarred fighter took his place at the table. "The others have already read this over - take a look at it yourself." And he pushed the parchment over to Syngaard, who frowned as he read it. The parchment read: "What's with the funky writing?" Syngaard asked. Indeed, the message had been obviously written by a host of different people, judging by the way the handwriting differed several ways between even the letters of the same word. "That's an old anti-scrying trick," Orion explained. "If you don't want anybody to be able to trace who wrote the letter, you get a whole bunch of people to write different parts of it. It makes it harder to focus on any one individual that way - you often end up spending your time tracking down a bunch of people who had been hired to add a few letters where indicated and know nothing about the letter's intended purpose. But one thing puzzles me." "Only one?" scoffed Syngaard, looking down at his halfling verbal nemesis. "Yeah, only one," retorted Orion. "Who in the world would want Syngaard? For anything?" "That's easy: Karlo Maladucci, the crime lord I used to work for as a bodyguard - and my dead wife's father. I been wonderin' when he'd pop his ugly head back up." Orion opened her mouth to mention how hypocritical it was for Syngaard - whose face was covered in a maze of scars from years of combats in the streets growing up - to call anyone "ugly," but decided it was too easy a blow. "You believe this Karlo Maladucci was the one behind Dow's kidnapping?" demanded Skevros. "Yeah, that'd be his way of doin' business. I guess he knows I work for you, so he kidnapped someone you'd want back to make sure you turn me over to him. Thing I don't get is how he got to Dow. Don't she pretty much stay here in the tavern, or else your two manors?" Skevros had an extradimensional manor hidden in the back room of the tavern, and it was connected via a [i]teleport gate[/i] in the fireplace with his actual manor in the Azure Glade, the place of his birth. "She has restricted herself to those three locales, yes," Skevros affirmed. "Hey, halfling, go make yourself useful: see if the front door's been jimmied," Syngaard suggested. Orion bit back a retort, choosing to take the bald human's command as a tacit admission that she was the one most skilled at making such a determination. Thus, without a word, she went through the front door and examined it closely from the outside. "Yep, the lock's been tampered with," she replied. "Somebody broke in here - last night, I'd assume." "Dow's consciousness was inside the astral golem," Skevros mused, "and she's taken to wearing the [i]hat of disguise[/i] to look more like a normal person. It's entirely possible the abductors have no idea she isn't exactly what she would appear to be: a human woman, likely in my employ." "So you don't think this has anything to do with the Ossirnans trying to steal your astral golem?" Galen asked. "I would presume not. Well then: to the matter at hand! Dow has been abducted; I want her returned to me unharmed. I will pay you each 2,000 pieces of gold - or their equivalent in gemstones - for her return. The ransom note shows where she's being held. I will [i]teleport[/i] you to that location, where you will effect her rescue. Any questions?" "Yeah, I got one," Syngaard spat out. "We plannin' on just turnin' me over to Maladucci?" "We'll need you present," Galen pointed out. "If Maladucci - or whoever wrote the note - wants you as a condition for Dow's release, then it's going to look suspicious if we arrive without you." "I have a question," piped up Kaspar. "If Dow is inhabiting the astral golem, why does she not simply exit the construct and return here, in her original body?" The elf monk indicated the discarded doll-body lying upon the table. "To do so would be to lose the astral golem and her [i]hat of disguise[/i]," Skevros pointed out. "I doubt she wishes to lose either. Plus, as a construct, she's not in any actual physical danger. It isn't as if they can actually cause her pain." "Have you had an opportunity to [i]scry[/i] upon this tower mentioned in the ransom note?" asked Daleth. "I have, with negative results," admitted Skevros. "The fact that it is magically blocked from [i]scrying[/i] is a good indicator that it is indeed being used to house Dow." He turned to face Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard. "You know the tower well: it's the one the goblin bandits were using as a base of operations on the first mission I assigned you." "So how we doin' this?" Syngaard asked, cutting to the chase. He wasn't pleased with simply being turned over to Karlo Maladucci. He'd worked with the man for years and knew his reputation for ruthlessness was well-founded. Demanding Syngaard be handed over to him did not bode well for the scarred fighter - and the "preferably alive" part didn't sit particularly well with him, either. "Let's go there, like Skevros suggested, and see what we're up against," said Galen. As a paladin, he tended to favor the more straightforward approach. "I'll have Burt with me from the beginning - that will certainly make us look more intimidating." Orion snickered. "And maybe you can try intimidating him with your Dick, Syngaard," she suggested, whistling for her own mount. Carl heard the call and materialized into the tavern. The halfling jumped up into the [i]ghost touch saddle[/i] that allowed her to ride the manifested spirit of her slain riding dog. Once she'd been attuned to the saddle, she pulled a [i]potion of mage armor[/i] from her belt and reached forward to give it to her dog. Carl drank it down happily; as a ghost, he didn't need to eat or drink but he remembered the sensation and enjoyed doing so whenever possible - which wasn't often in his incorporeal state. (Sometimes Orion sat in the saddle just to feed Carl a bowl of unneeded-but-enjoyable-nonetheless water.) "No way," Syngaard countered. "Mr. Maladucci don't know about my Dick - I'm keeping it safe in my pants where he won't see it. That way I can whip it out when he don't suspect nothing." "Then it would seem we have an adequate strategy to keep you safe," reasoned Daleth. He turned to Skevros. "I believe we are ready," he told the king's adviser. "Hang on!" said Galen, calling across the planes for his dire lion bonded mount. Burt likewise materialized in the tavern and the paladin leaped up upon his broad back. Orion saw the worried look on Syngaard's face and offered him a bit of comfort. "I'll tell you what," she said. "We can have Skevros [i]teleport[/i] us far enough away that we won't be seen arriving. Then I'll have Carl go ethereal and we can scout the place out before we go in. Then at least we'll know what we're dealing with." "You can do that?" Syngaard asked. "Sure," Orion replied confidently - although she'd never actually tried it. She was also aware that if she somehow got separated from Carl while on the Ethereal Plane she'd have no way of getting back...but she trusted Skevros would be able to help her if it came to that. "I assume this Karlo Maladucci is of an evil bent?" Daleth asked Syngaard. "Oh yeah - big time." The elven wizard nodded knowingly and cast a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell upon himself. Even if they wouldn't be dealing with the crime lord directly, anyone who kidnapped innocents to get others to do their bidding had to be of an evil nature. He followed that spell up with a [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] that linked four of the conscripts together; the wizard hadn't trained enough with the spell yet to also include Kaspar in the link but as the elven monk was one of their most self-sufficient members, Daleth felt he'd be the one best left out. He then nodded their readiness to Skevros, Skevros cast the [i]teleport[/i] spell, and the conscripts, Burt, and Carl were suddenly in a field with a grove of trees immediately before them. "The tower keep's on the other side of the trees," Galen observed. "Then I'll be right back," Orion said, but was cut off by Syngaard. "Hang on, before you go, lemme tell you what Mr. Maladucci looks like." He then proceeded to describe the crime lord, who fortunately had a rather distinctive look: he shaved the sides of his head, leaving only a strip of hair along the top of his skull. He also shaved his chin but allowed his sideburns to grow directly into his mustache, sporting a mutton-chop style not frequently worn in the Durnhill environs. But it served Karlo Maladucci's purpose, allowing him to stand out among a crowd. "Back in a bit," Orion promised, guiding Carl to slip between the dimensions and enter the Ethereal Plane. To the rest of the conscripts, Orion and Carl simply faded from view. But from the halfling's perspective, all color leeched from the world until it became a dreary land of black, white, and gray. "Can you hear me?" Orion asked, but got no response from the other members of her team - she hadn't expected the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell to be able to cross dimensional boundaries, but since she could hear what was going on in the Material Plane she'd hoped they might likewise be able to hear her. "Oh well," she told Carl. "Let's go check out the tower." Carl responded with a happy "whuff!" and dashed forward, darting between the trees and heading straight for the tower keep. He ran straight through the front door; Orion held back a squeal of anticipation of an impending crash but passed safely through the thick, wooden door without incident. It was clear that getting used to ethereal travel would take some time! Standing inside the lower level of the tower keep were two figures, one of them accurately fitting the description Syngaard had given of Karlo Maladucci; the other, a hobgoblin in heavy armor - mithral plate, by the look of it. Neither seemed to notice Orion or her ghostly mount, which was something else the halfling would have to get used to. But rather than hang around and tempt Fate, she urged Carl to head up the stairs. Carl, in a bit of whimsy, opted to rise straight up through the first floor's ceiling instead, rising up out of the floor on the second level. There they saw Dow tightly bound in the corner, looking bored but unhurt. (The halfling mentally chided herself for thinking the homunculus could actually be hurt inside the astral golem; once again she was thinking of Dow as a human because she currently looked like a human.) There was nobody guarding the captive, which Orion found odd. Were they really only dealing with two people here? If so, this was likely to be a rather easy mission! Still, just to be safe, Orion sent Carl up through the ceiling of the second level and up onto the roof. That was fortunate, for she immediately spotted a wizard - identifiable by the Azure Glade robes he wore, although Orion couldn't make out what color they were in this black-and-white world and thus pinpoint his specialty - hunkered down in the corner of the rooftop, keeping his head below the top of the battlements. A light crossbow sat on the floor at his side, likely a backup weapon for when he ran out of spells. This was likely Maladucci's plan: make it seem like it was just the two of them the conscripts would have to deal with, then have his hidden wizard start lobbing [i]fireballs[/i] or what-have-you from the roof of the keep! That was definitely information worth passing on to the rest of the group! Carl leapt through the crenellations of the roof's top and went racing through the sky, heading back down to the rest of the group still hidden on the other side of the trees. Once returning to their sides, Orion had Carl slide back into the Material Plane, the two of them suddenly appearing back into view. As she did so, her mind snapped back into the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell effect, where the others had apparently been having an animated - if silent - conversation. But seeing Orion and Carl reappear, they broke off their argument long enough for the halfling to explain what she had seen. <So just the three combatants?> asked Galen over the link. <We should be able to take them down easily enough.> <Hey, here's an idea,> thought Syngaard. <We're gettin' paid to rescue Dow, right? Howzabout we just [i]teleport[/i] up to the second floor, grab Dow, and scoot the Hell out of here?> <Technically, I would be employing the [i]dimension door[/i] spell,> argued Daleth. <That would just be delaying the inevitable,> countered Galen. <There's nothing preventing Maladucci from finding another way to get access to Syngaard. We should confront him now and be done with it.> He mused a moment. <Syngaard, this Maladucci isn't a spellcaster by any chance, is he?> <What? No. Just a powerful crime lord with others to do his dirty work for him. But he's still plenty tough himself - I seen it. He once choked a guy to death with one hand for botching a simple heist.> <It would seem the wizard is the biggest threat, then. We should take him out first.> <Well, that doesn't seem very friendly.> The conscripts all looked around to see who had just spoken over their telepathic link - even Kaspar, who wasn't tied into the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell and thus hadn't heard any of the prior discussion. <Mr. Maladucci just wants to talk to you, Syngaard,> said the voice. <He doesn't like being lied to.> <Who's that?> demanded Syngaard. <This is a private conversation!> <A pseudodragon?> guessed Galen. Daleth had recently obtained a pseudodragon familiar, and the paladin knew Todd could converse as easily as a human using his inherent telepathic abilities. <More likely an imp or a quasit,> added Daleth. <Our hidden wizard likely has a more powerful familiar than normal, like I do.> Galen immediately began concentrating on ferreting out the noticeable miasma of evil; there seemed to be a source of evil nearby. "He's over here!" Galen said, forgetting in his excitement to talk over the telepathic link. He then began the words to a [i]bless weapon[/i] spell. <You guys are panicking over nothing,> insisted the invisible imp. <Mr. Maladucci just wants to talk with Syngaard, and then he'll release the young woman.> As if to prove the imp's point, the door to the keep opened up and Karlo Maladucci strode purposefully out the front door, his long strides taking him towards the grove of trees behind which the conscripts were hiding. "He's coming this way!" Syngaard hissed. "Then let's go meet him," Galen replied, urging Burt forward. With a growl, Syngaard walked beside the dire lion, not wanting to be shown up by the paladin. "Syngaard!" the crime lord called. "We must talk! I am very upset with you!" "What for?" Syngaard called back. "I didn't do nothin'." "On the contrary: you lied to me, about the death of my grandchild!" "I didn't lie." "You told me my granddaughter had died." "Told you Mezz lost the baby. That was true. She did...when she died." "Very well, then," countered the crime lord. "You misled me. But never fear: I have a way for you to make it up to me, and then all will be forgiven." The two parties had met in the field before the tower keep at this point, and stood facing each other. Orion and Carl had shifted to the Ethereal Plane and stood nearby, unseen, while the two elves and Todd the pseudodragon kept back by the trees. There was no point in letting Maladucci know how many people had accompanied Syngaard to this meeting - assuming the invisible imp hadn't already filled him in. "I was actually relieved when you told me Mezz had lost the baby during childbirth - I assumed it was the devil with whom I had made my bargain collecting his payment. So you can imagine my rage when I discovered the baby was still alive and the payment for my increased powers had not occurred." "Devil?" repeated Syngaard. "Payment?" "Quite so. A powerful devil by the name of the Hope Ender, who granted me power beyond my wildest dreams - in exchange for my unborn grandchild. Quite the bargain, if I must say so; they normally traffic in souls. Although I suppose this is still such a deal, although the soul in question is not mine, thankfully - just that of some brat my daughter bore." It took all of Syngaard's will to keep his scarred face impassive during this exchange: Karlo Maladucci had intended for little Hope to be turned over to a pit fiend! Was he in league with the Seekers of Eternity, too? It seemed like those guys were everywhere you turned! "Still, all is not lost," Karlo Maladucci continued. "I need only turn the child over to the Hope Ender and all is forgiven. So I need you to fetch me the child - you know where she is, I assume? - and then return to my service, and all will be as it was before." "That's it?" Syngaard asked. "And no hard feelings?" "None whatsoever." "Well, all right then!" Syngaard said, visibly smiling. "I'll have to go get her - I'll be back in about an hour!" And with that, Syngaard spun about and returned to the elves, Galen and Burt following on his heels. Once the group was back together, Syngaard looked at Daleth and, without saying a word - and trying not to "think" any words over the [i]telepathic bond[/i], knowing there was an imp listening in, pointed at Daleth, Kaspar, and himself in turn, then up at the tower roof. Daleth took the hint. Starting the words to a [i]dimension door[/i] spell, the elf wizard was surprised when all of a sudden Karlo Maladucci popped into view beside him and stabbed at him with an unsheathed blade. Despite the surprise attack, the elf managed to send the three conscripts (and Todd, who Syngaard hadn't specified but whom Daleth wanted along nonetheless) up to the rooftop of the tower keep, behind the human wizard still crouching to stay out of view. Back behind the trees, surprise reigned. Galen wasn't sure how Maladucci had gotten there so suddenly - could he [i]teleport[/i] as well? They had just been talking to him over by the tower and had left him back there when Syngaard had walked back behind the tree-line. Little did he know that the "Karlo Maladucci" they'd been talking to was none other than the hobgoblin wearing Dow's own [i]hat of disguise[/i], while an invisible Karlo Maladucci had been using the powers of ventriloquism (gained by the doffing of a potion of the same name) to make it seem as if the fake crime lord were doing the talking. Invisibly, he'd kept pace with Syngaard, Galen, and Burt when they returned to their spot behind the trees, and he'd known he needed to strike once the elf wizard started casting some spell. Sure, it broke the [i]invisibility[/i] spell but it was worth the risk - it didn't seem likely that Syngaard was going to bring him the crime lord's granddaughter if he was in the habit of hanging around with paladins! Up on the tower's rooftop, Todd flew forward and struck at the crouching wizard with the pointed stinger at the tip of his tail. The stinger-tip penetrated the wizard's robes, injecting the sleep poison into the man's system. The venom took effect immediately and the wizard was snoring before his head hit the roof's floor. Kaspar stepped quietly forward and struck a killing blow with his right hand, shattering the wizard's skull with the force of his attack - and the full power of his [i]tenryutsume[/i] behind it. The snores stopped as abruptly as the wizard's life. The group heard the telepathic cries of outrage from the unseen imp at the death of his master, but the invisible devil seemed unwilling to put his life on the line to try to do anything about taking revenge on his master's slayers. At his own master's urging, Burt dashed forward, tearing into Maladucci's arm with his front claws as Galen, mounted upon the dire lion, brought the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] crashing down onto the crime lord's shoulder, the full force of Hieroneous's power flowing through the blade. Maladucci gave a cry of pain, which only intensified when Burt brought one of his hind legs into play, scraping the back claws along Karlo's thigh. Then, to make matters worse for the crime lord, Orion and Carl materialized behind him and the halfling sent her [i]flaming short sword[/i] stabbing deep into his torso. "I'll deal with you later!" Maladucci snarled, sending a [i]blasphemy[/i] spell ripping through his opponents. Burt was instantly banished back to his home plane, tumbling uncontrollably through the heavens until he found his footing back on the Beastlands. Unable to return to his master's side by his own will, he roared his frustration to the skies. Carl's incorporeal body was vaporized into nothingness, but as he was already undead his ghostly body would simply rematerialize in a few days. Galen and Orion, however, were instantly paralyzed, the paladin crashing to the ground on his back and the halfling slowly settling to the ground due to her [i]ring of feather falling[/i] before she too toppled backwards, staring helplessly up at the tree limbs above her. Seeing all was as he had expected, Karlo Maladucci stormed back towards the tower keep, intent on finding Syngaard. He'd torture his granddaughter's location out of the scarred idiot, no doubt adding a few new scars before he killed the oaf. As all of this had happened behind the tree-line, Syngaard saw none of it from his vantage point at the top of the tower's battlements. Instead, he saw what he believed to be Karlo Maladucci standing below him at the front of the tower. Since the wizard had been taken care of by the elves, Syngaard fumbled in his pants pocket, whipped out his Dick, and leapt upon it as the griffon dived down at the figure of the crime lord below. Dick screeched in fury as he dove, but the hobgoblin wearing Maladucci's form was too battle-ready to allow that to freeze him into immobility; he dodged the incoming claws and while Syngaard got in a good whack with his [i]human bane scimitar[/i], it didn't do nearly as much damage as the scarred fighter had hoped. Surprisingly, this Maladucci pulled out a flail and sent its head on a crash course with Syngaard's skull; the fighter had just barely enough time to dodge under the blow, all the time wondering when Mr. Maladucci started wielding a flail. In all the years Syngaard had worked for the man, he'd never known the crime lord to use a flail in battle. But then the [i]hat of disguise[/i] slipped from the hobgoblin's head and all was made clear - even to someone of Syngaard's limited intellectual capacity. Daleth watched the battle from the tower's roof and was in place to see the real Maladucci round the trees and head towards his former duplicate and his son-in-law. The elf wizard channeled a [i]shocking grasp[/i] into his familiar and sent Todd flying down to attack Maladucci. Once again Todd's stinger struck true, but the electrical spell didn't seem to do much to the man and the sleep venom did absolutely nothing. Maladucci swatted the pseudodragon out of his way the way he would an irritating mosquito and continued on his approach toward his erstwhile son-in-law, who was somehow astride a griffon and battling his hobgoblin lieutenant. Coming up beside his fellow elf, Kaspar took in the scene below and touched his [i]amber amulet of vermin[/i], calling forth the giant stag beetle whose spirit dwelled within. John materialized beside Maladucci; the beetle's mandibles snapped shut but the intended prey was not caught between them as anticipated. Coming to aid his beetle, Kaspar ran down the vertical side of the tower keep, his [i]slippers of spider climbing[/i] preventing him from simply plummeting to the ground. Upon reaching the ground, the monk sprinted at the human now actively fighting his insect friend. Channeling another spell-like ability through his half-fiendish frame, Karlo Maladucci caused a [i]horrid wilting[/i] effect to weaken Syngaard, Dick, John, and Kaspar. Dick's wings faltered and he barely kept his footing as he landed awkwardly on the ground, struggling to stay upright. John was completely overwhelmed by the effect, vanishing immediately and returning to the elf's amulet. Dick, in an extreme effort, lashed out with a set of claws, scoring a hit across Maladucci's face. But the effort cost him dearly, for by focusing on Maladucci the griffon allowed the hobgoblin to strike him down with his magical flail. As the griffon reverted instantly to its statuette form and fell to the ground, the hobgoblin brought his flail into a cleaving blow, striking at where he thought Syngaard would have fallen. However, to the hobgoblin's great surprise, Syngaard remained where he was, riding absolutely nothing now - certainly not a griffon - but remaining airborne nonetheless. It was the fighter's [i]boots of levitation[/i] that kept him in the air and thus helped him avoid the hobgoblin's crashing flail. Daleth sent a [i]scorching ray[/i] spell flying down from the tower roof, channeled through his [i]metamagic rod[/i] to power it up significantly. One ray missed entirely, scorching nothing more than a patch of grass; the other hit the true Karlo Maladucci straight in the chest, but he shrugged it off as if it were nothing. Apparently the "power" the Hope Ender had granted the crime lord in exchange for his grandchild's soul included protection from several of the main energy types, fire obviously among them. Todd struck out at the hobgoblin with his tail-stinger, but failed to connect. Kaspar rounded on the crime lord, striking him with his most powerful blow, dropping him instantly. The monk then delivered the rest of his attacks to the hobgoblin, who was obviously surprised to see his master fall like that. But Syngaard wasted no time; dropping back down to the ground by deactivating his magic boots, he grabbed the [i]flaming brilliant energy morningstar[/i] at his belt, raised it high above his head, and brought it crashing down upon his father-in-law's skull. The weapon-head smashed through the crime lord's head with the wet sound of a pumpkin exploding and Syngaard released an involuntary cry of exultation at Mr. Maladucci's death. The bald fighter, straddling Maladucci's corpse, looked over at the hobgoblin. "I got no beef with you!" he called out. "I'll give you one chance to surrender, or you're gonna end up like your boss here!" "You son of a bitch - you killed my brother!" snarled the hobgoblin, confusing Syngaard enough to look down at the corpse of the crime lord as he tried to figure out how the obviously human Karlo Maladucci could be a hobgoblin's brother. "I will avenge his honor!" the hobgoblin promised, striking his flail at the nearest enemy - Kaspar, as it turned out, who handily dodged the blow. Then Daleth sent another [i]empowered scorching ray[/i] spell down at the sole remaining foe and the hobgoblin dropped to the ground, dead. "That don't make no sense," Syngaard said, clearly still puzzled. "He no doubt means the hobgoblin we fought here on our first assignment," Kaspar explained patiently. "O-o-o-o-oh!" Syngaard replied. That certainly did make a lot more sense! <I will see about freeing Dow,> Daleth said to the others over the [i]Rary's telepathic link[/i] spell, before opening the trap door on the floor of the roof and climbing the ladder beneath it down to the keep's top floor. "Say...." said Syngaard, walking back over to the area behind the trees while Kaspar began removing the armor and weapons from their slain foes. Syngaard hadn't seen Galen and Orion during the fight, and there they both were, lying on their backs staring up into the branches above. As he approached, Syngaard could see them breathing so he knew they were both alive, but it looked like they'd been paralyzed somehow during the fight. A sudden grin crossed the fighter's face as he approached Orion's still form. She still held her [i]flaming short sword[/i] in her right hand and her legs were splayed out wide as if still sitting in the saddle. "Seems to me somebody once swapped potion vials on me, and shrunk me down to halfling size during a battle against cultists," Syngaard observed. "Some might say the offender was owed a bit of payback...." The [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell was still in effect, so even though she was paralyzed to the point she couldn't speak, Orion could still communicate to the others in the link, Syngaard included. <Syngaard, please don't--> she began, disliking the pleading tone of her mental voice but not being able to help it, before being cut off by the bald human towering over her immobile form. "...But you did good, scouting out that tower with your dog like you did," Syngaard added, causing Orion to stop her mental broadcast to hear what he was going to say. Syngaard squatted down next to her, so she could get a good look at his scarred face. "There's plenty I could do to you right now, and not a single thing you could do to stop it. But you helped me take down that piece of crap Maladucci and I appreciate it. So you just remember which of us is the bigger man." Then he realized what he had just said and snickered. "Heh. 'Bigger man,' to a halfling!" When the paralyzation effect finally wore off several minutes later, Syngaard helped Orion up without a word and then walked over to Kaspar. Galen rose on his own and joined them. "Mithral armor, two sets," the elf said, indicating the armor he'd taken from the two corpses - one breastplate and one set of full plate, along with a pair of mithral shields, one light and one heavy. Then he pointed to the weapons he'd set beside the armor. "A flail and a longsword, both seem to be magical to some extent." Syngaard grunted when he saw Maladucci's sword, which held a copy of his family crest at the base of the blade. "Throw 'em in a [i]bag of holding[/i]," he suggested. "We'll sort 'em out later." Galen bent down beside the corpses and turned their heads to the sides, inspecting the backs of their necks for the tell-tale hourglass tattoo indicating membership in the Seekers of Eternity. He was somewhat surprised to find their necks bare; sometimes it seemed like the Seekers were everywhere. Daleth exited the keep with a magical crossbow over his shoulder and Dow in tow, operating the astral golem that gave her human size if her own normal exaggerated features. "I will take this back," she said, bending down to fetch her stolen [i]hat of disguise[/i]. Placing it on her head, her own features blurred and she became indistinguishable from a normal human woman - this particular model a brunette with wavy curls and an ankle-length flared dress. (Dow liked to change her appearance frequently.) Kaspar finished putting the loot into his extradimensional bag as directed. "What do we want to do with them?" he asked, indicating Karlo Maladucci and his hobgoblin lieutenant. "Leave 'em for the crows," Syngaard snarled. "You got the [i]ring of return[/i]?" he asked the monk. Kaspar retrieved the item from inside his robes and held it out for the others to grab onto. "Then let's get the Hell outta here," Syngaard said. Kaspar activated the ring and the conscripts were gone. - - - This was another refreshing change: we actually got to kill somebody who's going to stay dead! Logan explained that not only are Karlo Maladucci and his hobgoblin henchman [i]not[/i] members of the Seekers of Eternity, but the Hope Ender's not going to allow Maladucci to be resurrected in any case; he has an eternity of torment lined up for the man who was to offer up Hope Syngaard as payment for the pit fiend having granted a mere mortal crime lord the powers of a half-fiend. We also got a butt-ton (I believe that's the accurate terminology) of XP for this adventure, as Karlo Maladucci was a fighter 10/rogue 5 with the half-fiend template added on for good measure. As a result, each of the five PCs leveled up. And I definitely surprised Vicki by not having Syngaard take his revenge on Orion when the opportunity was right there. (Dan broke out laughing as soon as I said "I move over towards Orion" once the fighting was finished.) She later admitted she had expected me to have Syngaard pee on Orion or something as revenge for being shrunken to halfling size back in adventure 9. But I felt bad that Dan and Vicki had had their PCs taken out of the action. (Given the short nature of the adventures in this campaign we don't have "backup PCs" to pass around, so I offered to let Dan run Dick and Harry likewise gave John's sheet to Vicki to run so they'd have something to do for the rest of the session.) [/QUOTE]
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