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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6911902" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>It was during the course of this discussion that Drudge suddenly stopped us and pointed at a spot in the distance. I couldn’t see what he was trying to show us but that changed quickly as a ball of light sped towards him. I was able to recognize immediately as the lantern archon came to a hovering stop in front of Longhelim: </p><p> </p><p>“May it please you, my lord, but the Lady Shalosha requests your presence on the western front.”</p><p> </p><p>Interesting; there had been no mention of Shaaladel but rather Shalosha; I suspected that the elven king would rather cut off his arm that ask for help from mere humans or dwarves. Be that as it may, we quickly organized ourselves and magically transported ourselves to the Western front. </p><p> </p><p>The terrain here was different. While still a desert waste, it was hillier and therefore more dangerous. Visibility was much poorer and they had their own version of our glass storm; it consisted of black rain that did not look healthy. I didn’t get a chance to find out what it did because my attention was immediately captured by the being standing next to Shalosha. It was a female angel but no ordinary one; so far it was the most powerful good being I had ever seen; a planetar. They were often called the heralds of the good gods and some of the most powerful individuals on the celestial spheres. Only solars had a greater standing in the hierarchy of the Heavens. She had the emerald skin characteristic to planetars and looked like a tall, stunningly proportioned human female. </p><p> </p><p>Shalosha looked worried by smiled at us as we appeared: </p><p> </p><p>“Welcome and thank you for coming. Please, may I introduce Arisha, my companion.”</p><p> </p><p>The planetar nodded at us with a smile. </p><p> </p><p>Shalosha continued: </p><p> </p><p>“We have been able to contain the monster horde with one exception. Three enormous flaming constructs are playing havoc with our forces. We are not sure what they are but they are extremely powerful. They seem to be made of fire, use weapons and are impervious to most magic. We would welcome your help in dealing with them; and please, hurry; the more we delay, the more damage they cause. </p><p> </p><p>If you are willing, Arisha will take you to the location where they were seen last.”</p><p> </p><p>Quickly we nodded to the Princess and cast a few more protective spells before we followed the angel. As we travelled, we saw several disturbing sights; the husks of several treants, burned to ash; groups of slain elven warriors, bleached white as if consumed by a wave of something; disturbingly, unlike the bleached surrounding, the ground beneath them was burned black. And as we continued, we saw a group of motionless figures, except that a group of shadows was hovering over each corpse; it took me a moment to realise what the shadows were doing: checking to make sure that each figure was fully dead rather than unconscious; if it was the latter, then they could be turned into a shadow thrall. With disgust, I realised that the creatures were literally harvesting the fallen. </p><p> </p><p>I took a quick look at Longhelim; he was looking at the scene in front of us and had also realised what was happening but he told the rest of us: </p><p> </p><p>“The elves can deal with the shadows; we have to harbour our resources against these fire golems.”</p><p> </p><p> A few moments later, it became easy to discern a trail; the ground looked as if a small trail of lava had moved through it. The edges of the trough were still burning slightly while the ground looked hot to the touch. As we followed this trough, soon we saw a glow. We approached more cautiously and then we could see them. Fire golems did not do these creatures justice. They were veritable titans made stone, with fire bursting from their joints. Their eyes glowed with flame. Their breastplates seemed to be white hot in the dark rain. As it fell on them, it raised continuous steam, surrounding them with an eerie smoke. Just at this moment, they seemed to be stationary, looking for something and it was with horror that I saw a large contingent of humans nearby, trying to hide from these creatures; I recognised them as well. They were from Gate Pass!</p><p> </p><p>Almost as an afterthought, there were several mobs of humanoids nearby, no doubt scavenging after the golems or titans or whatever they were. </p><p> </p><p>We surveyed the scene for a few moments. Nothing seemed to have noticed us but that would not last, so Drudge shot a volley of arrows into one if the golems. They seemed to do little but make it turn around towards us. It also caused the mobs to do the same and one immediately launched a cloud of spears, arrows, javelins and small rocks towards, or more especially, towards Drudge who was badly hurt. One of the titans lumbered towards us while the other two made throwing motions towards us; balls of fire appeared in the air and hit our group but thankfully, our magical protections absorbed the burning. Several of us also burst into fire but again, the protections took care of that. </p><p> </p><p>One of the titans approached just as Arisha put up a spell, which prevented another barrage of missiles from the mobs from hitting us. Victor moved in and after being struck himself hit the titan so hard it actually flared a little from the gash his sword made. He was quickly joined by Longhelim who then became the target for the titan’s wrath and was almost pummeled into insensitivity. Thankfully, Felix moved up and healed the paladin. I was keeping my spells at this time. I had one final powerful spell left but I wanted to choose the correct target for it and one of these titans was just right. </p><p> </p><p>Drudge was concentrating his fire on the mobs and they were suffering. Volley after volley went into them and they almost broke. However, a moment later I found that crafty Felix also had one spell left as he shouted: </p><p> </p><p>“Faden, find out if the mobs have any magic against fire!”</p><p> </p><p>So I took out a wand, a very feeble wand which spat out a small curtain of fire; however, it was enough for me to see that several goblins and bugbears in that mob were a little burned so I just nodded at the cleric.</p><p> </p><p>A feral grin broke on his face and he first checked the mobs carefully; I assumed he was making sure there were no Inquisitors amongst them; when he failed to spot any, he cast his spell and a series of huge balls of fire roiled amongst the mobs, lingering and burning; they were like angry clouds of flame, engulfing it screaming victims. Suffice it to say, that was too much for the few remains of the mobs and they ran, screaming and smoking, towards some small hills nearby. They were finished as a fighting force. </p><p> </p><p>Victor and Longhelim took the opportunity to finish the titan which caused the other two to lumber forward. They had been lobbing balls of fire at us, which had done little but now it they saw that the situation had changed. However, that gave me an opportunity to use my last powerful spell as a barred, invisible cage of force appeared , entrapping one of them. They were so large, my spell could only entrap one but for our purposes, he stopped being a danger to us. </p><p> </p><p>That left just one. Longhelim and Victor moved towards him and I changed shape into one of the powerful frost worms which we had seen. These being fire creatures, our reasoning was that they would suffer more greatly from cold attacks. As the warriors were assaulting the last titan, I also used the worm’s breath weapon on it, which obviously had an effect. Much encouraged, I then changed into one of the strange blizzard elementals, which had assailed us and the Lyceum mages. </p><p> </p><p>They were powerful creatures and one of the first things I did was send a freezing blast of air at the titan. Although it managed to dodge, it was obviously still affected by the cold to a greater extent than usual and I was determined to continue attacking it this way. So, although it hurt Victor quite badly, I and the warriors managed to destroy the final titan. </p><p> </p><p>While healing, we waited for the next call for help. </p><p> </p><p>The final fire golem was still being a nuisance, launching balls of fire through the cage; especially at me, and these were particularly annoying as I was still in the shape of a frost worm so I changed and moved to Felix for some much-needed healing. Simultaneously, Longhelim called out to the Gate Pass soldiers for some further information. Unfortunately, they began running away as soon as they realised we had noticed them. Ultimately, very sensible of them though as the fire golem soon began lobbing balls of fire in their direction, making them move even faster. </p><p> </p><p>That decided Drudge, who had been pondering as to whether to waste his arrows on the creature or just leave it alone. With his characteristic speed, he loaded a full volley of arrows and loosed. He continued to do this as Felix was healing everyone from their hurts. The fire golems had been very tough and deadly. </p><p> </p><p>As this was happening, I asked: </p><p> </p><p>“So, what now? Do we stay here, go back to our first encounter or go back to headquarters?”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim thought for a brief moment and then replied: </p><p> </p><p>“We should go back to Heaquarters; they are going to want to know about these battle standards; and it would be good to know just what they do. I’ll use one of the spells from the Torch to get us back.”</p><p> </p><p>So, once Drudge had dealt with the last fire golem, we transported ourselves back to our camp. There, we reported out findings to Xavious Foebane; he frowned at the description of the banners: </p><p> </p><p>“Well, while this is unexpected but I suppose it is no great surprise that Leska has such magic at her disposal; the Ragesians were ever extraordinary magical innovators; look at how they obtained the Torch; to this day, I don’t know how Coaltongue conjured the infernal thing, but with it, he conquered three quarters of the world; and the only reason he didn’t get Shahalesti is because Shaaladel was allied with him.”</p><p> </p><p>He turned and summoned a runner: </p><p> </p><p>“Go and fetch the mages Simeon and Kiernan; let’s see if they can find out anything about these standards.”</p><p> </p><p>The two mages came running quickly and opened their mouths as soon as they saw us, only to be interrupted by Foebane: </p><p> </p><p>“Reports can be made later; first, find out what you can about these banners.”</p><p> </p><p>The two mages retired to a corner of the command tent and began casting various spells, most of which I recognised so I quickly approached and left them a pile of equipment which had belonged to General Titus. </p><p> </p><p>We refreshed ourselves a little but it did not take long for Simeon and Kiernan to return with their results. </p><p> </p><p>Simeon spoke first: </p><p> </p><p>“From what we have been able to ascertain, commander in possession of this standard can share any spell he casts on himself or herself with his army; this can be through a scroll, potion, wand or direct casting. We have not been able to do a full divination on them but that is the gist of it. As usual with Leska’s magic, we have never seen anything like it. But if we can get these to our generals, they could make a huge difference to upcoming battles.”</p><p> </p><p>Xavious looked shocked and then thoughtful. My personal thoughts were whirling as I tried to work through the permutations of what I had been told. The possibilities were staggering but I was interrupted from my musings by Kiernan, who approached us: </p><p> </p><p>“This is Titus’s equipment; there are some powerful pieces here and they have the following qualities……”</p><p> </p><p>He then went through all the dweomered pieces and explained their qualities. There were indeed powerful pieces there. Quickly, we distributed them and just as we were finishing, Foebane turned to us having finished talking to his advisors: </p><p> </p><p>“We believe that the elves should be the first recipients of one of the banners; it sounds as if you have managed to keep the situation under control from the two other attacks but the elves seem to be under the greatest amount of pressure. Please take this banner to Shalosha, who no doubt will get it to her father.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6911902, member: 6692807"] It was during the course of this discussion that Drudge suddenly stopped us and pointed at a spot in the distance. I couldn’t see what he was trying to show us but that changed quickly as a ball of light sped towards him. I was able to recognize immediately as the lantern archon came to a hovering stop in front of Longhelim: “May it please you, my lord, but the Lady Shalosha requests your presence on the western front.” Interesting; there had been no mention of Shaaladel but rather Shalosha; I suspected that the elven king would rather cut off his arm that ask for help from mere humans or dwarves. Be that as it may, we quickly organized ourselves and magically transported ourselves to the Western front. The terrain here was different. While still a desert waste, it was hillier and therefore more dangerous. Visibility was much poorer and they had their own version of our glass storm; it consisted of black rain that did not look healthy. I didn’t get a chance to find out what it did because my attention was immediately captured by the being standing next to Shalosha. It was a female angel but no ordinary one; so far it was the most powerful good being I had ever seen; a planetar. They were often called the heralds of the good gods and some of the most powerful individuals on the celestial spheres. Only solars had a greater standing in the hierarchy of the Heavens. She had the emerald skin characteristic to planetars and looked like a tall, stunningly proportioned human female. Shalosha looked worried by smiled at us as we appeared: “Welcome and thank you for coming. Please, may I introduce Arisha, my companion.” The planetar nodded at us with a smile. Shalosha continued: “We have been able to contain the monster horde with one exception. Three enormous flaming constructs are playing havoc with our forces. We are not sure what they are but they are extremely powerful. They seem to be made of fire, use weapons and are impervious to most magic. We would welcome your help in dealing with them; and please, hurry; the more we delay, the more damage they cause. If you are willing, Arisha will take you to the location where they were seen last.” Quickly we nodded to the Princess and cast a few more protective spells before we followed the angel. As we travelled, we saw several disturbing sights; the husks of several treants, burned to ash; groups of slain elven warriors, bleached white as if consumed by a wave of something; disturbingly, unlike the bleached surrounding, the ground beneath them was burned black. And as we continued, we saw a group of motionless figures, except that a group of shadows was hovering over each corpse; it took me a moment to realise what the shadows were doing: checking to make sure that each figure was fully dead rather than unconscious; if it was the latter, then they could be turned into a shadow thrall. With disgust, I realised that the creatures were literally harvesting the fallen. I took a quick look at Longhelim; he was looking at the scene in front of us and had also realised what was happening but he told the rest of us: “The elves can deal with the shadows; we have to harbour our resources against these fire golems.” A few moments later, it became easy to discern a trail; the ground looked as if a small trail of lava had moved through it. The edges of the trough were still burning slightly while the ground looked hot to the touch. As we followed this trough, soon we saw a glow. We approached more cautiously and then we could see them. Fire golems did not do these creatures justice. They were veritable titans made stone, with fire bursting from their joints. Their eyes glowed with flame. Their breastplates seemed to be white hot in the dark rain. As it fell on them, it raised continuous steam, surrounding them with an eerie smoke. Just at this moment, they seemed to be stationary, looking for something and it was with horror that I saw a large contingent of humans nearby, trying to hide from these creatures; I recognised them as well. They were from Gate Pass! Almost as an afterthought, there were several mobs of humanoids nearby, no doubt scavenging after the golems or titans or whatever they were. We surveyed the scene for a few moments. Nothing seemed to have noticed us but that would not last, so Drudge shot a volley of arrows into one if the golems. They seemed to do little but make it turn around towards us. It also caused the mobs to do the same and one immediately launched a cloud of spears, arrows, javelins and small rocks towards, or more especially, towards Drudge who was badly hurt. One of the titans lumbered towards us while the other two made throwing motions towards us; balls of fire appeared in the air and hit our group but thankfully, our magical protections absorbed the burning. Several of us also burst into fire but again, the protections took care of that. One of the titans approached just as Arisha put up a spell, which prevented another barrage of missiles from the mobs from hitting us. Victor moved in and after being struck himself hit the titan so hard it actually flared a little from the gash his sword made. He was quickly joined by Longhelim who then became the target for the titan’s wrath and was almost pummeled into insensitivity. Thankfully, Felix moved up and healed the paladin. I was keeping my spells at this time. I had one final powerful spell left but I wanted to choose the correct target for it and one of these titans was just right. Drudge was concentrating his fire on the mobs and they were suffering. Volley after volley went into them and they almost broke. However, a moment later I found that crafty Felix also had one spell left as he shouted: “Faden, find out if the mobs have any magic against fire!” So I took out a wand, a very feeble wand which spat out a small curtain of fire; however, it was enough for me to see that several goblins and bugbears in that mob were a little burned so I just nodded at the cleric. A feral grin broke on his face and he first checked the mobs carefully; I assumed he was making sure there were no Inquisitors amongst them; when he failed to spot any, he cast his spell and a series of huge balls of fire roiled amongst the mobs, lingering and burning; they were like angry clouds of flame, engulfing it screaming victims. Suffice it to say, that was too much for the few remains of the mobs and they ran, screaming and smoking, towards some small hills nearby. They were finished as a fighting force. Victor and Longhelim took the opportunity to finish the titan which caused the other two to lumber forward. They had been lobbing balls of fire at us, which had done little but now it they saw that the situation had changed. However, that gave me an opportunity to use my last powerful spell as a barred, invisible cage of force appeared , entrapping one of them. They were so large, my spell could only entrap one but for our purposes, he stopped being a danger to us. That left just one. Longhelim and Victor moved towards him and I changed shape into one of the powerful frost worms which we had seen. These being fire creatures, our reasoning was that they would suffer more greatly from cold attacks. As the warriors were assaulting the last titan, I also used the worm’s breath weapon on it, which obviously had an effect. Much encouraged, I then changed into one of the strange blizzard elementals, which had assailed us and the Lyceum mages. They were powerful creatures and one of the first things I did was send a freezing blast of air at the titan. Although it managed to dodge, it was obviously still affected by the cold to a greater extent than usual and I was determined to continue attacking it this way. So, although it hurt Victor quite badly, I and the warriors managed to destroy the final titan. While healing, we waited for the next call for help. The final fire golem was still being a nuisance, launching balls of fire through the cage; especially at me, and these were particularly annoying as I was still in the shape of a frost worm so I changed and moved to Felix for some much-needed healing. Simultaneously, Longhelim called out to the Gate Pass soldiers for some further information. Unfortunately, they began running away as soon as they realised we had noticed them. Ultimately, very sensible of them though as the fire golem soon began lobbing balls of fire in their direction, making them move even faster. That decided Drudge, who had been pondering as to whether to waste his arrows on the creature or just leave it alone. With his characteristic speed, he loaded a full volley of arrows and loosed. He continued to do this as Felix was healing everyone from their hurts. The fire golems had been very tough and deadly. As this was happening, I asked: “So, what now? Do we stay here, go back to our first encounter or go back to headquarters?” Longhelim thought for a brief moment and then replied: “We should go back to Heaquarters; they are going to want to know about these battle standards; and it would be good to know just what they do. I’ll use one of the spells from the Torch to get us back.” So, once Drudge had dealt with the last fire golem, we transported ourselves back to our camp. There, we reported out findings to Xavious Foebane; he frowned at the description of the banners: “Well, while this is unexpected but I suppose it is no great surprise that Leska has such magic at her disposal; the Ragesians were ever extraordinary magical innovators; look at how they obtained the Torch; to this day, I don’t know how Coaltongue conjured the infernal thing, but with it, he conquered three quarters of the world; and the only reason he didn’t get Shahalesti is because Shaaladel was allied with him.” He turned and summoned a runner: “Go and fetch the mages Simeon and Kiernan; let’s see if they can find out anything about these standards.” The two mages came running quickly and opened their mouths as soon as they saw us, only to be interrupted by Foebane: “Reports can be made later; first, find out what you can about these banners.” The two mages retired to a corner of the command tent and began casting various spells, most of which I recognised so I quickly approached and left them a pile of equipment which had belonged to General Titus. We refreshed ourselves a little but it did not take long for Simeon and Kiernan to return with their results. Simeon spoke first: “From what we have been able to ascertain, commander in possession of this standard can share any spell he casts on himself or herself with his army; this can be through a scroll, potion, wand or direct casting. We have not been able to do a full divination on them but that is the gist of it. As usual with Leska’s magic, we have never seen anything like it. But if we can get these to our generals, they could make a huge difference to upcoming battles.” Xavious looked shocked and then thoughtful. My personal thoughts were whirling as I tried to work through the permutations of what I had been told. The possibilities were staggering but I was interrupted from my musings by Kiernan, who approached us: “This is Titus’s equipment; there are some powerful pieces here and they have the following qualities……” He then went through all the dweomered pieces and explained their qualities. There were indeed powerful pieces there. Quickly, we distributed them and just as we were finishing, Foebane turned to us having finished talking to his advisors: “We believe that the elves should be the first recipients of one of the banners; it sounds as if you have managed to keep the situation under control from the two other attacks but the elves seem to be under the greatest amount of pressure. Please take this banner to Shalosha, who no doubt will get it to her father.” [/QUOTE]
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