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The Kordovian Adventurers Guild
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6895894" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 20: ASSAULT ON BATTERSHIELD KEEP</strong></p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 21 MAY 2016</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Six days after cleaning out the Magekiller dungeon, the group drove their wagons into Kordovia. The trip back had been relatively uneventful - if you didn't count Binkadink's hair turning bright red one day for about an hour and Daisy's mane and tail turning as bright yellow as her namesake for an equal amount of time on another. At Ingebold's insistence the first stop was straight to the castle, where they split up all of their accumulated loot, first giving half to the kingdom's coffers and then the other half being split up equally between the adventurers. After that, they each went their separate ways, some of them to pick up supplies (a few bought potions from one of Winkidew's competitors while Gilbert restocked his piton supply), others to check in with their respective families. But at dinnertime they all met back at Battershield Keep for one of Helga Battershield's famous "welcome home" banquets. Several hours later, bellies filled with food and drink and heads filled with local gossip, everyone stumbled off to their own quarters.</p><p></p><p>Hours passed. The moons rose, playing hide-and-seek behind windswept clouds. In the six converted bedrooms filling the two northern towers of Battershield Keep, the adventurers slept the sleep of the weary; Finoula, Castillan, and Aithanar - being full-blooded elves - cast their minds into reverie instead, reliving old memories, both good and bad.</p><p></p><p>But as Castillan reviewed his memories of when he first taught himself to run up walls, an outside noise disturbed him. Oddly enough, it was a sound that fit seamlessly into the memory he'd been reliving, the sound of boots scraping on a wall...but something was off. It took the bounder a moment to realize the discrepancy: it was the sound of <em>two</em> pairs of boots climbing down a wall. Castillan couldn't recall ever having met anyone who could do what he did and his memory had been of himself alone, so what exactly was going on? Fully awake now, he strained his ears and sure enough, he could hear someone - two someones, actually - climbing down the wall of the tower outside the narrow window-slit of his room.</p><p></p><p>"Aith! Wake up!" he hissed quietly, shaking his brother out of his own reverie as he climbed out of bed and slipped on his boots and gloves. He didn't want to waste the time with his armor; it would take too long to gather up and put on, and if somebody was climbing down the interior wall of the keep, time might very well be of the essence.</p><p></p><p>"Shombooty?" asked Aithanar drowsily. Being shaken out of elven reverie was similar to being awakened out of a deep sleep.</p><p></p><p>"Intruders!" whispered Castillan. "Grab your sword and follow me."</p><p></p><p>The two elves were in Castillan's room at the top floor of the northeastern tower. They crept down the steps to the mid-level room and rapped on the door. Inside the room, Wrath perked up his ears as Finoula was similarly awakened out of reverie. She stood from her lotus position on the floor in one fluid motion, opening the door and seeing the two Ivenheart brothers standing their in their night-tunics. She herself wore a short tunic over her leather combat pants, having removed the jacket when she retired for the evening. But as Castillan filled her in, she grabbed up her new longsword - she'd decided to call it <em>Tahlmalaera</em>, "The War Song Blade" - and followed the group downstairs to the ground level, where they could hear Ingebold snoring quietly in her room, the snores becoming even louder as they opened the unlocked door to her room to wake her up.</p><p></p><p>But that wasn't all they heard, for the sudden grinding noise and the clattering of chains told them the drawbridge was being lowered.</p><p></p><p>They weren't the only ones who heard that. Over in the northwestern tower, Binkadink on the ground floor and Darrien on the top floor both woke up from their slumbers at the sound. Neither could think of any good reason why the drawbridge would be lowered in the middle of the night, and each hastily grabbed up weapons and rushed for their respective doors.</p><p></p><p>Over by the recently-acquired Vistani wagon, parked in the middle of the keep's courtyard, Obvious snapped awake as well. The jackalope's night vision was good enough to pick up the shapes of two strangers, one at either side of the drawbridge, pulling on the chains which raised the keep's portcullis. Worse yet, approaching the lowered drawbridge from the access road were a dozen or so goblins. Obvious wasn't a brilliant tactician by any means, but he knew they meant harm to his friend, the gnome with the funny name that didn't actually mean anything, and he also knew which tower Binkadink had entered, so he lowered his antlers and hippity-hopped across the courtyard, goring the orc who stood just outside Binkadink's door. He struck true, eliciting a grunt of pain from the surprised orc, but the brute had a weapon at hand - a greatclub leaning up against the wall - which he grabbed up and slammed into the side of the jackalope's head with one practiced motion. Four of the approaching goblins also took the opportunity to send sling stones hurling at the jackalope's body, three of them striking true - and stinging more than Obvious would have thought.</p><p></p><p>The sounds of battle finally did what nothing else had done thus far - woke Gilbert up. "Now what?" he groused, throwing on his robe and drinking down a potion of <em>protection from evil</em> - one of the ones he'd just picked up this morning, and already he was using it! Then he stomped down the steps to the lower level to see what was going on, meeting Binkadink and Darrien at the bottom.</p><p></p><p>Across the courtyard, the door to the northeastern tower opened and Castillan stabbed at the orc standing there. But by then the portcullis was fully raised and the orc had grabbed his greatclub back up. He swung his weapon at the elf, who staggered back from the blow and then tried tumbling his way past the foe and into the courtyard. But the orc blocked his way, slamming the bounder again with his greatclub against the side of his head. Castillan's legs grew weak and wobbly, and it was only Finoula grabbing him and pulling him into Ingebold's room that prevented him from being knocked around further. Ingebold, fully awake now, cast a healing spell on the bounder, and then seeing Obvious bleeding in the courtyard used her light mace to send a blast of healing energy into the wounded jackalope as well.</p><p></p><p>Finoula, meanwhile, stepped forward into Castillan's place at the door and stabbed at the orc with <em>Tahlmalaera</em>. Wrath darted his head out of the doorway and bit at the orc's leg at the same time, then ducked back into the building where it was safer. Behind him, Aithanar had his sword at the ready but was stuck behind the bottleneck at the door into the courtyard.</p><p></p><p>Outside, the goblins advanced, the first row entering the courtyard of the keep. Obvious was the only obvious choice of targets for them, so they let fly and struck the jackalope several times with their slings. Obvious cried out in pain. He knew Binkadink was an accomplished fighter and hoped the gnome would fare well against these foes, but Obvious was bleeding from several wounds now and his every instinct told him to flee. So flee he did, racing to the south of the keep's courtyard and leaping atop the flat roof over the dining hall. He crouched in the back corner, against the southern wall, shivering in fright and pain.</p><p></p><p>The southwestern door suddenly flew open and there was Binkadink, magic greatclub in hand and ready to be used against its first victim: the orc standing immediately before him. As the orc turned to face this new threat, nobody saw another orc climbing down the steps along the eastern rampart, leading down into the courtyard. He - and the other two orcs - had been up on the highest level of the keep; how they'd gotten up there was anybody's guess at this point.</p><p></p><p>From behind Binkadink, Gilbert cast a <em>slow</em> spell at the line of enemies directly in front of him: the two orcs standing by the doors to the two northern towers and the four goblins standing between them. The spell affected the nearest orc and three of the goblins; Gilbert nodded to himself in quiet satisfaction.</p><p></p><p>Fully healed now and ready for action, Castillan slipped past the orc guarding the doorway then spun around and stabbed at him as he turned to meet the threat - just a moment too slow but just in time to see the bounder's blade slide deep into his side. The orc crumbled to the ground, bleeding profusely. Satisfied with his handiwork, Castillan somersaulted past the row of goblins, slashing out with his blood-slicked blade at the nearest during his maneuver. Back in the northeast tower, Finoula stepped up to block the doorway once again. She was focused on the goblins before her - her nearest foes - and thus did not notice the stealthy orc had finished climbing down the stairs from the rooftop and was sneaking behind the Vistani wagon, closing the distance between them.</p><p></p><p>The words of several prayers to Moradin spilled from Ingebold's lips: a <em>bless</em> spell, followed shortly thereafter by a <em>prayer</em> spell. Bottle-necked as she was behind Finoula, whose body filled the doorway and prevented enemies from gaining access to the tower's interior, the dwarven cleric figured it was the best way for her to assist her team at the moment.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, a hell hound appeared in front of Castillan and blasted at him with its fiery breath. It caught Finoula as well, but neither was particularly hurt by the puff of flames; Castillan handily dispatched the beast, then, not wanting to bother with battling goblins, leaped up onto the roof of the stables along the western side of the keep, pulling himself up with hardly any effort.</p><p></p><p>About this time, an explosion blasted high in the sky. This was a signal arrow, cast by <strong>Chalkan</strong> or one of his arcane archers, who patrolled inside the borders of the Vesve Forest. The signal was a <em>fireball</em> cast onto an arrow which was then shot straight up into the sky, and it signified the orcs and goblins who had been plaguing the kingdom for the past dozen years or more had returned once again. All along the edges of the kingdom, garrison towers saw the <em>fireball</em> and blew on their signal horns, passing the warning on to the rest of the kingdom. Battershield Keep had such a horn, but situated as the keep was at the far southern border of the kingdom and never having been a target of the waves of orcs or goblins before in the past, it rarely saw any use. However, the timing of the signal arrow was interesting: as Chalkan's forces patrolled inside the border of the Vesve Forest and they were just now signaling the approach of the orcish and goblin forces, this meant the foes currently plaguing the inhabitants of Battershield Keep were either an advance army that had made it past the vigilant eyes of the arcane archers or perhaps were not even associated with the waves of attackers heading to the middle of Kordovia.</p><p></p><p>In the open doorway of the northwest tower, Darrien stood behind Binkadink but had a clear shot over the small gnome's head. He shot two arrows in rapid succession, striking the orc trading blows with Binkadink with both shots. The orc staggered and fell on his back, dead. But the first line of four goblin warriors advanced and started shooting at any visible enemies their slings. One hit the gnome, but Binkadink shrugged off the pain and advanced. However, before he could retaliate, the goblin fell over dead, as did two of his companions - as did every one of the eight goblins in the rear ranks. The remaining goblin, clearly shaken by this turn of events, sped away to the back of the keep as fast as he could. But inside the northeastern keep, Ingebold smiled grimly at the success of her <em>holy smite</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>Seeing the way had been cleared of enemies, Finoula stepped out of the doorway of the northeast tower. However, she felt the peculiar energy of a spell being directed at her, and all of a sudden her elvish vision shut down. "I'm blind!" she called out to her companions, finishing the thought with, "There's a spellcaster in the vicinity!" Darrien stepped out behind Binkadink and sent an arrow into the back of the goblin who had fled to the back of the keep and was trying to enter the door to the dining hall. The arrow struck true, and the goblin died on the spot. "Got him!" Darrien called out, assuming this was the spellcaster as it was the only enemy still visible to the half-elf ranger.</p><p></p><p>But from his vantage point on the stable roof, Castillan saw the sole remaining orc stealthily approaching Finoula. He leaped across the span from the stable roof to the top of the Vistani wagon, then dropped behind the orc, driving both blades into the brute's back. The orc grunted in obvious pain but didn't drop as Castillan had expected - instead, he whipped around and met the bounder's attack with one of his own. Startled at the orc's ferocity, the bounder slowly gave way, backing up against the savage fury of the orc's attacks. <em>But at least I got him away from Finoula</em>, the bounder thought to himself as he battled for his life.</p><p></p><p>Unable to see a thing, Finoula groped for the wall to the north and found the release mechanism for the portcullis. She might be out of the fight for now, but she could still see to the keep's defenses. As the portcullis came crashing down, Finoula called out to Ingebold, "Can you cure my blindness?"</p><p></p><p>"Not t'day I can't," the cleric replied, adding a dwarven curse for good measure. "I c'n cure ye, but I've not got th' spell prepared now! I'm sorry, but I cannae cure yer affliction until I've had time tomorrow t' prepare meself a new batch of spells."</p><p></p><p>"Crap!" swore Finoula, realizing how little she'd be able to contribute to defending the keep while blind. Darrien, seeing Castillan finally drop the orc he'd been fighting, saw no further enemies inside the keep and dropped his <em>Arachnibow</em> at his feet to help Finoula to raise the drawbridge. Wrath stood at Finoula's side, sensing her distress and protecting her from anyone who might try to harm her. Once the drawbridge was raised, Finoula felt a hand on her shoulder. "Spadinkinny kelpish," Aithanar said, leading her back to the safety of the northeast tower.</p><p></p><p>"Look around!" called out Binkadink, racing over to the steps that led to the top of the keep. "There might still be a spellcaster around here somewhere!" He traipsed up the steps in his gnomish stilt-boots and sure enough, as soon as he reached the top a trio of spiders - each larger than the little gnome - suddenly manifested on three sides of him. A distinctive whiff of brimstone informed the gnome that these particular spiders were likely from the Lower Planes. He fended off the one in front of him with his greatclub, but that only allowed the one behind him to scurry up and bite him on the back of the neck. With a roar of pain, the little gnome spun around and bashed the spider that had bitten him, crushing its squishy body with the power of his blow. In almost the same movement, he swung his weapon around and slammed it into the side of the third spider, which was even now moving up to bite him as well. It skittered back, wary of the gnome's powerful weapon.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert cast a <em>fly</em> spell on himself and took to the skies. He did a quick perusal of the keep's interior courtyard, but saw no enemies save the two spiders fighting Binkadink at the top of the stairs. He flew up to the top of the northwestern tower, and that's when his human eyes made out an unnaturally dark globe surrounding the top of the northeastern tower. Recognizing it as a <em>darkness</em> spell, the wizard surmised this was the location of the hidden spellcaster still plaguing them. Gilbert opened his mouth to call his suspicions down to his friends, when he was struck by several blasts of energy - a <em>magic missile</em> spell, no doubt. He wasn't sure from which direction it had come, but he did manage to warn the others that there was a enemy wizard hiding in the globe of <em>darkness</em> spell atop the northeastern tower.</p><p></p><p>Castillan heard the wizard's warning and looked up - he was standing in the northeastern corner of the courtyard, between the parked Vistani wagon and the tower. With a quick dash at the tower, he raced up the wall, alternately setting foot on the southern wall of the northeastern tower and the western side of the eastern exterior wall, and making his way up the 30 feet elevation of the tower until he was able to put his hand over the rampart and pull himself onto the roof. Sure enough, this part of the rampart was completely dark - so dark Castillan's keen elven vision could see nothing at all.</p><p></p><p>"Get out of there, elf boy!" called Gilbert, as he began the words to an <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell, centering it in the middle of the globe of <em>darkness</em>. Only when Gilbert saw Castillan racing south along the ramparts out of the range of the <em>darkness</em> spell did he complete the incantations causing writhing tentacles to rise up from the roof of the northeastern tower. He then flew about 30 feet above the rooftop of the northwest tower, focusing his attention on the tower across the drawbridge from him, hoping to hear the muttered curses of a trapped enemy spellcaster.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, Darrien raced up the steps, shooting and killing one of the two remaining fiendish spiders as the other one tried webbing up Binkadink, but missed. Binkadink had the last arachnid slain by the time Darrien reached the top of the ramparts; each spider exploded in an acrid puff of smoke and brimstone upon its death on the material plane. Castillan continued running along the rampart until he had joined the fighter and ranger at the top of the stairs.</p><p></p><p>More energy slammed into Gilbert's hovering form, the result of another <em>magic missile</em> spell. The wizard dropped in altitude, hovering behind the western side of the northwestern tower, using the solid stone of the keep as a shield against the unseen spellcaster as he tried to figure out why his <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell had failed to capture his foe. But yet another series of <em>magic missiles</em> slammed into the wizard's body, from a position that had to be over on his side of the keep. "Crap!" he called out, coming to a sudden realization: "Spellcaster's <em>invisible!</em>! He over here on this side!" But the heavyset wizard was getting woozy from the magical onslaught he'd taken in the last few moments; he opted to race around the front of the keep over to the eastern side, hoping that the enemy spellcaster was on foot and couldn't keep up with Gilbert - and even if he could, he'd have to run into the <em>black tentacles</em> spell effect.</p><p></p><p>Hearing the wizard's warning, Gilbert, Darrien, and Castillan raced along the ramparts, across the southern section over to the eastern part of the keep. Realizing they were up against an invisible foe, Darrien realized the futility of shooting arrows at someone he couldn't see but popped a few arrows at random sections of the eastern rampart, possibly keeping the spellcaster worried if nothing else. Castillan took it another step, pulling out a tanglefoot bag and tossing it at the end of the eastern rampart, right before it opened up to the roof of the northwestern tower. But it flew through the air and landed as targeted without hitting the spellcaster; Castillan knew the goop in the bag would harden almost immediately, rendering his attack pointless.</p><p></p><p>The unseen spellcaster obviously saw Darrien as the greatest threat of the three combatants, for he chose him as the target of his next casting of the <em>magic missile</em> spell. The approaching heroes could hear their invisible foe's running footsteps on the stones of the keep tower's roof. Binkadink opted to try pushing him off the roof, holding his greatclub sideways before him in the hopes of striking the foe even if he couldn't see him. But luck was not with him; he reached the end of the rooftop and slowed to a stop without having hit the spellcaster. However, a 3-foot-tall gnome raised on stilt-boots to human height was apparently too much of a temptation for the spellcaster to ignore, for he followed Binkadink's tactics and bull-rushed the gnome off the side of the tower roof. The gnome fell the 30 feet to the ground and landed in a heap just shy of the moat.</p><p></p><p>But succumbing to that sort of temptation was contagious; Castillan couldn't actually <em>see</em> his invisible foe, but he now had a pretty good idea of exactly where he'd have to be standing to have just pushed Binkadink over the edge.... The bounder raced directly to that same spot at full speed, slamming into an unseen body and toppling it over the edge of the tower's northern wall, following through over the wall himself in the process. However, while the spellcaster fell the 30 feet at full speed and landed on the poor, battered gnome, the bounder used his proximity to the tower wall to slow down his speed significantly, until he was able to nimbly leap off to the side to avoid landing on Binkadink himself.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert had taken this moment of reprieve to drink down the contents of a newly-purchased healing potion, restoring a bit of his vitality without the nasty after-effects that Binkadink's Uncle Winkidew's potions always seemed to contain. He then cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell and flew over to the front of the keep, where Binkadink was attempting to stand back up and grab his weapon and Castillan was swinging his short sword around at potential areas where the spellcaster might be standing. While Gilbert's spell wasn't strong enough to overcome the <em>greater invisibility</em> spell, it did allow him to spot a wavering in the air, kind of like a heat mirage, which indicated the rough area of where the invisible spellcaster was likely standing.</p><p></p><p>"He to your left, gnome!" called out Gilbert, and Binkadink swung his weapon at the area indicated - but missed. The end result was the same, though, for the sorcerer, still cloaked in a <em>greater invisibility</em> spell, decided he'd had enough. No point in fighting to the death when he could easily escape and live to fight another day. With a few arcane syllables - which Gilbert was now close enough to recognize as the words to a <em>dimension door</em> spell - the unseen opponent was gone.</p><p></p><p>The door from the southeastern tower suddenly opened, and into the courtyard stepped Aerik Battershield, his dwarven greataxe in hand. He looked disappointed that there were no enemies left to fight, but he had no regrets in getting Helga to safety before leaving her to enter the battle with the Kordovian Adventurers Guild - who, it might be said, had handled themselves rather well in his absence. Ingebold filled him in on what had happened, the portcullis was raised and the drawbridge lowered, and the heroes all regrouped in the keep after dragging the bodies of the orcs and goblins outside on the access road to deal with in the morning.</p><p></p><p>An hour or more later, the group had determined to their own satisfaction that there were no more invisible enemies inside the keep. The sounds of battle from the north had ceased as well; apparently the Kordovian forces - including the mercenaries hired with the gold the heroes had unearthed thus far - had routed the orc and goblin forces once again. Helga came out of hiding and insisted on cooking up a quick meal for everyone, and then, by full agreement of all concerned, the group opted to go back to their beds - although Castillan volunteered to remain awake and on guard for the next hour or so, after which he'd wake Darrien to take a shift, and so on until the sun rose.</p><p></p><p>"Thank you," Finoula said to Aithanar, who had helped her to her room and settled her down against the wall where she preferred to perform her reverie. "Sambayu," he replied, and Finoula smiled at his nonsensical word, while perfectly understanding the "You're welcome" he most assuredly meant. Wrath settled himself at her side, Aithanar smiled down at her form, and then quietly closed the door to her room, leaving her in darkness that equaled the sightlessness of her blinded eyes.</p><p></p><p>"I've never tried undergoing reverie without sight," she confided to her wolf, who merely chuffed in response and laid his head on his forepaws. But sight or no, reverie was a matter of focusing inward, sifting through past memories and ordering the mind for the next day's activities. She'd be glad to have her sight restored in the morning, after Ingebold received her spells after her own period of mental preparation....</p><p></p><p>With a start, Finoula realized she was no longer alone in her room - there was somebody else there besides herself and Wrath. "Aithanar?" she asked, before the sound she had just heard finally registered as the flapping of leathery wings and the full weight of a human-sized body landing on the floor of her room. Ice water suddenly flooded her veins as a familiar voice replied, "No, not Aithanar...although I could certainly make myself look like him if you wanted."</p><p></p><p>Finoula slapped the floor to her side, desperately trying to find her sword, while calling out, "Wrath--attack!"</p><p></p><p>"Pfft!" scoffed Malaterminus, waving his hand and causing the wolf to vanish. Then the incubus looked down at Finoula, saw her blindly groping for her sword, and laughed. "You're blind!" he chuckled, picking up her sword and examining it. "So this is my replacement, huh?" he asked. "Not bad workmanship--but it will never truly replace me, will it, Finoula?" He casually tossed it behind him, and there was no sound of it landing on the floor; it just vanished, as Wrath had done.</p><p></p><p>"What do you want?" Finoula asked, knowing full well what an incubus would want with a pretty young elf. Knowing full well the demon could see her, she nevertheless started feeling the floor on the opposite side of where the longsword had been, hoping to find her <em>whip of thorns</em>.</p><p></p><p>"What do I want?" repeated Malaterminus, a smirk in his voice. "Well, that's the real question, isn't it? What do I want?" He looked over again at Finoula, whose hand was now inches away from her whip. "Hey, hey, enough of that," he chided. "It's not going to work. Haven't you figured it out yet? Weapons won't work against me, calling for help won't get you anywhere. There's absolutely nothing you can do to stop me from doing whatever I want...because, my sweet, this is all in your head!" As if to demonstrate, he waved his hand and Finoula's clothing suddenly disappeared as well, leaving her just as naked as himself - she still couldn't see a thing, but she could feel the sudden lack of clothing and sense the cool air on her bare skin.</p><p></p><p>"Now then, to business," said the incubus, making an effort to continue what he was saying while staring lustfully down at Finoula's body. "Oh, yeah, right. I want you to know that I haven't been ignoring you since you set me free from the form of that accursed longsword, I just had some business to deal with – specifically, getting my revenge on the enemy who trapped me in that form all those years ago. It was a succubus, by the way – an uppity bitch who didn't approve of me killing off my mortal victims after I'd seduced them. Like it's any of her business what I do? But I got my revenge; I did to her what I do to all of my victims, after I was done with her." Blind, Finoula was spared the visible evidence of Malaterminus's excitement at the memory.</p><p></p><p>"Anyway," he continued, "I had fully intended to finish up that business and head back your way, to deal with you as I deal with all the other mortal women I have dealings with. It's just kind of how I relate to them, you know?" He looked around the room for a bed, found none, and simply sat down on the floor next to Finoula. "But then I got to thinking. If it weren't for you – and your gullibility in killing that little dwarf friend of yours on my say-so – I'd still be stuck in that damned sword form. So I guess I owe you for that. It's kind of a new thing for me, owing a mortal a favor. Part of me wants to just kill you to avoid the debt, but I don't think I'd like living the rest of my life – my immortal life, mind you – with the memory of that debt being unpaid. So anyway, I came to a decision: I'm not going to have my way with you and then kill you, like I normally would." He gave Finoula a big grin as he said that, as if expecting gratitude for his extreme kindness.</p><p></p><p>"Nope," he reiterated, "Instead I'm going to do you a big favor. Two favors, really, when you consider the whole 'not killing you' thing. Nope, I'm also going to switch targets to whoever you want, and then we'll be even, and my debt to you will be paid in full.</p><p></p><p>"I noticed your little dwarf cleric friend is back among the living. Does she give you any grief about having killed her? Because even though dwarf chicks aren't really my thing, I'd be more than willing to do her for you. Or if not her, you got a mom always on your case? Just say the word, and I'll give her a night she won’t ever be able to top – because she'll be dead by the end of it." Seeing the expression on Finoula's face, he said, "No? How about a sister? Cousin? Some elf chick who stole your first boyfriend? Just give me a name, and she'll be my top priority. What do you say?"</p><p></p><p>Finoula steeled up all of her courage, not knowing whether she could trust the word of a demon that this was all merely in her mind - it made sense, if you thought about it, that a succubus or an incubus could mentally "prepare" their victim to receive them physically, but this felt awfully real! - and replied, "I want you to leave. Now. And never return."</p><p></p><p>"Really?" asked Malaterminus, surprised at this foolish mortal's response to his offer - an offer not likely to have been made my most demons, after all. "You'd rather have me as an enemy than point me toward someone you want killed?" He frowned. "Okay, whatever. Regardless, my debt to you is now paid in full. I won't actively seek you out, but if our paths ever cross again, I won't have any qualms about treating you like I would any other mortal woman."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, they'll cross again, you can count on that," promised Finoula. "One day, I will hunt you down and kill you for what you've done, and what you tricked me to doing to Ingebold."</p><p></p><p>"Then I look forward to our next encounter," smirked Malaterminus, stroking Finoula's chin tenderly. She moved to slap his hand away - but it was gone, as was the rest of the incubus; it was as if he had never been there at all. Finoula realized she was still fully clothed and she could hear the soft snoring of her wolf at her side.</p><p></p><p>"Damn," Finoula swore under her breath. She was unable to perform any reverie for the rest of that night.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was an adventure I realized I wanted to do as soon as we had decided that Battershield Keep was going to be the de facto headquarters of the Kordovian Adventurers Guild. After all, I already had the cardboard keep built from our previous campaign, and the starting status of the campaign was that there had been these orc and goblin attacks going on for years; it only made sense that they'd eventually have to defend the keep. However, there were certain irregularities that didn't escape the notice of my players, such as why these particular orcs and goblins had apparently broken off from the rest of the group (which Chalkan's forces had discovered later, heading for the main section of Kordovia). So, while Dan had Ingebold prepare a <em>remove blindness/deafness</em> spell to cure Finoula's affliction, he also had her prepare a <em>tongues</em> spell and three <em>speak with dead</em> spells, one for each of the three slain orcs. (They reasoned the orcs would likely know more than the goblins; plus, Ingebold - and Aerik - wouldn't trust a goblin's word at anything.) So, here's what they asked:</p><p></p><p>1st orc:<p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q1: "Why did you attack Battershield Keep?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A1: "It had never been targeted before, seemed to be minimally defended, and likely had weapons we could take." (This seemed to tie in to the orcs and goblins who had attacked the garrison keep in the group's second adventure.)</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q2: "Who planned the attack"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A2: "The strike leader."</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q3: "What is the strike leader's name?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A3: "Jaenryth." (The players decided this sounded like an elven name, which was intriguing.)</p><p></p><p>2nd orc:<p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q1: "Who does Jaenryth report to?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A1: "Menriss."</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q2: "What does Jaenryth look like?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A2: "Whatever he wants to." (This brought suppositions that Jaenryth might be a doppelganger.)</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q3: "What race is Jaenryth?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A3: "Elf." (The players have suggested that that could mean Jaenryth is an elf, a half-elf, an elf/orc hybrid, or a drow - or even a doppelganger who normally appears as an elf when dealing with them.)</p><p></p><p>3rd Orc:<p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q1. "Does Jaenryth live in the Vesve Forest?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A1: "No." (This caused speculations that the orcs and goblins - and Jaenryth - might be extraplanar.)</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q2: "What tribe are the orcs and goblins from?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A2: "Baelrenoth." (The players have decided that this name sounds fiendish.)</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Q3: "Are the orcs and goblins hired mercenaries?"</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> A3: "We fight to live."</p><p></p><p>I also knew I wanted to keep the Malaterminus plot line active, but I had kind of written myself into a dilemma. While it had made perfect sense to me to have Malaterminus the magic longsword actually be an imprisoned incubus, I had kind of hoped he'd have been killed off during his initial encounter - but that didn't happen. So I now had, basically, a rapist demon on the loose with a perfectly reasonable (to him) desire to rape and kill my only female player's PC. Not wanting that to actually happen in the campaign, and definitely not wanting to have to role-play <em>that</em> particular encounter, I came to the realization that I could have Malaterminus offer to switch targets as a result of the debt he felt he owed Finoula. Even though she didn't take him up on the offer (had she thought to sic him on Feron, I had already figured out that the 20th-level druid, who's now a hierophant and a Sister of Ehlonna, would have made short work of him - although that would be a uncomfortable conversation to have the next time Finoula and Feron met up!), I figured I could have him decide his debt was paid and quietly leave the campaign, never to be seen again.</p><p></p><p>But no such luck. Vicki is adamant that when Finoula gets higher in level she's going to figure out a way to summon/gate and bind him in such a way that she'll be able to slay him permanently. So it looks like we'll be seeing Malaterminus the incubus again, much later in the campaign.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: "Chaotic Evil Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry." It seemed like not only a good fit for the orcs and goblins, but for Malaterminus as well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6895894, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 20: ASSAULT ON BATTERSHIELD KEEP[/b] Game Session Date: 21 MAY 2016 - - - Six days after cleaning out the Magekiller dungeon, the group drove their wagons into Kordovia. The trip back had been relatively uneventful - if you didn't count Binkadink's hair turning bright red one day for about an hour and Daisy's mane and tail turning as bright yellow as her namesake for an equal amount of time on another. At Ingebold's insistence the first stop was straight to the castle, where they split up all of their accumulated loot, first giving half to the kingdom's coffers and then the other half being split up equally between the adventurers. After that, they each went their separate ways, some of them to pick up supplies (a few bought potions from one of Winkidew's competitors while Gilbert restocked his piton supply), others to check in with their respective families. But at dinnertime they all met back at Battershield Keep for one of Helga Battershield's famous "welcome home" banquets. Several hours later, bellies filled with food and drink and heads filled with local gossip, everyone stumbled off to their own quarters. Hours passed. The moons rose, playing hide-and-seek behind windswept clouds. In the six converted bedrooms filling the two northern towers of Battershield Keep, the adventurers slept the sleep of the weary; Finoula, Castillan, and Aithanar - being full-blooded elves - cast their minds into reverie instead, reliving old memories, both good and bad. But as Castillan reviewed his memories of when he first taught himself to run up walls, an outside noise disturbed him. Oddly enough, it was a sound that fit seamlessly into the memory he'd been reliving, the sound of boots scraping on a wall...but something was off. It took the bounder a moment to realize the discrepancy: it was the sound of [i]two[/i] pairs of boots climbing down a wall. Castillan couldn't recall ever having met anyone who could do what he did and his memory had been of himself alone, so what exactly was going on? Fully awake now, he strained his ears and sure enough, he could hear someone - two someones, actually - climbing down the wall of the tower outside the narrow window-slit of his room. "Aith! Wake up!" he hissed quietly, shaking his brother out of his own reverie as he climbed out of bed and slipped on his boots and gloves. He didn't want to waste the time with his armor; it would take too long to gather up and put on, and if somebody was climbing down the interior wall of the keep, time might very well be of the essence. "Shombooty?" asked Aithanar drowsily. Being shaken out of elven reverie was similar to being awakened out of a deep sleep. "Intruders!" whispered Castillan. "Grab your sword and follow me." The two elves were in Castillan's room at the top floor of the northeastern tower. They crept down the steps to the mid-level room and rapped on the door. Inside the room, Wrath perked up his ears as Finoula was similarly awakened out of reverie. She stood from her lotus position on the floor in one fluid motion, opening the door and seeing the two Ivenheart brothers standing their in their night-tunics. She herself wore a short tunic over her leather combat pants, having removed the jacket when she retired for the evening. But as Castillan filled her in, she grabbed up her new longsword - she'd decided to call it [i]Tahlmalaera[/i], "The War Song Blade" - and followed the group downstairs to the ground level, where they could hear Ingebold snoring quietly in her room, the snores becoming even louder as they opened the unlocked door to her room to wake her up. But that wasn't all they heard, for the sudden grinding noise and the clattering of chains told them the drawbridge was being lowered. They weren't the only ones who heard that. Over in the northwestern tower, Binkadink on the ground floor and Darrien on the top floor both woke up from their slumbers at the sound. Neither could think of any good reason why the drawbridge would be lowered in the middle of the night, and each hastily grabbed up weapons and rushed for their respective doors. Over by the recently-acquired Vistani wagon, parked in the middle of the keep's courtyard, Obvious snapped awake as well. The jackalope's night vision was good enough to pick up the shapes of two strangers, one at either side of the drawbridge, pulling on the chains which raised the keep's portcullis. Worse yet, approaching the lowered drawbridge from the access road were a dozen or so goblins. Obvious wasn't a brilliant tactician by any means, but he knew they meant harm to his friend, the gnome with the funny name that didn't actually mean anything, and he also knew which tower Binkadink had entered, so he lowered his antlers and hippity-hopped across the courtyard, goring the orc who stood just outside Binkadink's door. He struck true, eliciting a grunt of pain from the surprised orc, but the brute had a weapon at hand - a greatclub leaning up against the wall - which he grabbed up and slammed into the side of the jackalope's head with one practiced motion. Four of the approaching goblins also took the opportunity to send sling stones hurling at the jackalope's body, three of them striking true - and stinging more than Obvious would have thought. The sounds of battle finally did what nothing else had done thus far - woke Gilbert up. "Now what?" he groused, throwing on his robe and drinking down a potion of [i]protection from evil[/i] - one of the ones he'd just picked up this morning, and already he was using it! Then he stomped down the steps to the lower level to see what was going on, meeting Binkadink and Darrien at the bottom. Across the courtyard, the door to the northeastern tower opened and Castillan stabbed at the orc standing there. But by then the portcullis was fully raised and the orc had grabbed his greatclub back up. He swung his weapon at the elf, who staggered back from the blow and then tried tumbling his way past the foe and into the courtyard. But the orc blocked his way, slamming the bounder again with his greatclub against the side of his head. Castillan's legs grew weak and wobbly, and it was only Finoula grabbing him and pulling him into Ingebold's room that prevented him from being knocked around further. Ingebold, fully awake now, cast a healing spell on the bounder, and then seeing Obvious bleeding in the courtyard used her light mace to send a blast of healing energy into the wounded jackalope as well. Finoula, meanwhile, stepped forward into Castillan's place at the door and stabbed at the orc with [i]Tahlmalaera[/i]. Wrath darted his head out of the doorway and bit at the orc's leg at the same time, then ducked back into the building where it was safer. Behind him, Aithanar had his sword at the ready but was stuck behind the bottleneck at the door into the courtyard. Outside, the goblins advanced, the first row entering the courtyard of the keep. Obvious was the only obvious choice of targets for them, so they let fly and struck the jackalope several times with their slings. Obvious cried out in pain. He knew Binkadink was an accomplished fighter and hoped the gnome would fare well against these foes, but Obvious was bleeding from several wounds now and his every instinct told him to flee. So flee he did, racing to the south of the keep's courtyard and leaping atop the flat roof over the dining hall. He crouched in the back corner, against the southern wall, shivering in fright and pain. The southwestern door suddenly flew open and there was Binkadink, magic greatclub in hand and ready to be used against its first victim: the orc standing immediately before him. As the orc turned to face this new threat, nobody saw another orc climbing down the steps along the eastern rampart, leading down into the courtyard. He - and the other two orcs - had been up on the highest level of the keep; how they'd gotten up there was anybody's guess at this point. From behind Binkadink, Gilbert cast a [i]slow[/i] spell at the line of enemies directly in front of him: the two orcs standing by the doors to the two northern towers and the four goblins standing between them. The spell affected the nearest orc and three of the goblins; Gilbert nodded to himself in quiet satisfaction. Fully healed now and ready for action, Castillan slipped past the orc guarding the doorway then spun around and stabbed at him as he turned to meet the threat - just a moment too slow but just in time to see the bounder's blade slide deep into his side. The orc crumbled to the ground, bleeding profusely. Satisfied with his handiwork, Castillan somersaulted past the row of goblins, slashing out with his blood-slicked blade at the nearest during his maneuver. Back in the northeast tower, Finoula stepped up to block the doorway once again. She was focused on the goblins before her - her nearest foes - and thus did not notice the stealthy orc had finished climbing down the stairs from the rooftop and was sneaking behind the Vistani wagon, closing the distance between them. The words of several prayers to Moradin spilled from Ingebold's lips: a [i]bless[/i] spell, followed shortly thereafter by a [i]prayer[/i] spell. Bottle-necked as she was behind Finoula, whose body filled the doorway and prevented enemies from gaining access to the tower's interior, the dwarven cleric figured it was the best way for her to assist her team at the moment. Suddenly, a hell hound appeared in front of Castillan and blasted at him with its fiery breath. It caught Finoula as well, but neither was particularly hurt by the puff of flames; Castillan handily dispatched the beast, then, not wanting to bother with battling goblins, leaped up onto the roof of the stables along the western side of the keep, pulling himself up with hardly any effort. About this time, an explosion blasted high in the sky. This was a signal arrow, cast by [b]Chalkan[/b] or one of his arcane archers, who patrolled inside the borders of the Vesve Forest. The signal was a [i]fireball[/i] cast onto an arrow which was then shot straight up into the sky, and it signified the orcs and goblins who had been plaguing the kingdom for the past dozen years or more had returned once again. All along the edges of the kingdom, garrison towers saw the [i]fireball[/i] and blew on their signal horns, passing the warning on to the rest of the kingdom. Battershield Keep had such a horn, but situated as the keep was at the far southern border of the kingdom and never having been a target of the waves of orcs or goblins before in the past, it rarely saw any use. However, the timing of the signal arrow was interesting: as Chalkan's forces patrolled inside the border of the Vesve Forest and they were just now signaling the approach of the orcish and goblin forces, this meant the foes currently plaguing the inhabitants of Battershield Keep were either an advance army that had made it past the vigilant eyes of the arcane archers or perhaps were not even associated with the waves of attackers heading to the middle of Kordovia. In the open doorway of the northwest tower, Darrien stood behind Binkadink but had a clear shot over the small gnome's head. He shot two arrows in rapid succession, striking the orc trading blows with Binkadink with both shots. The orc staggered and fell on his back, dead. But the first line of four goblin warriors advanced and started shooting at any visible enemies their slings. One hit the gnome, but Binkadink shrugged off the pain and advanced. However, before he could retaliate, the goblin fell over dead, as did two of his companions - as did every one of the eight goblins in the rear ranks. The remaining goblin, clearly shaken by this turn of events, sped away to the back of the keep as fast as he could. But inside the northeastern keep, Ingebold smiled grimly at the success of her [i]holy smite[/i] spell. Seeing the way had been cleared of enemies, Finoula stepped out of the doorway of the northeast tower. However, she felt the peculiar energy of a spell being directed at her, and all of a sudden her elvish vision shut down. "I'm blind!" she called out to her companions, finishing the thought with, "There's a spellcaster in the vicinity!" Darrien stepped out behind Binkadink and sent an arrow into the back of the goblin who had fled to the back of the keep and was trying to enter the door to the dining hall. The arrow struck true, and the goblin died on the spot. "Got him!" Darrien called out, assuming this was the spellcaster as it was the only enemy still visible to the half-elf ranger. But from his vantage point on the stable roof, Castillan saw the sole remaining orc stealthily approaching Finoula. He leaped across the span from the stable roof to the top of the Vistani wagon, then dropped behind the orc, driving both blades into the brute's back. The orc grunted in obvious pain but didn't drop as Castillan had expected - instead, he whipped around and met the bounder's attack with one of his own. Startled at the orc's ferocity, the bounder slowly gave way, backing up against the savage fury of the orc's attacks. [i]But at least I got him away from Finoula[/i], the bounder thought to himself as he battled for his life. Unable to see a thing, Finoula groped for the wall to the north and found the release mechanism for the portcullis. She might be out of the fight for now, but she could still see to the keep's defenses. As the portcullis came crashing down, Finoula called out to Ingebold, "Can you cure my blindness?" "Not t'day I can't," the cleric replied, adding a dwarven curse for good measure. "I c'n cure ye, but I've not got th' spell prepared now! I'm sorry, but I cannae cure yer affliction until I've had time tomorrow t' prepare meself a new batch of spells." "Crap!" swore Finoula, realizing how little she'd be able to contribute to defending the keep while blind. Darrien, seeing Castillan finally drop the orc he'd been fighting, saw no further enemies inside the keep and dropped his [i]Arachnibow[/i] at his feet to help Finoula to raise the drawbridge. Wrath stood at Finoula's side, sensing her distress and protecting her from anyone who might try to harm her. Once the drawbridge was raised, Finoula felt a hand on her shoulder. "Spadinkinny kelpish," Aithanar said, leading her back to the safety of the northeast tower. "Look around!" called out Binkadink, racing over to the steps that led to the top of the keep. "There might still be a spellcaster around here somewhere!" He traipsed up the steps in his gnomish stilt-boots and sure enough, as soon as he reached the top a trio of spiders - each larger than the little gnome - suddenly manifested on three sides of him. A distinctive whiff of brimstone informed the gnome that these particular spiders were likely from the Lower Planes. He fended off the one in front of him with his greatclub, but that only allowed the one behind him to scurry up and bite him on the back of the neck. With a roar of pain, the little gnome spun around and bashed the spider that had bitten him, crushing its squishy body with the power of his blow. In almost the same movement, he swung his weapon around and slammed it into the side of the third spider, which was even now moving up to bite him as well. It skittered back, wary of the gnome's powerful weapon. Gilbert cast a [i]fly[/i] spell on himself and took to the skies. He did a quick perusal of the keep's interior courtyard, but saw no enemies save the two spiders fighting Binkadink at the top of the stairs. He flew up to the top of the northwestern tower, and that's when his human eyes made out an unnaturally dark globe surrounding the top of the northeastern tower. Recognizing it as a [i]darkness[/i] spell, the wizard surmised this was the location of the hidden spellcaster still plaguing them. Gilbert opened his mouth to call his suspicions down to his friends, when he was struck by several blasts of energy - a [i]magic missile[/i] spell, no doubt. He wasn't sure from which direction it had come, but he did manage to warn the others that there was a enemy wizard hiding in the globe of [i]darkness[/i] spell atop the northeastern tower. Castillan heard the wizard's warning and looked up - he was standing in the northeastern corner of the courtyard, between the parked Vistani wagon and the tower. With a quick dash at the tower, he raced up the wall, alternately setting foot on the southern wall of the northeastern tower and the western side of the eastern exterior wall, and making his way up the 30 feet elevation of the tower until he was able to put his hand over the rampart and pull himself onto the roof. Sure enough, this part of the rampart was completely dark - so dark Castillan's keen elven vision could see nothing at all. "Get out of there, elf boy!" called Gilbert, as he began the words to an [i]Evard's black tentacles[/i] spell, centering it in the middle of the globe of [i]darkness[/i]. Only when Gilbert saw Castillan racing south along the ramparts out of the range of the [i]darkness[/i] spell did he complete the incantations causing writhing tentacles to rise up from the roof of the northeastern tower. He then flew about 30 feet above the rooftop of the northwest tower, focusing his attention on the tower across the drawbridge from him, hoping to hear the muttered curses of a trapped enemy spellcaster. In the meantime, Darrien raced up the steps, shooting and killing one of the two remaining fiendish spiders as the other one tried webbing up Binkadink, but missed. Binkadink had the last arachnid slain by the time Darrien reached the top of the ramparts; each spider exploded in an acrid puff of smoke and brimstone upon its death on the material plane. Castillan continued running along the rampart until he had joined the fighter and ranger at the top of the stairs. More energy slammed into Gilbert's hovering form, the result of another [i]magic missile[/i] spell. The wizard dropped in altitude, hovering behind the western side of the northwestern tower, using the solid stone of the keep as a shield against the unseen spellcaster as he tried to figure out why his [i]Evard's black tentacles[/i] spell had failed to capture his foe. But yet another series of [i]magic missiles[/i] slammed into the wizard's body, from a position that had to be over on his side of the keep. "Crap!" he called out, coming to a sudden realization: "Spellcaster's [i]invisible![/i]! He over here on this side!" But the heavyset wizard was getting woozy from the magical onslaught he'd taken in the last few moments; he opted to race around the front of the keep over to the eastern side, hoping that the enemy spellcaster was on foot and couldn't keep up with Gilbert - and even if he could, he'd have to run into the [i]black tentacles[/i] spell effect. Hearing the wizard's warning, Gilbert, Darrien, and Castillan raced along the ramparts, across the southern section over to the eastern part of the keep. Realizing they were up against an invisible foe, Darrien realized the futility of shooting arrows at someone he couldn't see but popped a few arrows at random sections of the eastern rampart, possibly keeping the spellcaster worried if nothing else. Castillan took it another step, pulling out a tanglefoot bag and tossing it at the end of the eastern rampart, right before it opened up to the roof of the northwestern tower. But it flew through the air and landed as targeted without hitting the spellcaster; Castillan knew the goop in the bag would harden almost immediately, rendering his attack pointless. The unseen spellcaster obviously saw Darrien as the greatest threat of the three combatants, for he chose him as the target of his next casting of the [i]magic missile[/i] spell. The approaching heroes could hear their invisible foe's running footsteps on the stones of the keep tower's roof. Binkadink opted to try pushing him off the roof, holding his greatclub sideways before him in the hopes of striking the foe even if he couldn't see him. But luck was not with him; he reached the end of the rooftop and slowed to a stop without having hit the spellcaster. However, a 3-foot-tall gnome raised on stilt-boots to human height was apparently too much of a temptation for the spellcaster to ignore, for he followed Binkadink's tactics and bull-rushed the gnome off the side of the tower roof. The gnome fell the 30 feet to the ground and landed in a heap just shy of the moat. But succumbing to that sort of temptation was contagious; Castillan couldn't actually [i]see[/i] his invisible foe, but he now had a pretty good idea of exactly where he'd have to be standing to have just pushed Binkadink over the edge.... The bounder raced directly to that same spot at full speed, slamming into an unseen body and toppling it over the edge of the tower's northern wall, following through over the wall himself in the process. However, while the spellcaster fell the 30 feet at full speed and landed on the poor, battered gnome, the bounder used his proximity to the tower wall to slow down his speed significantly, until he was able to nimbly leap off to the side to avoid landing on Binkadink himself. Gilbert had taken this moment of reprieve to drink down the contents of a newly-purchased healing potion, restoring a bit of his vitality without the nasty after-effects that Binkadink's Uncle Winkidew's potions always seemed to contain. He then cast a [i]detect magic[/i] spell and flew over to the front of the keep, where Binkadink was attempting to stand back up and grab his weapon and Castillan was swinging his short sword around at potential areas where the spellcaster might be standing. While Gilbert's spell wasn't strong enough to overcome the [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell, it did allow him to spot a wavering in the air, kind of like a heat mirage, which indicated the rough area of where the invisible spellcaster was likely standing. "He to your left, gnome!" called out Gilbert, and Binkadink swung his weapon at the area indicated - but missed. The end result was the same, though, for the sorcerer, still cloaked in a [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell, decided he'd had enough. No point in fighting to the death when he could easily escape and live to fight another day. With a few arcane syllables - which Gilbert was now close enough to recognize as the words to a [i]dimension door[/i] spell - the unseen opponent was gone. The door from the southeastern tower suddenly opened, and into the courtyard stepped Aerik Battershield, his dwarven greataxe in hand. He looked disappointed that there were no enemies left to fight, but he had no regrets in getting Helga to safety before leaving her to enter the battle with the Kordovian Adventurers Guild - who, it might be said, had handled themselves rather well in his absence. Ingebold filled him in on what had happened, the portcullis was raised and the drawbridge lowered, and the heroes all regrouped in the keep after dragging the bodies of the orcs and goblins outside on the access road to deal with in the morning. An hour or more later, the group had determined to their own satisfaction that there were no more invisible enemies inside the keep. The sounds of battle from the north had ceased as well; apparently the Kordovian forces - including the mercenaries hired with the gold the heroes had unearthed thus far - had routed the orc and goblin forces once again. Helga came out of hiding and insisted on cooking up a quick meal for everyone, and then, by full agreement of all concerned, the group opted to go back to their beds - although Castillan volunteered to remain awake and on guard for the next hour or so, after which he'd wake Darrien to take a shift, and so on until the sun rose. "Thank you," Finoula said to Aithanar, who had helped her to her room and settled her down against the wall where she preferred to perform her reverie. "Sambayu," he replied, and Finoula smiled at his nonsensical word, while perfectly understanding the "You're welcome" he most assuredly meant. Wrath settled himself at her side, Aithanar smiled down at her form, and then quietly closed the door to her room, leaving her in darkness that equaled the sightlessness of her blinded eyes. "I've never tried undergoing reverie without sight," she confided to her wolf, who merely chuffed in response and laid his head on his forepaws. But sight or no, reverie was a matter of focusing inward, sifting through past memories and ordering the mind for the next day's activities. She'd be glad to have her sight restored in the morning, after Ingebold received her spells after her own period of mental preparation.... With a start, Finoula realized she was no longer alone in her room - there was somebody else there besides herself and Wrath. "Aithanar?" she asked, before the sound she had just heard finally registered as the flapping of leathery wings and the full weight of a human-sized body landing on the floor of her room. Ice water suddenly flooded her veins as a familiar voice replied, "No, not Aithanar...although I could certainly make myself look like him if you wanted." Finoula slapped the floor to her side, desperately trying to find her sword, while calling out, "Wrath--attack!" "Pfft!" scoffed Malaterminus, waving his hand and causing the wolf to vanish. Then the incubus looked down at Finoula, saw her blindly groping for her sword, and laughed. "You're blind!" he chuckled, picking up her sword and examining it. "So this is my replacement, huh?" he asked. "Not bad workmanship--but it will never truly replace me, will it, Finoula?" He casually tossed it behind him, and there was no sound of it landing on the floor; it just vanished, as Wrath had done. "What do you want?" Finoula asked, knowing full well what an incubus would want with a pretty young elf. Knowing full well the demon could see her, she nevertheless started feeling the floor on the opposite side of where the longsword had been, hoping to find her [i]whip of thorns[/i]. "What do I want?" repeated Malaterminus, a smirk in his voice. "Well, that's the real question, isn't it? What do I want?" He looked over again at Finoula, whose hand was now inches away from her whip. "Hey, hey, enough of that," he chided. "It's not going to work. Haven't you figured it out yet? Weapons won't work against me, calling for help won't get you anywhere. There's absolutely nothing you can do to stop me from doing whatever I want...because, my sweet, this is all in your head!" As if to demonstrate, he waved his hand and Finoula's clothing suddenly disappeared as well, leaving her just as naked as himself - she still couldn't see a thing, but she could feel the sudden lack of clothing and sense the cool air on her bare skin. "Now then, to business," said the incubus, making an effort to continue what he was saying while staring lustfully down at Finoula's body. "Oh, yeah, right. I want you to know that I haven't been ignoring you since you set me free from the form of that accursed longsword, I just had some business to deal with – specifically, getting my revenge on the enemy who trapped me in that form all those years ago. It was a succubus, by the way – an uppity bitch who didn't approve of me killing off my mortal victims after I'd seduced them. Like it's any of her business what I do? But I got my revenge; I did to her what I do to all of my victims, after I was done with her." Blind, Finoula was spared the visible evidence of Malaterminus's excitement at the memory. "Anyway," he continued, "I had fully intended to finish up that business and head back your way, to deal with you as I deal with all the other mortal women I have dealings with. It's just kind of how I relate to them, you know?" He looked around the room for a bed, found none, and simply sat down on the floor next to Finoula. "But then I got to thinking. If it weren't for you – and your gullibility in killing that little dwarf friend of yours on my say-so – I'd still be stuck in that damned sword form. So I guess I owe you for that. It's kind of a new thing for me, owing a mortal a favor. Part of me wants to just kill you to avoid the debt, but I don't think I'd like living the rest of my life – my immortal life, mind you – with the memory of that debt being unpaid. So anyway, I came to a decision: I'm not going to have my way with you and then kill you, like I normally would." He gave Finoula a big grin as he said that, as if expecting gratitude for his extreme kindness. "Nope," he reiterated, "Instead I'm going to do you a big favor. Two favors, really, when you consider the whole 'not killing you' thing. Nope, I'm also going to switch targets to whoever you want, and then we'll be even, and my debt to you will be paid in full. "I noticed your little dwarf cleric friend is back among the living. Does she give you any grief about having killed her? Because even though dwarf chicks aren't really my thing, I'd be more than willing to do her for you. Or if not her, you got a mom always on your case? Just say the word, and I'll give her a night she won’t ever be able to top – because she'll be dead by the end of it." Seeing the expression on Finoula's face, he said, "No? How about a sister? Cousin? Some elf chick who stole your first boyfriend? Just give me a name, and she'll be my top priority. What do you say?" Finoula steeled up all of her courage, not knowing whether she could trust the word of a demon that this was all merely in her mind - it made sense, if you thought about it, that a succubus or an incubus could mentally "prepare" their victim to receive them physically, but this felt awfully real! - and replied, "I want you to leave. Now. And never return." "Really?" asked Malaterminus, surprised at this foolish mortal's response to his offer - an offer not likely to have been made my most demons, after all. "You'd rather have me as an enemy than point me toward someone you want killed?" He frowned. "Okay, whatever. Regardless, my debt to you is now paid in full. I won't actively seek you out, but if our paths ever cross again, I won't have any qualms about treating you like I would any other mortal woman." "Oh, they'll cross again, you can count on that," promised Finoula. "One day, I will hunt you down and kill you for what you've done, and what you tricked me to doing to Ingebold." "Then I look forward to our next encounter," smirked Malaterminus, stroking Finoula's chin tenderly. She moved to slap his hand away - but it was gone, as was the rest of the incubus; it was as if he had never been there at all. Finoula realized she was still fully clothed and she could hear the soft snoring of her wolf at her side. "Damn," Finoula swore under her breath. She was unable to perform any reverie for the rest of that night. - - - This was an adventure I realized I wanted to do as soon as we had decided that Battershield Keep was going to be the de facto headquarters of the Kordovian Adventurers Guild. After all, I already had the cardboard keep built from our previous campaign, and the starting status of the campaign was that there had been these orc and goblin attacks going on for years; it only made sense that they'd eventually have to defend the keep. However, there were certain irregularities that didn't escape the notice of my players, such as why these particular orcs and goblins had apparently broken off from the rest of the group (which Chalkan's forces had discovered later, heading for the main section of Kordovia). So, while Dan had Ingebold prepare a [i]remove blindness/deafness[/i] spell to cure Finoula's affliction, he also had her prepare a [i]tongues[/i] spell and three [i]speak with dead[/i] spells, one for each of the three slain orcs. (They reasoned the orcs would likely know more than the goblins; plus, Ingebold - and Aerik - wouldn't trust a goblin's word at anything.) So, here's what they asked: 1st orc:[INDENT] Q1: "Why did you attack Battershield Keep?" A1: "It had never been targeted before, seemed to be minimally defended, and likely had weapons we could take." (This seemed to tie in to the orcs and goblins who had attacked the garrison keep in the group's second adventure.) Q2: "Who planned the attack" A2: "The strike leader." Q3: "What is the strike leader's name?" A3: "Jaenryth." (The players decided this sounded like an elven name, which was intriguing.)[/INDENT] 2nd orc:[INDENT] Q1: "Who does Jaenryth report to?" A1: "Menriss." Q2: "What does Jaenryth look like?" A2: "Whatever he wants to." (This brought suppositions that Jaenryth might be a doppelganger.) Q3: "What race is Jaenryth?" A3: "Elf." (The players have suggested that that could mean Jaenryth is an elf, a half-elf, an elf/orc hybrid, or a drow - or even a doppelganger who normally appears as an elf when dealing with them.)[/INDENT] 3rd Orc:[INDENT] Q1. "Does Jaenryth live in the Vesve Forest?" A1: "No." (This caused speculations that the orcs and goblins - and Jaenryth - might be extraplanar.) Q2: "What tribe are the orcs and goblins from?" A2: "Baelrenoth." (The players have decided that this name sounds fiendish.) Q3: "Are the orcs and goblins hired mercenaries?" A3: "We fight to live."[/INDENT] I also knew I wanted to keep the Malaterminus plot line active, but I had kind of written myself into a dilemma. While it had made perfect sense to me to have Malaterminus the magic longsword actually be an imprisoned incubus, I had kind of hoped he'd have been killed off during his initial encounter - but that didn't happen. So I now had, basically, a rapist demon on the loose with a perfectly reasonable (to him) desire to rape and kill my only female player's PC. Not wanting that to actually happen in the campaign, and definitely not wanting to have to role-play [i]that[/i] particular encounter, I came to the realization that I could have Malaterminus offer to switch targets as a result of the debt he felt he owed Finoula. Even though she didn't take him up on the offer (had she thought to sic him on Feron, I had already figured out that the 20th-level druid, who's now a hierophant and a Sister of Ehlonna, would have made short work of him - although that would be a uncomfortable conversation to have the next time Finoula and Feron met up!), I figured I could have him decide his debt was paid and quietly leave the campaign, never to be seen again. But no such luck. Vicki is adamant that when Finoula gets higher in level she's going to figure out a way to summon/gate and bind him in such a way that she'll be able to slay him permanently. So it looks like we'll be seeing Malaterminus the incubus again, much later in the campaign. - - - T-Shirt Worn: "Chaotic Evil Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry." It seemed like not only a good fit for the orcs and goblins, but for Malaterminus as well. [/QUOTE]
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