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The Stepchildren of Fate (Updated 6/3)
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<blockquote data-quote="htetickrt" data-source="post: 1443726" data-attributes="member: 16534"><p style="text-align: center">Maurezhi</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p></p><p>Rhien advances just as four hideous ghoul-like creatures materialize in front of Danek and Andy, claws and teeth flying. Both feel poison enter from the wounds, threatening paralysis, but a burst of positive energy restores them before they even start to seize up. Rhien, from whom the burst originated, looks happy for the first time in many days.*</p><p> </p><p>Behind him, Trella calls down divine fire to burn her foes. Though the elemental part of the fiery column that explodes upon the demons seems to cause little harm, they cannot resist the holy energy that shares the flames’ trajectory.</p><p> </p><p>Restored, Danek roars her displeasure, seemingly growing in stature as she rips through her enemy’s flesh twice. Even her clouded mind is taken aback when both wounds close as soon as they are made. Andy fares similarly, his nunchaku having no more lasting effect on his own foe. Rhien, remembering a lesson from Mount Celestia**, whispers, “Maurezhi. They’re tanar’ri.”</p><p> </p><p>Kyree’s eyes grow cold. “Then they die,” he whispers, backing up his words with a volley of arrows.</p><p> </p><p>The elf’s attack proves the only true success in the party’s opening move, as weapons, spells, and even invoked positive energy all wash over the demons without effect. Their front rank’s attempted retaliation is equally ineffectual, but those in the back have more luck. Radiating cones of mind-numbing terror from their horrific forms, they force Kai, Dobi, and Lenara to flee at full speed. The former two manage to place a fair distance between themselves and the tanar’ri in short order, but Lenara is trapped by webbing near the illusory door. Her piteous screams of fear are distressing to those still in the battle.</p><p> </p><p>Rhien in particular takes offense, and responds with a brutal series of blows that instantly slay a maurezhi. The remaining three find further attempts at spellcasting prevented by the swarm of bats that emerge from nowhere to harry them on Trella’s command.</p><p> </p><p>Quid’s gembomb explodes in a rainbow of force a moment later, causing the one struck to slip in earlier-created grease. Pleased at her contribution, Cerridwin launches into a spirited ballad at the supremacy of archery as a martial practice. Kyree blushes from the back, hiding his embarrassment with additional arrows. Rhien finishes the archer’s target with a spinning kick, ignoring the sudden pain of torn flesh.</p><p> </p><p>The remaining two tanar’ri flee from the grease and the bats, radiating naked terror as they go. The feeling is contagious, and Kyree decides to join Dobi in the corner, trusting in the light of the wall of fire to save them both.</p><p> </p><p>With the aid of Trella and Quid, Khail finally reaches the demons, who turn invisible at his approach. Rhien closes his eyes and extends his senses, and then drops a third with a sequence of punishing blows. Trella redirects her bats, allowing Khail to approximate the location of the final tanar’ri and connect thrice.</p><p> </p><p>Desperate, the maurezhi summons a pair of ghouls. Rhien ignores them and ends the existence of the final tanar’ri with a pair of kicks. As the last of the webbing in the cavern is cleared by the efforts of the group, Danek pours positive energy into a roar of rage, turning both ghouls instantly to dust.</p><p> </p><p>Before the party can be jumped by more villains, Khail calls for the fearful foursome to be gathered close while he activates his holy blade. It takes numerous such attempts, but eventually the quite embarrassed quartet is freed.</p><p> </p><p>Rhien, Andy, Danek, and Cerridwin, having backtracked to make sure nothing else was around to spring a trap, return soon after with a report. Andy puffs out his chest and says, “We engaged in some reconnaissance along the perimeter. We found several gems underneath the dead ropers. A passage sloping sharply downward led south, and we did not explore this at all. Mister Rhien thinks this leads into the underdark, and we didn’t want to explore alone. In a cavern off of the main path was the nest of these mauricey things, and quite a bit of treasure. Mister Rhien thinks that each of the piles was for someone that was eaten, which is gross, but not as gross as this guy I knew in the army who used to eat roaches with peanut butter. Cerridwin sang to detect magic, and the materiel glowed a great deal. We brought it back in a sack to examine.” The monk chuckles at humor only he finds funny.</p><p> </p><p>Once the goods are distributed, Rhien reminds the party of the other illusory wall on the opposite side of the bebilith cave. “I think it’s worth exploring now, given our relative health and the likelihood that the tanar’ri were in place as guards for something that could quite possibly have sent the raids. They are surely alerted to our presence already; if we leave now we might catch them by surprise later, but at the risk of their leaving entirely to carry on the raids from elsewhere.”</p><p> </p><p>Trella shrugs. “I’m game for at least checking out the next room. Killing drow is good work if you can get it.” The wildly beautiful druid smirks and strides confidently over to the wall and then through it.</p><p> </p><p>On the other side, a white-haired, dark-skinned woman sits crumpled against the north wall, sobbing quietly. Graves line the cavern walls all around.</p><p> </p><p>Trella advances on the crying drow. “Crying because we smoked your demons, b*tch?” she mocks while cautiously approaching with the party in tow.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as the last member of the band files through the cavern’s entrance, the drow stands and snarls in elvish, “No, I’m crying because you’re fouling this place with your presence, surface scum.” She tries and fails to charm Kai with a spell; from behind the group, a large spider fires a web at Khail, enveloping him in its sticky strands.</p><p> </p><p>However, for all their venom, the two aranea are hopelessly outmatched in this battle. Kyree takes aim at the spider on the ceiling, slaying it with four arrows, while Trella bashes the latter’s head into a pulpy mess with four strikes of her staff. Rhien indicates another illusory wall to the east, so Kai burns down the webbing leading to it with a spell for good measure.</p><p> </p><p>Kyree approaches the illusion and listens closely, his attempt hindered only by the sounds of Khail’s struggle to escape his entanglement. After a sufficient time, the elf shares his findings.</p><p> </p><p>“Several people,” he says, “some moving, some speaking. Can’t understand their language. I think they know we’re here. Wait…another voice, speaking common. Sounds pissed. Something about killing the rest of her group, and having nothing to do with us. I think they have a prisoner.”</p><p> </p><p>Recovering some of his flair, Dobi says jauntily, “Well I suppose we ought to rescue him, right?”</p><p> </p><p>Kyree responds, “I think it’s a her. And her accent is similar to yours. Hold on.” The elf fades into the shadows and moves through the wall. He comes back quickly and reports. “There are several drow in there, at least by the sound. There wasn’t much more than a candle lit in there, so I couldn’t see well, but I think I made out at least eight humanoid shapes. One was much smaller and non-moving, so she might be the prisoner. They clearly know we’re here, and are waiting for us to enter.”</p><p> </p><p><em>* Near the end of their last campaign, the Stepchildren were individually given choices of life paths to follow (with an eye to a 3E conversion in the future). Rhien was a 2E monk, meaning he was an amalgamation of weird clerical spells and unarmed combat ability. His choice was between the martial route and what appeared to be a path more closely devoted to healing. Because of the suffering he had seen recently, and his fear that he and he friends would fall (and have their souls eternally snuffed out), he chose the former. At this point in the story, he mourns the passing of his ability to ameliorate harm greatly. However, his gloves allow for limited usage potent healing, which provides some consolation to the monk.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>** The Stepchildren’s very first campaign was a plane-hopping one in true Planescape spirit, and at one point they were attempting to climb Mount Celestia via a series of tests. Their reward for passing a particularly grueling one was innate knowledge of many planar details, which helped them to deal with subsequent planar encounters. Upon conversion to 3E, this became a +5 perfection bonus to knowledge: the planes, with the latter becoming a class skill for all as well.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="htetickrt, post: 1443726, member: 16534"] [center]Maurezhi [/center] Rhien advances just as four hideous ghoul-like creatures materialize in front of Danek and Andy, claws and teeth flying. Both feel poison enter from the wounds, threatening paralysis, but a burst of positive energy restores them before they even start to seize up. Rhien, from whom the burst originated, looks happy for the first time in many days.* Behind him, Trella calls down divine fire to burn her foes. Though the elemental part of the fiery column that explodes upon the demons seems to cause little harm, they cannot resist the holy energy that shares the flames’ trajectory. Restored, Danek roars her displeasure, seemingly growing in stature as she rips through her enemy’s flesh twice. Even her clouded mind is taken aback when both wounds close as soon as they are made. Andy fares similarly, his nunchaku having no more lasting effect on his own foe. Rhien, remembering a lesson from Mount Celestia**, whispers, “Maurezhi. They’re tanar’ri.” Kyree’s eyes grow cold. “Then they die,” he whispers, backing up his words with a volley of arrows. The elf’s attack proves the only true success in the party’s opening move, as weapons, spells, and even invoked positive energy all wash over the demons without effect. Their front rank’s attempted retaliation is equally ineffectual, but those in the back have more luck. Radiating cones of mind-numbing terror from their horrific forms, they force Kai, Dobi, and Lenara to flee at full speed. The former two manage to place a fair distance between themselves and the tanar’ri in short order, but Lenara is trapped by webbing near the illusory door. Her piteous screams of fear are distressing to those still in the battle. Rhien in particular takes offense, and responds with a brutal series of blows that instantly slay a maurezhi. The remaining three find further attempts at spellcasting prevented by the swarm of bats that emerge from nowhere to harry them on Trella’s command. Quid’s gembomb explodes in a rainbow of force a moment later, causing the one struck to slip in earlier-created grease. Pleased at her contribution, Cerridwin launches into a spirited ballad at the supremacy of archery as a martial practice. Kyree blushes from the back, hiding his embarrassment with additional arrows. Rhien finishes the archer’s target with a spinning kick, ignoring the sudden pain of torn flesh. The remaining two tanar’ri flee from the grease and the bats, radiating naked terror as they go. The feeling is contagious, and Kyree decides to join Dobi in the corner, trusting in the light of the wall of fire to save them both. With the aid of Trella and Quid, Khail finally reaches the demons, who turn invisible at his approach. Rhien closes his eyes and extends his senses, and then drops a third with a sequence of punishing blows. Trella redirects her bats, allowing Khail to approximate the location of the final tanar’ri and connect thrice. Desperate, the maurezhi summons a pair of ghouls. Rhien ignores them and ends the existence of the final tanar’ri with a pair of kicks. As the last of the webbing in the cavern is cleared by the efforts of the group, Danek pours positive energy into a roar of rage, turning both ghouls instantly to dust. Before the party can be jumped by more villains, Khail calls for the fearful foursome to be gathered close while he activates his holy blade. It takes numerous such attempts, but eventually the quite embarrassed quartet is freed. Rhien, Andy, Danek, and Cerridwin, having backtracked to make sure nothing else was around to spring a trap, return soon after with a report. Andy puffs out his chest and says, “We engaged in some reconnaissance along the perimeter. We found several gems underneath the dead ropers. A passage sloping sharply downward led south, and we did not explore this at all. Mister Rhien thinks this leads into the underdark, and we didn’t want to explore alone. In a cavern off of the main path was the nest of these mauricey things, and quite a bit of treasure. Mister Rhien thinks that each of the piles was for someone that was eaten, which is gross, but not as gross as this guy I knew in the army who used to eat roaches with peanut butter. Cerridwin sang to detect magic, and the materiel glowed a great deal. We brought it back in a sack to examine.” The monk chuckles at humor only he finds funny. Once the goods are distributed, Rhien reminds the party of the other illusory wall on the opposite side of the bebilith cave. “I think it’s worth exploring now, given our relative health and the likelihood that the tanar’ri were in place as guards for something that could quite possibly have sent the raids. They are surely alerted to our presence already; if we leave now we might catch them by surprise later, but at the risk of their leaving entirely to carry on the raids from elsewhere.” Trella shrugs. “I’m game for at least checking out the next room. Killing drow is good work if you can get it.” The wildly beautiful druid smirks and strides confidently over to the wall and then through it. On the other side, a white-haired, dark-skinned woman sits crumpled against the north wall, sobbing quietly. Graves line the cavern walls all around. Trella advances on the crying drow. “Crying because we smoked your demons, b*tch?” she mocks while cautiously approaching with the party in tow. As soon as the last member of the band files through the cavern’s entrance, the drow stands and snarls in elvish, “No, I’m crying because you’re fouling this place with your presence, surface scum.” She tries and fails to charm Kai with a spell; from behind the group, a large spider fires a web at Khail, enveloping him in its sticky strands. However, for all their venom, the two aranea are hopelessly outmatched in this battle. Kyree takes aim at the spider on the ceiling, slaying it with four arrows, while Trella bashes the latter’s head into a pulpy mess with four strikes of her staff. Rhien indicates another illusory wall to the east, so Kai burns down the webbing leading to it with a spell for good measure. Kyree approaches the illusion and listens closely, his attempt hindered only by the sounds of Khail’s struggle to escape his entanglement. After a sufficient time, the elf shares his findings. “Several people,” he says, “some moving, some speaking. Can’t understand their language. I think they know we’re here. Wait…another voice, speaking common. Sounds pissed. Something about killing the rest of her group, and having nothing to do with us. I think they have a prisoner.” Recovering some of his flair, Dobi says jauntily, “Well I suppose we ought to rescue him, right?” Kyree responds, “I think it’s a her. And her accent is similar to yours. Hold on.” The elf fades into the shadows and moves through the wall. He comes back quickly and reports. “There are several drow in there, at least by the sound. There wasn’t much more than a candle lit in there, so I couldn’t see well, but I think I made out at least eight humanoid shapes. One was much smaller and non-moving, so she might be the prisoner. They clearly know we’re here, and are waiting for us to enter.” [i]* Near the end of their last campaign, the Stepchildren were individually given choices of life paths to follow (with an eye to a 3E conversion in the future). Rhien was a 2E monk, meaning he was an amalgamation of weird clerical spells and unarmed combat ability. His choice was between the martial route and what appeared to be a path more closely devoted to healing. Because of the suffering he had seen recently, and his fear that he and he friends would fall (and have their souls eternally snuffed out), he chose the former. At this point in the story, he mourns the passing of his ability to ameliorate harm greatly. However, his gloves allow for limited usage potent healing, which provides some consolation to the monk.[/i] [i]** The Stepchildren’s very first campaign was a plane-hopping one in true Planescape spirit, and at one point they were attempting to climb Mount Celestia via a series of tests. Their reward for passing a particularly grueling one was innate knowledge of many planar details, which helped them to deal with subsequent planar encounters. Upon conversion to 3E, this became a +5 perfection bonus to knowledge: the planes, with the latter becoming a class skill for all as well.[/i] [/QUOTE]
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