WotC_PeterS: halfling escapes prison... and a tatooed "monk" (Update: Undead Attack!)
Mr. Teapot
First Post
It's pretty unclear from the post who is a PC and who is an NPC, but I think that Shin Rao is an NPC. In which case, his presence doesn't mean "we are playtesting the monk class" so much as "we are playtesting a monster that is a human monk". Which is totally different, and less exciting.
LordArchaon
Explorer
Wow I couldn't believe what I was reading...
I REALLY hope that this tattooed monk is a Paragon Path for martial characters in the first PhB...
I REALLY hope that this tattooed monk is a Paragon Path for martial characters in the first PhB...
TrainedMunkee
Explorer
epochrpg said:
Can I play test it?
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
The adventure continues. From his blog
The Adventures of Oleander Fellswallow: Tool Posted By: WotC_PeterS, 4/7/2008 2:48:33 PM
In which Oleander frees himself from his shackles, works diligently on behalf of one with similar troubles, meets a long-dead prince, fends off the assault of skeleton and wraith alike, and sets out for the nearby home of savage orcs.
Upon leaving the ship-shaped brewpub, Oleander learns that his rescuers have clout in the small island town, which he simultaneously learns is called Kethe. (This is the same name as the dragon that lords over the island, quiet as long as tribute is met and none question its rule - commonly accepted practice in the world of Iomandra.) Oleander is hopeful when Andraste, the spear-wielding eladrin woman, convinces Magistrate von Zarkyn to release the halfling into her custody.
Having achieved that end, she promptly acquires for Oleander a set of lockpicks and delivers him to her aunt, Alethia, bound by manacles similar to those Oleander still wears around his ankles. He is to free the aunt as soon as he frees himself - an effort that, itself, takes many hours.
Oleander barely gets enough sleep, as the town alarm rings through the morning stillness. The others collect Oleander en route and head for the western gate, the less defensible of the town's two. Undead are approaching the gates: a few hundred skeletons, including the larger frames of orc skeletons, archers in the back with fires burning in their ribcages, and a giant bone snake with a human skull in the fore.
A voice issues from that creature, insisting that "They have defiled the sanctuary of Zehir, god of night. Offer your sacrifice to the cauldron, or the soulless will consume all." As Magistrate von Zarkyn sends for his wife, learned in esoteric matters, a golden, translucent snake leaps from the wizard Alex's head to the magistrate's.
Fearing a possessed magistrate, Oleander slides von Zarkyn's sword from his sheathe and runs to hide behind Andraste. He soon, reluctantly, returns the blade, as the magistrate does not seem to be possessed by a glowing snake, and Alex insists that the Prince - as Alex calls the creature - is not controlling the magistrate or entirely ill-meaning, if not always trustworthy.
It is only after Alex enchants a seagull to carry a message to the dragon Kethe that Melech, tiefling warlock and nephew of the tiefling who runs the pub, founders in delaying the wrath of Zehir. A skeletal dragon lands on one of the gate watchtowers. It still attacks only if provoked, but its presence drives the townsfolk and the heroes to fight back. Seeing no way through the crowd of warriors at the top of the watchtower's ladder, Oleander scrambles up the other and walks quickly across the gate itself to join the fight. The reanimated dragon knocks Oleander almost off the platform to the waiting undead outside the walls, but he pulls himself back onto the platform, retrieves Bartho's knife, and aids in the battle.
Once the dragon's animating essence leaves it, the skeleton crumbles to pieces, but there is no time to rest. A massive creature composed of swarming snakes marches toward the heroes from the northern gate, where it burst into the town. It almost kills Bartho and Andraste before Magistrate von Zarkyn calls out, claiming to speak for Esoleth of the Ceocanthar Empire. He begs seven days to acquire a proper sacrifice, and the assault stops without another word.
Skeletons standing stock still in the streets are not good for the townsfolks' peace of minds.
A quiet discussion between wiser heads, including Prince Esoleth (through the magistrate), Alex, and Andraste produces the concept that a fragment of a coatl - apparently a flying snake creature and a force of good - should shatter the cauldron if sacrificed. The only rumor of a coatl points to Vorkon, the island to the north that orcs of the Firespear Tribe call home. Even then, the coatl were thought to be extinct long ago.
So it came to pass that, less than 24 hours after his unexpected escape from several years of imprisonment, Oleander found himself aboard a small boat piloted by Bartho, heading toward a near island for uncertain heroics and likely doom, possibly invited only to continue the effort to free Alethia.
For the first time in six years, Oleander was looking forward to the next sunrise.
The Adventures of Oleander Fellswallow: Tool Posted By: WotC_PeterS, 4/7/2008 2:48:33 PM
In which Oleander frees himself from his shackles, works diligently on behalf of one with similar troubles, meets a long-dead prince, fends off the assault of skeleton and wraith alike, and sets out for the nearby home of savage orcs.
Upon leaving the ship-shaped brewpub, Oleander learns that his rescuers have clout in the small island town, which he simultaneously learns is called Kethe. (This is the same name as the dragon that lords over the island, quiet as long as tribute is met and none question its rule - commonly accepted practice in the world of Iomandra.) Oleander is hopeful when Andraste, the spear-wielding eladrin woman, convinces Magistrate von Zarkyn to release the halfling into her custody.
Having achieved that end, she promptly acquires for Oleander a set of lockpicks and delivers him to her aunt, Alethia, bound by manacles similar to those Oleander still wears around his ankles. He is to free the aunt as soon as he frees himself - an effort that, itself, takes many hours.
Oleander barely gets enough sleep, as the town alarm rings through the morning stillness. The others collect Oleander en route and head for the western gate, the less defensible of the town's two. Undead are approaching the gates: a few hundred skeletons, including the larger frames of orc skeletons, archers in the back with fires burning in their ribcages, and a giant bone snake with a human skull in the fore.
A voice issues from that creature, insisting that "They have defiled the sanctuary of Zehir, god of night. Offer your sacrifice to the cauldron, or the soulless will consume all." As Magistrate von Zarkyn sends for his wife, learned in esoteric matters, a golden, translucent snake leaps from the wizard Alex's head to the magistrate's.
Fearing a possessed magistrate, Oleander slides von Zarkyn's sword from his sheathe and runs to hide behind Andraste. He soon, reluctantly, returns the blade, as the magistrate does not seem to be possessed by a glowing snake, and Alex insists that the Prince - as Alex calls the creature - is not controlling the magistrate or entirely ill-meaning, if not always trustworthy.
It is only after Alex enchants a seagull to carry a message to the dragon Kethe that Melech, tiefling warlock and nephew of the tiefling who runs the pub, founders in delaying the wrath of Zehir. A skeletal dragon lands on one of the gate watchtowers. It still attacks only if provoked, but its presence drives the townsfolk and the heroes to fight back. Seeing no way through the crowd of warriors at the top of the watchtower's ladder, Oleander scrambles up the other and walks quickly across the gate itself to join the fight. The reanimated dragon knocks Oleander almost off the platform to the waiting undead outside the walls, but he pulls himself back onto the platform, retrieves Bartho's knife, and aids in the battle.
Once the dragon's animating essence leaves it, the skeleton crumbles to pieces, but there is no time to rest. A massive creature composed of swarming snakes marches toward the heroes from the northern gate, where it burst into the town. It almost kills Bartho and Andraste before Magistrate von Zarkyn calls out, claiming to speak for Esoleth of the Ceocanthar Empire. He begs seven days to acquire a proper sacrifice, and the assault stops without another word.
Skeletons standing stock still in the streets are not good for the townsfolks' peace of minds.
A quiet discussion between wiser heads, including Prince Esoleth (through the magistrate), Alex, and Andraste produces the concept that a fragment of a coatl - apparently a flying snake creature and a force of good - should shatter the cauldron if sacrificed. The only rumor of a coatl points to Vorkon, the island to the north that orcs of the Firespear Tribe call home. Even then, the coatl were thought to be extinct long ago.
So it came to pass that, less than 24 hours after his unexpected escape from several years of imprisonment, Oleander found himself aboard a small boat piloted by Bartho, heading toward a near island for uncertain heroics and likely doom, possibly invited only to continue the effort to free Alethia.
For the first time in six years, Oleander was looking forward to the next sunrise.
Pbartender
First Post
TerraDave said:
That reminds me...
Did you hear about the Halfling Diviner that escaped from prison?
He's a small medium at large.
