ZEITGEIST [ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.

[gideonpepys]

Session 100f

After the fight with Ekossigan and the Kill Squad, Alexander Grappa had pointed out, haltingly, that he might be recognised by some in the Ob facility. So they took a cloak from one of the assassins and draped it over him. Then they took one each for themselves and approached the outer gate. They had learned that this was broken - the mechanism fused by the gremlins - but it was now closed, so they couldn't be sure. Cloaked against immediate recognition they knocked on the door. A hatch slid open and Korrigan said 'yawning'. The gate ground open and the strike force leapt inside, overwhelming the gate guards and causing them to surrender.

A dark creeper ran for a rail-car and began to hurtle down a long tunnel to the main entrance. Matunaaga caught it easily and brought it to a halt, dragging the creature back to the gate by the scruff of its neck.

There were six guards altogether and an engineer working on the broken gate. Korrigan noticed that the guards wore uniforms that were very similar to Risuri military uniforms, with subtle references to Risuri insignia . Under close questioning, the guards turned out to be confused as to why the RHC were attacking them, and loudly wondered if there must be some political wrangling between the 'high ups'. They all thought that they were working for Risur on a secret military project. They were unable to say what the military project was, however. While none of the normal guards were subject to the Obscurati geas, none of them had been given access to the deeper parts of the complex where the work took place. They were resentful of the aloof and black-clad Obscurati who came and went as they pleased, and referred to themselves as 'Slayers'.

The guards were asked who recruited them for this 'special assignment' and they named one Col. Greg Masterson (whom Matunaaga was vaguely familiar with from his work at the Battalion).

The engineer was a middle-aged Risuri named Tyrol Branche. He almost collapsed with relief at the thought that they might soon be free of the Bleak Gate: Their work was supposed to have been done months ago. Rumour had it that one of the high-ups had absconded with the plans. (Everyone looked at Grappa.) Branche couldn't say what the project was, only that it was 'something very big'. Teams worked on small sections with no overall schematic. But almost a year ago they had been told they were done at that they would soon be released. Now they were confined to their barracks with nothing to do and no explanation as to why. Everything had stalled and morale was at a low.

The guards were then asked about the defences - the shrapnel cannon in particular. They said that what Asrabey had thought was an advanced weapon of some kind was in fact Leon Quital, the Steelshaper, who would attack intruders with a hail of shrapnel if he became aware of a threat at the main gate.

Though they felt slightly sorry for these men, they nevertheless bound them securely before setting off along the tunnel. Matunaaga ranged ahead in time to see a troop of soldiers leave the main gate by a different tunnel, but not in time to take advantage of the open gate. The gate closed before the rest of the strike force caught up with him.

Using a messenger wind, Korrigan warned unit B that reinforcements were on their way, and then learned from Uru that he was now in place near the gateway, and that there was no sign of Quital.

News from the canal squad wasn't good. Korrigan told them to hold on for as long as they could and to pull back when totally overwhelmed. Judging by Professor Marcione's panicked tones, that wouldn't be long, so the strike force needed to move fast.

 

[gideonpepys]

Session 100g

Uru and his gremlin friends disabled the mechanical defences on both sides of the main entrance, and caused the doors to grind open. Korrigan and company swept within and once again overcame the demoralised guards. Having dealt with them as swiftly as possible, they moved on, with Uru ranging ahead after Grappa had pointed the way.

Off-duty engineers and support staff fled before them or surrendered. There appeared to be no means of them alerting the rest of the base to their presence, so the unit paid them no heed. Once or twice someone offered resistance, but they were dealt with quickly and quietly.

More security doors deeper into the base were ajar, and gave on to an enormous hangar large enough to build a ship. It was empty now, but had clearly been filled with machinery at one stage. Chains still hung from the ceiling, and bolts were fixed to the floor in places. At the very far end was a great platform that had been lowered some hundred feet to a place where water lapped up against it. Parity Lake? Matunaaga returned to the group once he had recced and they followed Alexander Grappa's directions through a set of huge double doors and into a hallway leading north to a set of matching doors which were closed.

No sooner had they all passed through these doors than they closed behind them. Leone Quital then addressed them through a magical conduit, in his nasal, easily recognisable voice:

“I don’t know whether to be impressed with you getting past my security, or disappointed in the men who were supposed to stop you. But men, after all, are weak. That’s why we build machines, why we have progress! All we’re good for is thinking. That, and enjoying the pleasures in life.” (They heard a soft sip, as if from a wine glass, then a contented sigh.) “Best to leave the violence and physical labor to the steam and steel. Now I leave it to you to decide whether to go the easy way or the hard way. Throw down your weapons and have a drink with me, and I’ll explain what it is we’re doing here. Would you believe the engineers we had working on it thought this was a Risuri military project? They were fools, and I’d like to hold out hope that you’re not fools. So yes, throw down your weapons and we can think, and talk, and enjoy life. Or be foolish, and see which breaks first: your flesh, or my steel.”

When they ignored his threats and pressed on, the far doors opened to reveal three metal golems - one much larger than the other two, all molded as if from clay and covered in runes. They guarded a third, even more impressive set of doors that were firmly sealed. The golems dutifully trundled out, bemoaning the fact that they had not been adequately equipped. Leone aided them from a distance through his magical conduit, flinging the officers around bodily, disarming them and granting the golems bursts of speed and additional attacks. Their runes absorbed damage and reflected it back on the attacker. The largest golem - Colin - was more confident and keen to demonstrate his superiority over the others, but was subjected to withering fire from Uru, Matunaaga and Kvarti. His last act was to fall like an avalanche on Korrigan and Matunaaga. His fellows, Linus and Hunting, were not long behind him.

Grappa had been typing furiously all the while, but by the time he finished his message - "LINUS... HUNTING... COLIN... IT'S POPPA... STOP FIGHTING" - the golems lay inert.

By now the canal force had fallen back in disarray. It couldn't be long before at least some of the defenders returned and pursued the strike force into the facility. But they desperately needed to catch their breath, and so rested here for a few minutes while Uru and Grappa struggled to find a way through the next set of doors. Much to their perplexity, none could be found. More than enough time to rest up ticked by and Leone could be heard chuckling to himself: he had the intruders trapped and soon the guards and shadow trolls would be upon them.

Then a strange and squeaky voice was heard from within the walls. It appeared to be talking to the doors!
"I know that you're large and I don't trust you. You were always watching me. But do as I say. Open up! Let these people through!"

Leone's voice was apoplectic as the doors ground open: "Oddcog, you fool! What have you done?!?"

*

Elsewhere, Leon had taken a gamble: Grappa had pointed the way. While the geas prevented him from sharing information about the Ob, it did not appear to be powerful or broad enough to prevent the subject acting in a way that was inimical to the Obscurati's interests. So Leon had accepted Lavanya's offer to return his Obscurati ring and memories, and - after a moment reeling under the weight of revelations, now accompanied her through plush residentials suites to a foyer occupied by black-clad Obscurati Slayers who were preparing themselves to defend the 'great project'. Conquo stood quietly in the corner and fell into line behind Lavanya and Leon. He tapped Leon on the shoulder, almost knocking him to the floor.

"Hello again," he said. "Don't do anything silly, now, will you?" Lavanya gently admonished Conquo gently and urged him to be nice to Leon.

Leone Quital arrived and swept angrily through the chamber and out the other side, signalling for the others to follow. "Oddcog has opened up the sealed chamber doors. I don't know what kind of game he's playing. Or you for that matter," he said to Lavanya, "What's he doing here?"

"He's with us now," said Lavanya, mildly. "He's going to help us protect Borne."

They exited the lounge onto a huge metal bridge, from sophisticated intimacy to industrial grandeur in a single step. Hundreds of feet below them, the intruders stood in the open doorway, gawping in unison, as Leon now gawped at the incredible sight that lay before them.

 

[gideonpepys]

Session 100h - Noises Off

Though all the evidence suggested that they were unlikely to have preserved the element of surprise, Professor Ludo Marcione of Unit B maintained the hope that this would be his chance to prove himself to his superiors at the RHC: to drive any Ob defenders back to the main gate and join Korrigan and his strike force in rooting the Obscurati out from under the Hill. The cheery and optimistic Lt Dale seemed to be a capable ally, if a trifle overbearing, and his men were well-trained and had dealt with all manner of Bleak Gate horrors during their patrols on Cauldron Hill. Ludo had placed Captain Theren and his brother on the first barge along with Lt Dale and twenty of his troops. The Professor was in the second barge with Doctor Stanmore and Niniel and twenty more men. A further twenty occupied each bank, with Sevitar ranging ahead of them.

It took over an hour for them to pass underneath the first four bridges, and gnawing apprehension stretched the time out unbearably. All they could hear during that time were the rhythmic footsteps of the yomping men, the sloshing of canal water around the prow of the barge, and cries in the night throughout Flint. For a long time they were left alone with their thoughts and it became possible to imagine that their mission might be a straightforward one. Wil said it reminded him of the jungles of Yerasol, waiting for a Danoran assault.

Then they reached the final bridge, and all hell was let loose.

As soon as the first barge passed fully into the Bleak Gate, they saw a dozen Obscurati riflemen drawn up on either bank, with more on the bridge. Before they scrambled to their feet, loaded and opened fire, they could have been engaged in melee by the soldiers on the towpath, but their way was blocked by two monstrous shadow trolls, creatures of the haunted Hill, who lurked beneath the final bridge and tore into the ranks of soldiers with their teeth and claws. The Obscurati riflemen trained their fire on the first barge, taking out the steersman and causing it to veer and scrape against the bank, slowing down the second barge which had not yet entered the Bleak Gate.

Lt Dale and Captain Theren reacted with admirable presence of mind, despite the withering gunfire. Dale jumped off onto the left bank and used his knowledge of shadow creatures to baffle one troll for a moment. He was joined from out of nowhere by Sevitar who had already sown alarm among the riflemen on the bridge. (One had a wand hanging visibly from his belt. Sevitar had killed him with two well-placed blows, taken the wand and disappeared.) Theren leapt off on the other side and tied down the second troll - with supporting fire from his brother Brajham, whose bright life-magic was greatly harmful to the shadow beast - allowing the soldiers on his side of the bank to charge past and engage half of the riflemen. But the Obscurati guards were well-trained and well-equipped and switched to melee effortlessly.

By the time the second barge crawled through into the Bleak Gate and Ludo could see what was happening, twenty-five men were already dead. Each time he used his Ob wand to fix a man in the Gate, he wondered if he was handing out a death sentence. Sevitar threw his pillaged wand to Wil, who made sure all of the unit were fixed in the Gate too, while using his magic to take out the rest of the guards on the bridge.

The fight against the trolls was going badly: the trolls claws tore into their adversaries and weakened them with necrotic power. Sevitar was the first to suffer their worst – a troll grabbed him and tore his shadow away. It writhed momentarily and was absorbed into the troll’s body. Sevitar fell back but with customary relentlessness resumed his assault, though his wounds would have killed a normal man. But he soon discovered that his attacks could no longer hurt the troll. So he turned and charged the riflemen on his side of the canal, only to be cut down by a hail of gunfire.

Without Sevitar’s help, Dale began to falter. Weakened by the troll, he found that Niniel’s healing words provided no help, and soon the riflemen began to target him too. But Prof Marcione and Doctor Stanmore focused their mind-affecting powers on the guards and began to thin their ranks. Dale’s men from the second boat charged ashore to join them in melee and for a moment the battle seemed to be going in Risur’s favour. When Ludo received Korrigan’s warning of more troops heading their way, he shared the information with Stanmore alone. The good Doctor urged him to withdraw, but Ludo opted to stand fast to receive the second wave.

Then the second troll landed an attack on Theren and ripped his shadow away too. Niniel could not help him; her restorative magic would not work. Theren withdrew to try to gain a moment’s respite, but he could not get his breath back before the troll was upon him again. Brajham scoured the beast with bright life magic and it recoiled before him. Wil advised Theren to light a sunrod, of all things, to chase away the shadows that were clinging to him. But before Theren could reach into his pack, the troll swung again, catching him a blow that hurled him bodily against the upper arch of the bridge, from whence he tumbled like a broken rag doll to lay upon the deck of the barge. Niniel went to him and tried to give him aid. Moments later, in a quavering voice, she told the others that he was dead.

Brajham cried out in grief and anger and launched himself at the troll, blazing with bright white fire. The troll roared and fell back, and Ludo and Wil switched their attacks from the guards to try and drop the troll, but the nightmarish creature’s regenerative powers proved too much for them to overcome. Then, one after the other, both Lt Dale and Brajham fell before the trolls, and the creatures waded into Dale’s soldiers without anyone to stop them.

Thankfully, both Brajham and Dale were still alive, though gravely wounded. Niniel and Wil dragged Brajham back onto the barge, while two of Dale’s men helped him. But Niniel had no more healing magic left, and by now the reinforcements had arrived. The Professor was determined to hold out at least until the new arrivals had been forced to commit themselves, and he and his allies rained down as much fire as they could upon the trolls and guards while to the left and right of them Dale’s soldiers continued to drop. There were only a handful of men left of the eighty who had entered the gate, and the rest of those now began to return to the real world, as no more wands had been captured. The unlucky few who had been ‘fixed’ tried to make it to the barge and were cut down. Captain Theren was dead, Sevitar was gone too, and Lt. Dale and Brajham were unconscious. Ludo and Wil tore their charm bags and sent them back to Flint. Then they began to high-tail it back down the canal bank, with Niniel alongside them, to draw the defenders away for as long as possible.

A troll and several Ob guards gave chase, though their pursuit was hampered by mind magic. Wil also conjured an image of himself which he planted defiantly on the far bank, causing further confusion and buying them some time to hide beneath the third bridge. They took their charm bags from their pouches and prepared to tear them. As they did so, Niniel let out a gasp and a groan. A figure had emerged from the shadows of the bridge and struck her a heavy blow between her shoulder blades. Just as they made the disorienting transition, she fell lifeless into Doctor Stanmore’s arms. The last thing Ludo saw in the Bleak Gate, before he appeared back in Flint, was the face of her assassin: the Obscurati agent known as ‘Norm’.

 

[RangerWickett]

You do not f*** around, good sir.

 

[gideonpepys]

You do not f*** around, good sir.

Thanks! I should say the same to you, having just run an encounter with a 300-foot golem (albeit heavily modified).

Took the whole session and lasted over 3 hours. Wondering if the rest of the adventure is going to feel like an anticlimax (and busily figuring out ways to make sure that it isn't...)

 

[gideonpepys]

Preamble to Session 101

I've been looking forward to running the Borne to be Wild encounter for a very long time. Or rather, I've been looking forward to staging the event. Often when I'm really excited about an encounter, the end result leaves me feeling a bit deflated. The mechanics of the game take over and it doesn't turn out to be as cinematic and exciting as I'd hoped, or I forget something important in the heat of the moment and end up kicking myself later when I realise what went wrong. But this time I planned much more carefully and everything turned out how I'd hoped. Most of the players got to make a cool contribution, and Korrigan in particular pulled off some particularly heroic moves (which was great because his player is leaving the group for a while, perhaps permanently - which kind of screws the campaign up but, well, that's what you get if you take two-and-a-half years over heroic tier).

In our campaign the Borne encounter took on a very different form to the one in the published adventure. Having been lured out of hiding, Lorcan Kell now languished in the RHC prison; Ekossigan was put out of his misery last session (to weave some narrative drive into the storming of the base). So the BBEG for the climax of Cauldron Born was to be Leone Quital (with stats borrowed from Schism) with able support from the mysterious eladrin woman Lavanya and her sidekick Conquo. (I have attached the stats I drew up for her below, omitting only the fact that poor Leon has a -2 to shrug off her domination effects due to his infatuation with her; Conquo is a level 11 PC: a large size grappling warforged fighter with a +2 STR bonus.) The inclusion of Lavanya and Conquo meant the whole thing felt a lot more personal - as did the surprising conclusion of Malthusius' latest story arc, and the presence of Leon as a dominated foe (with his player running Kvarti as a full PC). I also had the canal defenders (guards and trolls) bringing up the rear in case the party dawdled, giving them a chance to get some payback for unit B (though by the time they showed up, the party was rampaging round the upper levels).

As Quital and Conquo would not be in combat for long, I decided not to go easy on the PCs for the first couple of rounds, just to frighten the living daylights out of them. Over the course of the combat, Rumdoom took - and withstood - well over 200hp of damage. I also upped the ante on the environmental damage, handing out 4d6+10 and 4d6+40 damage when the ceiling crumbles and then collapses.

I paced the encounter very carefully, with a clear idea of what events would happen when. The only thing I couldn't predict was when Grappa would touch Borne. In the end that happened a lot faster than I thought it would.

Normally I don't report combat round by round or blow by blow. Sessions that feature lots of fights get the shortest journal entries, while one with lots of storytelling and roleplay spread out over multiple posts. But I felt that this encounter was pretty special, so I've included pretty much everything that happened. DM's notes would spoil it, and the only thing really out of the ordinary was that Korrigan spent a Plot Twist Card to avoid certain death (25d6 falling damage when already bloodied).

Word of warning to any DM who runs the combat as it is: even with Kell, Reder and Glenn involved, there are no defenders who can attack the PCs from ranged on top of the bridge (apart from Reder's one-off rifle shot). Perhaps this was intentional, but I don't think it makes for a very satisfying encounter, even with Quital using Borne's arm (for a paltry 3d6 damage). Better to give the slayers and the nethermancer some ranged attacks. In my game I didn't do that, as Quital, Conquo and Lavanya were damaging enough.

One more thing: when describing the full magnitude of Borne I told the players that to represent him accurately on the battlemap I would need a five-foot tall body builder in grey body paint. This put things in perspective quite nicely!

Full report to follow shortly.

 

[gideonpepys]

Session 101 - Borne

A cavernous chamber stretched up and out before them, assaulting their senses with dizzying dimensions, disorienting echoes, industrial chill and the taste and smell of witchoil. Despite everything, they picked out the vast face at once, obscured as it was by catwalks, scaffolding and chains. A great golem, roughly molded out of metal, blank of expression and inert.

From a bridge some hundred feet above them, Leone Quital’s nasal voice sneered down: “Treachery alone has seen you breach this sanctum of progress. But I can fight as dirtily as you, you dogs of the Old Order. Witness the snare in which I have placed your sanctimonious friend. Take one more step into this chamber and I will slice him to pieces.”

Malthusius hovered into view – his clothes in tatters, face battered and bruised, body covered in a hundred tiny lacerations from the taut ball of razor-wire he was suspended within. Up close, they could see a flicker of life – a spasm of pain which caused his eyes to flicker open, and then widen in recognition when he saw his friends.

Lavanya pressed herself close to Leon and told him to persuade his erstwhile allies to leave. Leon said that these were determined men and would not be put off so easily. Lavanya insisted he at least try, and Leon did as he was told, shouting down to the others that they should turn back, and not risk Malthusius’ life. So now two of their missing friends were in this chamber!

Malthusius gave a beatific smile and closed his eyes. Then his very form, his light blue flesh began to glow and dissipate as if rendered into motes and puffed away on a light breeze. He had chosen to end this incarnation, rather than cause his friends to come to harm. They prepared to avenge his sacrifice. Quital saw what was happening and sprang his trap, but the razor-wire passed harmlessly through Malthusius’ form, which remained suspended in the air while it gradually dissolved.

“How very tiresome,” said Quital. “Very well: Conquo, if you please...”

With that, Quital hurled the construct into the fray, curled up into a tight ball. Korrigan yelled out a warning and got Grappa out of the way in the nick of time, just before Conquo ploughed into the unit, and sent Korrigan, Uru, Rumdoom and Matunaaga careening backwards. Then Conquo unfurled to loom threateningly over them. “I’m terribly sorry about this,” he said. “But orders are orders.” This was turning out to be quite the reunion.

Everyone attacked Conquo; Conquo put Rumdoom in a headlock and punched him repeatedly. Quital dropped a maelstrom of shrapnel right on top of them, and Korrigan yelled for everyone to get out. They obeyed his order at once, except for Rumdoom, who was held by Conquo in the centre of the metallic storm. Grappa punched at his keyboard frantically. “GET ME...” was all he managed to say. (“...out of here”? “... a drink”?)

Up on the elevator platform closest to the VIP suites, several Ob slayers and a nethermancer rushed to the edge and readied for a fight: Asrabey Varal had broken away from the fight with Conquo and now streaked towards the elevator with a purpose; heedless of the terrifying drop, he threw himself off the staging area, grabbed hold of one of the support columns and began to clamber up towards them effortlessly.

“This eladrin warrior is incredibly dangerous,” Leon said to Lavanya. “Let me out of these mage-cuffs and I’ll stop him.” To Leon’s surprise Lavanya acquiesced and freed him from his bonds, whereupon Leon found that he was unable to help himself carrying out his own suggestion: He joined the Ob defenders on the edge of the platform and hurled an eldritch blast down at Asrabey, who – as per usual – just kept on coming.

“...UP THERE!” Grappa continued, and set off running jerkily across the battlefield as soon as Quital’s first maelstrom had dissipated. Uru, Matunaaga, Rumdoom and Kvarti rained fire down on Conquo, who proved to be just as tough as they remembered. Lavanya then showed her mettle too, and made a psychic attack on Matunaaga who, beset by terrifying memories, stumbled away from the fight. Quital began to hurl huge metal rods down at the intruders who quailed under the barrage. One metal rod might have killed Korrigan, had he not manifested the power of Jiese, and absorbed the energy of the attack.

All of a sudden, Conquo began to stumble around as if swatting away bees. Winkin’, Blinkin’ and Nod, the little ghost children who accompanied Uru (and were visible and audible to him, here in the Bleak Gate) whispered urgently that ‘a vengeful spirit is trying to possess the metal monster’. If he looked closely, Uru could see a ghostly female form: Xambria, freed from her prison in Malthusius’ mind, trying to find a new host and aid the unit into the bargain. Korrigan told everyone to stop attacking Conquo, but Rumdoom broke free and continued to focus on Conquo, heedless of orders. Xambria tried again and failed to breach Conquo’s mental defences. Korrigan urged her on, unsure if she could heed his words, but she took heart and redoubled her efforts and her faint, ghostly form melted into the construct, who collapsed onto his knees.

By now Asrabey was just a few feet below the elevator platform when he teleported behind Leon and Ob defenders. But instead of attacking them as the unit had hoped he darted through the door into the VIP suites, pursued by a pair of slayers. Two more slayers moved to head off Uru who, down in the staging area, was heading for the opposite lift.

Free from concerning himself with Conquo, Korrigan touched the canary pendant around his neck, then he flew through the air towards the bridge, picking Grappa up along the way. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he muttered. Matunaaga and Kvarti provided covering fire but their attacks bounced off the metal shield Quital was wielding. Quital ripped their weapons out of their hands, and caused more manipulated metal to pin them in place. Lavanya assailed Korrigan psychically, causing him to veer away from the bridge, but he got control of himself just in time.

Uru tinkered with some wires and summoned the far lift, now occupied by the two slayers; it was too slow, so he tinkered again and sped it up. Conquo stood up and said, “It’s me - it’s Xambria. I think I’ve got the hang of this thing.”

Korrigan and Grappa landed on the bridge. From here they could see that the great golem was covered in intricate runes. Grappa reached out and touched the colossal face, the cloak of his hood falling away as he did so. Quital turned and in a flash of realisation cried, “Grappa? No! It isn’t possible! Get away from him!” He yanked Grappa’s arm off, but his protests were lost over the terrible engine roar that now filled the chamber as the golem suddenly came to life.

“Poppa!” it groaned, in the overwhelming bass profundo of a thousand church organs.

Grappa stumbled towards Quital. In anger, and for the second time, Quital waved his hand and rendered the bronze golem into a thousand tiny fraghments. All of a sudden, he clutched at his own face and gave a horrible, inaudible scream, as if afflicted from within.

Freed from Quital’s vice-like grip, Kvarti and Matunnaga ran to retrieve their rifles. Just then the lift arrived at the staging area, and Uru dazed both slayers with his shuriken crossbow before leaping aboard and enveloping himself in a cloud of darkness. Matunaaga jumped on board the lift too and took out one of the slayers. He was closely followed by Conquo. At that moment, Ob guards and shadow trolls from the canal arrived to support their masters. Left behind and in no position to run, Kvarti took aim and prepared to fire before they fell upon him, but Conquo leaped back off the platform, tucked the wriggling dwarf under his arm and jumped back onto the lift just as Uru caused it to rise, with bullets from the guards ricocheting around them. Uru took out the second slayer as the lift neared the bridge.

While Quital stumbled, his whirling metal shield clattered to the ground. Kvarti and Matunaaga took advantage of the opening and fired at him. For the first time since RHC regulations had forced him to wear it, Korrigan drew his snub-nosed pistol and with a snarl of derision, shot at Quital as well. So much for progress!

Forgetting the peril all around her, Lavanya gave a cry of “Borne! Borne, no!” and threw herself off the bridge, casting a spell that enable her to scuttle up the golems brow onto its vast pate, where she crouched, apparently trying to commune with the thing. Borne took a halting step forward and crashed into the bridge. It buckled and strained and everyone on it fell to their knees. Finding its path blocked, Borne reached up and dug its enormous fingers into the cavern ceiling.

Leon shrugged off Lavanya’s influence and, seeing Ob defenders all around him, sent a magical wave of cold blasting out that knocked a slayer, a nethermancer and the deranged Quital off the bridge, where they disappeared, writhing and wriggling, into the gloom. Then he shouted over the noise of the golem and tried to encourage Lavanya to surrender.

The last surviving slayer stepped close to Korrigan, grabbed him and teleported to the edge of the bridge holding Korrigan in midair. He let go and Korrigan fell. The unit cried out in unison, but as he fell Korrigan reached out his sturdy stone arm and caught hold of one of the massive chains that depended from the bridge. Moments later, he was scrambling back upwards, hand over hand. Astonished, the slayer fled towards the VIP suites.

Huge chunks of rock and metal tumbled from above as Borne tried to punch his way out of the cavern. Ignoring Leon’s imprecations that she be spared, the rest of the unit braved the rock-fall and opened fire on Lavanya, who still clung to the golem’s scalp and clearly sought to control it. Though some of the group could not bring themselves to fire on such a beautiful creature, neither Rumdoom nor Uru had any problem at all. But Lavanya was tougher than she looked and was still clinging to the golem as it wrenched itself upward into the hole it had created, causing enormous sections of rock to slowly peel away from the ceiling and fall towards the bridge.

Uru hid in the bridge control room, while the others dashed for cover in the VIP suites. Korrigan reached the bridge and pulled himself over. He was in a bad way and couldn’t make it to safety in time. But Conquo grabbed him and Matunaaga as he dashed past, and got them out of the worst of the cave-in, shielding them from harm as rocks bounced of his armour plating. Down below, many of the guards were crushed and the rest retreated back towards the entrance.

As Leon reached the lounge area, a screaming, burning slayer staggered in from the opposite door, setting light to the furniture and fittings. He was followed by Asrabey - his blazing sword in one hand, the other leading a beautiful eladrin noblewoman who could only be Kasvarina. Her face was vacant and confused. Scuttling alongside them came half-a-dozen gremlins, who had previously disappeared into utility system. They were cackling and cavorting and celebrating their rescue of Gale. She looked bewildered at first but soon regained her composure when she saw the unit. Neither party saw fit to exchange recriminations or apologies at this stage! Gale looked relieved and pleased to see them, and Asrabey spared them a curt nod.

For a moment everyone experienced a wave of nausea. A strange ripple in the ether and the sudden disappearance of the shadow trolls told them something very strange had happened. Borne (and, presumably, Lavanya) were now halfway up the huge natural chimney that lay beyond the ceiling. Wards and runes on metal plates that had lined the walls had been shattered, and when Borne finally dragged itself free up above, they could see stars – real world stars – in the inky sky beyond. They were out of the Bleak Gate.

While they gawped in wonder they heard the strange backward-yawn noise of a Dreaming portal, and they turned to see that Asrabey and Kasvarina were gone, leaving only swirls of mist in their wake.

There was a lull. No more noise or shaking. The golem had stopped moving. Its great feet were still.

“Shall we get out of here?” asked Gale, and without waiting for acquiescence, she raised her arms and summoned winds to carry everyone up the chimney and out. They spiralled away from the crown of the hill for a moment and saw Borne gazing out over the city of Flint. It wasn’t clear from this distance where Lavanya had got to.

“What shall we do?” Gale asked over the noise of the wind.

“Let me down, if you please,” said Kvarti. “The end of the world is upon us. I’m going to go and drink.”

 

[gideonpepys]

DM Musings

As it has developed into a meditation on the future of my campaign, I thought I would link to another thread I started where I first began to think about some of the ideas I'm about to toy with here:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?352634-Cauldron-Born-Naval-Battle-Question

I have never been 100% sure about the identity of Lavanya, and when I first wove her into Leon's backstory I had no idea she was involved with the Ob, let alone that she would show up at the climax of Cauldron Born. Now that she has, I'm still not sure exactly what to do with her and for that reason was prepared to allow her to quietly slip away before the unit reached her, having failed to control Borne. (Her involvement with Borne was as a replacement for Kasvarina in the vain hope that she could rouse him from his torpor.)

But the chance to have a fight on the head/shoulders of a 300 foot Colossus is one that I can't pass up, so she's still going to be clinging on trying desperately to affect Borne with her mind controlling powers. She hasn't got a chance of controlling the golem but neither she nor the players know that.

What I don't yet know is who she really is, what her motivations are, what she was doing on Axis Island when she rescued Leon, and whether I want her to try and escape, negotiate a surrender, fight to the bitter end, or perhaps even kill herself.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I think I might like to link her to the subplot I'm developing to tie our buffer adventures together, which means she might be a servant of, or even a key member of a coven of hags that are trying to find out what the Ob is up to and hijack it (possibly on behalf of the Voice of Rot). Still don't know whether Lavanya should actually be a hag. But how would she have hidden that fact from the Obscurati? (Or maybe, given that she was fairly low down the pecking order, with no knowledge or links beyond the Bronze Cell, or above Quital, they wouldn't much have cared if she was useful.)

Hags have shown up in two of my buffer adventures now, and it's easy to link them: one was harassing a colony of lizard men with an enormous fey crocodile; the other was trying to provoke a fey incursion of Risur and turned out to have supported Duchess Ethelyn of Shale - and now I've decided that was because she wanted to find out what was happening on Axis Island.

But I still haven't decided exactly what to do with Lavanya, and how far to link her up to all this, or whether I want her story arc to end here. How many recurring villains can a campaign take, after all?

Hope I can come to a decision in the next couple of days!

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, perhaps it's tied to the witches who ruled over Cauldron Hill 100 years ago.

 

[gideonpepys]

Well, perhaps it's tied to the witches who ruled over Cauldron Hill 100 years ago.

That's just what I was thinking. Still doesn't explain what Lavanya was doing on Axis Island during the war, who she is exactly, or how she came to join the Ob.