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Aftermath II - Free Agents
- Thread starter Rybaer
- Start date
Rybaer
First Post
Re: Bastard
My bad. At least I remembered it was a big sword. And I didn't forget the ferroplasm bit.
Yes, this was a pretty low point for the party in general. Unfortunately, things kinda started falling apart for them when they decided to take on the half-mechanical fire giant. That was one encounter I really had expected them to avoid. Oops.
As for the Mage of Many Colors, Mr. North, being one and the same with Gils Dralon, notorious member of the Black Hand...well, that would be the obvious conclusion. Could it perhaps be a bit too obvious? Or maybe I'm trying to be too obvious so as to make you think he's really someone else so that he can be one and the same. Mwahahaha.
Amill said:
My bad. At least I remembered it was a big sword. And I didn't forget the ferroplasm bit.
Yes, this was a pretty low point for the party in general. Unfortunately, things kinda started falling apart for them when they decided to take on the half-mechanical fire giant. That was one encounter I really had expected them to avoid. Oops.
As for the Mage of Many Colors, Mr. North, being one and the same with Gils Dralon, notorious member of the Black Hand...well, that would be the obvious conclusion. Could it perhaps be a bit too obvious? Or maybe I'm trying to be too obvious so as to make you think he's really someone else so that he can be one and the same. Mwahahaha.
Rybaer
First Post
Session #12.16 - Up from the Labyrinth
Rurik sat alone in the darkness of a small, one-room stone building. He was hungry and thirsty. He had little concept of time, and would have to rely on the dragon Embertongue to tell him when the three days had passed and it was time to recall Mr. North through the Adonix.
Rurik knew he was uncomfortable in this situation. He knew that associating with a red dragon was bad business. He felt that there was something equally wrong about the wizard who had gone through the portal. He knew he still had a quest to complete somewhere here within the ruins of Kladish - to rescue some dwarves - but he had little clue as to how he might accomplish that. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he kept trying to cling to the feeling that he was doing the wrong thing and that he was under the wizard's spell, yet he was ultimately unable to break free of it. Rurik only wished to obey the Mr. North's instructions.
Rurik snapped out of his dazed half-sleep at the sound of rocks sliding away from the door of his cell. He was frightened that the dragon was back, but also a slight bit hopeful that food and water would be forthcoming. It came as a complete shock to him when the figure silhouetted in the opening doorway was not that of a dragon, but of a minotaur. Two minotaurs, actually.
Rurik cowered in the corner of the room. He was unarmed and weak. Against this well armed and armored pair, he knew he would have no chance in a fight. The two minotaurs slipped into the room and gave the dwarf an appraising look.
In a form of dwarven so heavily accented that Rurik almost mistook it for a foreign language, one of the minotaurs spoke. "The dragon is out hunting, but will be back soon. We have little time. Are you truly a cleric of Moraein?"
Rurik tried to clear his head. Moraein? "Moradin," Rurik said. "Father of the dwarves. The Soulforger. Yes, I am."
"Moradin. Moraein," the other minotaur said. "Must be the same thing. Several thousand years of isolation could do that to a language."
"You have no idea how grateful we are to see you here," the first minotaur said. "Otha and Minto must have succeeded in getting word to you about our imprisonment here."
Rurik gave the minotaur a confused look. "Who? Never heard of them."
The two minotaurs looked at each other, then the first explained. "First of all, I am Klybar and this is Utik. We've been trapped here for nearly two years," he said. "Early on, we managed to get two of our men past the dragon and its minions, but at a severe cost in lives. Those two, Otha and Minto, have been working in the outside world for some months now, trying to find a servant of Moraein who could help us return to our home world."
Rurik blinked hard. Then blinked hard again. "Excuse me. Could you maybe start at the beginning? You say you've been trapped here for years? And you were waiting for a cleric of Moradin to save you?"
"Correct."
"And are there any dwarves trapped down here?" Rurik said.
"Not that we're aware of," the Klybar said.
"Wait a minute," Rurik said. Things were starting to come together in his mind. "There never were any dwarves trapped down here. My quest had been to rescue you guys, a bunch of minotaurs. That anonymous map and request for aid that I received in Water Break was from you guys. No, it was from the two minotaur guards of the Duke's! Those are your men that escaped!"
"Correct," Klybar said. "Let me sum up...and quickly, because we may not have much time. We are from a modest empire on a world far removed from here. Our nation, the Taurens, was once one of the mightiest people to ever span the universe. Thousands of years ago, the Salien Empire shattered the Taurens, and now only a few small pockets remain.
"Ours has regained enough of the lost lore to be able to send out expeditionary teams to some of our old settlements, to see if any artifacts can still be recovered. This city, Kladish, is one such place. Our team, which numbered over twenty strong warriors, wizards, and priests, were the advance scouts. Through our Adonix, we were transported to the coordinates of this Adonix. What we hadn't anticipated was the red dragon that had taken up residence. Both the dragon and us were surprised, but it had the advantage. It took to wing and immediately blasted with its breath. Half our number fell almost immediately. The rest fled for cover in the ruins.
"Eight of us managed to survive, hiding in the Labyrinth under the ruins of the Temple of Tol. The Labyrinth's native life provided enough for us to survive on, but just barely. All of our priests had been slain in the original attack, as had all but one young wizard. We had no way to activate this Adonix to return. Due to some previous problems exploring other ruins, it has become Tauren policy to not send a follow-up team should the advance scouts fail to return. It's a risky but honorable quest to join one of these teams.
"The dragon and its minions had us pinned down tight. For months we scouted, but it was clear that there was no way to safely escape the ruins. We debated and finally decided to send out a couple scouts into the outside world in hopes of finding descendents of our people - anyone who worshipped one of our gods and who could activate the Adonix. Further, we needed a hero capable of defeating or outwitting the dragon. Six of us created a distraction, allowing Otah and Minto to escape. Two died in that effort, but Otah and Minto made it to the outside world. Using their wits, they survived and put themselves in a position from which to find a cleric.
"Our wizard was able to use a simple spell to exchange a few words with them at a time, enough to keep informed on what they found. We were dismayed to learn that the sparse descendents of the Taurens had degenerated into little more than feral beasts. The few among these 'minotaurs' who bothered to worship tend to venerate local pagan gods of slaughter and destruction. The dwarves, however, seemed to have survived and thrived."
"You mean the dwarves and minotaurs lived side by side?" Rurik said, amazed.
"The Taurens were the heart of the Empire," Utik said. "The dwarves were a servant race to our people."
"You mean the dwarves were your slaves?" Rurik said, disgusted.
"Well, in the very beginning, perhaps," Klybar said. "The dwarves quickly earned a place of respect in the Tauren Empire, however, for their skills and craftsmanship. They were admired for their talents and some were even admitted to the priesthood of Moraein, the deity they favored. I do not believe they ever reached positions of political power, though, before the Empire's downfall."
"So, I suppose you'll be wanting me to send you home," Rurik said. "Meanwhile, I'll still be stuck down here with the dragon."
"This is the first opportunity we've had in all the time we've been trapped down here to possibly escape," the minotaur said. "From hiding we watched as you activated the Adonix, so we know it works. The dragon's servants are nowhere to be found and the dragon is out hunting. And, most importantly, we have a cleric who can activate the device."
"You can thank my companions for doing away with the dragon's servants," Rurik said. "As for the Adonix, I might be able to turn it on, but those controls are beyond me."
"Don't worry about that," the minotaur said. "Our wizard has a copy of the coordinates needed to return to our home. Plus, we don't have to leave you behind. There is a delay of a couple seconds after the Adonix is activated before the transport occurs. You're welcome to come back with us."
Rurik felt the magical compulsion wrestling with his desire to flee Embertongue's lair. "No, I can't leave. I can send you, but I must remain here."
The Taurens gave each other a puzzled look. "Well, let's get the others so we can use the Adonix before the dragon returns."
"What are you going to do about your companions who are still back in the Duke's service?" Rurik said.
"Don't worry about them," Klybar said. "We'll be back for them with the proper support needed to mount a rescue."
The remaining couple Taurens, including the young wizard, were quickly brought up from the Labyrinth under the temple ruins. The lot of them looked bedraggled but hopeful. Klybar, the leader of the group, urged everyone to hasten. They assembled on the dragon's platform, the Adonix, and the wizard produced the parchment bearing the precious settings to return them to their homeworld. Once the controls were adjusted properly, Rurik activated the device and waved farewell to the Tauren party.
Magically enchanted or not, Rurik knew full well Embertongue would not be pleased to see his cell's door open. He had no way to close and block it from the outside, so he decided to play it as safe as he could while still staying true to his magical compulsion. He went back inside the cell and waited nervously for the dragon to return.
About an hour later, Embertongue returned and immediately noticed his door. In a rage, she tore the door from its hinges and poked her head inside. "Dwarf!" she said, her breath heating the room to an uncomfortable level. "Why is this door open! Did you open it?"
Swallowing his dragonfear, Rurik stuck to his plan. "No," he said. "A minotaur did."
Embertongue roared in rage and Rurik swooned in the noxious vapors. "Blast those foul creatures! They've been hiding in the rubble for too long. I should have known they'd come out once my servants were killed." The dragon pulled her head from the building and surveyed her lair. "My treasure!" she said and flew off to the far corner to where she'd moved it from the platform.
Rurik waited for quite some time while Embertongue took inventory. When she finally returned to Rurik's cell, her temper had become a cold simmer. "Where did those vile minotaurs go?"
"I'm not exactly certain," Rurik said honestly. "They offered me freedom, but I chose to stay here."
Embertongue scrutinized him, trying to read nuances in the dwarf's blank expression. "That might be the first semi-intelligent thing a member of your despicable race has ever done. Stay put." It piled several thousand pounds of stone slabs in front of the door and went about its business. From the crashing sounds, Rurik figured the dragon was sealing off some known exits (or entries) to its lair. When the crashing subsided, Rurik drifted off into a fitful sleep.
An indeterminate time later, several explosions and the unmistakable shrieking of a dragon in rage abruptly awoke Rurik. Lights flickered through cracks near the door and Rurik hurried over to take a look. Rurik observed a truly awesome display in the dim orange glow that permeated the chamber. Dozens of well-armed and armored Taurens were flying about the chamber, buzzing about Embertongue like angry hornets. In a wider circle, another dozen Taurens of the wizardly and priestly calling were peppering the beast with powerful spells and protecting the warriors with defensive and healing magic.
The Taurens had brought a team of some of their most powerful through the Adonix to eradicate the dragon. With magic specifically prepared for such a foe, Embertongue was sorely outmatched. A great wyrm might have been able to hold them off for a short while, but Embertongue was still early in her adult years. Rurik watched as she tried in vain to flee, only to crash awkwardly in the ruins several hundred yards away.
A few short minutes later the Taurens dug Rurik out of his cell. Others were already busy hauling the dragon's treasure back the Adonix platform and stripping Embertongue's body of useful components. A senior cleric, Rublar, and a wizard, Mila, approached Rurik.
They quizzed Rurik for some time on Mr. North and how Rurik had come to be involved in the activation of the Adonix. When some of his answers began to raise suspicions, the wizard cast Detect Magic on Rurik.
"Yup," Mila said. "He's under a powerful enchantment, probably a compulsion of some sort. Reasonably clever way to secure a trip back through the Adonix."
"Indeed," Rublar said. "Rurik, do you remember what the coordinate settings were that this wizard had you send him to?"
"No," Rurik said. "But he did write down the settings I'm supposed to use to bring him back here. I think they were identical except for the last dial."
"Yes," Rublar said. "That last dial merely changes it between sending and retrieving. May I see the scroll?"
"Sure," Rurik said. "I'll need it back, though, to bring him home at the appointed time."
The cleric looked at the wizard. "I can take care of this," Mila said as he dug through a satchel of scroll tubes. He withdrew one and cast the spell written on it, breaking the enchantment that Mr. North had placed upon Rurik.
Rurik blinked and found that his mind felt a bit clearer. He handed the coordinates over to the cleric. "You know," he said, "on second thought, I could care less about bringing that prick home."
Rublar studied the coordinates for several minutes and then consulted further with one of his brethren. "It would seem," the cleric said, "that this Mr. North has traveled to one of the deepest, darkest corners of the Plane of Shadow. It is nearly inaccessible to ordinary magic. The Adonix may have been the only way short of divine intervention to reach it."
"What could he want there?" Rurik said.
"I have no idea," Rublar said. "No one would dare go there willingly. I'm not even aware of any account of anyone having gone there and returned."
"I vote for leaving him there, then," Rurik said. "He couldn't be up to any good."
"I'm inclined to agree with you," the cleric said.
Next session: Kladish conclusion.
Rurik sat alone in the darkness of a small, one-room stone building. He was hungry and thirsty. He had little concept of time, and would have to rely on the dragon Embertongue to tell him when the three days had passed and it was time to recall Mr. North through the Adonix.
Rurik knew he was uncomfortable in this situation. He knew that associating with a red dragon was bad business. He felt that there was something equally wrong about the wizard who had gone through the portal. He knew he still had a quest to complete somewhere here within the ruins of Kladish - to rescue some dwarves - but he had little clue as to how he might accomplish that. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he kept trying to cling to the feeling that he was doing the wrong thing and that he was under the wizard's spell, yet he was ultimately unable to break free of it. Rurik only wished to obey the Mr. North's instructions.
Rurik snapped out of his dazed half-sleep at the sound of rocks sliding away from the door of his cell. He was frightened that the dragon was back, but also a slight bit hopeful that food and water would be forthcoming. It came as a complete shock to him when the figure silhouetted in the opening doorway was not that of a dragon, but of a minotaur. Two minotaurs, actually.
Rurik cowered in the corner of the room. He was unarmed and weak. Against this well armed and armored pair, he knew he would have no chance in a fight. The two minotaurs slipped into the room and gave the dwarf an appraising look.
In a form of dwarven so heavily accented that Rurik almost mistook it for a foreign language, one of the minotaurs spoke. "The dragon is out hunting, but will be back soon. We have little time. Are you truly a cleric of Moraein?"
Rurik tried to clear his head. Moraein? "Moradin," Rurik said. "Father of the dwarves. The Soulforger. Yes, I am."
"Moradin. Moraein," the other minotaur said. "Must be the same thing. Several thousand years of isolation could do that to a language."
"You have no idea how grateful we are to see you here," the first minotaur said. "Otha and Minto must have succeeded in getting word to you about our imprisonment here."
Rurik gave the minotaur a confused look. "Who? Never heard of them."
The two minotaurs looked at each other, then the first explained. "First of all, I am Klybar and this is Utik. We've been trapped here for nearly two years," he said. "Early on, we managed to get two of our men past the dragon and its minions, but at a severe cost in lives. Those two, Otha and Minto, have been working in the outside world for some months now, trying to find a servant of Moraein who could help us return to our home world."
Rurik blinked hard. Then blinked hard again. "Excuse me. Could you maybe start at the beginning? You say you've been trapped here for years? And you were waiting for a cleric of Moradin to save you?"
"Correct."
"And are there any dwarves trapped down here?" Rurik said.
"Not that we're aware of," the Klybar said.
"Wait a minute," Rurik said. Things were starting to come together in his mind. "There never were any dwarves trapped down here. My quest had been to rescue you guys, a bunch of minotaurs. That anonymous map and request for aid that I received in Water Break was from you guys. No, it was from the two minotaur guards of the Duke's! Those are your men that escaped!"
"Correct," Klybar said. "Let me sum up...and quickly, because we may not have much time. We are from a modest empire on a world far removed from here. Our nation, the Taurens, was once one of the mightiest people to ever span the universe. Thousands of years ago, the Salien Empire shattered the Taurens, and now only a few small pockets remain.
"Ours has regained enough of the lost lore to be able to send out expeditionary teams to some of our old settlements, to see if any artifacts can still be recovered. This city, Kladish, is one such place. Our team, which numbered over twenty strong warriors, wizards, and priests, were the advance scouts. Through our Adonix, we were transported to the coordinates of this Adonix. What we hadn't anticipated was the red dragon that had taken up residence. Both the dragon and us were surprised, but it had the advantage. It took to wing and immediately blasted with its breath. Half our number fell almost immediately. The rest fled for cover in the ruins.
"Eight of us managed to survive, hiding in the Labyrinth under the ruins of the Temple of Tol. The Labyrinth's native life provided enough for us to survive on, but just barely. All of our priests had been slain in the original attack, as had all but one young wizard. We had no way to activate this Adonix to return. Due to some previous problems exploring other ruins, it has become Tauren policy to not send a follow-up team should the advance scouts fail to return. It's a risky but honorable quest to join one of these teams.
"The dragon and its minions had us pinned down tight. For months we scouted, but it was clear that there was no way to safely escape the ruins. We debated and finally decided to send out a couple scouts into the outside world in hopes of finding descendents of our people - anyone who worshipped one of our gods and who could activate the Adonix. Further, we needed a hero capable of defeating or outwitting the dragon. Six of us created a distraction, allowing Otah and Minto to escape. Two died in that effort, but Otah and Minto made it to the outside world. Using their wits, they survived and put themselves in a position from which to find a cleric.
"Our wizard was able to use a simple spell to exchange a few words with them at a time, enough to keep informed on what they found. We were dismayed to learn that the sparse descendents of the Taurens had degenerated into little more than feral beasts. The few among these 'minotaurs' who bothered to worship tend to venerate local pagan gods of slaughter and destruction. The dwarves, however, seemed to have survived and thrived."
"You mean the dwarves and minotaurs lived side by side?" Rurik said, amazed.
"The Taurens were the heart of the Empire," Utik said. "The dwarves were a servant race to our people."
"You mean the dwarves were your slaves?" Rurik said, disgusted.
"Well, in the very beginning, perhaps," Klybar said. "The dwarves quickly earned a place of respect in the Tauren Empire, however, for their skills and craftsmanship. They were admired for their talents and some were even admitted to the priesthood of Moraein, the deity they favored. I do not believe they ever reached positions of political power, though, before the Empire's downfall."
"So, I suppose you'll be wanting me to send you home," Rurik said. "Meanwhile, I'll still be stuck down here with the dragon."
"This is the first opportunity we've had in all the time we've been trapped down here to possibly escape," the minotaur said. "From hiding we watched as you activated the Adonix, so we know it works. The dragon's servants are nowhere to be found and the dragon is out hunting. And, most importantly, we have a cleric who can activate the device."
"You can thank my companions for doing away with the dragon's servants," Rurik said. "As for the Adonix, I might be able to turn it on, but those controls are beyond me."
"Don't worry about that," the minotaur said. "Our wizard has a copy of the coordinates needed to return to our home. Plus, we don't have to leave you behind. There is a delay of a couple seconds after the Adonix is activated before the transport occurs. You're welcome to come back with us."
Rurik felt the magical compulsion wrestling with his desire to flee Embertongue's lair. "No, I can't leave. I can send you, but I must remain here."
The Taurens gave each other a puzzled look. "Well, let's get the others so we can use the Adonix before the dragon returns."
"What are you going to do about your companions who are still back in the Duke's service?" Rurik said.
"Don't worry about them," Klybar said. "We'll be back for them with the proper support needed to mount a rescue."
The remaining couple Taurens, including the young wizard, were quickly brought up from the Labyrinth under the temple ruins. The lot of them looked bedraggled but hopeful. Klybar, the leader of the group, urged everyone to hasten. They assembled on the dragon's platform, the Adonix, and the wizard produced the parchment bearing the precious settings to return them to their homeworld. Once the controls were adjusted properly, Rurik activated the device and waved farewell to the Tauren party.
Magically enchanted or not, Rurik knew full well Embertongue would not be pleased to see his cell's door open. He had no way to close and block it from the outside, so he decided to play it as safe as he could while still staying true to his magical compulsion. He went back inside the cell and waited nervously for the dragon to return.
About an hour later, Embertongue returned and immediately noticed his door. In a rage, she tore the door from its hinges and poked her head inside. "Dwarf!" she said, her breath heating the room to an uncomfortable level. "Why is this door open! Did you open it?"
Swallowing his dragonfear, Rurik stuck to his plan. "No," he said. "A minotaur did."
Embertongue roared in rage and Rurik swooned in the noxious vapors. "Blast those foul creatures! They've been hiding in the rubble for too long. I should have known they'd come out once my servants were killed." The dragon pulled her head from the building and surveyed her lair. "My treasure!" she said and flew off to the far corner to where she'd moved it from the platform.
Rurik waited for quite some time while Embertongue took inventory. When she finally returned to Rurik's cell, her temper had become a cold simmer. "Where did those vile minotaurs go?"
"I'm not exactly certain," Rurik said honestly. "They offered me freedom, but I chose to stay here."
Embertongue scrutinized him, trying to read nuances in the dwarf's blank expression. "That might be the first semi-intelligent thing a member of your despicable race has ever done. Stay put." It piled several thousand pounds of stone slabs in front of the door and went about its business. From the crashing sounds, Rurik figured the dragon was sealing off some known exits (or entries) to its lair. When the crashing subsided, Rurik drifted off into a fitful sleep.
An indeterminate time later, several explosions and the unmistakable shrieking of a dragon in rage abruptly awoke Rurik. Lights flickered through cracks near the door and Rurik hurried over to take a look. Rurik observed a truly awesome display in the dim orange glow that permeated the chamber. Dozens of well-armed and armored Taurens were flying about the chamber, buzzing about Embertongue like angry hornets. In a wider circle, another dozen Taurens of the wizardly and priestly calling were peppering the beast with powerful spells and protecting the warriors with defensive and healing magic.
The Taurens had brought a team of some of their most powerful through the Adonix to eradicate the dragon. With magic specifically prepared for such a foe, Embertongue was sorely outmatched. A great wyrm might have been able to hold them off for a short while, but Embertongue was still early in her adult years. Rurik watched as she tried in vain to flee, only to crash awkwardly in the ruins several hundred yards away.
A few short minutes later the Taurens dug Rurik out of his cell. Others were already busy hauling the dragon's treasure back the Adonix platform and stripping Embertongue's body of useful components. A senior cleric, Rublar, and a wizard, Mila, approached Rurik.
They quizzed Rurik for some time on Mr. North and how Rurik had come to be involved in the activation of the Adonix. When some of his answers began to raise suspicions, the wizard cast Detect Magic on Rurik.
"Yup," Mila said. "He's under a powerful enchantment, probably a compulsion of some sort. Reasonably clever way to secure a trip back through the Adonix."
"Indeed," Rublar said. "Rurik, do you remember what the coordinate settings were that this wizard had you send him to?"
"No," Rurik said. "But he did write down the settings I'm supposed to use to bring him back here. I think they were identical except for the last dial."
"Yes," Rublar said. "That last dial merely changes it between sending and retrieving. May I see the scroll?"
"Sure," Rurik said. "I'll need it back, though, to bring him home at the appointed time."
The cleric looked at the wizard. "I can take care of this," Mila said as he dug through a satchel of scroll tubes. He withdrew one and cast the spell written on it, breaking the enchantment that Mr. North had placed upon Rurik.
Rurik blinked and found that his mind felt a bit clearer. He handed the coordinates over to the cleric. "You know," he said, "on second thought, I could care less about bringing that prick home."
Rublar studied the coordinates for several minutes and then consulted further with one of his brethren. "It would seem," the cleric said, "that this Mr. North has traveled to one of the deepest, darkest corners of the Plane of Shadow. It is nearly inaccessible to ordinary magic. The Adonix may have been the only way short of divine intervention to reach it."
"What could he want there?" Rurik said.
"I have no idea," Rublar said. "No one would dare go there willingly. I'm not even aware of any account of anyone having gone there and returned."
"I vote for leaving him there, then," Rurik said. "He couldn't be up to any good."
"I'm inclined to agree with you," the cleric said.
Next session: Kladish conclusion.
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Curious...
So, the fully story revealed! We, of course, get a full account from Rurik later. (I don't think I spoil anything by saying this...) Yet this is to a degree of detail that we didn't get before. Rybaer let Rurik explain things and they were a bit...cloudy. Most probably a result of the spell which compelled him to do that which he didn't want to do... and a little guilt.
Alas, I think I will continue to look at the inside of this shiny sphere and have no concept of time...
So, the fully story revealed! We, of course, get a full account from Rurik later. (I don't think I spoil anything by saying this...) Yet this is to a degree of detail that we didn't get before. Rybaer let Rurik explain things and they were a bit...cloudy. Most probably a result of the spell which compelled him to do that which he didn't want to do... and a little guilt.
Alas, I think I will continue to look at the inside of this shiny sphere and have no concept of time...
Rybaer
First Post
Re: Curious...
Yes, this is pretty close to how things went down.
In all honesty, things started falling apart when both Rurik and Bommer died. The party was in bad shape and the survivors were about to throw in the towel. I really wanted to wrap up the Kladish episode, even if it wasn't quite as satisfying as it would have been had the pc's had a chance to rescue the Taurens from under the dragon's nose.
To keep things a little interesting and suspenseful, I ran each segment with the players privately. Rurik did his thing and would later have to recount it for the others. Nigel saw Zalman and Amblin trapped but was helpless to do anything himself, and would later have to tell them that the Shadow was again involved. Zalman and Amblin's players were completely out of the loop until...well, I'll get to that soon.
Zalman said:
Yes, this is pretty close to how things went down.
In all honesty, things started falling apart when both Rurik and Bommer died. The party was in bad shape and the survivors were about to throw in the towel. I really wanted to wrap up the Kladish episode, even if it wasn't quite as satisfying as it would have been had the pc's had a chance to rescue the Taurens from under the dragon's nose.
To keep things a little interesting and suspenseful, I ran each segment with the players privately. Rurik did his thing and would later have to recount it for the others. Nigel saw Zalman and Amblin trapped but was helpless to do anything himself, and would later have to tell them that the Shadow was again involved. Zalman and Amblin's players were completely out of the loop until...well, I'll get to that soon.
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