Agents of Chaos (Final Update!)

[the Jester]

A Little Downtime

"We might have been able to take the rest of Bile Mountain if we go back," Sheva says somewhat dubiously.

"I don't really think we need to go back," replies Horbin. "We destroyed the crystal- that should end the bile, right?"

"Take it from me," Lester responds, "sometimes it's better to let your enemies come to you."

"Hopefully not in a crowded city!" Zeebo puts in. "That's bad for your reputation."

"Yeah, I bet those Bile Lord guys are pretty pissed off at us," muses Lester.

"Excuse me," Thrush says, "but where in the Nine Hells are we?"

The party explains to him that he's in Var, on Dorhaus, west of Forinthia. Having seen the damage he dished out to the crystal, the party's very impressed, and asks if he'd like to travel with them. Sybele gives him the eye, and that seems to help. "Besides," he says, I'm from Khelm- and that's far away."

The party takes the dragons to the Temple of Elemental Good via Lester's trump, then splits up to attend to various needs. Zeebo visits a brother (discretely, of course). Sybele goes to the Belmax Corporation, started by Belmondo the Enhanced years ago in part to make prosthetics for maimed warriors, to sell Alcar's clockwork leg to them. She keeps his real foot. Horbin and Orbius teleport to Pesh and back to pick up a few items on order there. Angelfire, shopping, comes across a magical falchion for sale called the Hissing Blade that deals acid damage and is a mighty cleaving weapon for sale. He mulls on it for a while and then buys it. Zeebo finds a ring of wizardry for 3rd level spells on the market, and the party agrees it would be a Fabulous Thing if they could get it for him- he'd never run out of 3rd level spells. Unfortunately, they can't manage to come up with the 100,000 gp it would cost.

As the group is discussing what they need to do next that afternoon, Lester stiffens as a sending comes to him.

You have caused the Bile Lords much trouble. You will pay for what you have done.

Knowing he can send a response, the L sends, I didn't do it! I was just hanging out! I was framed! Then he tells the party about it.

"Tell them to take a number," Sheva states sardonically.

The party decides that the first thing on their list has to be to kill the Air Prince Ahhl'Ahhh to fulfill Lester's bargain with Polsoon- that's what he has to do next, so they might as well help instead of splitting their forces. Horbin says that he will cast a commune in the evening to determine where Ahhl'Ahhh is. The he goes to visit Metron, the cleric he spoke with before that was seeing strange things. "How go the visions?" he asks.

"I swear I see things," Metron murmurs, almost to himself. "I swear I'm not mad!" His eyes dart around as he speaks; there's an almost panicky undercurrent in his voice.

"Can you touch them?"

"They are between the spaces we know! I cannot explain- you cannot comprehend..." He trails off, frustrated.

Horbin leaves worried. That evening he casts a commune spell.

Has the bile stopped? Yes.
Is the mithral golem after us? No.
What's the special weakness of a mithral golem? Slow.
What harmful effects are inherent to plane on which Ahhl'Ahhh dwells? The winds are maddening.
What spell remedies will help with that? Silence.
How can we find Ahhl'Ahhh? Seek the Gut of Zerthikach.
What is the Gut of Zerthikach? A vile cavern on Pandemonium.
Between iron health, nimbleness and steadiness of mind, what is Ahhl'Ahhh's worst quality? Steadiness of mind.
Are there any spells that Ahhl'Ahhh is particularly vulnerable to? No.
Is he immune to any elements? Yes.
What is the pitch for a tuning fork for the level of Pandemonium Ahhl'Ahhh is on? B flat.
And what is the material? Granite.
How long until agents of the Bile Lords attack us? At least a day.
Are the Bile Lords coming personally or sending agents? Undecided.

Sybele tries to work up some hand signals to drill the party with; it seems like good strategy, so the group mostly goes along with it. Then it's time to retire for the night. Lester offers space to everyone at the Temple of Elemental Good, and most of the party finds this agreeable enough. In the morning they'll get ready and go to defeat this Ahhl'Ahhh.



Next Time: A surprise at the Temple of Elemental Good! Heading to Pandemonium! And a pc's death!!

 

[the Jester]

To Pandemonium

"After this trip to kill this air guy we need to find my daughter," Sybele says insistently.

"And there's the Temple of Elemental Evil," says Horbin, and Lester nods.

"I think something's up with all these kidnapped people. I don't like it one bit." Sheva is grim. "Who's behind it? And where are they?"

The party is heading through the streets of Var's outskirts towards the Temple of Elemental Good. There used to be many more people here, in the days before Fuligin came; and there are hundreds of uninhabited buildings in various stages of decay. It's eerie to Lester, who was here back then, along with Malford, Hobbes, Thimbleton... many great heroes. Yep, Lester is a well-traveled and, in some circles, highly-regarded adventurer. He's thinking to himself of all his achievements when they reach his temple and discover that the dragons are missing and several acolytes have been killed by them.

"Whoops," laughs Sheva.

"Well," says Lester, "we'll go kill them, but we'll let them grow up and get some treasure first."

Lester hires one of his old friends, Chobain, to come sing a B Flat for him so he can stone shape the granite tuning fork they need. "When I first met Chobain," Lester tells whoever's listening, "he was in a bag with some sheep that a big ol' giant had."

After a little work, the L has his tuning fork. "Thanks," he tells Chobain, and the party prepares to leave. First, Sheva casts a false visions of the party having a fight and splitting up (she kills Zeebo and Horbin in the fight). They dress in warm gear they all bought for the occasion and stuff their ears to try to minimize the effects of the maddening winds. Then they plane shift away to a dark and windy place.

Even with their ears stuffed, our heroes can hear the air screaming like a banshee all around them. Little flecks of rock and dirt are carried at breakneck speed through the air by the brutal winds, slashing at exposed flesh and leaving welts and irritating abrasions. It's dark except for the lights they bear- the glowing crystal Sheva's had since Firestorm Peak, the continual flame on one of Angelfire's ring. The flames gutter heatlessly in the howling wind.

Orbius has already cast Rary's telepathic bond so that he can communicate telepathically with Lester, Sheva, Horbin and Zeebo; so they confer quickly and decide that a discern location is the best way to find their foes. Orbius casts the spell and discerns that it's across the River Styx and beyond the Fields of Madness. The party discussing logistics; they decide he'll teleport there with Lester's trump in hand and then bring the others to him via trump. The problem arises when, as Lester hands his cohort the trump, a tremendous gust of wind snatches it away, and in less than a second it's out of view.

Crap! yells Lester telepathically. 2000 gold for everyone if we get it back!

They burst into action, looking for it, and they manage to find it through quick use of a locate object spell combined with sheer serendipity. Lester puts the trump safely, but that makes travel more difficult.

Why don't we just mass teleport there? thinks Sheva.

We're over the weight limit with Polsoon, Orbius responds.

Leave him here, Sheva retorts.

"Polsoon, do you mind if we go kill him without you?" shouts Lester.

"Nooo," says Polsoon, "I would not miss his death."

The party starts to trudge along. The wind is terrible; a constant shrieking everywhere, cold grit always in their eyes. After about ten minutes, the party decides that they simply have to do without Polsoon. They exchange glances, and Sybele gives the 'ready' hand signal she'd invented yesterday. "We'll be right back," Lester shouts, and they mass teleport, leaving Polsoon behind.

"Nooo," the elemental laments, alone.



Next time: Against Ahhl'Ahhh!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Poor old Polsoon.

 

[Talix]

Hopefully Polsoon won't take this as a void of their contract, since he's not there to enjoy the defeat.

 

[the Jester]

Attack on Ahhl'Ahhh

The party appears in another howling cavern, a bitter cold wind tearing through it fiercely. They are just starting to look around for their foe when a terrible burst of dehydration wilts them all. They're all wounded badly, except for Zeebo, who shrivels up like a raisin and falls over dead.

"Hold on!" Lester tries to shout over the wind, attempting to use his affinity with the elements to persuade the elemental... but to no avail. Perhaps its mind it too strong; perhaps it can't hear him over the screaming winds. Instead of listening to Lester, Ahhl'Ahhh suddenly crackles with an aura of black, evil energy.

Lester gives up on talking and swings Felix Optima Maxima. She has a far strike spell on her; even though he's 20' away from Ahhl'Ahhh, his blade strikes the elemental creature! But as he does so, the aura flares and he staggers as he feels it try to do something to him. Thrush rushes in at Ahhl'Ahhh, and they trade blows; it seems that the Bile Lords' former servant gets the better of the exchange, but not by much. Angelfire tumbles in and slashes with the Hissing Blade; Sheva and Horbin move in as well. Orbius tries to tumble in, but fails in a spectacular manner that gives Ahhl'Ahhh the chance to smack him soundly across the top of his head. Stumbling away, Orbius manages to shoot off a volley of seeker missiles, but Ahhl'Ahhh dodges them all.

Horbin steps in, his hand glowing golden where he's prepared an inflict critical wounds. He touches Ahhl'Ahhh's windy form- he's only able to even see it because of the dark aura around it- and there's a scream from the air prince. On the other side of the weakened Ahhl'Ahhh, Sybele steps in and trades blows with it. It's completely surrounded now, and her blow is the final one that defeats it. The aura- and the gaseous body it surrounds- disperses like a fog in strong sunlight.

"That was for Zeebo!" Sybele cries, though none can hear her above the howl of the winds.

The party almost panics when they can't find Zeebo's body, but then the trusty locate object spell comes into play again. This time the body's only a few dozen yards away. They stick it in one side of Lester's box of many holdings and prepare to teleport back to Polsoon.

And a beautiful figure appears.

She looks like an angel- and her beauty is achingly powerful. She speaks in the entire party's minds, and her voice is sweet and persuasive.

I can help you, friends, she sends to them. I can offer you the true resurrection of your friend.

"What will this cost us?" shouts the L.

Merely a trifle. Either of two things: the sword Chronovestis... or the sword Felix Optima Maxima.

"Oh man," says Lester.




Next Time: Will the party deal with the mysterious woman? Will they surrender one of their weapons, and if so, which one??

 

[Technik4]

Oh man! Theres no way the L could give up Felix Optima Maxima, is there?!! Is Chronovestis another of the L's swords, or is it Sheva's?

Can't wait to see what happens, and lets not forget old Polsoon!

Technik

PS- Thanks for all the rocking fast updates Jester!

 

[the Jester]

Hey, Technik4!

Chronovestis is one of Sheva's many magical greatswords; it's holy to her goddess and has a number of time-related powers. That's often how she hastes herself (though she also gets haste as a celerity domain spell).

Thanks for the feedback, by the way! How's your gaming going?

 

[the Jester]

Decision

The winds howl around them like mad beasts as the female angel awaits their answer: Zeebo's true resurrection for one of two powerful weapons in the party. There's no way the party can even hear themselves shout over the winds. Grit blows in their faces, and with an aching glance they look at Zeebo's corpse.

There's telepathy involved, of course, so Lester answers that way. Oh, man, I like the Mayor, he sends, but I love my magic items. I'm sorry, Zeebo- I can't do it!

"Good," mutters Felix Optima Maxima.

Sheva shakes her head as well. They can get him back at no cost; she'll not give up a weapon sacred to Coila to this creature.

With a shrug, the angelic female backs away. Her eyes are like sapphires, her hair dark and silky. Very well. You make a mistake. And with that, she disappears in a shimmer of violet color.

Well, Sheva sends to Lester through the magical telepathic link Orbius had cast, let's plane shift home.

"Wait a sec!" Lester simultaneously shouts and cries telepathically. "We have to go back to Polsoon first and let him know what's happened!"

Sheva scowls, and she and Angelfire try to dissuade him. The argument lasts for almost ten minutes before they finally give in. "Come on," says Lester, "he didn't even get to come and help kill this Ahhl'Ahhh guy, we have to at least let him know it's done."

The party teleports back to Polsoon, and Lester tells the earth elemental that their task is done. With that the elemental thanks the party (in Terran- only Lester understands it) and vanishes back to its home plane.

Then the party plane shifts home, aiming for the Silver City, on the south coast of Tirchond. As is wont to happen with plane shift, however, the party end up some distance from where they want to be- and this time, they're at sea. There's a raging storm, and various party members start having a variety of stormy-ocean related problems. For a few moments it seems that some of the more heavily-armored folks might be in trouble, but Angelfire is strong enough (given magical and psionic enhancements) that he can swim for a little while despite his gear, and once Horbin uses one of his thought spells to create a solipsism of a boat out of sheer belief that it's there, the party is in pretty good shape.

Of course, they don't really know where they are.

"Well, we could teleport," Angelfire suggests to Orbius. He's cold and wet, and despite having a certain magical protection from cold, it's very uncomfortable due to his fiery nature.

"Hey look!" shouts Horbin, standing up and pointing into the distance.

The party peers in the direction he's indicating. The rain and clouds make visibility poor, but they can see what appears to be a few masts in the distance. "Let's go see who that is," Sheva says, and the party agrees. And they start rowing towards the Chaos Fleet.





Next Time: The Chaos Fleet!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Reading some more Michael Moorcock, by any chance?

The Chaos Fleet...bwahahahahahahaha!

 

[the Jester]

Reading some more Michael Moorcock, by any chance?

The Chaos Fleet...bwahahahahahahaha!

Actually, no.. but I have to admit that the idea of clashing Law and Chaos in my current campaign world prolly arose (on some level) from MM stuff. Though honestly, at least consciously, it was more to provide a break from the ol' good v. evil shtick.