Agents of Chaos (Final Update!)

[Technik4]

OOOH!

Wow, cool interplayer fight. So did you have the players write notes to you on what they activated or did the players not assume knowledge their characters wouldnt have? 2 crits and a hit, wooo. Cool fight, funy there wasn't more magic flying around though, alcar could have just taken off a little and summoned some allies rained down havoc....

Technik

PS- Any chance of getting some stats on the interesting items those characters have? Airsword, The L's sword, that cloak that grants extra arms?! Also, what chaotic effects are on the various characters...its easy to forget this stuff

 

[the Jester]

Re: OOOH!

Wow, cool interplayer fight. So did you have the players write notes to you on what they activated or did the players not assume knowledge their characters wouldnt have?

Well, the only things active were Alcar's holy aura and a few psionics that Angelfire had activated when he briefly flew away (he gave me a list). But of course, there's more to come before all is said and done with this battle- as you'll see soon!

2 crits and a hit, wooo. Cool fight, funy there wasn't more magic flying around though, alcar could have just taken off a little and summoned some allies rained down havoc....

Well... heh... funny you should mention Alcar flying off and summoning some allies... >ahem< Nothing to see here, nothing to see!

PS- Any chance of getting some stats on the interesting items those characters have? Airsword, The L's sword, that cloak that grants extra arms?! Also, what chaotic effects are on the various characters...its easy to forget this stuff

Sure, I'll try to post things as time allows and as I have the proper info in front of me.

The cloak of Jerakai allows its wearer to activate a Jerakai's embrace spell (iirc) 1/day... said spell gives you an extra set of arms, basically. Here's the text of the spell (which may need revision when 3.5 comes out)...

JERAKAI’S EMBRACE
Transmutation
Level: Wiz/Sor 3, Brd 4
Components: M, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round/level

This spell grants the recipient a set of two extra forelimbs, usually arms, usable for anything the original limbs could do. You can take an extra partial action with your extra set of arms with no penalties, although your choices are slightly limited. You can only take such an action that can be performed by a single set of arms; you can’t cast extra spells through the arms, even if one spell is verbal only and the other is somatic only. The arms are identical to your originals; they have the same claws, strength, dexterity, etc as you do.

While you have the extra arms you gain a +4 circumstance bonus to climb, intimidate, escape artist, tumble and use rope checks. You suffer no penalty for taking a single attack with your extra set of arms (generally you can only take more if you have improved two-weapon fighting or better).

Material component: an octopus tentacle.



Some of the other interesting things in the party... hm, okay, let's see if Lester will post stats on the Airsword, Felix Optima Maxima, etc.

Chaos traits: good lord, some of them (Lester) have been exposed to Chaos so much it isn't even funny. Off the top of my head, here's a few of the more obvious or memorable Chaos traits they have:

Lester: Missing an arm that can't be regrown or easily compensated for; used to have a third eye in the center of his forehead that was caused by contact with an alien mind that made a fungus grow on his brain (the party he was with at the time had to shrink down and enter his head to kill it); bat wings; gills. Um, I'm sure there are several more, plus his traits from Warrior of Chaos levels include fast healing (1, I think- he may have gotten it more than once, though) and lawbane twice (which stacks- gives him a total of +4 profane bonus on attacks and saves vs. lawful creatures or spells with the Lawful descriptor; +2d6 damage vs. lawful creatures). I think his stats have gone both up and down from Chaos effects, too.

Sheva: Sheva's got a nonfunctional eye in the back of her head.

Angelfire: Angelfire changed into a man, gained the fire subtype, and (I think) had some ability mods.

Zeebo: Zeebo has been blessed by Chaos with enormous fertility... as you'll see in updates that are soon to come.

Sybele: Gained the earth subtype.

There's more, of course, but I can't recall off hand what everyone's gotten- about half are good and half are bad, but the party seems to have lucked out a lot with their Chaos experiences.

Well, I was gonna post another update tonight but I think it's going to have to wait- it's late, I have to get up early, and this reply's taken up enough time that I don't think I'll finish it til sometime tomorrow. With luck maybe some of the players will give ya some feedback too. (Lester- how about posting Felix Optima and the Airsword? )

 

[Greybar]

JERAKAI’S EMBRACE

Nice. Looks modelled on Haste, but much more balanced since the spell weirdness and super dodge bonus don't come in.

Excuse me while I *YOINK*
There are some baddies in my game from legend that have been blessed with four arms. This might be a nice spell for their adherents to have.

Enjoying the story, though I must say as a DM I would be too worried about the multiple alignment thing.

John

 

[the Jester]

Enjoying the story, though I must say as a DM I would be too worried about the multiple alignment thing.

Well, the main thing that keeps the party mostly together is a shared interest in the forces of Chaos' victory in the building conflict... even the Lawful party members (Sheva and Angelfire, who recently shifted to NE) are siding with Chaos (it has to do with the origins of their deity, Coila, and her vested interest in seeing the fall of the Forinthian Empire).

If anything, the party members who might actually eventually have some serious issues are the ones who worship Galador in his multiple manifestations- namely, Horbin and Alcar. I find it immensely ironic that when intraparty conflict arose it was Alcar, the good one, who started it. As you'll see in the following updates, the guy by himself is usually the one to get in the most trouble...

 

[Talix]

Man, that Heal spell sure can be annoying sometimes, no? ;-)

 

[the Jester]

Red-Eye

Most of the group is still resting. Sheva's gone back to sleep- she woke when Alcar and Angelfire were shouting at each other but she was just in a normal sleep, so she isn't yet fully rested. Still, Alcar's out there somewhere, so Angelfire casts a nap himself. Now Sybele, Horbin and Sheva will rise, fully rested, in only an hour.

Fluffy's stalking around the chamber alertly, eyes constantly flicking towards the exit. His tail twitches back and forth constantly, revealing his nervousness. Angelfire can't help but find it annoying. Then, when Fluffy yowls, for a moment the cleric of Coila is tempted to throw something at him.

Then Angelfire hears the unmistakable sound of Fluffy's teeth chomping into something, and he whirls to see that the tabaxi has just charged an icy giant with a strange stinger tail- another of the rune-covered creatures that were originally in the chamber! Moving with the speed of thought, Angelfire whips out the Airsword and tumbles in next to the hapless creature.

Fluffy bites and claws, a furry ball of fierceness! His natural weaponry seems to hurt the thing- it bleeds cold water- but not too badly. And then Habiskis, Sheva's imp cohort, becomes visible, a dagger fashioned from the horn of a unicorn in his red little hand stuck in the creature's back. He flies by his flat-footed enemy.

The ice thing flies up and away! Fluffy and Angel both swing as it moves, striking both of its legs. Water sprays from the creature, which gives a grunt, then hastes itself and disappears. Then it gives a loud cry, clearly on the move from the sound of things. Habiskis disappears too.

Nearby, Sybele stirs. Her eyes open- she smells something happening- and she sizes up the situation in an instant. She scrambles to her feet, scooping up her bow and a quiver of arrows. She's in the room with the broken bottles of spices, so she can smell and hear something but not see it. It sounds like a fight, though... She moves to look just in time to see Fluffy shake his head as he fights off a charm and a nearly simultaneous lightning bolt shoot from an unseen foe and blast Angelfire. He leans into the bolt, taking the damage on his chest. "Fall back!" she shouts to him.

Meanwhile, near the party, the invisible imp pulls out a lion out of his bag of tricks. He grabs it by the ear and drags it over to the entrance to the room with the sleeping party members. "Here, you guard this! Attack anyone who comes through here."

The awake members of the party pull missile weapons. They're covering the doorway and various other parts of the room, but there's no sign of the enemy. A few tense moments go by; Habiskis invisibly darts errantly around, detecting good. Then the group hears a loud shout from somewhere down the hall.

Sybele curses.

A few moments go by. The group hides themselves to be on the safe side. The lion, guarding as instructed, starts to growl.

A human steps out, his hands up.

"Peace!" he calls. "I come with an offer of peace from a powerful master!"

"Hey yeah, you come back later, uh, in an hour or two," says a voice from the area of the lion. Habiskis calls, nervously considering the sleeping party.

"He wishes to speak with you now." The human hesitates. "Red-Eye is not to be kept waiting," he says heavily.

Then four of the ice creatures- including the one that the party just attacked- enter. Sybele curses again, silently this time. She's seriously considering firing a shot when the beholders come in- one of them clearly this Red-Eye that the human spoke of. He's larger than the others they've seen, tough-looking, criss-crossed with scars. His huge central eye is bathing them in its ray. It's clear where he gets his name from- it's bloodshot, with visible veins angrily standing out on the pink of the orb. The iris and pupil are red, and tears of bile are dripping from it. Worse yet, his mouth is frothing with bile and strange boils are leaking it from the rest of him.

By the gods, thinks Sybele, he's a bile-infected beholder.




Next Time: What's Alcar been up to?

Coming Very Soon: The fight the party christened 'The Battle of Five Armies'!

 

[the Jester]

After fleeing the dangerous duo of Angelfire and Sheva, Alcar goes to the beholder duelling chamber. There's enough cover there for him to do what he has to do.

First he summons a planetar named Norlin and asks his aid in destroying Mt. Bile. In return, Norlin asks Alcar to fight alongside the forces of Law in a battle against Chaos.

"I'm not interested in the conflict between Law and Chaos," he protests, but gives in. While they bargain a pair of beholders flies from one of the holes in the ceiling and back out in the general direction of the party. The two haggling angels are behind cover, and the beholders don't seem to notice them. Norlin stares, frowning, after them as they leave, but both of them are quiet as they float by.

Next, he summons St. Vitus the Curse-Breaker, a powerful deva cleric. "Alcar!" the saint proclaims.

"You know of me?" Alcar's surprised.

"Of course- I hear much. You are out of favor."

Alcar frowns. "Hey, I just want to help people, and sometimes rules get in the way. And I'm on a major good quest now, to overthrow Bile Mountain. I just need a little help. And we may have to deal with some evil adventurers as well."

"Alcar, you are young and inexperienced. We should have no quarrel with adventurers."

"I mean no harm to those that accept the Light," Alcar protests, uncomfortable at being lambasted by an angel that he's summoned.

"I will not fight adventurers for you. It gives Heaven a bad name."

"I don't want to fight them, but they attacked me last time we met!" Alcar relates the tale, but finds himself wilting as the saint clearly seems to hold him responsible.

He bargains with St. Vitus and the deva agrees to help him destroy Bile Mountain, but states again that he won't fight adventurers.

"All right, all right," Alcar accedes.

Finally, Alcar summons Raina the lillend, one of the bards of the upper planes. "Alcar," she murmurs, lidding her eyes. "You need my aid?"

"Yes!" the angel exclaims. "I need your help in overthrowing Bile Mountain."

"Bile Mountain," she whispers to herself. The, louder, "Ah, Bile Mountain. I will tell you what I know about Bile Mountain if you will get me a harp made by the best craftsman in all the lands."

"Very well," says Alcar.

She proceeds to tell him a tale of legends and history- but it does not reach back to the beginning. "It's been like this for tens of thousands of years," she states. She tells him of rumors of strange elephant creatures with bifurcated trunks and ivory tusks, with hair all over their bodies, that once lived there. She tells him of mind flayers. She tells him many things, but none of those things holds the answer of how to destroy the mountain's evil influence.

Then she bows to depart. "My harp," she reminds him.

"Wait a minute," he protests. "You're supposed to help me overthrow Bile Mountain!"

"That was not out agreement. I was to tell you what I know. I did this. Now it is your turn." She smiles a beautiful smile. "Remember, the finest in all the lands." She departs.

Alcar grumbles momentarily, but then turns to the task at hand. "Let's go kill some beholders!" he says cheerily.



Next Time: The Battle of Five Armies!

 

[the Jester]

Other Negotiations

Sybele had been counting on her psionic invisibility to conceal her. Bathed in Red-Eye's central eye's terrible power, she snaps into view instantly. With a gulp she examines the odds... two beholders, four of the ice guys, and this weird human.

Not good, not good.

"You, human," snarls Red-Eye. "You are powerful adventurers. You will help Red-Eye- or Red-Eye will destroy you all!!"

"Uh-" Sybele's a little taken aback, but she isn't about to pass up the opportunity to avoid fighting a bevy of enemy's like this- especially when most of the party's still trying to rest. "What, um, could we puny adventurers do to help you?"

Red-Eye gives a growling scream. Several of the small eyes writhing at the end of the eyestalks fire random blasts at the walls, and the four icy giants all back away from him a bit. One of the rays disintegrates a piece of wall in a puff of powder, and the bile beholder gnashes his teeth. He screams, "You will not mock me! Red-Eye needs help! You see what has become of me!!" Bile drools from his frothing mouth. "It hurts, always! Red-Eye wishes to be cured of this affliction! You will help, now, or Red-Eye will destroy you!" The other beholder moves a little ways away too, glaring at the party even as several of its eyes remain trained on Red-Eye.

"Oh, yeah, well we can help you. But we need a little time to-"

"NOW!!!" Red-Eye bellows.

Sybele purses her lips. "We need the right spells prepared. Look, my friends who can cure you are resting right now. Once they're up they can prepare all the spells to cure you, and they only need an hour or so..." She tries to sound as reasonable and persuasive as her low charisma will allow, and something in her tone must resonate with Red-Eye- because he doesn't immediately disintegrate her.

"Show me," he demands.

Uh-oh, she thinks. But it may be their only chance.

"All right," she answers him. "But they're in a magical sleep, so please try not to hit them with your antimagic ray, okay? If you do they won't be able to prepare to aid you." She leads him to the rest of the party, and though he snarls and twitches he agrees to wait.

The rest of the party wakes up a little while later. Sybele quickly explains the situation and they go to talk to Red-Eye.

"I think I can help you," Horbin says. "I'll have to do some divinations to find out exactly how, though."

"What's in it for us?" asks Angelfire, made bolder by dint of numbers.

"Red-Eye will be grateful- and will not destroy you," says the human who first entered the chamber. "And who knows how far the gratitude of a creature such as this goes?" He glances at Red-Eye. It's clear that he, too, is nervous about this erratic creature.

"Well, will you tell us what you know of this place?" Angelfire asks.

"Of course," says the human quickly, "but it is not wise to keep Red-Eye waiting."

"Well, we've been attacked by an angel in here," continues the Coilite priest. "If you see him, will you kill him for us? He'll probably cause you problems too."

"If you wish to bargain with Red-Eye, you may, but I recommend against it," the human says. And then he sees something coming from the direction of the duel chamber and cries, "Angels! They're coming this way!"

Alcar flies into the room, followed by Norin and St. Vitus. "It's go time!" he shouts.



Next Time: Death, destruction, terrible combat and confusion!

 

[the Jester]

The Battle of Five Armies

Red-Eye whirls, focusing his central eye on the onrushing celestials, and Alcar cries out in dismay as the spell he tries to cast fails to manifest. Behind him, around the corner, St. Vitus manages to activate divine power, but Norlin's flame strike fails to take effect.

The "human" with the beholders- his name's Thuurgen- casts a shield and steps away from the three angels, then casts another spell. He seems reluctant to enter the fray. Horbin gulps, looking from angels of his god to his friends and party mates. He stumbles away from the fight, still shaken from his death and subsequent raising. Sybele, spider climb already active, rushes up the wall to the ceiling, then away from the wall- and somewhat away from Red-Eye. He creeps her out.

The icy sting-tailed giants are casting spells and moving in on the angels, and the other beholder seems to be keeping multiple eyes focused on the party. Red-Eye himself spits a mass of yellow stinking bile at the three, and it explodes all over them, sapping their vitality and burning them with acid. Angelfire is moving up next to Red-Eye, whipping the Airsword out and flying with it. An arrow zings forward from a hasted Sheva, but it misses Alcar.

Then something appears, its invisibility dissipating as it moves into the antimagic to attack. It's large, with a long, flexible neck, bat-like wings, long claws and hideously large fangs. Its deep eye sockets are dark and its skin is the grey that comes from death. It claws, bites, and buffets with its wings, attacking Alcar savagely. He staggers back as it tears into him, and he can feel negative energy sinking into his bones as it claws his flesh. An aura of fear rolls out of it like a shot from a catapult, and Horbin panics, using his slippers of spider climbing to ascend to the ceiling where he cowers.

With a grunt, Alcar strikes back. His mace snaps into the thing's chest, and he hears the crack of bone, but it takes the blow quite well. A second shot to the forearm also sounds satisfying but is disquietingly ineffective in stopping it. St. Vitus, gripping his holy symbol, shouts, "Back, foul creature!" But even the faith of an angel is not enough to turn this terrible monster.

The ice giants are all around the angels, attacking them. Norlin ignores them and flies in at Red-Eye, his flaming sword leaving a trail of smoke behind him. "Die, abomination!" he screams, but even as he swings, a ray of doom shoots at him from one of Red-Eye's small eyes. His sword slices across the beholder's body, drawing a trickle of blood, but the ray disintegrates the celestial in a puff of dust. "Norlin!" Alcar cries. "You'll pay for that!!"

"No, outsider," Red-Eye grates. "You will pay- for daring to disturb Red-Eye!" He roars and flies into a rage.

Angelfire tumbles in on Alcar, striking at him, but he misses. St. Vitus glares at him and activates an antimagic shell. Thuurgen is casting something in the background- and the undead creature gives a hollow laugh as the desecrate goes off, and Red-Eye spews more bile, which bursts to cover the two remaining angels- as well as several of the ice creatures. Sheva and Sybelle are firing more arrows while the ice creatures keep St. Vitus and Norlin tied up in melee. Now that Angelfire's in there, the two human females think that things are pretty well decided. After all, one of the celestials is already dead- and Angelfire and Sheva were a match for Alcar before without much help.

Then things get messy.

One of Sybele's shots goes wild. There's an ice giant in the way, and the shaft sinks into its back.

"HOW DARE YOU!!" shouts the other beholder. There's a sizzle as it disintegrates her bow. A couple of the ice giants break off and turn on her, flying to attack.




Next Time: The Battle of Five Armies gets messy! Who- or what- is Thuurgen really? Will Alcar and St. Vitus be overwhelmed? Will Sybele be disintegrated? Will the rest of the party? Stay tuned!!!

 

[the Jester]

The Battle of Five Armies (cont.)

Angelfire and Alcar clash for a moment, then each backs off to heal himself somewhat. Spells and eye rays are flying everywhere, the ice creatures are attacking, things are suddenly much messier than before...

Sybelle whips out her greatsword, shouting, "Sorry!" to the beholder as she strikes at one of the ice giants attacking her. Then a ray from the beholder hits her and the blade drops from her fingers onto the ground. She's been knocked unconscious! She hangs from the ceiling, her arms reaching halfway to the floor.

"Call your men off!" shouts Sheva. She quaffs a potion an instant later and disappears. Moving quickly, the invisible priestess of Coila strides up the air to Sybele and shakes her back into consciousness, handing off a bow to her. The archer tries to draw it, but its pull is too strong for her without magical augmentation. "Oh no!" she cries. Meanwhile, Alcar cracks the undead thing a blow so hard that its head pops off and bounces away with a shriek as its body collapses into a heap. Alcar and St. Vitus turn their attention to the inferior beholder, both simultaneously inflicting terrible wounds. With a groan the eye tyrant expires, a fountain of blood pouring from its mouth.

Horbin's frightened on the ceiling, trying to stay away from the combatants- especially Thuurgen. He must be some kind of evil priest, the cleric of Dexter thinks, he cast desecrate. I'll just bet the undead was his, too. His panic drives him into the herb room where the party rested. He's as far away from the battle as he can get, and it isn't very far, and he's terrified-

And, hardly even thinking about it, he casts remove fear on himself.

Alcar, meanswhile, is under a blistering assault from the imp (who keeps sneak attacking from invisibility), the ice creatures and Red-Eye. He's taking horrible blows on his arms, legs, wings, body- but his incredible vitality is keeping him going. Even the poison that has hit him isn't slowing him down. He blasts Red-Eye with a flame strike, but the beholder just gives a loud growl. Angelfire drinks a potion and then vanishes, and the imp turns invisible too. Vitus drops two of the stinging giants.

Then Horbin charges in.

He's fought evil priests before- one of the worst shattered his holy symbol*- and he doesn't like them at all. He barrels into Thuurgen with all his armored weight behind him, his face set in a grim frown. His holy mace smacks out and catches the "human" in the side of the head. Thuurgen grunts in surprise, then turns to face him.

"You should help me, not attack me," Thuurgen says, looking Horbin in the eye, and his words seem to echo in the cleric's mind.

Yes, help him, not hurt him- it makes perfect sense. Help him... Horbin starts telling Thuurgen all about the miracles of Dexter- how, even though he was blind, he could see; about his self-sacrifice in Bleak's Maw for the good of everyone else; about his driving out of the demons...

Then Red-Eye's antimagic stare sweeps over Thuurgen, suppressing his magical disguise- for the first time a few of our heroes begin to realize that he isn't exactly on the same side as Red-Eye- and he is revealed.



*Those of you who've read my old story hour may remember this encounter.



Next Time: Thuurgen revealed! The Battle of Five Armies concludes- but who wins, who loses, who lives and who dies? Find out soon!