Agents of Chaos (Final Update!)

[the Jester]

“Just a minute!” Lester shouts, hurriedly trying to take as much as possible from Zelon before his presumptive allies enter and presumably stop him. Horbin quickly walks over to the door but it pushes open and Angel and Sybele enter.

“Hey,” says Angel, “we’re here with a message from the Grey Brothers. They wanted us to tell you, well, that there’s been a misunderstanding, and they want to punish him.” He points at Zelon’s unconscious and bound form, then tosses a bag of coins to Horbin.

“Oh, yeah,” retorts Lester, barely paying attention to the newcomers. “Sure there’s been a misunderstanding. The Grey Brothers owe me for this. You go back and talk to your bosses and tell them that they owe me!” He tries to keep his body between Angel and Sybele and the unconscious assassin.

“They aren’t our bosses,” Sybele pipes up.

“Look,” Angel says reasonably, “I don’t care. You take his stuff, we’ll take him back to them, and everyone will go their separate ways.” He leans forward, calling upon the power of Coila, and lays a hand upon the Grey Brother. Instantly, his eyes snap open as a few of his minor wounds close up.

“NO!” Lester cries, and throws a crushing punch to Zelon’s jaw. His head bounces hard against the floor and he loses consciousness again immediately.

“He’s all tied up and stuff,” Sybele points out while Lester strips Zelon of his gear.

“No, believe me, we’ve tried that route before,” says Horbin, suppressing a yawn. It is the middle of the night, after all. “He’s good at slipping bonds.” Angel nods thoughtfully, pulling out a rope of his own, and ties it like a leash around the assassin’s neck. Then he leans forward and heals him again- following it up with a brutal punch to the temple. Zelon winks in and out of consciousness before he has time to know he’s awake. Then Angel heals him again, bringing him around again. But this time he doesn’t struggle, recognizing that his position is untenable, at best.

Lester finally looks at Angel and Sybele, and his eyes widen as he recognizes their elemental natures. “You’re touched by the elements!” he exclaims. “Why didn’t you say so! Sit down, let’s talk and stuff!” Horbin groans inwardly; he’s very tired. But the four of them spend a few minutes getting acquainted, chatting until Sybele mentions that she became an earth creature by way of Na’Rat’s touch. Lester and Horbin exchange a glance and relate the tale of Cluma and his destruction of the local obelisk, telling Sybele and Angel that they plan on intercepting him when he strikes tomorrow evening. The others offer to help.

“Well,” says Sybele, “we’d better take care of this guy.” She gestures at Zelon. “His associates want to punish him, and we’ve been here for a while already.” The four adventurers agree to meet for breakfast the next day, then part ways. Horbin rolls back into bed, as does Lester; as Angel and Sybele leave, she stops to retain a room here in the Weighty Anchor. The two of them then escort Zelon back to the house of the Grey Brothers that they were brought to before, and then they head to bed themselves. A busy night, but at least it’s led to some new friends!





Next Time: Cluma's attack, and a 'hot' date for Zeebo!

 

[the Jester]

“We should stake out that restaurant in advance,” opines Sybele in the morning, after Lester and Horbin tell her and Angel what they’ve learned about Cluma’s next move. They all agree, and decide to do some shopping first. After all, in a cosmopolitan place like Pesh City they can probably get the sort of provisions that they wouldn’t be able to find just anywhere. Indeed, they buy up a selection of potions and inquire about a few other magical items as well as looking for someone who could do some work enchanting their items- or further enchanting them.

By late afternoon they start heading for the Gorel Tree. They give themselves enough time to get there early despite their general lack of familiarity with the city, but how could they possibly have anticipated the parade?

__________________________


The Gorel Tree is a fantastic restaurant. Gorel is an elven island somewhere over a thousand miles distant, well-known for its fantastic selection of fruits and fowl. This place works hard to get the cuisine right. The Mayor (as Zeebo is often known) is having a fine dish consisting of lerpa (a small type of bird, just the right size to make a meal) marinated in lime and honey and cooked with cashew, onions and peppers. It’s delicious and comes with a side of soft, flaky elven bread smothered in a butter flavored with honey and cloves. Souliass, his date (and attorney), is eating a Gorellian salad that consists of greens, peppers, nuts, a strange whitish root-thing Zeebo’s never seen before (according to the waiter, it’s called ‘jicama’) and shredded fish with some sort of tart vinegar and lime dressing. The date’s going well and the two of them are having a fine time.

Until, that is, an armored human bursts out of the wash room in armor and strides swiftly towards Zeebo, a sword in hand. He looks hostile.

Although he’s completely unprepared for this, Zeebo’s quick reactions save him. He screams out the magic words for an invisibility spell and fades from view even as the stranger’s blade slashes down into his chair. But he’s already thrown himself away from his seat, diving under the table. The restaurant’s other patrons are yelling in surprise and fear. Souliass’ eyes have gone as wide as saucers. “Zeebo, what’s happening?” she shrieks, pushing back from the table and to her feet, scuttling away.

The stranger is dressed in full plate armor, but he pulls out a wand and points it- and a fireball bursts in the crowded dining room. Zeebo, under the table, is burnt, but not too badly; but he sees Souliass drop with a faltering scream. Smoke billows up as many of the tables catch fire, and bits of exotic food splatter through the room. The Mayor crawls from his table to the next one, trying to make his way to his fallen date’s side, and he glances up to see the enemy looking around, apparently unable to see him.

But then the human moves towards Souliass as well, purpose in his stride. Zeebo curses silently, then hastes himself and unleashes a bolt of lightning, becoming visible. It sizzles and pops as it arcs into the warrior’s side, but the Mayor’s assailant turns and springs for him, his bastard sword whizzing through the air. Zeebo cries out as a single telling blow lands, slicing deep into his left arm, and he staggers back. Desperately wounded between the sword blow and the fireball, he tries to think of what he can do...

 

[the Jester]

Cluma vs. Our Heroes

Large colorful floats pass through the road, extending- or so it seems- forever in each direction. There are dancers, some male, some female, some indeterminate. They whirl veils and scarves as they prance along, their movements graceful and quick- but their progress irritatingly slow. Decorated carts drawn by garen (zebra-like equines each in two colors of green, yellow and brown) move leisurely along. Balloons filled with alchemical gasses float above the parade.

“This is really annoying,” mutters Lester. “We’ve got places to go!” he shouts. “Come on,” he urges the parade, “get out of the way!”

Despite the elementalist’s urging, the parade keeps its easy pace, and by the time it’s finally passed, he, Horbin, Angel and Sybele can tell they’re short of time. “I hope we’re not too late,” Horbin says. They hurry the rest of the way toward the Gorel Tree, and as they approach they can see smoke billowing from the windows and hear the screams of fleeing customers.

With a curse, Sybele sprints ahead, rushing into the burning building first. She skids around a corner into the main dining area, her bow already in her hand, and looses an arrow at the man in armor with the Arrow of Law emblazoned all over it, hoping to staple his cloak to the floor. The arrow deflects off his greaves and he glances in her direction. He has a sword in hand and looks like trouble. She nocks another arrow and draws the string. From somewhere she sees a trio of magic missiles shoot out at Cluma, but they seem to be absorbed by something invisible in front of him.

Lester flies in, his wings beating the air and stirring the smoke around him. He gives a great inarticulate cry as he flies at the guardian of order, and his sword, Felix Optima Maxima, slashes into Cluma. There’s a clap of horrendous sound as the L’s chaotic abilities cause a burst of chaotic energy and the guardian of order feels a wound open up on his shoulder. Lester keeps going, flying past Cluma, and feels a blow himself. A flash of light seems to spring from Cluma’s blade, shooting agonizing lawful power into Lester’s wound. Angel rushes in to the room as well, pulling out her blade and surveying the scene.

“Angel! Sybele!” Angel’s head snaps around as he looks for the source of the voice- and there’s his old friend Zeebo! “Destroy the assassin!” the Mayor shouts, and casts a spell he devised himself long ago on Cluma. Unlike his magic missile, this one works- and suddenly Cluma finds his hands clumsy, his sword arm all thumbs and his shield arm more proficient than ever. It’s as if he was physically dyslexic.

Then he and Lester clash again. There are flashes of light where Cluma strikes at the L and claps of thunderous, chaotic noise where Lester hits the guardian of order. And then, with a mighty shout, Lester swings Felix Optima Maxima in a lethal arc and Cluma’s head flies free.

“Zeebo!” exclaims Angel. “What are you doing here?”




Next Time: Is Souliass alive?! Who will Zeebo sue?! What will our heroes do next?!

 

[the Jester]

Introductions are rapidly exchanged and Horbin sets about healing the injured diners, starting with Souliass. Her eyes flutter and open. “Zeebo!” she gasps. “What happened?”

“It was an assassin,” Zeebo exclaims. “I need you to get to work right away!”

“What do you mean?”

“Find out who he was and sue him. Sue his family. Sue everyone! And make sure we don’t get in trouble, of course,” he adds.

“His name was Cluma,” Lester offers, and picks up Cluma’s blade. He feels his life force weaken noticeably as he does so, and his own sword, Felix Optima Maxima, speaks in a feminine voice.

“We should destroy that blade,” she says.

“Relax,” says Lester, dropping it back to the ground. “Maybe we can find someone to sell it to. It’s probably worth some money.”

“Destroy it,” Felix Optima insists. “I don’t like the idea of it being out there somewhere.”

Lester shoves Cluma’s blade into his backpack, muttering about making some easy money. He then starts loading the rest of the guardian of order’s equipment into his pack as well. Horbin suggests that they all split up Cluma’s stuff, and the L says, “Relax, we’ll split it all up. I don’t know why you’re worried about it. Of course we’ll divide all the magic items up evenly.”

The group leaves the area, Zeebo’s date somewhat spoiled by the attack. He can already feel the pressure building. He too has been touched by Chaos- and his gift was enormous fertility. He cannot go long without some form of relief. Thank goodness that Souliass seems in need of comfort. Angel lingers behind long enough to take Cluma’s head, then splits off from the rest of the party and heads to the Grey Brothers’ house that he saw. Outside are two young lads, leaning nonchalantly against the wall of the building. They give Angel a searching look.

“Is Eric here?” Angel asks, searching out the old man’s name from his memory of their prior encounter.

“Nope,” says one of the boys.

Angel tosses the head at their feet. “This guy was performing assassinations. I don’t think he’s one of the Brotherhood.” He pauses for a moment, then smiles wolfishly. “My friends and I took care of him.”

The next day our heroes go shopping, guided by Souliass to all the best places. The shopping they’ve done previously pales in comparison to this, as they pick up magic rings and potions. Angel commissions further enchantment of his falchion, then picks it up a few days later. Zeebo continues to see Souliass every night, inwardly quite grateful that he doesn’t need to spend any gold on whores. Meanwhile she starts filing legal papers to try to get some money from someone related to the attack.

After arguing with his sword for some time, Lester finally relents and destroys Cluma's blade. Felix Optima Maxima hums happily afterward and congratulates him for doing the right thing, but he can't help wondering how much it would have fetched on the open market.

The group discusses their next move. It’s obvious now that they have a common enemy and its name is Law. It seems that the formian infestation is a good place to go to try to head off further ambushes and assaults in restaurants and midnight inn assaults, so- after Angel receives his newly-enhanced falchion- the group starts heading for the Spicewoods. There is a small town at the edge of the forest called Ifthonia, and our heroes head there...



Next Time: Into the Spicewoods, which I've described to pcs as "an herbalist's wet dream" on many occasions! Perfect plants! Meet the Eye, Lester's cohort! And we finally get to meet Sheva, the other member of our group!

 

[arwink]

W00t! Finally got the time to read the entire thing.

Very cool. The chaos-law conflict seems fun, and very Moorcockian (someone already mentioned it, but I just finished reading Elric so I coudln't resist repeating it).

Update already

 

[the Jester]

W00t! Finally got the time to read the entire thing.

Very cool. The chaos-law conflict seems fun, and very Moorcockian (someone already mentioned it, but I just finished reading Elric so I coudln't resist repeating it).

Update already

First I need player feedback on a certain strange scribbling in my notes, but have a couple updates ready other than that...

I ran a session on Christmas and it was amazing how far the party got ahead of where I thought they'd have been.

 

[diaglo]

Pesh, one of my favorite places to visit.

Keep up the good work.

 

[the Jester]

Pesh, one of my favorite places to visit.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks!

A slew of updates tonight!

 

[the Jester]

Ifthonia is a much smaller town than Pesh City. It’s about 26 miles from the city, perched on the edge of the Spicewoods. As our heroes catch sight of it in the distance a faint smell of spices wafts to them. The woods are well-known for being home to a host of strange plants, everything from food plants to spices to healing herbs, poisons to plants used to dye things in bright colors, insect repelling leaves to bloody-smelling flowers. The aroma is strange, exotic, exciting. Ifthonia boasts a population of almost 1000, but it was once much larger before druidic eco-terrorists scared many of them off. Now the logging is down to a level the druids find less objectionable, and the people are allowed- more or less- to work unmolested.

Our heroes make their way to the first inn they can find, called the Milkwood. They rent a room and make themselves comfortable, having just made it to town about an hour and a half before dark. Zeebo hurries into the common room, looking for a woman to help him relieve the swelling pressure in his gnomish groin.

He finds a young lass working the bar who he talks into giving him a hand (so to speak), though she’s inexperienced and unwilling to do much more than that. Still, the pressure of the Chaos-induced enormous fertility is eased, and the Mayor hopes that she won’t tell anyone what they did together. Even if she does, he thinks, I’m sure I can talk my way out of trouble... and besides, she needs to learn some important lessons about life.

The next day, Zeebo and Sybele make inquiries about the formian infestation. The local woodcutters mutter curses about the damn bugs and tell of several missing people, as well as a number of attacks. Furthermore, there are areas in the Spicewoods that the outsider insects have clear-cut, stripping them of all their resources.

At noon in his room, Lester pulls out a card, cold to the touch, and concentrates upon the image on its face. The picture depicts a scene in a castle in faraway Var, on a continent called Dorhaus. This is literally thousands of miles away- the castle of his good friend King Malford the Magnificent. But it isn’t Malford he’s looking for. The image gathers depth, seeming almost to swim before his eyes, and finally he sees the hall almost as if he were there. Standing there waiting is a human with short brown hair, a goatee, and an amulet depicting an eye over an open book- the Eye of Boccob. This is Orbius, Lester’s cohort, a divine oracle and wizard. “Hello, Orbius,” the L says with a smile. Every day at noon they make contact in this fashion.

“Hello, Lester.” The Eye, as Orbius is called, smiles at his friend. “How are things?”

“Oh, they’re fine,” Lester answers, his bat wings flexing. “We may need your help soon. We’re going into the Spicewoods to fight some sort of extraplanar bugs, and your magical abilities might be crucial.” He extends his hand.

The Eye purses his lips, then nods. “Let me gather my things. Contact me again in half an hour and I’ll come to you.” Half an hour later, Lester reactivates the trump card and extends his hand again; this time the Eye reaches to him, grasps his hand and steps through the card. There is a prismatic rainbow of color for an instant and then he is there, in the L’s room.

“You set up here and we’re going on an initial foray,” Lester tells him. “We’ll be back by tonight. Try to find out what you can and we’ll see what we can find out in the woods. Tomorrow we’ll all go in together.” His cohort nods, wishing him well. After a round of introductions- he’s never met any of the other party members- the group, minus Orbius and Sybele, who remains to make sure nothing bad happens to the Eye, departs. Meeting him makes Horbin think of his old shield-bearer, Till, and wonder how he’s doing with his training.

Armed with the locations of two attacks, our heroes head into the woods....

 

[the Jester]

Meanwhile, in Pesh, a beautiful and dangerous woman with hair as red as flame finally finishes dealing with her social commitments with the Grey Brotherhood. This is Sheva. She wears only a chain mail bikini, a backpack, and weapons; other than that she is naked. She is Angel’s friend and trainer in the ways of Coila; she is also a Sister of the Grey Brotherhood- an assassin. She’s a killer, but she’s much more than just that. Her faith is her armor; she has had the privilege of actually meeting Her Relentlessness in the courts of Law. She has lived her last few years in contemplation, building a temple with Angel and serving her faith. She feels as though her life has meaning- something it lacked for her early years, after she found her woodcutter father stuffed full of berries, slain by faeries. And now she has a quest.

There is a spell that will serve her as a weapon, she knows. A weapon against Law. If only she can find it...

Her investigations lead her to Marius at the local church of Coila, who directs her after Angel. She heads towards Ifthonia, only a day behind the rest of the group- a group she does not even know has assembled.