Caliber's Storyhour (DragonStar ... well sort of)
- Thread starter Caliber
- Start date
Whohoo! I have readerS (and yes I meant to capitalize the S 
)
Glad to hear it. I don't get much response from this story and sometimes it can be tough. For those of you who don't have a story of your own, it takes a while to type up all of this. But its a labor of love, and even if no-one else read it, I probably would still type it anyway for memories sake.
Anyway, glad to hear from you Fade, welcome to the vocal minority.
)Glad to hear it. I don't get much response from this story and sometimes it can be tough. For those of you who don't have a story of your own, it takes a while to type up all of this. But its a labor of love, and even if no-one else read it, I probably would still type it anyway for memories sake.
Anyway, glad to hear from you Fade, welcome to the vocal minority.
Gez
First Post
Caliber said:
Have you thought of adding Spelljammer to the mix (it's kinda hard to get Dungeon issue, though) ?
I'm trying to visualize a band of jedi fighting gith pirates equiped with renaissance-level firearms and trying to dispose of them quickly enough to resume fleeing before the assault ships shock-full of orcs in cybernetized power armors...
I also have a small glimpse of an ewok casting druidic spells, and of Darth Vader being polymorphed into a squid by an angry illithid.
The most priceless sight being, of course, the Death Star firing its laser against the wooded spelljammer ships. Before being destroyed by a halfling wizard on a flying carpet throwing a meteor swarm in the exhaust hole...
Horacio-
If you thought it was nice to see a city, you should have seen the looks on all of our (the players) faces. We had been sorely feeling the lack of gear for a while.
Krellic-
Welcome to the Storyhour. Glad to hear you are enjoying it.
Gez-
You may not be too far off. I am fairly certain (80% probability) that the DM has that issue of Dungeoun. More over I am pretty sure if he does that it will be included in some way. I think he decided to combine everything he could into this campaign. Earlier he mentioned some DS 3E stuff at some point, as well as maybe a cameo by Cthulhlu. When they are getting here I dunno (and I don't think I want to)
If you thought it was nice to see a city, you should have seen the looks on all of our (the players) faces. We had been sorely feeling the lack of gear for a while.
Krellic-
Welcome to the Storyhour. Glad to hear you are enjoying it.
Gez-
You may not be too far off. I am fairly certain (80% probability) that the DM has that issue of Dungeoun. More over I am pretty sure if he does that it will be included in some way. I think he decided to combine everything he could into this campaign. Earlier he mentioned some DS 3E stuff at some point, as well as maybe a cameo by Cthulhlu. When they are getting here I dunno (and I don't think I want to)
Session 5
Zoltan awoke the next morning to a strange sound. Looking down, there was the strange bum who had accosted him twice the night before. Kicking him, Zoltan got up and asked for the bum’s name.
“I am Thribbin, the rhood.”
“Yeah, you sure are rude.”
“No no no no, I am a rhood. It is my species.”
“Oh.”
Zoltan had already decided that he wanted a larger gun and deciding that he wouldn’t be able to avoid the rhood, grabbed him in a headlock and began dragging him behind him.
Zoltan asked around and quickly located a nearby arms dealer. While Zoltan perused the available weapons, Thribbin made an attempt to use the phone at the store.
“Who are you calling?” Zoltan asked, a crazy glint in his eye.
“I’m calling my boss. He’s gonna want to know I found you.”
“No you’re not.”
With that Zoltan snatched the receiver from Thribbin’s hand and slammed it down onto the base.
“He doesn’t need to use the phone after all,” he explained to the clerk.
She merely nodded.
Picking out a particularly large rifle, Zoltan approached the clerk and began questioning her about the price. He could definitely afford it, but would need ID in order to buy it. ID he sorely lacked seeing as he had entered this planet via prison transport. The store clerk indicated he go over to the City Hall to clear up his ID problem and then head back for the gun.
Grasping Thribbin in a headlock again, Zoltan dragged him back towards the park he had slept it, which was just across the street from the City Hall. Entering, he quickly found the clerk who handled ID matters, and entered into the line. After a small wait, he reached the head of line and applied for a new ID to be issued, using a fake name as to avoid detection.
Finally, the clerk asked for his arrival papers when he arrived on planet.
“Uh … I don’t have any. I arrived on a small transport in the wilderness for some hunting. Never expected to be going into the city.”
The clerk let out a long suffering sigh and then, “Very well. Give me your boarding papers for the ship your transport disembarked from.”
“Ok here you go.”
“These papers show your name as Zoltan, yet for your ID you have your name listed as … as .. Zanoobanish Zismalli?”
“Well yes. That’s my real name. Zoltan is just a nickname my friends gave me. They paid for my flight so that is why my boarding papers have that name.”
“I … see. I will just give you your ID under the name Zoltan.”
His attempt to get a fake ID defeated, Zoltan grabbed his rhood and exited with his new ID.
Outside, walking towards him was Milo and Orendil! Stopping to talk to his newly found friends, Zoltan quickly related what had happened to him. Milo filled Zoltan in on the planned meeting in the park he had spent the night in.
While all of this was happening, Syd, Alahandra and B’Genesh were walking towards the park as well. Suddenly, a group of three halflings stepped out from the crowd.
“Your money or your life!” muttered the leader of the halflings.
“How about instead you turn around and walk away and I let you live,” replied Syd in a cold voice.
“What!?! Haven’t you heard of the Red Salamander gang?”
“The … Red Salamander?” Syd asked, suddenly cautious.
The halflings began talking about their escape from the prison and Syd quickly nodded that they had too. The halfling quickly gave them some directions to the Red Salamander Tavern and then faded into the crowd. Perplexed by the encounter but with little time to wait, Syd and company continued on to the prearranged meeting with Milo and Orendil.
Zoltan told Milo and Orendil that he was going to buy a Blaster Rifle, and that he would be in the park in a few minutes. Zoltan entered the store and submitting his newly obtained ID, obtained his brand new Blaster Rifle, and happily left, his rhood in tow.
Heading back, long barrel sticking out over his shoulder, Zoltan joined the gathering of friends as they quickly gave somewhat modified accounts of their last day, due in part to the rhood listening in.
“Can’t you do something with him?” Milo asked.
“Nah. He’ll just find me again.”
Suddenly, the group noticed a large number of police officers heading towards them. The party scattered in all directions, Syd zooming up with a Fly spell, while the others took off on foot. B’Genesh stood still, but in that glaring suit she was wearing, no one took her for an escaped prisoner.
Everyone quickly lost the officers through one means or another, and Milo found himself alone in a bad portion of town. He began to resume a normal pace when suddenly, he found himself accosted by three halflings.
“Your money or your life!”
Milo had left his pistol hidden in his room, and didn’t want to be associated with these three anyway, so he quickly set off running. One of the halflings shots clipped his shoulder, but he shrugged off the pain and kept running.
Finally getting into a safe position, Milo activated the walkie-talkies the party had obtained at the Prison, or bought since then. Calling out over the bandwidth they had all agreed on, he quickly ascertained that everyone had escaped safely. Agreeing to meet at a bar nearby his hotel, Milo put his walkie-talkie away and started heading back north.
B’Genesh, lacking any communication gear, went back to the hotel she shared with Syd and Alahandra. Everyone else managed to make it to the bar without incident.
Zoltan arrived, Thribbin still in tow.
“Is there anyway you can get rid of him?” Milo asked Zoltan.
With the rhood there, nothing overly important could be discussed, yet Zoltan feared letting him go because of his boss. In elven, the party began discussing what they could possibly do with the rhood. Hopefully, he didn’t speak elven and any plans would remain unknown.
Killing him was suggested, but no one much cared for the idea. Moral issues aside, no one was in any hurry for a trip back to prison, and more over, the rhood had taken a blaster shot to the foot without too much reaction. The possibility that the rhood couldn’t BE killed was suggested more than once. Another idea mentioned was to let this rhood call his boss. If he was the one sending all these people after us, lets see what he wants.
While all this discussion was going on, Zoltan came to a decision. Releasing the rhood, Thribbin immediately stood up and went to the bar, asking after the phone.
The intensity of the conversation suddenly tripled as Zoltan likewise stood and snatched the phone from Thribbin’s hand. Thribbin began protesting and the barkeep stopped wiping off a glass as he walked over.
Thribbin had obviously already dialed his boss’s number because the phone was already ringing when Zoltan grabbed it. Hanging up, he dialed a random number and began to stall, calling out in elven to hurry up with a plan.
The group had nothing, and eventually Thribbin managed to get the phone back and to dial his boss again. Zoltan snatched the phone away at the last second and found himself talking to someone with a very deep voice.
Zoltan had plenty of questions and Thribbin kept trying to get the phone back. The mysterious man on the other side had few answers however. Finally, the mystery man simply said
“I will send a car for you.”
And as he said that, a black limousine pulled up in front of the bar. Two ogres got out and Thribbin began gesturing for the group to get up and leave. The party briefly entertained ideas of fighting their way free, but changed their minds and decided to go along this time. Entering the car, the party was surprised to find G’Bangrak seated already.
Driving through town, the party got out when the limo slowed, and then stopped, outside of the Red Salamander Tavern. This time, as everyone entered, Zoltan had no trouble getting in.
The group was lead into the back, where they entered a small elevator and began a LONG ride down. The ride went by in almost absolute silence, as no one knew quite what to expect. The only thing they all knew was that someone had wanted to find them bad. And that whoever it was, he had found them.
Arriving at the bottom floor, the party cautiously began moving out with Thribbin and G’Bangrak following close behind them.
Behind a massive table, seated within a massive chair, sat a person who could only be the storm giant from the prison.
“Ah. You are finally here. A group of my followers were supposed to meet in this bar and come back to rescue me. But in the middle of the break, I found my cell opened. I am told I have you to thank for that.”
The storm giant quickly explained some of the background of the prison. For a while now, the drow police force created by Mezzenbone had been kidnapping people to conduct scientific experiments on them at Prison Aphex and likely other penal colonies. In fact, it was just such an experiment that allowed for the original prison break at Aphex; a fact the party had already stumbled over. More sinister, perhaps, is that every prisoner wrongfully accused had reported seeing the same man moments before being arrested.
Always there was a drunken drow nearby, who was invariably arrested as well as the innocent party, and who never stayed long within the prison. It was Thurgeld’s (the storm giant) belief that the drow was somehow connected to the atrocities being committed for the ISPD. And indeed, in retrospect, the party had been arrested in company with a drunken drow. Apparently the ISPD was focusing on colonists heading for Degtra. Colonists rarely had much in the way of possessions, and few people missed them. As an incentive, they had likewise made travel to Degtra completely free. Everything suddenly clicked into place, and the party found them all possessed of righteous anger. Zoltan found himself looking at his ticket to Degtra as someone would look at a snake they had found within their bed.
Since the group had never officially arrived on planet, Thurgeld wished to use the party as an investigative squad. They had more freedom than any other prisoner and their lack of ID made them all but untraceable. Ideally they could help him track down the drow and end the ISPDs evil plot. This suited the group well … at least most of them.
“I … I obtained ID today in order to buy this gun,” Zoltan admitted.
“Well, that was a bad idea. We can work around it though.”
The three halflings were in no way associated with Thurgeld, although he was aware of them. They had been giving the bar a bad name, not to mention attracting unwanted attention. If the party wanted to take care of them Thurgeld wouldn’t mind.
Thurgeld told the party he would contact them if something came up and everyone left on friendly terms.
Back outside, the party discussed the new developments. If what Thurgeld had told them was true Zoltan obviously couldn’t leave, and neither could anyone else who had been planning it. B’Genesh had to be warned of the danger, but at the same time she could not be allowed to stay with the group. Her name on the record of prisoners was damning, and the fact was, the group couldn’t afford to be associated with her.
Leaving, the group found another hotel near the local airport. Alahandra went back to B’Genesh and explained some of what was going on, entrusting her with enough money to pay for the rooms for a few more days, and perhaps get her started.
Once that was taken care of, the fate of the three halflings became the main focus of the party.
Twice they had accosted members of the group, and they had even shot Milo. They were attracting attention to a hidden group of prisoners, and if they were caught, the party was likely to be found out as well. They could not be allowed to live.
A quick ambush was arranged, with Milo acting as bait. Walking about innocently Milo waited for the halflings to accost him, and it was not long before they did.
Setting off at a run towards the prearranged location, the halflings immediately gave chase.
Coming within site of the small cemetery that the ambush was set at, Milo dove behind one of the graves as the three halflings opened fire. Zoltan and Orendil stepped out from behind mausoleums, opening fire at the same time. Between the two of them, the number of halflings in the trap was reduced from three to one. Alahandra and Milo finished off the last one with a total lack of injuries on the group’s side.
The three halflings were searched, what little they had pocketed, and their bodies left to be found a few days later. The party had gotten organized and armed. Their enemies better beware.
Zoltan awoke the next morning to a strange sound. Looking down, there was the strange bum who had accosted him twice the night before. Kicking him, Zoltan got up and asked for the bum’s name.
“I am Thribbin, the rhood.”
“Yeah, you sure are rude.”
“No no no no, I am a rhood. It is my species.”
“Oh.”
Zoltan had already decided that he wanted a larger gun and deciding that he wouldn’t be able to avoid the rhood, grabbed him in a headlock and began dragging him behind him.
Zoltan asked around and quickly located a nearby arms dealer. While Zoltan perused the available weapons, Thribbin made an attempt to use the phone at the store.
“Who are you calling?” Zoltan asked, a crazy glint in his eye.
“I’m calling my boss. He’s gonna want to know I found you.”
“No you’re not.”
With that Zoltan snatched the receiver from Thribbin’s hand and slammed it down onto the base.
“He doesn’t need to use the phone after all,” he explained to the clerk.
She merely nodded.
Picking out a particularly large rifle, Zoltan approached the clerk and began questioning her about the price. He could definitely afford it, but would need ID in order to buy it. ID he sorely lacked seeing as he had entered this planet via prison transport. The store clerk indicated he go over to the City Hall to clear up his ID problem and then head back for the gun.
Grasping Thribbin in a headlock again, Zoltan dragged him back towards the park he had slept it, which was just across the street from the City Hall. Entering, he quickly found the clerk who handled ID matters, and entered into the line. After a small wait, he reached the head of line and applied for a new ID to be issued, using a fake name as to avoid detection.
Finally, the clerk asked for his arrival papers when he arrived on planet.
“Uh … I don’t have any. I arrived on a small transport in the wilderness for some hunting. Never expected to be going into the city.”
The clerk let out a long suffering sigh and then, “Very well. Give me your boarding papers for the ship your transport disembarked from.”
“Ok here you go.”
“These papers show your name as Zoltan, yet for your ID you have your name listed as … as .. Zanoobanish Zismalli?”
“Well yes. That’s my real name. Zoltan is just a nickname my friends gave me. They paid for my flight so that is why my boarding papers have that name.”
“I … see. I will just give you your ID under the name Zoltan.”
His attempt to get a fake ID defeated, Zoltan grabbed his rhood and exited with his new ID.
Outside, walking towards him was Milo and Orendil! Stopping to talk to his newly found friends, Zoltan quickly related what had happened to him. Milo filled Zoltan in on the planned meeting in the park he had spent the night in.
While all of this was happening, Syd, Alahandra and B’Genesh were walking towards the park as well. Suddenly, a group of three halflings stepped out from the crowd.
“Your money or your life!” muttered the leader of the halflings.
“How about instead you turn around and walk away and I let you live,” replied Syd in a cold voice.
“What!?! Haven’t you heard of the Red Salamander gang?”
“The … Red Salamander?” Syd asked, suddenly cautious.
The halflings began talking about their escape from the prison and Syd quickly nodded that they had too. The halfling quickly gave them some directions to the Red Salamander Tavern and then faded into the crowd. Perplexed by the encounter but with little time to wait, Syd and company continued on to the prearranged meeting with Milo and Orendil.
Zoltan told Milo and Orendil that he was going to buy a Blaster Rifle, and that he would be in the park in a few minutes. Zoltan entered the store and submitting his newly obtained ID, obtained his brand new Blaster Rifle, and happily left, his rhood in tow.
Heading back, long barrel sticking out over his shoulder, Zoltan joined the gathering of friends as they quickly gave somewhat modified accounts of their last day, due in part to the rhood listening in.
“Can’t you do something with him?” Milo asked.
“Nah. He’ll just find me again.”
Suddenly, the group noticed a large number of police officers heading towards them. The party scattered in all directions, Syd zooming up with a Fly spell, while the others took off on foot. B’Genesh stood still, but in that glaring suit she was wearing, no one took her for an escaped prisoner.
Everyone quickly lost the officers through one means or another, and Milo found himself alone in a bad portion of town. He began to resume a normal pace when suddenly, he found himself accosted by three halflings.
“Your money or your life!”
Milo had left his pistol hidden in his room, and didn’t want to be associated with these three anyway, so he quickly set off running. One of the halflings shots clipped his shoulder, but he shrugged off the pain and kept running.
Finally getting into a safe position, Milo activated the walkie-talkies the party had obtained at the Prison, or bought since then. Calling out over the bandwidth they had all agreed on, he quickly ascertained that everyone had escaped safely. Agreeing to meet at a bar nearby his hotel, Milo put his walkie-talkie away and started heading back north.
B’Genesh, lacking any communication gear, went back to the hotel she shared with Syd and Alahandra. Everyone else managed to make it to the bar without incident.
Zoltan arrived, Thribbin still in tow.
“Is there anyway you can get rid of him?” Milo asked Zoltan.
With the rhood there, nothing overly important could be discussed, yet Zoltan feared letting him go because of his boss. In elven, the party began discussing what they could possibly do with the rhood. Hopefully, he didn’t speak elven and any plans would remain unknown.
Killing him was suggested, but no one much cared for the idea. Moral issues aside, no one was in any hurry for a trip back to prison, and more over, the rhood had taken a blaster shot to the foot without too much reaction. The possibility that the rhood couldn’t BE killed was suggested more than once. Another idea mentioned was to let this rhood call his boss. If he was the one sending all these people after us, lets see what he wants.
While all this discussion was going on, Zoltan came to a decision. Releasing the rhood, Thribbin immediately stood up and went to the bar, asking after the phone.
The intensity of the conversation suddenly tripled as Zoltan likewise stood and snatched the phone from Thribbin’s hand. Thribbin began protesting and the barkeep stopped wiping off a glass as he walked over.
Thribbin had obviously already dialed his boss’s number because the phone was already ringing when Zoltan grabbed it. Hanging up, he dialed a random number and began to stall, calling out in elven to hurry up with a plan.
The group had nothing, and eventually Thribbin managed to get the phone back and to dial his boss again. Zoltan snatched the phone away at the last second and found himself talking to someone with a very deep voice.
Zoltan had plenty of questions and Thribbin kept trying to get the phone back. The mysterious man on the other side had few answers however. Finally, the mystery man simply said
“I will send a car for you.”
And as he said that, a black limousine pulled up in front of the bar. Two ogres got out and Thribbin began gesturing for the group to get up and leave. The party briefly entertained ideas of fighting their way free, but changed their minds and decided to go along this time. Entering the car, the party was surprised to find G’Bangrak seated already.
Driving through town, the party got out when the limo slowed, and then stopped, outside of the Red Salamander Tavern. This time, as everyone entered, Zoltan had no trouble getting in.
The group was lead into the back, where they entered a small elevator and began a LONG ride down. The ride went by in almost absolute silence, as no one knew quite what to expect. The only thing they all knew was that someone had wanted to find them bad. And that whoever it was, he had found them.
Arriving at the bottom floor, the party cautiously began moving out with Thribbin and G’Bangrak following close behind them.
Behind a massive table, seated within a massive chair, sat a person who could only be the storm giant from the prison.
“Ah. You are finally here. A group of my followers were supposed to meet in this bar and come back to rescue me. But in the middle of the break, I found my cell opened. I am told I have you to thank for that.”
The storm giant quickly explained some of the background of the prison. For a while now, the drow police force created by Mezzenbone had been kidnapping people to conduct scientific experiments on them at Prison Aphex and likely other penal colonies. In fact, it was just such an experiment that allowed for the original prison break at Aphex; a fact the party had already stumbled over. More sinister, perhaps, is that every prisoner wrongfully accused had reported seeing the same man moments before being arrested.
Always there was a drunken drow nearby, who was invariably arrested as well as the innocent party, and who never stayed long within the prison. It was Thurgeld’s (the storm giant) belief that the drow was somehow connected to the atrocities being committed for the ISPD. And indeed, in retrospect, the party had been arrested in company with a drunken drow. Apparently the ISPD was focusing on colonists heading for Degtra. Colonists rarely had much in the way of possessions, and few people missed them. As an incentive, they had likewise made travel to Degtra completely free. Everything suddenly clicked into place, and the party found them all possessed of righteous anger. Zoltan found himself looking at his ticket to Degtra as someone would look at a snake they had found within their bed.
Since the group had never officially arrived on planet, Thurgeld wished to use the party as an investigative squad. They had more freedom than any other prisoner and their lack of ID made them all but untraceable. Ideally they could help him track down the drow and end the ISPDs evil plot. This suited the group well … at least most of them.
“I … I obtained ID today in order to buy this gun,” Zoltan admitted.
“Well, that was a bad idea. We can work around it though.”
The three halflings were in no way associated with Thurgeld, although he was aware of them. They had been giving the bar a bad name, not to mention attracting unwanted attention. If the party wanted to take care of them Thurgeld wouldn’t mind.
Thurgeld told the party he would contact them if something came up and everyone left on friendly terms.
Back outside, the party discussed the new developments. If what Thurgeld had told them was true Zoltan obviously couldn’t leave, and neither could anyone else who had been planning it. B’Genesh had to be warned of the danger, but at the same time she could not be allowed to stay with the group. Her name on the record of prisoners was damning, and the fact was, the group couldn’t afford to be associated with her.
Leaving, the group found another hotel near the local airport. Alahandra went back to B’Genesh and explained some of what was going on, entrusting her with enough money to pay for the rooms for a few more days, and perhaps get her started.
Once that was taken care of, the fate of the three halflings became the main focus of the party.
Twice they had accosted members of the group, and they had even shot Milo. They were attracting attention to a hidden group of prisoners, and if they were caught, the party was likely to be found out as well. They could not be allowed to live.
A quick ambush was arranged, with Milo acting as bait. Walking about innocently Milo waited for the halflings to accost him, and it was not long before they did.
Setting off at a run towards the prearranged location, the halflings immediately gave chase.
Coming within site of the small cemetery that the ambush was set at, Milo dove behind one of the graves as the three halflings opened fire. Zoltan and Orendil stepped out from behind mausoleums, opening fire at the same time. Between the two of them, the number of halflings in the trap was reduced from three to one. Alahandra and Milo finished off the last one with a total lack of injuries on the group’s side.
The three halflings were searched, what little they had pocketed, and their bodies left to be found a few days later. The party had gotten organized and armed. Their enemies better beware.
This session provided a lot of nice wrap-up for the group. As I mentioned before, we had been wondering where exactly to go, seeing as we left the whole Prison Aphex thing somewhat unexpectedly.
If you are rapidly going back to see when Zoltan bought a ticket, you won't find it. You see, I forgot to put it in.
Essentially, while wandering about, Zoltan went to the space station and looked into booking passage offworld. There were still free trips to Degtra, and he booked one. After hearing that the trips were really prisoner harvests for the ISPD, he disposed of his ticket.
This session let the party get some frustration out on the poor little halflings, although Syd's newly learned Summon Monster IV didn't even finish before they were all toast!
I will hopefully (fates willing) have the 6th session up tomorrow before we game. We will playing Session 8 tomorrow, so you are all REALLY close to catching up.
If you are rapidly going back to see when Zoltan bought a ticket, you won't find it. You see, I forgot to put it in.
Essentially, while wandering about, Zoltan went to the space station and looked into booking passage offworld. There were still free trips to Degtra, and he booked one. After hearing that the trips were really prisoner harvests for the ISPD, he disposed of his ticket.
This session let the party get some frustration out on the poor little halflings, although Syd's newly learned Summon Monster IV didn't even finish before they were all toast!
I will hopefully (fates willing) have the 6th session up tomorrow before we game. We will playing Session 8 tomorrow, so you are all REALLY close to catching up.
Similar Threads
