DoctorB's Legacy of Alexander Story Hour

[DoctorB]

That night, the Champions prepared to undertake a meeting with Governor Nasser. They spoke with the Priests of the Knight and the Lady at the Temple about gaining some kind of dispensation to take their weapons. The priests explained that Lord Nasser was within his rights and the legal arguments to overturn the order would take months.

They finally sent Liana over to Lord Victor’s mansion with a note asking for an audience. She arrived there seemingly without being followed and entered through the side door. After some discussion she convinced Victor’s seneschal to allow a meeting in the morning.

Meanwhile, the others were using the crystal ball to spy on the demonic things they had seen in the meeting. There were two types, one was tall and skeletal with a great barbed tail like a scorpion while the other was human sized but covered with chains. Galena knew they were other-planar creatures but no more than that about their exact capabilities. Finding the creatures, the party saw them attacking civilians in various parts of town. Though the guards themselves did not seem to think it unusual that these monsters were patrolling with them, the populace caught outside ran in panic at the sight of them. Some were caught and killed by the creatures. Unable to watch this, the Champions prepared to attack the monsters immediately.

They met Liana as they left the Library and went patrolling for the guard patrols. The Champions met with success not far from the Library/Temple complex with one of the skeletal creatures and half a dozen guards.

The devil put up an ice wall to separate Cobbe and Toiva from the others while Galena cast a web to try and immobilize the thing. What she got was a web with a hole in it where the magic did not function on the creature (she missed the spell resistance roll badly). Liana fired an arrow at the devil, but it just bounced off. The guards, thinking one of their own was under attack, went after the Champions. Toiva fought two of them beside the web, trying not to kill them.

Lady Breda and Cobbe dealt with their section of the ice wall by going through it while Bacha jumped up and over instead. The devil took the opportunity to try and charm Bacha, but he fought off the effect (no small feat considering his +0 will save).

Liana and Alexander moved into the web to attack the thing while Galena tried a magic missile with also fizzled against the monster. The devil attacked Alexander and hit him with the tail, draining his strength. As the others moved into the web, Galena dispelled it. Toiva ran in and crited the thing. Alexander hit it, but his hands are not magical, so to no effect. Bacha ran in and finished it. The remaining guards ran away, presumably to get help.

The devil’s body did not disappear, meaning it was physically on this plane. The party gathered it up for evidence and went back to the Library to rest and recover.

That night, Cobbe had a dream of Bacha meeting the Yakuni somewhere in the hills of the Empire. Everyone realized that the Lady needed Bacha to be with his people so he left Sazon immediately to travel to the east and help refound Pella. Cobbe wrote him a note saying he and the Yakuni had the permission of Lord Almer of Pella (that’s Cobbe) to settle in the environs of Pella.

As the party left the Library in the morning, a little girl pulled on Galena’s robe and gave her a silver ring with a sapphire. “You dropped this, Lady” she said. By the time Galena had looked at the ring and back again, the girl was gone. After some consideration, she decided to wear the ring though she does not know what it does.

The Champions arrived at their meeting with Lord Victor with the body of the devil slain the night before. After seeing that, Victor seemed eager to help. He wrote them a note that would get them in to see Lord Nasser on his authority, and another deputizing them to investigate the corruption of the governor. Putting his seal on both, he sent them on their way a little surprised at his cooperation.

Legally and physically armed, the Champions went to the governor’s palace to confront Lord Nasser. Was he an unwitting agent of the Triad allowing these devils into the city, or a servant of evil?

 

[KidCthulhu]

Hey Dr. B. Nice story. But here's a question. How is Galena directing her summoned creatures so exactly? Is she casting tongues? Otherwise they just attack your enemies, at their own discretion. Or is she just cooler than everyone else?

 

[Type_II_Gamer]

Galena speaks everything. Auran, Terran, Aquan, Abyssal, etc.

Just nothing like Elven or any human languages.

Arrogant geek.

 

[DoctorB]

Its true that Galena is a specialist in extra-planar creatures (something that is only possible in the erudite Tower) and speaks all the relevant languages.

I am also pretty lenient in how I allow her to command summoned creatures. I assume that if she is in shouting distance, she can direct them to a new target. The command that has drawn the most discussion was her order to a Xorn to attack whatever Cobbe was fighting. I only allowed it finally because he was the only one there on horseback.

 

[DoctorB]

Interview with Nasser (story)

Going directly from Lord Victor’s mansion, the Champions traveled across town to the palace of the governor of Sazon. It was a tall structure with intricate carvings and gold leaf done in the standard over-the-top gaudy style of Sazon.

Cobbe used his diplomacy and the first letter from Lord Victor to get them an almost immediate audience. After waiting a few minutes, they were directed into the throne room. A large room two stories tall, it had balconies on the other three walls and tapestries below them showing General Zenon, the Sazon hero of Alexander’ day, a map of the ancient Sazon Empire, and a map of ancient Sazon itself at its height.

Sitting behind a desk on a raised dais was Governor Nasser along with an advisor in a fine white robe beside him. The guards immediately tried to take the weapons of the Champions, but Alexander and Toiva convinced the governor that they had only the interests of Sazon at heart given their rescue of the Great Library. Nasser seemed distracted and uncertain.

The Governor did not believe them that members of the guard were actually devils or that these creatures had been responsible for the deaths of townspeople the night before. He assumed those deaths were due to dwarven infiltration of the city.

Cobbe detected evil as the governor spoke, and found several presences. One of them seemed to be the white-robed man and another was on the balcony above. He was relieved to find that Nasser himself did not seem to be evil.

At that moment, a woman appeared on the balcony above the governor and shot a well-aimed arrow at Joy. It was the same assassin they had sent to jail yesterday! Joy managed to dodge just enough so that the arrow missed her heart but still seriously wounded her.

Meanwhile, a woman in a large black robe came from behind the edge of a tapestry beside the dais and brought with her several large dog-like creatures spitting fire. The woman had a prominently placed silver triangle symbol and carried a staff that glowed with a black radiance.

The guards, confused at this turn of events, surrounded Lord Nasser and tried to keep everyone away from him. The man in the white robe fled through a door opposite the priestess. The Champions had other things to worry about.

 

[DoctorB]

The battle (story)

Galena immediately cast a web to block the entrance of the balcony with the assassin, while Cobbe and Toiva engaged the hell hounds. Alexander tumbled past the beasts to the priestess herself and attacked her.

In the midst of this, Liana felt a strange pressure on her mind and heard a now trusted voice in her head telling her that Lord Nasser and his advisors were not her enemy and that she should not attack them. Since this good advice did not include the hell hounds, she attacked them. Arin positioned himself opposite her against one of the monsters and looked threatening enough for her to sneak attack the beast repeatedly.

As the others fought the hell hounds, the priestess swung her staff at Alexander and hit him in the right arm. To everyone’s surprise, he yelled in pain and collapsed as a black energy engulfed his arm. Both Joy and Cobbe could see that his arm was shriveling before their eyes as he writhed on the floor.

As Toiva and Liana continued to beat on the hell hounds, Cobbe moved to attack the priestess as well. In the midst of this, he tried his cure disease on Alexander but to no avail. With a cry, Joy ran up and tried to dispel the magic that seemed to be attacking him. She was able to heal his wounds, but the arm continued to wither at a frightening rate.

Galena summoned an Arrowhawk to attack the assassin, but the web was empty. Frustrated, she had the summoned creature shoot lightning bolts up the corridor in case she was there invisible.

After standing in combat against Cobbe for a few moments, the priestess saw that she was overmatched. Though she hit him with the glowing staff, his limbs did not rot as Alexander’s had. Perhaps it took a mighty blow to call forth the power of death in the staff. The hell hounds were all defeated by now, and she looked to retreat. As Galena cast haste on Toiva, the Triad priestess fled back through the door behind the edge of the tapestry she had entered from.

A shadowy figure behind the curtains of the right hand balcony had tried to control others besides Liana, and Arin tried to subtly indicate to Cobbe that there was an enemy there, but the paladin was more concerned with getting Lord Nasser out of there. Even as he moved the there, Liana heard her friend tell her that Nasser had turned on them and should be killed. Pulling out her bow, she shot the governor, but only wounded him.

Meanwhile, Toiva and Galena followed the priestess. She went into what looked like a waiting room. It was sparsely furnished by Sazon standards, but had a glowing portal in the middle of it. As the hasted Toiva moved into the room, the priestess stepped into the portal. On his action, he followed her in.

Inside, he was suddenly in a much more imposing fortress of iron. The priestess was nearby and still badly wounded. Also in the room were two devils. One of them looked like the tall bony one they had fought the night before, while the other looked male but inhumanly beautiful. Risking attack from the devils, Toiva used his second action to swing his two-handed sword at the priestess. She went down at the strike, and Toiva fled back through the portal with his last action.

Convincing Liana to stop her attack for now, Cobbe and the others hustled the confused Governor Nasser from the throne room as the cowled figure in the balcony slipped behind the curtains and disappeared.

Outside the governor’s palace, the Champions were met with a large force of guards in the livery of the city led by their captain. After some discussion, Cobbe and Toiva convinced them that the governor could be in danger and agreed that the Captain of the Guard and an escort should go with them back to the Temple with Lord Nasser for his own protection.

Alexander, now without a right arm, was taken from the palace to the infirmary in the Temple complex for such healing as could be found. Joy felt that someday she would be able to restore his arm, but that it was beyond her power for now. Alexander settled into a bed.
“I am reflecting on the blessings of the Lady” he said bitterly and then lay there quietly. Joy stayed with him and sang songs to try and encourage him.

 

[DoctorB]

Azar (story)

Azar

The unassuming servant woman ducks into Lord Gunter’s study. Standing in his gray cowled robe, he is waiting for her. Only the lower part of his face is visible beneath the dark hood. All she can clearly see is a stern mouth and strong jaw, though occasionally she glimpses something not at all human in its place. Azar quickly kneels at his feet.

“Master” she says with conviction.
“Gather your gang and discover what those adventurers are doing.” She hears the order with her mind rather than her ears. The master does not have to speak aloud.
She nods, “I am going to meet with them now”
“Good, report back to me when you have more information. Use care. These so-called Champions of the Lady are powerful.”

Azar bows again and quickly takes her leave. As she winds her way through the corridors of the governor’s palace, she reflects on what she has already lost. The armor and war hammer acquired for murdering the leader of Corovade’s underworld, lost, taken by these Champions.

She had designed two ambushes to kill these foreigners. The first failed even as she had the hobbit priestess in her sights, and the second one when her arrow went astray. She had warned the master against alliance with the priestess of the Triad, but to no avail. Now the paladin and his band knew of her and possibly her master. They would probably be hunting for both. The adventurers had taken the governor out of the master’s reach and now threatened all of his plans.

Carefully winding her way through the merchant quarter of town, she seems only a palace servant on an errand from the governor. She makes her way through the new walls of Sazon and into the slums beyond. How mighty the city must once have been to cover so much space! The remains of the old walls sit more than half a mile from the new ones. In between are ruined shops and villas from the distant past. Now these are the homes of the destitute and the desperate.

Azar ducks into one of these homes and unwraps her disguise kit. Turning her dress inside out reveals rags and tatters. She dirties her face and changes the color of her hair. The master said to be careful. The poor woman who exits from the rear of the hovel looks nothing like the one who had entered the front.

Careful to take a circuitous route and assure herself she is not followed, Azar comes at last to the meeting place. It was the foundation of some ancient shop with a tarp thrown over the top. Inside are her three remaining boys.

They are deep in a discussion about scouting when all hell breaks loose. The tarp above them explodes downward in flame. Two of the rogues die immediately. As the third one runs away, Azar sees several armored people charging through the ruins at her. The Champions!

As she fights desperately for her life, she goes over every step of her way here. She was careful! Even as the enchanted war hammer that used to be hers slams her to unconsciousness in the hands of the paladin of the Lady, her last thought is:

How did they know?

-----

Though her face is calm, Galena seems to be beaming. If only we could take the Crystal Ball with us, she thinks. The loremasters of the Great Library have little use for it anyway.

“Ok, now we ah have to deal with this master of hers” Cobbe points out
“I couldn’t scry him, but I did make a map of the path the assassin used to get out of the palace. We could follow it back in and finish with him,” she responds.

“Tomorrow,” Toiva reminds them. “Joy is out of miracles and several of us are hurt. At least this troublesome assassin is dead.”

 

[KidCthulhu]

Hey Type II! Great sig

Poor Alexander. Withering sucks!

 

[Type_II_Gamer]

I think a one-handed monk would be great. It could spark a new colloquialism - as busy as a one-handed monk in combat.

But Alexander is too full of his own pathos to bring this up.

Damn evil priestesses. And we left her staff in that Iron fortress - where-ever that may have been (I have my suspicions.)

Fortunately, our cleric, Joy, has been working on her withering looks....

 

[DoctorB]

Interlude

The Sazon camp smelled like a dung heap. Even the cold late-autumn wind could not drive it away.

Petar, Captain of Sazon, looked over his bedraggled men and sighed. The high walls of Sarande stood above them, defiant as always. Though he trusted Lord Altan and his generals, Petar suspected that the siege of this powerful city would fail. The Sarandi could always supply themselves by sea, while the army of Sazon had to live off the land. The enemy had burned everything they could before retreating behind the walls and the great army had stripped everything else bare. The besiegers were starving while the besieged lived in luxury.

Well, most of the besieging army anyway. Lord Altan lived in the huge tent in the center of camp. The soldiers could hear his laughter and that of his family at all hours of the night. Somehow, even while he flaunted his comfort in the midst of their misery, the soldiers remembered his victories and kept their silence… so far.

As dawn broke over the encampment, Petar walked to the edge of their lines and looked at the great city. Sarande fairly glowed in the sunlight. He could make out the sentries on their rounds on the walls. Both sides had given up firing arrows. The Sazoni were almost out of arrows and had moved their encampments out of arrow shot of the walls. After the destruction of the siege engines early in the attack by a Sarandi sortie, both sides had little appetite for fighting. The Captain wondered again if they would all die here. Sazon had the greatest army on the Dibre Coast, but the weakest navy. Sazon’s ships were manned with impressed enemies and the destitute. They were no match for the mighty navies of Koplik and the others. Only at land could Sazon succeed against her enemies. But they must take the cities by storm. A siege without a navy was futile.

Movement stirred around Lord Altan’s tent. Runners spread throughout the camp. They were to prepare for battle! For the first time in weeks, Petar’s soldiers would have something else to do but gamble and brawl amongst themselves. Now at least they would have an enemy to spend their frustration on. An enemy of stone anyway.

No new siege engines appeared. Were they to storm the walls with nothing but their dead to climb upon? Nonetheless, it seemed a cleaner death than slow starvation.

In their ranks, with lion standards raised, they marched toward Sarande. Petar braced for the hail of arrows. Surely the city’s supply would not be exhausted. Nothing came. As they marched closer Petar could hear the sounds of battle inside the walls. Abruptly, the gates began to open. A grin spread across Petar’s face. The old bastard had won again! Not only through great arms were generals made but through guile and cleverness. He had subverted some of the Sarandi. Let him have his parties!

With a cry, the army of Sazon rushed into the city. They swept aside the remnants of the defending army and began their well-earned sack of the city. Smoke rose over the proud harbor of Sarande.