Eaglesford Campaign: "Strange Lights"

[Gina]

Coming Soon...

I really want to know HOW these NPCs will react.....hmmmm....a hint perhaps?

 

[Nail]

...and I hope the "hint" isn't poorly taken! An old friend of mine just emailed me to say my previous post seemed awfully harsh. Sorry! Not my intent.

This last session just gave us all alot of changes to account for, DM and players alike. That's sometimes expected...it's one of the outcomes that makes this game fun.

 

[Nail]

Session #39: "It’s Been a Long Road Back"

RL evening of Aug 19th, 2004

The meeting started with a summary of past events amongst the players and DM…….. Wow, has it been a while! Fortunately, we were able to piece together the previous sessions, in no small part because Rowan’s player keeps good notes! Thanks, Gina!

The PCs passed the night at Greystone’s (and Hara’s) hut, deep in the woods northwest of Eaglesford. The next day they had decided they would head towards Alderslook, avoiding Eaglesford (and potential conscription into the Empire’s forces there). At last, they hoped to finish their mission to return the kobold’s dragon idol to it’s original resting place!

From the Journals of Rowan, Druid of Eaglesford
August 5th
Morning found us all alive and ready to go. How about that?

While we readied breakfast, Graystone shared some more information about Eaglesford. There had been several orc attacks, including the one on the keep itself. A large Ogre (seemed to be called Turk by the orcs) had been instrumental in some recent attacks and is a fearsome and vicious foe.

There have been no attacks in the past two nights though we all expect that there will be more soon.

Mrs. Faegen, Mrs. Wiggins, and Reena arrived soon after breakfast, as we were preparing to leave. While we gathered our belongings, they discussed the local situation with Graystone. They mentioned several names as they spoke of forming a group to patrol the area around Eaglesford, to take more decisive and aggressive action against the orcs. Graystone mentioned that even Hara was joining their merry little band.

Hara’s response, shouted from inside the hut was, “I said no such thing! Damned inclusive Druids!”

I suspect that she will be joining them anyway. :

The others in Greystone’s group will be Duren Stonebeard’s twin sons (back from the dwarven kingdoms, I guess!), Meloran Ennolad (the Captain’s younger brother, a tanner’s apprentice as I recall), and Mrs. Wiggins’ new apprentice rounds out the group. I haven’t met her yet.

I hope that they can do some damage to the orcs.

Mrs. Faegen suggested that we avoid Eaglesford proper. Seems the legions are, shall we say, aggressively recruiting. Or rather, taking any able bodied person they find and impressing them into the service of the Empire.

We went around Eaglesford, taking the long way through the forest. Eventually, we found ourselves at the river Liss with a problem. None of us can swim very well, particularly in armor. …So, Thaile cast a water walking spell on everyone but me. I became an eagle and flew above them, over the river. Corpse ravens flew overhead, but far away, at least for now and in fairly small numbers.

As we prepared to move down the road, toward Alder’s Look and our destiny, whatever that may be, Mor’Elandi saw something flying toward us. It was, he said, large. The rest of us saw nothing, so we moved forward along the road, thinking we could make some good distance toward our goal before moving off the trail and being slowed by the undergrowth in the forest.

As we moved on, suddenly the creature Mor’Elandi has seen dived over the tree tops and attacked! It was shaped like a dragon, but with no fore-limbs. Winged, flying, and pretty darned big. It landed directly on Torsten. I summoned a Dire Wolf, while Thaile and Kytum-up moved up to engage it. It had Torsten pinned to the ground, but it was still able to attack Thaile as she rushed up to help! It injured Thaile pretty seriously and nearly killed Torsten before he managed to break free of the grapple (with my Dire Wolf’s help!). By this time we had wounded it pretty badly (thanks to arrows from Mor’Elandi and magic from Tierna), so it took to the air as soon as it was up, flying away from us.

The others told me to chase it. I suspect that they don’t recall what happened the last time I chased something by myself, but they were insistent, so I went after it. I tried to finish it off, but wasn’t able to hit it. I tried produce flame, but it turned out to be immune to fire. Not wanting to meet the “mommy” it was calling out to in Draconic, I decided that I should just get back to the others.

I stayed in Eagle form, not wanting to have to explain to them why I didn’t finish the thing off, as if it were that easy. I’d like to see how one of them does on their own and with no backup!
We walked the rest of the day, actually, they walked, I flew. As we moved off the road and into the forest, we noticed that the corpse ravens were flying over the area we had been in. It looked as if they were searching for something, probably us.

So, we moved on, making camp in a small clearing at dusk. Thaile healed Torsten. She healed herself a little bit too, but not completely; she assured us that she would be fine.

************

It was second watch when it happened, after midnight, in the darkest time of the night.

Thaile and Torsten were on watch, the rest of us sleeping.

Torsten found himself suddenly lifted into the air, unable to speak while an unseen hand grasped at his throat, tearing the dragon eye brooch from his cloak. Thaile noticed that something was amiss a few seconds later, and shouted to awaken the rest of us as Torsten was dropped into a tree by the creature.

It picked Thaile up then, grabbing her, hoisting her high into the air, and spoiling the spell she was casting.

The rest of us woke up, and tried to help. Mor’Elandi picked up his bow and took a shot at the invisible creature…but he hit Thaile! The creature kept lifting her higher and higher, she struggled, but was, as before, unable to break free.

I wildshaped into a leopard, while Tieran hit the creature with a Glitterdust spell. Suddenly, we were able to see it! It was a large humanoid creature, made out of roiling masses of vapor. It was squeezing Thaile now, and pummeling her. Tieran, Kytum-up, and Tieran shot it with arrows. But some of the arrows kept hitting Thaile, even as the creature was hitting her! I summoned lightning and hit it after it began to rise into the air….then one more squeeze, and Thaile was unconscious.

Mor’Elandi destroyed the creature with his next volley of arrows ….but at least one of them hit Thaile too. As the creature disappeared, it dropped Thaile’s lifeless form 50 feet to the ground. She landed with a horrible thud. I changed back into my own form, hoping against hope, and checked; Thaile was dead.
August 6th

Tieran informed us that he had figured out what the creature was. It was not, as he had suggested before, an elemental, but rather a creature called an Invisible Stalker, often used for a specific task by an evil summoner. It would either seek something specific or follow an instruction. He also said that he thinks that we killed it.

Mor’Elandi recalled that it had spoken before it died, saying to Thaile, “I must take you to Tammon Erbroth.” It repeated this phrase several times and the name again: “Tammon Erbroth” before it expired.

Great. More enemies. We don’t even know who or what this one is and Thaile is dead. The creature always attacked her first, so our guess is that it was after her. If only we knew why.

We divided what she had been carrying among ourselves, preparing her body for burning. I thought about it for a time and decided that she would want to return to us; and, more to the point, I could not bear the thought of her not returning. If only she had healed herself after the battle with the dragon-thing, she might have survived this attack.

We burned her body, keeping a lock of her hair to aid in her rebirth.

As dawn broke, we were discussing how to proceed. We determined that we should get Thaile’s rebirth started as soon as possible. I was pretty sure that we could find what I needed to perform the ritual in the forest, so with instructions to the others as to what we were looking for, we headed off in different directions to locate the necessary components.

We met back at our camp at mid-afternoon. We had all we needed (and then some) to complete the ritual to reincarnate Thaile.

The others stood in a circle and I prepared my casting, setting out the herbs and the lock of Thaile’s hair. As I began to cast, I heard or felt, I am still not sure which it was, the Great Voice.

“Aldersborn, what you wish to do may be done when the time is right.”

I was also somehow aware that Thaile’s spirit was not ready yet. I suppose it was a great shock to her, being a cleric and all. Death is not what she expected, if it is anything like mine was. Still, it is comforting to know that in this place, the earth of Alder’s Look, the ritual need not be done within a week.

I guess it is the “place of beginnings” for a reason.

I stopped the Ritual and told the others that Thaile is not yet ready, but we can do the ritual anytime as long as we are here, at Alder’s Look. They looked at me strangely, but accepted it easily enough.

We moved on a bit, making a cold camp at dusk. We were all rather somber, having lost another of our number. For Tieran and me, I think it was the worst though. We have known Thaile for nearly all of our lives. She was our voice of reason, the one who often stopped Riva’s frequent headlong plunges into disaster both as children and later as adults.

Riva. It occurs to me that I could still bring Riva back, I believe that since he died here, as long as we are here, I can bring him back, if I wish to. I haven’t a part of his body, but I don’t recall that we burned his remains, so we might be able to....ah, too much to think of tonight. I must try to get some sleep now that my watch is over. Time to wake Torsten.

August 7th
Morning came, the skies overcast, reflecting our mood, we moved on toward Alder’s Look.

I cast a Camouflage spell that covered all of us and we moved toward the ancient fortress. Actually, it went pretty well, we were not seen, nothing chased or tried to kill us as we approached the keep.

We passed the rubble field of the destroyed tower and moved into the courtyard. There were freshly killed orc bodies, bloody and broken littering the area. Someone had done our work for us, but who?

We moved into the tower where the entrance to the areas below awaited and we froze at the sound of voices, moving up the stairs above us. Two voices in goblin, speaking of “finding” someone or something. We didn’t stick around to find out what they were talking about, we simply moved toward our goal.

The hole in the floor was still there, open. Down we went, moving cautiously toward the Intersection of Death. No one was there. Our footsteps and the soft rattling of our equipment as we moved sounded incredibly loud as we moved through the deserted corridor.

We passed the alcove where the huge ballista had been hidden behind a red silk curtain and moved to the next alcove. We moved slowly, cautiously, expecting to be ambushed at any moment. The corridor to the stairs was dark and silent. I recall seeing Calableed sneaking up on Garret there, at the end of the corridor. Only the dragon’s eye brooch allowed me to warn him.

The stairs were also quiet, turning corner after corner as we descended them, I recalled our chase down them and then our retreat back up after being routed by the goblins in the chamber below. We were nearly killed in that first battle with Calableed’s main force.

The large room at the base of the stairs was deserted as the rest of the keep had been. We moved on to the room the goblins had called the “Orcish Baths”. The stone that had blocked Zook’s laboratory was rolled aside, revealing the doorway. To the right lay the doorway to the throne room and beyond to the Kobold kingdom and the tests.

In the doorway to the throne room there were pieces of....something. Trolls. Three of them, lay in chunks of various sizes. We wondered why they did not regenerate. Tieran thought it had something to do with the amount of damage that had been done to them. Mor’Elandi disagreed and they bickered for a time before deciding that it didn’t’ really matter anymore, dead trolls are dead trolls. There was also a lone dead orc lying on the pile of rubble.

We were at the doorway. We could use our scrolls of Gaseous Form and go down to the tests, or we could clear the rubble, replacing it behind us as we had done before.

We decided to work on the rubble, since we were alone, saving the scrolls in case we needed to make a quick get away. Of course, how fast can it really be if Tieran needs to read each scroll over one of us before he can escape?

Oh well, we cleared the rubble, replacing it carefully behind us.

It was very easy to get down here. That worries me.

End of Session #39!

 

[Nail]

***A Happening Some Days Ago***

A dark chamber, made of stone. Its blocks cunningly arranged into geometric patterns. A smooth floor, newly polished, with a silver and iron pentagram inlaid into it. Braziers of brass are lit at each corner, red smoke seeping out of each into the still air. Heavy air lingers in the corners.

A man speaks.

“Come forth, my servant! Come forth and do my bidding. There is someone I seek, and I call you here to find her!”

The air stirs in the center of the chamber. A small rip in the fabric of existence opens for a moment, and out of it rushes a blast of wind. The wind rushes around the inside of the pentagram for a moment, then stills to near-nothingness.

The summoned creature whispers.

“I will do….. what you ask, ….if your payment ……is fair…….”

The man speaks, “You see it there before you. More than fair.”

The man adjusts his robes for a moment, as the wind creature whirls around the treasure laid out on the floor. There is a pause….. then both, for the moment, are still.

The man speaks again, “Here is what you will do: Find the young human woman called Thaile; there on the floor are some aids to help you indentify her. She has left Three Oaks this morning, and is traveling to Eaglesford on the main road. Find this woman, and kill her.”

The man pauses, as he tries to hide his smile. A moment later, composed, he continues, “Then bring her body, and all of her belongings to this spot. Let no one see you enter here.”

The wind-creature speaks, “So it shall be done…..”

 

[Gina]

...and I hope the "hint" isn't poorly taken! An old friend of mine just emailed me to say my previous post seemed awfully harsh. Sorry! Not my intent.

This last session just gave us all alot of changes to account for, DM and players alike. That's sometimes expected...it's one of the outcomes that makes this game fun.

No, just made me even more insanely curious than usual.

Now we have even MORE questions that we need to find the answers to!!!

I didn't think it was harsh at all, but I did think it was funny that we spoiled your plans a little bit (slightly-evil grin).

 

[Nail]

... but I did think it was funny that we spoiled your plans a little bit (slightly-evil grin).

Excellent.

As an aside, and (I know its hard to believe) completely unrelated to the happenings of the previous session:

Thaile's player has just started a new (exciting) job, and its timeschedule doesn't match with our playing schedule. (DrSpunj had a similar problem, but we are able to work around it.) We've known about this for a month or so, and we all knew this would be the last time Thaile's player played with us...at least for a while. Going into the meeting, all of us (myself included) thought we'd probably have to have Thaile leave the party to "go visit mom", or some such.

Needless to say, we no longer have that side trek to figure into the plot.

All of us hope that Thaile's player can rejoin us ASAP. Thanks for gaming with us!

 

[Flik]

Ok, so I'm dead....

It has been a long time since I have read the board.. .however, I guess this will be my main link to the group for a while...

WHO WANTS MY BODY/STUFF?!!?!?!?! There are so many questions.... all I want are answers IS that so much to ask?!?!!?

 

[DrSpunj]

WHO WANTS MY BODY/STUFF?!!?!?!?!

Hmm. If past behavior is any indication I'd say Tieran is the one most likely to lay claim to your body (or at least parts of it!). Eewww.

As for your stuff, we didn't really divvy everything up, did we? I think Torsten took Calableed's Armor, and Kytum-Up already had the circlet. What else did Thaile have?

 

[Gina]

Hmm. If past behavior is any indication I'd say Tieran is the one most likely to lay claim to your body (or at least parts of it!). Eewww.

As for your stuff, we didn't really divvy everything up, did we? I think Torsten took Calableed's Armor, and Kytum-Up already had the circlet. What else did Thaile have?

First. EWWWW No, we burned her body as per her religious beliefs. Tieran may have been eying it, but Rowan didn't let him touch her!

Now....the other stuff.....

Calableed's armor and the amulet of health +4 Torsten laid claim to....

Tieran snatched the Handy Haversack, with all contents. Though we will have to decide what we need to reallocate.

Thaile's personal stuff is in the haversack, waiting for her eventual return. She's just not ready yet. No, not ready at all.

When we DO reincarnate her....wonder what she'll come back as...so many possible forms!

 

[Gina]

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