Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8847308" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 12: WEDDING CRASHERSPC Roster:Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 5             Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 5             Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 5             Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 5Game Session Date: 30 November 2022 - - -Mrs. Stout walked into the common room where the four adventurers had been talking.  "I have a message for you," she told them, handing a sealed sheet of parchment to Harlan.  "It was delivered by a knight on horseback, no less."Harlan broke open the seal and read the contents.  "We're wanted at the Stone Keep," he informed the others.  "We're to meet with a Talantis Vertiver, an emissary of Celene.""I say!" declared Alistair.  "That sounds rather important."  They gathered up their gear, mounted their horses, and rode off to the Stone Keep with all haste.Once there, the heroes couldn't help but notice the improvements that had been made to the fortress over the past month.  There were paladins stationed in each of the corner watchtowers, and another greeted them at the front door.  The place certainly was a lot more professional-looking now that Father Kilkenny had taken over duties as the head cleric there.  He was there to meet them inside the keep, introducing the heroes to a number of elven delegates from Celene.  Talantis Vertiver, the leader of this group, explained the situation as they sat around the table, eating grapes and cheese and sipping from tall flutes of wine.  "One of our delegates has gone missing," he explained.  "Twenty days ago, one of our number, Captain Olotores Oakcrown, was sent on a four-day journey to Enstad, the capital of Selene.  He carried with him a dispatch to the Enstad elves, but he never arrived.""I say, are you all right?" Alistair asked Chaevaris, who had begun choking and coughing."I'm fine," the elven archer replied.  "Wine went down the wrong pipe."  Turning to Talantis, Chaevaris added, "Forgive me - please continue."  Nobody noticed how the elf's face had whitened at the mention of the name of the missing delegate."Captain Oakcrown never arrived," Talantis continued.  "He disappeared on the fourth day of his trip.  We would like to send you along the route he took to see if you can find him.  Divinations indicate he's still alive, so when you find him please return him either here to the Stone Keep or bring him to Enstad.  As for the dispatch he carried, the information is already out of date, so you need not bother trying to recover it.""Enstad's a four-day ride on horseback," Ageratum stated.  "Longer if we take the wagon.""Will we need the wagon, though?" asked Chaevaris.  "We can carry what we need in our packs - we'll make better time that way."  That, ultimately, was decided upon, and although Alistair was a bit disappointed his expertise as a "wagon lackey" would not be needed, he at least understood the logic behind the decision.  They packed their gear, mounted their horses, and were on their way.Several minutes on their trek, Chaevaris had come to a decision and told the others, "For the duration of this mission, I'd like you not to call me by my real name.""Oh?" asked Harlan.  "Then what should we call you?"Thinking it over, Chaevaris finally replied, "'Kesiri Daquin Ariradh.'"  It was as good a name as any.  But the archer had forgotten all four of the heroes understood the Elven language, and it didn't take long before they'd translated the false name into the Common tongue.  "'Elfy Danger Silverleaf?'" Ageratum asked, frowning.  "Really?"Alistair's eyes bugged out and his mouth opened in astonishment.  "I knew it!" he cried.  "You're the real Elfy 'Danger' Silverleaf!  The books were written about your exploits!"  And that opened up a floodgate of questions.  "Did the author pay you for the stories?  Are all of them true?  In Elfy and the Owlbear of Mammoth Falls, how did you know the owlbear had a snapped-off arrow in its shoulder that was causing it pain and driving it to attack others?  How come you don't ever shoot grappling hooks from your bow like that time you did in Elfy and the Rescue of the Trapped Princess?"  Chaevaris thought silently, This might not have been my smartest plan....The first three days of riding were uneventful, Chaevaris finally demanding Alistair hold all questions until they stopped for rest breaks, so they could keep an eye out for signs of the missing elf (and then giving noncommittal answers when possible).  It was on the morning of the fourth day of travel - expecting to reach Enstad by the evening - that they ran into their first bit of excitement.  There was frantic motion in the treetops as they rode through the forest, finally revealing itself as a raccoon, leaping from tree branch to tree branch.  It had a panicked expression on its masked face, and the reason for that panic became clear when a longbowman stepped out between the trees, took careful aim, and sent an arrow shooting straight at the creature.  The arrow pierced the raccoon in the left shoulder, flying straight through the creature's flesh and exiting in a spray of blood.  With a cry of pain, the raccoon fell from its perch and landed in Chaevaris's lap.The mounted archer looked down at the raccoon, who was frantically pointing to the south, then over at the longbowman approaching from the north.  "It's him!" Chaevaris hissed to the others in a low whisper, before pulling on the reins and turning Talkacha away.  Then, in a much deeper voice, Chaevaris informed the others, "You three deal with him!  I'll take my animal companion to safety!"  Kicking Talkacha's sides, the elven archer - with hood fully raised to prevent anyone from seeing any facial features - cradled the raccoon and took off as fast as the horse could go.Ageratum pulled out her daggers, holding one in each hand as she turned her pony Munson towards the approaching elven bowman.  Harlan similarly pulled the flaming burst longsword from its scabbard and held it at the ready.  "Who are you?" he asked the archer, but the elf, seeing the raccoon speeding off on horseback and apparently not wanting to have to deal with these three defenders, merely lowered his bow and turned back the way he'd come, running between the trees.  Realizing they wouldn't be able to follow him on horseback through the tightly-packed trees, Harlan let him go."I say, was that him?  Captain Oakcrown?" Alistair asked."That's what Chaevaris said.""What's gotten into him, anyway?" Ageratum asked.  "Hood up, fake name, deep voice - it's like he doesn't want this Oakcrown guy to recognize him.""Let's go find out," Harlan answered, turning Law in the direction Chaevaris had run off.  The others followed, and they found their errant archer a quarter mile distant, Talkacha standing still in a clearing.  The reason for the stop became apparent when the raccoon wildshaped back into his true form: an elven druid.  He touched his wounded shoulder and applied a healing spell to it."Thank you," the druid said, introducing himself as Ralandane Elbart.  "I am a local druid of these woods.""Why is Captain Oakcrown trying to kill you?" Chaevaris asked."He was told to.  I first saw him over two weeks ago, riding a stallion.  Then a beautiful elven woman stepped onto the road before him, smiling, and he stopped, dismounted, and walked away with her.  They went to a cottage in the woods not too far from here.  That cottage is right in the middle of a lot of strangeness going on in the woods here, and that woman is behind it somehow, I think.  There were others with her at the cottage, too many for me to be able to handle on my own.  But I was spotted, and the woman sent the archer to kill me, and he's been doing his level best ever since to do just that.  I wildshape when I can to try to throw him off, but he's always picked up my trail.""The elven woman has probably charmed Oakcrown into subservience," Alistair mused.  "She may even be dominating him.""Or he could just be a colossal jerk," Chaevaris opined, "doing whatever a hot piece of elven tail asks him to.""Regardless, we were sent to fetch him," Harlan pointed out.  He turned to Ralandane.  "Can you lead us to this cottage?" he asked.  The druid was more than capable, taking them via a winding method that had them approaching the cottage from a different angle than if they had just followed Oakcrown's path.  They tied their mounts' reins to trees several hundred feet from the cottage, where Ralandane offered to stay and watch over them.  "I don't wish to be charmed like he was," the druid confessed.  "But I do have some spells prepared that could be of use."After explaining what spells he could cast on the others to aid them in any combat situations that might arise, the group decided to have Harlan be the recipient of both the bear's endurance and barkskin spells Ralandane had prepared.  The druid warned the group there could be as many as four people in the cottage, possibly even more: the woman, who seemed to be in charge; Captain Oakcrown; a half-elf with a lute; and another elf who carried a battleaxe but wore no armor.  At Ageratum's questioning, he offered up he hadn't ever seen any evidence of any guard dogs."Good," the halfling replied.  "Dogs can be a real pain."Alistair spoke a few words to Ambrose in their own special language, and the grackle flapped off the sorcerer's shoulder to do a reconnaissance flight around the cottage.  After a few minutes, the bird alit back upon Alistair's shoulder and reported what he'd seen.  Alistair, in turn, translated the grackle's findings for the others.  "The front door is the only way in," he said.  "There are four windows: one on either side of the front door, and one each on the east and west sides, each over by the front of the cottage.  The windows have shutters, all of which are open, and the windows are glass, covered with a wooden latticework.  Ambrose doesn't think they open.  He saw two people inside: the woman, sitting on a sofa directly across from the front door, and the bard playing the lute by her side.  Oh, and Captain Oakcrown is perched on a branch in a tree off to the east of the cottage, standing guard.""That's only three accounted for," Harlan observed.  "Any sign of the fighter with the sword?"Alistair conferred with Ambrose.  "He didn't see him," Alistair said.  "He might be in the back of the cottage.  There are two hanging curtains on the north wall of the entry room, where the lady's listening to the music being played by the half-elf, which likely lead to the back half of the building.  Or, he might not even be present - maybe he's off on some other errand for her."Harlan gave it some thought.  "We'll need to avoid the east side," he said.  "I was hoping to be able to move in using a pincer formation, but if there's no back door, that's out."  Harlan could definitely pick up a single source of evil in the room, sensing it even through the wooden wall of the structure.Eventually they struck up a plan, focused upon taking out the elven woman as quickly as possible, and hoping that the others were merely charmed into doing her bidding - and furthermore, that with her out (either unconscious or dead), she'd no longer be able to control her unwilling minions.  Three of the heroes made a long arc around to the west side of the cottage, quietly approaching it from that side and staying low beneath the window.  Ageratum scooted around to the front door and examined the knob; without touching it, she could tell it was unlocked and it didn't look to be trapped.  Harlan came over by her side, longsword out and ready, although he had mentally shut off the flames of his blade, so as not to cause flickering light that Oakcrown might be able to notice, even if his vantage point from his perch did not include the front door.  Alistair and Ambrose waited by the western window, and with a quietly cast spell, Ogilvy joined them.  Alistair handed a fist-sized rock to his unseen servant and was about to explain the plan when he realized it wasn't necessary - Ogilvy would perform as his master directed, when mentally commanded to do so.  Alistair cast a touch of idiocy spell on his familiar, with directions for Ambrose to go set it off by touching the elven woman, whom Alistair suspected was some sort of wizard or sorcerer herself.  Chaevaris, in the meantime, remained over at their original location, where the archer could get a bead on Captain Oakcrown, who was apparently unaware of being targeted down a readied arrow's shaft.The signal to attack was Ogilvy's smashing of a diagonal section of glass in the western latticed window.  Once the unseen servant had done just that, Alistair pushed Ambrose through the opening with one hand while he pushed his wand of magic missile into the opening shortly thereafter, to get off a blast at the woman while Ambrose's triggered spell (with luck) reduced her mental faculties, hopefully to the point she'd be unable to cast some of her more powerful spells.  At the same time, Ageratum pushed open the front door, allowing Harlan to charge into the room, igniting his blade as he channeled a smite evil attack through his sword.  And Ageratum threw one of her kobold spears at the woman as well.All of this went off, but not entirely exactly as planned.  As Ambrose flapped across the room to deliver the touch of idiocy spell on the woman, he was blasted by a sudden bolt of force that sent a few feathers flying from his wings.  An elven sorcerer, who until that moment had been standing invisibly to the west of the woman, suddenly popped into view when he cast the magic missile spell at the intruding grackle.  Fortunately, the bird, although sent off course by the power of the blast, regained his momentum in an instant and managed to touch a wing to the woman's hair, sending the spell flashing into her body.  Even better, the spell was fully successful, as evidenced by her shocked reaction as it took its full effect, slightly reducing her mental faculties.  Ambrose flapped around the room, finally alighting in a corner where he hoped to remain out of the way until he could exit through the front door.Harlan's charge was also successful, but he had a harder time getting to his target than he had intended.  As soon as he stepped into the cottage, his mind was bombarded by a spell cast by the half-elven bard, and the paladin had to force himself not to drop his plan altogether and just laugh at the whole ridiculousness of the situation.  Fortunately, he was able to suppress the effects of the Tasha's hideous laughter spell and all that slipped past his lips was a stifled giggle.  But the woman had also apparently been ready for the paladin's charge, for he could feel her presence in the back of his mind, telling him to stop his attack and protect her at all cost, even if it meant fighting his former friends.  His will was strong enough to overcome that attempt as well, and he finished his charge, channeling additional holy power through his flaming burst longsword - which he'd mentally reignited during his charge across the room - and the blade cut into her side, causing her to shriek in pain.  Her pain was compounded by the blast from Alistair's wand sticking through the gap in the window; it would have been compounded even further from the thrown halfspear, but Ageratum's throw was slightly off.Outside the cabin, Chaevaris heard Oglivy's smashing of the window glass and fired off the arrow being held at the ready.  It crossed the clearing and buried itself in his right thigh.  He grunted in pain and released his own arrow, which struck Chaevaris in the upper part of the left arm.  But Chaevaris clamped down on any pain, not wanting to give Oakcrown the satisfaction of knowing he'd caused any pain to his target.Inside the cottage, the half-elf bard dropped his lute and charged at Harlan for having the audacity to strike his beloved mistress with his flaming sword.  His dagger cut into the paladin's side, but the worst of the blow was deflected by Harlan's armor.  And then, with the rustling of the easternmost curtain, another figure entered the fray: the elven fighter with the battleaxe and no armor which Ralandane had warned the heroes about.  He likewise raced to attack Harlan, but the paladin was able to avoid the swinging axe with ease.Alistair cast a scorching ray at the elven woman, pointing his finger through the opening in the window.  But his spell went wide, striking the wall behind her instead of its real target.  Alistair voiced an uncharacteristic curse; he'd hoped his spell would have brought her down, for she truly looked to be on her last legs.  Perhaps this was a valuable lesson on the difficulties in casting at a target from outside the building in which she stood.Suddenly, Alistair's view of his target was blocked by Moonstone, the sorcerer who'd blasted Ambrose.  He had a wand of his own and positioned himself so he could use it on Harlan without harming his own allies.  Voicing the command word, a sheet of flames spread out from the tip of the wand: burning hands, Alistair realized.  He grinned as he realized that wand would be his if they took these foes out.  Harlan barely even noticed the sudden burst of flame from his left, even as they warmed that side of his armor.  He was, instead, focused upon his own attacks, which ignored the bard and the fighter at his side and sent the blade of his flaming burst longsword, imbued with holy energy from Pelor, crashing into the side of the elven woman who the paladin's senses revealed as the only source of evil inside the entire room.  She screamed her final shriek of defiance as she fell to the floor, dead beyond the Blood Mirror's ability to prevent.The effects of the woman's death were instantaneous.  As had been hoped, the others in the room - Moonstone, the bard, and the battleaxe-wielding fighter - all shook their head as if awakening from a bout of sleepwalking.  Harlan immediately deactivated the flames from his blade and held the sword and his other hand up before him, showing them he was no longer in a fighting stance.  "We mean you no harm," he told them."Nor we you," answered the elven fighter, lowering his battleaxe.Outside the cottage, however, things were continuing on as before.  Chaevaris sent another arrow flying at Oakcrown, thudding into the side of the trunk of the tree in which he was perched.  He let loose with another arrow of his own, the tip of the arrowhead catching the side of Chaevaris's cheek as it flew past.  Oakcrown then dropped from the tree, pulled the arrow from his leg, and limped away in the opposite direction from the cottage.Chaevaris yelled, "It's definitely off!" in Elven at Oakcrown's back."You bet it is!" Oakcrown called back over his shoulder in the same language.  "I don't want anything to do with such a lowborn...sh*tty shooter!"  However, his continued limp gave silent evidence to Chaevaris's actual marksmanship skills."Hey, wait," Ageratum called over to the others.  "Oakcrown's leaving again - aren't we supposed to be bringing him in?""We are," Harlan replied, stepping outside the cottage and seeing Captain Oakcrown and Chaevaris rooted in their respective spots, engaged in calling each other names in their native tongue."Elitist bastard!""Dung-eating common rabble!""Pompous, self-important blowhard!""Flat-chested, unappealing peasant!"Eventually, Harlan was able to get them to quit their name-calling and appeal to Oakcrown's sense of duty by informing him they'd been sent by Talantis Vertiver to discover his whereabouts and the reason he hadn't completed his dispatch mission.  A look of shame crept over the elven Captain's face as he realized his dereliction - unwilling as it might have been - had impacted the nation of Celene.  Without another word, he limped over back towards the cottage, studiously avoiding Chaevaris's gaze.But while Alistair was mentally running their elven words back in his mind (he read Elven with a much faster speed and a better comprehension than he did when hearing it spoken aloud), Ageratum had followed along with the insults perfectly fine and realized the import of Oakcrown's final barb.  She strode up to Chaevaris and said, "You're an elven woman?"Chaevaris looked down at her diminutive companion.  Of her three cohorts in the adventuring business, Ageratum was the closest in age and the one she least considered to be a child.  "Yes," she finally admitted.  The halfling smiled and offered her fist for a fist bump, which Chaevaris half-heartedly gave.Ageratum spun and faced Alistair.  "Did you know?" she demanded.Alistair's mind was just now catching up to the revelations.  "I-- well-- yes, of course, I realized immediately," he stammered.  "I just...figured there must be a good reason why Chaevaris was masquerading as a man, and so I--"  Then a sudden realization hit him, one more devastating to him than the fact he'd merely assumed Chaevaris, with her short hair and slight build, had been male.  "You're not the real Elfy 'Danger' Silverleaf!" he cried.Chaevaris just shook her head sadly.  "Child," she sighed.But then any further discussion was pre-empted when Moonstone informed the group there was an elven girl downstairs in the cabin.  "She had us grab her the other night," he admitted.  "See, she's not really - well, wasn't really an elf; that was just one of her forms."  He explained she was a foxwoman, a form of lycanthrope who abducted children and passed on her shapeshifting abilities to the next generation in that fashion.  "She referred to it as a 'wedding,'" Moonstone further explained.  "She was planning on turning the little girl into a foxwoman like herself tonight."Harlan led the group through the curtain (which led to a kitchen), and from there down a set of stairs which led to the foxwoman's bedroom.  There they found the elven girl, looking to Alistair's human eyes as if she were a mere six or eight years old, asleep in the bed.  There were no restraints keeping her in place, as she'd already been charmed into accepting her new life with her new "mother."  Ralandane, once he was brought to the cottage, recognized the girl and promised to return her to her family.However, at Ageratum's insistence, the heroes gave the lower level a full exploration and the crafty halfling discovered a hidden door in the wall which led to a natural cave opening beneath the cottage.  It smelled of old bones and rotting meat, and sure enough it was the foxwoman's den for the times when she wore a fox's form.  But of more importance to Ageratum were the three chests stacked against the back wall of the cave; after determining they weren't trapped, she opened each one, revealing a large quantity of coins and gems.  She also found a pearl-handled dagger with a silver blade, which would serve the halfling perfectly well as a short sword.  A detect magic spell cast by Alistair confirmed it carried a dweomer that increased the wielder's combat prowess and effectiveness.  He also uncovered the magical nature of one of the candles in the bathing room, which, when lit, cast a calm emotions effect.  "Nice haul!" Ageratum enthused, figuring after taking the pearl-handled dagger out of the equation, there was the equivalent of about four thousand pieces of gold in treasure for each of the four heroes.As Ralandane took the elven girl back to her family and the other formerly charmed victims of the foxwoman each went their separate ways, Olotores Oakcrown went to fetch his horse, promising to return.  While he was gone, Ageratum pressed Chaevaris for details.  "So what's the deal with you two?" she asked.Chaevaris sighed.  "Olotoris and I trained in archery together," she explained.  "My parents were quite taken with him, and arranged a marriage between us.  I wanted nothing to do with marrying him, so I took the opportunity of signing on with a caravan taking me 19 days away from Greyhawk City, thinking I'd never have to deal with him again.  Apparently, he had similar feelings about the prospect of marrying me."  Looking down at her elven chain mail armor, hanging flat from her shoulders and undisturbed by even the slightest hint of a breast, she added, "After all, my sister Ennala was the one with the traditional feminine elven good looks.  Had I known he had no interest....""Had you known that," Alistair interjected, "you'd never had met up with us, Elfy, and think how sad a life that would have been!"  Then, seeing Chaevaris's scowl and properly chastised, he lowered his eyes and amended his statement with, "I mean, Miss Noarunal.""That's a little better," Chaevaris admitted.  Maybe these "children" could be trained after all.... - - -So, a dozen adventures in and we finally got to Chaevaris's big secret.  Logan had decided on running a female elf archer but decided his PC was going to look very much like a male - flat chest, short hair, not much of a feminine figure - because he thought it would make for a good surprise to drop on the other players later in the campaign.  However, I'm the one who made the initiative cards for the PCs, and when I saw the image Logan had chosen for Chaevaris I commented on how he looked like a girl.  (I had naturally assumed Logan would be running a male PC, since in all of our campaigns thus far the players had all played PCs matching their own genders.)  And when I heard the limited backstory he was willing to tell me - that Chaevaris was just looking for a reason to get far away from Greyhawk City - I jokingly asked if he was running away from an arranged marriage.  Seeing the crestfallen expression on his face (and probably assuming I'd picked up more than I did, given our similar "mental wavelengths"), he told me the full story and just asked that I keep it from the other players.So, I not only did just that, but as I started writing up this Story Hour I deliberately avoided using any pronouns when describing Chaevaris.  It was never "he picked up an arrow and placed it in his bow," it was always "the elf picked up an arrow and put it in place in the bow" - the only exceptions being when any of the other PCs were talking about Chaevaris.  In those instances, I allowed myself to use "he" and "him" if that's how Ageratum, Alistair, or Harlan would describe their archer companion.  Now, I no longer have to worry about such linguistical contortions, which is a bit of a relief.  Of course, Alistair will now be referring to Chaevaris as "Miss Noarunal" as that's how he was brought up.Incidentally, at the end of this session Logan informed us "Chaevaris" in Elven is a unisex name (like Drew or Jordan); when pronounced "Shuv-air-us" (which is how he pronounces it for his PC) it's considered feminine, but when pronounced "Shay-vair-us" it's considered masculine.  Kind of like Michael and Michele, I suppose, although I do know of several female Michaels.</blockquote>

Verification