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Story Hour
Greyhawk Dies Screaming! (Orcus-themed Scales of War; Shadow Rift of the Umbra Forge)
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<blockquote data-quote="Pour" data-source="post: 4826507" data-attributes="member: 59411"><p><strong>OOC: A new player and our second girl, Lia the Elven Druid!</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Sunday, June 14, 2009</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><span style="color: Purple"><strong>Session 8: Shadow Hunt</strong></span></span></p><p></p><p> <strong>The Cast: </strong>Manfred, Velasong, Solux, Brugagh, Ruhiel and Lia<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">The Return of Mike... err Manfred</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>It was true that Mike the Mystic was a local celebrity and pride of The Great Church. However, his reputation proceeded him, nay overshadowed him, for when the church sent him on a mission of utmost importance and which pitted him against the likes of a Pyramid of Shadows, he screwed up royally. Truth be told, he couldn't even find the entrance to the place.</p><p></p><p>Defeated, he was summoned back to The Cathedral of the Ten where he got the berating of a lifetime by the merciless Father Oghma, fresh off reaming the group out for their incompetence in the alley. At that point Mike the Mystic was demoted and his true name revealed. Manfred! Oh, the humanity...</p><p></p><p>Meeting former companions and new on the steps of the Cathedral, Manfred tried to save some face by adding the oh so subtle title of Monster Cock to the end of his name. Few were convinced...</p><p></p><p>Regardless, the beloved wizard had returned to help aid the Inquisitors on their most important mission yet:Find Mm.... Mahh.... to find Mooooderrr... to find the guy looking for the key.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Lia</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>But Father Oghma wasn't so sure he'd put the right Inquisitors on the job. Mother Mirabella, high priestess of the Melora, eased his worries by sending one of her up and coming pupils to watch over Manfred and the others. Lia the elven druid tentatively agreed, having overheard enough title proclaiming on the church steps to wonder if this wasn't a suicide mission...<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Word on the Streets</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>Velasong, having already proven herself incredibly street wise, did so again, rubbing shoulders with bar goers, pressing her connections on the street corners, and otherwise working her budding information network. Word took the group to Tradetown, a depressed district of shoddy tenements and forgotten warehouses, where the poor mixed with the refuse left on the street. It smelled of horse dung and stewed laundry.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Cheap Beer</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>The group was told to find a guy named Gurdle, who knew quite a bit about Tradetown from his years of making it home. They found him while happening down a street crossed and crisscrossed with laden laundry wires.</p><p></p><p>He was a "pretty" dwarf, truly a handsome guy for his species, down on his luck and peddling cheap beer from a stand. A round cost a silver piece, quite a lot to him though laughable to the well-paid Inquisitors. It wasn't even worth it, the brew tasting of dirty drawers. However, resolved to get on his good side, Solux did a masterful job of faking his taste for the stuff. Meanwhile, the druid nearly wretched and Ruhiel might have even gotten slightly tipsy.</p><p></p><p>The warlord bought another, then another, suffering for the sake of information. The group eventually found out, through no help from Manfred's sexual advances, that Modra had passed through the neighborhood and often frequented The Happy Beggar Poorhouse. Gurdle also noted that Modra looked kind of sick for a halfling, pale and hunched. <strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">The Happy Beggar</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>A few blocks down, the group came upon the Poorhouse, looking as down and depressed as its intended patrons. Fading whitewash masked splintering wood, a sinking roof with missing shingles, and landscaping which consisted of wild weed patches. Still, it was somewhere for the poor to go for meals and watery mead, thus making it well-populated.</p><p></p><p>Entering, the group found around two dozen poor souls with their faces in their mugs or in their meals, barely mustering the energy to sustain life. It was a sorry sight, but the gloom was balanced by the sudden cheerfulness of an older, heavy man limping down the stairs. His name was Prashant, owner of the Poorhouse, who welcomed the group inside for meals and devotions. Apparently he was a religious type, one who often and randomly began singing gospel. His wife Ausma was equally so, feeding wood to the wood stove behind a counter, humming and smiling. <strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Beating Up Old Folks</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>Manfred immediately went to the wife, intent for gleaning information about Modra. He put the moves on her with such skill that she grabbed him by the collar and tore him over the counter and onto the floor. That happy act was apparently a secret cry for help, as she was slave to an unhappy marriage. But Manfred would make it all okay, she knew, as she gave into passion with the young half-elf.</p><p></p><p>But Manfred really just wanted to cuddle is all, somewhat skeeved by the heavy, older woman grinding on him so. Still, one had to make sacrifices, and so he let her have her way whilst questioning her beyond the sight of the others.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, her husband Prashant saw his wife's outburst and looked ready to make Manfred pay. The rest of the group decided to jump Prashant and knock him out cold. They dragged the old man to a table and propped him like one of the passed-out patrons. And once Manfred learned that the old beggar in the corner was just asking about Modra, he knocked her out and propped her next to her husband.<span style="color: DarkSlateBlue"><strong>An Unhappy Beggar</strong></span></p><p>The patrons hardly noticed a thing, except for that one beggar in the corner, who laughed histerically as the group approached him. His name was Bernat and Modra owed him money. He didn't want the money anymore, but the little bastard's head. He confirmed Modra was indeed a dark creeper, and a shadowy little liar, too. The group shouldn't trust Modra at all, despite what deal he might try to make. Just take his head and bring it back to him. The group didn't have a problem with that.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Cellar Secrets</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>A highly accute sense of perception revealed muddy footprints as of yet uncleaned leading from the front door into the kitchen. Cautious of cooks, the group sent Lia in the form of a gnat to investigate. She found three volunteers stirring soup suspiciously, but also that the trail led to a boarded-up cellar door. Slipping through a crack in the cellar door, she found a storeroom with a collapsed cieling... though there might have been a narrow passage leading down...</p><p>Reporting her findings to the rest, they exploded into the kitchen ready to fight. The three volunteers dropped their spoons and ran out the back door. The boards over the cellar were loose enough to pry off barehanded and they entered inside. It looked like a dead end, but Lia, being an expert of rocks, realized that the pile of rubble was in fact NOT a pile of rubble, but a carefully stacked pyramid meant to LOOK like rubble. Manfred used his mage hand to clear it all away and the group carefully crept down a steep, crumbling slope into pitch black.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Bats!</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>Brugagh went first, the most athletic of all of them, and slipped on the first stone, sailing head first into the unknown and crashing with such a clatter it woke a multitude of shrieking bats. Manfred followed just after, suffering a similar falling fate, as did Ruhiel, as did Lia, as did Velasong. Solux muttered under his breath, actually taking his time down the narrow passage and landing safely on his feet.</p><p></p><p>However the noise had been far too great and four great beasts soared in the darkness for the blind group. The warlock fired, missing but illuminating the cavern long enough to see four giant bats with messes of fangs for faces. They tore into the group, but once Manfred cast his light spell, the beasts were weakened and death came soon after, death involving eldritch blasts, thorn whips, ice spells, catchy tunes and good old steel.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Don't Get to Close to the... yeah...</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>Manfred's light spell also revealed a collection of over-sized fungi like warped, green mushrooms, which collected on the edge of a cliff. As Lia went about identifying the fungi as Doomspore, Brugagh accidentally wandered too close, provoking a mushroom into spewing a nasty yellow spore cloud in his face. The poisoned half-orc coughed and stumbled back, even as the rest of the group backed away from him. Of course Velasong eventually took pity on him, inspiring him to cough it all up and out of his system with a few slaps on the back and a dirty limerick or two.</p><p></p><p>While the warlock readied a fire spell, the druid warned it would create a gigantic cloud of poison fumes. Leave it to the wizard to leap to the forefront, casting his icy terrain to crystallize the fungi and render it powerless... and slippery... Yet the ice hardly hampered the Inquisitors at all as they threw ropes over the edge and performed all manner of impressive acrobatic feats to get down... all but the poor druid who, so distracted by the sweating limestone formations, slipped and fell.</p><p></p><p>Manfred demanded they look for loot before moving on, but all the group could find was bat guano, ankle-deep at the bottom of the cave. Everyone cringed as the wizard ordered them to pocket and pouch the stuff, which was, among other things, excellent fertilizer, and could be used to make a nasty stink bomb. Six pouches were filled before everyone got fed up and moved on.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">The Inventory</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>A savage howl welcomed them to bottom of a stairwell carved into the stone, one which emptied into a dilapidated temple. Now it was converted into nothing more than a storeroom, barrels and crates of weapons heaped into every corner. Though the place looked half-crumbling, it hardly deterred three dark creepers and an ashen-skinned witch, what the knowledgeable recognized as a shadar'kai, from taking inventory. Two shadow hounds rested in an open cage, pets and guardians.</p><p></p><p>Manfred used his mage hand to close and lock the dogs in their cage, which drove them nuts. The busy Shadowfellians hardly took note as they continued their counts and stock of the arms. The group surprised them then, Solux blasting the witch against the back wall with an explosion of alien-born black tentacles. Ruhiel followed with a charge, cutting across her midsection so as to speed her toward a Bloody Ending.</p><p></p><p>Staggered, she summoned a cloud of darkness and fired a bolt for the bard. The wizard countered the witch's cloud with his trademark light cantrip, revealing her once more for a barrage of attacks that brought her to her knees. She surrendered, allowing the group to turn their attentions on the creepers.</p><p></p><p>One didn't have a chance, leashed by a thorn whip and flung through an open portal in the center of the room. The other fell between a combination of bard's blade and druid-turned-Dire-Chipmunk. A traditionally cute woodland critter became giant and deadly... and then there was one, who threw down his sword and surrendered.</p><p></p><p>During the massacre of the creepers, the witch thought to escape by turning insubstantial and flying for the next chamber, but Manfred froze her in her steps. Then began the questioning...<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Torture, Torture, Kill, Kill</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>Inquisitors by name, the group became so in action, beating and torturing the surrendered creeper for information. He revealed Modra was in the next chamber and that the Brass Key was the only way to unlock a gate into the Shadowfell, which also rested in the next chamber. He also revealed that Modra was weak against radiant light. No longer of use, the Inquisitors executed him to the savage chantings of the bard as she called for his head.</p><p></p><p>Velasong revived the witch and then began her questioning. Flustered and frightened, she offered the same information the creeper had given. The group threatened her life if she didn't tell them more, provoking the witch into spilling juicier morsels. Modra was on the run from his former master Sarshan because the creeper's side business was threatening the secrecy of a much more important arms deal. Modra could also command ghosts.</p><p></p><p>When Manfred began making his usual sexual advances on the helpless witch, she grew irate and cut her own throat with a sharpened nail before the wizard could ravage her. <strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Shut Those Dogs Up!</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>The Inquisitors moved for the next and presumably final chamber, but the dogs began to bark furiously after the killing of their mistress. Solux roasted them alive, tired of their barking anyway, and the group continued on in blissful silence.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Kill vs. Word of Friendship?</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>They found Modra banging frantically against a large, black archway with swirling, repellent, force inside it. He cried all the while, "Let me in, damn it! Let me in! Master's nearly found me! Let me in!"</p><p></p><p>He turned suddenly, scared witless by the appearance of the group. He asked if they were sent by Sarshan, which the Inquisitors cruelly said they were. This only frightened the dark creeper more. He begged a deal, offering them money, magic and anything else they wanted. The group debated what to do, remembering Bernat's warning.</p><p></p><p>Lia used her whip to drag the creeper closer, but Velasong wanted to try a different approach, much to the anger of Solux. The two had it out in the middle of the chamber, giving Modra enough time to conjure five wraiths. Eventually Velasong offered a diplomatic hand in friendship which tricked the creeper closer AND convinced him to offer the deal once more.</p><p></p><p>Agreeing to make a pact, if only to get Modra even closer for an attack, the two parties began hammering out the finer details of the arrangement. They would go and get the key if he came with them to the surface, but the dark creeper demanded they leave someone with his wraiths in case this was a trap. It went back and forth until Manfred stepped forward, looking like he would stay. However, once Modra was close enough the wizard blasted him with a sleep spell. Two of the wraiths appeared to deflate and fall to the floor, but the resilient creeper cried foul and attacked.</p><p></p><p>Manfred managed to erect his guardian blades, even as Brugagh became a maelstrom of steel and cut down both incapacitated wraiths. Spells were hurled and songs sung, steel flashed and dire radiances burned as the remaining ghosts swooped in. Modra tried to run through the group for the exit, desperate and crazed, but the Inquisitors made him pay every step of the way until he was nearly spent. Almost to the door, Lia directed the pin pointing pain of a small tornado on top of the creeper, tearing him apart and swallowing the wraiths up in the process. In a gale the lot of them were destroyed, leaving a victorious party and a dark gate.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">Always the Heads...</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>Velasong collected Modra's head, Kildain (and perhaps the evil of Tiamat) obviously having rubbed off on her since their time together at The Golden Dragon.</p><p></p><p>Ruhiel inspected the gateway more closely. He found through exceptional historical scholarship that this gate led to a Shadowfell outpost called Umbraforge, a planar meeting ground for mercenaries of all kinds, and more so a great forge and foundry powered by a violent volcano. Its leader was Sarshan, Modra's former master and the darker force working at large.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: DarkSlateBlue">You will be Kings</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong>The group took Modra's head back upstairs, only to find the entire Poorhouse empty but for the expectant beggar in the corner. He began to laugh and clap on sight of the head, even as it was tossed onto the table in front of him.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, Modra... Modra, Modra, Mondra...," He laughed, planting a wet kiss on the creeper's lips and kicking the head into a corner.</p><p></p><p>Bernat began to change, growing taller and more muscular, his black hair knotting into dreadlocks and extending down to his waist, his skin coloring to ash and his eyes flooding black as spilled ink. This was Sarshan, Lord of Umbraforge!</p><p></p><p>The half-orc in his brutish directness asked what reward Sarshan offered for Modra's death, to which the shadar'kai arms dealer proclaimed, "Come with me and you will all be kings!"</p><p></p><p>Manfred's keen perception assured the group Sarshan was sincere and they followed him out into the city. Thusthe group opted to infiltrate Sarshan's operation at Umbraforge, deep in the Shadowfell where the demon god Orcus is worshiped as supreme, to uncover just what this larger, more important and more secretive deal was.</p><p></p><p>Sarshan bought the group darkly-colored horses from the best stable in the city. Like an oncoming storm they rode, Sarshan in the lead, out of Greyhawk and to a place known by many as The Black Hills. There a cairn circle of strange, black stones stood. Having always been a mystery, it was not surprising now that shadar'kai witches hid in its shadows. On Sarshan's behest, they began a ritual to transport all within the circle... to the <strong>Shadowfell</strong>!</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Experience:</strong> 679 xp each (<strong>4629 total</strong>)</p><p><strong>Money:</strong> +200 gp each, -1 gp, 1sp and 4 copper (Ruhiel)</p><p><strong>Loot:</strong> 6 pouches of bat guano, 2 black garments (dark creepers), 10 daggers (dark creepers), black coat (Modra), Chainmail (Modra), 6 darkly-colored horses</p><p><strong>Magic:</strong> Witchleather Armor (Shadar'kai Witch), Modra's Blade "Gambler" (Modra), The Brass Key (Ruhiel)</p><p></p><p>New NPCs:</p><p><strong>Gurdle</strong>, dwarven peddler of cheap beer in Tradetown</p><p><strong>Prashant</strong>, owner of The Happy Beggar Poorhouse</p><p><strong>Ausma</strong>, Prashant's wife and head server of The Happy Beggar Poorhouse</p><p><strong>Bernat</strong>/<strong>Sarshan</strong>, an old beggar whose true identity was that of the infamous shadar'kai arms dealer Sarshan</p><p><strong>Modra</strong>, a renegade dark creeper who tried to make some extra coin peddling weapons to Greyhawk's underbelly and who drew the ire of his master Sarshan [dead]</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Open Quests:</strong></p><p>1. What important arms deal is Sarshan involved in? (follow up quest, important to The Great Church, Greyhawk and perhaps the whole world)</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Modra was dealing weapons on the side for his own gain, which jeopardized the secrecy of his master Sarshan's larger and much more important operation (tortured witch)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Considering word that new death cults are popping up in the region and the fact Sarshan is a native of the Shadowfell, there is a good bet his deal has something to do with the demon god (going off Father Ohgma's information)</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Completed Quests:</strong></p><p>1. Uncover the importance of The Brass Key (who wants it and why, given by Father Ohgma)</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The key is sought after by someone called Modra, willing to pay a high price to anyone who brings it to the wharfs, specifically warehouse 32. (Chef Biol)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The key opens a gate into the Shadowfell, Modra's home (tortured dark creeper)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Modra tried making some extra coin peddling weapons to Greyhawk's underbelly, but was noticed by the Church. His small schemes jeaopardize his master Sarshan's much more important arms deal. (tortured witch)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sarshan is close to finding Modra, making him maddened and desperate to return to his home in the Shadowfell by whatever means necessary (Modra)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You now hold the only known key to the Shadowfell portal beneath The Happy Beggar</li> </ul><p>2. How are dark creepers forging, dealing and transporting weapons and armor under the notice of normal city security (followup quest, important to The Great Church)</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is a portal to the Shadowfell beneath The Happy Beggar Poorhouse, which empties out into the slums of Tradetown. Guards are lacking in the depressed district and no one has accurately mapped or surveyed the many rat traps that make up its neighborhoods in years. It's the perfect place to store and distribute black market items. (the transportation)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ruhiel discerned through expert historical knowledge and deciphering that the portal beneath the Poorhouse leads to a place called Umbraforge, a planar outpost where mercenaries and, more importantly, great forges and foundries are fueled by a massive volcano. It is run by the infamous shadar'kai known as Sarshan. (the forging)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Modra was dealing on the side for his own gain with a small collection of greedy associates, much to the fury of his master Sarshan. (the dealing)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You not only uncovered the details of Modra's side business, but you've also shut it down entirely.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pour, post: 4826507, member: 59411"] [B]OOC: A new player and our second girl, Lia the Elven Druid! Sunday, June 14, 2009[/B] [SIZE=6][COLOR=Purple][B]Session 8: Shadow Hunt[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] [B]The Cast: [/B]Manfred, Velasong, Solux, Brugagh, Ruhiel and Lia[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]The Return of Mike... err Manfred[/COLOR] [/B]It was true that Mike the Mystic was a local celebrity and pride of The Great Church. However, his reputation proceeded him, nay overshadowed him, for when the church sent him on a mission of utmost importance and which pitted him against the likes of a Pyramid of Shadows, he screwed up royally. Truth be told, he couldn't even find the entrance to the place. Defeated, he was summoned back to The Cathedral of the Ten where he got the berating of a lifetime by the merciless Father Oghma, fresh off reaming the group out for their incompetence in the alley. At that point Mike the Mystic was demoted and his true name revealed. Manfred! Oh, the humanity... Meeting former companions and new on the steps of the Cathedral, Manfred tried to save some face by adding the oh so subtle title of Monster Cock to the end of his name. Few were convinced... Regardless, the beloved wizard had returned to help aid the Inquisitors on their most important mission yet:Find Mm.... Mahh.... to find Mooooderrr... to find the guy looking for the key.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Lia[/COLOR] [/B]But Father Oghma wasn't so sure he'd put the right Inquisitors on the job. Mother Mirabella, high priestess of the Melora, eased his worries by sending one of her up and coming pupils to watch over Manfred and the others. Lia the elven druid tentatively agreed, having overheard enough title proclaiming on the church steps to wonder if this wasn't a suicide mission...[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Word on the Streets[/COLOR] [/B]Velasong, having already proven herself incredibly street wise, did so again, rubbing shoulders with bar goers, pressing her connections on the street corners, and otherwise working her budding information network. Word took the group to Tradetown, a depressed district of shoddy tenements and forgotten warehouses, where the poor mixed with the refuse left on the street. It smelled of horse dung and stewed laundry.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Cheap Beer[/COLOR] [/B]The group was told to find a guy named Gurdle, who knew quite a bit about Tradetown from his years of making it home. They found him while happening down a street crossed and crisscrossed with laden laundry wires. He was a "pretty" dwarf, truly a handsome guy for his species, down on his luck and peddling cheap beer from a stand. A round cost a silver piece, quite a lot to him though laughable to the well-paid Inquisitors. It wasn't even worth it, the brew tasting of dirty drawers. However, resolved to get on his good side, Solux did a masterful job of faking his taste for the stuff. Meanwhile, the druid nearly wretched and Ruhiel might have even gotten slightly tipsy. The warlord bought another, then another, suffering for the sake of information. The group eventually found out, through no help from Manfred's sexual advances, that Modra had passed through the neighborhood and often frequented The Happy Beggar Poorhouse. Gurdle also noted that Modra looked kind of sick for a halfling, pale and hunched. [B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]The Happy Beggar[/COLOR] [/B]A few blocks down, the group came upon the Poorhouse, looking as down and depressed as its intended patrons. Fading whitewash masked splintering wood, a sinking roof with missing shingles, and landscaping which consisted of wild weed patches. Still, it was somewhere for the poor to go for meals and watery mead, thus making it well-populated. Entering, the group found around two dozen poor souls with their faces in their mugs or in their meals, barely mustering the energy to sustain life. It was a sorry sight, but the gloom was balanced by the sudden cheerfulness of an older, heavy man limping down the stairs. His name was Prashant, owner of the Poorhouse, who welcomed the group inside for meals and devotions. Apparently he was a religious type, one who often and randomly began singing gospel. His wife Ausma was equally so, feeding wood to the wood stove behind a counter, humming and smiling. [B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Beating Up Old Folks[/COLOR] [/B]Manfred immediately went to the wife, intent for gleaning information about Modra. He put the moves on her with such skill that she grabbed him by the collar and tore him over the counter and onto the floor. That happy act was apparently a secret cry for help, as she was slave to an unhappy marriage. But Manfred would make it all okay, she knew, as she gave into passion with the young half-elf. But Manfred really just wanted to cuddle is all, somewhat skeeved by the heavy, older woman grinding on him so. Still, one had to make sacrifices, and so he let her have her way whilst questioning her beyond the sight of the others. Unfortunately, her husband Prashant saw his wife's outburst and looked ready to make Manfred pay. The rest of the group decided to jump Prashant and knock him out cold. They dragged the old man to a table and propped him like one of the passed-out patrons. And once Manfred learned that the old beggar in the corner was just asking about Modra, he knocked her out and propped her next to her husband.[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][B]An Unhappy Beggar[/B][/COLOR] The patrons hardly noticed a thing, except for that one beggar in the corner, who laughed histerically as the group approached him. His name was Bernat and Modra owed him money. He didn't want the money anymore, but the little bastard's head. He confirmed Modra was indeed a dark creeper, and a shadowy little liar, too. The group shouldn't trust Modra at all, despite what deal he might try to make. Just take his head and bring it back to him. The group didn't have a problem with that.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Cellar Secrets[/COLOR] [/B]A highly accute sense of perception revealed muddy footprints as of yet uncleaned leading from the front door into the kitchen. Cautious of cooks, the group sent Lia in the form of a gnat to investigate. She found three volunteers stirring soup suspiciously, but also that the trail led to a boarded-up cellar door. Slipping through a crack in the cellar door, she found a storeroom with a collapsed cieling... though there might have been a narrow passage leading down... Reporting her findings to the rest, they exploded into the kitchen ready to fight. The three volunteers dropped their spoons and ran out the back door. The boards over the cellar were loose enough to pry off barehanded and they entered inside. It looked like a dead end, but Lia, being an expert of rocks, realized that the pile of rubble was in fact NOT a pile of rubble, but a carefully stacked pyramid meant to LOOK like rubble. Manfred used his mage hand to clear it all away and the group carefully crept down a steep, crumbling slope into pitch black.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Bats![/COLOR] [/B]Brugagh went first, the most athletic of all of them, and slipped on the first stone, sailing head first into the unknown and crashing with such a clatter it woke a multitude of shrieking bats. Manfred followed just after, suffering a similar falling fate, as did Ruhiel, as did Lia, as did Velasong. Solux muttered under his breath, actually taking his time down the narrow passage and landing safely on his feet. However the noise had been far too great and four great beasts soared in the darkness for the blind group. The warlock fired, missing but illuminating the cavern long enough to see four giant bats with messes of fangs for faces. They tore into the group, but once Manfred cast his light spell, the beasts were weakened and death came soon after, death involving eldritch blasts, thorn whips, ice spells, catchy tunes and good old steel.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Don't Get to Close to the... yeah...[/COLOR] [/B]Manfred's light spell also revealed a collection of over-sized fungi like warped, green mushrooms, which collected on the edge of a cliff. As Lia went about identifying the fungi as Doomspore, Brugagh accidentally wandered too close, provoking a mushroom into spewing a nasty yellow spore cloud in his face. The poisoned half-orc coughed and stumbled back, even as the rest of the group backed away from him. Of course Velasong eventually took pity on him, inspiring him to cough it all up and out of his system with a few slaps on the back and a dirty limerick or two. While the warlock readied a fire spell, the druid warned it would create a gigantic cloud of poison fumes. Leave it to the wizard to leap to the forefront, casting his icy terrain to crystallize the fungi and render it powerless... and slippery... Yet the ice hardly hampered the Inquisitors at all as they threw ropes over the edge and performed all manner of impressive acrobatic feats to get down... all but the poor druid who, so distracted by the sweating limestone formations, slipped and fell. Manfred demanded they look for loot before moving on, but all the group could find was bat guano, ankle-deep at the bottom of the cave. Everyone cringed as the wizard ordered them to pocket and pouch the stuff, which was, among other things, excellent fertilizer, and could be used to make a nasty stink bomb. Six pouches were filled before everyone got fed up and moved on.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]The Inventory[/COLOR] [/B]A savage howl welcomed them to bottom of a stairwell carved into the stone, one which emptied into a dilapidated temple. Now it was converted into nothing more than a storeroom, barrels and crates of weapons heaped into every corner. Though the place looked half-crumbling, it hardly deterred three dark creepers and an ashen-skinned witch, what the knowledgeable recognized as a shadar'kai, from taking inventory. Two shadow hounds rested in an open cage, pets and guardians. Manfred used his mage hand to close and lock the dogs in their cage, which drove them nuts. The busy Shadowfellians hardly took note as they continued their counts and stock of the arms. The group surprised them then, Solux blasting the witch against the back wall with an explosion of alien-born black tentacles. Ruhiel followed with a charge, cutting across her midsection so as to speed her toward a Bloody Ending. Staggered, she summoned a cloud of darkness and fired a bolt for the bard. The wizard countered the witch's cloud with his trademark light cantrip, revealing her once more for a barrage of attacks that brought her to her knees. She surrendered, allowing the group to turn their attentions on the creepers. One didn't have a chance, leashed by a thorn whip and flung through an open portal in the center of the room. The other fell between a combination of bard's blade and druid-turned-Dire-Chipmunk. A traditionally cute woodland critter became giant and deadly... and then there was one, who threw down his sword and surrendered. During the massacre of the creepers, the witch thought to escape by turning insubstantial and flying for the next chamber, but Manfred froze her in her steps. Then began the questioning...[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Torture, Torture, Kill, Kill[/COLOR] [/B]Inquisitors by name, the group became so in action, beating and torturing the surrendered creeper for information. He revealed Modra was in the next chamber and that the Brass Key was the only way to unlock a gate into the Shadowfell, which also rested in the next chamber. He also revealed that Modra was weak against radiant light. No longer of use, the Inquisitors executed him to the savage chantings of the bard as she called for his head. Velasong revived the witch and then began her questioning. Flustered and frightened, she offered the same information the creeper had given. The group threatened her life if she didn't tell them more, provoking the witch into spilling juicier morsels. Modra was on the run from his former master Sarshan because the creeper's side business was threatening the secrecy of a much more important arms deal. Modra could also command ghosts. When Manfred began making his usual sexual advances on the helpless witch, she grew irate and cut her own throat with a sharpened nail before the wizard could ravage her. [B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Shut Those Dogs Up![/COLOR] [/B]The Inquisitors moved for the next and presumably final chamber, but the dogs began to bark furiously after the killing of their mistress. Solux roasted them alive, tired of their barking anyway, and the group continued on in blissful silence.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Kill vs. Word of Friendship?[/COLOR] [/B]They found Modra banging frantically against a large, black archway with swirling, repellent, force inside it. He cried all the while, "Let me in, damn it! Let me in! Master's nearly found me! Let me in!" He turned suddenly, scared witless by the appearance of the group. He asked if they were sent by Sarshan, which the Inquisitors cruelly said they were. This only frightened the dark creeper more. He begged a deal, offering them money, magic and anything else they wanted. The group debated what to do, remembering Bernat's warning. Lia used her whip to drag the creeper closer, but Velasong wanted to try a different approach, much to the anger of Solux. The two had it out in the middle of the chamber, giving Modra enough time to conjure five wraiths. Eventually Velasong offered a diplomatic hand in friendship which tricked the creeper closer AND convinced him to offer the deal once more. Agreeing to make a pact, if only to get Modra even closer for an attack, the two parties began hammering out the finer details of the arrangement. They would go and get the key if he came with them to the surface, but the dark creeper demanded they leave someone with his wraiths in case this was a trap. It went back and forth until Manfred stepped forward, looking like he would stay. However, once Modra was close enough the wizard blasted him with a sleep spell. Two of the wraiths appeared to deflate and fall to the floor, but the resilient creeper cried foul and attacked. Manfred managed to erect his guardian blades, even as Brugagh became a maelstrom of steel and cut down both incapacitated wraiths. Spells were hurled and songs sung, steel flashed and dire radiances burned as the remaining ghosts swooped in. Modra tried to run through the group for the exit, desperate and crazed, but the Inquisitors made him pay every step of the way until he was nearly spent. Almost to the door, Lia directed the pin pointing pain of a small tornado on top of the creeper, tearing him apart and swallowing the wraiths up in the process. In a gale the lot of them were destroyed, leaving a victorious party and a dark gate.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Always the Heads...[/COLOR] [/B]Velasong collected Modra's head, Kildain (and perhaps the evil of Tiamat) obviously having rubbed off on her since their time together at The Golden Dragon. Ruhiel inspected the gateway more closely. He found through exceptional historical scholarship that this gate led to a Shadowfell outpost called Umbraforge, a planar meeting ground for mercenaries of all kinds, and more so a great forge and foundry powered by a violent volcano. Its leader was Sarshan, Modra's former master and the darker force working at large.[B] [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]You will be Kings[/COLOR] [/B]The group took Modra's head back upstairs, only to find the entire Poorhouse empty but for the expectant beggar in the corner. He began to laugh and clap on sight of the head, even as it was tossed onto the table in front of him. "Oh, Modra... Modra, Modra, Mondra...," He laughed, planting a wet kiss on the creeper's lips and kicking the head into a corner. Bernat began to change, growing taller and more muscular, his black hair knotting into dreadlocks and extending down to his waist, his skin coloring to ash and his eyes flooding black as spilled ink. This was Sarshan, Lord of Umbraforge! The half-orc in his brutish directness asked what reward Sarshan offered for Modra's death, to which the shadar'kai arms dealer proclaimed, "Come with me and you will all be kings!" Manfred's keen perception assured the group Sarshan was sincere and they followed him out into the city. Thusthe group opted to infiltrate Sarshan's operation at Umbraforge, deep in the Shadowfell where the demon god Orcus is worshiped as supreme, to uncover just what this larger, more important and more secretive deal was. Sarshan bought the group darkly-colored horses from the best stable in the city. Like an oncoming storm they rode, Sarshan in the lead, out of Greyhawk and to a place known by many as The Black Hills. There a cairn circle of strange, black stones stood. Having always been a mystery, it was not surprising now that shadar'kai witches hid in its shadows. On Sarshan's behest, they began a ritual to transport all within the circle... to the [B]Shadowfell[/B]! [B] Experience:[/B] 679 xp each ([B]4629 total[/B]) [B]Money:[/B] +200 gp each, -1 gp, 1sp and 4 copper (Ruhiel) [B]Loot:[/B] 6 pouches of bat guano, 2 black garments (dark creepers), 10 daggers (dark creepers), black coat (Modra), Chainmail (Modra), 6 darkly-colored horses [B]Magic:[/B] Witchleather Armor (Shadar'kai Witch), Modra's Blade "Gambler" (Modra), The Brass Key (Ruhiel) New NPCs: [B]Gurdle[/B], dwarven peddler of cheap beer in Tradetown [B]Prashant[/B], owner of The Happy Beggar Poorhouse [B]Ausma[/B], Prashant's wife and head server of The Happy Beggar Poorhouse [B]Bernat[/B]/[B]Sarshan[/B], an old beggar whose true identity was that of the infamous shadar'kai arms dealer Sarshan [B]Modra[/B], a renegade dark creeper who tried to make some extra coin peddling weapons to Greyhawk's underbelly and who drew the ire of his master Sarshan [dead] [B]Open Quests:[/B] 1. What important arms deal is Sarshan involved in? (follow up quest, important to The Great Church, Greyhawk and perhaps the whole world) [LIST] [*]Modra was dealing weapons on the side for his own gain, which jeopardized the secrecy of his master Sarshan's larger and much more important operation (tortured witch) [*]Considering word that new death cults are popping up in the region and the fact Sarshan is a native of the Shadowfell, there is a good bet his deal has something to do with the demon god (going off Father Ohgma's information) [/LIST] [B]Completed Quests:[/B] 1. Uncover the importance of The Brass Key (who wants it and why, given by Father Ohgma) [LIST] [*]The key is sought after by someone called Modra, willing to pay a high price to anyone who brings it to the wharfs, specifically warehouse 32. (Chef Biol) [*]The key opens a gate into the Shadowfell, Modra's home (tortured dark creeper) [*]Modra tried making some extra coin peddling weapons to Greyhawk's underbelly, but was noticed by the Church. His small schemes jeaopardize his master Sarshan's much more important arms deal. (tortured witch) [*]Sarshan is close to finding Modra, making him maddened and desperate to return to his home in the Shadowfell by whatever means necessary (Modra) [*]You now hold the only known key to the Shadowfell portal beneath The Happy Beggar [/LIST] 2. How are dark creepers forging, dealing and transporting weapons and armor under the notice of normal city security (followup quest, important to The Great Church) [LIST] [*]There is a portal to the Shadowfell beneath The Happy Beggar Poorhouse, which empties out into the slums of Tradetown. Guards are lacking in the depressed district and no one has accurately mapped or surveyed the many rat traps that make up its neighborhoods in years. It's the perfect place to store and distribute black market items. (the transportation) [*]Ruhiel discerned through expert historical knowledge and deciphering that the portal beneath the Poorhouse leads to a place called Umbraforge, a planar outpost where mercenaries and, more importantly, great forges and foundries are fueled by a massive volcano. It is run by the infamous shadar'kai known as Sarshan. (the forging) [*]Modra was dealing on the side for his own gain with a small collection of greedy associates, much to the fury of his master Sarshan. (the dealing) [*]You not only uncovered the details of Modra's side business, but you've also shut it down entirely. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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Greyhawk Dies Screaming! (Orcus-themed Scales of War; Shadow Rift of the Umbra Forge)
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