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Hoard of the Cold Sun (ToD Storyline in Eberron)
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 7348281" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Chapter 1: Windshire in Flames</strong></span></p><p></p><p><strong>Session 2.0</strong></p><p></p><p>The party finish their meal well-rested, but notice that Coop and Rylorn have both disappeared. As they finish, they are approached by Sergeant Vasila Markguth, Windshire Keep’s second-in-command behind Escobert (and now actual commander). She comes bearing a message from Lady Cara: cultists have started to break into her manor, and she fears that several of her servants may still be trapped inside, hopefully in the manor house’s panic room. She takes them up to the ramparts, where they can spy several cultists standing outside of the manor. The party is initially skeptical of the request; if the manor has a panic room, the servants should be safe. This is when Markguth reveals she has an ulterior motive as well: one of the cultists seen entering was wearing robes with red fringe on them, and she suspects this individual might be one of the leaders of the attack. Vasila hopes to capture them and bring them back to the keep for interrogation, but knows that she isn’t capable of doing so by herself. The party agrees to help.</p><p></p><p>As the party make their way back down, they spy several figures on a hilltop on the opposite end of town, overseeing the chaos and destruction. One is a half-orc woman, her arms crossed, standing calmly as she watches. The other was a dragonborn with bronze scales and tough armor, pacing back forth and stretching his arms, as if anxious about something. They are surrounded by eight of the largest lizardfolk any in the party had even heard of, much less seen, towering over even the dragonborn. The party decides it’s wise not to approach them, and continue forward to the manor with Markguth.</p><p></p><p>Sneaking back through the tunnel and along the stream they are able to reach the manor relatively easily and unimpeded. Peering around the corner, they spy five cultists standing guard in front of the door. Alwyn is able to overhear their conversation; they appear to have some concerns over a cultist named Francine; that the Talons aren’t truly loyal to the Cold Sun, isn’t dedicated to reviving the Cold Sun, that the red fringe on her robes is tacky, etc. Alwyn relays this information back, with the exception that he says the words “cult’s son”, which manages to confuse only himself.</p><p></p><p>The party deliberates the best means of ingress; Merla intends to sneak along the topiary and distract the guards with a <em>minor illusion</em>. Herb wonders if it’s really necessary to kill them, or if they might be able to sneak past them. Her concerns are made moot when only one cultist, named Fred (and who looked a lot like Forest Whitaker) went to investigate the noises that Merla was making. Tired of all the talk, Anakendrick stepped around the corner and fired an arrow into the back of one of the cultists, slaying him immediately. </p><p></p><p>The rest of the party quickly rushed in to assist. One of the cultists, an acolyte, cast sacred flame on Alwyn. Herb, surprising basically everybody, tapped into something more bestial than she had ever known, growing claws and fangs thanks to her <em>primal savagery</em> cantrip, and tearing through the cultists in a hail of blood and viscera. Alwyn, thanks to some fancy dodging, was able to avoid getting sullied by the primal display. Markguth charges in screaming but accidentally hits herself in her shield with her flail while winding up for an attack, knocking herself backwards onto the ground. A very confusing litany of insults(?) from Merla breaks Fred’s brain as he tries to make his way back to the melee, and Alwyn and Herb finished him off. Kazik helps Markguth up, who admits that Escobert always told her she was better at command than she was at actual combat. Herb finds a <em>spell scroll of calm emotions</em> on the acolyte’s body.</p><p></p><p>The inside of the manor was thrashed pretty severely, and the party hears sounds coming from upstairs. Alwyn sneaks upstairs to find two kobolds fighting over a strange device at the other end of a long hallway. It is a long stick, with a strange contraption on one end that looks like a wide, gaping maw. A tube sticks out of the back of the maw and runs along the back of the stick to a sack, also hanging off of the stick. Alwyn hears a *click* and a sudden whooshing sound as the bag suddenly inflates, and one of the kobold’s has its face sucked directly into the maw. The two shout, frantically trying to pull the device off the kobold’s face. The door at the end of the hallway opens, revealing a room that is well-lit and a human cultist in blue robes with a red fringe. The cultist grabs the other end of the stick away from a kobold, and with a *click* and another whoosh the bag deflates, and the maw releases the kobold. The cultist rips the sack off of the stick and tears it open, spreading a large pile of black dust through the air. She reaches inside and pulls out a small blue crystal, with something black swirling inside of it. She then barks at the kobolds in Draconic and the three go back into the room, shutting the door behind them.</p><p></p><p>Alwyn heads back downstairs and relays this information back to the rest of the party to the best of his ability, which is very poor. Luckily, Kazik is able to understand; he also recognized the whooshing sounds from upstairs. The device is a Cannith Floor Cleaner, powered by a small air elemental bound to a khyber dragonshard (“...though any true member of high society would have upgraded to a bagless model by now…”). The party decides that a cultist and two kobolds is an easy enough fight for them, so they all rush together and throw the doors open to attack…</p><p></p><p>...only to find five kobolds inside (four near the doorway, and one with a rather large backpack in a back corner). They see Francine in the other end of the room in a long, walk-in closet. They are clearly in the master bedroom, where they were told they could communicate with anyone trapped in the panic room.</p><p></p><p>Merla strikes first, casting a spell that sends the backpack-wearing kobold doubling over in laughter. It actually lands on the backback, and they hear the shattering of glass and the snapping of wood. The kobold catches flame, while a terrified skunk escapes from the backpack, running towards the door. Alwyn and Kazik are both able to take down a kobold each, but two more move to block the doorway. It’s now when the skunk, making its way towards the door, releases it spray. This sends one kobold doubled over and retching, as well as both Anakendrick and Markguth. Herb is able to calm the skunk down, and asks it to run downstairs to safety and wait for it. The skunk obliges on its next turn, finding some lettuce in the kitchen to happily munch on.</p><p></p><p>Francine enters the melee, and her strength of conviction is terrifying; powerful fiery magic flows through her, and she attacks with a wicked-looking shortsword that glows with a strange purple gleam. The sword’s attacks burn its victims, and she is able to take down Alwyn with a single blow. The kobold inventor in the back, unable to put out its own flames, resorts to hurling alchemist’s frosts and shocks at the party, striking Markguth and several others before Herb finally squeezes past the melee and tears its throat out.</p><p></p><p>Before Herb’s success, Alwyn (brought back up Merla) tries to get at the kobold inventor, but is taken back down immediately from an attack of opportunity by Francine. Anakendrick eventually recovers from the skunk spray in enough time to fire a spray of acid at Francine, critically wounding her, and Francine responds in kind, severely damaging her in return. Herb manages to bite her on the butt and Kazik sends a nonlethal <em>eldritch blast</em> at her, sending her flying over backwards and unconscious. </p><p></p><p>Kazik finds a <em>spell scroll of invisibility</em>, a khyber dragonshard with a small bound air elemental (from the Cannith Floor Cleaner), and Francine’s shortsword, which he recognizes is made from byeshk, a metal mined by the ancient goblin empire that used to span the continent of Khorvaire, and deals extra damage to aberration creatures. He gives the sword to Anakendrick. They also find a white gold necklace with a ruby attached to it. Herb finds a nearby sending stone and is able to convince the two servants hiding in the panic room, Jodie and Kristen, to come out by name-dropping Vasila Markguth. </p><p></p><p><strong>Next:</strong> An interrogation, and a challenge...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 7348281, member: 57112"] [SIZE=4][B]Chapter 1: Windshire in Flames[/B][/SIZE] [B]Session 2.0[/B] The party finish their meal well-rested, but notice that Coop and Rylorn have both disappeared. As they finish, they are approached by Sergeant Vasila Markguth, Windshire Keep’s second-in-command behind Escobert (and now actual commander). She comes bearing a message from Lady Cara: cultists have started to break into her manor, and she fears that several of her servants may still be trapped inside, hopefully in the manor house’s panic room. She takes them up to the ramparts, where they can spy several cultists standing outside of the manor. The party is initially skeptical of the request; if the manor has a panic room, the servants should be safe. This is when Markguth reveals she has an ulterior motive as well: one of the cultists seen entering was wearing robes with red fringe on them, and she suspects this individual might be one of the leaders of the attack. Vasila hopes to capture them and bring them back to the keep for interrogation, but knows that she isn’t capable of doing so by herself. The party agrees to help. As the party make their way back down, they spy several figures on a hilltop on the opposite end of town, overseeing the chaos and destruction. One is a half-orc woman, her arms crossed, standing calmly as she watches. The other was a dragonborn with bronze scales and tough armor, pacing back forth and stretching his arms, as if anxious about something. They are surrounded by eight of the largest lizardfolk any in the party had even heard of, much less seen, towering over even the dragonborn. The party decides it’s wise not to approach them, and continue forward to the manor with Markguth. Sneaking back through the tunnel and along the stream they are able to reach the manor relatively easily and unimpeded. Peering around the corner, they spy five cultists standing guard in front of the door. Alwyn is able to overhear their conversation; they appear to have some concerns over a cultist named Francine; that the Talons aren’t truly loyal to the Cold Sun, isn’t dedicated to reviving the Cold Sun, that the red fringe on her robes is tacky, etc. Alwyn relays this information back, with the exception that he says the words “cult’s son”, which manages to confuse only himself. The party deliberates the best means of ingress; Merla intends to sneak along the topiary and distract the guards with a [I]minor illusion[/I]. Herb wonders if it’s really necessary to kill them, or if they might be able to sneak past them. Her concerns are made moot when only one cultist, named Fred (and who looked a lot like Forest Whitaker) went to investigate the noises that Merla was making. Tired of all the talk, Anakendrick stepped around the corner and fired an arrow into the back of one of the cultists, slaying him immediately. The rest of the party quickly rushed in to assist. One of the cultists, an acolyte, cast sacred flame on Alwyn. Herb, surprising basically everybody, tapped into something more bestial than she had ever known, growing claws and fangs thanks to her [I]primal savagery[/I] cantrip, and tearing through the cultists in a hail of blood and viscera. Alwyn, thanks to some fancy dodging, was able to avoid getting sullied by the primal display. Markguth charges in screaming but accidentally hits herself in her shield with her flail while winding up for an attack, knocking herself backwards onto the ground. A very confusing litany of insults(?) from Merla breaks Fred’s brain as he tries to make his way back to the melee, and Alwyn and Herb finished him off. Kazik helps Markguth up, who admits that Escobert always told her she was better at command than she was at actual combat. Herb finds a [I]spell scroll of calm emotions[/I] on the acolyte’s body. The inside of the manor was thrashed pretty severely, and the party hears sounds coming from upstairs. Alwyn sneaks upstairs to find two kobolds fighting over a strange device at the other end of a long hallway. It is a long stick, with a strange contraption on one end that looks like a wide, gaping maw. A tube sticks out of the back of the maw and runs along the back of the stick to a sack, also hanging off of the stick. Alwyn hears a *click* and a sudden whooshing sound as the bag suddenly inflates, and one of the kobold’s has its face sucked directly into the maw. The two shout, frantically trying to pull the device off the kobold’s face. The door at the end of the hallway opens, revealing a room that is well-lit and a human cultist in blue robes with a red fringe. The cultist grabs the other end of the stick away from a kobold, and with a *click* and another whoosh the bag deflates, and the maw releases the kobold. The cultist rips the sack off of the stick and tears it open, spreading a large pile of black dust through the air. She reaches inside and pulls out a small blue crystal, with something black swirling inside of it. She then barks at the kobolds in Draconic and the three go back into the room, shutting the door behind them. Alwyn heads back downstairs and relays this information back to the rest of the party to the best of his ability, which is very poor. Luckily, Kazik is able to understand; he also recognized the whooshing sounds from upstairs. The device is a Cannith Floor Cleaner, powered by a small air elemental bound to a khyber dragonshard (“...though any true member of high society would have upgraded to a bagless model by now…”). The party decides that a cultist and two kobolds is an easy enough fight for them, so they all rush together and throw the doors open to attack… ...only to find five kobolds inside (four near the doorway, and one with a rather large backpack in a back corner). They see Francine in the other end of the room in a long, walk-in closet. They are clearly in the master bedroom, where they were told they could communicate with anyone trapped in the panic room. Merla strikes first, casting a spell that sends the backpack-wearing kobold doubling over in laughter. It actually lands on the backback, and they hear the shattering of glass and the snapping of wood. The kobold catches flame, while a terrified skunk escapes from the backpack, running towards the door. Alwyn and Kazik are both able to take down a kobold each, but two more move to block the doorway. It’s now when the skunk, making its way towards the door, releases it spray. This sends one kobold doubled over and retching, as well as both Anakendrick and Markguth. Herb is able to calm the skunk down, and asks it to run downstairs to safety and wait for it. The skunk obliges on its next turn, finding some lettuce in the kitchen to happily munch on. Francine enters the melee, and her strength of conviction is terrifying; powerful fiery magic flows through her, and she attacks with a wicked-looking shortsword that glows with a strange purple gleam. The sword’s attacks burn its victims, and she is able to take down Alwyn with a single blow. The kobold inventor in the back, unable to put out its own flames, resorts to hurling alchemist’s frosts and shocks at the party, striking Markguth and several others before Herb finally squeezes past the melee and tears its throat out. Before Herb’s success, Alwyn (brought back up Merla) tries to get at the kobold inventor, but is taken back down immediately from an attack of opportunity by Francine. Anakendrick eventually recovers from the skunk spray in enough time to fire a spray of acid at Francine, critically wounding her, and Francine responds in kind, severely damaging her in return. Herb manages to bite her on the butt and Kazik sends a nonlethal [I]eldritch blast[/I] at her, sending her flying over backwards and unconscious. Kazik finds a [I]spell scroll of invisibility[/I], a khyber dragonshard with a small bound air elemental (from the Cannith Floor Cleaner), and Francine’s shortsword, which he recognizes is made from byeshk, a metal mined by the ancient goblin empire that used to span the continent of Khorvaire, and deals extra damage to aberration creatures. He gives the sword to Anakendrick. They also find a white gold necklace with a ruby attached to it. Herb finds a nearby sending stone and is able to convince the two servants hiding in the panic room, Jodie and Kristen, to come out by name-dropping Vasila Markguth. [B]Next:[/B] An interrogation, and a challenge... [/QUOTE]
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