Alrighty, we got another session in. We played for about 5½ hours, with some minor interruptions, but the session was still very substantial and productive. Since the player of the Wizard bowed out, I did transition the PC out this session, and worked in the new NPC until we get a fourth player. On to the session!
[sblock]So, I started out by giving all three players a minor quest. The Warpriest had "gain some insight or a clue into the vision of the dead eyes watching you"; the Knight had "gain some more information about the dwarven prince, Borrick Cloudforge"; and the Scout had "gain some insight or a clue into the whispers you can hear." (Side note: since I hand these minor quests out on scraps of paper that only the players see -and since they don't share what's on the paper with one another until the end of the session- I think it really helps foster RP at times. I quite like it in practice, and I like the how it helps us level a little bit faster with some bonus XP at the end of the session.)
So, the party had just been put to sleep when the Knight had touched the door, save for the Scout. I had said we were going to kick off with a skill challenge, and we did (I introduced the rules to the player of the Scout, including advantages, reversing failures, using Martial Practices / encounter powers / dailies, etc.). This skill challenge was pretty unorthodox in that I directed a lot of the checks ("you need to do this next", but that was mostly to the sleeping PCs).
The PCs that had fallen asleep were all experiencing the same dream; they were all prospective cultists to the Sleeper, who was looking to recruit potentially loyal followers from a town. The Sleeper was brandishing a holy symbol with an eye in the middle with three sickles coming out from it (the Warpriest recognized this setup from the spikes / grooves in the main room), and was riding a mount that was alive (the Warpriest's newly acquired undead mount in the real world). I directed one of them to make a check to convince the Sleeper they were worthy, and the Warpriest (first on initiative) made a Diplomacy to convince the Sleeper, and he agreed (1/0). There was a time skip in-dream, and they were now helping him raid towns. A successful Athletics from the Knight and they were now slaughtering villagers and taking their things (2/0). Another in-dream time skip, and the Sleeper wanted them to prove true devotion by having one pluck an eye out, so the Wizard assisted the Warpriest, who easily made the Heal check (he rolls at +19 normally), bringing them to 3/0.
Three successes in, it was the Scout's turn. He was on the outside of the skill challenge, and he was watching the other PCs squirm at what was obviously terrible nightmares. Shaking them didn't wake them, so he used a Martial Practice to make them comfortable. It cost him 1 healing surge, but I counted it was an automatic success, bringing us to 4/0.
Back to the sleeping PCs, and another in-dream time skip. The cultist PCs had all gouged their own eyes out, and were now supposed to impart knowledge to the next wave of recruits. The dwarven Knight assisted the Wizard on her next History check, but she rolled a natural 1, and failed the check (4/1). From the Scout's perspective, they looked even more agitated, and some psychic backlash began to bombard him; every PC lost a healing surge, and none of them could benefit from an extended rest for 24 hours. However, the dream continued, and the Wizard's cultist PC began to tell the recruits of the Deep Obyrith, and how it is working with That Which Waits Beyond The Stars to unite their displaced realms. There was another in-dream time skip, and the PCs were getting ready to engage with an army of The Raven Queen, as led by Sir Malagant (the Paladin whose bones had been stolen last session, leading them here). The Warpriest made another speech, this time playing to the religious fervor of the cult, and made a Religion check (5/1).
Back in the real world, the Scout PC did his best to help the sleeping PCs rest, and look into waking one of them up. A successful Heal check (6/1) helped out, and I told him he succeeded in waking up one PC of his choice; he chose the Warpriest, who could hopefully help from the outside. The Warpriest was glad to be pulled out of the vivid dream (he did not like working against The Raven Queen in the dream).
Back in the dream, the PCs were in a large battle, and saw the Sleeper facing off with Sir Malagant. Sir Malagant was about to kill the Sleeper, but the Knight made a successful Endurance check (7/1), jumping in the way of the blow, and barely surviving what would have most certainly killed the Sleeper. The Sleeper rallied, killing Sir Malagant, and routing the forces of The Raven Queen (the Scout PC was now worried out-of-game that the Knight PC had changed time).
Out of the dream, the Scout remembered that what the little girl augur had told him ("Those who dream beneath the stars see the dreams of that which waits beyond them"), and thought it would be best to move the PCs out of the tomb they were in. He succeeded on his Dungeoneering check (8/1) to quickly navigate out, though the sleeping PCs became more agitated when they moved through the main room (which has a star chart on the ceiling).
In the dream, the PCs were asking to be a part of "the ritual", and needed to convince the Sleeper. The Wizard's successful Arcana (9/1) convinced him they were knowledgeable (in addition to formidable and completely devoted), so he allowed them to participate. In-dream time skip, then they were finishing the ritual. Though they were blind, they could see the stars in the sky begin to fall to the earth, and dark waters began to rise out of the ground. Soon, they were floating in a dark ocean filled with stars, drowning, surrounded by what felt like a deeply Evil presence. Two giant dead eyes opened, staring at them. They weren't sure if the eyes were dead or just empty, like fish eyes, but it they it was filled with glee at the suffering in the world after the successful ritual.
In the real world, the Warpriest treated the PCs again with a Religion, praying for them, and he succeed (10/1), bringing the skill challenge to an end. The PCs that were asleep didn't wake up, however, and a Heal check revealed they would be out of it for hours. They knew it was about 9PM, had a three hour trip back on foot, and they had until sunrise to return with the remains of Sir Malagant / the horn of the Sleeper. They hid themselves while they waited for the other PCs, but it took about six hours for them to wake up (about 3AM, and they estimated they had until about 7AM). For succeeding on the skill challenge, I gave everyone their dailies back, and gave them two healing surges (but they had lost one, so net gain of one), but nobody could take an extended rest due to their failure.
They filled each other in on what they'd seen, and a successful Hard Religion from the Warpriest and Hard Dungeoneering from the Scout gave them some insight into the event. I told them what Obyrith's were: back during the Dawn War, the Obyriths, creatures from the Far Realm (this is erroneous, but they don't know it yet) pushed some sort of Evil crystal into the multiverse, which caused the formation of Abyss, a place of completely unpopulated Evil. The first being to find the shard was Demigorgon (a primordial), though when he did, a being named Dagon rose from a dark ocean, challenging him for the right to it. Nobody knew where Dagon came from at the time, but they know now that he is the only confirmed Obyrith, and does not hide it, nor fear the backlash that it may bring. Supposedly, he battled Demigorgon (demonstrating just how powerful he was), and the PCs weren't sure who won or what happened with the crystal. The wording of the "Deep Obyrith" made them suspect that it involved Dagon and not one of the other eleven, and that he might have a pact with whoever/whatever That Which Waits Beyond The Stars is.
They moved back to the door, and the wilden Scout opened it, causing a large chuck of the darkly glowing stone to fall to the ground, shattering. They moved through the door cautiously, but were immediately put off by the new room. On the other side of the room was a man, but he had gouged out eyes (with three sickles scars coming from both eyes), tattered and bloody clothes, and chains on his wrist that weren't currently tying him down. He was at a huge book (about three feet tall) with crimson script, and he was mumbling to himself. There were two beholder statues on either side of the room, both with their middle eye missing (with sickle marks around them), though their eyes on their eyestalks remained.
The man called for help, pleading for the PCs to save him. They all succeeded on an Insight check, and saw it as a ruse. They decided to attack, and he yelled that he recognized them, and that the "Sleeper had shown you to me!" We rolled initiative. The Knight ran forward, but at the first square he stepped into, I rolled against his Reflex, hit it, and a noose pulled him up into the ceiling. From inside a hidden area, he could see other bodies hanging inside, meaning the entire room was filled with noose traps. As disturbing as that was, he also saw 11 different dead bodies hanging in the ceiling turn to face him, and he noticed that their noose was just floating instead of being connected to the ceiling. They immediately dropped through the ceiling, and began to attack the PCs (they were minions).
The fight progressed quickly, and Perception checks let the PCs spot a safe path through the room (huge the left wall around the beholder statue). The man attacked them with his chain, but the main nuisance were the minions (if a PC started its turn next to three or more of them, they took automatic damage and were immobilized that turn). They carved through the minions pretty quickly (while the dwarf had to get himself out of two noose traps by the end), and they knocked the man unconscious. The Warpriest could see the mysterious mark of The Raven Queen (not life but not death, but somehow related to it), and they debated what to do. After questioning him fairly unsuccessfully, the Warpriest tried overriding the mark by using his ability to mark the man for death. While the man was marked for death, he also retained the other mark. The Warpriest debated if he should kill the man, but decided on doing it. Once again, the dwarven knight was feeling enhanced emotions during the combat, but wasn't sure why.
In the meantime, the Scout looked over the book. The man called himself the Seer, and he apparently obtained visions from That Which Waits Beyond The Stars, and he wrote them down and interpreted them. His latest vision was too hard to interpret (according to the book), but he had a completely detailed description of the Wizard (which freaked her out). It also contained some cryptic phrases or unintelligible writing. The bulk of the book, however, was description after description of Far Realms creatures, which greatly interested the wilden Scout (who hates aberrants), but he knew he couldn't read it all right now, so at his request the Knight carried it.
After their short rest, they moved to the next door. On the other side was a completely dreamstone hallway (that dark glowing stone), with chanting from the end. A successful Hard Religion alerted them that it was a revival ritual, so they hurried down the hallway to a new room. Inside were a few things: the tiefling that had stolen Sir Malagant's remains (he was now wearing the armor and weapon of Sir Malagant, which greatly offended the Warpriest of The Raven Queen); the bones of Sir Malagant and the Sleeper's horn on an alter; the Sleeper's body (he was a human, not a tielfing, as depicted), though he had a tiefling vestigial twin (missing one horn) growing from his stomach, which was animated, lapping up blood falling onto it from a carved face in the ceiling; and four daises in the corners of the room separated by a falling curtain of blood, but with five robed figures total behind the blood participating in the ritual.
The PCs wasted no time, and initiative was rolled. They engaged Volkanth (the leader of the cult who was performing the ritual) right away, but the five robed figures all used Magic Missile (automatic damage, no roll), all targeted the Scout, and brought him to -1. He turned in the card I gave him last session from when Sister Naenia had him swear an oath to The Raven Queen to return the stolen belongings (labeled "Fate Be With You", with an effect of "???"). I described everything slowing down, and a raven landing next to him. It cawed at him expectantly, and he failed an Insight to glean what it wanted. He promised it that if it sent him back, he would retrieve the items, and he healed 1 HP (bringing him up to 1), and let him stand as a free action. (The robed figures seemed taken aback at this.)
I won't detail the whole fight, but I should add that a floating beholder gauth revealed itself, and wreaked some havoc on the party (immobolizing them or putting the Scout / Knight to sleep), though by the end, a couple successful uses of Hypnotism by the Wizard to get the beholder gauth into melee range of the Scout made a huge difference. After a second round of magic missiles (this time targeting the Warpriest), the Knight took three of them out (charge + Cleaving Stance on two of them, then action point + charge another one -they were all minions), and the Wizard used an action point (after Hypnotism) to Arc Lightning the other two. After eventually dropping the beholder gauth (the first to drop was Volkanth, and they had spared him), they looted. (The Knight felt more elated during battle again.)
They found the following: Sir Malagant's armor (chain Armor of Sacrifice, which the Warpriest claimed for multiple reasons); two sets of Bracers of Mighty Striking (the Knight and Scout claimed these); 1,360 gold pieces; a lot of rations and other supplies from Ashenport (a port town up north, past where they plan on going); skeletons that had been gnawed on with various papers to Hampstead (the port town where they're heading, that they want to take them across the sea to the dwarven colony); a crumpled note (a few weeks to months old according to a Nature check) on Volkanth from a man named Darien, who was pleading with Volkanth for help with terrible nightmares, visions, and an unclarified “terrible urging"; and a jar of black liquid with what ended up being an eel inside of it, which stared intently at them as they looked at it (they immediately tied this to Dagon, and didn't trust it, so they put it in the Bag of Holding).
They began to question Volkanth, with the Warpriest asking about the Sleeper, or his "religion", etc., but they began to hear rumblings in the walls. A Hard Dungeoneering by the Wizard revealed that this was caused by a huge amount of liquid moving through the walls, and that it might be dangerous and cause a cave-in. When they didn't get satisfactory answers from Volkanth, the Warpriest marked him for death, and then killed him. They began to run out of the tomb, and I called for a skill challenge, but gave them one success for running early (successful Dungeoneering). Three more successes put them out of the tomb before it collapsed, but this left them needing six more successes, which they needed to make to get back to the priests of The Raven Queen before dawn. They immediately noticed a large presence of undead, and had to avoid them as much as possible while traveling through the forest, as any delay was very bad news. While they went up and down on failures (with advantages), they made it with only one failure, and returned about twenty minutes before dawn. They were attacked by ghouls numerous times, who seemed to be utilizing hit and run tactics much of the time.
They quickly performed a ritual (with the Warpriest taking the place of Sister Naenia's assistant, who had died in the attack on the road last session), and an angel with dark wings appeared from darkness in the treetops. He thanked Sister Naenia for fulfilling the promise her temple made one hundred years ago, and then he disappeared back into the darkness. Sister Naenia was very happy, and thanked the PCs, but lamented that they wouldn't be as well known for this as for the dragon-slaying. She also told the Wizard that some mage friends of hers had contacted her via Sending, and were at the temple, and wanted to talk to "the genasi." The Wizard was interested in learning more rituals and about magic, so after expressing interest, the party agreed to escort the priests back.
Along the way (it was about a day out), the Scout read the large book about Far Realms creatures. I told him he now had a permanent +2 bonus on knowledge checks about creatures from the Far Realms (he was very happy about his), but what he read was so disturbing, he couldn't shake the images, and he couldn't benefit from an extended rest for two days (on top of the 24 hours from the failed skill challenge).
Also on the road, the dwarf asked what Sister Naenia knew about the prince he was escorting. She told him that the markings on the coffin meant that he almost assuredly knew he was going to die when he went on whatever mission he was on. Additionally, he was a follower of Kord, and that symbols on the Thundering Warhammer and the Dwarven Plate Armor matched the royal symbol, which means they belonged to the prince. She didn't know much more than that.
When the PCs arrived at the temple, the Wizard tensed when she saw the mages. The party immediately went on edge, and the Wizard said she recognized the mages as those who originally summoned her away from her home in the Elemental Chaos with no way home. One waved to her and called out to her warmly, and she eased a little bit, setting everyone but the Warpriest at ease (who was being very protective of her). They told her that they were all in the area, and had tracked her down via Scrying to offer her a way home. There was an opening right now, or in about five years at the next earliest opportunity. The Wizard was very torn, but decided to go home (since the mages may not be here in five years), but promised that she'd find the party later on at some point, after reconnecting with her family and community and learning more magic. She was sent home through a ritual.
The PCs spent three days at the temple (the Scout needed it to gain the benefits of an extended rest), and each PC did some stuff in the meantime. One of the mages, a water Elementalist named Zanna, asked if she could travel with the PCs to Hampstead since she was traveling there next, and she'd heard that the Warwood was dangerous these days. They agreed.
The dwarf Knight looked up what he could about dwarves, and was surprised to find that a hundred years ago, it was the Cloudforge clan that had warriors fighting alongside Sir Malagant against the army of the Sleeper. Apparently, the king and the first two princes had died in battle, leaving a 60-year-old dwarf as king (very young for a dwarven king). Since it had only been one hundred years, it's very possible that he's still the king across the sea, and the dwarven Knight is looking forward to returning the prince's body to him.
Since the Cloudforge clan had fought alongside the temple, they had gifted an Ever-filling Casket of dwarven ale to the temple. It could produce dwarven ale for up to eight creatures up to three times per day, which the Warpriest and Knight -as dwarves- used lovingly each day. They drank to excess the night before leaving, but both made a Hard Endurance check, and were fine in the morning.
The Warpriest looked up a book on marks of The Raven Queen. It listed several marks, but as far as life and death goes, it was pretty straightforward. However, Sir Malagant had supposedly seen a confusing mark, which he had interpreted as something new. It was interference from the Far Realms, in his interpretation, and was something in between life and death, or something that transcended it. Whatever it was, it was alien to The Raven Queen's idea of life and death as forces, and it disturbed Sir Malagant. After reading the book, the Warpriest meditated and prayed to The Raven Queen about the marks, but didn't even hit a Moderate DC on his Religion, so he only felt he should investigate the mark more (he is spending time studying the mark on the Sleeper's undead mount now).
Afterwards, he spoke to Sister Naenia (at her request), and she asked to see his weapon. He showed it, and she blessed it on behalf of The Raven Queen (moving it from +1 to +2). He thanked her (though he still didn't like her much), and she told him that she had been given instructions to ask him for help. He sighed but said okay, and she asked the Warpriest to teach her how to magically heal. The Warpriest agreed, and with a successful Hard Religion, Sister Naenia was able to cast a single Healing Word the day before he left (this made her giddy). He told her to use it to defend the temple, and she promised to do so.
The Scout, in the meantime, asked his old druid community about the whispers he heard (through his Whispers in the Winds ability that was taught to him by a druid before he left), and related his new psionic abilities (he gained Wild Talent Master at level 6, so in between sessions). The druid told him that these things were the result of a connection to the Far Realms that he apparently had, and that while they didn't sound harmful (and sounded beneficial, in fact), it disturbed him. It disturbed the wilden Scout, too (though the player quite likes it, and thinks the developing storyline is very interesting). The druid speculated that the Scout may need to kill those that destroyed his family and community in order to rid his connection to the Far Realms.
After talking with the druid, the Scout moved to talk to Sister Naenia, asking her what she thought. She made a successful Religion check, and she said that the wilden Scout had recently had a connection to The Raven Queen forged. She said it looked like since he had a connection to the Far Realms, and the Warpriest had a connection to The Raven Queen, that The Raven Queen had decided to intertwine their fates. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that they were both important somehow to the connection between life, death, and the Far Realms; the Warpriest was the eyes that could see marks, and the Scout was the ears that could hear the whispers.
The PCs also asked various mages about the eel in the jar, but nobody really knew much. Zanna, the Elementalist, said the water was dark because of ground up dreamstone dust, and that keeping the jar near them would cause terrible dreams, just like all dreamstone. The PCs decided to bury the jar with the eel in it in the sanctified graveyard (where undead and the like were disposed up) as opposed to the blessed graveyard (where dead bodies to rest easy), and the Scout decided to bury the book of the Seer (with Far Realms descriptions and visions) with it, though he did copy the descriptions of Far Realms creatures over first.
When the PCs and Zanna were ready to go, Sister Naenia rolled a successful Hard Religion, blessing their journey through the Warwoods. They made it through the other side without encountering any more ghouls or other undead, and are now on their way to Hampstead. And we called it a night.[/sblock]
Anyway, not bad for about 5½ hours of play. Very fun, very substantial, and a lot of setup for things to come. Looking forward to the next session, but we have a three week wait this month (instead our normal two weeks), which is sad. Oh well. More time to prep and brainstorm. Thanks for reading, and, as always, comments and feedback always welcome
