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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Justinian" data-source="post: 1222106" data-attributes="member: 6358">New PC: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Aoshi, human monk/druid</li> </ul>-----------------------------------------------Session 3b: For Whom the Bell TollsThe next morning, they searched around town for another companion, and found a druid who was visiting from the plains named Aoshi. He accepted their offer to join, and the newly formed party left immediately. They went back through the mine again, and opened the dragon statue with the mended mirror. This time, after a short bargaining session, the dananshee gave them some potions to help them on their way, and let Othi go along with them. Feliks took his armor off for the waterfall climb, and they headed upwards. Everyone made it to the top this time, although Feliks again nearly slipped off. At the top, Popo collected some of the copper hoard to give to William, in exchange for letting them stay with him for so long.They continued down the passageway and came to an odd room with an oversized dollhouse in one corner, and twisted copper statues around the room. They looted a huge workbench that loomed around the corner, and continued down a ramp to an illusory wall. On the other side was a ledge, and below them was a goblin encampment, with the missing children in a cage in the corner. The shattered crystalline corpse of a dragon dominated the encampment.A group of goblins was moving toward the children, and one goblin, with a blue and abnormally enlarged skull, was ordering another to implant a crystal in one of the children. At that moment, the group attacked. The lead goblin was nailed to the ground, along with a slightly smaller goblin who also had a blue skull. At this, the goblins started to scream for help and scatter. As more goblins came out from their rooms, missile fire was exchanged, and Feliks went down to the level below to fight. Two larger goblins, one enraged, and the other with a small crown on, moved to fight him. Feliks destroyed the raging goblin with a single deadly blow, and those remaining on the ledge above continued to whittle down the multitude. As Feliks moved toward the other goblins, visions of cleaving in his mind, the goblin ruler moved up to Aoshi, who had just descended, and hit him with a morningstar. Popo climbed down behind the ruler to flank him, and dropped him in one shot. With their leaders dead, the goblins were easy prey, and they fell to concentrated missile fire and the deadly melee attacks of Feliks and Popo. Two goblins fled inside the dragon’s corpse, scrambling down its throat. Riguallaun pursued them, with Popo backing him up. Halfway through the battle, one goblin came out below the ledge, and surrendered in broken Common. The party left him alone until the battle was over, and then ordered him to wait while they inspected the children. One of the children weakly attempted to fight, but Aoshi disabled him. Feliks broke the cage, and Othi extracted the crystals from their heads while Feliks guarded their goblin prisoner. After killing both goblins inside, Riguallaun came out of the dragon’s crystalline corpse carrying a large blue crystal that flashed a malevolent red. It mentally spoke to everyone, threatening them with death and destruction.The party interrogated the goblin, who said his name was Prukk. He was both obsequious and helpful, and explained that his prince had dragged their tribe here at the request of his seer, who Prukk identified as one of the dead goblins with the grotesque blue deformities. The seer had been having dreams, and convinced the prince to bring the tribe along. He showed them the cliff route that the goblins used, and helped them bring everything out of the goblin cave and down to the hillside. The party also removed all of the dragon’s remaining teeth before they left the cave. When they reached the bottom, they let Prukk go free, and he fled off the north immediately.Feliks came up with the idea of throwing the blue crystal off the cliff, but it healed itself faster than he could damage it. After awhile, Popo thought of putting the Dragonstone in the belltower and ringing the bell, so they all headed back to town. Feliks was also very insistent about bringing the children back to their parents as soon as possible.When they reached the edge of town, the Dragonstone flared brilliant blue, and the children’s eyes went blank. The Dragonstone spoke from their mouths.“I should have convinced someone to bring me closer before now, I see. The children were not worth my time alone, but now...”Townspeople emerged from alleys, walked down streets, and came out of their houses. All had the same blank look, and the Dragonstone’s voice spoke from one mouth, and then another, for no more than one or two words each time. The voice echoed eerily across the town, near and far.“Put. Me. Down.”The party split into two groups and began to circle town. The townsfolk followed Feliks and Aoshi, who held the Dragonstone. The group moved backwards, drawing everyone away from the town proper. When the people were spread out, Feliks and Aoshi tried to race past the line of townsfolk to the bell tower on their horses. The others followed as closely as possible, but were mostly ignored. As they approached the bell tower, a line of townsfolk could be seen, holding position in a ring around the tower.“I will destroy this town in fire and death if you do not submit to me.”Unmoved, Feliks and Aoshi charged toward the tower, and Feliks successfully overran the line, but didn’t have room to dismount. Aoshi failed to block people away from him, and Feliks was forced to subdue some of them with his sword before getting into the tower. As Aoshi moved to guard the door, the entire town began to filter into in the plaza. The others in the group moved to the top of a nearby house for a good viewpoint.Inside the tower, Feliks ran up the stairs, placed the Dragonstone in the top room, and ran back down the stairs to ring the bell. Aoshi initially held the door shut, but soon the relentless weight of humanity pushing against the door broke it open. However, in matters of hand-to-hand combat, Aoshi was far better than any simple villager, and no one was able to pass him while Feliks continued to ring the bell.Up on the roof, the rest of the group watched in surprise as most of the townspeople stopped rushing the tower and began going into the houses. The surprise turned to shock when the Dragonstone made its next move.“Is it worth this price?” Ten people hurled themselves from a rooftop to the ground below, striking with a sickening crunch. “This will continue until you surrender to me.” Another ten people jumped. Popo and Othi started running down to the street below to see if any were still alive, but none of the party suggested giving up the Dragonstone.Finally, there was a loud concussion, and the townsfolk all dropped to the ground. Quickly, Feliks checked one of the townsman that had been trying to enter the tower, and he was still alive. When Feliks went upstairs, the Dragonstone had been destroyed. Popo, Othi, and Aoshi were able to heal everyone who had tried to suicide under the power of the Dragonstone, although it was a close call for some people. The worst of the injured only needed a few days of rest to be healed, however. No one had been killed, which made the town grateful.The mayor, once awakened, promised that they would be honored with a grand feast and a reward ceremony. Feliks asked if William could receive a reward as well, since he was instrumental in their success. The mayor agreed, and the ceremony was scheduled for the next day. The town rewarded each of them with an ornate medal proclaiming them heroes of Bellhold, and sent men to help them remove all of the dragon’s hoard.The task of removing the copper hoard was immense, but they had plenty of time to work on it. The mayor assured them that he would fill the trade wagons with copper goods, but they wouldn’t be ready until the end of the week. Long before then, with the help of the town, the dragon’s lair had been looted. The dananshee had fled in the meantime, and they found some fresh skeletons in her pool. Othi’s charmed state had faded over time, and he wasn’t pleased to see further evidence of the dananshee’s treachery.When the trade wagons were ready, the group hired an extra wagon to transport some of the more unusual treasure with them, including a nearly lifesize set of copper chess pieces. They rode peacefully back to the orc village, happy to be out of the mines and in the sunshine.</blockquote>

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