Knights of the Daystorm

[Jairami]

I'm doing this more to fish for advice and criticism than anything else, but should it go 30 posts without any comment, so be it. At least it will help me remember precisely what happened in between posts.

We game Saturdays from 2pm - 12-2am depending on the quality of that particular session with a break for food around 7. My game is every other week (with a different unrelated campaign run by another DM in between).

I wanted to start this a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't want to try to tell the story up until now. I decided to do it anyways, just not do the hard part of telling the story until now. Today I figured, I'm doing it for me, if I don't want to do the backstory, I'm not gonna do the backstory.

This game is beyond being inspired by something, it is lifted directly from it. If you do recognize what from (two things actually) please do not reveal it as there are 3 players in my game who read these boards and I don't want to spoil their surprise.

Now then, as brief a history to present events as possible.

Two months or so ago, the sleepy town of Ardonia had enough adventure to last it a couple more decades. First the man who serves as the government of the town who holds the title of Baron even though the origins of that title are lost to time, lost his daughter Sara. Sara disappeared one morning without a trace. Soon thereafter it was discovered that the Captain of the guards had also disappeared.

The Baron summoned a knowledgeable woodsman to track her down. In order to give the man as much help as possible he also called for the orphaned young girl who worked in the general store, as she was known to have visions.

In town that day was a trapper who lived alone in the wetlands of the north, he happened to have been following the young girl when she snuck away from work to answer the Baron's summons (she had promised him she would let him buy her a drink, and had every intention of leaving him sitting in the saloon until he gave up).

The young girl, Tylette, knocked on the door of the small manor house of the baron only to have the trapper, Khuuld, surprise her and demand his drink. It was to this scene that the baron opened the door. Attempting to diffuse the situation, he bid them both enter and tried to entreat the trapper to aid the woodsman, Byron, in finding his daughter.

Khuuld had little enough interest in this, but when Tylette was handed the earring of Sara, and had a vision of her either running off with or being abducted by the captain of the guards, he figured it was a simple job of fetch and inquired as to the pay.

A month's wages for a couple days walk seemed a fair bargain to him.

Unbeknownst to them was another young man by the name of Collin, listening at the window of the manor house. An inquisitive lad, he had recently ran away from his instruction in the arcane ways though he had yet to find an actual place to run to. When news of his escape did not seem to be on people's lips, he tracked the more juicy gossip to the manor house.

It was decided that perhaps the best next step would be to acquire something of Captain Gaedri's and see if Tylette could gather any further information from it. But when the they came out of the house they noticed Collin stepping hurriedly away from the window. A few embarassing moments later and Collin quickly won them over and asked if he could come along and perhaps help out with a little of his magic. He always had thought Sara the prettiest girl in town, and to him, it seemed the perfect way to get away.

The party would grow by one more before they set out though, a conscientious young acolyte of Equitus who consequently knew Collin through their shared scholarly hobby, asked to accompany the group when he brought forth some of Captain Gaedri's belongings. Equitus is the god of justice, and Frederick had taken it to mind to be something of a lawman. He insisted that if Collin was old enough to go, that he could as well.

His strong arm, healing magics, and his penchant for reading adventure stories would all come in handy many times.

Tylette's object reading was again extremely useful and garnered a vision of Captain Gaedri exploring some crumbling ruins a few weeks past. Hoping that this could be some clue to his, and more importantly, Sara's current location, the group set out.

They were comprised of

Byron, a woodsman, fighter 1
Khuuld, a trapper, barbarian 1
Tylette, an assistant shopkeep, seer 1 (psion, clairsentient)
Collin, a summoner, sorcerer 1
Frederick, an acolyte of Equitus, cleric 1

 

[Jairami]

Again, forgive the lack of detail, I'm still in summary mode.

Both Byron and Khuuld had knowledge of at least the location of the ruins Captain Gaedri was probably exploring, and between them they easily guided them there.

Strangely, the normally peaceful countryside was more dangerous than it had been in years past. They had barely cleared the last of the spread out farmsteads when they encountered a small band of what Frederick would later identify as goblins.

Khuuld let them know that goblins had begun roaming the countryside about 5 years ago but were usually content to poach animals or the occasional farm. They did not usually gather the courage to attack humans, or had not in this region in his memory---much less a party with three able bodied armed men.

Further north they travelled, and they began seeing a large number of ravens as they walked. Some hear, some there, but hundreds of them, perched in the trees slowly emptying of leaves in the early winter. One night while camped, the night watchman, Collin at the time, noticed a larger than average rat doing nothing but seemingly watching them. More disturbing than that was the way it's eyes seemed to catch the remaining fire light, they seemed to glow red in the darkness. With a gesture an icy ray of frost struck the rat and it fled just as a normal rat would. Shrugging, Collin wrapped himself tighter in his cloak and scooted closer to the fire's warmth.

The next day's travel would prove even more disturbing as the ravens grew more and more thick in the branches above them. Even worse, among the predominantly yellow-eyed carrior eaters was interspersed the occasional red-eyed raven that set everyone's nerve's Collin's especially on edge.

Tired of the tense silence, Khuuld decided to show everyone they were just birds, though even he couldn't explain why so many of them were around. Unshouldering his longbow, he skewered one with ease. It plummeted to the earth in a rain of black feathers.

Then all hell broke loose.

Ravens by the hundreds began diving at the group swooping down with the ear shattering din of hundreds of raven calls. The group ran for their lives, dodging back and forth between trees trying to get away from what seemed a living malevolent black cloud of ravens trying to swallow them whole. At the last desperate moment, the ruins they had been searching for came into view and they dove into it's semi-shelter.

 

[Jairami]

Between the fallen collumns and broken flagstones the party received Equitus's blessing as Frederick did his best to heal their wounds.

The overcast sky gave foreboding light that shafted through into the ruins through gaping holes in the stone ceiling of the ruins. The ravens did not pursue at least, they seemed to be reluctant to come near the ruins. Understandably concerned they set about searching their immediate area. Immediately in front of them were a great set of very old looking double doors that were still intact. The structure itself seemed to be a large rectangle with four square chambers in each corner and a massive central chamber that consumed most of the central part of the ruins. It's only apparent entrance were the large double doors.

More disturbing were the walking dead that seemed to patrol the halls of the ruins. While certainly not organized or intelligent, seeing animated skeletons approaching with your death their intent was a new experience for most of the group.

Each of the four square chambers had a single door into them, but these were unusual because unlike most of the outer walls of the ruins, they were totally intact, almost new looking. Strange designs spiderwebbed the doors in a flowing script Frederick and Collin identified as Elven. They pattern they formed almost resembled the complex structure of a tree. Entry by force proved futile.

While most of the internal walls of the ruins were sound, the external ones were not letting in significant light, and neither was the ceiling, providing even more. After dispatching a pair of spiders as large as a pair of dogs that had apparently made a home in the ruins, Collin came up with the idea of trying to get into one of the smaller rooms through its roof. It might be caved in like the roof in much of the hallways.

Hoisting themselves up took considerable teamwork and planning, but they were distressed to find that the roof above all but the massive central chamber was uniformly solid. Further inspiration struck and working together they were able to work a stone out of place in the ceiling of one of the smaller chambers. What they found was "intriguing" as Collin put it. Khuuld's opinion of it was something slightly less printable.

Beneath the hole they had made in the ceiling of the chamber was a mostly opaque greenish force of some sort. Some sort of lighting arrangement was visible through it, but not very well. It was then they heard a young woman's scream.

 

[Jairami]

Looking into the main chamber from above, they saw a black haired man in jet black metal armor that seemed to suck in any light that hit it. He stood in front of a gigantic circular mirror of some sort that was solid black.

In front of the mirror was a broken stone altar of some sort, and stretched ontop of it was Sara, her dress slashed and bloodied in many places, her head thrashing back and forth in hoarse screams as the man drew his blade across her flesh.

Rushing to her aid, they dropped into the main chamber and found themselves facing a man who looked like Captain Gaedri. His eyes were solid black, his black cape hung straight down behind him, despite how he moved, and his black armor made not the slightest sound. His emotionless gaze swept towards the party and had time to do little else, as two arrows and a crossbow bolt from Byron, Khuuld, and Tylette all managed to thud into him.

His expression did not change in the least, but his armor screamed. It was the howl of 10-15 tortured souls near impossible to distinguish from each other, and they cried out with each arrow. Gaedri's bloodless compressed lips were sealed as the screams washed over the party.

Drawing forth a length of black steel he began advancing towards the invaders. Sara had gone silent on the alter.

Gaedri proved to be a competent swordsman as he engaged the five of them with no apparent difficulty. Each time a blow landed on him, his black armor screeched and cried out with the agony of tortured souls. But Gaedri continued on undaunted.

Terrified but determined Collin latched onto a plan and maneuvered himself and Khuuld to the altar. Sara was stretched and bound hand and foot by flowing black energy. Her wrists and ankles were bloodied from struggling with them. Neither Collin nor Khuuld could see how to release her but Collin quickly whispered something to Khuuld and his arms hefted his sword above Sara as his voice called out to the black knight with as much courage as he could muster.

"Stop! Drop your sword or we will take your sacrifice from you!"

Frederick looked up, battered and bloodied, from under the black knight as his assault ceased and he turned to regard Collin. Collin stood on the dais trying not to shake as Khuuld kept his eyes fixed on him.

The black knight stood there with expressionless eyes looking up at them, then turned and ran Frederick through.

With a scream Tylette and Byron renewed their assault on the black knight and Collin motioned sadly to Khuuld.

"Better that she should no longer suffer at his hands then that he be allowed to complete whatever it was he was doing."

Nodding, Khuuld did the last thing I expected when I wrote this part of the adventure.

 

[Jairami]

With a flash of light along the length of his greatsword, he swung the huge blade down and it chipped the stone of the altar as it cleft Sara completely in two at the waist.

Khuuld had just a moment to stare numbly at his blade when his head snapped back and his vision blackened, but Collin didn't notice as he was watching the barely perceptable radiance rising from Sara's horribly severed body and being pulled into the now swirling black of the gigantic mirror behind them. A soundless scream of her ghostly face and a hand reaching out were the last he saw of her before the blackness of the mirror enveloped her entirely.

When Collin turned back to Sara's lifeless corpse, Khuuld was charging down the steps of the raised dais, a wordless scream of rage ripping from his throat as he charged the black knight.

((Ack. Need a break. Been sitting here way too long.))

 

[Jairami]

Across the broken flagstones that jutted up at every angle, Khuuld charged the black knight. Byron and Tylette were slowly and carefully picking their openings and working at Gaedri, but his face was as expressionless as ever.

Launching himself in a full run off the top of one of the flagstones Khuuld came at the captain in such a furious onslaught that he took every bit of his attention. Khuuld had no thought for protecting his own hide as he rained down blow after blow on Gaedri, forced onto the defensive he continued stepping back his sword almost getting batted away by Khuuld's monstrous swings.

Backed into a corner, Gaedri fought back, but as his sword snaked out and caught Khuuld's ribs, another arrow and crossbow bolt from Byron and Tylette sunk into him just as Khuuld's greatsword bit through his armor and collarbone to lodge itself in his chest.

Gaedri fell like a sack of stones.

He collapsed silently onto the ground and lay still as the barbarian teetered, leaning on his greatsword. Crashing to his knees, Khuuld remained there for a moment panting and heaving as the fury subsided. Then his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out.

Byron kept an arrow nocked and aimed in the direction of the four huge bats that flew about in the upper reaches of the chamber, but as they had not joined in the melee earlier, so to did they remain apart now. Their loud keening cries and heavy leathery wings the only indication they were still there.

Byron managed to drag Frederick and Khuuld out of the bloodstained chamber and after noticing that both breathed, albeit shallowly, he arranged them as carefully as he could to let them rest. Tylette joined him and did her best to bind their wounds, though she had little skill at it.

Collin stood alone at the altar, crying over Sara.

 

[Jairami]

Byron and Tylette took turns watching over each others sleep as they slept the sleep of exhaustion.

Frederick mumbled feverishly in his sleep. In his dreams he stood on an endless black obsidian plain underneath turbulent yet silent black clouds. A powerful presence washed over him and he fell to his knees of his own will, prostrating himself on the ground.

"MY SON. DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE WROUGHT THIS DAY?"

Frederick didn't make a sound, whether in awe or abject terror not even he knew. But he spoke not a word.

"WHEN YOU AWAKEN YOU WILL WANT TO SEE JUSTICE DONE. BUT YOU MUST STAY YOUR HAND IN THIS. FOR THE CREATURE THAT WAS YOUR FRIEND MAY NOW BE THE ONLY CHANCE YOU HAVE OF UNDOING WHAT HAS BEEN DONE."

Still, Frederick made no move and issued forth no sound. He lay upon the smooth ground trembling, a thousand emotions washing over him and yet he said nothing.

"VERY WELL. WAKE MY SON. BRING MY JUSTICE NOT TO YOUR ALLIES, BUT TO THE WORLD FOR THE ACTIONS YOU HAVE WROUGHT. BUT ALWAYS KNOW, I PLACE NOTHING BEFORE YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT CAPABLE OF HANDLING. BE STEADFAST."

Frederick slowly allowed his eyes to open to the sound of rain. Appropriate he felt. Slowly rising he found everyone else asleep, and he began to weep. Not for loss, or joy, revelation, or sorrow, but for the guilt he had lain upon himself.

Girding himself in steel, Frederick pulled his emotions inside, forced them aside, and then locked them away. He began his prayers without resignation, urgency, hope, or fear-only sheer determination. His healing magicks did not fail him, and in time his sleeping compatriots' wounds were all but gone. Frederick sat down to watch over them.

Tylette and Collin were tossing fitfully about on the hard broken stones. Khuuld slept peacefully and Byron slept like the dead.

In his dreams Collin saw Sara, beautiful young Sara. He had always had a crush on her, but what interest could she have in skinny, bookish Collin? He saw her walking, he saw her speaking with friends, he saw her laughing, all from a distance. He saw her die.

Repeatedly.

Tylette's dreams were different. She had always been good at realizing when she was asleep and in a dream, and also good at remembering what it was she dreamt. In this dream she had no such luxury, and if she had realized it for a dream, she would probably not wanted to remember it. Strange images were held before her. She walked a field of withered crops, flies buzzed above dead cattle. She floated above the field as fire ravaged it and left it a charred waste. She stood upon the cliffs she did not recognize and watched the storm tossed sea, and saw the air itself corrupt and billow forth in a noxious cloud from a strange twisting tower.

She saw Khuuld lying face down in the muck with a young man bent over him, calling to him, lulling him, soothing him. She saw the man look up and saw his stretched gaunt features, his grey pallored skin, and his sunken black eyes and she screamed. Khuuld was looking at her with the same eyes.

 

[Darklone]

Wow.

Not bad (this means: Big compliment in Southern Germany).

Like your players. They act... unexpected. Very unexpected. Killing the girl? I mean why not cut her hands?

Well. Will be waiting to see what happens to Khuuld. And the others. Consider me hooked.

 

[Jairami]

Thank you. Much.

Unexpected? I was flabbergasted... Here I am trying to follow Piratecat's policy of PC actions causing ripples and they go and cannonball themselves into the lake. So much for a slow simple opening quest to start off the campaign right?

The black energy ties were negative energy, I meant for them to have 2 HD each and for channelling enough positive energy to disappate them. Or for them to go away in time without Gaedri renewing them. But you're right, amputating her hands and feet would have been much less-er that is-much more.. eww.

Just goes to show, you never quite fully understand your PC's.

Collin reacts with I think the best RP to the situation. He grieves for Sara but he also grows up a lot in a short time. On the way there he was a little introverted and a little cowardly--and he used his stolen cache of eshti for recreation.

Afterwards his hurt lead him to be a little more touchy and for him to lash out. What was unexpected was, when he did everyone listened. They didn't bully him with size, or age, they listened. He started filling his wounds with confidence and overtime became almost the unacknowledged leader of the group. Even though his new use for eshti, escapism, showed somewhat that he was having a tougher time dealing with events than his brave face showed. Excellent RP from Velenne (the player FYI).

Tylette, she distances herself from things. If something hurts or confuses her she buries it and refuses to acknowledge it. She's always been a very pretty young woman but has never really been in a relationship. She tells herself that she doesn't want to and doesn't have time for it. She tells herself that what happened to Sara had nothing to do with her and while sad, she has to see that what has to be done has to be done.

Khuuld.. Well, Khuuld is complicated.

Frederick's player through a lot of thinking out loud and some excellent role play reacted entirely different to the situation then I had thought he would. Granted, I was thrown for a loop as well by the events and was trying to make it up as I went along using what I knew of events on the larger scale and the why's behind things. But his decision to pull guilt from his mass of emotions and hold on to it was deliciously unforseen and would lead to almost getting himself and another killed much later on. Frederick developed a very strong self-esteem problem from this and became very clingy.

My boss just walked in. I'll be back to update later hopefully.

 

[Speaks With Stone]

No kidding

It sounds like a great group who make unusual choices.

I like how you've added lots of flavor by describing their dreams/sleep patterns and reflections on getting the girl.

I also liked the description of the armor. Very neat.

I look forward to more. (And you guys play 10 to 12 hours at a time!?!? Wow, reminds me of high school. Gosh, I miss those days.)