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Lylandra's War of the Burning Sky continued
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7261879" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>Headless Menchi and a strange calm</strong></p><p></p><p>The journey through the Ostalin plains takes them all quite some time, even by horse. They frequently stop in smaller villages where they ask for shelter, food and news. When they reach the last village before the mountain pass to Eresh, the villagers can give them more then just directions. They tell them about the stairs leading to Eresh and the carefully designed mechanisms which help them to get their beasts of burden up and down the road. They explain the party how to use such a mechanism to pull up their horses, but jokingly suggest to dismount before pulling the beast up. </p><p></p><p><em>Note: My players remembered that Three Weeping Ravens said something about the monks fearing the Ragesians, so they asked the locals on their way whether there had been any signs or news of Ragesian advance on the monastery. As they were approaching from Sindaire and Balance took all of Eresh out once they were ready to attack, I said that the Ostalinians haven't heard anything. Still that made me wonder about the Khagan's “recent visit” to the Monastery which couldn't have been that recent as he'd have otherwise run into Signus and his army...</em></p><p></p><p>They continue through the now quite icy plains until they reach the stairs. Cuin takes care to peek through his spyglass every few hundred meters and so he is able to spot light movement on one of the platforms before they get to the last set of stairs. They proceed with caution, but are nonetheless surprised when they see the shattered stone stair. Immediately after that, a wall of fire erupts behind them and laughing Menchi springs his trap. </p><p></p><p>The group immediately takes shelter behind one of the stones at the bottom of the hill. Menchi takes the opportunity to throw a fireball at them, as they are all clustered up nicely. </p><p>Note: As my players were higher level, I decided to one-up Menchi as well</p><p></p><p>Crystin gets severely burned and runs off to another rock to hide behind while Cuin, Three Weeping Ravens and Tinu decide that hiding won't get them anywhere. So they approach by foot or teleport. Torrent heals up Crystin, asks her to stay hidden and follows the rest of the team. </p><p></p><p>Three Weeping Ravens gets in a hefty fight with the scouts and soldiers while Cuin deliberately dances to Menchi where he slays the worg steed, Eskeru. Menchi, who had a lot of fun playing flaming sphere bowling with Torrent, flies into a rage and throws spells at Cuin. He dies in the next round, as expected. Meanwhile, Tinuviel gets invisible and starts to backstab the remaining Ragesians until no one is left. Three Weeping Ravens survives heavily wounded and gets healed up by Torrent as well. </p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Note: 3WR did quite fine in terms of offense in this fight, but he got almost butchered due to his low AC. Crystin was never meant to be a fighter, so I let her stay hidden where she threw the occasional crystal shard at the scouts. My players really felt like the environment was paying them disfavor, which was mainly because they were all melee characters. (Even if Tinuviel is pretty 'porty and Cuin's movement can reach absurd levels with haste and spell dance) </em></p><p></p><p>Once combat is over, they examine the winch and find it working. They use the mechanism to get their horses to the upper platform of the cliff and continue their journey with caution. The group finally reaches the outskirts of Eresh and are surprised to see a huge ragesian army encampment in front of the town. </p><p></p><p>Careful as they are, they use their spyglass to get a glimpse of what to expect. From what they can see, the army seems to besiege the city, although there are no signs of an ongoing or recent battle. The city wall seems intact, but there are no visible guards on top of it. What is also alarming is the fact that the city gate seems to be open wide with no one caring at all. So maybe the Ragesians have another encampment inside the walls of Eresh?</p><p></p><p>Cuin'halar and Tinuviel don't like nasty surprises, so they decide to do some scouting inside the encampment. They use hats of disguise to look like fellow Ragesians and chat a bit with their “comrades”. Most of them have gathered around fireplaces to keep themselves warm, but none of them seems to be interested in conquering Eresh, even if that was clearly the plan of their “General”. They seek the way to the command tent and find, surprise, surprise, no General, but a Lieutenant Kormus, who's only interested in drinking, so invites them to share an ale with him. When they politely decline the offer (they are “on duty”), Kormus doesn't mind at all and mutters “The second General will execute me anyway once he returns, but who cares? This small town simply isn't worth leaving my cozy tent”.</p><p></p><p>Now they are pretty convinced that the Ragesians here pose no threat at all, so they gather the rest of the group and simply march through the camp. The Rags tell them that they cannot simply enter Eresh, but don't do anything to stop them. </p><p></p><p>On the other side of the wall, they see some people who look like local soldiers. Like the Ragesians, they have cuddled up near a fireplace in front of a farmhouse and don't mind the foreign intruders. When they finally get to the Peak's Shadow, Cuin'halar spots some Ragesians who are sitting in the tavern and drinking wine. Cuin, who wants to protect the people of Eresh and throw out the Rags, is on the brink of attacking the soldiers when he suddenly falls into catatonia. Tinuviel instantly feels that his brother is losing all of his will and emotion and slaps him out of it. This seems to work and Cuin regains control over his body and mind. </p><p></p><p>Fortunately, the Peak's owner, Tashalanos, hasn't succumbed to the common stupor and greets the heroes with the comment that he's finally having some customers who haven't lost their minds. He explains them what happened over the last days: The Ragesians tried to invade Eresh for unknown reasons, but he thinks it might be related to Longinus' famed divination powers. When the first soldiers had moved past the defense lines and entered Eresh, they suddenly lost interest in fighting and some of them came to his inn for food and drink. He didn't want to start a fight, so he served them. Still he found it strange that his other customers didn't seem to mind either. Then at some point he felt like he was slipping into the same “nevermind-ness” as the rest of his customers, so he decided to slap himself every time he felt strange. </p><p></p><p>When they ask him about the other Seaquenian group, Tashalanos says that there were people who came from there. They said they wanted to go to the monastery and asked people about it. He hasn't seen them ever since the day of the attack. But he remembers that Bechus, one of their elders, might know more about them. </p><p></p><p>They then ask him why a Shahalesti would own an inn in such a remote location. Tashalanos sighs and says that he had been a soldier once, but he didn't really care about warfare and wanted to see the world instead. He came to Eresh during one of his travels and decided that he really liked the people, so he stayed. Tinuviel says that he is rather uncommon for a Shahalesti. Tashalanos grins and returns the favor before adding that it must be something raven-haired Shahalesti have in common. </p><p></p><p>Torrent and the elf then go on to discuss their favorite drinks while Crystin puts them aside and reminds them that she recently had a vision that might be related to this “unusual calm”. Tinuviel agrees to her point and starts to extend his “empathy” towards the source of this calm. He asks Cuin and Crystin to slap him should he start acting weird, but due to his strong emotions he is able to fend off the influence. </p><p></p><p>The group follows the Tinu-radar to a certain house. A bald woman is standing outside and she musters them, then goes inside. Once they follow her, she says that they are Balance and vanishes, only to reappear as a similar looking man. Balance asks them to leave as they, their actions and their emotions might disturb the delicate balance of this town. </p><p></p><p>They instantly realize that this Balance must be a Trillith, so they sing the Song of Forms to keep it corporeal. Balance seems a tiny bit surprised, but continues to talk to them. They explain that they are the reason why the people from Eresh and the Ragesians have stopped fighting. They say they needed to stop the strife to keep balance, even if they know that they are probably going to perish in the process. </p><p>They ask Balance about their nature and they say they, like their emotional brother (pointing to Tinuviel) are Trillith, dream-born by the mother who sleeps in the darkness below the world. They say they once passed the gate to the sunlit world and came here where the people shared their calmness and valued balance in all things. </p><p></p><p>Tinuviel replies that they all want to search for their “mother” someday and ask Balance whether they know more about Trilla, but they reply that they only know that she's sleeping in darkness.</p><p></p><p><em>Note: I really feared that they would take Balance's words and examine them back and forth. Balance kind of gives away that she came through Gate Pass and having this information plus the fact that Trilla is somewhere “in the underdark” as they put it would have sent them off to a rescue mission way before their time. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p>Cuin'halar tries to argue with Balance as he says that this way, they are causing an even greater imbalance than they are trying to stop. He says that once they perish, the returning emotions might cause utter chaos and the longer these emotions are suppressed by Balance, the bigger the backlash might become. He promises to protect the people of Eresh and says that he doesn't want Balance to die. He then proposes that they might unite with a similar-minded corporeal creature. Balance says that they would all be not compatible for them as they already carry strong presences or brothers/sisters within them. They understand, but add that they might have just the right candidate, should he agree to such an union.</p><p></p><p>As they realize that Balance might survive a few more hours, they ask the Trillith to keep themselves together a bit longer as they have some talking to do. Also, there is still one missing group from Seaquen to be found and there is only one place they could have gone: The Monastery of the Two Winds.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7261879, member: 6816692"] [b]Headless Menchi and a strange calm[/b] The journey through the Ostalin plains takes them all quite some time, even by horse. They frequently stop in smaller villages where they ask for shelter, food and news. When they reach the last village before the mountain pass to Eresh, the villagers can give them more then just directions. They tell them about the stairs leading to Eresh and the carefully designed mechanisms which help them to get their beasts of burden up and down the road. They explain the party how to use such a mechanism to pull up their horses, but jokingly suggest to dismount before pulling the beast up. [I]Note: My players remembered that Three Weeping Ravens said something about the monks fearing the Ragesians, so they asked the locals on their way whether there had been any signs or news of Ragesian advance on the monastery. As they were approaching from Sindaire and Balance took all of Eresh out once they were ready to attack, I said that the Ostalinians haven't heard anything. Still that made me wonder about the Khagan's “recent visit” to the Monastery which couldn't have been that recent as he'd have otherwise run into Signus and his army...[/I] They continue through the now quite icy plains until they reach the stairs. Cuin takes care to peek through his spyglass every few hundred meters and so he is able to spot light movement on one of the platforms before they get to the last set of stairs. They proceed with caution, but are nonetheless surprised when they see the shattered stone stair. Immediately after that, a wall of fire erupts behind them and laughing Menchi springs his trap. The group immediately takes shelter behind one of the stones at the bottom of the hill. Menchi takes the opportunity to throw a fireball at them, as they are all clustered up nicely. Note: As my players were higher level, I decided to one-up Menchi as well Crystin gets severely burned and runs off to another rock to hide behind while Cuin, Three Weeping Ravens and Tinu decide that hiding won't get them anywhere. So they approach by foot or teleport. Torrent heals up Crystin, asks her to stay hidden and follows the rest of the team. Three Weeping Ravens gets in a hefty fight with the scouts and soldiers while Cuin deliberately dances to Menchi where he slays the worg steed, Eskeru. Menchi, who had a lot of fun playing flaming sphere bowling with Torrent, flies into a rage and throws spells at Cuin. He dies in the next round, as expected. Meanwhile, Tinuviel gets invisible and starts to backstab the remaining Ragesians until no one is left. Three Weeping Ravens survives heavily wounded and gets healed up by Torrent as well. [I] Note: 3WR did quite fine in terms of offense in this fight, but he got almost butchered due to his low AC. Crystin was never meant to be a fighter, so I let her stay hidden where she threw the occasional crystal shard at the scouts. My players really felt like the environment was paying them disfavor, which was mainly because they were all melee characters. (Even if Tinuviel is pretty 'porty and Cuin's movement can reach absurd levels with haste and spell dance) [/I] Once combat is over, they examine the winch and find it working. They use the mechanism to get their horses to the upper platform of the cliff and continue their journey with caution. The group finally reaches the outskirts of Eresh and are surprised to see a huge ragesian army encampment in front of the town. Careful as they are, they use their spyglass to get a glimpse of what to expect. From what they can see, the army seems to besiege the city, although there are no signs of an ongoing or recent battle. The city wall seems intact, but there are no visible guards on top of it. What is also alarming is the fact that the city gate seems to be open wide with no one caring at all. So maybe the Ragesians have another encampment inside the walls of Eresh? Cuin'halar and Tinuviel don't like nasty surprises, so they decide to do some scouting inside the encampment. They use hats of disguise to look like fellow Ragesians and chat a bit with their “comrades”. Most of them have gathered around fireplaces to keep themselves warm, but none of them seems to be interested in conquering Eresh, even if that was clearly the plan of their “General”. They seek the way to the command tent and find, surprise, surprise, no General, but a Lieutenant Kormus, who's only interested in drinking, so invites them to share an ale with him. When they politely decline the offer (they are “on duty”), Kormus doesn't mind at all and mutters “The second General will execute me anyway once he returns, but who cares? This small town simply isn't worth leaving my cozy tent”. Now they are pretty convinced that the Ragesians here pose no threat at all, so they gather the rest of the group and simply march through the camp. The Rags tell them that they cannot simply enter Eresh, but don't do anything to stop them. On the other side of the wall, they see some people who look like local soldiers. Like the Ragesians, they have cuddled up near a fireplace in front of a farmhouse and don't mind the foreign intruders. When they finally get to the Peak's Shadow, Cuin'halar spots some Ragesians who are sitting in the tavern and drinking wine. Cuin, who wants to protect the people of Eresh and throw out the Rags, is on the brink of attacking the soldiers when he suddenly falls into catatonia. Tinuviel instantly feels that his brother is losing all of his will and emotion and slaps him out of it. This seems to work and Cuin regains control over his body and mind. Fortunately, the Peak's owner, Tashalanos, hasn't succumbed to the common stupor and greets the heroes with the comment that he's finally having some customers who haven't lost their minds. He explains them what happened over the last days: The Ragesians tried to invade Eresh for unknown reasons, but he thinks it might be related to Longinus' famed divination powers. When the first soldiers had moved past the defense lines and entered Eresh, they suddenly lost interest in fighting and some of them came to his inn for food and drink. He didn't want to start a fight, so he served them. Still he found it strange that his other customers didn't seem to mind either. Then at some point he felt like he was slipping into the same “nevermind-ness” as the rest of his customers, so he decided to slap himself every time he felt strange. When they ask him about the other Seaquenian group, Tashalanos says that there were people who came from there. They said they wanted to go to the monastery and asked people about it. He hasn't seen them ever since the day of the attack. But he remembers that Bechus, one of their elders, might know more about them. They then ask him why a Shahalesti would own an inn in such a remote location. Tashalanos sighs and says that he had been a soldier once, but he didn't really care about warfare and wanted to see the world instead. He came to Eresh during one of his travels and decided that he really liked the people, so he stayed. Tinuviel says that he is rather uncommon for a Shahalesti. Tashalanos grins and returns the favor before adding that it must be something raven-haired Shahalesti have in common. Torrent and the elf then go on to discuss their favorite drinks while Crystin puts them aside and reminds them that she recently had a vision that might be related to this “unusual calm”. Tinuviel agrees to her point and starts to extend his “empathy” towards the source of this calm. He asks Cuin and Crystin to slap him should he start acting weird, but due to his strong emotions he is able to fend off the influence. The group follows the Tinu-radar to a certain house. A bald woman is standing outside and she musters them, then goes inside. Once they follow her, she says that they are Balance and vanishes, only to reappear as a similar looking man. Balance asks them to leave as they, their actions and their emotions might disturb the delicate balance of this town. They instantly realize that this Balance must be a Trillith, so they sing the Song of Forms to keep it corporeal. Balance seems a tiny bit surprised, but continues to talk to them. They explain that they are the reason why the people from Eresh and the Ragesians have stopped fighting. They say they needed to stop the strife to keep balance, even if they know that they are probably going to perish in the process. They ask Balance about their nature and they say they, like their emotional brother (pointing to Tinuviel) are Trillith, dream-born by the mother who sleeps in the darkness below the world. They say they once passed the gate to the sunlit world and came here where the people shared their calmness and valued balance in all things. Tinuviel replies that they all want to search for their “mother” someday and ask Balance whether they know more about Trilla, but they reply that they only know that she's sleeping in darkness. [I]Note: I really feared that they would take Balance's words and examine them back and forth. Balance kind of gives away that she came through Gate Pass and having this information plus the fact that Trilla is somewhere “in the underdark” as they put it would have sent them off to a rescue mission way before their time. [/I] Cuin'halar tries to argue with Balance as he says that this way, they are causing an even greater imbalance than they are trying to stop. He says that once they perish, the returning emotions might cause utter chaos and the longer these emotions are suppressed by Balance, the bigger the backlash might become. He promises to protect the people of Eresh and says that he doesn't want Balance to die. He then proposes that they might unite with a similar-minded corporeal creature. Balance says that they would all be not compatible for them as they already carry strong presences or brothers/sisters within them. They understand, but add that they might have just the right candidate, should he agree to such an union. As they realize that Balance might survive a few more hours, they ask the Trillith to keep themselves together a bit longer as they have some talking to do. Also, there is still one missing group from Seaquen to be found and there is only one place they could have gone: The Monastery of the Two Winds. [/QUOTE]
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