So, as those who have been diligently reading all my posts will know (yes, this means you, and you, and you with the crazy hairstyle down the back), in my game there is a group of evil vampiric necromancer cultist types called bloodmages. Opposing them is a group of witch hunters called, well, witch hunters. One of the PCs is a witch hunter, Carcosa, played by Chris. Carcosa's wife Thea is also a witch hunter, and present in the group as an NPC.
The group found out last session that Dryden, the head of the witch hunters, was secretly in league with the bloodmages. Those who have played L5R for any length of time will know that this sort of thing is almost par for the course. What may or may not also be par for the course is the reason he was ostensibly doing this, which is that the bloodmages were holding his family hostage. Anyway, this session, I was expecting the players to go after him, and had statted him out along with some of his lieutenants and other witch hunters.
However, because they had also found out about a place called "Stonegate" which was the location of a great evil artifact that they were supposed to destroy, they spent half the session trying to find that instead. They spent a week in-game flying around the mountains of central Britannia with wind walk, trying to get a fix on it. It came to nothing, because Stonegate was a place that straddled planar boundaries, making the usual divinations go wonky -- this was something they'd encountered before with another place, so it wasn't completely unexpected. I think they got the hint after that and went off to talk to Dryden, but not before getting into a huge fight with 3 frost worms and 3 ice devils. Multiple cones of cold every round is v.nasty, as is frost worms going kaboom when they die. Carcosa almost got shredded before Thea bamfed the two of them to safety.
(The guys also seem to be v.scared of this evil artifact they're looking for. So it's a skull of a long-dead evil necromancer. Is that anything to be scared of? I mean, really.)
Before going to talk to Dryden, they got their two friendly NPCs, Varimer the ex-assassin chyk, and Thea, to see if they could find out anything about him. This turned out not to be a very good idea from their point of view; but it was great from MY point of view, as will become apparent. Varimer saw Dryden in talks with a known bloodmage, but Thea disappeared. Everyone assumed for some reason that she'd either been killed or captured.
After some more questioning of people and digging around, they eventually decided to confront Dryden. It took place in a secluded clearing in the woods outside town. Present were Dryden, Dormand the bloodmage, and... Thea.
It turned out that, while it was true that Dryden's family was hostage to the bloodmages, he was voluntarily working with them. If the bloodmages were to be destroyed, the witch hunters would also fade into irrelevance, and Dryden, an ambitious man, didn't want that at all. Hence a pact, whereby he agreed to let them survive, while they eliminated his main rivals. Thea got forced to join the bloodmages when they threatened to kill his family if she didn't -- starting from the youngest, whom they disemboweled in front of her to show that they were serious. The main requirement to become a bloodmage is to commit an act of great treachery, which she did by betraying Carcosa's trust. It didn't matter that she did it to save innocents; he was rather upset, to say the least.
In the end they managed to kill both Dryden and Dormand with surprisingly little trouble -- even 17th level characters aren't that hot when their stoneskin, substitution and greater heroism get yoinked out from under them. But boy, Chris was not a happy camper when he found out that his PC's wife, whom he saw as his whole moral bedrock and pillar of support, had gone over to the dark side. We wrapped up for the night shortly after he refused to forgive her, even when she begged him on her knees.
It should be v.interesting how this all pans out. Things do not look good for Thea, one way or the other. Heh.
Other highlights:
- One of the PCs debating whether to use this save-my-ass artifact they'd found that drains a level every time you use it, when she was 48 XP short of 15th
- Dormand the bloodmage, whom they've fought five? six? times previously and had run away each time, FINALLY going down for the count
Hong "I am a closet Vampire GM; kill me now" Ooi
The group found out last session that Dryden, the head of the witch hunters, was secretly in league with the bloodmages. Those who have played L5R for any length of time will know that this sort of thing is almost par for the course. What may or may not also be par for the course is the reason he was ostensibly doing this, which is that the bloodmages were holding his family hostage. Anyway, this session, I was expecting the players to go after him, and had statted him out along with some of his lieutenants and other witch hunters.
However, because they had also found out about a place called "Stonegate" which was the location of a great evil artifact that they were supposed to destroy, they spent half the session trying to find that instead. They spent a week in-game flying around the mountains of central Britannia with wind walk, trying to get a fix on it. It came to nothing, because Stonegate was a place that straddled planar boundaries, making the usual divinations go wonky -- this was something they'd encountered before with another place, so it wasn't completely unexpected. I think they got the hint after that and went off to talk to Dryden, but not before getting into a huge fight with 3 frost worms and 3 ice devils. Multiple cones of cold every round is v.nasty, as is frost worms going kaboom when they die. Carcosa almost got shredded before Thea bamfed the two of them to safety.
(The guys also seem to be v.scared of this evil artifact they're looking for. So it's a skull of a long-dead evil necromancer. Is that anything to be scared of? I mean, really.)
Before going to talk to Dryden, they got their two friendly NPCs, Varimer the ex-assassin chyk, and Thea, to see if they could find out anything about him. This turned out not to be a very good idea from their point of view; but it was great from MY point of view, as will become apparent. Varimer saw Dryden in talks with a known bloodmage, but Thea disappeared. Everyone assumed for some reason that she'd either been killed or captured.
After some more questioning of people and digging around, they eventually decided to confront Dryden. It took place in a secluded clearing in the woods outside town. Present were Dryden, Dormand the bloodmage, and... Thea.
It turned out that, while it was true that Dryden's family was hostage to the bloodmages, he was voluntarily working with them. If the bloodmages were to be destroyed, the witch hunters would also fade into irrelevance, and Dryden, an ambitious man, didn't want that at all. Hence a pact, whereby he agreed to let them survive, while they eliminated his main rivals. Thea got forced to join the bloodmages when they threatened to kill his family if she didn't -- starting from the youngest, whom they disemboweled in front of her to show that they were serious. The main requirement to become a bloodmage is to commit an act of great treachery, which she did by betraying Carcosa's trust. It didn't matter that she did it to save innocents; he was rather upset, to say the least.
In the end they managed to kill both Dryden and Dormand with surprisingly little trouble -- even 17th level characters aren't that hot when their stoneskin, substitution and greater heroism get yoinked out from under them. But boy, Chris was not a happy camper when he found out that his PC's wife, whom he saw as his whole moral bedrock and pillar of support, had gone over to the dark side. We wrapped up for the night shortly after he refused to forgive her, even when she begged him on her knees.
It should be v.interesting how this all pans out. Things do not look good for Thea, one way or the other. Heh.
Other highlights:
- One of the PCs debating whether to use this save-my-ass artifact they'd found that drains a level every time you use it, when she was 48 XP short of 15th
- Dormand the bloodmage, whom they've fought five? six? times previously and had run away each time, FINALLY going down for the count
Hong "I am a closet Vampire GM; kill me now" Ooi
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