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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7966348" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 17: DOUBLE AGENTS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 6</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 6</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 6</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 6</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 15 April 2020</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>"So what can we expect when we get to the capital?" asked Cramer Appleknocker from the front of the wagon.</p><p></p><p>"We will meet with King Omadan and the other four councilors," replied Councilor Liadon. "I will brief them on the assassination attempt, turn over the prisoners, and you will be given an opportunity to plead your case about an alliance with Greenvale."</p><p></p><p>"What can you tell us about the other councilors?" asked Marlo, walking beside the wagon. "You said there were five in all, but only one shared your views on allying with Greenvale."</p><p></p><p>"Correct - that would be the <strong>Archmage Xiandria</strong>. She's a former adventurer, much like yourselves, who moved to the Elderwood a century or so ago. The other three, who are opposed to an alliance, are Councilors Aramoira, Inafiel, and Vawraek.</p><p></p><p>"<strong>Councilor Aramoira</strong> is a dryad. A cutting from her tree was transplanted into the capital so she can travel between there and her home tree in the Druid's Grove, deeper in the Elderwood. Her opposition stems from her claim that the woods themselves told her great destruction would come to the Elderwood if we interfered with Greenvale's fate."</p><p></p><p>"Great destruction's on its way here in three months, whether you ally with Greenvale or not," pointed out Utred. Jhasspok, in the meantime, tried to figure out just how the woods could have told anybody anything in the first place. He eyed the trees they passed suspiciously; were they just faking being inanimate?</p><p></p><p>"Too true - a point that must be made to the King and the Council," agreed Liadon. "Next up, we have <strong>Councilor Inafiel</strong>, a famous pirate hunter - who, along with her mother, sought to take down Inafiel's own grandfather, an infamous pirate who they felt was sullying their family name. Inafiel was swayed against allying with Greenvale by <strong>Councilor Vawraek</strong>, a silver-tongued devil if ever there was one. He is the main source of anti-Greenvale sentiment - and, I suspect, he's also behind the illegal attacks on caravans trading with Greenvale and quite possibly the one behind the attempt on my life."</p><p></p><p>"Do you have any proof?" asked Marlo.</p><p></p><p>"Alas, no - it's just a suspicion. But Vawraek is a powerful spellcaster - much more skilled in the arcane arts than am I, in any case - although he's an unusual one: he's often seen mumbling quietly to himself."</p><p></p><p>"But what about the king?" asked Cramer. "Doesn't he have the final word? I thought you councilors were just advisers."</p><p></p><p>"Quite so, but each adviser is a representative of his or her own district of the kingdom and King Omadan does not want a civil war among factions so the overall majority view of the council is usually heeded. He has decreed a stance of non-interaction with Greenvale, which has subsequently been grossly misinterpreted as a full embargo against the city and all who would trade with them, to the extent of attacking caravans friendly to Greenvale."</p><p></p><p>"So it sounds like all we need to do is sway one of these three councilors to our way of thinking, and then the king could more easily be convinced to ally with Greenvale," mused Cramer. Councilor Liadon acknowledged the truth of the gnome's reasoning.</p><p></p><p>Much of the rest of the day's trip was spent in quiet reflection or small talk. In the late afternoon, they finally arrived at their destination: a seamless, white wall across the road. "Strange," observed Liadon. "There should be a gate there, directly ahead." Khari and Jhasspok looked all around them, wondering where it might possibly have gotten off to.</p><p></p><p>But then a guard called down from the ramparts, in Elven, "I made sure to put flowers on your brother's grave."</p><p></p><p>Liadon called up to the guard in the same language, "I have no brother. What makes you think I was under duress? These are allies I travel with, who saved my life from assassins of our own race. We have brought the three who survived the attempt upon my life for interrogation." Cramer, the only one of the slaves familiar with the Elven tongue, realized the guard had assumed Councilor Liadon was their prisoner - possibly even hostage - and the elves had likely sealed off the gate in the wall with a <em>stone shape</em> or similar spell to bar their entrance.</p><p></p><p>"We were told you had been kidnapped by assassins seeking to use you to get to the king," replied the guard from the ramparts. He gave a nod to someone behind him and a seam appeared in the wall, eventually opening up into a pair of gates allowing the horse-drawn wagon and its occupants, as well as those who walked along beside it, to enter the capital city of Greenvale. As Cramer drove the wagon inside the gates, an elven woman in robes approached.</p><p></p><p>"Welcome," said Archmage Xiandria warmly to the councilor, then gave a bit of a start at seeing the group with which he was traveling. Apparently they didn't get a whole lot of non-elven visitors this deep in the Elderwood.</p><p></p><p>"We will meet with the King and the Council tomorrow," Liadon told the five slaves, stepping down from the wagon. He indicated for several of the guards to take custody of the bound prisoners. "Xiandria here will escort you to a place you may stay overnight, that you may be refreshed before the meeting." And with that he strode off, likely to make the necessary arrangements.</p><p></p><p>Xiandria led the group to a building set off away from the others, a three-story affair with curving walls, each level about half the size of the one below it, so the roof slanted down from the back of the building to the front. Opening the door, she led them all inside. "You can stay here tonight, in the library," she offered. "We don't have much in the way of guest quarters, I'm afraid." Once everyone was inside, she closed the door behind her, looked to make sure nobody else was in the building, and then hissed, "What are you doing here? Did my mother send you here to check up on me?"</p><p></p><p>That question got her five puzzled looks. "Who's your mother?" asked Khari bluntly.</p><p></p><p>Xiandria looked blankly back at the dwarf. "Then, if she didn't send you--?"</p><p></p><p>"We're here to warn everyone about an attack by a drow army," Jhasspok offered up, answering the Archmage's original question. "In three months, the Overreach drow will attack Greenvale and we're here to warn people and try to get them to agree to an alliance with the Greenvale elves." He wasn't sure yet if they were going to admit to anyone right away about the Greenvale elves actually being sunborn drow, so he left that part out.</p><p></p><p>Marlo was staring intently at the Archmage as the elf took this all in. "You look...familiar, somehow," the sorcerer admitted.</p><p></p><p>At this, Xiandria sighed and took a seat. "You probably recognize me from when you were first taken from the surface," she admitted. "I was the one who took you aside after you received your slave tattoos, and gave you back not only your own gear but the extra scrolls to use in the Festival of Blood."</p><p></p><p>"That was a drow!" exclaimed Marlo.</p><p></p><p>"As, indeed, I am," Xiandria said. "I am <strong>Xiandria Jalamir</strong>, second daughter of the Matron." She was also apparently an archmage, so altering her appearance to appear as a light-skinned surface elf would be well within her powers, Marlo realized.</p><p></p><p>"Then you're Calish's sister!" Cramer deduced.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, one of them."</p><p></p><p>"Then what are you doing here, in an elven kingdom - as one of their Councilors?" demanded the gnome.</p><p></p><p>Xiandria sighed again. "My mother and I have an arrangement: I can remain here on the surface as long as I keep in constant contact with her - usually with a monthly astral visit. But she recently sent me a <em>sending</em> spell telling me to stop using <em>astral projection</em> spells to visit, until further notice. That's why I had at first assumed she had sent you, for I recognized you at once as Calish's arena slaves, when I had returned to Overreach to be publicly seen attending the Festival of Blood."</p><p></p><p>"Then you're unaware of the recent events in Overreach," reasoned Marlo. She explained about the rise of the Mortal Queen and her edict that they would purge all sunborn drow from their vicinity, going so far as to send their armies to the surface to obliterate Greenvale.</p><p></p><p>"All...sunborn drow?" Xiandria asked.</p><p></p><p>Cramer saw immediately where the question had been headed. "Including your sister Eri'dia, yes," the gnome replied. "Under orders from the Mortal Queen, your mother had Eri'dia captured and tortured."</p><p></p><p>"They cut her into a bunch of pieces and then sewed them back up into flesh golems," added Utred, savoring the look of horror his announcement had on the elven spellcaster.</p><p></p><p>"Where is she now?" Xiandria demanded.</p><p></p><p>"Safe in Greenvale - for now, at least," Cramer explained. "But in three months' time...." He left the rest unsaid.</p><p></p><p>"Then it is of even greater urgency that we sway the rest of the Council and the King to come to Greenvale's aid," said Xiandria. "We must not allow the Spider-Bitch to extend her power to the surface!"</p><p></p><p>"Wait...so you're a sunborn drow, too?" asked Utred.</p><p></p><p>"Not a sunborn, no - but I am a follower of Eilistraee." She turned back towards the door. "We will meet again tomorrow. I would ask you not to mention to anyone else I am a drow from Overreach. It would...complicate matters greatly."</p><p></p><p>"We understand," Marlo assured her. "Your secret will be safe with us."</p><p></p><p>"We're secret double slaves," Jhasspok offered up, hoping his admitting to their own secret lives would lead the Archmage to understand they well knew the need to keep secrets...although the simpleminded lizardfolk hadn't realized spilling his own secrets wasn't the best indicator of his ability to guard hers. Xiandria gave them all a troubled look and then walked back out through the door, leaving them to make themselves comfortable for the night. They opted to do without a guard shift, although Jhasspok took it upon himself to bunk down against the front door, so anyone trying to enter the building while they slept would bump him awake.</p><p></p><p>The night passed without incident. The next morning, breakfast was brought to the arena slaves. They were left to their own devices for the entire morning; around noon Xiandria returned to escort them to the audience area.</p><p></p><p>"Anything we should know about?" asked Cramer as they walked deeper into the forest.</p><p></p><p>"Nothing I can think of," replied Xiandria. "The other councilors are tight-lipped; we'll have to see what they have to say after you've made your case before King Omadan." They approached a ring of standing stones, arranged in a wide circle around a tree stump. Growing up from the center of the stump was a sapling, a thin new growth rising up from the dead wood beneath it. As they approached, the ground seemed oddly spongy, but nobody gave much notice to it: all eyes were upon the figures seated on stone benches on the circular plinth laid atop the ten stone pillars: King Omadan and four of the five councilors. Archmage Xiandria strode to her own stone pillar, touching a glyph upon its side and levitating to the top to take her place among the other councilors.</p><p></p><p>"You may approach," stated the elven king on a regal voice, once Xiandria was seated.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok entered the stone circle and stood before the king. "I'm a lizardman," he announced for no particular reason. The two dwarves flanked him, with Marlo and Cramer taking up positions on either side of the tree stump. All looked up to face the king. Then Marlo began the speech she'd rehearsed back at the library, the <em>circlet of persuasion</em> on her brow giving further power to her arguments. She spoke of the impending drow invasion, the true nature of the Greenvale elves, and the assassination attempt on Councilor Liadon's life.</p><p></p><p>"An interesting tale," sneered Councilor Vawraek from his seat, "but I fail to see why we should take the word of a group of probable assassins. It seems more likely that they were the ones behind the attempt to slay Liadon - they have already admitted to killing the garrison commander of Crossroad Keep and his loyal guardsmen."</p><p></p><p>"Everything we have said is the truth," countered Cramer. "I am a cleric of Fharlanghn and am willing to cast a <em>zone of truth</em> spell, so we can all be sure that what is said is truthful. And," he added, looking around the circle and judging distances, "if I cast it directly upon this tree stump, it will encompass all of us here, the councilors included." It would also, he realized, encompass King Omadan but the gnome felt he was better off not pointing out that little detail - the king would no doubt realize he was also affected but to draw attention to it was to raise doubts as to the slaves' confidence in the king's honesty.</p><p></p><p>"Very well," agreed King Omadan. "Cast your spell - we have those among us who can tell it is a <em>zone of truth</em> spell you cast, and nothing more." Aramoira the dryad leaned forward as the gnome cleric did as he had been bid.</p><p></p><p>"Well then," smirked Vawraek once the spell was in place, "tell us all for the record, Xiandria: are you a drow spy?" None of the slaves had discovered it the previous day, but his familiar had followed them and Xiandria into the library and heard everything said in confidence between them.</p><p></p><p>Xiandria gasped at the accusation but before she could answer the clicking of mandibles could be heard from all around the circle - and then, the illusion spells that had hidden them falling away since they were no longer needed, the monstrous spiders hanging to the undersides of the circular plinth attacked: six of them going for the king and the councilors while four others dropped to the ground and skittered towards the arena slaves.</p><p></p><p>Cramer, Khari, Marlo, and Utred were the spiders' first targets on the ground; of the four, only Marlo managed to dodge away from the piercing mandibles, although Cramer and the dwarves all managed to shrug off the effects of the venom the spiders injected into them as part of their attack. But then Utred unsheated his <em>Elderwood flaming longsword</em> and put it to good use, cutting open the abdomen of the spider who had bitten him. It lasted all of a handful of seconds after the effrontery of having bitten a Butterflinger dwarf before it was dead on the ground, its eight legs twitching spasmodically in death.</p><p></p><p>Marlo channeled arcane power into a <em>magic missile</em> spell and sent the <em>empowered</em> bolts blasting into the side of the spider that had tried biting her. But she had no room to back away and it got in another bite as she cast her spell, this time successfully catching the sorcerer between its mandibles and piercing her skin, venom dripping from its fangs. Marlo, not one for the rigors of physical combat, felt her strength draining away as a result of the poisoned bite. Then, to make matters even worse, her arm suddenly sprouted two small arrows. Truffles, peering up out of Marlo's robe pocket, thought he detected a sort of shimmering area over by Councilor Vawraek and passed his suspicions on to his mistress over the empathic link they shared. Marlo, in turn, called out "Invisible archer over by Vawraek!" to the others, letting them know they were up against more than spiders.</p><p></p><p>Cramer backed frantically away from the spider who had bitten him, bumping into Jhasspok as he cast a <em>fly</em> spell upon himself. The lizardfolk had his battleaxe out and swung it at the spider menacing the little gnome, its blade cutting deep into the creature's cephalothorax but failing to slay it outright. Khari, in the meantime, had slain his own arachnid foe, crushing its head into a pulp with a massive, overhead swing of his trusty warhammer.</p><p></p><p>But then it became apparent the ten large spiders weren't the only arachnids in play, for swarms of much smaller spiders suddenly blanketed the area, crawling down the standing stones to overrun the combat slaves on the ground. Up on the raised platform, the king and the five councilors were busy fighting off large monstrous spiders of their own, although they seemed to have been spared the swarms of smaller arachnids currently concentrating on making meals of the heroes below.</p><p></p><p>Utred ran over to Marlo's side and slew the spider threatening her, leaving her available to send a <em>scorching ray</em> spell at the spider swarm attacking her and Utred, her spell causing most of the spiders in the area to be set ablaze and die instantly. Cramer took flight, flying straight up and casting an <em>invisibility purge</em> spell that brought a winged pixie into sudden view. Strange noises - likely curses in an unknown tongue - erupted from the pixie's throat, and <strong>Waruchi</strong> brought up her tiny bow and fired a pair of arrows, one after the other, at the bothersome gnome.</p><p></p><p>Khari and Jhasspok brought their weapons to bear against the sole remaining monstrous spider on the ground before them, slaying it between them. The remaining spider swarms repositioned themselves to best effect, some of them crawling onto Utred and Marlo's bodies. Truffles tried leaping away but was overcome on the ground, paralyzed almost at once as the various spider-bites pumped so much venom into the little toad's system that he literally couldn't move a muscle.</p><p></p><p>Utred plucked a bead from his <em>necklace of fireballs</em> and tossed it down at his feet, engulfing him - and, more importantly, the spiders covering the majority of his body at this point - in cleansing flames. Burnt arachnid corpses floated down off of him like sinister ashes. Marlo, just out of range, cast another <em>empowered magic missile</em> spell, this time targeting the strange-looking pixie - the sorcerer couldn't make out just what was wrong with the little fairy but she just seemed somehow <em>off</em>. Cramer joined in the pixie pile-on with a <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell, causing a quarterstaff composed of pure force energy to strike down at the winged menace.</p><p></p><p>Khari's warhammer wasn't necessarily the best weapon to bring against a swarm of skittering spiders but the dwarven fighter did the best he could with it, smashing multiple bodies to a crunchy pulp with each blow. It might take him some time, but he'd get these pests!</p><p></p><p>Waruchi narrowed her eyes in hatred at the flying gnome: not only had he dispelled her invisibility, but he'd hurt her with his force-weapon! She targeted him again with her bow and sent a flurry of her arrows his way; only one of them struck true.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok saw there were no more of the bigger spiders down on the ground with them, only the smaller ones crawling over his body (and those the lizardfolk was content to let stay, as they'd make a nice snack when he had the time; killing spiders was punishable by death in the drow city of the Overreach so he'd never gotten to sample what they might taste like) - but there were still six up on the plinth with the king and the five councilors. And so he sprinted toward the nearest standing stone, leaping up and grabbing the top of the stone plinth and pulling himself up. Then, realizing this would almost certainly get the elven king to appreciate the slaves' assistance, the lizardfolk brought his battleaxe crashing down on the spider threatening King Omadan. His blow pierced the spider's abdomen in two and it died instantly, blood and other fluids leaking from its split corpse. The elven king gave a nod of gratitude and then looked to his right, where Liadon was fighting off another of these monstrous beasts.</p><p></p><p>Marlo was being eaten alive by the spiders covering her body, until Utred shook them off her and stomped them beneath his heels. Smiling her gratitude, Marlo scooped up her immobile toad familiar, stuffed him back into her pocket, and cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell up at the bedraggled-looking pixie. Marlo didn't even bother <em>empowering</em> it, believing (quite rightly) that a "standard model" would do the trick. Waruchi screamed in pain and collapsed, landing on the stone plinth beside her master - who gave all appearances of fighting off the giant spider attacking him.</p><p></p><p>Despite his close proximity, Cramer didn't get to enjoy the sight of the pixie's plummet; his gaze was focused off in the distance, where a large shape was lumbering its way through the trees. This, he saw as it got closer, was another monstrous spider, this one gargantuan in its proportions: it looked to span at least 30 or 40 feet with its outstretched legs. With a mental command, the flying gnome redirected his <em>spiritual quarterstaff</em> off in this new menace's direction.</p><p></p><p>Khari, also out of combat foes and not able to climb up onto the plinth like Jhasspok had, pulled out his longbow and aimed an arrow at the downed pixie's unmoving form - she might already be dead, but the dwarf wasn't willing to take any chances. His shot struck true, but seemed to plunk harmlessly off the little fairy's body. <em>Some sort of magical protection</em>, the dwarven fighter reasoned.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok, in the meantime, headed off to his left along the plinth, to attack the giant spider going after Inafiel. Together, he and the elven pirate-hunter brought the beast down. But by now the gargantuan spider had made it to the outskirts of the circle of stones, headed for the dryad, Aramoira. Utred rushed at the spider, bringing his magic longsword striking at its underside and scoring a line of blood and pain with the strength of his blow. Marlo sent an <em>empowered magic missile</em> spell at the rampaging spider-monster, realizing it was in everyone's best interests to slay this thing at range before it closed in for the kill. Cramer flew up over the beast and landed atop its hairy abdomen, where it would be unable to bite the gnome, and cast an <em>inflict serious wounds</em> at the spider beneath his feet. He also kept his <em>spiritual quarterstaff</em> engaged in striking the spider, the tip of the weapon crashing down upon one of the spider's eight eyes.</p><p></p><p>Khari, seeing he once again had an opponent on the ground with him, forsook his pixie-plinking experiments and grabbed up his warhammer once again, swinging it into one of the gargantuan spider's legs. But despite their best efforts, the heroes failed to slay the thing before it could attack; dashing forward with its wicked mandibles, it bit deep into the body of Aramoira as she was about to leap down off the stone plinth. The spider's venomous fangs pierced the dryad from both sides, practically cutting her in half. She pitched forward off the plinth, the sapling growing out of the tree trunk in the center of the circle of stones withering away to nothing and giving silent voice to the dryad's passing from this world.</p><p></p><p>Up on the plinth, Jhasspok brought his battleaxe crashing down upon the illusory spider that was pretending to attack the wizard Vawraek; the weapon seemed to deflect off the creature's body but the lizardfolk saw nothing unusual in that and it brought no suspicions to the front of his lizard brain. He also failed to note the elven wizard seemed none the worse for wear in fighting off the attacks of a venomous spider the size of a horse.</p><p></p><p>Utred cut deep into the gargantuan spider's body, at the joint where one leg met the underside of the body. He knew he'd have a mere moment to leap away when they finally killed the blasted thing - unless he wanted the fool beast to land on top of him - but for right now this seemed the best place to strike at the monster. Fortunately, by this time the various attacks had taken a great toll on the gargantuan spider, and when Marlo's <em>magic missile</em> spell finally took it down, Utred had just barely enough time to roll out of the way as the monstrous beast toppled.</p><p></p><p>Not convinced of the fairy's death, Cramer cast a <em>sound burst</em> spell that "accidentally" covered Vawraek as well; the elf screamed in agony - far too much for the minimal pain the gnome's spell could have caused - until Cramer realized the elven wizard had just felt his familiar's death over the link the two had shared. Well, good - that was at least an indicator that the pixie had finally been slain!</p><p></p><p>The group helped finish off the rest of the remaining spiders, not a few of them turning out to be mere illusions, like the one "attacking" Vawraek. The elven mage was grabbed by the back of the neck by Jhasspok and dragged before the king. "Explain," the lizardfolk snarled to the wizard, sure that Vawraek had been behind the attacks.</p><p></p><p>Cramer, in the meantime, had flown over to examine the dead pixie's body. By her coloration, he deduced she had been fiendish, or half-fiend, in nature - that would explain how she had been able to shrug off the arrow Khari had shot directly at her. "I didn't know!" swore Vawraek. "She was almost always invisible before me!" Cramer was skeptical, but an invisible pixie familiar at least explained the wizard's penchant for mumbling quietly to himself - he'd been talking to his unseen familiar the whole time!</p><p></p><p>"Your Majesty," Cramer suggested, "I can pray for a <em>speak with dead</em> spell tomorrow and use it upon the body of the slain pixie. She might be able to give us better answers than this one" - here he sneered at Vawraek - "is likely to give us."</p><p></p><p>"Agreed," replied King Omadan. "We will reconvene here tomorrow, then. I will have these bodies removed in the meantime, and poor Aramoira lain to rest." He climbed down from the plinth, with the others following suit - and taking custody of the wizard Vawraeth, not looking anywhere near as formidable now that he was blubbering over his familiar's death and swearing his own innocence in any plot she might have cooked up behind his back.</p><p></p><p>The next day the circle of standing stones looked completely clean and clear - it was if no battle had ever occurred here at all. Furthermore, the "sponginess" of the ground was also gone; that had turned out to be an illusion of normalcy cast over layers and layers of spider webs covering the ground all around the circle. Marlo shuddered at the memory of being covered in spiders; from safely inside her robe pocket, Truffles did likewise. At least he'd recovered from his poisoning in the intervening day since the sudden battle.</p><p></p><p>Waruchi's body was lain out on the ground by the tree stump. Cramer approached it and cast his spell. Then he started asked the questions the group had decided upon ahead of time; the spell would allow him only three questions, but he could change which questions he asked at the spur of the moment - a great benefit in the case of a sudden bit of information demanding further explanation.</p><p></p><p>"Who did you serve besides your wizardly master, Vawraek?" the gnome demanded of the half-fiend pixie's body.</p><p></p><p>"My father and half-sister," came the ghostly replay. Well, that certainly required further detail!</p><p></p><p>"What are the names of your father and half-sister?" demanded Cramer.</p><p></p><p>"My father is <strong>Bezrameth</strong>, while I only know my half-sister's last name: Bel'vior." Bezrameth would be the demonic parent of the half-fiend; of greater importance was the fact that this little pixie was kin to House Bel'vior, the First House of Overreach. In fact, it made sense that if Waruchi was a half-fiend pixie and had a half-sister Bel'vior drow, that drow was a half-fiend as well - she couldn't likely be half-pixie, could she? Could this half-sister possibly be the Mortal Queen herself? It was food for thought.</p><p></p><p>But Cramer had another question he wanted answered. "Why did you have the spiders attack?" he asked. There had been some who thought the gargantuan spider had made for the dryad specifically, while others believed she had merely been the easiest target at the moment. If taking out Aramoira had been important the gnome wanted to know about it.</p><p></p><p>"To keep the Elderwood out of my sister's war." Well, that cinched it: the half-fiend half-sister to Waruchi was Matron Bel'vior, the Mortal Queen herself. The spirit answering the questions faded away, the gnome's spell having reached its conclusion.</p><p></p><p>"So now what?" asked Marlo.</p><p></p><p>"You will have your alliance," declared King Omadan. "I have already sent word throughout the kingdom of your warnings and our warriors are gearing up for battle. We will send an emissary to Greenvale, attesting to our intentions. The actions of this Mortal Queen and her half-sister are an act of war against the Elderwood; we will aid Greenvale in the upcoming invasion."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Marlo, much relieved.</p><p></p><p>"What about Vawraek?" asked Utred.</p><p></p><p>"He still proclaims himself an unknowing pawn to his familiar's machinations, but he has gracefully accepted his punishment: a century of imprisonment," answered the king.</p><p></p><p>"Why not just kill him?" asked the dwarven barbarian. It seemed like an obvious solution to him.</p><p></p><p>"We are not so...barbaric," replied King Omadan.</p><p></p><p>"More's the pity," grumbled Utred.</p><p></p><p>Still, they had gotten Elderwood to join in the alliance with Greenvale - next up was Revin, the kingdom from which Cramer hailed. The gnome would be glad to see his homelands once again. And they'd hopefully be able to get Revin to join the Greenvale alliance much easier than it had been to gain the elves' agreement; at the very least, it would be nice if they didn't have to fight hordes of giant spiders to get their task completed.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok, however, wouldn't mind meeting up with more spiders, especially since killing one here on the surface wasn't a capital offense like it was in Overreach. And he'd come to an important realization: spiders tasted much more like dried dung beetles than they did horse meat. (The ones burned by the <em>scorching ray</em> spells had a unique taste all to their own - they were by far his favorites.)</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>I was afraid at first this adventure was going to be combat-free, especially once I found out several of the councilors were capable of casting 8th- and 9th-level spells. But Logan took care of that by having the king and the councilors busy with their own fights up on the plinth while we fought our own battles on the ground. That sped up combat immensely, as the plinth battles took place off screen, as it were - at least up until I realized what a PR opportunity saving the king's life would be.</p><p></p><p>As we'd hoped, everyone leveled up to 7th-level at the end of this adventure. Jhasspok's taking a 2nd level of fighter; I imagine he and Khari go through weapons drills in their off time, as wielding a warhammer and wielding a battleaxe aren't that too dissimilar.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7966348, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 17: DOUBLE AGENTS[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 6[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 2/fighter 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 6[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 6[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 6[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 15 April 2020 - - - "So what can we expect when we get to the capital?" asked Cramer Appleknocker from the front of the wagon. "We will meet with King Omadan and the other four councilors," replied Councilor Liadon. "I will brief them on the assassination attempt, turn over the prisoners, and you will be given an opportunity to plead your case about an alliance with Greenvale." "What can you tell us about the other councilors?" asked Marlo, walking beside the wagon. "You said there were five in all, but only one shared your views on allying with Greenvale." "Correct - that would be the [B]Archmage Xiandria[/B]. She's a former adventurer, much like yourselves, who moved to the Elderwood a century or so ago. The other three, who are opposed to an alliance, are Councilors Aramoira, Inafiel, and Vawraek. "[B]Councilor Aramoira[/B] is a dryad. A cutting from her tree was transplanted into the capital so she can travel between there and her home tree in the Druid's Grove, deeper in the Elderwood. Her opposition stems from her claim that the woods themselves told her great destruction would come to the Elderwood if we interfered with Greenvale's fate." "Great destruction's on its way here in three months, whether you ally with Greenvale or not," pointed out Utred. Jhasspok, in the meantime, tried to figure out just how the woods could have told anybody anything in the first place. He eyed the trees they passed suspiciously; were they just faking being inanimate? "Too true - a point that must be made to the King and the Council," agreed Liadon. "Next up, we have [B]Councilor Inafiel[/B], a famous pirate hunter - who, along with her mother, sought to take down Inafiel's own grandfather, an infamous pirate who they felt was sullying their family name. Inafiel was swayed against allying with Greenvale by [B]Councilor Vawraek[/B], a silver-tongued devil if ever there was one. He is the main source of anti-Greenvale sentiment - and, I suspect, he's also behind the illegal attacks on caravans trading with Greenvale and quite possibly the one behind the attempt on my life." "Do you have any proof?" asked Marlo. "Alas, no - it's just a suspicion. But Vawraek is a powerful spellcaster - much more skilled in the arcane arts than am I, in any case - although he's an unusual one: he's often seen mumbling quietly to himself." "But what about the king?" asked Cramer. "Doesn't he have the final word? I thought you councilors were just advisers." "Quite so, but each adviser is a representative of his or her own district of the kingdom and King Omadan does not want a civil war among factions so the overall majority view of the council is usually heeded. He has decreed a stance of non-interaction with Greenvale, which has subsequently been grossly misinterpreted as a full embargo against the city and all who would trade with them, to the extent of attacking caravans friendly to Greenvale." "So it sounds like all we need to do is sway one of these three councilors to our way of thinking, and then the king could more easily be convinced to ally with Greenvale," mused Cramer. Councilor Liadon acknowledged the truth of the gnome's reasoning. Much of the rest of the day's trip was spent in quiet reflection or small talk. In the late afternoon, they finally arrived at their destination: a seamless, white wall across the road. "Strange," observed Liadon. "There should be a gate there, directly ahead." Khari and Jhasspok looked all around them, wondering where it might possibly have gotten off to. But then a guard called down from the ramparts, in Elven, "I made sure to put flowers on your brother's grave." Liadon called up to the guard in the same language, "I have no brother. What makes you think I was under duress? These are allies I travel with, who saved my life from assassins of our own race. We have brought the three who survived the attempt upon my life for interrogation." Cramer, the only one of the slaves familiar with the Elven tongue, realized the guard had assumed Councilor Liadon was their prisoner - possibly even hostage - and the elves had likely sealed off the gate in the wall with a [I]stone shape[/I] or similar spell to bar their entrance. "We were told you had been kidnapped by assassins seeking to use you to get to the king," replied the guard from the ramparts. He gave a nod to someone behind him and a seam appeared in the wall, eventually opening up into a pair of gates allowing the horse-drawn wagon and its occupants, as well as those who walked along beside it, to enter the capital city of Greenvale. As Cramer drove the wagon inside the gates, an elven woman in robes approached. "Welcome," said Archmage Xiandria warmly to the councilor, then gave a bit of a start at seeing the group with which he was traveling. Apparently they didn't get a whole lot of non-elven visitors this deep in the Elderwood. "We will meet with the King and the Council tomorrow," Liadon told the five slaves, stepping down from the wagon. He indicated for several of the guards to take custody of the bound prisoners. "Xiandria here will escort you to a place you may stay overnight, that you may be refreshed before the meeting." And with that he strode off, likely to make the necessary arrangements. Xiandria led the group to a building set off away from the others, a three-story affair with curving walls, each level about half the size of the one below it, so the roof slanted down from the back of the building to the front. Opening the door, she led them all inside. "You can stay here tonight, in the library," she offered. "We don't have much in the way of guest quarters, I'm afraid." Once everyone was inside, she closed the door behind her, looked to make sure nobody else was in the building, and then hissed, "What are you doing here? Did my mother send you here to check up on me?" That question got her five puzzled looks. "Who's your mother?" asked Khari bluntly. Xiandria looked blankly back at the dwarf. "Then, if she didn't send you--?" "We're here to warn everyone about an attack by a drow army," Jhasspok offered up, answering the Archmage's original question. "In three months, the Overreach drow will attack Greenvale and we're here to warn people and try to get them to agree to an alliance with the Greenvale elves." He wasn't sure yet if they were going to admit to anyone right away about the Greenvale elves actually being sunborn drow, so he left that part out. Marlo was staring intently at the Archmage as the elf took this all in. "You look...familiar, somehow," the sorcerer admitted. At this, Xiandria sighed and took a seat. "You probably recognize me from when you were first taken from the surface," she admitted. "I was the one who took you aside after you received your slave tattoos, and gave you back not only your own gear but the extra scrolls to use in the Festival of Blood." "That was a drow!" exclaimed Marlo. "As, indeed, I am," Xiandria said. "I am [B]Xiandria Jalamir[/B], second daughter of the Matron." She was also apparently an archmage, so altering her appearance to appear as a light-skinned surface elf would be well within her powers, Marlo realized. "Then you're Calish's sister!" Cramer deduced. "Yes, one of them." "Then what are you doing here, in an elven kingdom - as one of their Councilors?" demanded the gnome. Xiandria sighed again. "My mother and I have an arrangement: I can remain here on the surface as long as I keep in constant contact with her - usually with a monthly astral visit. But she recently sent me a [I]sending[/I] spell telling me to stop using [I]astral projection[/I] spells to visit, until further notice. That's why I had at first assumed she had sent you, for I recognized you at once as Calish's arena slaves, when I had returned to Overreach to be publicly seen attending the Festival of Blood." "Then you're unaware of the recent events in Overreach," reasoned Marlo. She explained about the rise of the Mortal Queen and her edict that they would purge all sunborn drow from their vicinity, going so far as to send their armies to the surface to obliterate Greenvale. "All...sunborn drow?" Xiandria asked. Cramer saw immediately where the question had been headed. "Including your sister Eri'dia, yes," the gnome replied. "Under orders from the Mortal Queen, your mother had Eri'dia captured and tortured." "They cut her into a bunch of pieces and then sewed them back up into flesh golems," added Utred, savoring the look of horror his announcement had on the elven spellcaster. "Where is she now?" Xiandria demanded. "Safe in Greenvale - for now, at least," Cramer explained. "But in three months' time...." He left the rest unsaid. "Then it is of even greater urgency that we sway the rest of the Council and the King to come to Greenvale's aid," said Xiandria. "We must not allow the Spider-Bitch to extend her power to the surface!" "Wait...so you're a sunborn drow, too?" asked Utred. "Not a sunborn, no - but I am a follower of Eilistraee." She turned back towards the door. "We will meet again tomorrow. I would ask you not to mention to anyone else I am a drow from Overreach. It would...complicate matters greatly." "We understand," Marlo assured her. "Your secret will be safe with us." "We're secret double slaves," Jhasspok offered up, hoping his admitting to their own secret lives would lead the Archmage to understand they well knew the need to keep secrets...although the simpleminded lizardfolk hadn't realized spilling his own secrets wasn't the best indicator of his ability to guard hers. Xiandria gave them all a troubled look and then walked back out through the door, leaving them to make themselves comfortable for the night. They opted to do without a guard shift, although Jhasspok took it upon himself to bunk down against the front door, so anyone trying to enter the building while they slept would bump him awake. The night passed without incident. The next morning, breakfast was brought to the arena slaves. They were left to their own devices for the entire morning; around noon Xiandria returned to escort them to the audience area. "Anything we should know about?" asked Cramer as they walked deeper into the forest. "Nothing I can think of," replied Xiandria. "The other councilors are tight-lipped; we'll have to see what they have to say after you've made your case before King Omadan." They approached a ring of standing stones, arranged in a wide circle around a tree stump. Growing up from the center of the stump was a sapling, a thin new growth rising up from the dead wood beneath it. As they approached, the ground seemed oddly spongy, but nobody gave much notice to it: all eyes were upon the figures seated on stone benches on the circular plinth laid atop the ten stone pillars: King Omadan and four of the five councilors. Archmage Xiandria strode to her own stone pillar, touching a glyph upon its side and levitating to the top to take her place among the other councilors. "You may approach," stated the elven king on a regal voice, once Xiandria was seated. Jhasspok entered the stone circle and stood before the king. "I'm a lizardman," he announced for no particular reason. The two dwarves flanked him, with Marlo and Cramer taking up positions on either side of the tree stump. All looked up to face the king. Then Marlo began the speech she'd rehearsed back at the library, the [I]circlet of persuasion[/I] on her brow giving further power to her arguments. She spoke of the impending drow invasion, the true nature of the Greenvale elves, and the assassination attempt on Councilor Liadon's life. "An interesting tale," sneered Councilor Vawraek from his seat, "but I fail to see why we should take the word of a group of probable assassins. It seems more likely that they were the ones behind the attempt to slay Liadon - they have already admitted to killing the garrison commander of Crossroad Keep and his loyal guardsmen." "Everything we have said is the truth," countered Cramer. "I am a cleric of Fharlanghn and am willing to cast a [I]zone of truth[/I] spell, so we can all be sure that what is said is truthful. And," he added, looking around the circle and judging distances, "if I cast it directly upon this tree stump, it will encompass all of us here, the councilors included." It would also, he realized, encompass King Omadan but the gnome felt he was better off not pointing out that little detail - the king would no doubt realize he was also affected but to draw attention to it was to raise doubts as to the slaves' confidence in the king's honesty. "Very well," agreed King Omadan. "Cast your spell - we have those among us who can tell it is a [I]zone of truth[/I] spell you cast, and nothing more." Aramoira the dryad leaned forward as the gnome cleric did as he had been bid. "Well then," smirked Vawraek once the spell was in place, "tell us all for the record, Xiandria: are you a drow spy?" None of the slaves had discovered it the previous day, but his familiar had followed them and Xiandria into the library and heard everything said in confidence between them. Xiandria gasped at the accusation but before she could answer the clicking of mandibles could be heard from all around the circle - and then, the illusion spells that had hidden them falling away since they were no longer needed, the monstrous spiders hanging to the undersides of the circular plinth attacked: six of them going for the king and the councilors while four others dropped to the ground and skittered towards the arena slaves. Cramer, Khari, Marlo, and Utred were the spiders' first targets on the ground; of the four, only Marlo managed to dodge away from the piercing mandibles, although Cramer and the dwarves all managed to shrug off the effects of the venom the spiders injected into them as part of their attack. But then Utred unsheated his [I]Elderwood flaming longsword[/I] and put it to good use, cutting open the abdomen of the spider who had bitten him. It lasted all of a handful of seconds after the effrontery of having bitten a Butterflinger dwarf before it was dead on the ground, its eight legs twitching spasmodically in death. Marlo channeled arcane power into a [I]magic missile[/I] spell and sent the [I]empowered[/I] bolts blasting into the side of the spider that had tried biting her. But she had no room to back away and it got in another bite as she cast her spell, this time successfully catching the sorcerer between its mandibles and piercing her skin, venom dripping from its fangs. Marlo, not one for the rigors of physical combat, felt her strength draining away as a result of the poisoned bite. Then, to make matters even worse, her arm suddenly sprouted two small arrows. Truffles, peering up out of Marlo's robe pocket, thought he detected a sort of shimmering area over by Councilor Vawraek and passed his suspicions on to his mistress over the empathic link they shared. Marlo, in turn, called out "Invisible archer over by Vawraek!" to the others, letting them know they were up against more than spiders. Cramer backed frantically away from the spider who had bitten him, bumping into Jhasspok as he cast a [I]fly[/I] spell upon himself. The lizardfolk had his battleaxe out and swung it at the spider menacing the little gnome, its blade cutting deep into the creature's cephalothorax but failing to slay it outright. Khari, in the meantime, had slain his own arachnid foe, crushing its head into a pulp with a massive, overhead swing of his trusty warhammer. But then it became apparent the ten large spiders weren't the only arachnids in play, for swarms of much smaller spiders suddenly blanketed the area, crawling down the standing stones to overrun the combat slaves on the ground. Up on the raised platform, the king and the five councilors were busy fighting off large monstrous spiders of their own, although they seemed to have been spared the swarms of smaller arachnids currently concentrating on making meals of the heroes below. Utred ran over to Marlo's side and slew the spider threatening her, leaving her available to send a [I]scorching ray[/I] spell at the spider swarm attacking her and Utred, her spell causing most of the spiders in the area to be set ablaze and die instantly. Cramer took flight, flying straight up and casting an [I]invisibility purge[/I] spell that brought a winged pixie into sudden view. Strange noises - likely curses in an unknown tongue - erupted from the pixie's throat, and [B]Waruchi[/B] brought up her tiny bow and fired a pair of arrows, one after the other, at the bothersome gnome. Khari and Jhasspok brought their weapons to bear against the sole remaining monstrous spider on the ground before them, slaying it between them. The remaining spider swarms repositioned themselves to best effect, some of them crawling onto Utred and Marlo's bodies. Truffles tried leaping away but was overcome on the ground, paralyzed almost at once as the various spider-bites pumped so much venom into the little toad's system that he literally couldn't move a muscle. Utred plucked a bead from his [I]necklace of fireballs[/I] and tossed it down at his feet, engulfing him - and, more importantly, the spiders covering the majority of his body at this point - in cleansing flames. Burnt arachnid corpses floated down off of him like sinister ashes. Marlo, just out of range, cast another [I]empowered magic missile[/I] spell, this time targeting the strange-looking pixie - the sorcerer couldn't make out just what was wrong with the little fairy but she just seemed somehow [I]off[/I]. Cramer joined in the pixie pile-on with a [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell, causing a quarterstaff composed of pure force energy to strike down at the winged menace. Khari's warhammer wasn't necessarily the best weapon to bring against a swarm of skittering spiders but the dwarven fighter did the best he could with it, smashing multiple bodies to a crunchy pulp with each blow. It might take him some time, but he'd get these pests! Waruchi narrowed her eyes in hatred at the flying gnome: not only had he dispelled her invisibility, but he'd hurt her with his force-weapon! She targeted him again with her bow and sent a flurry of her arrows his way; only one of them struck true. Jhasspok saw there were no more of the bigger spiders down on the ground with them, only the smaller ones crawling over his body (and those the lizardfolk was content to let stay, as they'd make a nice snack when he had the time; killing spiders was punishable by death in the drow city of the Overreach so he'd never gotten to sample what they might taste like) - but there were still six up on the plinth with the king and the five councilors. And so he sprinted toward the nearest standing stone, leaping up and grabbing the top of the stone plinth and pulling himself up. Then, realizing this would almost certainly get the elven king to appreciate the slaves' assistance, the lizardfolk brought his battleaxe crashing down on the spider threatening King Omadan. His blow pierced the spider's abdomen in two and it died instantly, blood and other fluids leaking from its split corpse. The elven king gave a nod of gratitude and then looked to his right, where Liadon was fighting off another of these monstrous beasts. Marlo was being eaten alive by the spiders covering her body, until Utred shook them off her and stomped them beneath his heels. Smiling her gratitude, Marlo scooped up her immobile toad familiar, stuffed him back into her pocket, and cast a [I]magic missile[/I] spell up at the bedraggled-looking pixie. Marlo didn't even bother [I]empowering[/I] it, believing (quite rightly) that a "standard model" would do the trick. Waruchi screamed in pain and collapsed, landing on the stone plinth beside her master - who gave all appearances of fighting off the giant spider attacking him. Despite his close proximity, Cramer didn't get to enjoy the sight of the pixie's plummet; his gaze was focused off in the distance, where a large shape was lumbering its way through the trees. This, he saw as it got closer, was another monstrous spider, this one gargantuan in its proportions: it looked to span at least 30 or 40 feet with its outstretched legs. With a mental command, the flying gnome redirected his [I]spiritual quarterstaff[/I] off in this new menace's direction. Khari, also out of combat foes and not able to climb up onto the plinth like Jhasspok had, pulled out his longbow and aimed an arrow at the downed pixie's unmoving form - she might already be dead, but the dwarf wasn't willing to take any chances. His shot struck true, but seemed to plunk harmlessly off the little fairy's body. [I]Some sort of magical protection[/I], the dwarven fighter reasoned. Jhasspok, in the meantime, headed off to his left along the plinth, to attack the giant spider going after Inafiel. Together, he and the elven pirate-hunter brought the beast down. But by now the gargantuan spider had made it to the outskirts of the circle of stones, headed for the dryad, Aramoira. Utred rushed at the spider, bringing his magic longsword striking at its underside and scoring a line of blood and pain with the strength of his blow. Marlo sent an [I]empowered magic missile[/I] spell at the rampaging spider-monster, realizing it was in everyone's best interests to slay this thing at range before it closed in for the kill. Cramer flew up over the beast and landed atop its hairy abdomen, where it would be unable to bite the gnome, and cast an [I]inflict serious wounds[/I] at the spider beneath his feet. He also kept his [I]spiritual quarterstaff[/I] engaged in striking the spider, the tip of the weapon crashing down upon one of the spider's eight eyes. Khari, seeing he once again had an opponent on the ground with him, forsook his pixie-plinking experiments and grabbed up his warhammer once again, swinging it into one of the gargantuan spider's legs. But despite their best efforts, the heroes failed to slay the thing before it could attack; dashing forward with its wicked mandibles, it bit deep into the body of Aramoira as she was about to leap down off the stone plinth. The spider's venomous fangs pierced the dryad from both sides, practically cutting her in half. She pitched forward off the plinth, the sapling growing out of the tree trunk in the center of the circle of stones withering away to nothing and giving silent voice to the dryad's passing from this world. Up on the plinth, Jhasspok brought his battleaxe crashing down upon the illusory spider that was pretending to attack the wizard Vawraek; the weapon seemed to deflect off the creature's body but the lizardfolk saw nothing unusual in that and it brought no suspicions to the front of his lizard brain. He also failed to note the elven wizard seemed none the worse for wear in fighting off the attacks of a venomous spider the size of a horse. Utred cut deep into the gargantuan spider's body, at the joint where one leg met the underside of the body. He knew he'd have a mere moment to leap away when they finally killed the blasted thing - unless he wanted the fool beast to land on top of him - but for right now this seemed the best place to strike at the monster. Fortunately, by this time the various attacks had taken a great toll on the gargantuan spider, and when Marlo's [I]magic missile[/I] spell finally took it down, Utred had just barely enough time to roll out of the way as the monstrous beast toppled. Not convinced of the fairy's death, Cramer cast a [I]sound burst[/I] spell that "accidentally" covered Vawraek as well; the elf screamed in agony - far too much for the minimal pain the gnome's spell could have caused - until Cramer realized the elven wizard had just felt his familiar's death over the link the two had shared. Well, good - that was at least an indicator that the pixie had finally been slain! The group helped finish off the rest of the remaining spiders, not a few of them turning out to be mere illusions, like the one "attacking" Vawraek. The elven mage was grabbed by the back of the neck by Jhasspok and dragged before the king. "Explain," the lizardfolk snarled to the wizard, sure that Vawraek had been behind the attacks. Cramer, in the meantime, had flown over to examine the dead pixie's body. By her coloration, he deduced she had been fiendish, or half-fiend, in nature - that would explain how she had been able to shrug off the arrow Khari had shot directly at her. "I didn't know!" swore Vawraek. "She was almost always invisible before me!" Cramer was skeptical, but an invisible pixie familiar at least explained the wizard's penchant for mumbling quietly to himself - he'd been talking to his unseen familiar the whole time! "Your Majesty," Cramer suggested, "I can pray for a [I]speak with dead[/I] spell tomorrow and use it upon the body of the slain pixie. She might be able to give us better answers than this one" - here he sneered at Vawraek - "is likely to give us." "Agreed," replied King Omadan. "We will reconvene here tomorrow, then. I will have these bodies removed in the meantime, and poor Aramoira lain to rest." He climbed down from the plinth, with the others following suit - and taking custody of the wizard Vawraeth, not looking anywhere near as formidable now that he was blubbering over his familiar's death and swearing his own innocence in any plot she might have cooked up behind his back. The next day the circle of standing stones looked completely clean and clear - it was if no battle had ever occurred here at all. Furthermore, the "sponginess" of the ground was also gone; that had turned out to be an illusion of normalcy cast over layers and layers of spider webs covering the ground all around the circle. Marlo shuddered at the memory of being covered in spiders; from safely inside her robe pocket, Truffles did likewise. At least he'd recovered from his poisoning in the intervening day since the sudden battle. Waruchi's body was lain out on the ground by the tree stump. Cramer approached it and cast his spell. Then he started asked the questions the group had decided upon ahead of time; the spell would allow him only three questions, but he could change which questions he asked at the spur of the moment - a great benefit in the case of a sudden bit of information demanding further explanation. "Who did you serve besides your wizardly master, Vawraek?" the gnome demanded of the half-fiend pixie's body. "My father and half-sister," came the ghostly replay. Well, that certainly required further detail! "What are the names of your father and half-sister?" demanded Cramer. "My father is [B]Bezrameth[/B], while I only know my half-sister's last name: Bel'vior." Bezrameth would be the demonic parent of the half-fiend; of greater importance was the fact that this little pixie was kin to House Bel'vior, the First House of Overreach. In fact, it made sense that if Waruchi was a half-fiend pixie and had a half-sister Bel'vior drow, that drow was a half-fiend as well - she couldn't likely be half-pixie, could she? Could this half-sister possibly be the Mortal Queen herself? It was food for thought. But Cramer had another question he wanted answered. "Why did you have the spiders attack?" he asked. There had been some who thought the gargantuan spider had made for the dryad specifically, while others believed she had merely been the easiest target at the moment. If taking out Aramoira had been important the gnome wanted to know about it. "To keep the Elderwood out of my sister's war." Well, that cinched it: the half-fiend half-sister to Waruchi was Matron Bel'vior, the Mortal Queen herself. The spirit answering the questions faded away, the gnome's spell having reached its conclusion. "So now what?" asked Marlo. "You will have your alliance," declared King Omadan. "I have already sent word throughout the kingdom of your warnings and our warriors are gearing up for battle. We will send an emissary to Greenvale, attesting to our intentions. The actions of this Mortal Queen and her half-sister are an act of war against the Elderwood; we will aid Greenvale in the upcoming invasion." "Thank you, Your Majesty," said Marlo, much relieved. "What about Vawraek?" asked Utred. "He still proclaims himself an unknowing pawn to his familiar's machinations, but he has gracefully accepted his punishment: a century of imprisonment," answered the king. "Why not just kill him?" asked the dwarven barbarian. It seemed like an obvious solution to him. "We are not so...barbaric," replied King Omadan. "More's the pity," grumbled Utred. Still, they had gotten Elderwood to join in the alliance with Greenvale - next up was Revin, the kingdom from which Cramer hailed. The gnome would be glad to see his homelands once again. And they'd hopefully be able to get Revin to join the Greenvale alliance much easier than it had been to gain the elves' agreement; at the very least, it would be nice if they didn't have to fight hordes of giant spiders to get their task completed. Jhasspok, however, wouldn't mind meeting up with more spiders, especially since killing one here on the surface wasn't a capital offense like it was in Overreach. And he'd come to an important realization: spiders tasted much more like dried dung beetles than they did horse meat. (The ones burned by the [I]scorching ray[/I] spells had a unique taste all to their own - they were by far his favorites.) - - - I was afraid at first this adventure was going to be combat-free, especially once I found out several of the councilors were capable of casting 8th- and 9th-level spells. But Logan took care of that by having the king and the councilors busy with their own fights up on the plinth while we fought our own battles on the ground. That sped up combat immensely, as the plinth battles took place off screen, as it were - at least up until I realized what a PR opportunity saving the king's life would be. As we'd hoped, everyone leveled up to 7th-level at the end of this adventure. Jhasspok's taking a 2nd level of fighter; I imagine he and Khari go through weapons drills in their off time, as wielding a warhammer and wielding a battleaxe aren't that too dissimilar. [/QUOTE]
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