The Aberrations Crusade

[Ransom]

Gnash is sick of sneaking around (he's a big fat half-orc in clanky armor!) and has no patience for information gathering. (Makes his head hurt)

Right now we have the advantage. We took out the bone devil when they weren't even expecting opposition.
Lets continue our "Walk" before they have to to rally some troops/call some devils.
Besides it wouldn't too hard to figure which group of adventurers in the city would be strong/crazy enough to challenge a devil in the streets.

"To the flaming pillar! I'm gonna kick Sunseekers teeth out the backside of his head!"
-Gnash Firewalker

 

[Erf]

Blind Frontal Assault == Bad

"To the flaming pillar! I'm gonna kick Sunseekers teeth out the backside of his head!"
-Gnash Firewalker

"The orc is insane," says Vincent. "We have no idea what the flaming pillar even is, let alone what else was involved in the changes of the past twenty-four hours. Continuing our patrol might net us additional information, especially since the Bone Devil appeared to be the enemy's strongest enforcer; it would be informative to see the enemy's reaction to our victory and arrogance. However, this has been an expensive battle, and if we plan to stay out here we must be ready to retreat without hesitation if the need arises.

"As for Darus's temple, assaulting it blindly would be almost certain to fail even were we at our full strength -- attempting it now would be suicide."

(Note that I, Rob, find the idea of storming the temple rather appealing, and if I were playing certain other characters my response would be "let's rock and roll!" There's no way that Vincent will go along with it, though, without some very compelling evidence that it's a Good Idea.)

 

[Vanora]

The desecrated temple

Well, we attacked the temple, rather blindly, we were not up to full strength and we still managed to come out with little resistance (I think the hardest thing to kill was that blasted little imp - thank you once again Palin).
It seems to Vanora that sneakyness has it's place, but she has never been the type to shy away from danger and she is really getting tired of trying to be something she is not. So after the success at the temple (we won't mention the little "incident" that incinerated any hope of clues) She is going to have less patience towards people who balk at the thought of taking a chance. The town is in danger and she knows that this group is the only one to protect the people.

She feels that with Daros out of the picture now is the best time to continue to attack! If we wait, then the demons (or whatever they are) have time to regroup and attack us! It is possible that we could try to get some info from Daros - direct our attack where it will do the most damage. Or we could walk the streets of town and destroy any monsters (other than party members that is) that we find! And if the immediate danger has passed then she would be very interested in finding the Bane warrens.

Any thoughts?

 

[Erf]

It was too easy

The ease of the temple assault has Vincent worried. Why was Darros so horribly unprotected? Was he just cocky enough to assume nobody would come anywhere near the pillar of flame? Did he have more firepower (so to speak ) that he just didn't have time to call upon? Or were his resources already tapped for some other purpose we know nothing about?

There's more power around than we've yet seen. Somebody called up that Pillar of Flame -- which represents a channel straight to one of the Infernal Planes, as far as Vincent knows. Somebody has sufficient control (or rapport) with the barghests and other monsters to have them patrolling the city. Somebody brainwashed a crowd of normally non-violent citizens into a murderous frenzy, for political gains. Somebody had an Osyluth show up to ensure the New Order of Things took hold properly.

These are symptoms of what's going on. All this takes power or connections or both. Where is that power? If the ease with which we took down Darros was any indication, it wasn't him. Is he just a pawn? A sidekick, perhaps? Maybe an opportunist?

Vincent's recommendation is to 'interview' Darros, and search the temple from top to bottom. We need to find out what's going on so that we can fight the source of the problem, not just take down the symptoms while the real plan is executed under our noses.

 

[Erf]

Bring me my handbasket...

I'm wondering, after what we learned last session, if anybody sees any more options than I do about what to do about things...

Vincent sees two possibilities:

1. We watch for whatever Big Evil Thing is looming out there in the darkness, wait for it to show up, and kick its ass. Hope that takes care of the problem, or at least gives us a hint as to what else needs doing.

2. Vincent kills himself while holding the Stone of Disintegration. (Preferably under a Sanguinary Deception, and while sitting in his freezer, so he can come back if he survives the rest of this Plan.) He finds his way to Hell, tracks down the Skull of St. John, and destroys it. Hope that takes care of the problem, and doesn't replace Scornubel with a smoking crater in the process.

Neither option is particularly appealing, although I doubt there's a third. Option (1) is logistically simpler, so that's Vincent's recommendation. (It also involves the whole party, so it's also Rob's recommendation.) Although if anybody has a suggestion on how to reliably find one's way to hell -- quest-style, not being-a-bad-boy-style -- he's all ears.

Thoughts?

 

[Cheiromancer]

I would recommend against using a disintegrate to "die." A sanguinary deception won't bring you back if you are turned into a tiny pile of dust.

But there is a good chance that if you "die" near the pillar of flame that you could get sucked in. Does Vincent care for a solo adventure in Hell?

 

[Erf]

Vincent Whiteleaf's Bogus Journey

I would recommend against using a disintegrate to "die."

That's not quite what I was thinking. Use Sanguinary Deception, then have somebody beat him until he "dies". Then they get his body back to his freezer, while Vincent finds the skull and destroys it.

But there is a good chance that if you "die" near the pillar of flame that you could get sucked in.

Ah! That simplifies the problem slightly; at least he can get to hell without too much trouble. Getting to the skull might be more of a challenge, depending on exactly where he shows up.

Does Vincent care for a solo adventure in Hell?

He will if he has to. I (Rob) think this would be a great way to go. There are several reasons not to follow this course of action, though:

- He may or may not manage to find the Skull of St John before his soul is eaten. (If he's lucky his soul would be sucked through the pillar and show up right near the altar in Hell. If he's really lucky, the altar wouldn't even be guarded... Odds are against both statements, though.)

- Disintigrating the Skull of St John may or may not seal off the Fire Pillar, and may or may not destroy Scornubel in the process. (More information about this Skull would be extremely valuable in this regard.)

- It would be dreadfully dull for the rest of the players. (A metagame reason, but probably the strongest reason overall.)

So in summary, it might work, but as a player I doubt we want to go through with it. Vincent does realize it might be the "only" way, though. Thoughts?

 

[Ransom]

Closing the flame pillar hell was cool. Yay for lucky dice. Now back to in character stuff:


*Rattling around in Gnash's head*

Possessed? Damn! I knew Darros didn't seem right. That explains how he knew about Quirm...

Quirm, I wonder how Shasheen will handle him. I'm sure they'll get along fine.

Rats! Forgot to get that ring back from B. Hopefully a new cult will distract Shasheen from remembering that.

A new temple. A big one. I'm going to need someone to help out around here. Once we see what part the Baron has in this I'll put up recruitment posters.

I need to figure out how to depossess someone/ figure out how to tell if they are possessed. I'm glad I didn't give Darros away.

 

[Erf]

Madness and counter-methods

So how does Gnash propose to find out about deposessing people etc? Especially with the lockdown condition...

I doubt Vincent knows about this in particular, but he might. PJ?

 

[Cheiromancer]

So, the Red Shields want to make it a company town.

With Gnash dead, they are going to have trouble doing this; the Temple Council is now headless again, and while Shasheen has made a good impression on his cultists, I doubt he can claim leadership of the Council. The druids have also lost their highest level agent in the city, and so will be confused and non-committal.

The Red Shields will also want to retaliate against whoever is killing their allies. They may suspect House Vladaam of double-crossing them (House Vladaam was opposed to the Baron and Daros Sunseeker in this latest mess, and so was on the side of the Grey Circle and the Red Shields). At the worst, we could see another spasm of civil war, this time with the noble houses participating.

Other adventurers are coming to Scornubel as news of the recent spate of exciting happenings makes itself known. Except to see more armed figures in the street. The city is becoming much less secure, and so there is need for more muscle. Unfortunately, that adds to the insecurity. The lure of magical wealth somewhere under the city is also drawing a lot of undesirables. The items from the banewarrens are related to several of the nasty plot threads we've played this year. From the Blessed's attempt to opening the Gate, to the Wraith-Stone to the Skull of St. John... and a few other items you haven't located yet. Investigating and (hopefully) resealing the Banewarrens is important to the safety and security of the city.

Vanora: you have located two nests of were-rats; 3 in one group, 5 in the other. They are survivors of those who got conscripted/charmed by the Baron (or Glissan), or who had evaded discovery. All infected; no "true" were-rats seem to be left in the city, at least as far as you can tell. What were your objectives with them again? Oh- and there are some indications that someone is (secretly) hunting lycanthropes in the city. At least two people, by the description; one is a lightly armored fighter (maybe a ranger?) and one of them is a wizard-type with a wand of magic missiles. So keep a heads-up!

Rob: what can Vincent be up to that is suitably behind the scenes? Has the loss of two friends turned him off the adventuring life?

Jared: any notions of who the Thieves' Guild would like to see in charge? The options seem to be: the Baron's sister (if she shows up) or his nephew (under a regency); the Red Shields; a Merchants' Council; another noble house. You really need an alliance between two or three power groups to form a government. The Baron, the City Militia/Watch and the Temple Council were the old power structure- now all three are dead and/or disorganized. The Thieves' Guild could be very helpful in allowing another government to form, or to prevent one from forming.

Treasure: by my estimates, you guys have more treasure than a group of your level should have. Use some of it up or put it into non-portable form (i.e. buy a house, or throw a big party or something), or it'll get stolen/destroyed/gambled away/taxed.

New Characters: 5th level, 34 point-buy: you'll level faster than the current bunch. 12,500 gp. No more than 1/2 on one item. You don't have to be a cleric if you don't want to- see below. And everyone who survived last session just levelled up, btw.

Re healing: if no-one wants to play a healer I could introduce a 3rd or 4th level NPC with at least one level of cleric. Or maybe an expert with a really good UMD. If the party wishes to shell out the gold, I'll let him/her have a wand of cure lights and some scrolls of lesser restoration, cure disease and the like. The character won't be good for much else, but will be a good medic.

More later, if I think of it.

-PJ