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The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7391165" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 13: THE MISSING CHILDREN</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 5</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 4 April 2018</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"So what are we gonna do about the missing kids?" demanded Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"What do you propose we do?" returned Skevros.</p><p></p><p>"I dunno - don'tcha got a spell or something that can tell us where they are?"</p><p></p><p>"Nothing prepared," admitted the king's adviser. "And it would take me a bit of preparation to ready the divination spells we'd need." Syngaard swore under his breath - just barely under his breath, although the others had no trouble discerning what kinds of comments they weren't actually hearing from the scarred fighter - about the uselessness of spellcasting if you had to wait around all damn day to get anything actually useful ready to go.</p><p></p><p>"I have a suggestion," prompted Daleth. "We have the tattoo we took from the half-orc assassin. We have a barrel of osteovox. Why don't we ask a question to the osteovox about the tattoo, to determine if the organization using the tattoo as their symbol is involved in the children's abduction?"</p><p></p><p>"That'll take, like an hour," complained Syngaard, eager to get after the missing children <em>now</em>.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed," agreed the elf. "We will write down the question, and then we can spend the time while we wait for the answer questioning the clerics at the Temple of Pelor." It was as good a plan as any; after a short discussion, Galen ended up writing down the following question on a scrap of parchment:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>"Okay, let's go," said Syngaard as the parchment, wrapped tightly around the scrap of skin holding the tattoo, was lowered into the barrel of osteovox.</p><p></p><p>"What's your big hurry?" demanded Orion.</p><p></p><p>"I just wanna get to the bottom of this," Syngaard replied. "Stealin' kids - that ain't right." Orion shrugged; she was concerned with the welfare of the missing orphans as well - they all were - but it just seemed odd that their burly, scar-faced fighter had such a soft spot for children. It didn't fit his gruff - and often abusive - personality.</p><p></p><p>Father Rupert greeted the adventurers upon their arrival at the temple. Galen started in right away with questions and suggestions. "Have your clerics cast divinations to determine the location of the missing children?"</p><p></p><p>"<strong>Father Rayburn</strong> is leading that effort," Father Rupert replied. That spoke to how important this was to the temple; Father Rupert was the elderly head of the temple's orphanage, but Father Rayburn was the head of the entire temple itself. "We have yet to determine their actual location, save that they are somewhere in Ashfall."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, that's what the osteovox said, too," replied the paladin. "But Ashfall's a big place; we need to narrow down the search parameters."</p><p></p><p>But the elderly priest hadn't heard the rest of what Galen had to say. "<em>What</em>?" he demanded. "You're using <em>osteovox</em>? That--that's an evil mixture! Why would a paladin of Hieroneous have anything to do with such a vile substance?"</p><p></p><p>"Wait, what?" asked Syngaard. They'd used osteovox several times before in the past - it seemed harmless.</p><p></p><p>"I believe he's referring to its use when ingested," Daleth reminded the group. "Recall that we took the barrel of osteovox from a group that had used it to create a small horde of undead skeletons. I'm sure you recall the lumps of flesh we found there in the graveyard?"</p><p></p><p>"Wait--that was the skin from the skeletons?" Syngaard asked. He hadn't made the connection.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed it was."</p><p></p><p>"Well, in any case, we liberated the osteovox from its evil users and have been putting it into the service of good," Galen explained, trying to assuage the elderly priest's fears and get him back on track. "Now, what else can you tell us about the missing children?"</p><p></p><p>Father Rupert had plenty to explain. There were fifteen orphans in all, ranging from a few babies to several young teens. Quillbender's Traveling Faire had been in town yesterday, and some of the clerics had taken the older children to go visit it. Gifts had been handed out at the faire, with a few extras given to the clerics to pass on to the children who hadn't attended - stuffed bears and dogs, that sort of thing. All of the children who had attended the faire had returned with the clerics without incident. They had been fed and sent to bed like normal; everything was still okay at midnight when the night shift looked in on them. But at 3 bells, all of the children were missing from their beds.</p><p></p><p>"What about the gifts?" asked Kaspar. "The stuffed dogs and such. Were they missing as well?"</p><p></p><p>"Why, yes, I believe so," admitted the cleric. "Is that important?"</p><p></p><p>The two elves shared a thoughtful stare. "Very possibly," replied Daleth. "They might have been a means of teleporting the children away."</p><p></p><p>"That's messed up," Syngaard replied as Father Rayburn approached the group. "Our divinations cannot pierce the specific location of the children," the head cleric said, shaking his head sadly. "It's as if they've been shielded from our efforts. But when we asked if they were safe, we got the following response: 'Within a month they shall be safe. Beyond a month all hope is lost to eternity.'"</p><p></p><p>"So at least they're safe for now," Orion said, breathing a sigh of relief. "And we have a month to find them before they're in any real danger."</p><p></p><p>"A month? I ain't waitin' no damn month!" roared Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"We will not," reassured Daleth. "It seems we've learned all we can from here at the moment. Perhaps we should return back home, to see if our...message has been answered." The elf didn't want to mention the osteovox in front of the head of the Temple of Pelor, given the reaction Father Rupert had to it. Nor did he want to mention Skevros by name, as the conscripts' service to the king via his adviser were state secrets, not to be shared even with the highest-ranking clerics in the kingdom.</p><p></p><p>"So, whaddawe got?" demanded Syngaard as the group returned to the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em> and Skevros's extradimensional quarters he kept within.</p><p></p><p>"We have an answer, but not one that sheds much light, I'm afraid." Reading from the parchment they had wrapped around the skinned tattoo, Skevros read:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>"Free you?" repeated Syngaard. "Free you from what?"</p><p></p><p>"Not me," Skevros patiently explained, passing over the scrap of parchment. "That's exactly what's written. The 'me,' one would assume, is the osteovox itself."</p><p></p><p>"So we have a group of people wearing this tipped-over hourglass tattoo - yourself included - likely from the Azure Glade, who want to free the osteovox from us?" reiterated Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"That don't make no sense," Syngaard complained. "Why the hell can't any of this magic stuff just talk plainly?"</p><p></p><p>"Such is the way of magic," answered Skevros. "Those of us who choose to explore the arcane arts seek to learn--"</p><p></p><p>"Wizards!" snorted Syngaard in disgust, cutting him off. "So what's the plan?" Significantly, he was looking at Galen when he asked his question, not Skevros - Galen might cast a spell here and there, but he mostly trusted in his blade; Syngaard could respect that much more than a guy with nose in a spellbook all the time.</p><p></p><p>Galen, however, was a paladin and as such had respect for the chain of command. He turned and looked at Skevros, seeking an answer from the man who was their direct superior.</p><p></p><p>"We know the children will be safe for the next month," Skevros reasoned. Before Syngaard could interrupt with an outraged lack of patience again, the king's adviser hastily added, "So I don't believe a few hours' delay will endanger them any. But I would recommend you all rest up so that the spellcasters among your ranks can prepare a full round of spells. After that, I can teleport you directly to Ashfall."</p><p></p><p>"And then what?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"Then, I'm afraid," Skevros shrugged, "You'll have to do some old-fashioned searching of your own."</p><p></p><p>"A sound plan," agreed Daleth. "I will return to my room at once to begin my meditative trance." Galen stood up from the table and moved to follow the elf.</p><p></p><p>"What, you too?" demanded Syngaard. "Gotta get a nap in before we get to work?"</p><p></p><p>"Not a nap, no," replied Galen. "I shall retire to pray to Hieroneous, that He will replenish my spells and guide me as to which ones will be the most useful for our endeavors." The bald fighter just snorted in disgust and called for an ale, which the "seen" <em>unseen servant</em> brought over to him. It looked like it was going to be a long wait.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, it was several hours before the group was ready to go to Ashfall - hours which Syngaard had whiled away by absently carving into the tabletop with his knife. "What?" he asked when Kaspar cast an incredulous eye upon his handiwork. "No harm done. Them wizards can <em>mend</em> it right back to new." He got up and walked over to the rest of the group just outside the tavern, Orion and Galen astride their respective mounts. Skevros cast the <em>teleport</em> spell upon them and they were instantly whisked away to the outer gates of Ashfall. Then, frowning, the king's adviser went back inside and walked over to the table that Syngaard had been defacing with his knife. He ran his fingers over the carved graffiti. As he might have expected, many of them were four-letter words, but intermixed with the various swear words were a couple that didn't make any sense - "JACE," "MEZZ" - and one that surprised him: "HOPE."</p><p></p><p>Shaking his head, Skevros gathered up the wood chips that had been brushed to the floor and sprinkled them onto the tabletop. Then, with the simple act of a <em>mending</em> spell, he restored the table to its original condition. "He's a strange individual," Skevros muttered to himself.</p><p></p><p>Outside Ashfall, the group headed for the open gates - where they got two surprises. The first was that the elderly men guarding the place (for the able-bodied men of Ashfall were still up in the Baator's Breath Mountains, fighting off the random devil invasions when the sporadic magical <em>gates</em> opened between the planes) had gotten an armor upgrade: their polished mail was quite evidently the same mithral that Galen, Syngaard, and Orion sported. It seemed the mines were still producing the valuable metal in abundance. But the second surprise was the reaction they received from the mithral-clad warriors.</p><p></p><p>"Behold!" one of them cried upon seeing the conscripts' arrival. "The Heroes of Ashfall return!"</p><p></p><p>"'Heroes of Ashfall?'" repeated Daleth. "Do they mean us?"</p><p></p><p>"All of us but you," sneered Syngaard. "While you were out poking about in libraries in the Azure Glade, we stopped a permanent devil invasion and secured a source of pretty much unlimited mithral."</p><p></p><p>"What brings you back to our kingdom?" prompted another of the guards.</p><p></p><p>"Business, alas," replied Galen. "We seek a group of missing children who might have been brought here."</p><p></p><p>"You guys got an orphanage up here, run by the Temple of Pelor?" asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed we do," replied the head guard and gave the conscripts directions.</p><p></p><p>"I don't suppose that Quillbender's Faire has come by this way lately?" added Orion on a sudden impulse.</p><p></p><p>"Quillbender? You mean <strong>Dave Quillbender</strong>? He owns a scroll and potion shop, not a faire."</p><p></p><p>Despite the excitement about possibly finally meeting the "Dave" behind some of the recent incursions into Durnhill, Galen kept his face calm and impassive. "He may be able to assist us," the paladin said and the helpful guards provided directions to Dave's shop.</p><p></p><p>"I think we'll pay this Dave a visit first," suggested Galen, leading Seneca ahead in the direction to the scroll and potion shop. The shop's front door was flanked by two windows displaying some of the wares available inside. The windows each had a flower bed, inside of which sat what at first looked to be statues of little toads. But they started croaking upon the group's approach, revealing them to be living creatures, even if their gray-toned skin gave them the appearance of having been carved from stone. "Familiars, no doubt," opined Daleth, thinking it likely that this Dave, who owned a scroll and potion shop, was a wizard.</p><p></p><p>A good-looking young woman with striking red hair stood sorting items between two low shelves as the group approached; she smiled and waved them in. "Welcome," she said. "May I help you find something?" She looked to be all of sixteen summers.</p><p></p><p>"Good morning," replied Galen, all smiles and rugged good looks. He held out a hand to her, saying, "My name is Galen. Surely you aren't Dave?"</p><p></p><p>"No," the girl smiled back. "My name is <strong>Maria Quillbender</strong>. Dave is my grandfather. He's out back, but he should return shortly." Looking toward the rear of the shop, the conscripts could see a back door behind the counter. Syngaard immediately started heading toward it, but before he got there it opened up and in stepped an elderly, bearded man in the distinctive robes of a wizard. Daleth immediately recognized the robes by their color and style: they were those worn by the Abjurers in the Azure Glades.</p><p></p><p>"Stop flirting with the customers, Maria," admonished the wizard. She started grumbling to herself under her breath at that; to Daleth's elven ears, it sounded suspiciously like spellcasting. "Hey!" he started to say, as Dave Quillbender started a spell of his own. "Help!" called the elderly wizard. "Devils are trying to kill me!" And with that, he turned around and fled back out the rear door of his small shop.</p><p></p><p>The closest to the back door, Daleth sped in pursuit after the elderly wizard. As he passed through the door, a clump of dust fell down upon him; unseen by the elf, his appearance changed to other viewers: he now sported an impressive pair of horns from his head, a pointed tail snaked out from beneath the hem of his own robes, and his skin now looked to be a bright red. Of course, none of this was apparent to Daleth, who had not fallen sway to his own illusory appearance.</p><p></p><p>Inside the shop, Maria stepped over to Syngaard, pushing him between herself and the rest of the conscripts. "Keep me safe!" she pleaded to the bald fighter in a frightened voice, for just outside the front door the growling of a large canine could be heard. Looking through the still-open front door, the group could see a hell hound manifesting outside, between Seneca - who had been tied to a post outside the shop by his reins - and Orion, still astride Carl on the other side of the building's front side. The halfling whipped out her <em>flaming short sword</em>, readying herself to respond if the hellish beast made a move towards her or her mount.</p><p></p><p>Without pause, Galen rushed through the front door, the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> out and ready to fend off the forces of evil. The speed by which he burst through the door allowed him to avoid the falling <em>dust of illusion</em> that came sprinkling down behind him, but he didn't even notice - his full attention was on the hell hound snarling before him, wisps of flame streaming from its mouth. He sent his longsword striking at the fiendish beast in a sideways arc; the blade bit deep and the creature seemed to merely melt away into the shadows.</p><p></p><p>"An illusion?" sputtered the disappointed paladin.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar, in the meantime, had followed his fellow elf out the back door in pursuit of Dave. He was close enough to see Daleth's illusory "transformation" into a devil and was glad to see there was apparently only one such trap above the door, for he was not bothered in such a fashion. With his faster speed, he easily caught up to the fleeing elderly wizard and tried to grab him by the robes. But for such an old human, Dave was surprisingly lithe; he managed to wriggle away from the elf monk's grasping hands and continue his flight away from the shop.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard looked around in confusion at the excitement going on outside both exits to the small shop. Then, coming upon the most effective plan of action, he grabbed Maria and pulled her to the floor, shielding her with his body. "What are you doing?" demanded Maria.</p><p></p><p>"Keeping you safe!" explained Syngaard, fully under the effects of the <em>charm person</em> spell she'd cast upon him. On one level, he realized that he'd known the girl for only a few short minutes; on another, he realized that he trusted her implicitly. And no wonder: with her flowing red hair, her smooth skin, she bore an uncanny resemblance to Mezz - they could practically be cousins. Well, he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her! "Stay down!" he urged, pushing her head back down to the floor and keeping a look out for these devils that were trying to kill her and her grandfather.</p><p></p><p>"Help! Help!" cried Dave, running down a side street by his shop. "Devils! Devils are loose in the town!" A few members of the city guard stepped into view, seeing old Dave Quillbender racing for his life, behind an elf monk and - more importantly - a red-skinned devil in a wizard's robes. Daleth, still unaware of his fiendish appearance, chose that moment to cast a <em>scorching ray</em> spell at Dave. He missed, but that didn't cast him into any better light in the eyes of the city guard, who raised their weapons in an effort to aid their citizen from this fiendish incursion into their kingdom.</p><p></p><p>Beneath the fighter's weight, Maria struggled to convince him to let her up. "It's your friends who are trying to kill me!" she tried, hoping to convince her new "bodyguard" to release her - from this pinned position, she couldn't cast any additional spells! "It's not safe!" insisted Syngaard, continuing to keep his precious charge safe from any potential threats - devils or his own friends, nobody was getting to Maria under his watch!</p><p></p><p>As Dave came rushing past, Orion swung Carl around and slapped at the wizard with the flat of her blade, aware that they wanted to take him alive, not dead. Seeing the approaching guardsmen with their weapons readied, she called out to them, "Stop him! He's kidnapped children from Durnhill!" Galen moved up and swung at the fleeing wizard with the flat of his longsword but missed. "We're just trying to subdue him for questioning!" the paladin urged.</p><p></p><p>Inside the shop, Syngaard was finally convinced they were safe as long as they remained inside, so he pulled Maria with him behind the counter and crouched low beside her. "We oughtta be safe here," he reassured the sorceress.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar raced up to Dave again and tried to grapple the fleeing wizard, again to no avail. Dave began spellcasting, and the conscripts each tried putting a stop to it with their various weapons - even Carl snapped at the wizard, and Galen channeled the power to smite evil through his enchanted blade - but none of it was of any use. Dave immediately exploded into four copies of himself, all of whom shuffled around in a dizzying display as they ran past the guardsmen.</p><p></p><p>The four elderly guards belatedly rushed into action. Three of them went to deal with the more immediate threat: the red-skinned devil loose in their city. Two longswords went slashing at the "devil" - and both of them struck Daleth, causing him to cry out in pain and surprise, for the elf had no idea why these men were attacking him. The third guard's crossbow bolt went whizzing past Daleth's head to shatter against the stone wall of a building behind him. The fourth guardsman, the one closest to the fleeing Daves, called out for him to stop. "It's the Heroes of Ashfall!" he explained. "They just want to ask you some questions!" None of the four Daves slowed his pace by an iota.</p><p></p><p>Daleth had a <em>color spray</em> ready and cast it at the three guardsmen attacking him, dropping the entire trio into unconsciousness. Then he followed the others - Kaspar, Galen, and Orion astride Carl - in pursuit of the fleeing wizard and his three <em>mirror images</em>.</p><p></p><p>Inside her grandfather's shop, Maria finally convinced Syngaard the best way to keep her safe was to escape the immediate vicinity of the building. "Your friend has a horse just outside," she argued. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we borrowed it."</p><p></p><p>Syngaard rolled the plan over in his spell-befuddled mind and could see no flaws in it. "Okay," he agreed, "good idea." He released his protective hold on Maria's shoulder, and she immediately went fleeing to the front of the shop and out the front door, speeding past Seneca as she ran for her freedom.</p><p></p><p>"Hey!" Wait up!" Syngaard called, barreling behind her. How was he supposed to keep her safe if she ran away from him?</p><p></p><p>"Keep attacking Dave!" Daleth called from the back of the pursuit force. "We need to bring down the <em>mirror images</em>!" While he didn't know the spell personally, the elf wizard knew the basics of how it worked: attacking an illusory double caused it to pop out of existence, like a soap bubble. Attack enough times, and eventually only the real Dave would remain. Orion spurred Carl forward and both halfling and riding dog attacked, but neither connected. Neither did Galen, when he swung his longsword at the nearest image. Ahead of them, all four Daves continued their flight unhindered.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar did manage to connect with a rapid-striking fist, but the version of Dave he hit was a mere image. Still, the monk's successful strike at least caused the first of the three <em>mirror images</em> to vanish, leaving only the wizard and two duplicates fleeing frantically down the street.</p><p></p><p>One block away, Syngaard caught up to Maria and slammed a meaty hand down upon her shoulder, putting an immediate halt to her forward motion and spinning her around to face him. "Are you crazy?" he snarled. "You can't go running away from me if I'm going to protect you!" She opened her mouth to try to persuade him to release her, but before she could get a word out he dragged her back towards the shop. "C'mon," he said, "The horse is this way!" Incredulously, Syngaard helped Maria up onto Seneca's broad back and then untied the reins from the post to her grandfather's shop and passed them up to her. He then walked back to Seneca's side, apparently expecting to climb up behind her. Instead, with a flick the reins, Maria brought the warhorse around and starting back down the street the way she'd been going before Syngaard stopped her. She was a sorceress, and she was willing to bet her spells could help her grandfather escape his enemies!</p><p></p><p>The three Daves spun around and each cast a similar spell at Galen; it was impossible to tell which one had really cast the spell and which two had just mirrored the motions, but the end result was the same, as the <em>hold person</em> spell stopped Galen in his tracks. However, Dave's brief halt allowed one of the guards to step forward and poke at a <em>mirror image</em> with the point of his sword, causing it to disappear. "You're resisting arrest!" scolded the guardsman.</p><p></p><p>From too far behind to catch up, Daleth saw there were now only two possible Daves down the street from him. Still, he could solve that problem easily, even at this distance! Casting a <em>magic missile</em> spell, the elf caused two bursts of energy to flash from his fingertips, each missile targeted against a different Dave. One groaned upon being struck, while the other simply popped from existence. After that, Daleth decided his best course of action was to return to Dave's shop and see if he could unearth anything there. Hopefully the others could subdue the elderly wizard on their own. He stopped a moment before the door, catching a glimpse of himself in the refection in the mirror, and realized why the guards had been attacking him - he looked like a devil! Well, there was probably a way to handle that inside the scroll and potion shop.</p><p></p><p>Orion finally connected with Dave, striking him with her <em>flaming short sword</em>. (She didn't bother striking him with the flat of her blade, either - that approach didn't seem to be working, and she was sure Galen could heal the wizard in time once they brought him down.) With an effort of will that brought sweat to his forehead, Galen willed himself free from the <em>hold person</em> spell and returned to his pursuit of the man likely behind the orphans' kidnapping. Kaspar struck out with a fist and connected solidly with the wizard, but the blow barely seemed to faze Dave - and then Kaspar started to wonder if the abjurer hadn't protected himself with a <em>stoneskin</em> spell. But then Dave struck the monk a surprise blow with his quarterstaff, and the elf found himself under the effects of a <em>hold person</em> just as Galen had been. Dave chuckled to himself in delight and started running away again.</p><p></p><p>The nearby guard called out for backup, and backup - in the form of a few more elderly men in gleaming mithral armor - came hobbling up. They closed on the fleeing wizard; Orion brought Carl around and dismounted in front of Dave, her magic short sword out and wreathed in flames. Dave was now literally surrounded by enemies with his back against the wall - the wall to a stable, it appeared. Galen joined the ring around the wizard and struck out with his <em>sword of Zehkar</em> at the man, whittling away at his <em>stoneskin</em> protection. Around the corner, Kaspar focused his mind and escaped the mental clutches of the <em>hold person</em> spell, then hopped a fence and approached the stable from the other side from where Dave was now pinned. Climbing the single-story structure was no problem for the nimble monk, and Kaspar found himself looking down at the surrounded mage from directly above him.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately for Syngaard, Maria was not an experienced rider and was unable to get Seneca to full speed before he caught up to them on foot. "You forgot me again!" he admonished, sure in his mind that the girl had simply overlooked waiting for him to join her in the saddle rather than it having been deliberate. He grabbed the side of Seneca's reins to bring the horse to a halt so he could climb up behind Maria; the sorceress swore to herself - how could this oaf continue to stop her from helping her grandfather while still being under her charm effect?</p><p></p><p>Dave looked frantically at the enemies around him and decided going through Orion was his best way out. He tried pushing past the little halfling, but Orion was having none of it; she might be small, but her <em>flaming short sword</em> could still hurt the elderly wizard, especially since the flames burned him just as much with his <em>stoneskin</em> spell up as without it. The old guardsmen slashed out with their blades and were surprisingly effective at bringing the <em>stoneskin</em> spell down. (In fact, it was somewhat embarrassing to see sixty-year-old men succeed so easily where the conscripts had thus far pretty much failed.)</p><p></p><p>Daleth had found a <em>potion of disguise self</em> and used it to disguise himself as his own true form, handily overcoming the illusory appearance of a horned devil. Then he ran outside and to the left of the shop, following Seneca's recent path. Sure enough, there was Syngaard struggling with Maria, who was already astride Seneca. The elf ran in pursuit.</p><p></p><p>From his vantage point on the stable's rooftop, Kaspar saw the commotion to his left and leapt off the building. He raced through the stable's pen and through its gate, popping out into the street directly in front of Seneca. The monk raised both hands in a warding-off position, keeping the warhorse from leaving. Maria cursed, finding herself with an elf monk before her, an elf wizard racing up behind her, and a no-longer-wanted bodyguard hindering her escape at her side. This was too much for a sixteen-year-old sorceress unused to combat; she raised her hands and surrendered peacefully, sure that her still-loyal bald idiot bodyguard would keep the others from doing her any harm...although now that she thought about it, none of them had tried to harm her in any way despite multiple opportunities. Maybe they were not the evil people her grandfather had warned her about?</p><p></p><p>Dave made a last-ditch effort to scale the stable wall and actually made it to the top. "Dang!" exclaimed Galen. "You're a spry old guy!" Dave cast an <em>expeditious retreat</em> spell upon himself in preparation of climbing down from the other side of the stable building and scrambling away - but then Orion brought him down with a thrown dagger. He stiffened as the blade dug between his shoulder blades, then toppled forward - but not, luckily for his sake, over the edge where he could have snapped his neck.</p><p></p><p>It took some time to lug the unconscious wizard down from the rooftop without harming him any further, but with the help of a ladder and some healing from Galen, Dave was brought back down and back to consciousness - but when he awoke, he saw he was back in his own shop, bound about the wrists with sturdy rope, and with the elf wizard looming over him. "Drink this," Daleth urged, tipping the vial to Dave's lips and pinching his nostrils shut to help force him to drink it down. With sudden concern, Dave realized he'd just been forced to imbibe one of his own vials of <em>elixir of truth</em>.</p><p></p><p>"Now then, some answers," demanded Galen and began the interrogation. Dave, his tongue loosened by his own magic elixir, spilled information freely. However, it became apparent that the elderly wizard actually believed he had been doing good all this time. In his mind, he was helping the poor orphans to escape from the dreaded Lich of Durnhill. He acknowledged that the hourglass symbol was the mark of the Seekers of Eternity and admitted he was himself trying to join their ranks; he was honestly surprised at the paladin's claims that the Seekers of Eternity were evil. He was also surprised that the conscripts hadn't killed him. He willingly stated his belief that the Lich of Durnhill had created the foul ritual that would have opened a permanent <em>gate</em> to Hell, allowing the devils who dwelt within that fiendish realm to come flowing forth into the world unhindered.</p><p></p><p>"We're the ones who defeated those cultists," the paladin explained. "Does it make sense that we would be behind the attempt in the first place?"</p><p></p><p>"No," admitted Dave. "It does not. It seems...it seems you're on the side of good, after all."</p><p></p><p>"So where are the kids you stole from Durnhill?" demanded Syngaard. Dave readily passed on the locations: the children had been split up among various churches of the good-aligned gods of Ashfall: Pelor, Hieroneous, Moradin, and Yondalla.</p><p></p><p>"We will need to borrow a wagon and a pair of strong horses to pull them," Galen said to one of the guardsmen who had been observing the interrogation. "We'll return them when we're done."</p><p></p><p>"Of course," replied the old guard, sending a young child to go fetch a wagon and horses from the stable owner.</p><p></p><p>In due course, the children of Durnhill were gathered up without any problems; two of the guardsmen had accompanied the conscripts to explain the situation to the clerics of the various churches. After all fifteen had been loaded onto the wagon, Galen led the way back south to Durnhill. Syngaard drove the wagon, keeping his scarred face pointed toward the road and hidden from the orphans behind his raised hood; he knew well his face would be scary to kids of those ages. Orion rode beside the wagon and allowed the older children to pet Carl as they ambled back to Durnhill at a slow walking pace, to allow the elves to walk beside and behind the wagon to ensure the children stayed secure.</p><p></p><p>Only when the wagon pulled up beside the Temple of Pelor in Durnhill and the children were brought back to the orphanage they called home, did Syngaard say a word. "You keep these kids <em>safe</em> now, you hear?" he snarled to Father Rupert. "That's your damn job!"</p><p></p><p>Father Rupert made no response; he was too pleased at seeing the children under his charge returned safely. He watched after them as the older children brought in the few small babies amongst their group and handed them over to the Pelorian clerics and acolytes. Without another word, Syngaard climbed back up into the wagon and spun the horses around, plodding back to Ashfall to return them as Galen had promised.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Logan used the Paizo Flip-Mat Classic "City Streets" as the part of Ashfall containing Dave Quillbender's scroll and potion shop. He then designed a "blueprint" map of the shop's interior, which he placed over the building on the map once we entered it.</p><p></p><p>Man, were the dice ever against us during this adventure! It shouldn't have taken us that long to take down a single 7th-level wizard, given that four of us were 5th-level! And Syngaard effectively got taken out of the fight with a single failed Will save - although ironically, he pretty much single-handedly kept Maria out of the fight just by "keeping her safe." I also got a bunch of surprised laughs from around the table when I had Syngaard lead Maria back to steal Galen's horse, but it seemed in character for him to do so. So the other players can give me a hard time for spending the whole adventure charmed, but I effectively took out one-half of our adversaries all by myself. (That's how I've chosen to look at it, anyhow.)</p><p></p><p>This also has to go down in history as the first adventure where we didn't kill anybody at all. Heck, Syngaard didn't even get to swing his weapon once!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7391165, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 13: THE MISSING CHILDREN[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Galen Thorne, human paladin 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Syngaard, human fighter 5[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 4 April 2018 - - - "So what are we gonna do about the missing kids?" demanded Syngaard. "What do you propose we do?" returned Skevros. "I dunno - don'tcha got a spell or something that can tell us where they are?" "Nothing prepared," admitted the king's adviser. "And it would take me a bit of preparation to ready the divination spells we'd need." Syngaard swore under his breath - just barely under his breath, although the others had no trouble discerning what kinds of comments they weren't actually hearing from the scarred fighter - about the uselessness of spellcasting if you had to wait around all damn day to get anything actually useful ready to go. "I have a suggestion," prompted Daleth. "We have the tattoo we took from the half-orc assassin. We have a barrel of osteovox. Why don't we ask a question to the osteovox about the tattoo, to determine if the organization using the tattoo as their symbol is involved in the children's abduction?" "That'll take, like an hour," complained Syngaard, eager to get after the missing children [I]now[/I]. "Indeed," agreed the elf. "We will write down the question, and then we can spend the time while we wait for the answer questioning the clerics at the Temple of Pelor." It was as good a plan as any; after a short discussion, Galen ended up writing down the following question on a scrap of parchment: "Okay, let's go," said Syngaard as the parchment, wrapped tightly around the scrap of skin holding the tattoo, was lowered into the barrel of osteovox. "What's your big hurry?" demanded Orion. "I just wanna get to the bottom of this," Syngaard replied. "Stealin' kids - that ain't right." Orion shrugged; she was concerned with the welfare of the missing orphans as well - they all were - but it just seemed odd that their burly, scar-faced fighter had such a soft spot for children. It didn't fit his gruff - and often abusive - personality. Father Rupert greeted the adventurers upon their arrival at the temple. Galen started in right away with questions and suggestions. "Have your clerics cast divinations to determine the location of the missing children?" "[B]Father Rayburn[/B] is leading that effort," Father Rupert replied. That spoke to how important this was to the temple; Father Rupert was the elderly head of the temple's orphanage, but Father Rayburn was the head of the entire temple itself. "We have yet to determine their actual location, save that they are somewhere in Ashfall." "Yes, that's what the osteovox said, too," replied the paladin. "But Ashfall's a big place; we need to narrow down the search parameters." But the elderly priest hadn't heard the rest of what Galen had to say. "[I]What[/I]?" he demanded. "You're using [I]osteovox[/I]? That--that's an evil mixture! Why would a paladin of Hieroneous have anything to do with such a vile substance?" "Wait, what?" asked Syngaard. They'd used osteovox several times before in the past - it seemed harmless. "I believe he's referring to its use when ingested," Daleth reminded the group. "Recall that we took the barrel of osteovox from a group that had used it to create a small horde of undead skeletons. I'm sure you recall the lumps of flesh we found there in the graveyard?" "Wait--that was the skin from the skeletons?" Syngaard asked. He hadn't made the connection. "Indeed it was." "Well, in any case, we liberated the osteovox from its evil users and have been putting it into the service of good," Galen explained, trying to assuage the elderly priest's fears and get him back on track. "Now, what else can you tell us about the missing children?" Father Rupert had plenty to explain. There were fifteen orphans in all, ranging from a few babies to several young teens. Quillbender's Traveling Faire had been in town yesterday, and some of the clerics had taken the older children to go visit it. Gifts had been handed out at the faire, with a few extras given to the clerics to pass on to the children who hadn't attended - stuffed bears and dogs, that sort of thing. All of the children who had attended the faire had returned with the clerics without incident. They had been fed and sent to bed like normal; everything was still okay at midnight when the night shift looked in on them. But at 3 bells, all of the children were missing from their beds. "What about the gifts?" asked Kaspar. "The stuffed dogs and such. Were they missing as well?" "Why, yes, I believe so," admitted the cleric. "Is that important?" The two elves shared a thoughtful stare. "Very possibly," replied Daleth. "They might have been a means of teleporting the children away." "That's messed up," Syngaard replied as Father Rayburn approached the group. "Our divinations cannot pierce the specific location of the children," the head cleric said, shaking his head sadly. "It's as if they've been shielded from our efforts. But when we asked if they were safe, we got the following response: 'Within a month they shall be safe. Beyond a month all hope is lost to eternity.'" "So at least they're safe for now," Orion said, breathing a sigh of relief. "And we have a month to find them before they're in any real danger." "A month? I ain't waitin' no damn month!" roared Syngaard. "We will not," reassured Daleth. "It seems we've learned all we can from here at the moment. Perhaps we should return back home, to see if our...message has been answered." The elf didn't want to mention the osteovox in front of the head of the Temple of Pelor, given the reaction Father Rupert had to it. Nor did he want to mention Skevros by name, as the conscripts' service to the king via his adviser were state secrets, not to be shared even with the highest-ranking clerics in the kingdom. "So, whaddawe got?" demanded Syngaard as the group returned to the [I]Enchanted Flagon[/I] and Skevros's extradimensional quarters he kept within. "We have an answer, but not one that sheds much light, I'm afraid." Reading from the parchment they had wrapped around the skinned tattoo, Skevros read: "Free you?" repeated Syngaard. "Free you from what?" "Not me," Skevros patiently explained, passing over the scrap of parchment. "That's exactly what's written. The 'me,' one would assume, is the osteovox itself." "So we have a group of people wearing this tipped-over hourglass tattoo - yourself included - likely from the Azure Glade, who want to free the osteovox from us?" reiterated Daleth. "That don't make no sense," Syngaard complained. "Why the hell can't any of this magic stuff just talk plainly?" "Such is the way of magic," answered Skevros. "Those of us who choose to explore the arcane arts seek to learn--" "Wizards!" snorted Syngaard in disgust, cutting him off. "So what's the plan?" Significantly, he was looking at Galen when he asked his question, not Skevros - Galen might cast a spell here and there, but he mostly trusted in his blade; Syngaard could respect that much more than a guy with nose in a spellbook all the time. Galen, however, was a paladin and as such had respect for the chain of command. He turned and looked at Skevros, seeking an answer from the man who was their direct superior. "We know the children will be safe for the next month," Skevros reasoned. Before Syngaard could interrupt with an outraged lack of patience again, the king's adviser hastily added, "So I don't believe a few hours' delay will endanger them any. But I would recommend you all rest up so that the spellcasters among your ranks can prepare a full round of spells. After that, I can teleport you directly to Ashfall." "And then what?" asked Orion. "Then, I'm afraid," Skevros shrugged, "You'll have to do some old-fashioned searching of your own." "A sound plan," agreed Daleth. "I will return to my room at once to begin my meditative trance." Galen stood up from the table and moved to follow the elf. "What, you too?" demanded Syngaard. "Gotta get a nap in before we get to work?" "Not a nap, no," replied Galen. "I shall retire to pray to Hieroneous, that He will replenish my spells and guide me as to which ones will be the most useful for our endeavors." The bald fighter just snorted in disgust and called for an ale, which the "seen" [I]unseen servant[/I] brought over to him. It looked like it was going to be a long wait. Sure enough, it was several hours before the group was ready to go to Ashfall - hours which Syngaard had whiled away by absently carving into the tabletop with his knife. "What?" he asked when Kaspar cast an incredulous eye upon his handiwork. "No harm done. Them wizards can [I]mend[/I] it right back to new." He got up and walked over to the rest of the group just outside the tavern, Orion and Galen astride their respective mounts. Skevros cast the [I]teleport[/I] spell upon them and they were instantly whisked away to the outer gates of Ashfall. Then, frowning, the king's adviser went back inside and walked over to the table that Syngaard had been defacing with his knife. He ran his fingers over the carved graffiti. As he might have expected, many of them were four-letter words, but intermixed with the various swear words were a couple that didn't make any sense - "JACE," "MEZZ" - and one that surprised him: "HOPE." Shaking his head, Skevros gathered up the wood chips that had been brushed to the floor and sprinkled them onto the tabletop. Then, with the simple act of a [I]mending[/I] spell, he restored the table to its original condition. "He's a strange individual," Skevros muttered to himself. Outside Ashfall, the group headed for the open gates - where they got two surprises. The first was that the elderly men guarding the place (for the able-bodied men of Ashfall were still up in the Baator's Breath Mountains, fighting off the random devil invasions when the sporadic magical [I]gates[/I] opened between the planes) had gotten an armor upgrade: their polished mail was quite evidently the same mithral that Galen, Syngaard, and Orion sported. It seemed the mines were still producing the valuable metal in abundance. But the second surprise was the reaction they received from the mithral-clad warriors. "Behold!" one of them cried upon seeing the conscripts' arrival. "The Heroes of Ashfall return!" "'Heroes of Ashfall?'" repeated Daleth. "Do they mean us?" "All of us but you," sneered Syngaard. "While you were out poking about in libraries in the Azure Glade, we stopped a permanent devil invasion and secured a source of pretty much unlimited mithral." "What brings you back to our kingdom?" prompted another of the guards. "Business, alas," replied Galen. "We seek a group of missing children who might have been brought here." "You guys got an orphanage up here, run by the Temple of Pelor?" asked Syngaard. "Indeed we do," replied the head guard and gave the conscripts directions. "I don't suppose that Quillbender's Faire has come by this way lately?" added Orion on a sudden impulse. "Quillbender? You mean [B]Dave Quillbender[/B]? He owns a scroll and potion shop, not a faire." Despite the excitement about possibly finally meeting the "Dave" behind some of the recent incursions into Durnhill, Galen kept his face calm and impassive. "He may be able to assist us," the paladin said and the helpful guards provided directions to Dave's shop. "I think we'll pay this Dave a visit first," suggested Galen, leading Seneca ahead in the direction to the scroll and potion shop. The shop's front door was flanked by two windows displaying some of the wares available inside. The windows each had a flower bed, inside of which sat what at first looked to be statues of little toads. But they started croaking upon the group's approach, revealing them to be living creatures, even if their gray-toned skin gave them the appearance of having been carved from stone. "Familiars, no doubt," opined Daleth, thinking it likely that this Dave, who owned a scroll and potion shop, was a wizard. A good-looking young woman with striking red hair stood sorting items between two low shelves as the group approached; she smiled and waved them in. "Welcome," she said. "May I help you find something?" She looked to be all of sixteen summers. "Good morning," replied Galen, all smiles and rugged good looks. He held out a hand to her, saying, "My name is Galen. Surely you aren't Dave?" "No," the girl smiled back. "My name is [B]Maria Quillbender[/B]. Dave is my grandfather. He's out back, but he should return shortly." Looking toward the rear of the shop, the conscripts could see a back door behind the counter. Syngaard immediately started heading toward it, but before he got there it opened up and in stepped an elderly, bearded man in the distinctive robes of a wizard. Daleth immediately recognized the robes by their color and style: they were those worn by the Abjurers in the Azure Glades. "Stop flirting with the customers, Maria," admonished the wizard. She started grumbling to herself under her breath at that; to Daleth's elven ears, it sounded suspiciously like spellcasting. "Hey!" he started to say, as Dave Quillbender started a spell of his own. "Help!" called the elderly wizard. "Devils are trying to kill me!" And with that, he turned around and fled back out the rear door of his small shop. The closest to the back door, Daleth sped in pursuit after the elderly wizard. As he passed through the door, a clump of dust fell down upon him; unseen by the elf, his appearance changed to other viewers: he now sported an impressive pair of horns from his head, a pointed tail snaked out from beneath the hem of his own robes, and his skin now looked to be a bright red. Of course, none of this was apparent to Daleth, who had not fallen sway to his own illusory appearance. Inside the shop, Maria stepped over to Syngaard, pushing him between herself and the rest of the conscripts. "Keep me safe!" she pleaded to the bald fighter in a frightened voice, for just outside the front door the growling of a large canine could be heard. Looking through the still-open front door, the group could see a hell hound manifesting outside, between Seneca - who had been tied to a post outside the shop by his reins - and Orion, still astride Carl on the other side of the building's front side. The halfling whipped out her [I]flaming short sword[/I], readying herself to respond if the hellish beast made a move towards her or her mount. Without pause, Galen rushed through the front door, the [I]sword of Zehkar[/I] out and ready to fend off the forces of evil. The speed by which he burst through the door allowed him to avoid the falling [I]dust of illusion[/I] that came sprinkling down behind him, but he didn't even notice - his full attention was on the hell hound snarling before him, wisps of flame streaming from its mouth. He sent his longsword striking at the fiendish beast in a sideways arc; the blade bit deep and the creature seemed to merely melt away into the shadows. "An illusion?" sputtered the disappointed paladin. Kaspar, in the meantime, had followed his fellow elf out the back door in pursuit of Dave. He was close enough to see Daleth's illusory "transformation" into a devil and was glad to see there was apparently only one such trap above the door, for he was not bothered in such a fashion. With his faster speed, he easily caught up to the fleeing elderly wizard and tried to grab him by the robes. But for such an old human, Dave was surprisingly lithe; he managed to wriggle away from the elf monk's grasping hands and continue his flight away from the shop. Syngaard looked around in confusion at the excitement going on outside both exits to the small shop. Then, coming upon the most effective plan of action, he grabbed Maria and pulled her to the floor, shielding her with his body. "What are you doing?" demanded Maria. "Keeping you safe!" explained Syngaard, fully under the effects of the [I]charm person[/I] spell she'd cast upon him. On one level, he realized that he'd known the girl for only a few short minutes; on another, he realized that he trusted her implicitly. And no wonder: with her flowing red hair, her smooth skin, she bore an uncanny resemblance to Mezz - they could practically be cousins. Well, he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her! "Stay down!" he urged, pushing her head back down to the floor and keeping a look out for these devils that were trying to kill her and her grandfather. "Help! Help!" cried Dave, running down a side street by his shop. "Devils! Devils are loose in the town!" A few members of the city guard stepped into view, seeing old Dave Quillbender racing for his life, behind an elf monk and - more importantly - a red-skinned devil in a wizard's robes. Daleth, still unaware of his fiendish appearance, chose that moment to cast a [I]scorching ray[/I] spell at Dave. He missed, but that didn't cast him into any better light in the eyes of the city guard, who raised their weapons in an effort to aid their citizen from this fiendish incursion into their kingdom. Beneath the fighter's weight, Maria struggled to convince him to let her up. "It's your friends who are trying to kill me!" she tried, hoping to convince her new "bodyguard" to release her - from this pinned position, she couldn't cast any additional spells! "It's not safe!" insisted Syngaard, continuing to keep his precious charge safe from any potential threats - devils or his own friends, nobody was getting to Maria under his watch! As Dave came rushing past, Orion swung Carl around and slapped at the wizard with the flat of her blade, aware that they wanted to take him alive, not dead. Seeing the approaching guardsmen with their weapons readied, she called out to them, "Stop him! He's kidnapped children from Durnhill!" Galen moved up and swung at the fleeing wizard with the flat of his longsword but missed. "We're just trying to subdue him for questioning!" the paladin urged. Inside the shop, Syngaard was finally convinced they were safe as long as they remained inside, so he pulled Maria with him behind the counter and crouched low beside her. "We oughtta be safe here," he reassured the sorceress. Kaspar raced up to Dave again and tried to grapple the fleeing wizard, again to no avail. Dave began spellcasting, and the conscripts each tried putting a stop to it with their various weapons - even Carl snapped at the wizard, and Galen channeled the power to smite evil through his enchanted blade - but none of it was of any use. Dave immediately exploded into four copies of himself, all of whom shuffled around in a dizzying display as they ran past the guardsmen. The four elderly guards belatedly rushed into action. Three of them went to deal with the more immediate threat: the red-skinned devil loose in their city. Two longswords went slashing at the "devil" - and both of them struck Daleth, causing him to cry out in pain and surprise, for the elf had no idea why these men were attacking him. The third guard's crossbow bolt went whizzing past Daleth's head to shatter against the stone wall of a building behind him. The fourth guardsman, the one closest to the fleeing Daves, called out for him to stop. "It's the Heroes of Ashfall!" he explained. "They just want to ask you some questions!" None of the four Daves slowed his pace by an iota. Daleth had a [I]color spray[/I] ready and cast it at the three guardsmen attacking him, dropping the entire trio into unconsciousness. Then he followed the others - Kaspar, Galen, and Orion astride Carl - in pursuit of the fleeing wizard and his three [I]mirror images[/I]. Inside her grandfather's shop, Maria finally convinced Syngaard the best way to keep her safe was to escape the immediate vicinity of the building. "Your friend has a horse just outside," she argued. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we borrowed it." Syngaard rolled the plan over in his spell-befuddled mind and could see no flaws in it. "Okay," he agreed, "good idea." He released his protective hold on Maria's shoulder, and she immediately went fleeing to the front of the shop and out the front door, speeding past Seneca as she ran for her freedom. "Hey!" Wait up!" Syngaard called, barreling behind her. How was he supposed to keep her safe if she ran away from him? "Keep attacking Dave!" Daleth called from the back of the pursuit force. "We need to bring down the [I]mirror images[/I]!" While he didn't know the spell personally, the elf wizard knew the basics of how it worked: attacking an illusory double caused it to pop out of existence, like a soap bubble. Attack enough times, and eventually only the real Dave would remain. Orion spurred Carl forward and both halfling and riding dog attacked, but neither connected. Neither did Galen, when he swung his longsword at the nearest image. Ahead of them, all four Daves continued their flight unhindered. Kaspar did manage to connect with a rapid-striking fist, but the version of Dave he hit was a mere image. Still, the monk's successful strike at least caused the first of the three [I]mirror images[/I] to vanish, leaving only the wizard and two duplicates fleeing frantically down the street. One block away, Syngaard caught up to Maria and slammed a meaty hand down upon her shoulder, putting an immediate halt to her forward motion and spinning her around to face him. "Are you crazy?" he snarled. "You can't go running away from me if I'm going to protect you!" She opened her mouth to try to persuade him to release her, but before she could get a word out he dragged her back towards the shop. "C'mon," he said, "The horse is this way!" Incredulously, Syngaard helped Maria up onto Seneca's broad back and then untied the reins from the post to her grandfather's shop and passed them up to her. He then walked back to Seneca's side, apparently expecting to climb up behind her. Instead, with a flick the reins, Maria brought the warhorse around and starting back down the street the way she'd been going before Syngaard stopped her. She was a sorceress, and she was willing to bet her spells could help her grandfather escape his enemies! The three Daves spun around and each cast a similar spell at Galen; it was impossible to tell which one had really cast the spell and which two had just mirrored the motions, but the end result was the same, as the [I]hold person[/I] spell stopped Galen in his tracks. However, Dave's brief halt allowed one of the guards to step forward and poke at a [I]mirror image[/I] with the point of his sword, causing it to disappear. "You're resisting arrest!" scolded the guardsman. From too far behind to catch up, Daleth saw there were now only two possible Daves down the street from him. Still, he could solve that problem easily, even at this distance! Casting a [I]magic missile[/I] spell, the elf caused two bursts of energy to flash from his fingertips, each missile targeted against a different Dave. One groaned upon being struck, while the other simply popped from existence. After that, Daleth decided his best course of action was to return to Dave's shop and see if he could unearth anything there. Hopefully the others could subdue the elderly wizard on their own. He stopped a moment before the door, catching a glimpse of himself in the refection in the mirror, and realized why the guards had been attacking him - he looked like a devil! Well, there was probably a way to handle that inside the scroll and potion shop. Orion finally connected with Dave, striking him with her [I]flaming short sword[/I]. (She didn't bother striking him with the flat of her blade, either - that approach didn't seem to be working, and she was sure Galen could heal the wizard in time once they brought him down.) With an effort of will that brought sweat to his forehead, Galen willed himself free from the [I]hold person[/I] spell and returned to his pursuit of the man likely behind the orphans' kidnapping. Kaspar struck out with a fist and connected solidly with the wizard, but the blow barely seemed to faze Dave - and then Kaspar started to wonder if the abjurer hadn't protected himself with a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell. But then Dave struck the monk a surprise blow with his quarterstaff, and the elf found himself under the effects of a [I]hold person[/I] just as Galen had been. Dave chuckled to himself in delight and started running away again. The nearby guard called out for backup, and backup - in the form of a few more elderly men in gleaming mithral armor - came hobbling up. They closed on the fleeing wizard; Orion brought Carl around and dismounted in front of Dave, her magic short sword out and wreathed in flames. Dave was now literally surrounded by enemies with his back against the wall - the wall to a stable, it appeared. Galen joined the ring around the wizard and struck out with his [I]sword of Zehkar[/I] at the man, whittling away at his [I]stoneskin[/I] protection. Around the corner, Kaspar focused his mind and escaped the mental clutches of the [I]hold person[/I] spell, then hopped a fence and approached the stable from the other side from where Dave was now pinned. Climbing the single-story structure was no problem for the nimble monk, and Kaspar found himself looking down at the surrounded mage from directly above him. Fortunately for Syngaard, Maria was not an experienced rider and was unable to get Seneca to full speed before he caught up to them on foot. "You forgot me again!" he admonished, sure in his mind that the girl had simply overlooked waiting for him to join her in the saddle rather than it having been deliberate. He grabbed the side of Seneca's reins to bring the horse to a halt so he could climb up behind Maria; the sorceress swore to herself - how could this oaf continue to stop her from helping her grandfather while still being under her charm effect? Dave looked frantically at the enemies around him and decided going through Orion was his best way out. He tried pushing past the little halfling, but Orion was having none of it; she might be small, but her [I]flaming short sword[/I] could still hurt the elderly wizard, especially since the flames burned him just as much with his [I]stoneskin[/I] spell up as without it. The old guardsmen slashed out with their blades and were surprisingly effective at bringing the [I]stoneskin[/I] spell down. (In fact, it was somewhat embarrassing to see sixty-year-old men succeed so easily where the conscripts had thus far pretty much failed.) Daleth had found a [I]potion of disguise self[/I] and used it to disguise himself as his own true form, handily overcoming the illusory appearance of a horned devil. Then he ran outside and to the left of the shop, following Seneca's recent path. Sure enough, there was Syngaard struggling with Maria, who was already astride Seneca. The elf ran in pursuit. From his vantage point on the stable's rooftop, Kaspar saw the commotion to his left and leapt off the building. He raced through the stable's pen and through its gate, popping out into the street directly in front of Seneca. The monk raised both hands in a warding-off position, keeping the warhorse from leaving. Maria cursed, finding herself with an elf monk before her, an elf wizard racing up behind her, and a no-longer-wanted bodyguard hindering her escape at her side. This was too much for a sixteen-year-old sorceress unused to combat; she raised her hands and surrendered peacefully, sure that her still-loyal bald idiot bodyguard would keep the others from doing her any harm...although now that she thought about it, none of them had tried to harm her in any way despite multiple opportunities. Maybe they were not the evil people her grandfather had warned her about? Dave made a last-ditch effort to scale the stable wall and actually made it to the top. "Dang!" exclaimed Galen. "You're a spry old guy!" Dave cast an [I]expeditious retreat[/I] spell upon himself in preparation of climbing down from the other side of the stable building and scrambling away - but then Orion brought him down with a thrown dagger. He stiffened as the blade dug between his shoulder blades, then toppled forward - but not, luckily for his sake, over the edge where he could have snapped his neck. It took some time to lug the unconscious wizard down from the rooftop without harming him any further, but with the help of a ladder and some healing from Galen, Dave was brought back down and back to consciousness - but when he awoke, he saw he was back in his own shop, bound about the wrists with sturdy rope, and with the elf wizard looming over him. "Drink this," Daleth urged, tipping the vial to Dave's lips and pinching his nostrils shut to help force him to drink it down. With sudden concern, Dave realized he'd just been forced to imbibe one of his own vials of [I]elixir of truth[/I]. "Now then, some answers," demanded Galen and began the interrogation. Dave, his tongue loosened by his own magic elixir, spilled information freely. However, it became apparent that the elderly wizard actually believed he had been doing good all this time. In his mind, he was helping the poor orphans to escape from the dreaded Lich of Durnhill. He acknowledged that the hourglass symbol was the mark of the Seekers of Eternity and admitted he was himself trying to join their ranks; he was honestly surprised at the paladin's claims that the Seekers of Eternity were evil. He was also surprised that the conscripts hadn't killed him. He willingly stated his belief that the Lich of Durnhill had created the foul ritual that would have opened a permanent [I]gate[/I] to Hell, allowing the devils who dwelt within that fiendish realm to come flowing forth into the world unhindered. "We're the ones who defeated those cultists," the paladin explained. "Does it make sense that we would be behind the attempt in the first place?" "No," admitted Dave. "It does not. It seems...it seems you're on the side of good, after all." "So where are the kids you stole from Durnhill?" demanded Syngaard. Dave readily passed on the locations: the children had been split up among various churches of the good-aligned gods of Ashfall: Pelor, Hieroneous, Moradin, and Yondalla. "We will need to borrow a wagon and a pair of strong horses to pull them," Galen said to one of the guardsmen who had been observing the interrogation. "We'll return them when we're done." "Of course," replied the old guard, sending a young child to go fetch a wagon and horses from the stable owner. In due course, the children of Durnhill were gathered up without any problems; two of the guardsmen had accompanied the conscripts to explain the situation to the clerics of the various churches. After all fifteen had been loaded onto the wagon, Galen led the way back south to Durnhill. Syngaard drove the wagon, keeping his scarred face pointed toward the road and hidden from the orphans behind his raised hood; he knew well his face would be scary to kids of those ages. Orion rode beside the wagon and allowed the older children to pet Carl as they ambled back to Durnhill at a slow walking pace, to allow the elves to walk beside and behind the wagon to ensure the children stayed secure. Only when the wagon pulled up beside the Temple of Pelor in Durnhill and the children were brought back to the orphanage they called home, did Syngaard say a word. "You keep these kids [I]safe[/I] now, you hear?" he snarled to Father Rupert. "That's your damn job!" Father Rupert made no response; he was too pleased at seeing the children under his charge returned safely. He watched after them as the older children brought in the few small babies amongst their group and handed them over to the Pelorian clerics and acolytes. Without another word, Syngaard climbed back up into the wagon and spun the horses around, plodding back to Ashfall to return them as Galen had promised. - - - Logan used the Paizo Flip-Mat Classic "City Streets" as the part of Ashfall containing Dave Quillbender's scroll and potion shop. He then designed a "blueprint" map of the shop's interior, which he placed over the building on the map once we entered it. Man, were the dice ever against us during this adventure! It shouldn't have taken us that long to take down a single 7th-level wizard, given that four of us were 5th-level! And Syngaard effectively got taken out of the fight with a single failed Will save - although ironically, he pretty much single-handedly kept Maria out of the fight just by "keeping her safe." I also got a bunch of surprised laughs from around the table when I had Syngaard lead Maria back to steal Galen's horse, but it seemed in character for him to do so. So the other players can give me a hard time for spending the whole adventure charmed, but I effectively took out one-half of our adversaries all by myself. (That's how I've chosen to look at it, anyhow.) This also has to go down in history as the first adventure where we didn't kill anybody at all. Heck, Syngaard didn't even get to swing his weapon once! [/QUOTE]
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