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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7610853" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 46: AIDA NI KAGEPC Roster: Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 13             Galen Thorne, human paladin 15             Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 15             Mikito, human samurai 14             Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 14             Syngaard, human fighter 15Game Session Date: 22 May 2019- - -"Report to the Enchanted Flagon at once.  We've had a breakthrough about those bruises that won't go away."That message, sent to the conscripts over the rings they wore, was enough to get everyone assembled in the closed tavern in record time.  Of course, four of the five conscripts lived directly above the tavern but even Syngaard, who lived some blocks away, caught up to the others before they had all gotten a drink and taken their seats at the main table."We find a way to get rid of 'em?" he demanded as he took his seat and motioned for Karen to bring him his usual ale.  He was somewhat surprised to see another figure sitting at the table: Mikito, the female samurai they'd rescued from the other side of the world and who had been working for Skevros since - although usually not on the same missions as those the main team had been assigned."We have found an avenue of exploration," replied Skevros.  "Mikito has relayed stories from her homeland, Jakura, telling of the 'Court of Shadows Between'.""Aida ni kage," Mikito supplied in her own language."Yes, quite.  In any case, they are a group of shadowy beings said to either serve the Emperor, or perhaps the Emperor serves them - it's not entirely clear.  They usually only involve themselves in threats to their country, though stories tell of people seeking them out to enact vengeance upon those who wronged them.  In such cases, hunters are sent out who are invisible to all but those they seek - rather like the shadow conjurations we encountered some weeks ago, the ones responsible for these bruises."  Skevros rolled up his left sleeve, showing that he had such a bruise himself, as did all of the assembled conscripts.  While the main team had fought the shadow-beings in the marketplace, the phantoms had also appeared elsewhere in the city and Skevros, Mikito, and Anuja Graveshadow had fought them off near the church of Wee Jas, each being marked in the same way with a dark bruise that refused to heal over time, despite several attempts at magical cures.  "These hunters mark their quarry - hence the bruises, I believe - who are then called to the Court to answer for their crimes.""You think we will be summoned in such a manner?" asked Kaspar."I think attempts have already been made," Skevros answered.  "Remember when someone was attempting to teleport me away?  Only the dimensional anchor stones throughout the city prevented me from being whisked away against my will - which, had they taken me from the confines of the kingdom, would have been quite fatal."  The king's adviser wore a mark of justice that would slay him instantly if he stepped foot out of the kingdom of Durnhill or from his manor house in the Azure Glade, reachable through a set of teleport gates in the respective fireplaces of his two dwellings."So they gonna come for us next?" Syngaard asked.  "We supposed to stay within Durnhill so we don't get snatched up by these shadow-people?""There may be another option.  Some stories tell of the hunted being able to reason with the Court if they seek them out themselves, thereby lessening if not overturning their sentence.""And how are we to find this Court?" asked Galen.  "I would clear my name of any charges of wrongdoing!""With Mikito's assistance, I believe I have already found it," Skevros replied.  "I was able to scry upon the 'Divine Mountain' where the Court is said to dwell.  I can teleport you there, where you will seek out the Court of the Shadows Between, figure out why they are hunting us, and preferably convince them to stop.""This a paying mission?" demanded Syngaard, quite predictably."Is not the removal of these bruises marking you as prey payment enough?" asked Skevros."Not really, no."Skevros sighed.  "I thought not.  Very well, I shall pay you each two emeralds upon the successful completion of your mission, since I am unable to travel with you and argue for the removal of my own such marking.""Half up front?""I think not.""I thought not, too.  But it was worth askin', anyways - just in case."The group prepared their normal pre-battle spells as they made their way to the city gate: Daleth casting a stoneskin spell upon himself and Todd and another on Orion, using the scroll she provided him; a magic circle against evil spell centered on himself; and then a Rary's telepathic bond spell linking the whole group together telepathically.  Orion pulled a potion of mage armor from her belt and fed it to Carl, who had manifested by her side and stood patiently while she climbed up onto the ghost touch saddle he wore.  Once they had stepped outside the city's gate, Skevros cast the teleport spell and the group vanished.They did not arrive on the Divine Mountain, though - as evidenced by Mikito's gasp of surprise when they landed.  The group stood huddled together (a necessary requirement of the teleport spell when being cast on a larger number of individuals) on a rock formation floating in a strange, misty void.  There were other chunks of rock floating nearby; in fact, the rock they stood upon was anchored to four of them by sturdy chains.  Numerous shadowy figures flitted about at the edge of vision.<There are hundreds of individual minds all around us,> Todd reported to the others.  As a pseudodragon, he was telepathic in nature and could sense nearby thoughts.  He lowered himself to the ground, his scorpionlike tail raised high in a ready-to-strike position, not sure of what to make of this sudden turn of events.A lone shadowy figure approached the group, floating over from the mists obscuring other mini-islands hovering above them.  He looked very much like the shadow conjurations the group had fought in the marketplace, whose touch caused the magical bruises to form.  Instantly, the conscripts took defensive stances, readying to attack if it came to that.  At Orion's urging, Carl tried shifting to the Ethereal Plane, but a plaintive whimper from the ghost of her riding dog told her there was something preventing him from obeying her.  "Are you responsible for bringing us to this place?" demanded Galen, the sword of Zehkar unsheathed in his hand.<You are where you are supposed to be,> came the reply - oddly, the reply was not only telepathic but also in each conscript's native tongue: while Galen and Syngaard heard the reply in Common, Orion heard it in Halfling, Daleth and Kaspar heard it in Elven, Mikito heard him reply in Jakuran, and Todd heard him in Draconic.  Then the figure swooped forward to Galen and reached a dark hand to the paladin's blade.  At its touch, the holy energy surrounding the blade was snuffed out, absorbed into the shadow's body.  As a result, the ebon form filled with color, taking on the appearance of a paladin none of the conscripts had ever seen before, but whom Galen knew immediately to be Zehkar.<They have chosen me to be their speaker,> Zehkar said.  <This one has allowed me to use his body for the time being.>"Will you return to the sword when this is done?" asked Galen.  He had come to depend upon the power of the sword of Zehkar and was understandably nervous about anything that might diminish its effectiveness in combat.<Upon completion, yes.><We are here because of me, are we not?> asked Mikito suddenly.  <Is this not retribution for the death of Lord Shirimono?>  Before the figure of Zehkar could even answer, the conscripts began defending their actions."That slimeball tried killin' us - it was self-defense!" proclaimed Syngaard, not even bothering - or perhaps remembering - to use the telepathic link Daleth had set up for their use.Galen likewise replied vocally rather than telepathically.  "This Lord Shirimono had already attacked Mikito and left her bound to die in the forest!" he exclaimed.  "Had we not found her and opposed him and his bodyguards, she wouldn't be alive today!""It should also be noted that Lord Shirimono not only employed samurai bodyguards, as is fitting for one of his station, but also ninja!"  Mikito spit the last word out as if it were distasteful on her tongue.  And while she did not speak the Common tongue of Durnhill and its neighbors - she was speaking in her native Jakuran - Skevros had provided her with an amulet that translated her words into the languages of those to whom she spoke.  "Lord Shirimono had turned to the ways of evil, no matter how much his own father refused to see it."  Her voice had a sad tone as she thought of Lord Hiritoshi, her former master.  He was a good man but blind to the evil of his son.<As you suspected, it was Lord Hiritoshi who asked the Court to step in and punish those who slew his beloved son and kidnapped his loyal retainer,> Zehkar explained.  <The court is surprised to see a lack of evil among those who committed these deeds.>"We didn't kidnap nobody!" Syngaard exploded.  "Rescued, more like.  Hey, you guys ever hear of Hieroneous over on this side of the world?  Well, this guy--" and here he pointed at Galen Thorne, with the symbol of the God of Valor painted on his shield "--he channels the god's power.  That oughta prove we're the good guys here!"The form of Zehkar nodded sagely.  <We are aware of the gods revered in your part of the world.>"We are currently involved in an ongoing battle with a powerful lich named, uh, the Mithral Mage."  Galen opted not to provide the lich's true name, knowing that to do so would condemn the souls of the shadow-people (if they actually had them, which Galen admitted to himself was just an assumption) to roaming the physical plane upon their deaths instead of moving on to the afterlife.<We are aware of this individual; the Court refers to him as the slayer of their gods.  Alexandros apparently stole their essences to further his own power.>"He...killed gods?" whispered Orion in shock.  How were they supposed to fight someone capable of such deeds?"So what about these marks?" asked Syngaard.  "You guys willing to get rid of them, or what?"<You will need to prove your valor first.  A ninja clan seeks to usurp power from the Emperor and, more importantly, from the Court itself.  To that end, they have kidnapped one of our number, Kageyana, and are trying to steal her power.  You must kill them and rescue Kageyana; do this and you will have proven your worthiness.>"This a paying mission?" piped up Syngaard.  Zehkar just stared at him with a puzzled frown on his face.  "Never mind," Syngaard sighed.  It looks like they were doing another freebie.<We will teleport you to the ninja village when you are ready.>Galen looked around at his companions and replied, "We're ready now."  In a flash, they were gone, to reappear back on the Material Plane, standing behind a campfire, one of several scattered around the campsite.  Closer inspection showed the fire was a burning pile of corpses; presumably the others were as well.  <Ugh!> said Orion silently over the link.But of prominent interest was the group of figures in a clearing between several tents; they were clad all in black and surrounding a winged figure bound in hellish red chains.  One of the figures happened to be facing the conscripts as they were teleported in, and she warned the rest of her group in what was presumably Jakuran.  Then she dodged behind a large tent and disappeared from the conscripts' view.Mikito charged the group, focusing on the nearest ninja.  As she ran, a wu jen on the other side of the circle cast a fireball spell that enveloped the rest of the conscripts, who were still bunched up from being teleported in.  Galen took the brunt of the blast, while Daleth, Todd, and Syngaard were singed to a lesser extent; Orion and Carl avoided the blast altogether.  While they were recovering from the sudden attack, the wu jen sidled off to the side.Urging Carl forward, Orion grabbed a tanglefoot bag and hurled it at another ninja adjacent to the one Mikito was fighting, entangling him if not fully adhering him to the ground.Syngaard wasn't worried about the ninjas with their bristling weapons being whirled around; guys with weapons he could handle, no matter how exotic they might be - it was the crazy wizards with their crazy spells he could do without.  With that thought in mind, he whipped out his Dick, rubbed it, and flung it in the direction of the black-clad spellcaster.  Dick took full form in mid-air, crashing into the wu jen and biting at her with his razor-sharp beak.  Syngaard, in the meantime, had raced up to Mikito's side, his human bane scimitar out and ready, since he assumed these guys were all human underneath their black hoods.Daleth concentrated for a moment, deciding upon the optimal angle, and then let loose a prismatic spray that covered four of the ninja not otherwise involved yet in battle.  The one entangled by Orion's tanglefoot bag died instantly of poison, two others were banished to random planes, and the fourth petrified instantly before he could even move.  With one spell, a full half of the enemy force had been slain.  Todd added instant insult to injury by flying up into the hooded face of one of the last two remaining ninja (the one not trading sword-strikes with Mikito) and stabbing him in the neck with his tail-stinger.  The venom did its work almost instantly and the black-clad figure fell to the ground, already unconscious and snoring deeply.The last standing ninja stabbed at Mikito with his short, curved blade, causing her stoic expression to drop momentarily in pain - to Mikito, it seemed as if the sword's wicked blade had been enhanced with unholy energy specifically tailored to cause extra harm to those of a goodly bent.Kaspar raced across the battlefield, running up behind the wu jen whose attention was understandably focused on the griffon attempting to chew off her face.  Galen raced forward as well, frowning as the auras of his foes seemed to flicker, showing the unmistakable taint of evil one moment and then vanishing for a moment, only to reappear again.  Unsure of what that might mean, he understood their actions spoke as loudly as to their evil nature given their angelic captive bound in metal chains he recognized at once as hellsteel.  Channeling the power of his god through the sword of Zehkar, Galen swung his blade down through the body of the ninja engaged in combat with Mikito, slaying him outright.  His aura diminished to nothing with his death, although the ninja-to blade he wielded gave off an aura of evil as strong as any Galen had ever seen.Deprived of her current foe, Mikito ran around the large tent before her and approached the female ninja - a kunoichi, she recognized.  She had a blade in each hand and seemed ready to stab out at anyone who approached.  Mikito opted to deny her the opportunity; pulling the longbow from her back, she sent an arrow flying into the kunoichi's face; she was unable to dodge it entirely, the arrowhead carving a scar along one cheek as it passed her by.  And then Syngaard ran up to her, catching her violent attacks on his shield and then getting in a crippling blow with his human bane scimitar.The wu jen staggered under Dick's attacks, bent to the ground, and with a few arcane syllables vanished from sight.  Kaspar immediately strained his ears, trying to hear - against the sounds of battle all around him - whether the spellcaster had teleported away or had merely made herself invisible.  Dick had no such concerns; with one enemy no longer available, he walked over to the sleeping ninja who had succumbed to Todd's venom and took a healthy bite out of the back of his neck, killing him instantly.Orion and Carl phased into the Ethereal Plane and the wu jen came immediately into view; apparently she had cast an ethereal jaunt spell.  Once again wishing she had a way to communicate what she'd discovered to her friends - for the Rary's telepathic bond spell could not cross dimensional boundaries - Orion had Carl charge forward and she stabbed at the wu jen with her nightflame short sword.Daleth looked around and saw only one combatant on the field of battle: the kunoichi.  He channeled a magic missile spell through his metamagic rod, striking her unerringly.  Kaspar was only seconds behind the elven wizard, striking the female ninja with a fist empowered by the tenryutsume, adding fire and electricity to his blow.  Then Galen came up and used a smite attack against her as well.  Flanked by enemies on all sides, she targeted the paladin with her unholy anarchic blades, dealing a great amount of damage to him - but only a mere moment before Mikito's axiomatic katana brought the kunoichi down.Syngaard was actually disappointed that there wasn't anybody else to kill.  "Aw, is that it?" he asked.  "That wasn't hardly no workout at all."On the Ethereal Plane, however, Orion had an entirely different opinion.  The wu jen cast a steam breath spell at her, which she was able to avoid entirely (partly from her rogue training and partly due to her bracelet of burning escape) but which caused Carl to discorporate into nothingness.  As Orion's ring of feather falling lowered her gently to the ground, the halfling realized that with Carl slain in his ghost form, she had no way to return to the Material Plane.  Furthermore, if this black-clad spellcaster killed her, her friends would have no way of ever finding out what had happened to her - she had no choice but to take this wu jen lady out by herself!Pulling a thunderstone from her belt pouch, she flung it at the ground before the spellcaster's feet.  It had the intended effect, causing the wu jen to temporarily lose her hearing.  With any luck, it would limit her ability to cast spells long enough for Orion to carve her up with her blade."Where are Orion and Carl?" asked Daleth as Galen approached the bound celestial - upon close inspection, the paladin recognized her as an astral deva, a powerful force for good."Probably hanging out in their ghosty-plane where it's safe, while we do all the real work," scoffed Syngaard.  "Hey, halfling!" he called to the air around him.  "Get yer scrawny ass back out here - we did all the killin' for you already!"But Daleth wasn't convinced - hadn't there been a wizard of some type among their foes?  She didn't seem to be among the enemy bodies littering the ground.  Casting a see invisibility spell, he spotted Orion immediately - and saw the predicament she was in.  "She's right here!" he called, pointing directly in front of him.  "On the Ethereal Plane, fighting the spellcasting ninja all by herself!"Kaspar was at Daleth's side in a heartbeat.  "Is there any way to help her?" he asked.  Daleth shook his head sadly.  "Carl's not there with her, either - he must have been slain."Syngaard approached.  Despite his constant ribbing of the little halfling, he didn't really want to see anything bad happen to her.  Looking back and forth - as if he could somehow will himself to be able to see into the Ethereal Plane - he snarled, "Kick her ass, Orion!"  Kaspar looked over at the bald fighter in surprise.Daleth continued reporting what only he could see.  "The wizard's trying to cast a spell.  It doesn't look like it worked!"  In fact, she had stumbled on the verbal components of the spell she had attempted, hampered as she was by her temporary deafness.  "Orion's stabbing forward with her blade--she got the ninja right in the gut!  The ninja's dropped down to one knee!  Ooh!  That did it--Orion cut her in the side of the neck!  She's down!""Good thinking, getting her down to where she could reach her neck without that ghost-dog of hers givin' her extra height," Syngaard nodded in appreciation.  On the Ethereal Plane, Orion grabbed up the only immediate things of value she could see on the slain wu jen's body - a pair of magical bracers that looked fairly expensive - and managed to get them off her arms before the wu jen's body faded back to the Material Plane at the end of the ethereal jaunt spell's duration.  "I wish I was going back with you," the halfling said wistfully to the corpse of her enemy as it transitioned back through the planes.  She realized Carl would manifest again after a day or so, but it was going to be a long, lonely wait for her faithful ghost-dog to return and take her back to the others.By then, Galen's sword had cut through the hellsteel chains binding Kageyana and the astral deva sat up, stretching her feathered wings.  "I thank you," she said to the paladin.  Syngaard and Kaspar had removed three sets of leather armor from the slain ninja - they could be resold, and didn't carry the taint of evil that the ninja weapons radiated.  The weapons they left behind, in the dirt where they'd been dropped when their wielders had been slain."So how are we going to get Orion back?" asked Kaspar."I'm thinking," Daleth said, not wanting to admit he had no better idea than to wait around for Carl's eventual return.  But then the world went sideways and blurry, and the conscripts were once more in the Court of Shadows Between - Orion as well.  "I got her!" she beamed to the others."I saw," replied Daleth.  "Well done, Orion."Kageyana stepped forward.  "I thank you all for my freedom," she said.  "I must explain the Court's situation: the gods worshiped in Jakura once walked the lands and interacted with the people, as did the members of the Court.  When the gods were slain and their essences stolen, the native celestials decided to try to carry on in their absence.  We wrapped ourselves in shadows to hide from the godslayer, since we did not know why he had killed our gods and feared he would return to slay us as well."The ninja did not know of the Court's true nature; they saw us only as beings of shadow and sought our power for their own.  In attempting to steal our shadow-essences, they also absorbed celestial power, most of which was useless to those of such an evil bent.""That explains their flickering auras!" exclaimed Galen."The Court foresees that you will free the essences of our gods in the near future, and once free they will be reborn in time as new gods for the land of Jakura.  And although we would have preferred all of the ninja slain, those two banished to other planes will not likely survive long where they were sent.  As such, we revoke the marks we have placed upon you, and will return you to your own kingdom.""And what of me?" asked Mikito."We will explain everything to Lord Hiritoshi," Kageyana promised the young samurai.  "But it is best if you return with these foreigners, for your fate is now intertwined with theirs.  You will no doubt have a further role to play in the downfall of the godslayer.  Lord Hiritoshi will understand."Mikito bowed before the astral deva.  "As do I," she said."Then I return you to where you belong," Kageyana said - and with a word, the conscripts (all six of them) were gone.- - -The reason Mikito made a special appearance among the "prime team" of conscripts is because my granddaughter Samantha came to visit us this past week and, knowing of her upcoming visit ahead of time, Logan came up with a way to incorporate Mikito into the central plot.  And he planted the seed several adventures ago, with those nasty bruises that wouldn't heal.  That was a nice way to seamlessly integrate Mikito into the main plot line.Joey didn't make it to this session; we played (as always) on a Wednesday and he had a bunch of final exams on Thursday; as much as I enjoy D&D, he definitely made the right call.  So rather than have Daleth busy doing something else (which would be kind of awkward in a game session explaining the bruises that all the PCs had gotten), we decided to have someone else run him as a second PC.  Harry volunteered, but as he wasn't familiar with all of Daleth's spells, we decided it would be easier if we had Dan make Daleth's spell selections (as he's already familiar with Daleth's known spells) and then let Harry focus only on those spells already prepared.  (Harry runs a sorcerer in our other ongoing campaign, so he'd never had to prepare only specific spells before, either.)  But he got off to a really good start in his "running a wizard PC" career with that prismatic spray spell!  Logan just shook his head in disbelief when in one round, Daleth and Todd took out five of the eight combatants.  And, ironically, it was only Daleth who leveled up at the end of this adventure, even though his player had been absent.</blockquote>

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