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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 4923045" data-attributes="member: 16069">The Friday KnightsSession 5- Fallcrest's Crest Falls.A little while later, fully rested, the Knights return to the Blue Moon Inn, they have rooms there now, nice rooms at that, they also have lots of shiny new toys. Cathal has been about his dark business, the Beggar King's head has netted 500gp - this courtesy of a gimp-like “information broker and go-between” called The Goose- the Shadowmen, it seems, are very happy with the outcome.The terrible shadows that haunted the Beggar King's tower are gone, there's simply no sign of them, it's as if they never existed.  Nimozaran is of course delighted, he expresses his delight by allowing Ignaran and Aeolace access to many of his Rituals, he also rewards the Druid with a +1 Staff for his efforts.The Red Wizards, Fallcrest's premier enchanters and magic item creators, have been busy - using their arcane knowledge to break down the magic items discovered, or transfer their enchantments onto weapons better suited to the Friday Knights arsenal.Astaroth is in love, scratch that in lust, his busty benefactor, the Lady Constance, and her Ladies-in-Waiting are staying in the City, an extended break away from their country pile. Astaroth totters around the city on weak legs, his step cushioned by the six inches of air between his feet and the cobbled streets, toting a smile that a chisel could not remove.And yet, even though they're the talk of the town, or at least  in the small circles they inhabit, there's an itch that remains unscratched, and questions that need answers. Such as-Where did a chest of 15 silver trade bars, with Duergar manufactured stamps, come from - none of the merchants in the city will touch the stuff, it remains unsold, such is the potential threat attached to such items.Where did the Shadow Dragon come from, well inside the Beggar King of course, but why? Who are the Bloodreavers and what are they doing in the city of Fallcrest, snap for the Blackfang Gnolls- Wrix and Reiko the Gnoll Overseer's, ditto for Slavers?The authorities have been informed and have got involved, the now empty Beggar King's lair has been investigated, and soon after sealed, with the surface buildings being either demolished, or else put to better use. The authorities, or rather the Friday Knights liaison, Sgt. Murgeddin, a bluff Dwarf, alas have no answers.The mystery, or at least the shadow of the mystery, remains.Still the Knights are finding friends, there are queues around the block to hear their stories, and so one fine night a few of the Knights find themselves, once again, in the bar of the Blue Moon Inn; the fine night comes to an abrupt end when the Inn is attacked.But that's not the bigger picture, the City of Fallcrest is attacked.[DM Interlude, session 5 took place just before Christmas 2008, alas there were only three players available, thus we had to improvise a little, although we knew this was going to happen- holidays and life get in the way, therefore alternative characters were macroed up ready for play with maptools. To my further consternation the maps I made for Maptools for this session were consumed in a computer related mishap which wiped several hard drives- foolishly I didn't put copies on my external hard drive, in short- no pictures for two sessions.]The Friday Knights for tonight's session are-Aeolace, Eladrin Wizard Level 1– the traitor turned good guy.Antaurea, Eladrin Ranger Level 1- bow for hire (see below).Cathal, Human Fighter Level 2- instrument of Kord (and destruction).Immeral, Eladrin Artificer Level 1- arcane enquirer (see below).[DM Interlude- Aeolace has changed to an Eladrin Mage- Paul has had a re-think.]Which is far too many Eladrin for me, popping in and out of existence with their Fey Steps, it's not natural.And so, and suddenly, one side of the Inn collapses burying a number of patrons under broken rubble, dead or dying- worse the Inn is on fire.The front door is smashed open and a group of surly looking Goblins and Hobgoblins spill into the bar- several of the Goblins are toting improvised fire bombs, it gets a little hot under the collar for the good citizens therein.Leaping into the fray are the Knights present- Cathal and Aeolace, happily two other wannabe heroes join in the fun, they are-Antaurea, Eladrin Ranger, a wastrel, by high Eladrin standards, content to offer his services to anyone with coin- a guide to the wild lands that yet manages to spend much of his time in solitary contemplation, just him and his bottle. Antaurea is played by Mike.Immeral, Eladrin Artificer, an unworldly tinkerer in the arcane, more used to spending time at his workbench than involving himself in combat situations. And yet when the Inn is invaded and Immeral's peace is disturbed, he stands up to be counted. [DM Interlude, Mike is unhappy with Ignaran for some reason, the Druid was created using Expeditious Retreats Advanced Player's Guide, the Wizards of the Coast Druid Character Class has yet to be released. Therefore Mike has decided to try a different character.- Antaurea]And so to the action.The Hobgoblins, all ten of them, prove no more than a distraction, they make their mark on the non-adventuring population of the Inn and the City at large, but are no match for for the Friday Knights, or their neophyte friends. The Hobgoblin grunts are cut down in a trice, Aeolace even adds a Scorching Burst to the mix, taking out four in one go. What the hell, he figures, the bar's on fire anyway.The Goblins prove to be made of only slightly sterner stuff, the pair of Molotov cocktail throwing idiots are taken down- one killed, one, Angry Willy- by name, knocked unconscious by a forward thinking Cathal- he wants to know what's going on here.It soon becomes obvious that the Goblinoids are Bloodreavers, that name keeps popping up.  They have the same markings on their armour, weaponry and skin as those fought previously in the Beggar King's lair.The attack is easily repulsed, however the screams from outside the Inn alert the Knights to new danger.[DM Interlude Encounter #12 [630 XP = Level 3] 10x Hobgoblin Grunts (Level 3 Minions) & 2x Goblin Blackblades (Level 2 Skirmishers). A jolly little fracas especially when the fire gets a hold of the Inn.]The Knights spill out onto the street; houses and businesses burn, people run screaming and parked about ten yards away is a Fire Engine, think about the words, a cart pulled by a huge brute of an Ogre that stops every now and then to throw barrels of already burning pitch into populated buildings- like now. The Knights watch as another flaming missile sails over their heads and smashes into the slates of the Inn, and explodes showering its fiery contents onto the roof, and down to where the Knights are standing.Accompanying the Fire Engine are a small group of Hobgoblin Archers, balanced in the back of the wagon, along with further pitch barrels.  They take pot shots at the screaming inhabitants of the city as they attempt to flee to safety. “This must end!” Cathal declares, and right on time Aeolace ends it, scooting forward a fraction and then dropping a Flaming Sphere directly beneath the wagon- it gets hot very quickly for the inhabitants of said cart - they take to sniffing the air, the burning smell seems to be coming from somewhere very close to them.BOOM!Splinters of wood and a slivers of Hobgoblins take momentarily to the air, spread out rapidly, and then rearrange themselves like some vast unfathomable jigsaw in a three hundred yard radius.Standing very alone, very burnt, and very deafened is “Big Lesley”, the Ogre Savage who repeatedly thumps the side of his head, hoping to make the the buzzing stop. The other Knights take a moment to stare slack-jawed at Aeolace, whose grin matches Astaroth's, and then make mincemeat of all that's left of the Ogre.[DM Interlude Encounter #13 [800 XP = Level 5] 3x Hobgoblin Archers (Level 3 Artillery) & Big Lesley, Ogre Savage (Level 8 Brute). Wow! I mean. Wow! A natural '20' was involved but the damage rolls were just... Wow!]As an encore the Knights rush back into the bar, set about saving people or else bark furiously and organise bucket chains, a difficult Skill Challenge follows; of course the Knights prevail and the fires in the Inn are doused, the citizens saved. And yet still their work is not done.  The Knights head back out onto the streets of Fallcrest, guards are running hither and thither, more buildings need to be extinguished, the Knights help out some more, however the Bloodreavers are gone. Sgt. Murgeddin, when they bump into him later, tells the rest of the story.The Bloodreavers it seems moved into the southern section of the city, which is mostly in ruins, not repaired after the Bloody Hand's assault nearly a century ago. There they hid until some signal- many buildings have been burnt, although few have sustained any serious damage- it seems the attack was a diversionary tactic. A good number of Fallcrest's citizens cannot be accounted for, eye witnesses report snatch squads grabbing people off the streets- the Bloodreavers delivered destruction, but came for slaves.Which leaves the Knights in the frame, they've fought the Bloodreavers before.  Murgeddin wants them to meet with a man called Eoffram Troyas, a Fallcrest Council Member, he has a proposition for the Knights.However before the meeting can be arranged something else comes up- fame. Already gaining a name for themselves in the City, Aeolace is about his business one fine-ish morning when he spots a member of the Fallcrest youth wearing a very thin sleeveless cloth shirt with a crude depiction of him on the front, it bears the legend “Firestarter- Twisted Firestarter.” It seems two stalls on the Fallcrest Central Market are selling them. En route to investigate the matter he spies other variants of the shirts, bearing other legends, such as- “Aeolace says- play with Matches, or else!”; “Burn Bloodreaver Burn, It's an Ogre Inferno!”; and “Look out! It's Aeolace's Fiery Balls.”The market does indeed have stalls selling the aforementioned items of apparel, furthermore said items are selling like, forgive me, hot-cakes.  There are not however two stalls selling them- there are three, and by the time Aeolace is lead away by the Fallcrest Constabulary, there are five. Public appearances, particularly heated exchanges it seems, are good for business.Cries of “drop da bomb Aeolace”, ring out as the confused Wizard scuttles back to the Inn.The other Friday Knights react to Aeolace's new found fame with a mixture of jealousy, amusement and a desire to cash in on it fast.Aeolace has learnt something however, the producer of the shirts is known to all and sundry as... The Goose. Back in the Blue Moon the Goose is located, and repeated attempts are made to show him the error of his ways. Alas the Goose fails to see what he has done wrong, and interprets these forlorn attempts as a device to increase Aeolace's share of the profits.After a protracted meeting involving all of the Knights available it's settled.  Aeolace's image rights are valued at 15% of the nett profits, further lines and other merchandising and concessions are  subject to trials, cost efficiency reports, and product testing. Sometime in the future there will be meetings about further meetings. For now, Aeolace sulks back to his room 100gp richer and now complete with a manager, he's also signed up for some Marketing style Public Appearances.A little while later the Knights get to sit down with Eoffram Troyas, and are given Angry Willy, the captured Goblin Fire-Bomber, to play with.A Skill Challenge ensues, Cathal's opening statement “this is going to hurt me more than it is you”, proves to be an outright lie- Willy, at the end of the session, is so pliable he confesses to be being each and every one of the Dark Gods in disguise. The Friday Knights however garner a few snippets of information; the Bloodreavers are a gang of sorts, a conglomeration of disaffected individuals from numerous tribes, rallying to the banner of a great Goblin Chieftain called Sinruth, tall and muscular, able to cut a man clean in two, such is his strength. Furthermore, the Bloodreavers are working out of a place near Winterhaven, a small fortified town to the north, up the King's Road.Lastly the Bloodreavers are slavers, although Angry Willy is sketchy on the details, he's a fairly new recruit, the attack on Fallcrest his first and last foray.Thus armed and informed the Knights sit down with Eoffram, although the meeting gets crowded a little later as other authority figures arrive to tell what little they know of the tale.Eoffram tells a story about an ancient artefact called the Rod of Ruin kept safe and closely guarded in a secret temple dedicated to Bahamut.  That is until just recently, when the temple priests and guards were slaughtered to a man, turned into the walking dead, and the Rod taken- the name Kalarel was overheard by the lone survivor of the ordeal, although who Kalarel is...Eoffram wants the Knights to do their damnedest to rescue the innocent citizens of Fallcrest swept up in this bloody tide, to return them safely to their homes, their loved-ones and their lives.With that in mind Eoffram would like to pay the Knights to travel to Winterhaven and discover exactly what's going on, get the Rod and rescue the captives, and return to Fallcrest.  The money is very good- the Knights agree, nods and smiles all round.It's at this point that Marla, High Priest of the Church of Pelor barges into the meeting chamber and tells a tale about reports of Death Cultists in Winterhaven. She demands that something be done, even though the reports are old, Eoffram is forced to offer additional rewards for the defeat of said cult, or any cult involved in these activities.Prices are agreed, everyone is happy, that is until Nimozaran turns up- mutters something about a friend of his called Douven Staul, an eminent archaeologist who travelled to Winterhaven three months ago and has not been seen since. He too offers a reward, although it's a pitiful amount. Regardless the, Friday Knights take on the task- the more the merrier.A day is spent equipping for the road ahead to Winterhaven, three days on foot. However all of their preparation  is put on hold when Murgeddin arrives at the Inn later that night screaming for the Knights to “come quickly”, and something about “Bad Mustard!”And at this point session 5 comes to a close, only two Combat Encounters but also a shed load of roleplaying and background information uncovered, a little more character development and 2446 XP between the Knights present.</blockquote>

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