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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 480475" data-attributes="member: 41">Wealsun 12, CY 59339:  Plans are made and horrors revealed. Prisantha emerges from her study on a balmy spring morning to reveal the fruit of her labors—a crystal ball of true seeing.  Heydricus and Dabus cancel their morning activities to bring her up to date on the Liberators’ progress since the battle with the Bleeding Stone.Dabus has recently finished hallowing the grounds of the mines, warding the place against evil, and strengthening the spiritual bond between Cur’ruth and its residents.Heydricus has been training his followers, and trying to answer this riddle:  How do two hundred dedicated soldiers conquer and secure an entire nation? Heydricus has been meeting with the Aiman daily studying Flan religion, culture and lore, and he and the old man have hit upon what they think is the answer.The Aiman believes it is crucial that Heydricus position himself as the true Flan ruler.  Duke Eyeh still has a claim to the throne, but his newly discovered faith in Pholtus and loyalty to the Theocracy of the Pale must certainly weaken whatever popular support remains for him in Tenh.  If Heydricus could make himself over as a true Tenha’s Tenha, his efforts against the Iuzians should certainly win popular support.  Heydricus commits to fighting a war for the hearts and minds of the Tenha populace.  The old Flan pantheon must be restored, and wedded to the worship of Tritherion’s doctrine of personal freedom.  From these meetings, the People’s Liberation Army of Tenh is born.The Liberators can act as a strike force, eliminating through direct action the pockets of remaining Iuzian occupation, and after the fighting and the thank-yous, will leave behind a small unit of Heydricus’ followers to rally and train a grass-roots liberation army.  With each town scoured of wickedness, Heydricus’ forces will grow, and his fame will spread.  Heydricus loves the plan for its directness and simplicity.  He’ll kill the tyrants, give a rousing speech, and then leave someone else behind to train the army.The two erstwhile leaders decide upon a pair of most likely targets.  Nevond Nevnend is the old capitol, and a long-standing cultural center for Tenh, while Calibut holds the precious metal mines of the nation, and is Tenh’s greatest economic asset.  Cmin, Elijah and Elenthal are sent out on foot to infiltrate, and gather intelligence on the two cities.Weeks later they return with a disturbing report.  First, they scouted Nevond Nevnend, and the situation there is worse than feared.  Men of the Stone Fist—a large band of petty tyrants and foul murders, still occupy Nevond Nevnend.  These Stonefisters have grown comfortable in their role as masters of the place, and apparently ignored their nation’s withdrawal from Tenh.  They are “led” by an unusual band of renegade Iuzians— “priests” wearing Iuzian robes, but bearing no unholy symbols of the Old One.  In addition, the worship of Erythnul has taken root amongst the people of Nevond Nevnend, something that no true Iuzian would suffer for even a moment.  But despite all reason, the savage rituals of the Rending Lord have become common.All in all, the city is ruled by a weak and aimless group of oppressors, easy pickings for sure—but of late, a bandit army of orcish soldiers have moved into the area.  These orcs number some three hundred swords, and are the remnants of a mercenary legion abandoned without pay in the wild steppes of Tenh by the retreating Iuzian forces.  These orcs have since taken up a nomadic life, and over the years suffered great losses at the hands of other bandits, trolls and worse.  The orcs now have set up an encampment that is effectively laying siege to Nevond Nevnend while the orcish commanders negotiate with the “Iuzians” in control of the city. As a whole, Nevond Nevnend is a cesspool of neglect and filth.  The rulers care only for themselves, and the Tenha people are largely ignored.  Despite their relative autonomy, the populace of Nevond Nevnend has not fared well since the occupation, and the city is mostly abandoned.  Rampant crime and disease have been the order of the day for years, and the city is a ghostly shell of its former glory.Calibut, on the other hand, exists in stark contrast to the normal occupation practices in Tenh.  Calibut’s population is shrinking, but more gradually, and through seemingly natural means.  Apparently, the people in Calibut are no longer having children, as none of the three scouts could say that they saw even one.  The city’s populace is divided into three camps—those forced to work in the mines or to support the occupation, those too old or weak to work, and those who watch over the other two groups.Calibut has a strong native militia, and crime is rare.  The people go about their business, not even daring to speak to strangers, and the entire place gives off a sense of hopelessness.  As Cmin put it, “It is as if the life has been drained from the place.  At times I wondered if I was even watching real people, so quiet are these folk.”  Calibut, she reports, is ruled by an Iuzian wizard known as Zeflen.  In another stark contrast to standard Iuzian protocol, Zeflen has administered the city since the first day of its occupation, and there is no hint of insubordination in his ranks.  The tyrannical wizard has mandated that all able-bodied youth are to serve a three-year tour in the city’s militia before being released to the mines.  Thus, Calibut’s youth watch its elders in the name of its dread master.In addition to the two cities, the party knows from Festering’s correspondance that there are five hidden Iuzian bases in the mountains of Tenh:  Cur’ruth, the two giant strongholds, and two undiscovered others.  These bases are put on the list.But what does any of this have to do with Prisantha’s new item, she’d like to know.  After her briefing, the group settles down to do some serious scrying.-----Prisantha chooses the Baron Butrain as her first target.  She knows him fairly well, and the party harbors deep suspicion that he may not be what he seems.  Perhaps, it is suggested, Butrain is a hideous demon who somehow managed to avoid the business end of Heydricus’ sword during the battle against the Temple of Elemental Evil.  Disappointingly, Butrain is what he seems to be; an entirely mortal, if condescending and selfish nobleman.  To Prisantha’s disgust, the onerous Baron is having boils lanced from the soles of his feet when she scrys him.-----Her next subject is an individual who has intrigued the party since they first encountered him—the Iuzain Panshzek the Vile, the very fellow who was attempting to torture Thrommel’s intelligent sword, and wished the group away when they attempted to kill him.  Her true seeing bypasses the being the scrying is first shunted off to; a captive human boy, well fed but chained to a wall in a small cell.  His misdirection spell foiled, Panshzek is revealed.  The pale, dark-eyed fellow is seen relaxing in an elaborate alchemy lab, leaning back and apparently absorbed in deep thought.  As she watches him, Panshzek belches forth several great puffs of a thick, yellow smoke.-----Next, she scrys Cranzer of Riftcrag, the member of the Lesser Boneheart in charge of organizing the various groups searching for the Seven Stones.  Surprisingly, Cranzer is seen lying face-down on a torturer’s table, while a wretched creature stands over him.  His torturer is actually a pair of orcs, joined together at the hip and shoulder.  The orcs share a single misshapen torso, and the rattle in their breath indicates that they suffer from an advanced lung disease.  The orcs are slowly peeling away layers of skin from Cranzer’s back, and anointing the raw flesh with some sort of ointment.  The whole process seems to be putting Cranzer into extreme pain, judging by his pleading screams.In a lull from his anguished begging, an unseen woman’s voice is distinctly heard.  “Get on with it,” she says.  “I did not order you to amuse yourselves.”-----Disgusted, Prisantha breaks the scrying  and attunes her crystal ball to her next subject, Maskaleyne, the necromancer who was working with Martak and Festering.This unfortunate wretch is seen to be standing within a soiled privy, holding the door closed and shuddering violently.  The sounds of a large gathering and laughter can be heard through the door.  As Prisantha watches, a vast gobbet of something flows forth from Maskaleyne’s mouth—a gobbet that is entirely composed of writhing maggots.  Maskaleyne does not seem to be vomiting them up, they are fluidly oozing from his mouth as if fleeing his insides.  Just as Pris thinks she has seen the worst, Maskaleyne bends to the filthy ground, and begins scooping up the maggots, swallowing them again in great handfuls. That done, the necromancer forces a stiff smile onto his face, and returns to his party—humans and half-orcs stand together in small groups drinking wine, and talking to one another.  Several of the group are dressed in the garments of the Great Kindgom, and proudly wear the unholy symbols of Hextor.Maskaleyne approaches one of these priests and takes his hand, saying “Welcome to Stoink, your excellency.  I trust your journey was pleasant?”-----Heydricus prompts Prisantha to have a look at the leader of the orcish forces at Nevond Nevnend.  Prisantha gazes into her crystal ball and sees a huge brute, large even by orcish standards, sitting on his heels in an unlit room, and rocking back and forth.  He sweats profusely, and is intently sharpening a dagger.  The knife has been nearly whittled away to nothing through his efforts, and his fingers are bleeding.  -----The leader of the Stonefisters at Nevond Nevnend is also scryed, and the paunchy fellow is seen sitting at a feast.  But it is a sparse feast indeed.  While there are several dishes, there appear to be only few ingredients—turnips, roots and coarse local meal.  The Stonefister eats with no relish, but great velocity.  -----Lastly, Prisantha turns her scrying on Zeflen, the ruler of Calibut.  But when directed to him, her scrying acts strangely.  Her sensor shows her first a shuffling peasant, then several more.  The sensor jumps from person to person, as one citizen engages another in mundane business.  Frustrated, Prisantha wills the sensor to find Zeflen, and finally, the vision focuses on a mass of velvet darkness that oozes like mist.  Within this blackness a pair of red eyes appear, and gaze directly at her.  Prisantha feels a mental presence struggle for control of the sensor, refusing to let her break off contact.  Dabus and Heydricus see Prisantha stiffen, and are shocked to witness a misty smoke rise from the crystal ball and settle on the table, behaving nothing like real smoke should.  Dabus asks “Is this normal?” but answers his own rhetorical question with a dispel magic.  Fortunately, his spell is effective, and Prisantha is able to break the scrying as the inky smoke disappears.“That is quite enough of that,” Prisantha says to herself, as she places the crystal ball back within its case.  “I was going to spy on Gwendolyn today, but I’ve lost my appetite for it.”-----Next:  Pris and Heydricus take an afternoon outing!</blockquote>

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