Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Mask of Mask (updated 01/21/2023)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Salmakia" data-source="post: 8854958" data-attributes="member: 7038731"><p><strong><u>4. Alaya</u></strong></p><p>So... the players decided to split the party and then initiated two separate combat encounters. What else is new?</p><p> </p><p>Burny and Ewan quickly realized that if they stopped to cast spells while the Butler continued to run that he would catch up to them. And, since they couldn’t outrun him without casting spells to slow him down, they decided to stand and fight. Burny popped off another <em>Ray of Frost </em>and Ewan held out a holy symbol, causing an ominous chime to sound near the Butler that seemed to weaken him only slightly (rolled a 2 on the d12 for <em>Toll the Dead</em>), and then their assailant was upon them, pulling a second knife from inside his jacket.</p><p> </p><p>Ewan reached deep and tried to feel the connection to the land as Tavish had taught him, bringing the blessings of the orchard to bear upon him and his companion and filling them with strength and resolve. Burny chanted arcane words of power from his spellbook, creating another <em>Thunderwave </em>that shook the Butler’s very bones, but did not deter his attack.</p><p> </p><p>However, whether it was the ice that still stiffened his joints or a slippery patch on the ground, the Butler swung wide and Burny let out a short laugh more out of fear than anything. However he quickly realized that he’d underestimated his opponent as the Butler sliced him neatly across the ribs with a backhanded sweep.</p><p> </p><p>Burny yelped in pain. Knowing that he was only one solid strike away from death, he closed his eyes, held up his hands, and summoned a bolt of fire right in the Butler’s face. When he opened his eyes again their attacker was lying dead on the ground.</p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t really mean to kill him...” Burny muttered, half out of guilt and half relief.</p><p>“We should get back to the house.” Ewan said.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, Alaya reached out in an attempt to grasp Althea’s shoulder, but the ranger was having none of that and nimbly sidestepped. Metis, however, who was standing at the ready near the trapdoor, felt a strange compulsion from Alaya, an irresistible urge to walk toward this being who suddenly seemed a paragon of righteousness. She relaxed and strode calmly forward, but as soon as she stepped onto the seal of Tempus she felt her limbs lock up and her body stop obeying her. She tried desperately to pull her dagger from her sheath and throw it at Alaya, only to have it clatter uselessly across the ground.</p><p> </p><p>Veu, who had seen what happened to Metis and resisted the same compulsion, backed down the ladder and out into the Baron’s office and started yelling for Ewan and Burny to help them. Althea shot an arrow at Alaya, but the woman dodged nimbly to the side and took only a glancing scrape across her arm.</p><p> </p><p>Ewan and Burny, now back hidden outside the Baron’s office window and hearing strange sounds from inside, decided the time was right to make their entrance. Ewan dashed around up the front steps of the Baron’s house and heard Veu shouting for help from the other side of the office door. Burny decided on a more direct approach, <em>Fire Bolted </em>the window, rolled max damage, and catapulted his tiny frame through the hole he’d melted in the glass, tumbling down the Baron’s chair to land prone behind his desk.</p><p> </p><p>Upstairs, Metis, who has a Strength score of 8 to resist being restrained by the seal, closed her eyes and transformed into a Giant Snake. In that form she easily regained control over her body, slithered toward Alaya, and rolled a natural 1 on her bite attack. The seal flashed a brilliant red, and she found herself once more restrained, only this time in the dead center of the room.</p><p></p><p>And that’s when Alaya floated up off the floor. She swooped toward Althea, nimbly dodging the (mostly immobilized) jaws of the snake, hand outstretched, and connected with Althea’s shoulder. A burning pain lanced through the ranger and their shoulder felt like it was on fire. Alaya’s inscrutable black eyes met her own and seemed to be penetrating deep within her soul.</p><p> </p><p>Burny, Veu, and Metis charged back up the ladder and beheld the floating woman locked in combat with their companion, as well as a giant snake in the middle of the room and no sign of Metis.</p><p> </p><p>Burny looked back and forth between Alaya and the giant snake. “Which one do I blast?!” he exclaimed. Veu pointed desperately at Alaya and Burny let off a <em>Fire Bolt</em>. Ewan held aloft his holy symbol, but the <em>Toll </em>that sounded near Alaya’s ear seemed not to phase her one bit.</p><p></p><p>"I suppose I should have guessed as much," he muttered as he noticed the angelic influence written all over Alaya's features.</p><p> </p><p>Veu, who had been well-hidden and prepared to attack, suddenly looked into Alaya’s eyes and felt the same compulsion that Metis had felt before. She found herself walking unwillingly toward their opponent, entirely breaking her cover. As soon as she was within grasping range she snapped out of it, ducked under Alaya’s arm, and, seeing Metis still frozen in the middle of the room, ran to the seal on the ground and began scratching at it with her dagger in an attempt to break its magic.</p><p> </p><p>Now facing five opponents and with an open trapdoor adjacent, Alaya flew down and towards her freedom, nimbly evading all attempts to strike her as she fled. Ewan tore down the hole after her and saw that she had just cleared the hole in the Baron’s window that Burny had blasted and would be beyond reach in only a few seconds (the players realized at this point that she is <u>fast</u>).</p><p> </p><p>Calling to mind his meditations over the past few days, Ewan raised his hands and called upon the spirits of the land and of his ancestors to aid them.</p><p> </p><p>Metis, who finally managed to break free of the seal’s grip, transformed back into a Triton (snakes don’t do ladders too well) and made it downstairs just behind Ewan. Reaching out with the tendrils of power still available to her, a thorny vine lashed from her hands, wrapping around Alaya’s ankles and pulling her back into the room. At the same moment, Ewan’s hands clapped together, channeling his own power through Metis’ spell and causing Alaya to go skidding across the Baron’s desk and down onto the floor in a heap.</p><p> </p><p>Arriving just behind the other two, Althea, her shoulder still burning from Alaya’s touch, notched an arrow, and shot the other woman through the chest. Ewan cursed, knelt, and immediately cast <em>Spare the Dying</em> to prevent them from losing a valuable source of information. He did manage to stabilize her in time (albeit barely... Althea rolled max damage with <em>Hunter’s Mark </em>active) and they tied her up.</p><p> </p><p>Then, taking barely a moment to breathe and hoping that the commotion of the fight didn't attract the attention of the servants, they went back to examine the locked filing cabinet. With Veu unable to open it the rest of the party didn’t even try to pick the lock. After thoroughly examining it to ensure there weren’t any more traps, Burny froze the lock with a Cantrip and then used the dagger he’d taken from the Butler to handily break it off.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the party was perhaps a little skeptical as to where he’d learned such a technique, but he blatantly ignored their glances and proceeded to open the drawer. They were all too glad that it worked to question him much anyhow.</p><p></p><p>Inside the filing cabinet Burny saw six envelopes, all clearly very official and from the ruling nobles of several nearby cities. They were all already open and so he wasted no time in picking one out at random and checking the contents of the letter it contained:</p><p> </p><p><em>Attn: Antonio Giuseppe, Lord Baron Third order of Ekrido,</em></p><p><em>It is with the utmost honor that I pledge the support of my title, my family, and my city to you should you be in a position to become the Ruling Noble of Ekrido. We will stand by you and support your claim, and the full weight of our resources shall go toward ensuring and maintaining your right to rule.</em></p><p><em>May Mask watch over your shoulder always.</em></p><p><em>Most cordially,</em></p><p><em>Gardinsferth, High Criminal of Xey</em></p><p> </p><p>(For context, Xey is a major port city, and is also the only city that recognizes Mask, god of thieves, as its patron. Mask, in this world, is not viewed as an evil deity, but as more of a Robin Hood-esque figure who balances the rise of the very wealthy and helps to uplift the poor who cannot make a living honestly. Of course there are some worshippers of Mask who are perhaps a little too zealous in their activities, but then the same could be said for any religious group.</p><p> </p><p>The ruler of Xey is, in fact, titled the High Criminal, a fact that those unfamiliar with Xey’s customs and beliefs view with amusement and some disdain, but which the folks of Xey understand to be a perfect irony and a constant reminder to the governing bodies in the city where their power and support truly derives from.</p><p></p><p>The rulership of Ekrido is determined by whichever noble house has the most resources and support to claim the title. The title is usually transferred with a minimum of fuss and bloodshed, as any noble who would make a genuine bid at rulership would need to have a truly overwhelming advantage over the current ruling noble. Currently the Lingston family holds the position, and has held it for three generations. However, despite the relative security of Lord Lingston's position, a pledge of support from the six largest neighboring cities does represent a genuine threat to his rule, the kind that might force him to cede power if revealed at a politically opportune moment.)</p><p> </p><p>Without further ado, and fearing that they’d already stayed too long in the Baron’s house to risk attracting attention, the party grabbed the six letters, placed Alaya onto a <em>Floating Disk </em>conjured by Burny, and made their escape, dodging patrols on the way out as easily as they had on the way in.</p><p> </p><p>Once back at Callista’s camp they examined the letters and, as expected, found them to be all cut from the same mold as the one from High Criminal Gardinsferth. The leaders of Denzonen, Liport, Xey, Glever, Onisas, and Fasa had all pledged their support to the Baron should he make a bid for political control over Ekrido. Looking at the map the party realized that these were most of the major cities on the eastern half of the plane, with only Onoln (Callista’s home city) excepted.</p><p> </p><p>Of particular note to the players was the fact that both Denzonen and Liport were among the cities that pledged their support. Denzonen is the city that houses The Labyrinth, the massive library where Veu was raised, and the rogue worried more than ever over the state of the family she'd left behind there. Of perhaps even greater alarm was the fact that it was Metis's parents themselves who had signed the letter pledging Liport's alliance to the Baron. </p><p> </p><p>Even as they were digesting the political ramifications of these findings, Ewan slipped away and sought out Callista. His mother had had a very successful mission and had acquired enough potatoes to feed much of Onoln for several weeks. Upon seeing her son clearly badly shaken, she sent away the person she’d been debriefing and gave Ewan her full attention. He seemed hesitant to speak, but Callista waited patiently and didn't press him until he'd gathered the words he needed. After all, she remembered, Tavish had often taken days or even weeks to formulate his thoughts.</p><p> </p><p>“I wanted to ask,” Ewan began haltingly, “that is, I realized I never asked, are you ok?”</p><p>“Ok?” she laughed gently. “Ok about what? About finding you?”</p><p>“About Tavish. I know you didn’t know he was... dead... until, well...”</p><p>Callista sighed. There was so much of Tavish in the boy. So much of herself too, much as she struggled to admit it. She could see that he was hurting, but decided to be honest with him anyways. She would do him no favors by pretending at feelings that had long since been buried. </p><p>“It’s been, oh, seventeen, eighteen, how old are you now?”</p><p>“Nineteen.”</p><p>“Hm. Almost nineteen years since I’ve seen your father. And when I left, the way I did, I knew there was no going back. I did love him, but, in a way, for me, he’s been dead for a long time.” Ewan nodded his understanding then let his gaze slip to the ground. Callista looked at him gently. “Are you ok?”</p><p>Ewan fidgeted and said, too quickly, “Yes.” (Deception check... ....failed)</p><p>Callista cocked her head and stared at him, clear concern in her eyes. Then she smiled tightly and nodded, once. “Good.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salmakia, post: 8854958, member: 7038731"] [B][U]4. Alaya[/U][/B] So... the players decided to split the party and then initiated two separate combat encounters. What else is new? Burny and Ewan quickly realized that if they stopped to cast spells while the Butler continued to run that he would catch up to them. And, since they couldn’t outrun him without casting spells to slow him down, they decided to stand and fight. Burny popped off another [I]Ray of Frost [/I]and Ewan held out a holy symbol, causing an ominous chime to sound near the Butler that seemed to weaken him only slightly (rolled a 2 on the d12 for [I]Toll the Dead[/I]), and then their assailant was upon them, pulling a second knife from inside his jacket. Ewan reached deep and tried to feel the connection to the land as Tavish had taught him, bringing the blessings of the orchard to bear upon him and his companion and filling them with strength and resolve. Burny chanted arcane words of power from his spellbook, creating another [I]Thunderwave [/I]that shook the Butler’s very bones, but did not deter his attack. However, whether it was the ice that still stiffened his joints or a slippery patch on the ground, the Butler swung wide and Burny let out a short laugh more out of fear than anything. However he quickly realized that he’d underestimated his opponent as the Butler sliced him neatly across the ribs with a backhanded sweep. Burny yelped in pain. Knowing that he was only one solid strike away from death, he closed his eyes, held up his hands, and summoned a bolt of fire right in the Butler’s face. When he opened his eyes again their attacker was lying dead on the ground. “I didn’t really mean to kill him...” Burny muttered, half out of guilt and half relief. “We should get back to the house.” Ewan said. Meanwhile, Alaya reached out in an attempt to grasp Althea’s shoulder, but the ranger was having none of that and nimbly sidestepped. Metis, however, who was standing at the ready near the trapdoor, felt a strange compulsion from Alaya, an irresistible urge to walk toward this being who suddenly seemed a paragon of righteousness. She relaxed and strode calmly forward, but as soon as she stepped onto the seal of Tempus she felt her limbs lock up and her body stop obeying her. She tried desperately to pull her dagger from her sheath and throw it at Alaya, only to have it clatter uselessly across the ground. Veu, who had seen what happened to Metis and resisted the same compulsion, backed down the ladder and out into the Baron’s office and started yelling for Ewan and Burny to help them. Althea shot an arrow at Alaya, but the woman dodged nimbly to the side and took only a glancing scrape across her arm. Ewan and Burny, now back hidden outside the Baron’s office window and hearing strange sounds from inside, decided the time was right to make their entrance. Ewan dashed around up the front steps of the Baron’s house and heard Veu shouting for help from the other side of the office door. Burny decided on a more direct approach, [I]Fire Bolted [/I]the window, rolled max damage, and catapulted his tiny frame through the hole he’d melted in the glass, tumbling down the Baron’s chair to land prone behind his desk. Upstairs, Metis, who has a Strength score of 8 to resist being restrained by the seal, closed her eyes and transformed into a Giant Snake. In that form she easily regained control over her body, slithered toward Alaya, and rolled a natural 1 on her bite attack. The seal flashed a brilliant red, and she found herself once more restrained, only this time in the dead center of the room. And that’s when Alaya floated up off the floor. She swooped toward Althea, nimbly dodging the (mostly immobilized) jaws of the snake, hand outstretched, and connected with Althea’s shoulder. A burning pain lanced through the ranger and their shoulder felt like it was on fire. Alaya’s inscrutable black eyes met her own and seemed to be penetrating deep within her soul. Burny, Veu, and Metis charged back up the ladder and beheld the floating woman locked in combat with their companion, as well as a giant snake in the middle of the room and no sign of Metis. Burny looked back and forth between Alaya and the giant snake. “Which one do I blast?!” he exclaimed. Veu pointed desperately at Alaya and Burny let off a [I]Fire Bolt[/I]. Ewan held aloft his holy symbol, but the [I]Toll [/I]that sounded near Alaya’s ear seemed not to phase her one bit. "I suppose I should have guessed as much," he muttered as he noticed the angelic influence written all over Alaya's features. Veu, who had been well-hidden and prepared to attack, suddenly looked into Alaya’s eyes and felt the same compulsion that Metis had felt before. She found herself walking unwillingly toward their opponent, entirely breaking her cover. As soon as she was within grasping range she snapped out of it, ducked under Alaya’s arm, and, seeing Metis still frozen in the middle of the room, ran to the seal on the ground and began scratching at it with her dagger in an attempt to break its magic. Now facing five opponents and with an open trapdoor adjacent, Alaya flew down and towards her freedom, nimbly evading all attempts to strike her as she fled. Ewan tore down the hole after her and saw that she had just cleared the hole in the Baron’s window that Burny had blasted and would be beyond reach in only a few seconds (the players realized at this point that she is [U]fast[/U]). Calling to mind his meditations over the past few days, Ewan raised his hands and called upon the spirits of the land and of his ancestors to aid them. Metis, who finally managed to break free of the seal’s grip, transformed back into a Triton (snakes don’t do ladders too well) and made it downstairs just behind Ewan. Reaching out with the tendrils of power still available to her, a thorny vine lashed from her hands, wrapping around Alaya’s ankles and pulling her back into the room. At the same moment, Ewan’s hands clapped together, channeling his own power through Metis’ spell and causing Alaya to go skidding across the Baron’s desk and down onto the floor in a heap. Arriving just behind the other two, Althea, her shoulder still burning from Alaya’s touch, notched an arrow, and shot the other woman through the chest. Ewan cursed, knelt, and immediately cast [I]Spare the Dying[/I] to prevent them from losing a valuable source of information. He did manage to stabilize her in time (albeit barely... Althea rolled max damage with [I]Hunter’s Mark [/I]active) and they tied her up. Then, taking barely a moment to breathe and hoping that the commotion of the fight didn't attract the attention of the servants, they went back to examine the locked filing cabinet. With Veu unable to open it the rest of the party didn’t even try to pick the lock. After thoroughly examining it to ensure there weren’t any more traps, Burny froze the lock with a Cantrip and then used the dagger he’d taken from the Butler to handily break it off. The rest of the party was perhaps a little skeptical as to where he’d learned such a technique, but he blatantly ignored their glances and proceeded to open the drawer. They were all too glad that it worked to question him much anyhow. Inside the filing cabinet Burny saw six envelopes, all clearly very official and from the ruling nobles of several nearby cities. They were all already open and so he wasted no time in picking one out at random and checking the contents of the letter it contained: [I]Attn: Antonio Giuseppe, Lord Baron Third order of Ekrido, It is with the utmost honor that I pledge the support of my title, my family, and my city to you should you be in a position to become the Ruling Noble of Ekrido. We will stand by you and support your claim, and the full weight of our resources shall go toward ensuring and maintaining your right to rule. May Mask watch over your shoulder always. Most cordially, Gardinsferth, High Criminal of Xey[/I] (For context, Xey is a major port city, and is also the only city that recognizes Mask, god of thieves, as its patron. Mask, in this world, is not viewed as an evil deity, but as more of a Robin Hood-esque figure who balances the rise of the very wealthy and helps to uplift the poor who cannot make a living honestly. Of course there are some worshippers of Mask who are perhaps a little too zealous in their activities, but then the same could be said for any religious group. The ruler of Xey is, in fact, titled the High Criminal, a fact that those unfamiliar with Xey’s customs and beliefs view with amusement and some disdain, but which the folks of Xey understand to be a perfect irony and a constant reminder to the governing bodies in the city where their power and support truly derives from. The rulership of Ekrido is determined by whichever noble house has the most resources and support to claim the title. The title is usually transferred with a minimum of fuss and bloodshed, as any noble who would make a genuine bid at rulership would need to have a truly overwhelming advantage over the current ruling noble. Currently the Lingston family holds the position, and has held it for three generations. However, despite the relative security of Lord Lingston's position, a pledge of support from the six largest neighboring cities does represent a genuine threat to his rule, the kind that might force him to cede power if revealed at a politically opportune moment.) Without further ado, and fearing that they’d already stayed too long in the Baron’s house to risk attracting attention, the party grabbed the six letters, placed Alaya onto a [I]Floating Disk [/I]conjured by Burny, and made their escape, dodging patrols on the way out as easily as they had on the way in. Once back at Callista’s camp they examined the letters and, as expected, found them to be all cut from the same mold as the one from High Criminal Gardinsferth. The leaders of Denzonen, Liport, Xey, Glever, Onisas, and Fasa had all pledged their support to the Baron should he make a bid for political control over Ekrido. Looking at the map the party realized that these were most of the major cities on the eastern half of the plane, with only Onoln (Callista’s home city) excepted. Of particular note to the players was the fact that both Denzonen and Liport were among the cities that pledged their support. Denzonen is the city that houses The Labyrinth, the massive library where Veu was raised, and the rogue worried more than ever over the state of the family she'd left behind there. Of perhaps even greater alarm was the fact that it was Metis's parents themselves who had signed the letter pledging Liport's alliance to the Baron. Even as they were digesting the political ramifications of these findings, Ewan slipped away and sought out Callista. His mother had had a very successful mission and had acquired enough potatoes to feed much of Onoln for several weeks. Upon seeing her son clearly badly shaken, she sent away the person she’d been debriefing and gave Ewan her full attention. He seemed hesitant to speak, but Callista waited patiently and didn't press him until he'd gathered the words he needed. After all, she remembered, Tavish had often taken days or even weeks to formulate his thoughts. “I wanted to ask,” Ewan began haltingly, “that is, I realized I never asked, are you ok?” “Ok?” she laughed gently. “Ok about what? About finding you?” “About Tavish. I know you didn’t know he was... dead... until, well...” Callista sighed. There was so much of Tavish in the boy. So much of herself too, much as she struggled to admit it. She could see that he was hurting, but decided to be honest with him anyways. She would do him no favors by pretending at feelings that had long since been buried. “It’s been, oh, seventeen, eighteen, how old are you now?” “Nineteen.” “Hm. Almost nineteen years since I’ve seen your father. And when I left, the way I did, I knew there was no going back. I did love him, but, in a way, for me, he’s been dead for a long time.” Ewan nodded his understanding then let his gaze slip to the ground. Callista looked at him gently. “Are you ok?” Ewan fidgeted and said, too quickly, “Yes.” (Deception check... ....failed) Callista cocked her head and stared at him, clear concern in her eyes. Then she smiled tightly and nodded, once. “Good.” [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Mask of Mask (updated 01/21/2023)
Top