The Rise of Felskein [Completed]

[Iron Sky]

Session 27, Part 1

Magister Archeras was the last person Suniel expected to walk in the door to the small inn in which they were staying. He stood quickly and bowed, but Archeras waved him off and took a seat at Suniel's table near the inn's small fire.

“I heard a rumor that you were here,” Archeras said, extending his hands towards the fire. “Chilly out there.”

“A rumor?” Suniel said.

Archeras smiled, but it quickly faded. “Something went wrong with the Skyland and I'm guessing it had to do with the Ashen Towers.”

Suniel didn't bother asking how Archeras knew. He nodded. “We were attacked by one of Thessalock's terrors, a huge shadow creature-”

“His Nightwing.”

“-that attacked us, along with a swarm of lesser shades and shadows. They took the Skyland and killed Free Agent Harold.”

Archeras stared at the fire, taking in the news. “So now Thessalock has the Skyland?”

“He does. Is there something you can do about it?”

“Sadly no,” Archeras said. “Thessalock's Liches will return at any moment and I need to be on hand immediately to counter them or the devastation they will unleash will be terrible.”

Archeras threw another small log on the fire and they stared at it in silence for several minutes.

“I heard of you when you were Master Au, arcanist of the Ashen Towers and partner of Thessalock.”

Suniel tensed as Archeras spoke, but didn't move. He relaxed slowly as Archeras continued to stare into the fire.

“You were as powerful as Thessalock in those days and I see that you are regaining much of your previous power.”

It was more of a statement than a question, but Suniel nodded anyway, unsure of where the Crystal Tower's master wizard was going.

“While I'm not sure of where your capabilities are at now, I do have the kernel of an idea you might build upon...”

***

The Skyland floated deeper into the Endless Sands as dawn approached. The Nightwing encased itself in a globe of darkness to shield it from the hateful light of the day and settled into its perch atop the temple. The shadows and wraiths had gone back to the dark places in which they dwelled, awaiting their master's call. The Nightwing brooded over its prize, satisfied.

Suddenly an brown-robed figure appeared near the fallen body of the human the Nightwing had slain. The wizard from the night before. Alone.

The Nightwing spread its wings, ready to claim the soul of another of the weaklings that the Master was crushing, but the wizard knelt down and grabbed the body and looked down the Skyland's mountain path towards the Air Henge. The Nightwing instantly knew what was going to happen and launched into the air.

There was a flicker of blue and the wizard and his companion disappeared, reappearing just outside the Henge. The Nightwing launched a spell as it dove, but the impenetrable wardings around the Henge absorbed it. The wizard grabbed the True Stone from its cradle in the center of the Henge, lifted it free, and lunged to grab its companion as the Skyland suddenly began plummeting towards the Sands.

The Nightwing extended its claws, to catch and crush the wizard before it could get away. The wizard grabbed its companion in its free hand and looked up at the Nightwing. A faint smile appeared on the elf's face as the Nightwing fell towards it.

Scything claws raked across empty stone, sending chips flying in all directions, then lifted away and beat its wings, pure hatred flowing through it as it watched the Skyland fall to the Endless Sands, it's prey vanished.

***

Hundreds of miles away, Suniel appeared in the small chapel where High Cleric Granath was waiting.

“This is the last time I will be doing this,” Granath said as he took Harold's body and laid it upon the plain stone altar.

“With any luck, this is the last time we will be needing you to,” Suniel said. “We'll be back to get Harold later today.”

Granath grumbled “wizards” as the elf vanished again, then turned to his task.

 

[Sanzuo]

Arg, I thought I posted this earlier today but apparently I'm schizophrenic.

Just for fun I started making the Rise of Felskein characters as 4e npc blocks. They have been rebalanced and, well, 4e-ized but I've tried to keep the spirit of the character the same based on his actions and abilities during the campaign.

I'm doing this purely based on my memories, so remember that this is a different edition. I'm just imagining meeting these guys as NPCs in some future campaign.

First up is Bail. I'll post more in the future.

[sblock]

Bail was kind of difficult and took some creativity on my part. The only thing I really remember him doing most of the time was healing with his totem and hitting stuff with his sword. (He never even fought the stuff I designed him to fight in the first place!)

I added a mark ability because it seemed appropriate for his role. Also a breath weapon which he had, but didn't use that often.
[/sblock]

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 27, Part 2


Kormak and Bail stopped cold and stared at Suniel.

“You seem to have another True Stone,” Bail said, walking over towards the table where Suniel sat.

“Was there one lying around the village that we missed?” Kormak said, looking under tables and chairs as he followed Bail. “Could be another one anywhere!”

“It's from the Skyland,” Suniel said, glancing up briefly before returning to staring at the Stone. Their clothing was ruffled by the constant swirling gust that the stone produced.

“Oh, so you just went back there and picked it up?” Kormak said.

“Something like that.”

Just then Granath walked in, followed closely by Harold. “... two dozen, that's all I need.” Harold was saying.

Bail just stared and Kormak's mouth fell open. “Isn't he dead? I thought we agreed that he died.”

“You just picked him up too?” Bail said dryly.

“Something like that.”

“All right Trisdon. If you were any other Agent on any other mission, I'd say no,” Magister Granath said. “I'll write up a writ so you can conscript whoever you need.”

Harold saluted Granath's back as the High Cleric walked out the door muttering to himself, then walked over to the table where the others sat.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Kormak said. “How was dead?”

As usual, Harold ignored the dwarf, instead looking at Suniel and the True Stone. “What is the plan now? I've been making plans for the further defense of the Crystal Towers, but Magister Granath informs me that getting the True Stones is the highest priority.”

“Finally,” Bail grumbled.

Harold ignored that as well. “Suniel, are you listening?”

“What? Oh, a plan?” Suniel looked up at the group as if seeing them for the first time. “I think the plan is fairly simple. We have two artifacts here, so we'll head back to the Skyland and use them to destroy the Nightwing. Then we can put the Air Stone back in the Henge and fly the Skyland off to find the next True Stone.”

“Which is the Aboleth stone?” Bail said.

“Or we could go for the Fire Stone.” Harold said.

“Oh, right, the Fire Stone,” Kormak said. “What Fire Stone?”

“The one that Guntl told us about when we picked him up. We didn't know what it was at the time, but there's a certain Captain Pyresail or whatever his name was that rules Gantry with it,” Suniel said. He made a dismissive gesture. “I think the True Stone of Water is the next one we should focus on. We know where it is and what has it. Besides, now we have the True Stone of Lightning to help us claim it.”

“Great, so when do we start?” Kormak said.

“Tomorrow,” Suniel said. “I need time to recover my strength and study the Air Stone.”

“And I need time to ride to the Capitol and put some plans in action,” Harold said.

“Might I suggest we use a bit more caution this time?” Bail said. He pointed to himself, then Harold. “After all, two of us have died in nearly as many days.”

“I could scout out the Skyland tomorrow. Who knows, maybe the Nightwing abandoned it,” Suniel said. “Not as useful when it's just a big hunk of rock in the Sands.”

“So, if its not there, you can just get it and fly it back,” Harold said, nodding. “And if it is there, we can assault it.”

“That is the plan then, unless anyone has objections?” Everyone exchanged glances. Kormak started to speak but everyone stood up and Harold cut the dwarf off before he was even able to speak.

“I will return in two days with reinforcements then,” Harold said, leaving before anyone could say anything further.

“I'll go see if I can find some new armor,” Bail said, following the human out.

“I'm going to study this in my carriage,” Suniel said, following the half-dragon.

“Well...” Kormak said, watching the others leave. “Two days?”

“I'll write up a report on all of this.” He reached into his back, pulled out a sheet of paper, and looked around to see that no one was looking before tapping his tattoo. He was just finishing writing as the Barkeep walked in from the kitchen and glanced his way.

Kormak motioned to the barkeep as he wrote. And, in final news to report, he scribbled. I'm going to get really, really drunk.

 

[Sanzuo]

Next up is Kormak

[sblock]

Kormak was more fun to make. He had a few interesting gimmicks from what I remember from the campaign. I realize the monk is more of a skirmisher archetype but Kormak was definitely more of a brute. Being a brute he can have a hard time hitting targets, so I gave him the string of insults power because it's in-character and to give him a better chance and let him focus on one target at a time.

[/sblock]

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 27, Part 3


“Throw another log on the fire, if I'm going to be dead tonight I want to be warm today,” Kormak said.

Bail shrugged and tossed a massive log into the fire with one hand.

Harold and half-a-dozen Crystal Towers soldiers sat at their own table in the small tavern, while Bail, Keeper, Kormak and Suniel sat at another. The day was particularly chill and the tavern drafty, so both tables were pulled close to the fireplace.

“Who are these guys again?” Kormak said, gesturing towards Harold's entourage.

“These are my men,” Harold said. “They will be assisting me in our upcoming mission.”

“Mission?” Kormak said. “Never heard it called that before. What we're actually doing is attacking the beastie that stole our island so we can get murdered.”

Harold's men exchanged questioning, slightly worried glances. “Ignore the dwarf,” Bail said then turned to Suniel. “What is the plan?”

“Yesterday I visited the sight of the fallen Skyland, as we talked of earlier,” Suniel said, his voice soft enough that everyone leaned in to hear. “It sat upside down in the Sands with a globe of unnatural darkness atop it.”

“So the creature is still there?” Bail said.

“Yes, or it was yesterday. It may have left in the mean time,” Suneil said.

“Well, if it has, then our job will be a lot easier,” Bail said. “Just dig through the Sands to the henge and put the Stone back in it.”

“How many can you take?” Harold said.

“I can transport us plus four of your men.”

“Three and me,” Velea said, walking in the doorway of the tavern.

“She's coming?” Kormak said. “Why's she coming?”

“I am not entirely without worth should it come to fighting,” she said, stepping into one shadow and stepping out of another half-way across the room.

“That's neat,” Kormak said. “Do that again.”

“So us plus three of your men,” Suniel said. “I'll show you how to draw the energy of the lightning stone and unleash it. We can fill that Nightwing's black sphere of hiding with lightning, then if it flies out, we'll knock it out of the air with the True Stone of Air.”

“Will the Skyland still fly after falling to the Sands?” Bail said, turning to Velea.

The seeress nodded and took a seat at the table. “The temple might be ruined, but the Skyland itself should still be intact.”

“Excellent, let's go kill that thing then,” Kormak said, standing up. The others stood as well and followed Suniel out of the tavern.

***

An hour later, they stood in the Endless Sands, staring at the craggy, lightning-scorched underside of the Skyland that jutted up before them.

“Did we kill it?” Kormak said.

Suniel chanted and gestured and the Nightwing's sphere of darkness burned away like fog in the noon-day sun. The Skyland was bare.

"If you'd done that before we blasted it, we wouldn't have wasted the True Stone's energies," Kormak said.

"Taking the time to do that might have given it time to get away," Suniel said.

“Regardless, it either got away or was already gone,” Bail said, staring up at the dark clouds.

“Keep on guard,” Suniel said. “Harold, you and Velea want to scout ahead and see if we can get this thing flying again?”

Harold nodded and he and the seeress trudged across the Sands, the others watching warily for signs of the Nightwing.

 

[Sanzuo]

Harold!

[sblock]

I think I captured the essence of Harold in this block. Basically being really effing hard to catch and shooting millions of arrows. I just had the at-wills at first but I felt he needed something else. I gave him the floating armor gimmick because of all the abilities he had this is the one that pissed me off the most. Notice that he also has the ability to walk through walls anytime he wants.

Harold is a murder-machine.

[/sblock]

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 27, Part 4

<Note: Tough week - hanging drywall is harder than it looks. Hence the late, short post. On the plus side, I'll be posting again tomorrow, so posts two days in a row>

Harold approached the fallen Skyland warily, expecting attack at any moment. Somehow, it seemed much larger for some reason lying in the sand than it did floating in the sky.

“Looks bigger when you have something to compare it to, doesn't it?” Velea said, as if reading his mind. “It still seems half-a-dream that that is actually Felskein on the horizon back there.”

“A year ago, I wouldn't have believed that islands can fly,” Harold said.

She smiled and they continued their circuit around Skyland, circling to the side towards which the top had fallen.

“The Sands bother me,” Velea said, glancing down at the lightly-snow-dusted sand. “Every once in a while, I feel the sand stir, like something is moving just beneath my feet.”

Harold nodded. “I feel it too. Like the vision in the pool...”

“Yes,” Velea said. “The Grimwythe. It lays trapped just beneath the Endless Sands. They say if you stand in one place too long, they can reach closer and closer to the surface, until finally they can reach you and pull you under.”

Harold grunted and quickened his pace a bit.

“There! We're in luck, looks like that's part of the Henge sticking out there,” Velea said, pointing to a dull blue gleam in the sand where the Skyland lay half-buried. “I'll go get the others, we can dig it out and be back on our way to the mainland within the hour!”

***

They sat among the ruins of the monastery, everyone but Bail huddled deep into their cloaks against the cold. The speed of the Skyland only made the cutting wind worse.

“I think I'm about to freeze to this rock I'm sitting on,” Kormak said, teeth chattering. “I came prepared for a fight, not a freezing cold night-long flight through the dark. I feel like we're flying through an empty void.”

Only the faint purplish glow in the clouds over the Crystal Towers and the lights that Suniel had summoned provided any light at all.

“Is it just me or is it moving faster than it did before?” Suniel said, glancing at Velea.

The seeress nodded. “Aside from all the buildings being gone, some pieces broke off when it hit the Sands. They weren't large and if you hadn't lived pretty much your whole life on this Skyland, you probably wouldn't even notice. We also have a bit of a tailwind.”

“Nice of that thing to give our Skyland back anyway,” Kormak said. “It already has flight innately, seems a bit unfair that it tried to take ours away.”

“I have the feeling that it's not gone,” Harold said, staring up at the black sky.

“Indeed,” Keeper said, walking away from the group and pointing to the sky.

A blast of cold so intense it had to be magical shattered the construct, the swirling cold enveloping everyone else as they reached for their weapons.

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 27, Part 5

This time it would catch all its prey. The caster had again warded itself and many of the others from the Nightwing's minions, so the Nightwing focused on him. Unfortunately, the wizard quickly surrounded himself in other, stronger wardings and the Nightwing's magics glanced off him harmlessly.

As the enemy scattered to avoid the Nightwing's attacks and to face the wraiths and shadows that were emerging from the Skyland on every side, the Nightwing dove at the isolated wizard. It dropped for the kill, falling from the darkness towards the lone figure.

The wizard looked up when the Nightwing was less than twenty feet above it, but to the Nightwing's surprise there was no fear in the eyes that looked up at him. A second later, the Nightwing saw why.

A Truestone was held in its upraised hand, wind swirling around it. Just as the Nightwing extended its claws to tear the wizard apart, the stone flared and the Nightwing was hurled sideways to slam into the rocky ground.

It immediately furled its wings to claw for the sky, but a squat form slammed into one wing, pinning it to the ground. It turned and slashed the figure off of its wing and tried to lift off again, but arrows slammed into the other wing, pinning it to the Nightwing's side.

It swung its wing back hard, breaking the arrow shafts, and planted its wing to launch. It looked up just in time to see the burly half-dragon whose armor it had destroyed before leaping through the air, adamantine sword glinting in the mage-light before burying into the Nightwing's head.

***

“Everyone alive?” Bail said, staring down at the black ichor dissolving into black smoke off of his blade.

“That went a bit better than last time,” Kormak said, prodding the Nightwing's slowly dissolving corpse.

“Keeper didn't make it,” Suniel said softly, kneeling over the broken remains of the construct.

“My men are alive,” Harold said. “But all of them are hurt.”

“I'm fine,” Velea said, backing slowly away from the nightmarish body. “Though I hope I never see another of those as long as I live.”

“I hope so too, since you seem to be spending a lot of time with us lately,” Kormak said.

“That's two of them we've killed now,” Bail said. “Let's hope that we don't have to take on a third.”

“Two of them killed, two of us killed,” Kormak said. “Don't like the exchange rate.”

“Three of us,” Suniel said, gathering up Keeper's broken pieces. “Keeper is a person as well.”

“He rebuilds a bit easier than we do,” Kormak said. “Can't exactly use scrap metal on us.”

“That cleric managed to bring you two back,” Suniel said, pointing at Bail and Harold.

“Lets hope whatever this thing dissolves into doesn't drift off to the Ashen Towers so Thessalock can bring it back,” Harold said, gesturing at the swirling cloud of shadow and smoke over the half-vanished corpse of the Nightwing.

“I think not,” Suniel said, staring off to the north. “Wherever these came from, they are far too powerful for even Thessalock to bring back.”

They all glanced north towards where, somewhere beyond the horizon, the Ashen Tower sat on its own pinnacle of rock, looming over the Endless Sands as they flew onwards towards the Crystal Towers.

 

[Sanzuo]

Suniel!

[sblock]

Suniel had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. It's really difficult to capture the full majesty of a high level 3e wizard on a 4e monster stat block. I gave him a couple interesting abilities and one really powerful one. It's the closest 4e comes to an instant kill.

[/sblock]

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 28, Part 1

They climbed the Wall to join Harold amidst the black shadows of dawn and stared down at the countless walking dead that climbed unrelentingly over the bodies of the fallen. The Corpse Ramp had reached up to within twenty feet of the top of the Wall, the dead climbing over each other and pulling each other down like lobsters in a pot. Their endless moan made Kormak shudder every time he heard it.

“Not looking to good,” Kormak said, leaning over the battlements. “Not sounding or smelling good for that matter either.”

“That's about to change,” Harold said. The archer looked down the length of the Wall and shouted, “White Fire, ready!”

An acolyte in white robes began chanting to Kormak's right, and other down the Wall to his left. Pale white flames danced in the Acolyte's hands and the squad of archers near each one stuck their arrowheads into the flame. A second later, faint curls of white fire danced around their arrowheads.

Harold raised his hand and all down the wall archers nocked their flaming arrows and drew.

“Fire!”

Ten thousand arrows flew and embedded themselves in the dead and the corpses of the Ramp. Everywhere they hit, the white flames smoldered, then caught until the Corpse Ramp was a raging pillar of flame that rose a hundred feet into the night sky, illuminating the swirling black clouds with a sickly white glow. Eerily, the fire made no sound and put off no heat.

Kormak slowly extended his hand towards the churning wall of fire, winced, and thrust his hand into it. He jerked his hand back instinctively, looked it over and stuck his whole arm in. He glanced back to see Suniel and Bail staring at him. He stuck his whole head in then pulled it out. “Guess you guys know I'm not a zombie now anyway.”

“There never was any doubt,” Suniel said, shaking his head.

“Except for the smell,” Bail said, without even looking in Kormak's direction.

“The Crystal Towers is safe now,” Harold said, staring into the white fire.

Cheering started somewhere on the Wall and quickly every exhausted soldier on the Wall had pulled themselves to their feet and joined in.

“Are you sure of that?” Suniel said. “Best not tell the men and spread false hope until you're sure.”

Harold turned on Suniel, anger flashing in his eyes. “Do you not see? Thessalock's Corpse Ramp is gone. The flames will burn the bodies to ash and destroy any of the walking dead that come into contact with it. The Ashen Towers is defeated here.”

They turned and watched the fires slowly subside, dwindling rapidly from the silent, cold inferno to a scattering of minor blazes. The Corpse Ramp was gone, in its place a drift of black ash streaming away in the chill wind.

A runner pushed his way through the cheering throngs, bending over to gasp for breath when he reached them. “Free Agent... Harold?” he gasped.

Harold turned and nodded, tension visibly returning to his body.

“The Wall... breached in four places...”

“What?” Harold said, reaching for his bow.

As if that will do anything, Kormak thought. What's he going to do, kill the messenger?

“Something had tunneled under... when the Corpse Ramp went... Wall collapsed out... pulling back to the Fortresses and the Spires.”

Suniel put a hand on Harold's shoulder. “You did what you could. Now the best thing we can do it get the Stones.”

Harold shrugged Suniel's hand off his shoulder, but didn't move. He just stood, staring at the bow in his grip helplessly as the ash swirled about them.