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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ltclnlbrain" data-source="post: 6065495" data-attributes="member: 12882">We started our second session with the party hunting for the Cherno Bezna. They patrolled the harbor making Perception checks, and on the fifth attempt, they finally made the DC 30 check to find the ship around 10:00 PM.  They immediately set off in pursuit.  Not wanting to bog the game down with naval rules, I had them simply make two opposed Command checks to close the distance to the enemy ship and to remain behind it so it couldn't bring its cannons to bear on them. They succeeded on both, and closed with the Cherno Bezna. The dwarves immediately set about releasing the Armageddon Beasts.  The first monster out was a behir, but Oliver used charm monster on it and got it to attack the dwarves instead. The dwarf captain managed to release a bulette before we was cut down, which leaped onto the PC's ships and severely wounded Mariah, causing her to leap into the water to save her life.  Oliver set the behir against the bulette, and the behir helped the party bring down the other beast. They briefly contemplated bringing the charmed behir into the city to set loose against Lorcan Kell's guild, but they decided it would be too dangerous and so they put it down before sinking the Cherno Bezna with the other beasts still locked in their cages.Cut to the B-team. The next morning, the constables were escorting Brakken and his guests on a morning picnic in Cloudwood where they got a first-hand look at the rising tensions in the district. After narrowly averting a riot with some high Intimidate and Diplomacy checks, the constables learned of the dead child that was found, and managed to talk their way into the police station to look at the body. Kaea rolled a natural 20 on her Knowledge (arcana) check, so she knew about the fey curse that had been placed on the body. The B-team sent word to the RHC to get a priest to remove the curse while letting the A-team know about the dead orphan.The main party, after resting from the previous night's ordeals, knew it was time to take on Ekossigan before more orphans turned up dead. They brought some extra police officers with them as they moved in on Gallo's School for Boys. Rather than take the main stairs, they climbed up the branches of the trees, using Stealth to remain hidden. They snuck into the main building, hearing the gremlins lurking in other parts of the orphanage. Piotr used warp wood on the doors to lock the gremlins in, then the party stealthily took out the two pugwampi sentries before motioning the other officers up to help get the children out of the dormitories. While they were getting everybody in position, though, I determined they were making enough of a commotion that Ekossigan showed up to confront them.In the opening moments of the fight, Piotr, who had wild shaped into a gorilla, grappled Ekossigan, but quickly regretted it as the fey lord's icy skin began to hurt him. Will scored a good hit with his sword and Mariah tried to fire off a scorching ray, but accidentally hit Will instead due to Ekossigan's arrowtwist ability. Oliver, meanwhile, used charm monster on one of the fey leopards, turning the two of them against each other.Ekossigan hit Piotr with his breath weapon before teleporting into the branches of the tree. Mariah hit Ekossigan with a fireball while Will and Piotr climbed after him. Ekossigan's confusion failed to affect any of the PCs, so he resorted to his claws, tearing up Piotr pretty badly. The druid retreated to Oliver for healing while Mariah unleashed a second fireball. Will scored several more good hits with his sword, evading Ekossigan's recharged breath weapon and finally bringing him low. They kept him alive for Asrabey to question him before the dreadnaught put him down. Asrabey made known his intention to ask for the king's permission to enter the Bleak Gate.The party spent the rest of the day further dismantling Kell's guild. They successfully stung another illicit transaction and assaulted both the Grand Suites and Casa de Kell, achieving 8 strikes. They learned of Kell's hiding place and about his gatecrasher charm. They contacted Minister Lee and are planning to lure Kell to the dimensionally locked bridge the following night.With that taken care of for the time being, the party began to make plans for how to deal with the remaining eschatologists and their "super bomb." The players hit on the idea of perhaps using the wayfarer's lantern to shunt the explosion to the Bleak Gate. They met with Luc Jierre in his prison cell to try to determine whether such a plan was feasible, and if the lantern was destroyed, if Luc could perhaps make another one. I thought it was an interesting idea, so I had Luc tell him it would probably work, as long as the bomb remained in the lantern's light the whole time. I also used the opportunity to impress upon them that the lantern they had recovered was just a prototype, and that the Ob likely would soon have more of them available. (Foreshadowing, any one?) Oliver bought a couple scrolls of resilient sphere to put around the bomb in case they couldn't disarm it and the lantern didn't work.On the morning of Spring 12, the eschatologists attacked the subrail station, taking Governor Stanfield and seven others hostage. Delft quickly dispatched the PCs to the scene, where Will clashed with Colonel Tucker. Will argued for immediate action, while Tucker wanted to wait for more soldiers to arrive. "If you go down there, you're going alone," Tucker said. "I'm never alone," Will replied slyly.The party descended into the subrail tunnels via the sewer entrance, with Piotr scouting ahead. He noticed the trap at the bottom of the ladder, and with his darkvision could see where the dwarves and prisoners were located. The party used a scroll of communal darkvision to let them sneak around without giving themselves away. Piotr cast ape walk on Will. Mariah's slippers of spider climbing allowed her to creep along the ceiling with Will as they plotted their attack. Oliver cast vanish to get close to the train with the prisoners on it, and Piotr remained in the shadows, wild shaped into a flying beast and waiting for the right moment.Will went into Arkham Asylum mode, creeping up on the two sentries outside the train and knocking them out with a sap sneak attack, then pulling them onto the train's roof when none of the other dwarves were looking. High Stealth checks allowed him to do this successfully. He and Mariah crept west to see the other dwarves watching the subrail station entrances, as well as the decoupled train cars with the two lone prisoners inside.That's when Will played his plot twist card: "Moment of Glory." The plan had suddenly come together. Knowing that the dwarves were going to attack the subrail station, Will had placed two members of the B-team, Kaea and Serena, in the crowd that morning. They had allowed themselves to be taken hostage, and were merely waiting for Will's signal to surprise the terrorists. Serena had secreted a dagger and Kaea's spell components on her person, so when Will tapped on the train roof, she wriggled free of her bonds and prepared to lend aid.The time had come to turn the tables on the eschatologists. Mariah opened up with a fireball on the dwarves bunched up in the center of the subrail tracks. All but one fell to the flames, and Will leapt down to knock him out. Meanwhile, Serena hurled her dagger into one of the nearby sniper's throats, while Kaea incinerated the other one with a scorching ray. Piotr swooped across the tracks to smash through the windows of the parked train, and Oliver used the scroll of resilient sphere to surround the hostages in a protective bubble of force.As the few remaining dwarves struggled to react to the unexpected assault, Mariah fired a vendetta bullet she had made for Grundun Zubov, hitting the leader and badly wounding him with a critical strike. Zubov activated the bomb and tried to put the train into motion, but Pitor's plot twist, "Have a Nice Trip," sent him sprawling before he could reach the controls. Oliver used glitterdust to blind the dwarven radicals, causing their shotgun blasts to go wide. Piotr moved in on Zubov, goring him with his horns.As Will and the B-team rushed along the tracks to get to the train, Mariah used ricocheting bullets to bring down the blinded radicals. Zubov got to his feet and began smiting Piotr with his icy warhammer. Oliver cast burning disarm on the antipaladin, and he dropped his hammer to avoid taking fire damage, since he was already badly hurt. Will jumped into the train to back up Piotr, but Zubov stepped away and drew his pistol, scoring a solid hit on Piotr. It was not enough to bring the druid down, though, and Will was able to cut the terrorist leader down before more damage was done.Now, all that remained was the activated super bomb. Using the messenger wind to contact their technologist ally (the PC of a player who moved out of town), Will began the delicate disarming process. Mariah aided by detecting magic on the myriad cables, and though Will's Disable Device checks were mostly high, there was one close call. He rolled a 1 on the 5th check, making the total result exactly the DC for that check. (The players were sweating that one out, ready to use the lantern should the bomb goes off.) Finally, the last wires were cut and the bomb defused. The constables emerged to the cheers of the crowd and the thanks of Governor Stanfield.The players actually applauded as the session came to an end. Cheers and high-fives all around. Some of the players said it was the most tense and exciting session we've played in a long while. We're all eagerly looking forward to our next session, after the holidays.</blockquote>

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