To War Against Felenga (FINAL UPDATE POSTED!)

[the Jester]

Angelfire's Burning Groin

The simulacra of Malford and Orbius head towards the local Belmax Corporation base. On the way the false Malford ditches the faux Orbius, heading to buy a number of alchemical items and special supplies, including a grappler crossbow, a repeating crossbow, thunderstones, acid, tangelfoor bags and more from Belmax. The simulacrum thinks fondly of his friend Belmondo.

The real Orbius communes at 11 a.m. in the morning.
Will magic items be permanently harmed? No.
In general, how will our magic work? Poorly.
Will trumps work? With great difficulty.
What effects will there be on us as outsiders? None.
Will psionics function normally there? No.
Can we cast spells? Yes.
What is the name of someone who will be friendly and helpful? Unknown.
Will artifacts function normally? Probably.
Where are the Halls of the Unbound? Across the Dragon's Gap.
Will I be able to commune with you? With difficulty.
What skills will aid us in overcoming the difficulty of casting spells? None.
How are they likely to react to us in the Halls of Greypeak? Badly.
What is the general alignment? Neutral.
Who will be the greatest foe we are likely to meet? Lord Ruin.
What is his greatest weakness? Unknown.
Will he know we're there? No.
When are we likely to cross paths with him and his allies? Any time.
Will simulacra function? No.

As Orbius ponders the results of his conversation with the All-Seeing Boccob, Angelfire leaves the room. He feels pretty icky, actually; his stomach is upset and his groin burns uncomfortably. Moreover, his bladder is screaming for release. He heads to the lavatory, hoping that relieving himself will help- or that he'll be able to see something going on down there, it doesn't feel good at all- but as he urinates something silver-grey shoots out of him. He whimpers- it hurts!! When he's finished an agonized ninety seconds of peeing, a strange ooze is burbling in the tank of sewage beneath the loo. And worse, his manhood is badly burnt from its acidic passage.

The touch of Chaos, Angelfire realizes. My recent stomach pains. A... a Chaos baby.

He stares in sick fascination for a moment, then closes the lid, washes up and heads out of the castle for the evening. No one will know, he tells himself. He seeks out a gnomish piercing expert and has something put into the ruined mess of his groin.

"A little more than two weeks til my sword's ready from Fandral," notes Sybele at the castle. "I don't suppose we could wait?"

"I can't," says Lester. "The geas."

"We should settle down after this," Thrush tells Sybele. She puts him off, but later in the evening she visits a jeweler and commissions a pair of mithral rings. That night, she asks Jezebel if she wants to accompany the party to this low-magic realm.

After an agonized moment's hesitation, Jezebel says, "Yes."

Malford interjects, "That may not be a good idea. They may never have seen your like."

"What about him?" Jezebel points at Lester, with his bat-wings. "Or his skin?" She gestures at the scarlet-skinned Angelfire, who seems strangely quiet this evening.

"Good point," Malford concedes. "Very well."

The party passes through the pearlescent door.




Next Time: To Arba, where magic sucks!

 

[Welverin]

Re: Angelfire's Burning Groin

The touch of Chaos, Angelfire realizes. My recent stomach pains. A... a Chaos baby.

I knew it!

Further more, is the ooze the baby? Does Angelfire no it and that's why e doesnt say anything, ok maybe just another reason.

One more thing will we be getting Felenga's stats in the other thread eventually? I'm curious how he stacks up with the pcs.

 

[Talix]

Wow, lots of really weird coolness!

I love the hint of the simulcrum wars - what a cool idea! Not looking at the spell at the moment, can I assume that he cast it multiply-empowered, and the end result was more powerful than he was? What is the normal means of terminating such a thing? Is it time-based? Are they just creating new simulcrae before their time runs out? Curiousity abounds!

The Chaos baby thing has me pretty confused - I can take the weirdness at face value, but if there is more info I'm supposed to understand about it, I think I'm missing it... And what was up with the piercing? "I'm in pain already, why not add a little more?"

And fun character interactions all over the place, within the party and without - I especially liked that Lesser Planar Ally spell!

For my last comment - nice Rat Bastardyness throwing the party into a Low-Magic world!

 

[the Jester]

Yes, the ooze was the baby... why did Angelfire just leave it? Well, what was he supposed to do with it?
As for the piercing, that was totally a player choice- why do it? Well, if you're lucky, the player might chime in with some sort of answer, but I think it was just part of his continuing attempt to transcend his humanity.

If you'll recall, Angelfire touched an obelisk of Na'Rat in Var quite some time ago- that's how he was 'impregnated' with the Chaos baby. It took a while to 'gestate' is all..

As for the simulacra, yep, the multiple-empowerment is pretty much how the whole mess started- and, as I said, it's gonna get ugly before it gets pretty. But that's still a few updates away....

Oh, and the duration of a simulacrum is 'instantaneous,' meaning that not only is it permanent once cast, it can't be dispelled.

 

[the Jester]

Oh, as for posting Felenga's stats... not yet, but eventually- prolly after the arc is finished.

I did, however, post the low-magic rules in the 'other thread'.

Oh, heck- and Felenga's CR is... nah. You'll just have to wait. But when you see his stats, you'll see why he's not too worried about our heroes just yet, even after their successful raid on the ToEE. Pissed off that they killed Imix, yes. Worried- nah.

 

[Welverin]

Oh, as for posting Felenga's stats... not yet, but eventually- prolly after the arc is finished.

Eventually is good enough, don't need or even want them now.

I did, however, post the low-magic rules in the 'other thread'.

Ooh, will have to go check them out.

 

[the Jester]

The Party Arrives in Arba

Our heroes' arrival in Arba turns out to be noteworthy for the natives. They appear on the plane and immediately spot a man fleeing a group of other heavily-armored humans mounted on horses*. Orbius tries to cast a divination but realizes that it will take him an hour and- an animal sacrifice?? The fugitive tries to climb down a nearby cliff but Malford blasts him with a color spray- leaving his pursuers gaping in wonder. Lester swoops in on his bat wings and grabs the man from behind while the rest of the group covers him with a multitude of weapons.

Strange cries come from the armored men. Nobody understands them, but it's clear that they're afraid and unsettled by our heroes' appearance. The clear leader, a hulking brute of a man, fires his bow and the arrow glances off the L's armor. The fleeing man takes advantage of the distraction to struggle, but can't get free.

Orbius steps up, a tongues already running. "Hello, we are strangers here," he calls.

The leader roars back, "Give Zonzor thief!"

"Kill them all, my lord! They are demons!"

"No, no- we're just from a strange faraway land. Uh, what's going on here?" Orbius asks quickly.

"Thief!" The burly man jabs a thick finger at the man caught by the party. "Zonzor!" He jabs his thumb at himself. "Zonzor rule this land, Zonzoria! Now GIVE ZONZOR THIEF!!"

"Uh- he wants the thief. I think he's the local lord," the Eye reports dubiously. "Doesn't seem too bright." After a moment's debate the party hands the man, glaring defiantly at Zonzor, over to the barbarian for what turns out to be swift justice. Wiping clean his sword, the lordling gestures for the party to follow him to his keep and grunts something. Orbius realizes with a start that his tongues has already worn off.

Smiling in response to the native humans' queries, our heroes confer among themselves. The natives are clearly distrustful of them, with one of them seeming to argue for killing our heroes fairly insistently, if his tone and dark glances are any judge. But Zonzor seems pleased that the party aided him in catching his thief; and after all, our heroes do need a guide, don't they?

With a second tongues cast, Orbius engages Zonzor as a guide for the Halls of Greypeak. "North," Zonzor snorts. "Old city- used to be capitol. Only scavengers now- many thieves."

That night, talking among themselves, our heroes realize the need to do some experiments with their spells to find out just how the low-magic environment is affecting them. Much to their chagrin, they find that nothing seems to be able to reach beyond short range or last more than a few short minutes. This is only the beginning, but it will be a while before the rest becomes clear**...

Then a fitful sleep and, with the dawn, departure for the Halls of Greypeak.



*Note that horses are not native to Cydra, though there are zebra-like creatures called garen.

**I posted the general rules for magic on Arba in my RG thread; my players, stay out of that thread please, there are some things you shouldn't see there!


Next Time: What sort of monsters does the local realm hold? Our heroes ask some questions and get some answers!

 

[the Jester]

Questions and Answers

The party's journey takes them across gloomy fields of tall dark grass and towards high mountains in the distance. They learn from Zonzor that they're heading towards a land called Crush, apparently lorded over by a group of heavily-armored horsemen called the Knights of Crush. Our heroes decide they'd rather avoid them if possible, and consider circumnavigating Crush entirely- but it will add days in the ominous-looking Grey Mountains to their journey.

After an unfortunate encounter with a gaggle of humungous mastadons that the party manages to spook into a stampede, they ask a few questions about what sort of monsters live in these desolate lands, and- in the brief time that their interpetive magic lasts- learn that Zonzor doesn't believe in monsters.

But it sounds like there are tons of extremely large animals. In fact, they see a gigantic bird in the distance, hunting over the plains and the edge of the mountains. It's enough to make them very nervous, but it doesn't come to attack them. One of Zonzor's tales is of huge squirrels that are big enough to stuff a man in their cheek... the strangest thing our heroes have considered in some time, frankly, but that's what alternate planes are for, innit?

They are quite taken with the horses, though. They're a little bit bigger, stronger, and better-natured than garen. Nothin' wrong with that. Malford vows to take a few home, if possible.

As they break for the evening the party does a few experiments and discovers a few of the limitations on their magic. Indeed, they can't seem to conjure or summon anything; illusions last only a fleeting moment. Healing is a problem, too; they're used to letting their wounds sit and healing them magically within a day or two of when they are inflicted. But here, on Arba, the healing magic they've taken for granted turns the cuts and scrapes into aches and bruises but does not heal it completely.

The next morning, Sybele awakens a lot bigger.

She's as startled as everyone else; somehow, overnight, she's grown to about 8' in height. As if the bat wings on Lester and the scarlet skin of Angelfire weren't enough, Zonzor and his lackeys are quite boggled by this event; and there are a few more of those emphatic "kill them" gestures from Zonzor's henchman. But in the end, Zonzor socks his man in the jaw and yells in his face until he scowls and stomps off, agreeing (apparently, or maybe just for the time being) to keep guiding the party. Still, Orbius looks worriedly after him; nobody wants a knife in the back in the middle of the night.

A little work and the group traps some rabbits and a turkey. Caging the bunnies for now, Orbius grimaces in distaste, but it has to be done. He kills the turkey with a single slash of his dagger across its belly and allows its guts to spill forth, bending over them intently to read the lines of fate within. It's the only way he can commune.

What guards the Book of Olaf in the Halls of Greypeak? Nothing.
How many days travel is it to the Halls of Greypeak? Four.
What is the strongest creature that dwells there? The Door Beast.
Will we be able to defeat the Door Beast? Yes.
How can we avoid the Door Beast and still get to the book? Easily.
How do we cause the Door Beast to not notice our presence? Easily.
Who leads the Knights of Crush? Lord Crush.
Are we likely to encounter the Knights of Crush? Fairly.
Given our powers on this plane, what are our chances of defeating them? Depends on which.
What is the best way to avoid these knights? Grey Mountains.
What is the name of the most ubiquitous deity here? Bron.
What is his alignment? Neutral.
What is his holy symbol? An image of a greataxe, head down, before a lightning bolt flashes through Orbius' mind.
Has Lord Ruin noticed our presence? No.
What must we do to avoid the Door Beast and still get the item we need? Nothing.
How many days travel are the Halls of the Unbound from the Halls of Greypeak? Ten or more.
Has Felenga achieved the ability to locate Darkhold at will? Unknown.
What caused Sybele to grow larger? Chaos.*

The Eye relates what he's learned, and the group mulls their options; they decide that the extra few days in the Grey Mountains is probably worth it. "Besides," Sybele points out, "we probably don't need to attract any attention. We look a little out of place here. Tee hee!"

That night, on watch, Orbius and Lester hear something large moving in the trees upslope a ways. A little investigation, and the Eye sees a large bushy-tailed silhouette. One of the megalosquirrels, he realizes. Should I tell Lester? Or will that just lead to trouble we don't need?

He holds his tongue.

In the morning, one of Zonzor's men is gone. Zonzor rages and considers going back to his keep to track him down, but is persuaded to wait for a better time.

As the party continues towards the Grey Mountains, they once again see the immense bird hunting in the distance, but now it seems they've swung north of its main grounds. And soon they're heading up, into the foothills and the mountains. The trail they're following fades into a rough path and then even less, and they're relying almost completely on native guidance from the suspicious followers of Zonzor and the barbarian himself. The journey becomes more difficult, with hard uneven ground leading up and down, up and down- but always, in the end, up. Soon enough the group reaches snow and the cold bites deeper into their bones with every mile. When night falls, cold and clammy, they shiver together, none of them expecting the chill to be half as bitter as it is (save, of course, Zonzor and his lackeys).

None of them hate the cold as much as Angelfire, of course.

Even wrapped in warm clothes and blankets, his teeth chatter, his body shakes, and steam rises off him constantly. He feels awful in this weather- his flame-based physiology really kicks him in the jimmy here, that's for sure. Only for a few days, he tells himself. While on watch he jumps at shadows, nervously cocks his head at every noise. His hand seems barely able to close on the hilt of his falchion.

The next day the group slogs forward, the natives clearing a path as much as is required. A large worm, adapted to the cold, tries to prey on them, but it ends up completely, lethally discouraged. When the group stops to break for lunch, they share some pipeweed with a reluctant and suspicous Zonzor. Angelfire drinks constantly, hoping the liquor will warm him in this cold clime, but it only numbs him. Well. That's something, anyway.

In the distance, a mountain away, they can make out a huge ruin.

Zonzor grunts something and jerks his thumb at the distant ruin. Even without a tongues spell running, Orbius translates.

"Greypeak," he says.


*She took a warrior of Chaos level for her 17th level, and her Chaos gift was a size increase. Yikes!



Next Time: The Halls of Greypeak! Zonzor tries to recruit a lackey! And we meet a few of the Knights of Crush!

 

[the Jester]

Into the Halls of Greypeak

"...so," Orbius finishes, exhausted from his divinations, "we need to go to the Halls of Greypeak, find the Library of Voldaith, get the Book of Olaf, take it across the Dragon's Gap to the Halls of the Unbound and get home. And hopefully this will lead us to the Deleter."

"What a pain in the ass," Sybele comments.

By the evening of the next day the group is within a few miles of the ruined city called the Halls of Greypeak. As the sun sets behind incarnadine clouds, our heroes debate the merits of pressing on into the night and decide that, ultimately, it's their best course. In the distance they can see a few weak lights- there are at least a few inhabitants in the place. Lester is still grumbling at how ineffective the fireball he threw at the ice worm was as they ride on, but our heroes are fast becoming used to their limited powers here.

Soon they stumble upon an ancient road, half the stones that previously cobbled it now uprooted, pot holes everywhere. They follow it as it snakes up the mountainside towards the sprawling ruin that seems to drape over the mountain's shoulder like a shawl, and soon the first weed-choked remnants of buildings are on either side.

Zonzor, still mightily angered by the desertion of his lackey, cocks his head. With a roar, he springs to a low, half-fallen wall and seizes a quaking peasant there. He roars at the mousy man, who cowers and squeaks answers to him in the tongue that none of our heroes understand.

"He's got a certain sort of style," Thrush comments wryly as Zonzor shakes the peasant by his tunic and then plunks him down on the ground. It seems that Zonzor's acquired a new lackey (named Baro, not that our heroes know that just yet).

Continuing along the road, the party soon finds the wall surrounding the city before them. It's old, cracked by grasses and weeds that are growing from it, partially tumbled in places- but still mostly intact. Still, that's no real challenge for the group; a rope and grappling hook allows them to pass by it, and there seem to be no guards at all.

"Well," says Malford from atop the wall, "why don't we check out one of those fires? Perhaps they can direct us to the Library of Voldaith."

"Let's ask this lackey of Zonzor's," Lester suggests, and Orbius does so, using one of his precious few tongues spells.

"He doesn't know exactly," the Eye reports a moment later, and our heroes continue towards the light of a fire. Soon enough they spot it: a large bonfire in an open square surrounding by decaying stone buildings. Rubble is everywhere in this city; once it must have been marvelous, but now- now there is no glory. There are perhaps two dozen people gathered around the fire as the party rides up, the more freakish among them hanging back. Zonzor takes the lead and roars at the locals in his booming voice; a conversation that the party cannot understand ensues, and then the sound of more hoofs approaches. If they could only understand what was transpiring, the party would know that the crowd's champion is approaching...

A looming man in full plate armor, a shield on one arm, a lance holstered beside him. He wears a red tabard with a broken shield inscribed upon it, a fist crushing a heart in the upper left quadrant. This is his family's emblem, with the fist symbolizing his alleigance to Crush. Behind his visors, the knight's black eyes narrow angrily at the sight of Zonzor. Two men-at-arms ride behind him, also heavily armed and armored.

Zonzor's face lights in a grin. He knows this knight. He killed his brothers.


(Note: for those of you that aren't in the game, check out my RG thread for stats on the Knights of Crush...)


Next Time: The Knights of Crush! Zonzor against the last of the Breaker Brothers! Pickpockets and exiles!

 

[the Jester]

The Knights of Crush

"Zonzor," Sir Breaker grunts with disdain. "We meet again."

Zonzor laughs heartily. "You are champion here? Bah! Zonzor smash you if you get in Zonzor's way!"

"I owe you," Sir Breaker snarls, "for two brothers."

"What are they saying?" Lester says from outside the firelight, his keen half-elven eyes and ears picking up only part of it and understanding the tone but not the words.

"Not sure," Sybele says, "but it sounds like there might be trouble."

Grumbling, Lester hisses for Orbius, who falls back to cast tongues on the Elementalist so that he can understand.

By the fire, the crowd is forming a loose circle around the towering Zonzor and the mounted knight. (Our heroes left their horses outside the wall, as they couldn't climb the rope.) There's a palpable excitement as a fight seems more and more imminent.

"Zonzor will kill you as well!" Zonzor roars. "Zonzor calls you out, Breaker!" And he draws forth his axe with a

Sir Breaker's retainers exchange smug looks. They have no doubt as to who will win this battle- but they've never seen Zonzor before. They do not understand the fury that drives him, the rage that fuels his blows. Still-

"I accept," Sir Breaker growls, throwing down his helm's visor, couching his lance and spurring his horse forward in a charge. While perhaps not strictly fair, Zonzor did draw first, and so Sir Breaker- heartened by the thought of destroying his brothers' killer- doesn't worry too much about it as he slams his mace home in Zonzor's chest. There's a terrific boom as the impact knocks Zonzor almost from his feet, but with a howl of anger and rage, the barbarian's vision goes red and he starts hewing at his foe.

"Crap!" Lester cries, and casts a stoneskin on himself. Then, spreading his bat-like wings wide, he ascends into the air and shouts, "Ho there, I am the devil Lester! I have come for Zonzor!!" At the sight of this fantastic apparition in the sky, several of the crowd shriek and turn to flee. Pandemonium erupts. Sir Breaker's men pull out their crossbows, the rest of the party draws as well- there's a moment of incredible tension as the fight threatens to spread from Breaker and Zonzor- but for a moment, it stays contained.

Then Angelfire notices a hand in his pocket. Someone in the crowd has just made a lethal mistake. "THIEF!" the scarlet-skinned Coilite cries, and brings his falchion around in a deadly arc. There's a spray of blood, a scream of pain, and the hand is still in his pocket- but the rest of the body is falling away. Then there's the singing of crossbow bolts as Sir Breaker's men fire at the devil Lester. Confusion erupts as the crowd splits and runs almost to a man, Sybele fires a shot at one of Breaker's retainers. There's a blur of motion in the center of things as Zonzor staggers back from another massive hit to the chest, but his axe whistles through Breaker's armor like a hot knife through butter. The sound of metal rending metal and bone is unmistakabale. With a loud cry of pain, Sir Breaker lands awkwardly on the ground, unhorsed, and Zonzor's axe swings wildly down, burying itself in the erstwhile knight's face.

The party moves together, Malford tumbling under a table to stick one of the lackeys in the kidneys, an arrow from Sybele zinging through the other one's cloak, stapling him to a cask of ale near the fire. Struggling, the lesser knight is suddenly pushed away as Lester magically repels the cask.

"I AM YOUR CHAMPION NOW!!" Zonzor roars at the retreating crowd, but his message seems lost to them as they flee. All except one man, who is watching things with avid interest.

"You there," Zonzor growls, stomping up to him. "You Zonzor's lackey now!"

The man, dark of hair and wearing somewhat nicer clothes than most around here, nods quietly. "Perhaps," he says soothingly, then turns to the rest of the group. There's an odd, perhaps hopeful, look on his face.

Something seems different about this fellow. Malford and Orbius exchange glances. "Are you from here?" the gnome-king says in Forinthian, but the stranger merely shrugs. Malford tries again, speaking in different languages, until-

"No," the man cries out in Draconic. "You are strangers as well! Thank the gods- I knew, as soon as I saw you all. I am a traveler from a far place- as, I suspect, are you!"

"Indeed," Malford agrees.

"Do you have a way out of this terrible plane?" the man asks desperately. "I've been trapped here for so long...!"

"We may," Malford nods. "We have to finish our business here first, but we may. If you are in need, you may join us."

"My name is Chairo, and I thank you! I am from a land called Perisophis, but I need not go back to my own plane immediately- indeed, just to a realm from which it is possible to plane shift. Oh thank you!" He nearly weeps.

A few dozen minutes later, after some questions, our heroes are overjoyed to learn that Chairo knows where the Library of Voldaith is. "I'll guide you," he tells them, and the group sets off through the ruins. It's apparent to the group that Zonzor regards Chairo as his lackey now, just as it's apparent that Chairo is simply playing along with Zonzor...


Next Time: The Library of Voldaith!