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tragicThaumaturge's 4e Zeitgeist Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="tragicThaumaturge" data-source="post: 7584243" data-attributes="member: 6975610"><p><strong>Session 3</strong></p><p></p><p>The players left the mines with Nicolas and decided to take the road to the fortress. They convinced the miner to lend the golden icon of nem to Uzziel, so he could act as lookout. They stumbled upon the abandoned wagon and Gwen picked up one of the weapons, triggering the trap. Everyone was dealt some serious damage and Nicolas, in his panic, fired his pistol. Knowing the blue glow of the magic and the sound of the gunshot would attract patrolmen (they’d already seen some and avoided them) the group began frantically trying to escape their shackles. Juza was the first to escape and she helped the others, but just as they began moving toward the trees to hide a group of rebels arrived at the scene and spotted them. The players tried to escape into the forest so the rebels would think they were just some survivors of the attack and not elite forces sent by Risur. However the fairy fire of the investigators made this difficult and the group had to resort to violence. Jasbeer teleported to the middle of the enemies’ formation and attacked one, killing them. She realized then that these were not trained soldiers but rather common people recruited by the duchess for the attack. She decided to hold back and merely knocked the others unconscious. The rest of the group did the same, but the elementals had little qualms about killing the attackers.</p><p></p><p>Once the fight was over the constables hid the bodies in the jungle and moved the dirt to cover the blood in an attempt to cover their tracks. They then took the remaining hostages deeper into the jungle and tied them to a tree to interrogate them. Uzziel was tasked with this but he didn’t do a very good job showing they meant business, and since the rebels had noticed the PCs reluctance to kill them they began mocking him. Seeing his comrade’s plight, Beldrum impulsively killed one of the hostages to frighten the others into talking. The entire group was rather shocked but didn’t say anything then, realizing that would only ruin their chances of getting information. Needless to say the rebels were terrified, so much so that most of them could not give out very useful information (they stuttered and mixed up information). Still, the group managed to calm one of them so he could tell them what he knew. He explained they were looking for evidence of Danoran military activity and their accursed war machines, which they would undoubtedly use to destroy Risur. The constables believed him but were sceptical of the existence of such machines. But just then they heard something moving towards them and decided to hide. The sound of heavy footsteps got closer and Beldrum could make out faint voices, as if a crowd of people were walking through the jungle. The trees began to shake and from the foliage emerged a headless humanoid machine, leaking black oil speckled with white. The disbelief was palpable. The party could not believe the rebels had been right all along. They waited until the robot left and then began discussing what had just happened. Beldrum mentioned the voices he had heard, all coming from the robot, as if they were trapped inside. Since only he’d heard the voiced the group concluded they must’ve belonged to spirits, and hypothesized that maybe the robot was fueled by the souls of the dead. The rebel hostage was terrified but saw this as confirmation of their fears and tried to win the party to their side, saying their actions were justifies. Nicolas spoke on behalf of his country, claiming that the robot may have been built as an automated worker, not as a weapon. Still, the constables had a hard time believing it was not a military project and Uzziel, knowledgeable as he is, rolled a natural 20 on his History check to recall information about humanoid machines. I told him he had read about a supposed military endeavor that began shortly after the Third Yerasol War, but it was widely considered an urban legend, since it never amounted to anything and there were no traces left. Gwen knew better, but kept quiet for obvious reasons.</p><p></p><p>Feeling a bit less sure of themselves the group pushed on, leaving the hostages tied and gagged. The continued along the main road and stumbled upon another patrol group. We didn’t run this battle, since it was identical to the last one. I just had them lose a healing surge. However an interesting situation arose, completely unprompted by me. See, the players had used most of their rope (we don’t keep count but they decided they had probably used up most of it tying the other rebels) and they knew if they just left these people untied they would go and warn the guards at the fortress as soon as they had the chance. Jasbeer, Beldrum and Nicolas wanted to kill the rebels, but Juza, Uzziel and Gwen wanted to spare their lives. A somewhat heated debate ensued, with the evident pragmatism of some versus the compassion of the others. It was really interesting to see the players taking such radically different stances. For a while it seemed as though Jasbeer’s side would win (I say Jasbeer’s because her player was the most adamant about offing the rebels) but then Gwen (whose player, in turn, was the most adamant about sparing them) spoke. </p><p>“I have lived all my life fighting against what others wanted to see in me. To this day I do not know if it’s possible or just a waste of time. I understand your fears. But it is fear itself that has caused this, fear of what others may do to us. That’s why the duchess attacked Danor. If we let these people live they may go and warn their allies, yes. That may make things more difficult for us. But maybe, just maybe, they won’t. I want to believe they can change, that they are more than what we see in them. I know that probably won’t happen. And I know we have permission to kill in order to accomplish our mission. But our mission goes beyond reaching that lighthouse. Our mission is to protect the people of Risur. And I may not like it, I may disagree with them, I may even hate them. But these people are risuri too.”</p><p></p><p>Everyone was floored. Beldrum, regretting the murder of the hostage a couple of hours back, was immediately won over to Gwen’s side. Nicolas, having no real say in the debate, decided it was better to accept those terms and keep moving than stand around just waiting to be discovered. Jasbeer, seeing everyone else had made up their mind, reluctantly agreed.</p><p></p><p>They continued at a brisk pace until the fortress came into view. Nicolas told them this was as far as he would accompany them and asked for his amulet back. However, since the darkvision and elemental companion were so useful, the group talked him into lending it to them for the rest of their mission. He asked them to come for him once everything was over and then fled to the jungle to hide. The constables climbed the hills on the south of the fortress toward the weak spot in the walls and began feeling dizzy. Then they suddenly found themselves standing in a swamp with yellow frogs and a blue sun overhead, snapping back into reality before they’d had time to process what was happening. They were weirded out by the event, and Jasbeer held the gold ring close to her chest, frightened of the island. They decided it was no use thinking about it now, so they just kept moving toward the south wall. They found the weak spot and Uzziel cast the spell from the ritual scroll, but failed his check. Juza granted her knack for success to Gwen, who used the second and last scroll, barely managing to beat the DC. A passageway opened in the wall and the constables ventured forth.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tragicThaumaturge, post: 7584243, member: 6975610"] [b]Session 3[/b] The players left the mines with Nicolas and decided to take the road to the fortress. They convinced the miner to lend the golden icon of nem to Uzziel, so he could act as lookout. They stumbled upon the abandoned wagon and Gwen picked up one of the weapons, triggering the trap. Everyone was dealt some serious damage and Nicolas, in his panic, fired his pistol. Knowing the blue glow of the magic and the sound of the gunshot would attract patrolmen (they’d already seen some and avoided them) the group began frantically trying to escape their shackles. Juza was the first to escape and she helped the others, but just as they began moving toward the trees to hide a group of rebels arrived at the scene and spotted them. The players tried to escape into the forest so the rebels would think they were just some survivors of the attack and not elite forces sent by Risur. However the fairy fire of the investigators made this difficult and the group had to resort to violence. Jasbeer teleported to the middle of the enemies’ formation and attacked one, killing them. She realized then that these were not trained soldiers but rather common people recruited by the duchess for the attack. She decided to hold back and merely knocked the others unconscious. The rest of the group did the same, but the elementals had little qualms about killing the attackers. Once the fight was over the constables hid the bodies in the jungle and moved the dirt to cover the blood in an attempt to cover their tracks. They then took the remaining hostages deeper into the jungle and tied them to a tree to interrogate them. Uzziel was tasked with this but he didn’t do a very good job showing they meant business, and since the rebels had noticed the PCs reluctance to kill them they began mocking him. Seeing his comrade’s plight, Beldrum impulsively killed one of the hostages to frighten the others into talking. The entire group was rather shocked but didn’t say anything then, realizing that would only ruin their chances of getting information. Needless to say the rebels were terrified, so much so that most of them could not give out very useful information (they stuttered and mixed up information). Still, the group managed to calm one of them so he could tell them what he knew. He explained they were looking for evidence of Danoran military activity and their accursed war machines, which they would undoubtedly use to destroy Risur. The constables believed him but were sceptical of the existence of such machines. But just then they heard something moving towards them and decided to hide. The sound of heavy footsteps got closer and Beldrum could make out faint voices, as if a crowd of people were walking through the jungle. The trees began to shake and from the foliage emerged a headless humanoid machine, leaking black oil speckled with white. The disbelief was palpable. The party could not believe the rebels had been right all along. They waited until the robot left and then began discussing what had just happened. Beldrum mentioned the voices he had heard, all coming from the robot, as if they were trapped inside. Since only he’d heard the voiced the group concluded they must’ve belonged to spirits, and hypothesized that maybe the robot was fueled by the souls of the dead. The rebel hostage was terrified but saw this as confirmation of their fears and tried to win the party to their side, saying their actions were justifies. Nicolas spoke on behalf of his country, claiming that the robot may have been built as an automated worker, not as a weapon. Still, the constables had a hard time believing it was not a military project and Uzziel, knowledgeable as he is, rolled a natural 20 on his History check to recall information about humanoid machines. I told him he had read about a supposed military endeavor that began shortly after the Third Yerasol War, but it was widely considered an urban legend, since it never amounted to anything and there were no traces left. Gwen knew better, but kept quiet for obvious reasons. Feeling a bit less sure of themselves the group pushed on, leaving the hostages tied and gagged. The continued along the main road and stumbled upon another patrol group. We didn’t run this battle, since it was identical to the last one. I just had them lose a healing surge. However an interesting situation arose, completely unprompted by me. See, the players had used most of their rope (we don’t keep count but they decided they had probably used up most of it tying the other rebels) and they knew if they just left these people untied they would go and warn the guards at the fortress as soon as they had the chance. Jasbeer, Beldrum and Nicolas wanted to kill the rebels, but Juza, Uzziel and Gwen wanted to spare their lives. A somewhat heated debate ensued, with the evident pragmatism of some versus the compassion of the others. It was really interesting to see the players taking such radically different stances. For a while it seemed as though Jasbeer’s side would win (I say Jasbeer’s because her player was the most adamant about offing the rebels) but then Gwen (whose player, in turn, was the most adamant about sparing them) spoke. “I have lived all my life fighting against what others wanted to see in me. To this day I do not know if it’s possible or just a waste of time. I understand your fears. But it is fear itself that has caused this, fear of what others may do to us. That’s why the duchess attacked Danor. If we let these people live they may go and warn their allies, yes. That may make things more difficult for us. But maybe, just maybe, they won’t. I want to believe they can change, that they are more than what we see in them. I know that probably won’t happen. And I know we have permission to kill in order to accomplish our mission. But our mission goes beyond reaching that lighthouse. Our mission is to protect the people of Risur. And I may not like it, I may disagree with them, I may even hate them. But these people are risuri too.” Everyone was floored. Beldrum, regretting the murder of the hostage a couple of hours back, was immediately won over to Gwen’s side. Nicolas, having no real say in the debate, decided it was better to accept those terms and keep moving than stand around just waiting to be discovered. Jasbeer, seeing everyone else had made up their mind, reluctantly agreed. They continued at a brisk pace until the fortress came into view. Nicolas told them this was as far as he would accompany them and asked for his amulet back. However, since the darkvision and elemental companion were so useful, the group talked him into lending it to them for the rest of their mission. He asked them to come for him once everything was over and then fled to the jungle to hide. The constables climbed the hills on the south of the fortress toward the weak spot in the walls and began feeling dizzy. Then they suddenly found themselves standing in a swamp with yellow frogs and a blue sun overhead, snapping back into reality before they’d had time to process what was happening. They were weirded out by the event, and Jasbeer held the gold ring close to her chest, frightened of the island. They decided it was no use thinking about it now, so they just kept moving toward the south wall. They found the weak spot and Uzziel cast the spell from the ritual scroll, but failed his check. Juza granted her knack for success to Gwen, who used the second and last scroll, barely managing to beat the DC. A passageway opened in the wall and the constables ventured forth. [/QUOTE]
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