War of the Burning Sky (updated 24th May)
RangerWickett
Legend
I heartily approve. Thanks for posting these. They're quite a treat.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Toby Underfoot
First Post
Truly imaginative
The death of Giorgio was like a Play in itself. Act one. Excellent. Act two. Superb. Then of course the death scene. And it looked so realistic. True Karma for that tumbling little 'actor'. That's the last time he'll go friggin' in the riggin'.Can't wait for the encore.
The death of Giorgio was like a Play in itself. Act one. Excellent. Act two. Superb. Then of course the death scene. And it looked so realistic. True Karma for that tumbling little 'actor'. That's the last time he'll go friggin' in the riggin'.Can't wait for the encore.
Last edited:
RangerWickett
Legend
Toby Underfoot said:
Zombie wayfarer? Hmmmm.
The party hear the sound of something splashing towards them through the water. Ready for more trouble, they turn round – and relax when they recognise Caryk’s distinctive form.
“Hi Guys,” says Caryk. “Simeon saw me helping the townsfolk weather the storm, and said you might need some help.”
“You could say that,” says Jonathan. “Our powers are almost spent.”
“Then perhaps we should rest, and recover our faculties?”
“I’d love to,” says Jonathan, “but these winds are getting stronger by the minute. If we rest, there won’t be a town left to save.”
They press on, and emerge into what was once the prison’s cell block. In theory there are twelve cells, in two banks of six with a corridor running between them. However, the cells are all so damaged that it is a simple matter to clamber in and out of them. Each cell is occupied by two human skeletons. The two nearest skeletons each have a metallic necklace of some kind.
“There’s no way those skeletons date from the time this was a prison,” says Jonathan. “They would be in much worse condition. In fact, they remind me of the bones on the witches’ island – and we all remember what happened there”
“I’d better go first then,” says Caryk. He steps cautiously into the passageway – and nothing happens.
“That’s good,” says Jonathan, and steps in behind Caryk. As soon as he does so, the skeletons clamber to their feet and advance on the party, with their bony, claw-like fingers outstretched.
Skeletons are probably the weakest of the undead, and most necromancers supply their skeletal minions with at least rudimentary arms and armour in order to make them more effective. However, these skeletons, like the ones on the witches’ isle, have to make do with their natural weapons.
The party manages to dispatch the skeletons relatively easily, suffering only a few scrapes and bruises in the process.
They head into the next chamber, which if anything is more heavily waterlogged than the last. The only obvious exit is a set of stairs heading downwards – but these are completely underwater. Our heroes pause to consider their options, but suddenly three dark shapes head towards them through the water. These appear to be some kind of strange combination of man and fish, presumably more examples of biomancy.
Only Jonathan spots their stealthy approach. He catches the lead creature a glancing blow with his mace. This seems to enrage the beasts, and they target him with their attacks. They seek to grab hold of his flesh with their teeth and claws and drag him under the water, but he is able to fend them off until Caryk can stride forward in support.
Agatha tries to blast the nearest creature, but forgets to allow for the displacement effect of the water and her shot goes wide. Cursing, she adjusts her aim and this time there is no mistake – the creature lets out a burbling scream and sinks to the floor.
Jonathan and Caryk combine their efforts on the second one, and it collapses under their onslaught.
Gribron, seeking to conserve what is left of his magical powers, draws his sword and stabs it deep into the gill slits of the third. He then withdraws his sword with a deft twist, and the fatally wounded creature collapses in a pool of blood. The others look at him in disbelief ….
Caryk is clearly the party’s best swimmer, and he heads down the stairs to investigate the creatures’ lair. The only interesting feature of this downstairs room is the five foot diameter hole in the floor. There is a red glow coming from the hole, and the water feels considerably warmer here. Someone has rigged up a pulley next to the shaft.
Running out of air, he heads back up to the others.
The party do a quick inventory, and determine that between them they have three potions of water breathing. Gribron volunteers to drink one and scout out the shaft.
Gribron investigates the pulley, but can identify nothing unusual about it. The shaft descends further than he can see, and he decides to head down it. Unfortunately, he fails to spot a pair of thin wires across the top of the shaft, and he breaks them as he swims through. There is a brief pause, then a muffled crack, as if a thunderstone had just exploded. Clearly he has triggered an alarm system of some kind.
He swims down the shaft, and is amazed when his head emerges into air. He is looking into a large cavern, which is almost completely free of water. Some force, presumably magic, is preventing the water from entering. There is also a river of lava cutting the cavern in two. It is not immediately obvious where the lave is coming from, but the only way across is a hump backed bridge. There is a closed stone door on the far side of the bridge.
Gribron is pleased that there is air in the cavern. The lack of potions won’t be a drawback after all. He heads back up and gets the others.
Scene 2 – The Pyromancer’s Tomb
The party heads down the shaft and into the cavern. Just as they arrive, the door at the far end bursts open and eight half orcs rush into the room. They are heavily armed and armoured, and are wearing the uniform of the Ragesian army. Moving in a disciplined formation, they take up positions on the edge of the lava and loose a volley of crossbow bolts at the party. Miraculously, every shot goes wide.
Caryk steps onto the bridge, to ensure the soldiers cannot cross and attack his comrades, and lets loose a burst of sonic energy which causes four of them to reel in pain; two of those four are briefly stunned by the impact.
Gribron moves up behind Caryk. “Close your eyes,” he whispers, and Caryk complies. A burst of glowing lights erupts from Gribron’s hands, engulfing Caryk and four of the soldiers. Two of the soldiers collapse under the sensory overload.
Meanwhile, Jonathan and Agatha content themselves with picking off the soldiers with ranged attacks – Agatha’s eldritch blasts naturally proving more effective against the heavily armoured troops than Jonathan’s crossbow.
Two of the soldiers drop their crossbows and un sling their shields and battleaxes. They then step forward to engage Caryk, leaving an inviting gap between them for him to step into and allow them to flank him. Caryk is not going to fall for that, however, and the soldiers can’t penetrate his defences.
The remaining soldiers let off another volley, far more ragged than the first.
Gribron creates an illusion of a solid bridge covering the entire lava. “I’ve put up a bridge,” he says to his comrades. “We can all pile across.” Fortunately, none of his companions take him up on that. The Ragesian soldiers have a healthy respect for the lava – unbeknown to the party, one of them recently fell in and died horribly – so are reluctant to trust this bridge either.
Shrugging, Gribron causes his “bridge” to rise up and move towards the Ragesians, who withdraw before it in disarray. Their formation thus disrupted, the party are able to pick them off relatively easily.
Gribron and Jonathan move forward to loot the bodies – including those of the two unconscious ones – whilst Caryk opens the stone door. He sees a room with two doors in the opposite wall. Between the doors is a stone dragon head. The dragon is snarling, but the interior of its mouth is completely dark.
Each of the soldiers had two potions. Agatha identifies them as healing potions. They tie up the two survivors, and start to interrogate them. However, they appear to have had some training in resisting questioning – or possibly they fear their superiors more than they fear the party. Of course, they don’t know our heroes that well ….
Caryk shuts the stone door, to keep the heat out of his chamber, and starts examining the dragon’s head. He could probably fit inside its mouth, but for some reason he is reluctant to do so.
Meanwhile, Gribron and Jonathan have lost patience with the prisoners. Sine threats are not working very well, they decide on a more practical approach. Taking an arm each, they dangle him over the lava.
“Now you’d better start co-operating, or we’ll drop you in,” snarls Gribron. Unfortunately, at that moment his grip slips, and the half-orc’s foot falls into the lava. Instead of answering the question, he starts screaming in agony.
This noise attracts Caryk’s attention even through the closed door, and he heads back into the cavern to see what is happening. When they spot the door opening, Gribron and Jonathan simply let go and the half orc falls to a grisly death.
Seeing the pair at the edge of the lava, Caryk rushes over. “What happened? What was that screaming?”
“One of the prisoners tried to escape,” says Jonathan, “but tripped and fell into the lava. We tried to catch him, but we were too slow.”
“What a horrible way to go,” says Caryk with a shudder. “Bring the last prisoner through into the next room. That should avoid any more tragedies, and perhaps he can tell us something about the dragon.”
The half orc seems slightly more co-operative now. He denies knowing anything about the dragon, claiming they had all steered clear of it, but volunteers to investigate.”
Caryk helps him into the mouth. “Can you see anything?”
“It’s a small room. There’s a door at the far end, with glowing red runes around its edges.”
“Can you read what they say?”
“No.”
The party clamber in after the half-orc, but none of them can read the runes either. Jonathan guesses that they are probably in ignan, the language of fire creatures.
Gribron moves forward and checks the door for traps. He can’t find any, so sets about trying to open the door. However, the door resists his attempts at opening. More ominously, as soon as he touches it the runes around the door start to flare angrily and the ceiling turns an ominous red in colour.
“I think we’d better get out of here,” says Gribron.
The rest of them agree, and set off in a mad scramble for the exit. The half-orc brings up the rear, hampered by his bonds, and he is still in the room when lava starts to rain down from the ceiling. He too dies horribly.
The two doors from the other room both turn out to lead to the same place, a roughly C shaped room with two exits. The room seems to be some sort of biomancy laboratory. There are vats and tanks containing strange fluids, and various tools and texts of the trade.
Gribron discovers a magical bottle, which seems to contain an almost endless supply of air. This must be how the Ragesians enter and leave through the water.
The door to the north leads to what appears to be a storeroom of some sort. It has been cleared of any useful items. There is a strange stand on a desk in the corner. It is an oval wooden plate, with a setting for an orb of some sort. It is carved with images of two unidentified gods blowing storms from their lips.
The other door opens out into another cavern. This also has a river of lava flowing through it, spanned by a single bridge. There are a couple of what appear to be cells on the other side. They are of recent construction, presumably “improvements” made by the Ragesians.
There is also a door on this side of the lava. Caryk moves over to it and opens it, his comrades close behind.
Once the door is open, Caryk catches a brief glimpse of the figure of an orc, his face covered by a bear skull mask and a three pronged metal claw strapped to his waist. It could be the twin of the inquisitor they killed at Haddin’s farm.
Before any of the party can react, a massive sheet of flame shoots out from the orc’s hands and engulfs the party. A burning hands spell – but one far more ferocious, and covering a larger area, than they had ever seen before. It appears the Fire Tomb makes fire spells far more potent than normal.
Caryk casts a protective spell on himself, then heads into the room. Gribron drinks a healing potion. Agatha strikes the orc a powerful blow with an eldritch blast, but he barely flinches. Clearly he is a tough opponent. Jonathan wings him with a crossbow bolt, but he does not even seem to notice.
The inquisitor once again calls upon the power of his unknown deity, and a massive wall of fire erupts out of the floor in front of him. It splits the room in two, then flows out through the doorway and splits the rest of the cavern in two as well. Jonathan and Agatha are caught within it, and stagger out of it at opposite sides. Jonathan notices that the side he is on, the inquisitor’s side, is not giving off any heat. The other side is very definitely hot, and Caryk and Gribron both suffer from the flame even though they were not caught within the wall itself.
“This isn’t going well,” thinks Caryk, as he casts another protective spell on himself. He is trapped in the room, taking damage from the heat, but unable to reach the inquisitor without running through the wall of fire. His comrades cannot enter the room to help him without doing the same, as the wall of fire runs through the doorway.
Gribron drinks another potion of healing, and tries to think of a plan. Jonathan does likewise.
Agatha can’t see the inquisitor through the wall, but she can remember where he was standing earlier. She fires a speculative blast at his last known position, and is rewarded by the sound of it striking home.
The inquisitor curses his own foolishness, and changes position. He cannot see any targets either, but he launches a blast of sound through the wall. He doesn’t know exactly where Caryk is, but it doesn’t really matter as this spell affects the entire area.
Caryk grunts as he gets a taste of his on medicine. Then he draws a deep breath and rushes through the wall and attacks. The inquisitor is amazed by Caryk’s insane bravery, and is unable to block the blow.
Gribron makes a decision, an also rushes towards the wall. However, just as he reaches it he disappears, and re-appears on the other side.
Jonathan steels himself, and runs through the flames too.
“You lot can run through fire to reach the bad guy if you want,” thinks Agatha, “but I’m staying where I am.”
The inquisitor gestures, and a ball of fire appears in his hand. He hurls it at Caryk, who is very much the worse for wear after his recent experiences. The effect of the Fire Tomb applies once more, and Caryk collapses to the ground. At least he isn’t bleeding to death, thanks to Indomitability’s boon.
Gribron pulls a bag from his backpack, and hurls it at the inquisitor. It splits apart on impact, and drenches the orc in foul smelling goo. The goo quickly hardens, hampering his movements.
Jonathan then, with the last of his mental strength, hurls a bolt of acid at the inquisitor. The orc tries to counterspell, but the attempt fails. The acid strikes home, and the orc collapses into a badly damaged corpse.
Seeking another orc skull for his small collection, Jonathan pulls off the bear mask. He is surprised to recognise the inquisitor – it is Ogoth, the orc they met at the Lyceum. Clearly he wasn’t an “ex-inquisitor” after all.
Gribron loots the body, and finds a wand of healing. He gives it to Caryk, who uses it to heal everybody and then gives it back to Gribron. The orc also has a number of scrolls, a magical brooch, another wand of unknown purpose, and an unusual orb. The orb is an eight inch sphere of black glass etched with unusual curving silver patterns.
“This orb is radiating strong transmutation magic,” says Gribron. “I think it must be what we are after. Question is, how does it work?”
“Maybe there’s a clue in this room,” says Caryk. “We’d better have a hunt around.”
There are no clues, but there is a sizeable amount of what appears to be mail sent to Seaquen from out of town, somehow intercepted by the Ragesians. One of the items is addressed to Jonathan Farrier, much to everyone’s surprise.
Jonathan opens up his package, and finds three crystals and a note.
“Dear Jonathan,
“I have entrusted this note to a courier who is teleporting into Seaquen. He is confident he has sufficient protection from fire to survive the effect of the Burning Sky. I have seen troubled times ahead for Seaquen, and I hope the enclosed cognisance crystals will help you weather the storms to come.”
It is signed with Dreamcatcher’s rune.
The party move to check out the cells, of which there are four. One of them contains a mysterious white stone monolith, and is magically warded. Two of the others are occupied by a human male and a Shahalesti elf female, who Caryk quickly frees.
The man is called Teymour and the woman is Faquaniel. They both attempted to teleport to Seaquen with more powerful companions, only to arrive in the cell with the white monolith instead. Their arrival triggered a number of traps, which immobilised them. The guards then killed their companions and imprisoned them.
“That explains why that erinyes didn’t want to teleport,” says Jonathan. “That monolith would have drawn her into this trap. I suppose the Wayfarer’s ship is too big to be caught.
“Still no sign of Lee. I’m pretty sure we’ve been everywhere now. You two wouldn’t happen to know anything about his whereabouts by any chance?” He describes Lee to them.
“He was here earlier,” says Faquaniel. “He and the orc had an argument. Lee said he was leaving, and taking with him what he called the control wand in order to keep it separate from an orb of some sort, ‘just in case’. The orc said he was being paranoid, and that it would be perfectly safe down here. Lee took the wand anyway, and stormed out. I guess the orc was wrong, huh?”
“How the heck are we going to find Lee in this storm?” asks Gribron. “He’s bound to have taken some of those tidereaver’s tears, so he’ll be unaffected by the wind.”
“I don’t know,” says Caryk, “but we’ve got to try.”
Scene 3 – Back into the Storm
As our heroes head back up to the open air, they can feel the increased effect of the wind. The water near the exit of the prison has become very choppy, and the wind is cutting through every crack in the building’s walls.
Once outside, the ferocity of the storm is amazing, even though the party are safely in its eye. Rocks, boulders, trees, even buildings are being blown about.
“If Lee’s out and about in that, then he’s dead,” says Caryk. “Tidereaver’s tears won’t save him from being hit in the head by a tree.”
At that moment Jonathan receives a magical mental message from Simeon. “Lee has left the Fire tomb, and I’ve been able to scry on him at last. He’s hiding behind a statue of what appears to be a gargoyle.”
Jonathan passes this information on to the others. There are a number of gargoyle statues on the prison roof.
“Come out Lee,” bellows Gribron. “We know you are hiding behind that statue.”
There is a brief pause, and then the familiar bald, tanned and muscular figure of Lee Sidoneth steps out from his hiding place. “Greetings,” he says. “I wish we met in better circumstances.”
“Give up the control wand Lee, and we’ll let you live,” says Caryk.
“A noble offer, Caryk, but one that duty prevents me from accepting. My hands are tied. The best counter offer I am empowered to make is that if you give up the Orb of Storms I will make your deaths as painless as possible.”
The party howl in derision at this feeble proposal. Moving quickly, Lee snatches two crystals from his pocket, and hurls one at each of the nearest statues. Amazingly, they come to life.
Lee points a finger at Agatha. “Kill her!” he commands. Both statues fly over to Agatha and do their best to rip her apart.
Agatha ducks under their claws, and hurls a blast of eldritch power at the nearest gargoyle. It strikes home, but the creature has some resistance to her attack and not all of it gets through.
Jonathan, calling upon the mental energy in the first of his cognisance crystals, manifests a bolt of ice which strikes the druid. Gribron hurls another of his little bags at Lee, but fumbles the throw horribly.
Caryk calls upon the power of Aurean to bless the party.
Lee calls a bolt of lightning down from the storm and onto Jonathan. However, some sixth sense allows him to step out of the way at the last moment, and he avoids the worst of the damage.
Agatha is not so lucky. She falls under the onslaught of the gargoyles. She pulls a potion from her belt and manages to drink down its healing draught. It makes her feel a bit better.
Jonathan launches another ice bolt. Gribron strides forward and strikes Lee. Lee starts to feel tired as the spell held in Gribron’s hand leeches away his energy, but he strikes back with a flurry of painful blows.
The gargoyles continue to tear into Agatha. She falls into unconsciousness, barely alive. Caryk moves over to her and casts a healing spell, but its not enough to get her back on her feet. The gargoyles, obedient to their master’s commands, continue to attack their prone opponent. They rip her apart, and then crumble back into stone as the spell that animated them wears off.
Caryk kneels down next to Agatha’s ravaged body. To his amazement, she is still alive, even though no one should be able to survive the wounds she has taken. This must be the final, unlooked for benefit of Indomitability’s boon. Uttering a brief prayer of thanks to Aurean, he charges towards the druid.
Gribron has resorted to using his wand to fire magical missiles at the druid, and is slowly wearing him down. Lee retaliates to somewhat more effect by calling down bolts of lightning from the storm.
Jonathan, having exhausted the power in the last of his crystals by manifesting a bolt of ice that misses Lee by scant inches, joins Caryk in melee. Its not clear which one of them strikes the telling blow.
Lee falls to his knees, and drops the control wand. He turns his face up to the skies and cries out, “Master, let your winds destroy them!” Immediately, a whirlwind grows up put of his body, ripping his flesh into tiny pieces which fly away on the wind. When his body finally disintegrates, the eye of the storm disappears and the party are suddenly engulfed by the storm, and in terrible peril as objects start hurtling towards them.
Jonathan spots the control wand, resting on the empty pile of Lee’s clothes, and grabs it. Without knowing what else to do, he simply wills the storm to stop ….. and it does!
Scene 4 – Messenger of Gentle Winds
Battered, bruised but triumphant, our heroes head back to what is left of Seaquen. Agatha in particular, now fully healed by the power of the inquisitor’s wand, cannot believe that she is still alive.
Caryk is the first to hear the steady flap of giant wings. Looking up he spots the Takasi the giant eagle heading towards them.
Takasi glides in to land before them, and bows. “The storm has broken,” he says, “but not before destroying much of the town, and also sinking most of the Shahalesti fleet. Many lives have been lost, including that of my friend, Laurabec.
“I return now to the Twilight Forest, to mourn my dear friend. However, were it not for your bravery things would have been much worse.” He opens a talon and drops three crystalline objects in front of Caryk. “Take these as a symbol of my regard. If you should have need of me, crush a crystal and call out my name.
“Three times I shall answer your call, but do not delay too long in seeking my assistance for I foresee that eventually your journey will take you to places where my modest abilities will be inconsequential. Fare you well, my friends.” With that he takes to the air and flies off into the distance.
“These crystals,” says Caryk. “They’re not …. worth … anything are they?”
Jonathan picks one up and examines it. “I don’t think so.”
“Thank Aurean for that!”
“Hi Guys,” says Caryk. “Simeon saw me helping the townsfolk weather the storm, and said you might need some help.”
“You could say that,” says Jonathan. “Our powers are almost spent.”
“Then perhaps we should rest, and recover our faculties?”
“I’d love to,” says Jonathan, “but these winds are getting stronger by the minute. If we rest, there won’t be a town left to save.”
They press on, and emerge into what was once the prison’s cell block. In theory there are twelve cells, in two banks of six with a corridor running between them. However, the cells are all so damaged that it is a simple matter to clamber in and out of them. Each cell is occupied by two human skeletons. The two nearest skeletons each have a metallic necklace of some kind.
“There’s no way those skeletons date from the time this was a prison,” says Jonathan. “They would be in much worse condition. In fact, they remind me of the bones on the witches’ island – and we all remember what happened there”
“I’d better go first then,” says Caryk. He steps cautiously into the passageway – and nothing happens.
“That’s good,” says Jonathan, and steps in behind Caryk. As soon as he does so, the skeletons clamber to their feet and advance on the party, with their bony, claw-like fingers outstretched.
Skeletons are probably the weakest of the undead, and most necromancers supply their skeletal minions with at least rudimentary arms and armour in order to make them more effective. However, these skeletons, like the ones on the witches’ isle, have to make do with their natural weapons.
The party manages to dispatch the skeletons relatively easily, suffering only a few scrapes and bruises in the process.
They head into the next chamber, which if anything is more heavily waterlogged than the last. The only obvious exit is a set of stairs heading downwards – but these are completely underwater. Our heroes pause to consider their options, but suddenly three dark shapes head towards them through the water. These appear to be some kind of strange combination of man and fish, presumably more examples of biomancy.
Only Jonathan spots their stealthy approach. He catches the lead creature a glancing blow with his mace. This seems to enrage the beasts, and they target him with their attacks. They seek to grab hold of his flesh with their teeth and claws and drag him under the water, but he is able to fend them off until Caryk can stride forward in support.
Agatha tries to blast the nearest creature, but forgets to allow for the displacement effect of the water and her shot goes wide. Cursing, she adjusts her aim and this time there is no mistake – the creature lets out a burbling scream and sinks to the floor.
Jonathan and Caryk combine their efforts on the second one, and it collapses under their onslaught.
Gribron, seeking to conserve what is left of his magical powers, draws his sword and stabs it deep into the gill slits of the third. He then withdraws his sword with a deft twist, and the fatally wounded creature collapses in a pool of blood. The others look at him in disbelief ….
Caryk is clearly the party’s best swimmer, and he heads down the stairs to investigate the creatures’ lair. The only interesting feature of this downstairs room is the five foot diameter hole in the floor. There is a red glow coming from the hole, and the water feels considerably warmer here. Someone has rigged up a pulley next to the shaft.
Running out of air, he heads back up to the others.
The party do a quick inventory, and determine that between them they have three potions of water breathing. Gribron volunteers to drink one and scout out the shaft.
Gribron investigates the pulley, but can identify nothing unusual about it. The shaft descends further than he can see, and he decides to head down it. Unfortunately, he fails to spot a pair of thin wires across the top of the shaft, and he breaks them as he swims through. There is a brief pause, then a muffled crack, as if a thunderstone had just exploded. Clearly he has triggered an alarm system of some kind.
He swims down the shaft, and is amazed when his head emerges into air. He is looking into a large cavern, which is almost completely free of water. Some force, presumably magic, is preventing the water from entering. There is also a river of lava cutting the cavern in two. It is not immediately obvious where the lave is coming from, but the only way across is a hump backed bridge. There is a closed stone door on the far side of the bridge.
Gribron is pleased that there is air in the cavern. The lack of potions won’t be a drawback after all. He heads back up and gets the others.
Scene 2 – The Pyromancer’s Tomb
The party heads down the shaft and into the cavern. Just as they arrive, the door at the far end bursts open and eight half orcs rush into the room. They are heavily armed and armoured, and are wearing the uniform of the Ragesian army. Moving in a disciplined formation, they take up positions on the edge of the lava and loose a volley of crossbow bolts at the party. Miraculously, every shot goes wide.
Caryk steps onto the bridge, to ensure the soldiers cannot cross and attack his comrades, and lets loose a burst of sonic energy which causes four of them to reel in pain; two of those four are briefly stunned by the impact.
Gribron moves up behind Caryk. “Close your eyes,” he whispers, and Caryk complies. A burst of glowing lights erupts from Gribron’s hands, engulfing Caryk and four of the soldiers. Two of the soldiers collapse under the sensory overload.
Meanwhile, Jonathan and Agatha content themselves with picking off the soldiers with ranged attacks – Agatha’s eldritch blasts naturally proving more effective against the heavily armoured troops than Jonathan’s crossbow.
Two of the soldiers drop their crossbows and un sling their shields and battleaxes. They then step forward to engage Caryk, leaving an inviting gap between them for him to step into and allow them to flank him. Caryk is not going to fall for that, however, and the soldiers can’t penetrate his defences.
The remaining soldiers let off another volley, far more ragged than the first.
Gribron creates an illusion of a solid bridge covering the entire lava. “I’ve put up a bridge,” he says to his comrades. “We can all pile across.” Fortunately, none of his companions take him up on that. The Ragesian soldiers have a healthy respect for the lava – unbeknown to the party, one of them recently fell in and died horribly – so are reluctant to trust this bridge either.
Shrugging, Gribron causes his “bridge” to rise up and move towards the Ragesians, who withdraw before it in disarray. Their formation thus disrupted, the party are able to pick them off relatively easily.
Gribron and Jonathan move forward to loot the bodies – including those of the two unconscious ones – whilst Caryk opens the stone door. He sees a room with two doors in the opposite wall. Between the doors is a stone dragon head. The dragon is snarling, but the interior of its mouth is completely dark.
Each of the soldiers had two potions. Agatha identifies them as healing potions. They tie up the two survivors, and start to interrogate them. However, they appear to have had some training in resisting questioning – or possibly they fear their superiors more than they fear the party. Of course, they don’t know our heroes that well ….
Caryk shuts the stone door, to keep the heat out of his chamber, and starts examining the dragon’s head. He could probably fit inside its mouth, but for some reason he is reluctant to do so.
Meanwhile, Gribron and Jonathan have lost patience with the prisoners. Sine threats are not working very well, they decide on a more practical approach. Taking an arm each, they dangle him over the lava.
“Now you’d better start co-operating, or we’ll drop you in,” snarls Gribron. Unfortunately, at that moment his grip slips, and the half-orc’s foot falls into the lava. Instead of answering the question, he starts screaming in agony.
This noise attracts Caryk’s attention even through the closed door, and he heads back into the cavern to see what is happening. When they spot the door opening, Gribron and Jonathan simply let go and the half orc falls to a grisly death.
Seeing the pair at the edge of the lava, Caryk rushes over. “What happened? What was that screaming?”
“One of the prisoners tried to escape,” says Jonathan, “but tripped and fell into the lava. We tried to catch him, but we were too slow.”
“What a horrible way to go,” says Caryk with a shudder. “Bring the last prisoner through into the next room. That should avoid any more tragedies, and perhaps he can tell us something about the dragon.”
The half orc seems slightly more co-operative now. He denies knowing anything about the dragon, claiming they had all steered clear of it, but volunteers to investigate.”
Caryk helps him into the mouth. “Can you see anything?”
“It’s a small room. There’s a door at the far end, with glowing red runes around its edges.”
“Can you read what they say?”
“No.”
The party clamber in after the half-orc, but none of them can read the runes either. Jonathan guesses that they are probably in ignan, the language of fire creatures.
Gribron moves forward and checks the door for traps. He can’t find any, so sets about trying to open the door. However, the door resists his attempts at opening. More ominously, as soon as he touches it the runes around the door start to flare angrily and the ceiling turns an ominous red in colour.
“I think we’d better get out of here,” says Gribron.
The rest of them agree, and set off in a mad scramble for the exit. The half-orc brings up the rear, hampered by his bonds, and he is still in the room when lava starts to rain down from the ceiling. He too dies horribly.
The two doors from the other room both turn out to lead to the same place, a roughly C shaped room with two exits. The room seems to be some sort of biomancy laboratory. There are vats and tanks containing strange fluids, and various tools and texts of the trade.
Gribron discovers a magical bottle, which seems to contain an almost endless supply of air. This must be how the Ragesians enter and leave through the water.
The door to the north leads to what appears to be a storeroom of some sort. It has been cleared of any useful items. There is a strange stand on a desk in the corner. It is an oval wooden plate, with a setting for an orb of some sort. It is carved with images of two unidentified gods blowing storms from their lips.
The other door opens out into another cavern. This also has a river of lava flowing through it, spanned by a single bridge. There are a couple of what appear to be cells on the other side. They are of recent construction, presumably “improvements” made by the Ragesians.
There is also a door on this side of the lava. Caryk moves over to it and opens it, his comrades close behind.
Once the door is open, Caryk catches a brief glimpse of the figure of an orc, his face covered by a bear skull mask and a three pronged metal claw strapped to his waist. It could be the twin of the inquisitor they killed at Haddin’s farm.
Before any of the party can react, a massive sheet of flame shoots out from the orc’s hands and engulfs the party. A burning hands spell – but one far more ferocious, and covering a larger area, than they had ever seen before. It appears the Fire Tomb makes fire spells far more potent than normal.
Caryk casts a protective spell on himself, then heads into the room. Gribron drinks a healing potion. Agatha strikes the orc a powerful blow with an eldritch blast, but he barely flinches. Clearly he is a tough opponent. Jonathan wings him with a crossbow bolt, but he does not even seem to notice.
The inquisitor once again calls upon the power of his unknown deity, and a massive wall of fire erupts out of the floor in front of him. It splits the room in two, then flows out through the doorway and splits the rest of the cavern in two as well. Jonathan and Agatha are caught within it, and stagger out of it at opposite sides. Jonathan notices that the side he is on, the inquisitor’s side, is not giving off any heat. The other side is very definitely hot, and Caryk and Gribron both suffer from the flame even though they were not caught within the wall itself.
“This isn’t going well,” thinks Caryk, as he casts another protective spell on himself. He is trapped in the room, taking damage from the heat, but unable to reach the inquisitor without running through the wall of fire. His comrades cannot enter the room to help him without doing the same, as the wall of fire runs through the doorway.
Gribron drinks another potion of healing, and tries to think of a plan. Jonathan does likewise.
Agatha can’t see the inquisitor through the wall, but she can remember where he was standing earlier. She fires a speculative blast at his last known position, and is rewarded by the sound of it striking home.
The inquisitor curses his own foolishness, and changes position. He cannot see any targets either, but he launches a blast of sound through the wall. He doesn’t know exactly where Caryk is, but it doesn’t really matter as this spell affects the entire area.
Caryk grunts as he gets a taste of his on medicine. Then he draws a deep breath and rushes through the wall and attacks. The inquisitor is amazed by Caryk’s insane bravery, and is unable to block the blow.
Gribron makes a decision, an also rushes towards the wall. However, just as he reaches it he disappears, and re-appears on the other side.
Jonathan steels himself, and runs through the flames too.
“You lot can run through fire to reach the bad guy if you want,” thinks Agatha, “but I’m staying where I am.”
The inquisitor gestures, and a ball of fire appears in his hand. He hurls it at Caryk, who is very much the worse for wear after his recent experiences. The effect of the Fire Tomb applies once more, and Caryk collapses to the ground. At least he isn’t bleeding to death, thanks to Indomitability’s boon.
Gribron pulls a bag from his backpack, and hurls it at the inquisitor. It splits apart on impact, and drenches the orc in foul smelling goo. The goo quickly hardens, hampering his movements.
Jonathan then, with the last of his mental strength, hurls a bolt of acid at the inquisitor. The orc tries to counterspell, but the attempt fails. The acid strikes home, and the orc collapses into a badly damaged corpse.
Seeking another orc skull for his small collection, Jonathan pulls off the bear mask. He is surprised to recognise the inquisitor – it is Ogoth, the orc they met at the Lyceum. Clearly he wasn’t an “ex-inquisitor” after all.
Gribron loots the body, and finds a wand of healing. He gives it to Caryk, who uses it to heal everybody and then gives it back to Gribron. The orc also has a number of scrolls, a magical brooch, another wand of unknown purpose, and an unusual orb. The orb is an eight inch sphere of black glass etched with unusual curving silver patterns.
“This orb is radiating strong transmutation magic,” says Gribron. “I think it must be what we are after. Question is, how does it work?”
“Maybe there’s a clue in this room,” says Caryk. “We’d better have a hunt around.”
There are no clues, but there is a sizeable amount of what appears to be mail sent to Seaquen from out of town, somehow intercepted by the Ragesians. One of the items is addressed to Jonathan Farrier, much to everyone’s surprise.
Jonathan opens up his package, and finds three crystals and a note.
“Dear Jonathan,
“I have entrusted this note to a courier who is teleporting into Seaquen. He is confident he has sufficient protection from fire to survive the effect of the Burning Sky. I have seen troubled times ahead for Seaquen, and I hope the enclosed cognisance crystals will help you weather the storms to come.”
It is signed with Dreamcatcher’s rune.
The party move to check out the cells, of which there are four. One of them contains a mysterious white stone monolith, and is magically warded. Two of the others are occupied by a human male and a Shahalesti elf female, who Caryk quickly frees.
The man is called Teymour and the woman is Faquaniel. They both attempted to teleport to Seaquen with more powerful companions, only to arrive in the cell with the white monolith instead. Their arrival triggered a number of traps, which immobilised them. The guards then killed their companions and imprisoned them.
“That explains why that erinyes didn’t want to teleport,” says Jonathan. “That monolith would have drawn her into this trap. I suppose the Wayfarer’s ship is too big to be caught.
“Still no sign of Lee. I’m pretty sure we’ve been everywhere now. You two wouldn’t happen to know anything about his whereabouts by any chance?” He describes Lee to them.
“He was here earlier,” says Faquaniel. “He and the orc had an argument. Lee said he was leaving, and taking with him what he called the control wand in order to keep it separate from an orb of some sort, ‘just in case’. The orc said he was being paranoid, and that it would be perfectly safe down here. Lee took the wand anyway, and stormed out. I guess the orc was wrong, huh?”
“How the heck are we going to find Lee in this storm?” asks Gribron. “He’s bound to have taken some of those tidereaver’s tears, so he’ll be unaffected by the wind.”
“I don’t know,” says Caryk, “but we’ve got to try.”
Scene 3 – Back into the Storm
As our heroes head back up to the open air, they can feel the increased effect of the wind. The water near the exit of the prison has become very choppy, and the wind is cutting through every crack in the building’s walls.
Once outside, the ferocity of the storm is amazing, even though the party are safely in its eye. Rocks, boulders, trees, even buildings are being blown about.
“If Lee’s out and about in that, then he’s dead,” says Caryk. “Tidereaver’s tears won’t save him from being hit in the head by a tree.”
At that moment Jonathan receives a magical mental message from Simeon. “Lee has left the Fire tomb, and I’ve been able to scry on him at last. He’s hiding behind a statue of what appears to be a gargoyle.”
Jonathan passes this information on to the others. There are a number of gargoyle statues on the prison roof.
“Come out Lee,” bellows Gribron. “We know you are hiding behind that statue.”
There is a brief pause, and then the familiar bald, tanned and muscular figure of Lee Sidoneth steps out from his hiding place. “Greetings,” he says. “I wish we met in better circumstances.”
“Give up the control wand Lee, and we’ll let you live,” says Caryk.
“A noble offer, Caryk, but one that duty prevents me from accepting. My hands are tied. The best counter offer I am empowered to make is that if you give up the Orb of Storms I will make your deaths as painless as possible.”
The party howl in derision at this feeble proposal. Moving quickly, Lee snatches two crystals from his pocket, and hurls one at each of the nearest statues. Amazingly, they come to life.
Lee points a finger at Agatha. “Kill her!” he commands. Both statues fly over to Agatha and do their best to rip her apart.
Agatha ducks under their claws, and hurls a blast of eldritch power at the nearest gargoyle. It strikes home, but the creature has some resistance to her attack and not all of it gets through.
Jonathan, calling upon the mental energy in the first of his cognisance crystals, manifests a bolt of ice which strikes the druid. Gribron hurls another of his little bags at Lee, but fumbles the throw horribly.
Caryk calls upon the power of Aurean to bless the party.
Lee calls a bolt of lightning down from the storm and onto Jonathan. However, some sixth sense allows him to step out of the way at the last moment, and he avoids the worst of the damage.
Agatha is not so lucky. She falls under the onslaught of the gargoyles. She pulls a potion from her belt and manages to drink down its healing draught. It makes her feel a bit better.
Jonathan launches another ice bolt. Gribron strides forward and strikes Lee. Lee starts to feel tired as the spell held in Gribron’s hand leeches away his energy, but he strikes back with a flurry of painful blows.
The gargoyles continue to tear into Agatha. She falls into unconsciousness, barely alive. Caryk moves over to her and casts a healing spell, but its not enough to get her back on her feet. The gargoyles, obedient to their master’s commands, continue to attack their prone opponent. They rip her apart, and then crumble back into stone as the spell that animated them wears off.
Caryk kneels down next to Agatha’s ravaged body. To his amazement, she is still alive, even though no one should be able to survive the wounds she has taken. This must be the final, unlooked for benefit of Indomitability’s boon. Uttering a brief prayer of thanks to Aurean, he charges towards the druid.
Gribron has resorted to using his wand to fire magical missiles at the druid, and is slowly wearing him down. Lee retaliates to somewhat more effect by calling down bolts of lightning from the storm.
Jonathan, having exhausted the power in the last of his crystals by manifesting a bolt of ice that misses Lee by scant inches, joins Caryk in melee. Its not clear which one of them strikes the telling blow.
Lee falls to his knees, and drops the control wand. He turns his face up to the skies and cries out, “Master, let your winds destroy them!” Immediately, a whirlwind grows up put of his body, ripping his flesh into tiny pieces which fly away on the wind. When his body finally disintegrates, the eye of the storm disappears and the party are suddenly engulfed by the storm, and in terrible peril as objects start hurtling towards them.
Jonathan spots the control wand, resting on the empty pile of Lee’s clothes, and grabs it. Without knowing what else to do, he simply wills the storm to stop ….. and it does!
Scene 4 – Messenger of Gentle Winds
Battered, bruised but triumphant, our heroes head back to what is left of Seaquen. Agatha in particular, now fully healed by the power of the inquisitor’s wand, cannot believe that she is still alive.
Caryk is the first to hear the steady flap of giant wings. Looking up he spots the Takasi the giant eagle heading towards them.
Takasi glides in to land before them, and bows. “The storm has broken,” he says, “but not before destroying much of the town, and also sinking most of the Shahalesti fleet. Many lives have been lost, including that of my friend, Laurabec.
“I return now to the Twilight Forest, to mourn my dear friend. However, were it not for your bravery things would have been much worse.” He opens a talon and drops three crystalline objects in front of Caryk. “Take these as a symbol of my regard. If you should have need of me, crush a crystal and call out my name.
“Three times I shall answer your call, but do not delay too long in seeking my assistance for I foresee that eventually your journey will take you to places where my modest abilities will be inconsequential. Fare you well, my friends.” With that he takes to the air and flies off into the distance.
“These crystals,” says Caryk. “They’re not …. worth … anything are they?”
Jonathan picks one up and examines it. “I don’t think so.”
“Thank Aurean for that!”
RangerWickett
Legend
Hey, not all heroes can be motivated by altruism. Just remind them, though, how much money they'll make in book deals, endorsements, and the lecture circuit after they save the world.
Toby Underfoot
First Post
Oh joy. A life of Jonathan Farrier meets Al Gore. Ever heard of that song 'Gloomy Sunday'? 
RangerWickett
Legend
So what's up next?
Apologies for the delay, and I'm still one session behind (and soon to be two sessions), but I bring you our first session of The Mad King's Banquet.
A session in which my players earned a massive amount of XP and all I got to do was fail saving throws. Although Gribron did lose 2 hp from falling out of a sleigh.
A session in which my players earned a massive amount of XP and all I got to do was fail saving throws. Although Gribron did lose 2 hp from falling out of a sleigh.
Part 1 of 2
The Mad King’s Banquet
Act One – Message for the King
Scene 1 - Lyceum
February 8th, 10am
A week has passed since our heroes saved Seaquen from destruction.
Noble hearted Jonathan spent much of that time helping to heal the injuries caused by the storm, whilst the rest helped out with the rebuilding to a greater or lesser degree. It is also a time to take stock and re-supply.
However, these activities are interrupted by a request to meet Simeon at his office.
When our heroes arrive, they find Simeon is accompanied by Kiernan, his right hand dwarf, and the fire mage, Katrina. It occurs to Gribron that Katrina has become a central figure in Seaquen’s politics in a short space of time. She greets the characters warmly, as is her usual habit.
Also there is a fourth person, a half-elf who Simeon introduces as Balan Bostom.
“If you remember the council meeting,” says Simeon, “I mentioned that we would be sending an envoy to Bresk, the capital of Dassen, to meet with King Steppengard, to try and convince him not to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Ragesians. Such a treaty would allow their troops to march through his lands, and both attack Gate Pass from a new direction and threaten us in Seaquen.”
“Who could forget that meeting,” says Gribron. “With those arrogant elves turning up and everything.”
“Since none of you claimed any diplomatic prowess,” says Simeon, “I have arranged for Balan here to be our envoy. If the king won’t listen, perhaps Balan can persuade some of the nobles to support us. There are eight lords of the eight domains, and they are a pretty disparate bunch.
“The journey to the king’s court is not without danger, and the court itself may be worse – there is a Ragesian inquisitor in residence at the moment. I’d appreciate if you heroes would accompany Balan, to make sure nothing happens to him.”
The party agree to the task, and arrange to meet Balan the next morning. Simeon offers to supply them with healing potions, and any other gear they might need.
On their way back to their quarters, they notice a young man staring at them. The man wanders over to them. He seems quite overawed to be speaking to the saviours of Seaquen.
“I… I’m sorry to bother you. I wanted to ask, are you going to Bresk? Would you be able to take a letter to my father?”
“News travels fast around here!” says Solsus. “What’s your name, and who is your father?”
“Sorry, I should have said. My name is Jineer. My father is Jinis. He’s Lord Gallo’s proxy at the court of King Steppengard. I’m afraid something bad is going to happen to him …”
“If he’s there and you are here,” says Solsus, “what makes you think he might be in trouble?”
“I spoke to that lady, Cristin. You know, the one who has visions. She said she had a vision about my dad, she saw him ‘Caged by Madness’. I don’t know what it means, but it doesn’t sound good. Please can you help me?”
They certainly remember Cristin’s visions from the time they travelled with her and her father through the Fire Forest. At that time, those visions which were comprehensible proved to be disturbingly accurate.
The party agree to take the letter. It is unsealed, and once out of sight of Jineer they inspect it carefully for poisons, hidden blades and the like, and then read it. Basically, its contents are as advertised, with the addition that Jineer has praised the party as the saviours of Seaquen and asks him to request their aid if he gets into trouble.
The next day the party leave town with Balan. It takes them a couple of days to get through the swamp to Vidor, but this time their journey is uneventful. From there it is a short journey to the Nasham River.
The breaking of the storm at least put an end to the constant rainfall. However, the weather has now turned colder. As a result, the Nasham River has frozen over, and the party are able to hire a reindeer-drawn sleigh and travel along it.
It is approximately one hundred and twenty miles to Bresk. The sleigh makes good progress across the ice, so the trip should take about three days. Throughout the journey, Balan picks up all the expenses, courtesy of a purse given to him by Simeon.
Scene 2 – Nasham River
February 10th, 2 pm
At first, the journey is uneventful. There are convenient inns at which to spend the night, and the people of Dassen are polite, if not particularly welcoming. However, the closer they get to Bresk the more guarded and withdrawn the population seem to become. The party discover that the king has recently instituted a secret police force, called the Talon, to hunt out traitors and assassins, and as a result the people are wary of strangers – whilst eager to loudly proclaim their loyalty to the throne at every opportunity.
Solsus gets into the habit of flying above the sleigh in order to keep an eye out for trouble ahead. At one point, he hears the sound of a disturbance ahead and to the side of the sleigh. He disappears from sight, and flies over to investigate.
Strange and disturbing sight greets him. A large crowd of people are fleeing across the snow-covered hills. They are being pursued by a towering monstrous centipede with glowing red plates along its back. The centipede-like creature is obviously generating intense heat, turning the snow to water as it passes. Solsus realises that if the creature reaches the river it is likely to melt the ice, with very bad consequences for any of its quarry who are on the river at the time.
Thinking quickly, Solsus calls out to the others for assistance, then creates an illusion of a wall of ice between the centipede and its prey. The creature stops in puzzlement. It clearly has at least a rudimentary intelligence. It pauses for a second, then tries to melt the “wall” using the heat from its body. It hasn’t realised the wall is an illusion, and this allows its prey to open up a slight lead.
Solsus strikes the creature with a sling bucket, but the armoured beast doesn’t even notice. “This might take a while,” thinks Solsus, “and that illusion isn’t going to hold it forever.”
At that moment a roiling cloud of blackness surrounds the beast. Nauseated by the fumes, the creature vomits up the burnt remains of its last victim, and it retreats out of the cloud.
Gribron grins to himself. “You’d think a beast like that would have a stronger stomach!”
“Hopefully it is cleverer than it looks,” says Jonathan. “Or at least has something passing for a mind.” He lets loose a blast of mental energy, and the beast writhes in agony.
Agatha follows up with an eldritch blast, and Ambar launches two magical missiles of force which unerringly hit their target. Somehow it didn’t seem like a good idea to strike the hot creature with her wooden sword.
Jonathan fires a bolt of electricity at the creature, Ambar lets loose with some more force missiles, and the creature falls down dead. It clearly posed a threat to fleeing peasants, but couldn’t manage so much as an attack against an experienced party of adventurers.
The creature’s erstwhile prey come over to the heroes, and offer their heartfelt thanks. It emerges that they are refugees heading for Seaquen, and they promise to spread word of the party’s latest exploit, which can only increase their already impressive reputation.
February 10th, 3 pm
The sleigh continues to speed along the river – until suddenly it comes to an abrupt halt. Jonathan and Gribron are caught unawares, and are hurled out of the sleigh onto the ice.
Gribron winces in pain, and gingerly gets to his feet. Jonathan, in contrast, seems unharmed by the experience.
“How do you do that?” asks Gribron.
“All it takes is a positive mental attitude. I will away the pain, and there is no pain. Or injury.”
The party investigate the sleigh. In an unlikely twist of fate, one of the runners has caught on a loop of leather which is poking up through the ice.
“Let’s break a hole in the ice and see what’s under there,” says Gribron.
“I strongly recommend we move the sleigh first!” says Balan.
The loop of leather turns out to be a belt belonging to a corpse frozen in the ice. Further digging uncovers another two bodies. The ice around them does not match the rest of the river’s surface. It appears someone has melted the ice with fire, dumped the bodies in the resulting hole, then relied on the re-freezing of the river to hide the evidence.
Each body has the same device on its clothing – a leopard and a serpent dancing under a sunburst. Balan recognises this as the livery of Lady Dene, one of the eight lords of Dassen. Two of the men were shot in the back by crossbow bolts. The third appears to have been hanged.
The party are reluctant to be caught with unexplained corpses, and decide their best course of action is to burn another hole in the river and toss the bodies back in. Jonathan persuades the others that he needs to carry out a full autopsy first, and spends a happy ten minutes with his tools while the rest of them find somewhere else to look.
February 10th, 4 pm
It is starting to get dark, and the party are on the lookout for an inn to stay the night.
The road normally winds and turns in the distance, but at this point it is running alongside the river. Up ahead the party can see a colourful caravan of three wagons stopped by the roadside. The halfling owners are remonstrating with a group of armed men who are engaged in searching the wagons. The men – four foot soldiers and a mounted leader - are wearing what Balan identifies as King Steppengard’s symbol – a rearing sphinx surrounded by eight small triangles.
As the party approach, there is a woman’s scream. The halflings increase their clamour as the King’s men pull a human woman out from a concealed crawlspace underneath the middle wagon.
Solsus, invisible, calls out to the men, who try to figure out which of the party is speaking.
“Move along,” says the mounted man. “This is the King’s business.”
In response, Jonathan throws back his hood and waves of fear flow out from him towards the men. Gribron repeats the trick that worked so well with the magical centipede, and two of the men are caught in a black cloud that leaves them retching.
The enemy leader draws his sword, and strikes down his prisoner. Those of his men who are not incapacitated turn on the halflings.
Solsus flies soundlessly forward and checks on the woman. She is alive, but only just. Carefully, he uses his healing power to close the worst of her wounds.
Agatha tries to blast the leader from the saddle, but he is a tough opponent – he sways but he does not fall. Snarling, he moves his horse forward and strikes at Agatha, but she dodges nimbly out of the way.
Jonathan fires a blast of fire at the nearest soldier. The man screams in pain, but is still alive. Compassionate as ever, Jonathan follows up with a blast of ice to put out the flames. “Don’t bother to thank me,” he says, as his victim turns into a half-burnt, half-frozen corpse.
Gribron waves his hands, and a cone of scintillating lights shoots at two of the soldiers – and the invisible Solsus. Fortunately, Solsus has seen this particular spell before, and manages to cover his eyes in time. This is the second time Gribron has sprayed his fellow party members, but at least this time it wasn’t deliberate.
Ambar and Agatha manage to down the enemy leader, and his troops collapse under the magical onslaught of the rest of the party.
Their female victim, now fully healed, is very grateful. The halfings have suffered superficial cuts and bruises, but are otherwise fine.
“Who are those men, and why were they attacking you?” asks Solsus.
“They are members of the Talon, the secret police force,” says the woman.
“I see they were wearing badges,” says Gribron. “They obviously take their secrecy every bit as seriously as the Gate Pass Resistance does.”
“They stopped our wagons and accused us of being spies,” says one of the halflings. “We are peaceful merchants, heading home to Ostalin. What could we be spying on? This kingdom has gone mad, and the sooner we are safely back home the better.”
“But you were smuggling this lady,” says Agatha.
“My name is Hethal,” says the woman. “After the tragic death of the king’s family …”
“The what!?!” exclaims Balan. “We haven’t heard anything about this.”
“It was terrible,” says Hethal. “The King’s five eldest children were at a party. They and all the other guests were cut to pieces, but there was no sign of any assassins. Almost at the same time, as far as we can tell, the King’s other thirteen children and the Queen were fatally poisoned at dinner. The King would have died as well, but purely by chance he was delayed from attending the dinner by one of his nobles, who wanted to complain about the Ragesian ambassador.”
“But what does this have to do with you?” asks Solsus.
“The King’s response was to form the Talon. It’s headed up by his advisor, the gnome wizard Nina Glibglammer. They have been scouring the countryside, accusing people of all sorts of things. My boyfriend, who is one of Lady Dene’s envoys, was accused of being one of the assassins. He managed to escape with two of his friends, and is heading back to his lady to give her news of what’s been going on.
“I heard that the Talon were coming for me because of my connection to him, and these brave halflings agreed to try and smuggle me into Ostalin.”
“Then we have some bad news for you,” says Jonathan, putting on his most sympathetic voice. “We found three bodies in Lady Dene’s livery buried under the ice. I guess your boyfriend didn’t make it back to Lady Dene.”
The Mad King’s Banquet
Act One – Message for the King
Scene 1 - Lyceum
February 8th, 10am
A week has passed since our heroes saved Seaquen from destruction.
Noble hearted Jonathan spent much of that time helping to heal the injuries caused by the storm, whilst the rest helped out with the rebuilding to a greater or lesser degree. It is also a time to take stock and re-supply.
However, these activities are interrupted by a request to meet Simeon at his office.
When our heroes arrive, they find Simeon is accompanied by Kiernan, his right hand dwarf, and the fire mage, Katrina. It occurs to Gribron that Katrina has become a central figure in Seaquen’s politics in a short space of time. She greets the characters warmly, as is her usual habit.
Also there is a fourth person, a half-elf who Simeon introduces as Balan Bostom.
“If you remember the council meeting,” says Simeon, “I mentioned that we would be sending an envoy to Bresk, the capital of Dassen, to meet with King Steppengard, to try and convince him not to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Ragesians. Such a treaty would allow their troops to march through his lands, and both attack Gate Pass from a new direction and threaten us in Seaquen.”
“Who could forget that meeting,” says Gribron. “With those arrogant elves turning up and everything.”
“Since none of you claimed any diplomatic prowess,” says Simeon, “I have arranged for Balan here to be our envoy. If the king won’t listen, perhaps Balan can persuade some of the nobles to support us. There are eight lords of the eight domains, and they are a pretty disparate bunch.
“The journey to the king’s court is not without danger, and the court itself may be worse – there is a Ragesian inquisitor in residence at the moment. I’d appreciate if you heroes would accompany Balan, to make sure nothing happens to him.”
The party agree to the task, and arrange to meet Balan the next morning. Simeon offers to supply them with healing potions, and any other gear they might need.
On their way back to their quarters, they notice a young man staring at them. The man wanders over to them. He seems quite overawed to be speaking to the saviours of Seaquen.
“I… I’m sorry to bother you. I wanted to ask, are you going to Bresk? Would you be able to take a letter to my father?”
“News travels fast around here!” says Solsus. “What’s your name, and who is your father?”
“Sorry, I should have said. My name is Jineer. My father is Jinis. He’s Lord Gallo’s proxy at the court of King Steppengard. I’m afraid something bad is going to happen to him …”
“If he’s there and you are here,” says Solsus, “what makes you think he might be in trouble?”
“I spoke to that lady, Cristin. You know, the one who has visions. She said she had a vision about my dad, she saw him ‘Caged by Madness’. I don’t know what it means, but it doesn’t sound good. Please can you help me?”
They certainly remember Cristin’s visions from the time they travelled with her and her father through the Fire Forest. At that time, those visions which were comprehensible proved to be disturbingly accurate.
The party agree to take the letter. It is unsealed, and once out of sight of Jineer they inspect it carefully for poisons, hidden blades and the like, and then read it. Basically, its contents are as advertised, with the addition that Jineer has praised the party as the saviours of Seaquen and asks him to request their aid if he gets into trouble.
The next day the party leave town with Balan. It takes them a couple of days to get through the swamp to Vidor, but this time their journey is uneventful. From there it is a short journey to the Nasham River.
The breaking of the storm at least put an end to the constant rainfall. However, the weather has now turned colder. As a result, the Nasham River has frozen over, and the party are able to hire a reindeer-drawn sleigh and travel along it.
It is approximately one hundred and twenty miles to Bresk. The sleigh makes good progress across the ice, so the trip should take about three days. Throughout the journey, Balan picks up all the expenses, courtesy of a purse given to him by Simeon.
Scene 2 – Nasham River
February 10th, 2 pm
At first, the journey is uneventful. There are convenient inns at which to spend the night, and the people of Dassen are polite, if not particularly welcoming. However, the closer they get to Bresk the more guarded and withdrawn the population seem to become. The party discover that the king has recently instituted a secret police force, called the Talon, to hunt out traitors and assassins, and as a result the people are wary of strangers – whilst eager to loudly proclaim their loyalty to the throne at every opportunity.
Solsus gets into the habit of flying above the sleigh in order to keep an eye out for trouble ahead. At one point, he hears the sound of a disturbance ahead and to the side of the sleigh. He disappears from sight, and flies over to investigate.
Strange and disturbing sight greets him. A large crowd of people are fleeing across the snow-covered hills. They are being pursued by a towering monstrous centipede with glowing red plates along its back. The centipede-like creature is obviously generating intense heat, turning the snow to water as it passes. Solsus realises that if the creature reaches the river it is likely to melt the ice, with very bad consequences for any of its quarry who are on the river at the time.
Thinking quickly, Solsus calls out to the others for assistance, then creates an illusion of a wall of ice between the centipede and its prey. The creature stops in puzzlement. It clearly has at least a rudimentary intelligence. It pauses for a second, then tries to melt the “wall” using the heat from its body. It hasn’t realised the wall is an illusion, and this allows its prey to open up a slight lead.
Solsus strikes the creature with a sling bucket, but the armoured beast doesn’t even notice. “This might take a while,” thinks Solsus, “and that illusion isn’t going to hold it forever.”
At that moment a roiling cloud of blackness surrounds the beast. Nauseated by the fumes, the creature vomits up the burnt remains of its last victim, and it retreats out of the cloud.
Gribron grins to himself. “You’d think a beast like that would have a stronger stomach!”
“Hopefully it is cleverer than it looks,” says Jonathan. “Or at least has something passing for a mind.” He lets loose a blast of mental energy, and the beast writhes in agony.
Agatha follows up with an eldritch blast, and Ambar launches two magical missiles of force which unerringly hit their target. Somehow it didn’t seem like a good idea to strike the hot creature with her wooden sword.
Jonathan fires a bolt of electricity at the creature, Ambar lets loose with some more force missiles, and the creature falls down dead. It clearly posed a threat to fleeing peasants, but couldn’t manage so much as an attack against an experienced party of adventurers.
The creature’s erstwhile prey come over to the heroes, and offer their heartfelt thanks. It emerges that they are refugees heading for Seaquen, and they promise to spread word of the party’s latest exploit, which can only increase their already impressive reputation.
February 10th, 3 pm
The sleigh continues to speed along the river – until suddenly it comes to an abrupt halt. Jonathan and Gribron are caught unawares, and are hurled out of the sleigh onto the ice.
Gribron winces in pain, and gingerly gets to his feet. Jonathan, in contrast, seems unharmed by the experience.
“How do you do that?” asks Gribron.
“All it takes is a positive mental attitude. I will away the pain, and there is no pain. Or injury.”
The party investigate the sleigh. In an unlikely twist of fate, one of the runners has caught on a loop of leather which is poking up through the ice.
“Let’s break a hole in the ice and see what’s under there,” says Gribron.
“I strongly recommend we move the sleigh first!” says Balan.
The loop of leather turns out to be a belt belonging to a corpse frozen in the ice. Further digging uncovers another two bodies. The ice around them does not match the rest of the river’s surface. It appears someone has melted the ice with fire, dumped the bodies in the resulting hole, then relied on the re-freezing of the river to hide the evidence.
Each body has the same device on its clothing – a leopard and a serpent dancing under a sunburst. Balan recognises this as the livery of Lady Dene, one of the eight lords of Dassen. Two of the men were shot in the back by crossbow bolts. The third appears to have been hanged.
The party are reluctant to be caught with unexplained corpses, and decide their best course of action is to burn another hole in the river and toss the bodies back in. Jonathan persuades the others that he needs to carry out a full autopsy first, and spends a happy ten minutes with his tools while the rest of them find somewhere else to look.
February 10th, 4 pm
It is starting to get dark, and the party are on the lookout for an inn to stay the night.
The road normally winds and turns in the distance, but at this point it is running alongside the river. Up ahead the party can see a colourful caravan of three wagons stopped by the roadside. The halfling owners are remonstrating with a group of armed men who are engaged in searching the wagons. The men – four foot soldiers and a mounted leader - are wearing what Balan identifies as King Steppengard’s symbol – a rearing sphinx surrounded by eight small triangles.
As the party approach, there is a woman’s scream. The halflings increase their clamour as the King’s men pull a human woman out from a concealed crawlspace underneath the middle wagon.
Solsus, invisible, calls out to the men, who try to figure out which of the party is speaking.
“Move along,” says the mounted man. “This is the King’s business.”
In response, Jonathan throws back his hood and waves of fear flow out from him towards the men. Gribron repeats the trick that worked so well with the magical centipede, and two of the men are caught in a black cloud that leaves them retching.
The enemy leader draws his sword, and strikes down his prisoner. Those of his men who are not incapacitated turn on the halflings.
Solsus flies soundlessly forward and checks on the woman. She is alive, but only just. Carefully, he uses his healing power to close the worst of her wounds.
Agatha tries to blast the leader from the saddle, but he is a tough opponent – he sways but he does not fall. Snarling, he moves his horse forward and strikes at Agatha, but she dodges nimbly out of the way.
Jonathan fires a blast of fire at the nearest soldier. The man screams in pain, but is still alive. Compassionate as ever, Jonathan follows up with a blast of ice to put out the flames. “Don’t bother to thank me,” he says, as his victim turns into a half-burnt, half-frozen corpse.
Gribron waves his hands, and a cone of scintillating lights shoots at two of the soldiers – and the invisible Solsus. Fortunately, Solsus has seen this particular spell before, and manages to cover his eyes in time. This is the second time Gribron has sprayed his fellow party members, but at least this time it wasn’t deliberate.
Ambar and Agatha manage to down the enemy leader, and his troops collapse under the magical onslaught of the rest of the party.
Their female victim, now fully healed, is very grateful. The halfings have suffered superficial cuts and bruises, but are otherwise fine.
“Who are those men, and why were they attacking you?” asks Solsus.
“They are members of the Talon, the secret police force,” says the woman.
“I see they were wearing badges,” says Gribron. “They obviously take their secrecy every bit as seriously as the Gate Pass Resistance does.”
“They stopped our wagons and accused us of being spies,” says one of the halflings. “We are peaceful merchants, heading home to Ostalin. What could we be spying on? This kingdom has gone mad, and the sooner we are safely back home the better.”
“But you were smuggling this lady,” says Agatha.
“My name is Hethal,” says the woman. “After the tragic death of the king’s family …”
“The what!?!” exclaims Balan. “We haven’t heard anything about this.”
“It was terrible,” says Hethal. “The King’s five eldest children were at a party. They and all the other guests were cut to pieces, but there was no sign of any assassins. Almost at the same time, as far as we can tell, the King’s other thirteen children and the Queen were fatally poisoned at dinner. The King would have died as well, but purely by chance he was delayed from attending the dinner by one of his nobles, who wanted to complain about the Ragesian ambassador.”
“But what does this have to do with you?” asks Solsus.
“The King’s response was to form the Talon. It’s headed up by his advisor, the gnome wizard Nina Glibglammer. They have been scouring the countryside, accusing people of all sorts of things. My boyfriend, who is one of Lady Dene’s envoys, was accused of being one of the assassins. He managed to escape with two of his friends, and is heading back to his lady to give her news of what’s been going on.
“I heard that the Talon were coming for me because of my connection to him, and these brave halflings agreed to try and smuggle me into Ostalin.”
“Then we have some bad news for you,” says Jonathan, putting on his most sympathetic voice. “We found three bodies in Lady Dene’s livery buried under the ice. I guess your boyfriend didn’t make it back to Lady Dene.”
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