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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 218251" data-attributes="member: 94">SESSION TWENTY-TWO: a flawless planKELLAN’s TWENTY-SECOND SESSION JOURNAL<continued from previous>... but instead of taking us to the Dweller, they took us to their caves where they made their home.The tribe of about 60 souls made us feel welcome; they provided hot water for baths, food and wine for dinner. They told us the story of how they came to be as they were: their leader (with the strange name of "Bobo") was said to have gone to the dog, the bear, the owl, and other animals seeking their wisdom, and took parts of their physical forms in return. Their story spoke of honor, duty, and sacrifice among their leaders. While I partook of very little of their wine, the rich food must have had some similar intoxicant, as I fell asleep by the end of the feast (as did Rod and Jaag, as I found out later). I dreamt of Stirling Dale - but was awakened by a female mongrelman (one with the face of a horse, and the skin of a lizard) climbing into my bed! She insisted that since I was the new leader, and she was the leader's mate, we had to make love and procreate so that my strength would be passed down to further generations. Minding our order's vow of celibacy outside marriage, I thought as quickly as I could; I explained that while her people expected their leader to do such things, my own honor code could not allow me to do what she expected of me. I did promise that I would pray for further guidance, and that if Heironeous would allow me to do so, I would do what she wished us to do. She was displeased, and she did eventually leave me alone in my bed and did not importune me further that might.The next day, we discussed our next step, and it was decided that I would go alone to meet with the Lady in the Lake (since the mongrelmen did not think that the others would be safe if they went). We walked down the main road, then boarded a canoe to row out into the lake. She did appear before us, glowing with a blue flame and causing the lake surface to burst into flame as well. She was not particularly helpful, although she did provide more information to us: basically, she would not guarantee that she would not interfere if we tipped the balance of power in the valley to one party or another, but it seemed that she would not unless greatly provoked. The mongrelmen also gave her offerings that included items we had brought with us, most importantly a wand of restoration we had created to aid against any other vampires; she was not willing to give it back to me, but did entertain the idea of trading it for something more valuable from the bugbear's encampment. Leaving her, we rowed back to land, and returned to the caves to make more plans.We considered the fact that we were not powerful enough to take on either main faction face-to-face (there being over 100 bugbears, and about 50 or so yuan-ti), and Nik hit upon a plan to help get the avalanche rolling, as it were. Since Stirling Dale (or whatever Dale has become) fed from the yuan-ti, the bugbears, and the mongrelmen equally, he reasoned that if we could make the bugbears think Dale had taken the yuan-ti side, they might be roused to strike against the yuan-ti in force. If the two evil factions destroyed each other, we would perhaps be able to find Dale and complete that mission, while leaving the valley with more peace and fewer evil creatures than we had found here. We decided to disguise me as Dale, with yuan-ti symbol affixed to my shield, and Nik would disguise himself as a pureblood yuan-ti (basically a humanoid, but with scaly skin). We would fight a patrol party of bugbears alone, with Rod and Jaag invisible and ready to help if necessary; we would leave one or two alive to retreat back to the bugbear leader to hopefully report that Dale had sided with the snakemen.NIK’s TWENTY-SECOND SESSION JOURNALI am not ordinarily much of a writer, but I make an exception in this case to record a deception that we played on the bugbears of the Jungle City. We have found ourselves in a deserted jungle city, with multiple forces at play: Yuan-Ti, bugbears, mongrelmen, a Sphinx, a Vampire, and the Lady of the Lake, who has neither swords to offer us nor kingdoms to grant. I know not what manner of creature she is.In any case, we have allied ourselves with the mongrelmen, who revere the Lady. We have received advice and riddles from the Sphinx, leaving only the Yuan-Ti, the Bugbears, and the Vampires as our foes. Compounding this problem is the fact that it has become apparent that the Vampire is none other than Sterling Dale, the Paladin of Heironious that Kellen was sent to find.Speaking with the Lady left us with the concern that the Bugbears and Yuan Ti might band together against us if we were too obvious in our dealings with the city’s denizens.So we devised a plan. Since Sterling Dale is a paladin (or was) of Heironious, as is Kellen, we (with the mongrelmen’s help) disguised Kellen as Sterling, complete with pale skin, and so on. Rodrigo lent Kellen his slippers of spider climbing, to allow him to cling to walls, and I cast Fly on him.The plan is to set the Yuan Ti against the Bugbears, and upset the delicate balance of evil in this valley. So I stole away one of the reptile-men’s emblems from their lair, and Jaag set it upon Kellen’s shield as a device, to make the bugbears think that the Vampire had joined them.Then we set an ambush for a Bugbear patrol. I was also disguised, as a yuan-ti pure-blood. Rodrigo and Jaag were nearby, invisible. We took the patrol, and killed 7 of the 8. One was left to run to his fellows, as planned. The others were given puncture marks on their necks to make it look like they were attacked by Sterling.As we fled, I cast an Obscuring Mist to heighten the vampire effect, and Kellen flew away. The surviving bugbear never saw Kellen get injured, nor did he see any other evidence of the invisible foes, although Rodrigo killed several with Phantasmal Killer spells.All he saw (hopefully) was a Vampire looking like Sterling Dale, egged on by a Yuan-Ti pureblood, killing bugbears.Next, we will find out if it worked.-Nikolai DhavrosDM’s TWENTY-SECOND SESSION NOTESFor those of you playing along at home, I’ve adapted this setting/scenario from the old “Dwellers of the Forbidden City” module. I’ve rolled the clock forward an indeterminate number of years since unknown adventurers first disturbed the balance of power in the valley. The yuan-ti remain, though now (thanks to 3e) with a couple of higher-level spellcasters in their ranks. The bullywugs are gone, wiped out and replaced entirely by the mongrelmen—though the small lake, their old breeding ground, has expanded greatly and now fills at least 25% of the valley. Many buildings that were once visible are now completely submerged as that end of the valley sinks and the water level rises. Finally, the bugbears have done quite well for themselves, taking over about a third of the city. The tribal struggle detailed in the original module has now played out and Shruzgrap is in charge, egged on by a rather nasty sword…As for the Lady, if you are familiar with the module, you can guess what she's all about-- but DON'T POST IT HERE! The players are still (relatively) clueless.I made a small collection of 1” scale maps to detail the ruined buildings- all of which I grabbed from a nice site you may want to check out:<a href="http://www.aginsinn.com/tiles.html" target="_blank">http://www.aginsinn.com/tiles.html</a>The group was not happy to lose their wand of restoration to the light-fingered mongrelmen. When the party accused them of stealing, the Lady patiently explained that it was not possible to steal that which already belonged to you. In the minds of the mongrelmen (steadfastly LN, of course) the PCs were now part of the tribe, and their belongings were collective property. Of course the party didn't see it that way, especially Rodrigo, who was never at a loss for a few choice epithets about the mongrelmen-- not that that stopped him from bedding down with two or three (or eight) of them.</blockquote>

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