Olympus RPG Blog

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Liberty and Arrest

3 June 2014

As the early-morning sun began to appear, Gestlin triggered his magical, winged harness, and flew back to the Gleaming Endeavor, to guide the ship to a secluded part of the river nearest the safe-house. After some time had passed, the rest of the Heroes left on foot, to the agreed-upon place on the river, taking along Bashir, still-weak from his many tortures in prison. Yet later, as Dane kept watch on the river while the others concealed themselves nearby, he spotted their ship as it approached, and signaled to Gestlin. The Heroes then quietly got themselves aboard, and sailed back across the rover to the pier where they had agreed to deliver Bashir to the anti-slavers.

As they approached the docks, the Heroes remained vigilant for new threats. They spied Aurelius before them—glad at the ship’s arrival—emerging from a nearby street, accompanied by two other men who kept watch over him. But as the ship was moored, the Heroes then also spied two sinister-looking fellows headed toward Aurelius from down the docks, and on a nearby roof, a shadowy figure that leveled a crossbow in his direction. Gabriel leapt from the ship to the dock and sprinted toward Aurelius to intercept the assassins. Gestlin Teleported Merasiël to the roof beside the crossbow-wielding shadow, and then also Rainald, to Aurelius. The lifeless body of the crossbowman slid off the roof to the street below, startling passers-by; they witnessed no sign of his killer, who bounded down to the street in another place. Meanwhile, Aurelius’ bodyguards were surprised, and attacked Rainald, who paid them no mind, but loudly challenged the two assassins as they approached, who fled before him.

The Heroes bade Aurelius quickly come aboard, lest there be more enemies about, and he did so. He embraced Bashir there, happy to see that he yet lived, and was now safe. He was to be taken through the city to a friendly merchant who would spirit him away out of the city; the Heroes believed his bodyguards would not be enough and volunteered to escort them to the merchant, and Aurelius was happy to accept their offer. As they navigated the winding, narrow streets of Tredroy, they spotted the same pair of assassins seen at the docks trailing behind them. Dane ducked into a nearby alley and led one of the assassins away, and circled back to the others; meanwhile, Rainald turned back to confront the one that remained, but the assassin fled before him again, and did not return. They continued to the merchant’s house, and Aurelius said his goodbyes to Bashir as they left him there, and the Heroes returned to the ship with Aurelius. As midday approached, Aurelius spoke of his promise to learn the whereabouts of Lord Wallace, and said that he would make inquiries of his contacts in the city on their behalf. Again the Heroes offered to escort him, and again he accepted their escort. They spent much of the day following him here and there through the city as he spoke discreetly with this-or-that stranger, and they later found themselves at a villa just outside of town, the home of a merchant who had agreed to speak to them.

As they all entered the courtyard and began to take their ease, however, a score or more Templar soldiers stepped out of hiding there, fully surrounding the Heroes, and demanded they lay down their arms and surrender themselves, saying that they were to be arrested for treason against the King, to be taken before the Lord Commander of the Templars. The merchant apologized, declaring he had been given no choice but to allow them, and hurried away to his chambers. Aurelius stood aghast, for he trusted the Templars as long-time aides to his cause, just as he had come to trust the Heroes for the same. As the Heroes stood back-to-back in the center of the courtyard, Gestlin, at length, brazenly challenged the Templars’ authority to arrest them, and declared the Heroes’ collective innocence, but their would-be captors were deaf to his argument, and continued to expect their surrender. Seeing that Gabriel had murder in his eyes for his hated enemies, the Templars, and also that Merasiël and Rainald were loathe to lay down their arms, Magnifico saw no alternative to battle, but began to dance. Aurelius wisely fled the courtyard to join the merchant.

Crossbow bolts were loosed upon Magnifico as he began his insidious display, but Merasiël threw herself in front of him, taking one herself that would surely have struck him, though he was still struck by another. Fighting through the pain, Magnifico continued, and many of the enemy that surrounded them succumbed to the magically-induced confusion; some stood fast, stupefied, while others saw disturbing visions. Then Magnifico gave in to his wounds, and collapsed.

As the dance had begun to take effect, Gabriel sprang forth from his place and engaged one among the ring of Templars, and found his opponent’s magically-enhanced defenses difficult to penetrate. Rainald held fast in his place to defend his side of the Heroes’ formation. Dane loosed arrow upon arrow, sometimes getting past the enemies’ shields to strike home. Gestlin threw up a Wall of Force to shield his side of the formation, and when Brother Mendel had cast a healing spell upon Merasiël, Gestlin teleported her to a far room adjoining the courtyard, where they had previously spotted more Templars, kneeling in apparent prayer, no doubt maintaining magical protections on the rest—in seconds, she slew the four she found there. After having healed Merasiël, Brother Mendel then turned to Magnifico, to heal and awaken him, and Magnifico got to his feet. At the same time, the Templars that were still capable held their position, loosing bolts from their crossbows, and upon a command from their leader, they began casting a Flash spell in unison—upon the spell’s completion, the sudden brightness flash-blinded the Heroes, excepting Gabriel and Merasiël who were outside the circle at the time. The Heroes continued to resist. Gestlin threw an Explosive Fireball through the formation at the opposite side of the Templars’ ring, but it went errant, nearly scorching Magnifico instead. Then the Templar leader gave another command, and his troops began casting another spell in unison, this time, Distant Blow—those wielding crossbows dropped them and drew their swords—and afterward, they began to magically strike at the Heroes as if there were no distance between them and their targets. Rainald charged forward from his place and, with a war cry, brought down his hammer upon one of the enemy still standing dazed, who fell. Gestlin cast a Darkness spell about their formation to conceal them, and Rainald fell back into it, daring the Templars before him to follow. The Templars on Gestlin’s side of the formation could not press through his magical barrier, but instead used their Distant Blow spells against the Heroes. The Templars on Magnifico’s side of the formation strode forward into the darkness, and continued their attack, while Magnifico hurled jarring insult after jarring insult, causing some to stop momentarily in stunned bemusement, while Brother Mendel disarmed them of their swords with his quarterstaff. Gabriel had finally felled one of the Templars when he was set upon by another, and then two others began also to strike him with their Distant Blow spells, though they could scarcely touch him still for his tumbling about. Merasiël had emerged from the side-room and set upon the Templar leader from behind with such a fury, and after some struggle, she buried her blades in each of his eyes in turn. Rainald slew another Templar that foolishly charged into the darkness near to him, and upon seeing Gabriel’s distress, charged forth again to engage some of his friend’s attackers. Another Templar that charged into the darkness before Dane was brought down by Gestlin’s Tanglefoot spell, and Dane loosed an arrow or two into his head for it, before Gestlin set him ablaze with a Fireball.

Then, as suddenly as it all had begun, a cry of “Parley!” rang out, as the second-in-command of the Templars called for truce. Dane answered, and called out to his fellows for calm, such that they ceased fighting. Several of the Templars’ number had been lost, including their leader, and the second-in-command offered that the Heroes should leave them to tend to their wounded, rather than press the matter. The Heroes agreed, and offered in return that the Templars should send a messenger to the Gleaming Endeavor if their Lord Commander wished to meet with them in peace, in a safe place. The Templar agreed that it would be so, and commanded his troops to allow them to leave the villa.

Aurelius went with the Heroes back to their ship, vexed and conflicted over which side he should favor, but his new friends assured him that their side was just. Aboard the ship, having pulled away from the docks to ensure none could easily board them, they all discussed what they might do, as they waited. Aurelius wished to go back into town to discover the Templars’ motives for himself; knowing the assassins might still lie in wait for him, Gabriel offered to escort him wherever he needed to go, and so the two left the ship. Some time later, as evening approached, a messenger for the Templars called out to them from the docks, and said that the Lord Commander would speak to them in the morning at their stronghold, though he would speak to Dane alone, and the boy awaited there for a response; Dane told the lad to tell his master that it would be so. Afterward, there was talk amongst the Heroes of magically listening to Dane’s conversation with the Lord Commander, but Dane dismissed it, for honor’s sake, preferring that they should wait outside for him. Gabriel returned to the ship later, having left Aurelius at place of safety, having encountered no assassins.

Lord Commander

Auqui

In the morning, the Gleaming Endeavor was unmoored and sailed downriver to a place just outside the city, before the Templar stronghold, an impressive fortress set upon a hill in the desert. The Heroes disembarked, and after some time walking (Gabriel riding atop Cometes, who was glad of some exercise), together approached the gates, fully armed. The gates were opened for them, welcoming, and they saw within a large formation of Templars, as if greeting some foreign dignitaries. A boy approached and offered to take Gabriel’s horse to water and feed him, and Gabriel accepted. The Heroes made their way through the formation and approached the entrance to the keep, where they would wait, as Dane went inside to meet with their enemy.

At the far end of the massive hall sat a grizzled, older man, behind a desk, flanked by Auqui, in his Templars’ garb. Auqui met Dane’s gaze, and nodded in recognition, though he said nothing. The old man offered Dane a chair, and some wine, which Dane accepted. And the old man revealed that he was McDonald, Lord Commander of the Templars, and began to speak his mind…

Notes

• Due to some short content, and a big multi-session combat, I have combined the last three sessions into one report; these three sessions were spaced out over more than a month, as we had scheduling difficulties that prevented us from having all players in attendance, which was needed for the fight.
• As soon as we got to the villa, before the Templars were revealed, we were all already quoting The Empire Strikes Back, “They arrived right before you did. I’m sorry.” The GM was a bit disappointed—he intended to spring that on us himself 😛
• Due to a lot of factors that would take a whole blog-post or two on their own to explain, the fight was taking a really long time to get through—could have gone on for at least another session, and maybe more—and was becoming an unbearable slog, so we all decided to cut it off, resulting in the “parley”; the GM confessed that the ending of the campaign, which is nigh upon us, has changed a little as a result

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Prison-Cells and Safe-Houses

1 June 2014

The Heroes left the well-to-do inn, and Aurelius, and hasted straightaway for their ship, which departed for the far bank of the River Lorian and the Hazi quarter of Tredroy. As they sailed, they girded themselves for battle. Now evening, Gestlin took wing once again to spy out the city’s prison where Bashir, the captured abolitionist, was said to be held; using the Heroes’ magic ring that allowed one to see in darkness, he observed the movement of the guards for some time, and returned to tell the others that it was guarded by but a few. A half-bell later, the Gleaming Endeavor arrived in a secluded part of the Hazi quarter, and was secured to the dock. The captain was soon called forth to speak with the dockmaster at his office, and Magnifico and Gestlin went with him; through their translation, Captain Finn explained that he was here for trade, and expected to be no more than a day or two. Satisfied with the captain’s story, the dockmaster told him of their laws concerning the comings and goings of foreigners, and gave him white arm-bands to be worn by those who would enter the city, and released him back to his affairs.

The Heroes would not be allowed to carry their weapons openly, so all gave their weapons for Rainald to carry, and Brother Mendel cast an illusory disguise upon him, such that he appeared to be a (large) Hazi man carrying a bundle of sticks. So they entered the city, following the directions Aurelius had given them to one of the abolitionist safe-houses in the city nearest to the prison. They walked for many bells, for it was a long way through such a large city, patrolled here and there by the city watch, and they kept to the shadows and byways as they could. Even so, a pair of watchmen spotted Gestlin in the open, and demanded to know what he was up to. As Gestlin attempted to explain himself in their language, Magnifico stepped out of hiding (surprising the watchmen) and explained that this, his brother, was simple, and they were on their way back from the Mages’ Guild, but had lost their way. Gestlin tried to play the simpleton, but the watchmen were somehow not convinced by his performance. When one of the guards attempted to take Gestlin’s staff, Gestlin Blinked away; the use of magic caused the watchmen to become hostile, and draw their swords. Magnifico tried to calm them, or at least, draw their attention away from the stealthy approach of Gabriel from behind; as one of the watchmen began to strike at Gestlin, Gabriel slew the other, and then the first. The bodies were placed so they would appear to have slain each other over some grievance of coin; as they did so, a boy emerged in the upper window of a nearby residence, and Gestlin cast Sleep upon him, lest he cry out.

They continued, and arrived at the safe-house after midnight, and the master of the house allowed them to enter upon utterance of the pass-phrase given them by Aurelius. Dane, Gabriel and Merasiël left immediately to spy out the prison again, and found it still to be as Gestlin had reported before, guarded behind the gate by but one. Being the fleetest of foot, Gabriel ran back to the safe-house and fetched the others to the prison; during this time, Dane and Merasiël observed a number of armed men enter the prison to replace the same number who were leaving, all with a soldierly look about them—mercenaries, from the nearby guild.

Later, when the Heroes were all assembled nearby, Gabriel and Merasiël scaled the prison’s courtyard wall, as Dane watched, bow ready, from a nearby vantage; the two crept ’round the building and were upon the lone guard before he could cry out, killing him quickly, before opening the gate to allow the others in. The Heroes then positioned themselves at the prison’s only entrance and found it un-barred, so they crept into the barbican, to another heavy door having a barred window. At first, Gestlin attempted to Teleport the heavy door away, but his spell failed. Then Brother Mendel followed with a spell-weave to teleport them all into the room behind the door, but his spell only sent Gabriel and Rainald. The two guards on the other side, playing at dice, were surprised to find the two before them; Rainald quickly turned to un-bar the door and open it to the others, while Gabriel vaulted the tables and chairs to meet the guards as they drew their swords, followed soon by Merasiël through the now-open door. The guards were slain quickly and without mercy, but not before they could cry out. In the hall beyond, upon the walls, were lined a score of numbered, metal hooks, each bearing a set of keys; the Heroes collected them all, and began searching the rooms to the right and left, cells, finding some occupied, but none occupied by Bashir. Next they went upstairs, to a long hall lined with cells, and again, did not find Bashir.

Then, as they began to enter a large common room, Gabriel spotted a guard hiding ’round a far corner, and leapt forward to engage him, finding another there; Rainald sped toward the opposite corner, finding another two, while the rest followed. Merasiël joined Gabriel, and they slew one of the guards; Rainald was supported by Brother Mendel, who disarmed one of the guards with his staff. Then an unseen enemy shouted, and six mercenaries charged forth from side rooms and flanked the Heroes: Dane vaulted over a tub of water in the center of the room and loosed an arrow at one; Gestlin set one’s cloak ablaze; Magnifico was greatly wounded by one’s spear, but unleashed a magical satire that confused many of the mercenaries, causing them to hallucinate, such that they fought other imagined enemies besides the Heroes. Though the mercenaries were skilled warriors, they fell anyway, one by one, until none remained: disarmed by Brother Mendel’s staff; set aflame by Gestlin’s magic; throat slashed to the bone by Merasiël’s blade; skull smashed by a mighty swing of Rainald’s hammer; shot through the eye by Dane’s bow; run through the heart by Gabriel’s family sword.

The upstairs cleared of enemy, the Heroes found their way downstairs to the basement below, and found a number of rooms there, guarded, containing more prisoners, in chains, having been tortured in various ways. Rainald loudly commanded one guard to sit, who was greatly afraid, before Magnifico enthralled him, such that he became as an old friend to them. Within, they found Bashir hung by chains from the ceiling, and they released him, and Brother Mendel healed his wounds. The Heroes thought to release all the prisoners to cause chaos in which they might escape, but decided against it, lest they release truly evil men upon innocents. Instead, they took up Bashir and crept as quickly as they could out of the prison, and made their way back to the safe-house.

Notes

• So, another two-session combo report; I’m still not intending this to be a permanent change in procedure, it’s just the way things have worked out lately
• Apparently, according to the maps in the old 3e Tredroy book, that city is freaking huge; it ended up being several miles walking to the safe-house, and took most of the night. Even the river is huge: the Blueshoal is about 5-6 miles wide, and the Lorian is only a little smaller
• The dice were fairly hostile on the first session; Gestlin nearly crit-failed the teleporting of the door. The dice were schizophrenic on the second session; there were a number of critical failures and critical successes during the fight
• The second session started with the keys, and was dominated by one big fight—didn’t accomplish much, but it was still fun; the mercenaries were clearly not mooks, and were intended to be a bit tougher, but we’re expecting things to get tougher as the campaign inches toward its end

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Seekers and Strangers

1 June 2014

The Gleaming Endeavor berthed at the Cardien city quarter, the more familiar culture to the Heroes—though its cosmopolitan nature was unlike any place most had seen before. They discussed how they should find the Templars, and parted their company. Gestlin, Brother Mendel, Magnifico—and Merasiël, for protection—went to the Mages’ Guild Hall to see what they could find there, and returned more knowledgeable about its membership requirements but little else. Rainald, Dane and Gabriel went to the city square to see what notices might be posted there, and hear of any local rumors, and returned having learned nothing of use. Back at the ship, it was decided that Brother Mendel would cast a Seeker spell to locate Lord Wallace, but as before, the spell revealed nothing—perhaps concealed by a magical ward, as they had encountered before. Then it was decided that Magnifico would cast the same spell, instead to locate Auqui, who would certainly be with the Templars. Through a ritual casting, all that were present lent their energy to the spell, and Magnifico saw a vision of Auqui on a ship, on a river he believed to be the Blueshoal—though the ship was not within the city, and he could not say whether it was coming or going. Confident of the vision, the Heroes decided that some should search the river by air in each direction to find the ship bearing their enemy, while those that remained in the city would keep watch for the ship atop one of the many long bridges that spanned the river.

Auqui

Zabka

Gestlin, via his magical winged harness, and Dane and Magnifico, atop the dragons Primus and Secundus, sprang from the deck of the Gleaming Endeavor and swept quickly to the West, up-river. The three flew just over the trees at some distance beside the river, and scanned ahead for the Templars’ ship; as they reached a distance upriver, with no sign of their quarry, they wheeled about and searched likewise downriver, to the East. Then, at great distance, they spied the ship bearing Auqui and the Templars, as Magnifico had seen in his vision, and immediately turned back toward Tredroy to relay their findings, though Dane’s Eagle Vision clearly showed that Auqui, atop the deck of the enemy ship, had spotted them as well, and also the presence of another familiar visage, that of the Heroes’ foe from long ago, Bishop Zabka.

Meanwhile, the sudden flight of dragons leaving the Heroes’ ship had greatly disheartened those nearby at the docks, some of whom went and fetched the city guard. A troop of guardsmen arrived at the wharf soon afterward and demanded those aboard the Gleaming Endeavor stand forth, unarmed, and answer for the disturbance. Merasiël and Gabriel were loathe to leave behind their weapons, and instead hid themselves in the ship’s hold, while the rest did as bidden. The captain of the guard did not allow Brother Mendel to speak before he sent a few of his men aboard the ship to search it for any others; though expertly hidden beneath an Elvish Hunters’ Cloak, Merasiël was stumbled upon by chance by one of the men, and she stood and surrendered herself without apology, and was brought above to the deck. Brother Mendel explained that this Elvish woman is an ambassador for the Elvish peoples, and should not be treated so; Merasiël took his cue to act the part of the aloof aristocrat, and reluctantly agreed to leave her blades at the ship. The guard-captain apologized for his rudeness and declared that he must escort them all to his superior to sort out the matter there, and the Heroes followed without further resistance. At the headquarters, the guard-commander heard the Heroes’ explanation, and did not seem fully convinced of the truth until they produced their letters given them by Aamir Al-Rahmani inviting them to perform in Tredroy on his behalf; the commander then released the Heroes back to their ship, admonishing them to keep the dragons locked away except under his escort, and informing them that he would post guards at the docks for their (whose?) protection.

Upon the Heroes’ return to the docks, they readied themselves to go to the East Bridge and watch for the arrival of the Templars’ ship, when the dragons returned. Once again assembled (and the dragons locked away), the Heroes shared their findings. Suddenly a new commotion was raised amongst the folk at the docks, as a trio of slaves attempted to reach their freedom by running from the Al-Wazifi side of the river, across the miles-long bridge, to the Cardien side; the Cardiens cheered the runners on, but their Wazifi pursuers shot at them with arrows. One of the slaves was left of his fellows as he was struck by an arrow in the leg, and fell over the side of the bridge, clinging to the rail lest he should fall into the river from such a height. Without pausing, Gestlin took wing and hastened to the man’s aid, diving into the river after the man had fallen and was struck again, and laying hold of him there, Teleported him to safety aboard the ship, where Brother Mendel healed him. Then the Wazifis gave up their pursuit, and the other two slaves came to find their fellow at the ship; Brother Mendel bade them tarry a moment, and weaved a spell to remove their slave-brands, and gave them some money, and the former-slaves were greatly thankful.

Aurelius

Just then, a well-dressed stranger approached the ship and, in fluent Arabic, asked to speak with the former-slaves, and also in Anglish told the Heroes of his great admiration regarding their intervention on the slaves’ behalf, and wished to speak with them as well. He introduced himself as Aurelius, and the Heroes invited him aboard their ship to speak privately. Therein, he explained that he was a member of an abolitionist group in Tredroy who might be glad of the sort of help the Heroes had so demonstrated. Upon inquiry, he revealed that he had interacted with both Auqui on some occasions, as the Templars were of great help to the abolitionists here, and Zabka, though less frequently. The Heroes were eager to help in exchange for information from his network regarding the missing Lord Wallace, and he agreed, and arranged that they should discuss the matter later in the evening, at supper at a well-to-do inn in the city. Aurelius asked many details of the former-slaves, of their former captivity, and wrote them down. Then he bid the Heroes many thanks, and went on his way.

The Heroes kept an eye toward the river for the Templar ship as they prepared themselves to go to the inn. Not long after, Dane, in the ship’s tops, spotted Auqui’s ship approaching, Auqui himself glaring in their direction as they passed by; it continued upriver and turned South up the River Lorian, out of sight. Gestlin called upon Smil-Blam and made himself invisible, and took wing to pursue them, and observed them as they berthed at the Southern edge of the city, disembarking there and entering the city by waiting coaches. Then Gestlin returned and told the others what he had seen, though any action would have to wait, as their appointed hour approached.

Now evening, the Heroes went together to the inn, except Merasiël and Gestlin who would remain behind at the ship. Their patents of nobility were recognized by the dock-guards and they were allowed to enter the city under arms, though some were frowned upon at the upper-class inn, for the Heroes were loathe to leave behind their armor, for memory of the Elvish assassins at such an occasion over a decade past. They were met inside by Aurelius, and taken to a private room to dine with him, while he set forth the details of the mission he would ask of them: they must rescue one of the abolitionists’ members operating on the Al-Haz side of the river who had been caught by the authorities there, and was to be publicly beheaded within the week; the man’s family had been secreted away by his fellows and were safe from reprisal. The Heroes agreed to do the thing, though they would make their plans elsewhere, lest they be overheard. Just then, Brother Mendel spied a shadow under the closed door, no doubt, of someone listening thereat, and he quietly alerted the others to it. Gabriel sped to the door to open it, but the spy had fled through the crowd in the common room, passing coin to a stranger to delay his pursuers on his way out. Gabriel evaded the intended distractor with a sharp word of warning and quickly followed the spy out of the inn, catching him up outside just as the spy had whispered to two others waiting nearby, who then fled into the alleys in different directions. As Dane was catching him up, Gabriel confronted the spy, who upon seeing the dragon-marks on Gabriel’s arms, was greatly cowed, and begged for his life, though he dared not reveal his employer. Not wishing to shed blood in plain sight of the passers-by, Gabriel instead ushered the spy back inside the inn to the private room where the Heroes supped, and sat him down there. Then Magnifico cast Mind Search upon the spy, and learned that he was, as some had suspected, employed by the Assassins’ Guild, tasked to locate and murder the captured abolitionist’s family, as well as Aurelius himself. Aurelius was surprised to hear this, and feared for his life. The Heroes knew they must act quickly, for the spy’s fellows that had escaped would certainly tell of their rescue plans.

Notes

• Again, I have combined two sessions in one recap. This was not planned, just a product of the current situation, and I don’t intend to continue—but then I didn’t intend it in the first place. The second session was shortened by technical issues, so we didn’t accomplish much.
• Gabriel’s player was absent for the first session; Merasiël’s and Gestlin’s players were absent for the second
• Bishop Zabka was introduced to the campaign at the very beginning, before the current GM took it over from the previous GM, and has been featured in Gabriel’s side-stories as a villain, and mentor to his wayward apprentice, Auqui
• We were a bit surprised to hear from Aurelius that the Templars have actually been helpful here in Tredroy, and not thought villains, as we knew them to be
• It was fortunate for the city guards searching the ship’s hold that Gabriel’s player was not available, for they would certainly have perished at his hands for their discovery of Merasiël in hiding—and fortunate for the PCs that the resulting diplomatic incident did not occur
• The PCs got jumped by Elvish assassins at a dinner in Harkwood before the war, and it was one of the more embarrassing non-victories we’ve suffered; we’re very (understandably) paranoid about similar situations now. The GM made laid out a tactical map for this dinner, the very same map as before, undoubtedly to play against our expectations—well played, sir 😛
• Gabriel (finally) managed a very successful Intimidation attempt against the spy, but we didn’t want to torture a confession out of him in the street—but with Magnifico, he need not speak at all for us to get the info, so we agreed to “Feed him to the Clown”—the horror!

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Freedom and Commerce

18 May 2014

Continued… As the two pirate vessels began to separate themselves from the Gleaming Endeavor, without hesitation, Gabriel leapt across to the deck of the nearest ship, followed by Merasiël, then Dane; Rainald instead found a loop of rope and cast it across to catch the anchor-post of the enemy ship, and using all his strength, held the ship fast, such that they could not escape. Two sword-wielding pirates charged across the deck to meet Gabriel but immediately fell to his blade; the two enemy that remained above-decks were wizards, and they each cast Water Jet to sweep the Heroes from the deck, but they avoided the attack. Then, one of the enemy wizards cast an Ice Slick upon the deck, and Gabriel and Merasiël, already charging, kept their footing and slid toward their enemy upon the ice. Dane loosed a captured meteoric arrow, which, to the great surprise of the wizard it struck, was not deflected by his defensive spell, just before he fell to Merasiël’s thrown blade. At the same time, Magnifico flew close by atop Primus; now panicked, the remaining enemy wizard cast a magical Fog to cover his escape, as he dove over the side of the ship into the ocean, never to be seen again.

Below-decks, the ship’s slave-master surrendered himself, and the Heroes released the slaves from their bonds. Magnifico cast Mind Search upon the slave-master, and discovered that he had indeed seen Lord Wallace, as these very pirates had captured him and taken him to Sa’Azraq, though they knew not who he was; Magnifico also discovered from him a flag-signal that the pirates use to signify a “protected” vessel. The Heroes siezed what they could from the enemy ship, and after much deliberation, Dane reluctantly gave the order that it should be sunk—too much trouble for a small crew in such a hurry to keep it—and take the former-slaves aboard the Gleaming Endeavor to be delivered to their freedom as opportunity could be found; the slave-master was released in the pirate-vessel’s boat and pointed north, to fend for himself.

The Gleaming Endeavor sailed for a day to the northern shore of the Sa’Azraq Straits, to Megalan lands. As they sailed, Brother Mendel cast a weave-spell to remove the slave-brands from each of the former-slaves’ arms. The Megalans were put ashore at a fishing village, and given a share of the monies and supplies recovered, and were wished a good journey home. Then the ship sailed south another day to Sa’Azraq, a renowned trade-city on the Wazifi side of the Straits. Within the walled city’s harbor, Captain Finn refused to dock, fearful of ill-treatment of Christians here, but instead anchored the ship out in the harbor. The Wazifi former-slaves were taken ashore by the ship’s boat and released, with a share of the recovered goods, as the Megalans had been, and wished well on their way.

It was decided that they should send a small, non-threatening team ashore to (initially) gain permission to dock; Magnifico, Gestlin, Brother Mendel, and Dane volunteered. Their boat was met at the docks by some curious guards; Magnifico, speaking Arabic, assured the guards they were no threat, and they allowed the Heroes to pass, though Dane was made to leave his arms in the boat. They entered the city to find out what they could; it was not like Bannock, a mixture of Christian and Islamic cultures, but solely Muslim, a marvel the less-traveled among the Heroes had never seen. As they traveled, Gestlin spilled a great number of a vendor’s fish upon the ground, and angered the vendor greatly, though he clumsily attempted to clean up the mess he continued to make. The guard arrived to attend to the ruckus, and Gestlin was made to pay the vendor two gold coins for his loss. The four continued to the slave-market, hoping to find someone in charge there that might tell them of Lord Wallace. They observed the market for some time, and noticed a strange fellow purchasing slaves—he treated his purchases with unusual kindness, and spirited them away immediately afterward. The Heroes decided to follow this man, and he arrived at a small Christian chapel in a poor district. The Heroes knocked on the chapel door and introduced themselves to the man, a priest, and were invited inside. The priest told them of his mission to free what slaves he could, one by one, and of the “abolitionist” movement operating in secret within the city. When asked, the priest recalled having seen Lord Wallace here a year ago, though he knew not who he was, only that he was “important” and fetched a high price at the slave-market. He agreed to contact his fellow abolitionists, and to send them to tell the Heroes what they might know of whom it was that had purchased Lord Wallace. Then, with the priest’s blessing, the Heroes returned to the ship.

Meanwhile, as those that had remained behind at the ship passed the hours in waiting, they noticed a familiar ship some distance down the docks—the very pirate galley that had escaped the Heroes’ retribution. They took no action against it, but observed it carefully, lest they raise an alarm.

As the evening sun lowered, some time after those that had gone ashore had returned and told of what they had seen in the city, a boat approached the Gleaming Endeavor, bearing two men who called after Brother Mendel. They were the abolitionists sent by the priest, and were welcomed aboard. After ensuring there were no spies aboard, the men said that a year past, Lord Wallace had been sold here to the Templars, through an intermediary, for Templars are not tolerated in this country; this intermediary was a merchant named Jaffa who lived in the city—the men described where he could be found. Satisfied, the men were sent on their way, and the Heroes planned amongst themselves how they might cause this merchant to tell them what he knows.

In the darkest hours of the morning, Gabriel, Merasiël and Magnifico slipped into the waters of the harbor and quietly swam to a secluded area of the docks, where no guards were. As they donned their clothes and weapons in a nearby alley, [redacted]. Then they crept through the darkened streets to the house of Jaffa, avoiding the night-watchmen. Gabriel climbed to the open window of the upper story of the house while Merasiël picked the lock to the front door, and they all entered the house and made their way to the merchant’s bedroom. There, Magnifico performed a Mind Search spell as the man slept, and learned that Lord Wallace had been sold to a hooded Templar he knew only as “Adi,” and was taken into the desert to the South under an armed company, provisioned for a long journey. Upon hearing the name, Gabriel knew that the hooded Templar was Auqui, his former protege and sworn enemy. The three then crept back out of the house as they came, arousing no one, and made their way back to the docks, and the ship, without incident.

The Gleaming Endeavor left with the next tide and made her best speed to Hadaton, a journey of three days. Before, the Heroes had been expecting to spend some time in Hadaton, but knowing the Templars had crossed the desert on foot, no doubt, to Tredroy, they now had no cause to tarry, and so they provisioned the ship and continued up the Blueshoal River to Tredroy. Six days at-sail against the river current brought the Gleaming Endeavor to the massive city of Tredroy, a magnificent sight to behold for those that had not before experienced it. The ship was docked, and the Heroes immediately set about their business of locating the Templars and Lord Wallace.

Notes

• It was decided to end session 6.26 in prose, so we worked out the details on the forums between sessions and wrapped it up “officially” here; that wrap-up only covers the fight above-decks
• Everyone really wanted to keep the captured ship somehow, even if just to sell it at the nearest port, but we didn’t have near enough crew to cover both vessels (there were only two “sailors” amongst the slaves) and still make good time
• As the swim-team was gearing up in the alley, they were approached by a talking dog (voiced by Gestlin’s player) asking for food or whatnot—the result of Magnifico’s Weirdness Magnet. It said “woof” at a passing night-watchman. Then a strange blue box materialized nearby, with a rhythmic screeching noise, and a man with a colorful scarf poked his head out and called the dog inside, before the box disappeared again. The PCs swore never to speak of this again—hence the “redaction.” 😛
• It’s noteworthy that the sneak-team managed to get the info from Jaffa, not only without killing anyone, but entirely without being discovered at all
• The PCs long-awaited arrival at Tredroy signals the ultimate climax of the campaign; but a handful of sessions remain. Whether or not the same characters continue in a new campaign to come is still being settled

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Spirits and Slavers

13 May 2014

The Heroes, glad of their return to the living world, made their way down from the ruined temple to the shore where the Gleaming Endeavor lay at anchor, and found the crew hard about their work at repairs, unaware that anything out of the ordinary had occurred. That evening, the crew were greatly amazed at the story told them of the Heroes’ travel to the Underworld.

But the Heroes had not forgotten their former business, the sense of a hostile presence aboard the ship which they had detected back in Craine. As the crew slept that night aboard the ship, Brother Mendel went to each and cast a Sense Foes spell upon him, but detected no hostility in any of them. Afterward, they supposed that there must be someone or something stowed away aboard that meant them ill, and Magnifico hatched a plan to discover it. On the morrow, the crew all went ashore. Brother Mendel, Magnifico, and Gestlin divided the ship into equal parts and cast Sense Foes, and as the hostile presence was detected in one sector, divided it further, continuing so until they had narrowed its location to the port-forward hold, but as they did, they found that the presence had moved elsewhere—it was avoiding their search. Gestlin commanded his staff, Smil-Blam, to grant him the ability to see invisible things, and as he did, he came face to face with a ghostly visage, as of a man, grim and hollow-eyed, now surprised to find Gestlin gazing back at him, following his movement, pointing, and calling out his location to the others. Gestlin challenged the spirit to know its purpose, but it spoke not a word. The others had no idea what to do in this matter, and could not see what it was Gestlin spoke to. As the spirit avoided the living, it hovered over the water alongside the ship, and Gestlin attempted to throw a Teleport spell, but his throw missed its target, just before the See Invisible spell ended. Later, speaking with the Captain on the matter, none could recall any that might haunt the ship, but supposed the spirit could do no immediate harm—though they declined to tell the rest of the crew what they had discovered.

15 May 2014

The repair of the ship was completed on the third day, and they departed with the first available tide, making their best speed toward Hadaton. All were glad to be under way again. They continued East for three days. Once clear of Keyhole Bay, they observed an increase in sea traffic, ships of all sorts, including regular patrols of Megalan warships of all sizes. Then they entered the Sa’azraq Straits, known for much pirate activity—slavers, mostly—where the Heroes’ information suggested that their quarry, Lord Wallace, in the custody of the Templars, was shipwrecked, and later recovered and taken further on to Hadaton.

18 May 2014

On the third day, well into the Straits, a pair of vessels were observed to be following the Gleaming Endeavor some distance behind, and gaining on her, and the Captain feared them to be pirates, slavers bent on taking them all captive. It was decided that they should spy out these vessels to see what they were about, and Gestlin volunteered to fly out to them, in the magical guise of a large bird, an albatross, to observe them. Brother Mendel cast the illusion spell upon him, and activating his magical winged harness, Gestlin took flight. But the disguise was too good, for Primus, flying about the ship catching fish, mistook Gestlin for a real bird, and attacked, and Gestlin narrowly escaped back to the ship. They tried again, this time securing the young dragons in their cages before Gestlin took to wing. And Gestlin flew between the pursuing vessels, and counted about thirty warriors aboard them, plus other crew—not looking at all like traders, but up to no good—and he returned, unmolested, to tell the others what he had seen. The Heroes decided they should try to slow down their pursuers, and Gestlin again volunteered to fly out to them: he would use Smil-Blam to make himself invisible, and cast Fireballs at their sails; it was agreed. So Gestlin flew unseen between the enemy ships, and set aflame the sail of the former ship, and then the latter. But the sails were doused, by magical means (as far as Gestlin could tell), and the two ships produced banks of oars and began quickly rowing, to the sound of war-drums. Gestlin returned to the ship, and the crew and passengers of the Gleaming Endeavor readied themselves for action, as the enemy continued to approach without their sails. As the enemy closed, Captain Finn tacked the ship to throw off their pursuers. Gestlin conjured up a mighty Whirlwind to sweep the enemy’s decks, but it was immediately dispelled—the enemy certainly had wizards in their company, possessed of some skill. The Heroes and the crew positioned themselves atop the aft-castle and readied themselves to fight.

At last, the enemy was upon them. They attacked first with volleys of arrows before closing in, and they pulled along either side of the Gleaming Endeavor, trapping it between the two vessels. Grappling hooks were thrown to catch the ship and pull them in tightly. Then the enemy warriors scrambled over the rails amidships, on both sides, and with a fearsome cry and brandished swords, charged the aft-castle.

Rainald and Merasiël held the port stair to the castle, and Gabriel held the starboard, with the others behind and between. The enemy swarmed up both stairs, and in the middle, climbed up the castle and over the rail. Gabriel, soon surrounded but unafraid, set about his bloody work with Misericordia, running the enemy through, taunting them in Arabic, and the dead piled up before him. Rainald loudly laughed and joked as he thrust his spear into the tide of pirates before him down the stair, while Merasiël slashed many throats of those that tried to get past Rainald or climb over the rail nearby. Brother Mendel reached out with his quarterstaff to disarm the enemy of their swords, again and again, as they clambered over the rail. Magnifico unleashed a nasty barrage of magical taunting in the enemy’s tongue, and cast Madness spells, stunning or incapacitating many, such that the crew could finish them, though he was greatly wounded in the process, before Brother Mendel healed him. Gestlin cast a Fireball or two into the midst of the enemy before flying off to defend against the enemy wizards, still on their ships. Dane swung down from the crow’s nest above and alighted to the rear of the aft-castle, and loosed lethal arrows upon those enemy that foolishly allowed him line-of-sight. A few of the crewmen were injured by the enemy as they held the defense, but Brother Mendel was able to give them aid before they should fall. As the enemy’s numbers were quickly diminished, and their morale near to breaking, Magnifico called in Primus and Secundus to harry the enemy from behind on the main deck. And the fight was over, so quickly that none were able to escape to their ships, as the grappling lines were cut and the enemy ships began to push off. To be continued…

Notes

• These two sessions marked our return to the campaign after a long end-of-year hiatus (due to the usual holiday scheduling issues), the first after our return from the Land of the Dead. Due to a number of circumstances, and a long fight sequence, I combined the account from the first two sessions here. For the first, Dane’s player was absent, and Dane said to be “grievously ill” below decks; for the second, Gestlin’s player was absent, but Dane’s was present, so they effectively swapped places mid-fight (we joked that Dane was in the crow’s nest projectile-vomiting, when he suddenly recovered and swung down to join, then Gestlin caught the same rope and swung away, to projectile-vomit elsewhere)
• We had been planning to deal with the “hostile presence” for some time, but the down-time for ship repairs was the prefect time to conduct the investigation
• The “fighter” PCs were in little danger during the fight, now with enough magical armor that the pirates were generally unable to penetrate. Those without real armor, including the crew, were vulnerable, and some took serious wounds. The pirates, however, despite their greater numbers, had no chance at all
• As the enemy ships separated, most of us wanted to leap over to them and take out the wizards and whomever remained in opposition; it was decided to end the scene in prose between sessions—to be concluded in the next write-up

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Gems and Stones

13 May 2014

Continued… The giant serpent squeezed Rainald, who struggled against it with some success in spite of the creature’s bulk, while the other Heroes set upon it to slay it. Gabriel sprinted forward to engage the serpent’s head with his blade, stabbing it through the eye; he was joined by Merasiël who did the same. Dane loosed arrow upon arrow into the creature’s head as he could achieve a clear shot from the other side. Gestlin, still exhausted, threw a small Fireball or two at the serpent’s hind parts. The creature now blinded in both eyes, its many wounds caused it to lose hold of Rainald, who began to strike it mightily with his hammer where he stood. The serpent attempted to flee, but ceased not far away, dead, or near to it. Afterward, the Heroes noticed as the large black cat that had followed them leapt down from its tree-perch and slinked back into the forest, as if, somehow, disappointed.

The Heroes continued onward along the path, still following Magnifico’s Seeker spell, and crept up to the small village as closely as they could without raising the alarm, up to a clearing in the forest that preceded it. Gabriel and Dane sneaked ’round to scout its defenses, but the village’s sentries had spotted the Heroes’ main force and assembled themselves into a shield-wall, armored and ready with long spears for the inevitable attack. While the scouts circled around the village houses to the rear of the formation, the others advanced openly toward the defenders’ ranks. As discussed briefly at the treeline, Magnifico performed some comedic routine before the village fighters, which received little apparent notice, though it served only to focus their attention upon Rainald, who produced from its wrapping the head of the slain Medusa and held it high; in moments, the entire formation of sentries (and perhaps some onlookers beyond) was turned to stone.

At this outrage, the goddess Persephone emerged from one of the houses and approached the scene, very sorrowful after her now-petrified subjects, and demanded to know why the Heroes had done this. Magnifico responded that they had brought a message, and mimicking Hades voice as if he were “possessed” by his spirit, entreated her to return to him. She was not tricked by this, but became angry, making it known that she cared not for her husband at all. She backed away from the Heroes, knowing Hades had sent them to slay her, though she could do them no harm for the spell he had placed on them; the grass about her grew up thick and tall, forming a tangled barrier against the Heroes, even as Gabriel and Merasiël circled at a distance to get behind her, prepared should they be required to attack. At Brother Mendel’s urging, Magnifico instead told Persephone the truth of their intentions, that they wished not to slay her but to convince her to return and treat with Hades, so they could destroy this false place. But she knew already that this place was not real, and even so, wished it to remain as it is, and would not agree to help them or have anything to do with her husband, whom she declared had not the power to release them as he had said. A tree suddenly sprang up behind her, as it would when she would travel through a tree-portal before. The Heroes instantly sprang forth to prevent her; Merasiël had chanced to notice a gemstone on a fine golden chain about Persephone’s neck, hidden below her bodice, and vaulted over the tangled grass-barrier to seize it; at Merasiël’s shout, Gabriel also tumbled over the hedge and produced his sword to cut the charm from the goddess’ neck; Gestlin had activated his harness and took winged flight, placing himself between the goddess and the tree, and swept her feet from under her with his staff, such that she fell, and the chain still in Merasiël’s grasp snapped from off the goddess’ neck, leaving the necklace in her possession. In moments the Heroes watched as the life in Persephone’s eyes faded away, and she became as the other lifeless, mindless shades that populated this realm. Thereafter, the light in the cavern also faded to darkness, and Brother Mendel cast a Continual Light spell upon a coin to light their way, and they could see that the forest remained, though no longer living and beautiful as before.

The Heroes then began their journey back the way they had come; they took pity upon Persphone, and brought her with them. They made their way through the forest and back up the waterfall-cliff. They passed through the mists of the gorgons’ lair and found the other side. They continued through the marsh, seeing the bones of the undead creatures they had fought before littered about the entrance where they had gathered, now harmless and broken. They picked their way carefully across the room of many stairs, now robbed of its magic, forcing them to climb awkwardly to reach the entrance. They emerged within the labyrinth, which no longer shifted about them; Magnifico cast a Seeker spell to find them a safe path to their boat that Brother Mendel had created, still resting ashore where they had arrived, and they pressed onward, as Gestlin flew above to help guide them along. They found the boat unmolested, and rowed it back across the river to Hades’ city. They traversed the city of the dead, and found Radskyrta there as before, mindless, and brought him also with them, that he might be restored with them.

The Heroes’ will had been greatly drained from them by the time they arrived at Hades’ abode, but they entered boldly and presented the evidence of their victory over his wife, Persephone. He took no apparent interest in the lifeless woman, but immediately demanded the “heart” of them, greedily, and the Heroes suspected they would be betrayed, though they knew it not in truth. Without warning or discussion, Brother Mendel commanded Merasiël to put the necklace back ’round Persephone’s neck, and in an instant, the goddess’ former life and power was returned to her. She was very wroth with her husband for his treachery, and they argued fiercely, and fought together; though neither could do the other any direct harm, their fury was wrought upon everything near to them, both living and unliving, and the temple crumbled around them, in fire and tempest. The Heroes fled from the temple for their lives, taking Radskyrta with them.

They ran as fast as they could to the river below, to the Boatman, hoping they might somehow convince him to take them across to the land of the living while the gods were distracted, but the Boatman would not in any way acknowledge them. Suddenly, mindless Radskyrta suddenly slammed himself into the Boatman and knocked him into the water, and seized the pole; the Heroes climbed in behind him immediately, and Radskyrta began to propel the boat across the river. They believed their old friend’s mind restored, but looked upon him to see that he was now clad in black robes as the Boatman had worn, staring blankly ahead with lifeless eyes. As the boat reached the far shore, Rasdkyrta spoke not a word, but stiffly pointed a finger toward the archway through which they had arrived in this place—whether commanding them to go, or wishing to go himself, they could not say. After they had exited the boat, they looked to their friend once more to take him away with them, but his face was now hooded and covered in shadow, as he pushed the boat away from the shore, and disappeared back into the mist.

Now before them were the heavy stone doors, wide open as before, guarded by the massive, three-headed dog creature, no longer a statue but living flesh; it growled a loud warning. Rainald did not hesitate to once again bring forth the head of Medusa, and he held it high, and the creature became a statue once again, posed just as it was before. The Heroes cautiously walked past the guardian statue, and each in turn passed over the threshold of the doorway.

At once, the Heroes found themselves, as if waking from a long sleep, in and around the banks of the river where they had fallen fighting the many-headed dragon-creature before. The wounds that had slain them were no more, and their belongings remained as they had fallen in battle. They started as the heavy stone doors at the far end of the cavern began slowly to close, as they had when they were trapped with the creature before; the Heroes did not tarry, but scrambled out of the waters of the river to flee, lest the creature catch them up and slay them once more; Dane saw the others through and was the last to exit, but was nearly caught by door except he passed through it as if a ghost, to the surprise of all. They continued down the tunnel as they had entered, and found the rope-ladders still fixed in their place, and each climbed up out of the excavation within the ruined temple, to see the sun once again, as if only moments had passed.

Notes

• Merasiël’s player rolled a Critical Success to notice the gem around Persephone’s neck, well-concealed as it was; but in her position at that moment, she could not tell anyone what she had seen without alerting the goddess, until she tried to escape. Of course, once the “heart” was pointed out, we all knew what it really was that Hades was after
• We were all in general agreement that we would rather not kill Persephone—assuming we could anyway—but we started piecing things together at that moment that made us wonder if Hades’ motives were true. When we were before him, and he demanded the heart, something in the way the GM phrased it caused red-flags to wave furiously—whether or not he intended it so. The GM had not forseen the plan to restore Persephone to herself, and was caught completely off-guard; he eventually decided to let the players dictate how the story would end after that, and after much back-and-forth, we arrived at a general consensus
• Due to the way the post-restoration events were generated, even afterward, there were differing interpretations of the results—mostly revolving around Radskyrta; what I have recorded here is my interpretation
• Dane’s having phased through the closing doors is the result of the Quirks of Mendel’s previous RPM casting of the portal, finally manifested