Session Recap - 15 June 2007
From Loranon
| Session Recap | |
|---|---|
| 15 June 2007 | |
| Start Date | 22 January 1332 |
| End Date | 23 January 1332 |
| Adventure Locations | Mysterious Shadow Plane, Dormantown |
| Previous Session | 8 June 2007 |
| Next Session | 22 June 2007 |
| Image:Session Recap - 15 June 2007.png | |
Participating Characters
Bisquick, Daeron Elensar, Fagan von Feld, Lars Blaine, Rymlli Flamebullion
Session Summary
During the week, Josh Smith and Nick Morris decided that this game wasn't right for them. Their characters Fei-Hong Lei and Tucker Bloodstone have become NPCs after not being blessed as future heroes of the world by Patrick Stempilos (see below).
This session began where the last session left off. The player characters had just opened the locking mechanism to the rest of the worked stone area of the Cave of Shadows. Quick exploration of the area found three additional rooms:
The party moved through room 7 without sitting at the table. In room 6, they discovered their own dead bodies just as they had at the beginning of the cave. From each body, they took a piece of shadow-wreathed armor, similar to the weapons they found earlier. After donning the armor, the party entered room 8.
This room is fully lit, and lacks the inky darkness that has foiled your vision thus far. Against the side walls there are four statues, two to a side. In the center, there is a greater statue of a man dressed in plate and wielding a longsword in one hand and a spellbook in the other. Behind the central statue, there is a man under a heavy burden of chains wrapped around his body and grasped in his hands, with a number of them flowing behind into a swirling black void that consumes the far wall. He appears to be struggling to keep the chains pulled into the room. His eyes are closed in concentration and occasionally the chains are pulled further into the void and he struggles to pull them back.
Lars recognized the central statue as Mygrandin Antaloose and one of the four side statues as Lanae Tence.
Upon interacting with the struggling man, the party learned that he was Patrick Stempilos, a companion of Mygrandin Antaloose. Through discussion with him, the party learned the following:
- They are trapped within the Forshantir, an item made of corrupted Dirate.
- The fact that they are inside means that someone is fueling the Forshantir for evil purposes.
- Patrick's purpose here is keep the Great Seal of Dira intact.
- He is greatly concerned that the Forshantir is not secure; he does not know what would happen to him and the Great Seal if something were to happen to it.
- Holding the chains grows increasingly more difficult; there may be a time soon when he will fail, and the Great Seal will fall.
As Patrick was speaking with the party, he studied them each in turn stating that they were all destined to be great heroes of the world. He blessed each of them with the Mark of Stempilos, which manifested as a strange azure-colored arcane mark on the party members' foreheads. Additionally, fearing that he would fail soon, he presented the party with the Life Pendant of Dira, which is one of the Seven Pendants of Dira of legend. Fagan placed the pendant around his neck, and failing his will save, the Life Pendant of Dira implanted itself into his chest. After an insulting introduction, the pendant revealed to Fagan that he was too inexperienced to fully utilize his power, but did grant Fagan the use of one of his minor abilities.
Patrick Stempilos wheezes. "Please, grow strong. I fear the world will soon need great heroes once again."
Patrick stated that there was a way out of the Forshantir, but it is guarded by terrible beast known as the Shadow Keeper. The party set off.
After traveling the darkness of the Forshantir's mysterious shadow plane, the party came upon a number of tentacles writhing out of the ground. Wave after wave of these tentacles attacked the party.
As the party moved closer to the center of the field of tentacles, they encountered larger ones with barbs and finally the center of the Shadow Keeper itself, a colossal mass of tentacles that shot up showers of stinking black ichor ([1]). After a fierce battle leaving over half the party unconscious, the player characters defeated the creature and revealed the portal back to Mezra. As the beast fell, flows of shadow energy exploded from the ground and infused the party with Shadow Surge.
Jumping through the portal, the party found themselves in a cellar.
Above you, you hear the cries and shouts of battle, as orcs mercilessly slay Dormantown citizens. The cellar you find yourself in is well-lit and contains a number of crates and sacks. In the center of the room, there is a small altar, atop of it a vicious looking twist of black metal holding a large, glowing-red tetragonal crystal. A man holding a greatsword and armored in banded mail rests a hand on the crystal, and a steady stream of individual red wisps comes through the wall and enters the crystal.
The human is identified as some sort of worshipper of Erythnul. The man attempts to parley with the party, asking for his unmolested retreat from the place. The party has nothing of it, and under the effects of Shadow Surge bring down the powerful blackguard in a matter of seconds. The man is dealt a majority of non-lethal damage and is tied up before the party exited the cellar, the Forshantir from the altar strapped to Fagan von Feld's back.
After exiting the cellar, the party found themselves on the outside of Dormantown's east wall, with numerous orcs to the north and the south. Still under the affects of the Shadow Surge, each member of the party was successful in taking down dozens of orcs.
Fagan, Daeron, and Bisquick move to defend the northern breach:
Rymlli and Lars charge south to defend the main gate:
Bisquick prepares to cut down a dozen incoming orcs with his Shadow Surge-enhanced Combat Reflexes:
Rymlli and Lars chew through the remaining orcs at the main gate:
The orcs routed, but not before the party had slain a majority of their numbers. The party was welcomed into the city as heroes and ushered off to The Shining Light for healing. As the party recovered at the temple, they were approached by Perc Graysky, the captain of the militia, who explained that without their incredible assistance the town would have fallen. The party spent the rest of the night in The Strong Boar, and upon waking they found a crowd of thankful citizens awaiting them. Lars won the crowd over with a humorous talk of their tale, and the mayor Nicoli Aserteak spoke a few words before taking the party back inside The Strong Boar.
Inside, the mayor was saddened to hear that their incredible power was only temporary and accepted graciously offers of helping the town rebuild and meeting future threats from the orcs. Nonetheless, the mayor rewarded the party with a number of items, consisting mostly of augment crystals and a wand from Araysa Tanglehair.
Additional things learned:
- Araysa Tanglehair collects skulls and is especially interested in owning dragon skulls.
- Additionally, Araysa will pay 60% for any potions the party wishes to sell.
- Scaun is the orcish outpost that the three Spikeshroud Orc Clans seem to be operating out of.
- Alyse Goldenhair's father, a blacksmith, was taken by the Spikeshroud Orc Clans two months ago.
- Dormantown lost nearly 80% of its full-time warriors in the attack and patrols are going to be difficult to maintain.
The party spent most of January 23rd selling and identifying equipment.
Updated Wiki Entries
The following pages have been updated with information revealed in this session:
- Mygrandin Antaloose
- Lanae Tence
- Marco the Enslaver
- Patrick Stempilos
- Seven Pendants of Dira
- Life Pendant of Dira
- Island of Dira
- Age of Recovery
- Dei Exsilium
Treasure Obtained
- 1 masterwork shadow-touched weapon per PC
- 1 masterwork shadow-touched armor per PC
- +2 greatsword (Fagan)
- +1 banded mail (Bisquick)
- 1 Tanglefoot Bag
- 1 Potion of Shield of Faith +2
- Wand of Cure Light Wounds (10)
- Wand of Cure Light Wounds (50)
- Wand Detect Magic (10)
- Scroll of Cure Serious Wounds
- Chronocharm of the Laughing Rogue (Daeron)
- Least Iron Ward Diamond
- Least Crystal of Mind Cloaking
- Least Crystal of Acid Energy Assault
- Least Crystal of Return
- Least Revelation Crystal
Player-submitted Commentary
This week's bonus XP question: Given the recent talk about the Dei Exsilium, what does your character think about Lanae Tence's efforts to open the world back up to the gods, despite Mygrandin's wishes? Did she do the right thing? What would you have done?
I've never really given too much thought to the gods and their place in this world, it's something that's just accepted as fact. I never knew there was a time when the gods were shut out of this place, but as I think about it, I'm not sure how I feel about Lanae's wish to bring them back.
Sure there are great gods, like Kord and St. Cuthbert, Pelor, Heironious and many others. I imagine if it weren't for their powers, none of us would have ever made it out of that shadow realm alive, as the Rymlli (though now he says Rymlli is dead) called upon his god to heal us through many struggles. I know as I gain the strength of the gods that without them, I would not be the warrior I am.
But this whole thing may have been avoided if not for the Slaughterer's minions. The dark warrior of Erythnul who fueled the Forshantir was most certainly a factor in the orcs attack on Dormantown, though what true capacity they served I do not know. Then there was the dream, the nightmare, of the god-beast himself, that haunts me even as I wake.
The gods are terrifying in their power, and we must tread a fine balance or else where they are concerned, or the entire world could become endangered.
Bisquick does not know what to think about Lanae Tence’s actions. He has no great love for the gods, and imagines that a world without them might be a world better off. He resents their power, making the mighty dwarves seem impotent in comparison. On the other hand, he does not know anything of his past. It could be that he would be dead, now, if not for divine healing. For certain, he would not have survived the past week without it; however, if not for Erythnul’s minions bringing the orcs upon Dormantown, and then harvesting souls with the Forshantir, he would not have needed the same care.
That being said, Bisquick is an ardent believer in personal strength, being that he has no family, and only the few friends he has made since he awoke in an alley. Not that he is friends will all of his current party; Bisquick doesn’t much like the gays. If Bisquick had been in Lanae Tence’s position, he would not have attempted to free the gods. One thousand years is well more than enough time to prove that the world can survive without them, and if we can survive without them, we should.
One can certainly see why the temptation existed to seal the gods away forever. One can point to a myriad of evil acts committed by Nerull, Erythnul, Vecna, and their ilk. But, as in nature, there is a balance. Nature balances the forces of destruction with creation.
I would return the gods to the world. Corellon teaches the elves that the forces of good and strength will prevail, and that hope and good exists in the hearts of men and elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. The gods of good give people hope, and purpose, and even sanctuary. Even with the presence of the gods of evil, the hope given to elves and mortals by the good will always let us triumph.
The removal of the gods from the physical world provides the lesser races with the opportunity to truly master their world. There are two ways that the races can go, they can go towards a sadly industrialized society that pushes nature to the outskirts, subjugating and destroying all other life on the planet -- or they can move towards a world where they live in harmony with other beasts, races, and life. This is an opportunity to both master the world, and prove the worth of the sentient life that lives on it.
Returning the god's to the world at large does nothing particularly positive. For every good god that has returned, there is an evil god to match him. It maintains an uneasy balance of power, and it is the world that shall become the arena of these warring gods. They shall march armies of men against each other, and it is the natural world that will get torn asunder along the way.
Given a choice, I would have kept the world closed off to the gods. I respect Fharlanghn and I walk upon his Path, but his presence isn't directly necessary to follow these ideals, these paths, and the presence of other gods only leads to the destruction of what matters.
~Mazer thinks for a moment, after this terribly long diatribe~
An example, the drow are a race that fervently worship the Spider Queen, dedicating their life to worship and her approval. Humans are a lot that have many more non-fanatics than fanatics...which would you rather walk through the woods with?
