Obsidian's Continuing Campaign

[Obsidian]

Well it's been a while, but in the words of a Protoss Dragoon, "I have returned." I see that the boards aren't as active any more, so I'm not sure if anyone's even going to read this, but what the heck.

What started with the Crown of Shadows (see http://www.ats.unifans.org/index.php?topic=806.0) has continued to evolve. I feel some compulsion to set down what has happened, if for no other reason than my own posterity.

some spoilers, so if you're in my game in Indianapolis, DO NOT READ.

(click to show/hide)

Dramatis Personae:

Idrakyr - Male Danisil-raised elfing barbarian/wildlander, Quick-blooded.
Iaren - Male Caransil spiritual channeler/Druid, Wiser
Tamoharra - Female Erenlander wildlander, Healer (original PC from CoS beginning)
Akil - Male Asmadarin hermetic channeler, Dragon-blooded
Celedryn - Male Erunsil wildlander/fighter/Erunsil Blood, Shadowborn
Cantara - Female urban Sarcosan rogue, Quick-blooded (original PC from CoS beginning)

Followers of Note:
Umbayr, Idrakyr's canine animal companion (labrador)
Donkey, Iaren's animal companion (light horse)
Tig, Iaren's canine familiar (basset hound. Yes, that's right.)

And now to condense several months worth of gaming into a short summary. Hahah.

After delivering the plans for forging Mithral to Autilar in the Veradeen and meeting various personages, Tamoharra, the herbalist of the group, led a trek into a nearby valley in search of a particular flower whose properties she wanted to harvest. There, the group met with an ungral hill giant, however, a judicious use of Life Trap by the druid made short work of him. The group discovered that the poncho the giant had belted over his decaying body was actually a tapestry depicting a portion of the "map" to Aradar (found in Sorcery and Shadow). There are several problems with the map of course. There's a big hole in the middle cut out where the giant's head went through. As well, some unidentifiable script was embroidered along the edges of the tapestry, that had long since frayed into illegibility. They brought the map back to Autilar and handed it over to Uilia, the Snow, who then sent it on to Five Towers for the scholars there to chew over.

The party wasn't really interested in chasing down lost legends, however, as rumors of the disappearance of whisper adepts in the Veradeen were spreading. This is an adventure hook I stole from Fury of Shadow. An eye witness to a failed abduction attempt revealed the methods of the enemy to our heroes. A force of orcs would tramp about and make noise and draw off the defending forces of a given village that housed an adept. Then a second, smaller group would, all unknown and undetectable even to the Whisper itself, sneak into the village and with lightning quickness abduct the adept, leaving a wake of dead defenders behind them. Later on, the one adept who managed to escape abduction confirmed these rumors. The party decided to trek north into more seriously contested areas of the Veradeen to investigate.

When they reached the now abandoned village where the escaped adept (an NPC by the name of Runnenar), they found evidence of forced entry, bodies left behind, even hobnailed boot tracks in dried blood INSIDE the village, but they could not find any evidence of how this strike force got into or out of the village. While they were there, a good outsider possessed one of the PCs to reveal some helpful information to them, but then an evil outsider possessed another of the PCs to prevent that. The two spirits agreed to take their disagreements elsewhere and the angel agreed to say no more to the mortals if the devil agreed not to harm them, which he did. Devils being devils however, this one summoned a few bearded devils to harry the PCs just before he left. The ensuing battle attracted the attention of orcish sentries that had been left in the area, and soon the party found themselves surrounded by a fist of orcs and a traitorous Caransil evoker (Lauranenyal. Man I love the names generated by the 2nd edition NPC generator!). They set fire to the tree village, forcing the PCs to choose between jumping 60' to the snow covered floor, or risk burning alive by descending the flaming ramps.

Enter another NPC named Eldari, a female Erunsil who showed up just in time to help the PCs escape the trap and hide in the woods. While they sat out a blizzard, the PCs learned that Eldari was very close to Runnenar, and she was surprised to learn he was still alive. They revealed several other things to her that became useful later on, since Eldari was actually an Infiltrator, a traitor who had been the key to all of the whisper adepts' abductions.

The way it worked was, Eldari, claiming to be from a defeated clan of snow elves, would drift from village to village, ingratiating herself to the people with her abilities as a rogue and her knowledge of shadow movements. She would locate and get close to the local Whisper Adept. The leader of the strike force, a Witch Taker Sarcosan Legate named Iftarana, would scry on Eldari to discover what the adept looked like, then use Sending (or message, I forget which) to coordinate the attack. Iftarana would have the Caransil evoker move his fists of orcs into position to threaten the village, drawing out the Erunsil uniel.  Then, a Dark Channeler, using Nondetection, Invisibility Sphere, Pass without Trace, and so forth, would enable Iftarana and her pair of orc brutes to travel unseen into the heart of the village. The orcs would capture the Adept with the help of Eldari and some strength-sapping poison (Dragon's Bile), and they would all disappear using Shadow Walk.


The PCs learned that the Snow of Autilar (Uilia) commanded Runnenar to return to the northern Veradeen and resume his duties, and they also learned where the Caransil evoker and his camp of orc fists was located. Between themselves and the leadership of a nearby village, they planned a counter-attack; all of which Eldari was privy to. There was a fey crossroads near the orc encampment, and so the PCs devised a two-pronged assault. The Erunsiel fighting packs would approach overland and draw off the orc soldiers while the PCs traveled through the Old Ways to the far side of the encampment and went after the evoker. During the battle, Eldari tipped her hand by using the contact poison on Runnenar just when Iftarana and her gang showed up on the PCs' rear flank. A confusing melee ensued in which Iaren, using a spear, managed to trip the orc that was carrying Runnenar before he could get in contact with Iftarana. He lost his grip on the Adept just as Iftarana cast her Shadow Walk, and so it was that the PCs managed to rescue Runnenar from a second abduction attempt. Eldari's ruse was revealed, but she, Iftarana, and one of the orcs escaped. The Caransil evoker was killed, along with many, many orcs.

The enemy left two important NPCs behind, however. One, the Dark Channeler, was nearly dead and taken captive. The other, one of the orc heavies, turned out to be a follower of the White Mother and pleaded for his life. The PCs learned that the Adepts were being held in Bandilrin, and that there was a side entrance to the warrens beneath the monastery via a sewer egress (naturally). They let the orc go free with instructions to meet them at the nearest fey crossroads to Bandilrin in one arc's time. Meanwhile they took the dark channeler back to the nearby Erunsil village for interrogation. At first, she refused to cooperate. She was very much an unwilling accomplice to the shadow, but it was her weakness that redeemed her in the end. She was Erunsil, and Celedryn, our Erunsil PC, reasoned with her that her fate may be beyond her control, but the legacy she leaves is still within her choosing. Thus it was that she confirmed the secret entrance, the specific location of the captive Adepts, and the fact that Ardherin, the Sorcerer of Shadow, was not presently at Bandilrin. It was then that the Mark of Justice branded upon her stomach flared to brightness, rendering the betrayer a gibbering idiot. Celedryn put her out of her misery.

The fact that Ardherin was not at Bandilrin impressed upon the PCs an urgency heretofore unknown, and they opted to immediately travel north and attempt to infiltrate the complex, in spite of all the dire warnings and rumors of the terrible experiments that go on there, the overwhelming numbers of legates and orcs and goblinkin, etc. etc.

At this point I would like to confess that I shamelessly ripped ideas from this board and the minds of its fine participants for ideas concerning the region around Bandilrin, its construction, and potential forces to be encountered. I would like to thank all the creative GMs out there and all the fans of AtS for providing the ingenious material that a hack like me can incorporate into his game. I'm not a great gamemaster, but I love the setting, and, heck, no one else in my area is running it.

On the path through the Old Ways to the area around Bandilrin, the party came across what appeared to be a crazy old lady living off the path. She gibbered and ranted insanely, but through an interesting session of roleplay, they came to discover Ardherin's true history - his love for Aradil, his fame as the Demon Bane of Erethor, and his duality of passion toward the Witch Queen in his current, cursed state. I invented a true name for him (Telerian), the name by which the elves new him as his true self before Vard entrapped him and led to his corruption by Izrador.  The PCs left some erethor tea and hearthstone with the lady and pressed onward.

When they reached the fey crossroads nearest Bandilrin, they discovered something unsettling. Unlike other crossroads, this one was not guarded by a toll-taking outsider on the Old Ways side. They proceed with caution through the gate, and found themselves inside a barrow.

Mounted on the head of her own staff was Eldari's severed head, which burst into flames and began to cackle, "Thus is the fate of all who cross the shadow!" Then the wraith attacked. All during the combat, Eldari's head was cackling and burning and mouthing dire warnings and insults to the party as they struggled with the wraith. After all was finished, they discovered a wadded up piece of parchment had been tucked into Eldari's now burned and crispy skull. The parchment contained a crudely drawn map of the region, with the location of the secret side door. Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood White Mother orc.

What the map did not show was the fact that there was a Symbol of Fear protecting the hidden entrance. The orc never knew about it because he was always with Iftarana when passing through that entrance. It's really amusing when almost your entire party fails a will save and runs screaming down a ravine.

Once inside, the party dealt with a token watch guard, a hobgoblin, and trudged their way through the sewage. They discovered a store room where Iftarana and her band kepts supplies for their horses, food, fresh water, even a bathing basin to get the sludge off their boots! There was also a locked door containing color coded, but otherwise unlabeled, potion bottles that the group availed themselves of. Further along the warrens, they ran afoul of the first of the aberrations created by Ardherin's horrific experiments: a gibbering mouther. Now, a gibbering mouther may not look like much against a party of six 7th level PCs, but it sure did a number on them. Amusingly, they resorted to Ice Storm and Fireball to take the thing out, totally blowing their secret entrance by casting arcane spells within the complex of the headquarters of the Cabal. Not to mention the extra spell point cost from being within the effects of a Grand Mirror.

And yet, interestingly enough, they managed to breeze their way through the rest of the encounters I'd set between them and Ardherin's hidden laboratory where the Adepts were kept. At one point, they had to fight off a Destrachan and managed to "rescue" a goblin that provided them with more information about the warrens, and what things awaited them down different corridors. The destrachans were used as sentries, using their sonic stunning ability to discourage goblinoids with wanderlust from exploring too far out from their home caverns. This particular destrachan was dragging the unconcious goblin back toward such a cavern when the PCs came upon it and killed it.

It was funny to watch them try to revive the goblin. They didn't want to waste any more spells, so they started trying to use some of the potions they found. The first one they tried was blue. Blue is a healing color, right? No. The blue bottles each contained three doses of Dragon's Bile. Pouring a bottle into the goblin's mouth did not revive him, but it did ensure he wasn't going anywhere under his own power. When they did end up using a healing spell to revive him, they bound him hand and foot, and Iaren the druid slung him across his shoulders like a backpack.

Further on, they encountered a larger cavern that was apparently a place of industry, where orts were raised, fed, slaughtered, and processed, as well as mushrooms and other underground food fare. There were storerooms, and so forth, but first the PCs had to get past a group of hobgoblins playing knucklebones while standing watch in one of the outer chambers. A plan was concocted making use of the Dragon's Bile contact poison, and surprisingly, the surprise attack went off without a hitch and no alarm was raised. The group snuck through the caverns on the side away from the barracks, but on the far end, the goblin began to fear what lay further on more than he feared the party, and his attempt to deceive them was easily discovered. His usefulness at an end, the poor wandering goblin was killed and his body left behind as bait for the worgs that had been a bit upset with the party traipsing through their lair.

Soon the group came upon a smaller cavern inhabited by a fist of orcs. The PCs decided to bluff their way past. Celedryn used Disguise Self to appear as an orc, and hit Iaren in the face to bloody him up. Cantara and Tamoharra put on legate robes they'd had with them since Redwynde, and Idrakyr, being short, hid under Tamoharra's cloak. It was a ridiculous idea, but it worked. The PCs, through Cantara and Celedryn, bluffed that they had "Another adept for the Sorcerer" and with some good roleplay and a tense moment as they passed through the awakening cavern of orcs, they won their way through without drawing a blade.

It was not to last, however. The casting of such high powered spells against the gibbering mouther alerted one of the astiraxes, and his legate sent him to investigate. On a whim, I rolled randomly to see whether this particular astirax was loyal, or had his own agenda. Based on the result, I decided that this astirax didn't particularly like being stationed in Bandilrin, and he was not above letting his master become embarrassed, and, hopefully, reassigned. Thus it was that although the astirax did discover the PCs' location and intentions, he did NOT inform his master of this. The dead hobgoblins in the ort cavern were, however, finally found, and the alarm was raised through other means. Thus, just as the PCs were entering more finished stone corridors beneath the very heart of Bandilrin, a Temple Legate and four Soldier Legates came tromping down the corridor to stop them.

Yet again, the PCs showed their mettle by charging the ranks of the solider legates, giving them only one shot with their heavy crossbows and not giving them time to ready their swords before falling upon them. Celedryn, the mad Erunsil that he is, charged THROUGH their ranks to engage the leader. Even Iaren, the unassuming, back-woods druid, managed to knock two of the solider legates on their butts with a clothesline maneuver using his spear. A goblin worgrider had accompanied the legates as a messenger, but Celedryn took him down before he could escape.

Once inside the more heavily patrolled/inhabited heart of the compound, the PCs reverted to their bluffing act. With the amulets of Continual Flame that the legates had used as holy symbols of Izrador, and appropriate cloaks, they managed to get into one of the lesser temples where the rank and file went to worship services. It was behind this altar that the Dark Channeler had revealed was a secret door, one of the entrances to Ardherin's personal laboratory, wherein the captive whisper adepts could be found.

Beyond the secret door was a stairwell leading down, and a Symbol of Sleep. PC after PC, having failed their Will saves, collapsed into slumber and fell bouncy bounce down the stairs, leaving only Celedryn and Iaren conscious.

The majority of Ardherin's suite was protected by Guards and Wards, disguising several doors as blank walls, webbing the three stairwells exiting the lair, and infesting one corridor with stinking cloud. When Iaren and Celedryn made it to the central chamber that was laid out as a summoning room, complete with pentagrams designed into the floor and braziers set at the apexes burning differently colored flames, they came face to face with a ghostly pallid, emaciated elf with hollow, dark eyes...

The image of Ardherin was actually an illusion cast by the channeler who had been set to watching over the lair and keeping up the guards and wards. Some entertaining roleplay ensued in which Celedryn called the bluff. The channeler with improved invisibility used Black Tentacles to effectively pin down Iaren while Celedryn struggled to find WHERE the guy was. Iaren, having given up on his own life, resorted to insulting and taunting the channeler's parentage and so forth, and on an incredible Intimidate roll, managed to incense the bad guy so much that he shot some Magic Missiles at Iaren, crumpling him. But that told Celedryn which square the wizard was standing in, and he essentially eviscerated the channeler.

After minimal exploration, in which they discovered one of the OTHER exits from this suite of rooms led directly to the chamber of the Grand Mirror, the other PCs were revived, and they found the holding cells. In one was a dire bear with a curious enchanted collar upon its neck. In another was a barbed devil chained to the wall with glowing manacles and a hood covering its face. In a third was a Thri-Kreen I just threw in for random amusement. And finally, the five whisper adepts that had been abducted. Now, the group had traveled to Bandilrin with the intent of rescuing these adepts, or at the very least, preventing the shadow from being able to experiment on them or corrupt them, by the handy expediency of killing them. They discovered, however, that the adepts were under Temporal Stasis, and could not be physically harmed. They would have to drag the inert bodies back out of Bandilrin with them. There was one problem, though. The alarm had been raised.


The party was debating how to get OUT of Bandilrin, but Tamoharra wasn't listening. She, like the rest of the PCs, had in the past received a Vision of her own death. In it, she saw herself slumped against the wall watching as the Black Mirror she had just sundered began pouring it's trapped energy out of the broken basin with growing arcs of electricity and suppressed arcane energy. There was the sound of shouting and running feet, and she had enough time to think of her friends before the explosion claimed her.

Tamoharra realized that THIS was the moment of her Destiny. Everything that had happened in the complex was frozen in a moment of clarity as she understood that her fate was at hand. She was mere steps away from the mirror. She knew that only mithral could damage the basin. She had a mithral heavy flail, a magical one "liberated" from the stores that had been raided. She knew what she had to do. The rest of the party became frantic, because they knew they would need time to get away. While they were dithering, I finally had the dire bear roll over and say, "You know, if you take this damn collar off of me, I could provide a distraction for you."

The collar was an enfeebling device that kept the dire bear docile, as a part of Ardherin's experiments in pursuit of fabricating an incurable disease to make the dire animals of Erethor go mad and turn against the elves (another plot hook borrowed from Fury). The PCs freed the bear, who immediately charged up the stairs and began causing chaos. The PCs said hasty farewells to Tamoharra, then bolted upstairs, following the wake of destruction left by the rampaging dire bear.

The earthquakes began as Tamoharra fulfilled her Destiny, and the PCs overheard a frantic legate scream, "To the wyverns! We must escape!" They followed him up into the courtyard of the keep where the Wyverns were stabled (used by legates to patrol the surrounding region). They thrust aside the riders preparing to flee, and made their escape, with the dire bear thrashing about behind them.

I'll admit here that I took some liberties and glossed over several things. It might help to put them into perspective to know that the death visions I handed out to the PCs I did so months ago. When the opportunity arose for Tamoharra to fulfill hers, I explained to her in clear terms that the moment of Destiny had arrived. I asked her if she were willing to embrace it, to sacrifice her character, and she agreed. And so, I narrated some of the events that would otherwise have required more intensive combat and stiffer resistance. I know that the Grand Mirror was effectively unguarded, at least, from the direction of the secret passage leading from Ardherin's chambers. I also breezed past the PCs getting a hold of the wyverns, getting mounted, and getting them to fly away from the shaking and shuddering grounds of the monastery. And I delayed the "explosion" released by the mirror and basically let the remaining PCs get away. I think it made for good story, and the players enjoyed the hell out of it.

The energies released by the destruction of the Grand Mirror (a feat that the PCs cannot hope to repeat in the near future) blasted through the maze of tunnels and warrens beneath Bandilrin, washed through the cracked and shattered ravines and blasted wasteland surrounding the fortress, and the earth shuddered as the entire region settled into a vast, collapsed sinkhole and dust bowl. The wyverns, exhausted, set down some miles to the south of the blast radius, waited for the PCs and their inert burdens, the adepts, to dismount, and then flew away.

And that's how Bandilrin got blown up.

More in another, hopefuly shorter, post.

[Doomed Hero]

That, sir, is pretty cool.

The only question I have is how was the Mithril Flail's magic hidden from the dozens of Astirax in and around Bandilrin? Seems to me like that might have been noticed.

Other than that, awesome.

[smeagol]

Obsidian,

Thank you so much for sharing!!

Now I think I'll borrow some of your ideas...

[Obsidian]

Doomed Hero:

I can't remember where I read it, but I've been operating under the assumption that, since Bandilrin is Ardherin's summer home, so to speak, it makes sense that the shadow forces (at least the crack elite units like the NPCs I created) would be well-equipped with magic items. The flail was found inside the complex, it wasn't brought with the PCs. I reasoned that the dozens of astiraxes in the area  had a "background hum" to contend with of the dozens of magic items in use by the shadow forces. But these are constant echoes and though they may move around a bit, they wouldn't be anything to be concerned about. The casting of 3rd and 4th level spells however, like the PCs did against the gibbering mouther, would be like lighting off firecrackers in a room full of radios on at low volume. They stand out a bit.

Smeagol:

Considering how shamelessly I have ripped ideas from others on this board, I wholeheartedly encourage you to take whatever you like.

[Doomed Hero]

You know, that's a really good point. That place is probably crawling with dark channelers.

Also, if the PC's finished Crown of Shadows they aught to have Cloaks of the Lady to help mask thier "scent". (I remembered that after I'd posted the first question)

[Obsidian]

Three of the PCs had Cloaks of the Lady, yes, and that did help, right up until the Fireball/Ice Storm incident. The other three PCs came in to replace those that left or died at the end of the Crown of Shadows story. They keep asking for one though.

Brings up an interesting question. Under what other circumstances would a PC be able to earn a Cloak of the Lady?

[arnon]

That's a cool recounting of what was surely a very cool gaming experience... Well Done!

As Smeagol said, I might be borrowing from this later on.

Regarding Cloak of the Lady, i'd say if the characters perform a high and important service for the elves (including getting the queen's attention), then they might have a chance of being awarded this. What you have just described is certainly a major blow that is probably deserving of some reward.... that is, unless no one knows (or believes) that the characters actually did it...

[wolfen_child]

Despite the age of this post and the fact that it is completely off topic, I just wanted to say how excited I was to hear of another Midnight DM in the Indy area.