The Legacy of Kael
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GM: William
Session: Autumn 808
Night: Tuesdays Variable
Level: Medium
Location: Avondale / negotiable
Introduction
The Laughing God lies stricken with a mortal wound. It could be that only his brother
knows how to save him. That requires finding his followers and the worship of the old
elven gods is illegal. However with the Wild Elves getting restless, elven attentions
elsewhere and the land waking up this may not be as hard as may be imagined. Read the scribe notes from the last adventure. The Laughing Hills
Party
- Anooke Halfling; Ice mage fighter played by Michael Haycock
- Serra Angelus Elven; Earth mage played by Michael Scott Scribe
- Lucius Elven; E&E played by Bridget
- Eltan Halfling; Earth mage played by Joe
- Douglas Human; a rather special Mind Mage Gordon Lewis Mil Sci
The Adventure Begins
"Sanity is for the weak" Wild Elf's proclamation after looking upon the Face of The Laughing God.
1st of Fruit
Anooke party leader
After the usual introductions and sizing up of the party members Lucius and Anooke regal us with the accounts of there actions last session and how these impact on the current mission. It quickly becomes apparent that I am not drunk enough and as the story progresses I attempt to rectify the matter.
Anooke is a barbarous little Hobbit whose presence keeps slipping from my awareness while Lucius is what the humans would call a good stolid salt of the earth type. i.e. dull, dull, dull. Eltan is his annoying usual self, vibrating on the spot like a puppy eager to slip the leash. Lastly there is Douglas "call me Sir" a mind mage who always seems to be grinning as if he is reading your thoughts and is amused by what he finds.
While the rest of us complete our shopping Douglas puts his quaffing skills (philosopher) to good use by researching everything the guild library has on the old Elven gods, which unfortunately consists of a children's primer discarded by Isil Eth. The assistant librarian does mention the Princess Carrianne should have more information being as she is descended from those who once followed the old gods.
Determining that the princess is riding to Slippery Rock and beyond for hunting we borrow some mounts and proceed after her. We catch up with the princess and her companions and continue into Slippery Rock at a more sedate pace while chatting about the Elven situation.
We are told to seek out the old Loremasters if they still exist, and are given the name of Lord Veltan her betrothed who may know more and be willing to speak of it; And Sharn an outlaw in the northern wastes who is rumoured to be a priest of the old Gods. We shop at Slippery Rock and learn of a wise human of some renown who lives in a travelling tower and knows strange and arcane lore and is currently in Seagate.
Returning to the City we locate the tower in the commons and join the cue to see the wise man, a master Alchemist named John Pontanus. In the cue we meet a Lady Moria who is trying to purchase a potion to win Duke Leto's heart. Douglas can not help himself and 'suggests' that she focus her attention on Duncan the court Mage.
Inside Master Pontanus tells provides us a list of ingredients to make a healing salve that might cure a god and supplies that should we come across he would pay top guinea for.Alchemy Ingredients Needed
Ingredients
Need:
- Fresh shell of a phoenix
- Water from the source of the Sweetwater
- Blood of a powerful Healer
Would be useful to include
- Griffin feathers
- Harpy Eggs
- Gem of a Naga
- Breath of a Titan
Will pay 50,000sp for knowledge of why Balrogs inhabit places of power.
5th of Fruit
Serra party leader
We travel by slow portal to Burgelfen and discover the palace in chaotic disarray. Apparently the Old Ones have returned and encamped in the eastern wing and thrown a spanner into the normally ordered and sedentary workings of the elven bureaucracy.
Who are the Old Ones?
Known as the Beltan. Apparently they are a contingent of elves who left Alusia millennia ago to fight a powerful agency of darkness. They or in most cases their descendents have followed that threat back home. Further investigation leads us to concluded that they are talking of the Calamar.
We seek an audience with them to see if they have information about the old Elven gods and are directed to the Seermaster, Yarbareal. He knows little of the old myths and legends but does provide us with the Runes depicting Kael, his brother the Laughing God and two others; Sha'mez god of magic and Nuckavalee the Skinless.
He also informs us that these were primal/elemental gods form before the age of reason and that worshipers would sacrifice one who was worthy to become the living avatar of their God on this plane.
He also tells of the olden times when a barrier protected these lands, the healer corps kept disease from the people and the light crystal mines provided the power for wondrous war engines. Inquiry about these mines gives the location of the nearest as within the area we were told to search for Kael's followers. Yarbareal says that if we rediscover these mines and clear them for a return to operation we will be greatly rewarded.
The Seermaster mentions working together with Sabrina among others to eliminate the Calamar presence on this plane.
We inform him of the state of the eleven nation including the pertinent texts his people should research in order to understand the political climes the have returned to. We also provide some contacts to help them negotiate the intricacies of the modern elven court. We also recount the current events in the province of Lalhaudh and the dire consequences should no action be taken. Upon learning of the undead slime thing he asks why we do not simply borrow one of the Swords of Ascendancy to eliminate the problem.
The swords are apparently powerful artefacts left in the care of the Elven court for just such occurrences. We leave him to his studies with the intent of petitioning the court for the use of one of the swords.
Deciding to wait until the next morning to take our request to the court we take rooms in the East wing and set forth to explore, (for purely Mil Sci reasons of course).
Lucius takes the chance to train with some experienced battle mages while the rest of us sift though the detritus left in the wake of the Beltan's spring cleaning of the wing. They are removing all the decadent and irrelevant trappings of extravagance and over indulgence. We aid them to this end by taking the unwanted barrels of silverware and other goods and having them shipped to the guild.
6th of Fruit
Anooke Leader
We are woken several hours before dawn by the Sgt of the squad (wing/flight?) we have been assigned to escort us to Eidolon to retrieve the swords. The Squads Minor Shaper (Binder) will cast Instil Flights to transport all of us.
Arriving at the capital we buttonhole the first flunky we see and convince him to get us a Ministry of War clerk to take us to the Minister himself. The clerk Ash is barely able to stand due to intoxication but after a rapid magical detox thanks to Douglas leads us to the Ministers bed chamber. Ash explains that the whole department is engaged in a celebration of the last guild party's victory over the Orcs and have been for several days.
Having lost Eltan already to the orgy we quickly question the Minister and determine that the sword have been hidden to protect them from Engelton and Liessa who hit town just after the guild day. Supposedly there is a prophecy that the elves believe refers to the two: "The two agents of darkness before they fall, will seek out the swords of ascendancy in there desire to conquer the world."
To this end the location of the swords have been ripped from the memory of all who knew to ensure the security of the blades. We are told that the Consort and the Keeper of Antiquities/Secrets should be able to help us obtain the sword. We get a sealed warrant from the Minister allowing us to collect and use the swords and then Douglas uses some unique mind magic to discern what happened to the swords and Lucius manages to 'locate' them 50 miles out side the city.
It being late we decide to join the orgy and set out tomorrow
7th of Fruit
Douglas Leader
We fly to the Tower of the Betrayer outside of Eidolon, it is in a ring of ancient trees and is shaped to resemble a mighty Oak. We knock on the front door and on the trap door at the top but determine from a wizards eye courtesy of Lucius that the guards are absent. Determining that the tower is protected by a Major Curse Serra pulls a monkey out of a sack and get it to unlock and open the trapdoor. Entering the tower Serra activates the curse and can not return back across the threshold. Wandering down Serra pockets the Chimera, that Lucius has just skin-changed into a mouse utilising wizards eye and telekinesis, and picks up Fedei (Faith), Jus (Justice) and Veritas (Truth).
A mercurial entity ( a wheel) appears to help Serra exit the tower and tells the party to hurry on with the mission so we leave a note for the guards should they return and fly to Lalhaudh and the Summer Palace and make camp and touch base with the 23rd Legion.
During dinner Lucius Meditates over Fedei and after talking to the voice in his head becomes the Protector of the Land. Serra not to be outdone meditates over Jus and becomes an Agent of Justice.
8th of Fruit
Eltan Leader
Taking their new roles to heart, the party travel into the village and start judging and protecting the local peasants. We fly to the Winter palace and smite the Undead slime corruption and then call the dryads to reclaim the area with the provision to allow the party and no one else to descend into the caverns where the Laughing God sleeps.
9th of Fruit
Lucius Leader
Lucius takes us to where he and Anooke buried the pots of Gods blood. He convinces Serra to expose herself to the blood in order to obtain a spell-casting reserve with which to aid the party. All goes well until the last exposure when Serra's skin turns to stone greatly affecting her agility and dexterity. For some reason no-one else feels like going near the God's Blood.
Heading back to the Summer palace we are bickering when and arrow strikes Eltan followed by a grenado which emits an annoying screeching sound. Examining the arrow we turn to the trees and berate the wild elves for playing games when there is work to be done. The wild elves inform us that to gain the services of the Fachans in securing Lalhaudh's borders we should beseech the Low King of the Fae, bringing him a gift. However one of there number Malaal has an uncle who is a priest of Kael who has been fighting a drow shade in a forgotten temple above a glacier to the north. He offers to guide us while the rest of his band remain to protect the province.
We discuss our plans with the 23rd Legion Trooper Tarahell Alatáriël and our Beltan contingent and decide to fly out the next morning with the Legion remaining behind to secure the province.
11th of Fruit
Anooke Leader
We arrive on the glacier and are immediately abandoned by the Beltan squad. Apparently they have received a summons back to Bergelfen to deal with an inter-dimensional rift that has suddenly appeared throwing the city into a panic. We give them Jus and Veritas to return or use should the need arise and mention that we will only summon Jus if in great peril and could they check up on us in that event.
With Protections from cold all round we Snow Shovel our way up the glacier towards where the temple should be. Progress is slow and, as wood is limited, mostly on cold rations.
14th of Fruit
Lucius Leader
The temple, carved out of the living rock of the mountains is dedicated to Savnok. We use Wizards Eye to recon and find Malaal's uncle Alphr still locked in combat with the shade, the other worshipers having been killed or fled long ago.
We cross the threshold and are immediately set upon by five demons who erupt from the rock floor surrounding the party. Things look grim for a number of seconds, Malaal taking the worst of it, until the spells kick in and Anooke performs his impression of a barbarian horde. The demons are sent fleeing back to the hells they manifested from. The interior of the temple has been carved to resemble the inside of the digestive track giving the impression that you are being swallowed as you descend towards the altar room.
We learn from Alphr that we need the petals of the Black Lotus to effect a healing salve for the Laughing God, and that he would be happy to assist us were it not for the shade he is currently binding. He explains that while he could kill the shade the master would be to powerful and after despatching him would simply resurrect the drow, thus the only way to prevent the corruption from spreading is to hold it in eternal stalemate.
Upon hearing this we offer our aid in destroying the drow's shade and Savnok when he appears in order to free Alphr so he can aid us in our quest. Alphr is dubious until we show him Fedei and at Lucius' command Serra summons Jus at which point he seems to look at us with more respect, or trepidation, possibly unease.
With all our buff spells on we take up positions and finish off the Drow shade poised ready for the Avatar. Despite this Savnok still gets in the first hit with Agony and other Necro spells buffeting the party as he arrives, but in the end it takes just one mighty blow apiece from Serra and Lucius to smite the Marquis of Corruption from the plane.
The party then runs like Hell as the temple starts to collapse around them, Lucius having blessed the place in the Name of Raphael and starting a chain reaction. Back out in the fresh untainted air of the glacier we make camp and discuss our options. Alphr ritually prepares the Drow's brains and offer each of us a piece to celebrate the victory over a mighty agent of evil. Those who accept and imbibe the grey matter are blessed with the knowledge and ability to cast a spell of the Dark Celestial college.
Alphr speaks of the Nagaroth a cult of mostly Drow Necromancer's who cultivate (no pun intended) the Black Lotus for their evil rituals. He remembers a village of these foul cultists down below the snow line where we could with skill and daring steal the plants we need for the healing.
15th of Fruit
Serra leader
After placing a portal for us to use and inscribing runes upon those that want them, Alphr and Malaal leave vowing to meet us back at the Laughing God. The party proceeds to the village and spends the morning in surveillance and planning. We spy approx 50 drow, a quarter of which are children, and four undead, probably zombies. Every structure in the village is hollowed out of a living tree. There is the entrance to some caverns, purpose and form unknown and a pit containing five elves, two hobbits, a human and a goblin. Another captive elf is being tied to an altar and being ritually painted and bled. All signs point to an impending sacrifice with the whole village in attendance, unfortunately the lotus are grown in the temple where this is going to take place.
A rather boisterous debate ensues as to whether we save the victim thus killing the villages or use stealth to come and go and leave the captives to their fate.
Upon spying a greater summoner and realising that the villagers intend to summon Sallos, the party crystallizes in there resolve not to let the ritual go forward and launch their assault. After several attempts to sleep and stun the Summoner from range fail, Lucius Black Fires the villagers as they concentrate in the temple entrance in their rush to attack Serra who strides forward calling for them to come forth and be judged in Uriel's name. The wave of magic stuns most of the worshipers, killing all of the children with those adults who resisted turning to either flee or engage Serra and now Eltan who is kept busy watching the Justicars back as she smites wraiths and drow alike attempting to cut her way to the Summoner.
Anooke not to be outdone frees and arms the captives leading them into the fray. Douglas is left behind as he continues to use his control and telekinesis to good effect.
The Summoner tries to run only to be slept by Lucius and the other drow surrender throwing themselves upon Uriel's mercy. Serra orders the Imp found in the Summoner's rooms to depart before turning to the task of pronouncing Judgement on the village.
The party frees the sacrificial victim an Elf named Lord Denias, and collects all the Lotus plants they can find. Serra use Jus to destroy the altar while Lucius cleanses the taint with holy water. Finally they depart with the Summoner and all of his gear as well as a skin changed giant snake, with Lucius stopping to Bless the ground at the front gate in an attempt to restrict any other dark followers from again enthralling the people.
16th of Fruit
Anooke leader
At midnight we here a loud booming crack coming from the direction of the village but continue on up the glacier until we reach Alphr's portal. Back in Lalhaudh we sleep and refresh guarded by the Wild Elves and fae. In the morning we hold counsel with Malaal, Alphr and the dryads and learn that a reward of 5,000sp has been placed on Lucius' head by Lady Celeblothel and are told of an ancient fae prophecy;
"The swords will be claimed by those who will mend the scars left by the war and this will signal the fall of the gods and the end of this world"
or words to that effect it being kind of hard to understand fae at the best of times.
To gain a Phoenix's fresh shell we decide to head to the volcano known as the Mountain of Baal. We travel by Ent and start our assent just after lunch reaching the craters rim by evening. Spying worked stone steps leading into a cavern we investigated and meet Allan Smith. Allan is a apparently human Smith/shaper of weapons who accepts commissions and offers us his hospitality. Allan tells us of the Phoenix who call the lake of fire home and offers to help us with buffs and translation in our parlay with the magnificent avian. We ask a boon of the Phoenix when it returns to dies and upon hearing us plead our cause grants us our wish telling us to be careful for when it was reborn it would not remember this conversation.
17th of Fruit
Douglass Leader
The party are up with the dawn to collect the eggshell and saying fare thee well to Allan proceed back down to where we parked the Ent. Half way down we encounter a group of six elven warriors all dressed in scale climbing up. We invite them to share our midday repast and catch up on gossip and news. After tea in a shocking display of bad manners they try to arrest us, citing a warrant for Lucius as cause.
We explain that we are under orders from a higher authority, ie the Minister of War himself, and that they can place Lucius under arrest on the proviso they accompany him as we complete the tasks before us. Seeing the sense of this statement (and recognising the swords over our backs) the troop "escort" us back to the remains of the winter palace where Alphr begins to prepare the healing salve aided by Serra. The ritual must climax with the first rays of the Sun so the party settle in for a long night.
18th of Fruit
Eltan Leader
We wake early to watch the completion of the ritual. Alphr presents us with three doses of potion which must be feed to the Laughing God, preferably before sundown. Serra volunteers and wearing a resistance vs God effects ring courtesy of Anooke descends into the caverns. She encounters a being or possibly three shaped as a child who constantly merge and split wavering in and out of focus. The entity(s) claim to be the guardians of the gods resting body and lead Serra to His personification with the admonishment to return Him to His slumber quickly.
An androgynous young Elf appears and asks Serra if the stage has been set and if the players are in place before accepting the healing draught and swallowing it down. The God Laughs and attacks Serra knocking her to the ground and racing for the surface, she gives chase tackling the God as Douglas takes control of His mind and sends Him back to sleep. The Guardian(s) pick up the sleeping deity and convey Him back to His place of rest.
We travel via Ent to the City of Lalhaudh to speak to the authorities and announce Lucius' ascension to the position of Lord Protector and his plans for both the city and the province. The party were directed to the home of Lady Anellia a hard working servant of the people with an outstanding mind between her pointed ears. She expressed her frustration at her sister's mismanagement and neglect and was only to willing to entertain bold and decisive ideas for securing her beloved homelands future.
We enlist the services of Beriadan, an Air mage that the last party established a relationship with, to take us by cloud to first Artzdorf then Bergelfen.
20th of Fruit
Serra Leader
Upon arriving in Artzdorf we secure lodgings and then proceed immediately to the Academy to see John Pontanus and sell him the rare ingredients we have managed to procure. In payment we each receive our choice of his wares to the value of 10,000sp. While we wait for our order to be made up we decided to take the day off and relax sampling the varied sights and sounds of the city or just catching up on lost sleep.
21st of Fruit
Anooke Leader
Refreshed we return to Master Pontnus' to collect our goods before departing for Bergelfen
23rd of Fruit
Eltan Leader
As we descend into Bergelfen we can see the unmistakeable signs of magical combat inflicted upon the city by the Swordworlds Raiders, in the melted and blasted stonework. Fires are still burning with Elven troops running and flying all over trying to bring order back to the once beautiful city. The bulk of the organised forces are surrounding a shrinking tear in reality through which the enemy attacked and then withdrew.
Upon landing we report to the Seermaster in the east wing and are told that the main focus of the raid seems to be to steal artefacts of great magical and political significance. The most important of the items stolen is the Wild Elven blade Mortal Dread normally carried by Lord Veltyn of the Elvandar. Yarbareal, mistaking us for another group of mercenaries, asks if we are ready to undertake the mission into the void to attempt to retrieve the short-sword and any of the other stolen artefacts. Lucius, drunk on either power or the pursuit of riches and glory, signs the party up without hesitation or any undue questions like "what's the pay like, how do we get back and where is this void thingy anyway".
We are given potions of Mind Cloak, Innocence and Comprehend Languages to go with Disguise Illusions to allow us to pass as Swordworlds troops and a staff of Banishment. All this is done on the bounce as the tear is closing and the voidship on the other side won't hang around for stragglers. We leave the Swords of Ascendancy with the Beltan, the Calamar and there client races being a tad sensitive about holy artefacts and especially weapons. The ruse is simple, pretend to be the last of the returning strike force and infiltrate the ship/complex on the other side of the tear, locate the artefacts, suppress any guards and banish home with the loot.
Beyond the tear we find a huge spiked sphere in the distance before us, with wave after wave of demonic beings pressing forth an attack upon on one of the flanks. We dodge random wild discharges of magic and missiles as we make for the lee side of the fortification and are ushered into the structure via a sally port/hatch by the guards. Bluffing we demand to be taken to the captured artefacts in order to secure them until handover as per our orders. We are led through the warren like passages to a larger assembly area still within the outer shell of the base/ship but are jumped by Demons before we can lay our hands on the artefacts.
We easily despatch the demons with only the loss of the Swordworlders who were accompanying us, secure Mortal Dread and the other stolen artefacts and Banish ourselves back to Alusia.
We surprise the Beltan with our swift return and are given 45,000sp in Eidolon notes for our troubles. Taking the other stolen artefacts back to the curator we manage to score a writ for another 100,000sp and the use of the Chalice of Princess Isoral for the duration, (of what is never discussed).
We spend the rest of the evening in research and conversation with the Beltan sifting for any and all information we can pry from there collected notes and memories of the old ways, specifically in regards to the light crystal. An engineer informs us that he wants at least three tonnes of the processed crystal a.s.a.p. should we find it. We decided to take the 24th off for rest and relaxation before continuing via cloud to Lalhaudh City.
25th of Fruit
Serra Leader
Lucius arranges a intimate dinner between himself and Lady Anellia so they can discuss the plans for the province, the rest of us listening in on mind speech explore the city. Despite our nudges and hints that Lucius should look at Lady Anellia as a potential political match he remains all business as she explains the financial hole her sister's mismanagement has plunged the province into. She expresses doubts about Lucuis' plans for reinvigorating the economy and the role the Elvandar and Beltan will play. With the parties consent, to help assuage her fears and start the ball rolling, Lucius exchanges the writ for 100,000sp we earned in return for lands left vacant by the plague. As this is an entire year's taxes for the whole of Lalhaudh both parties are more than happy with the arrangement.
26th of Fruit
Anooke Leader
We continue our investigations into the old portal system and the other wonders described by the Beltan sifting through the cities libraries and records. A visit to the site of the old portal revels that it has been metaphorically capped by a temple to Maniway. The boundary between worlds can still be detected by those who know how and Lucius looks into the other side and finds that the gates still stand there. Nothing else of much note is discovered and we complete our prep for the journey to the crystal mines on the morrow.
27th of Fruit
Douglas Leader
As Beriadan circles his cloud over the mountains which hold the crystal mine we spy a Black Dragon some miles off sunning itself on another peak. The landing is the fastest anyone has seen from an air mage using this spell and we are all comfortably ensconced in a mine shaft by the time the Black flies over looking for his midday meal. We meet a Farqaun who tell us that the dragon, named Anghamerabad comes to the mine every day at noon and enters the main shaft, the Farqaun also tells of goblins who have made a home of the abandoned mines.
Through the wonders of modern magic we watch the dragon consume a goblin who had been chained in the central cavern eat some crystal and leave. The crystal, which is lying about all over the place, DAs as a long lived sentient as well as an Earth elemental. We determine that the Control Earth elemental spell should work on the crystal and the crystal is waiting to be given purpose. After we are sure that the Dragon is not coming back we investigate the tunnel it took down to the main cavern.
Being the usual paranoid guild maniacs our obsessive DA-ing of every footstep is rewarded by the discovery of a Mol Rec Ward aimed at (in order of importance) Elves, Dwarves and Humans. Halflings don't make the scale. After the normal argument of who to throw through we wander out and look for another entry and find ourselves in a smaller tunnel backed up against the same ward (which Lucius triggers) when the goblins attack.
2/3rds of a village later (ie 70 seconds) we interrogate the survivors. Apparently the goblins have a truce of sorts with Anghamerabad and sacrifice someone to him daily. The ones we have encountered are an outpost place here to guard the entrance and placate the dragon.
28th of Fruit
Eltan Leader
The captives lead us to their city where we give their leader an ultimatum, bog off or die in various horrible ways. Disproving traditional thinking on goblin intelligence they take the hint and start packing immediately. Further interrogation of the goblins city elder leads to the information that the Black may be searching for or guarding The Saint. This person or place resides deep in the lower caverns where few goblins travel however a few of them are convinced to take us down so the party can poke at it with sticks.
1st of Harvest
Anooke Leader
Two days later we find a geode of Light Crystal and in the centre is a translucent formation/pillar an elven lady seemingly asleep within. An aura read reveals that she is the consort (read; pacted with benefits) to Sha'mez old elven God of Magic. With Douglas carrying us in his mind (bar Anooke who stayed to watch over us) we enter her Dream hoping to find the answers to some of our questions.
The lady, Iratheyma was voluntarily placed inside the crystal millennia ago in order to grow the crystal so it could be harvested for the fight against the darkness. She was to be awoken only for the last great war. Whether this is the Reunification of the Elves (War of Tears part deux) or the War of the Gods is unclear.
Before Douglas can inquire further another Elf appears and manifests the rest of the party inside Iratheyma's Dream so we can more easily converse. Sha'mez is at once a completely androgynous and wholly hermaphroditic Elf dressed in typical Wild Elf attire and eyes that spark and dance like pools of raw chaotic mana.
We pester Sha'mez with questions and amazingly gain insight into the shaping of the Light Crystal, the motives of Black Dragons, Anghamerabad in particular and the history of the Elves and their Gods. Included are some 'how to' instructions on starting and surviving the coming Wars mentioned above.
"To Win do not trust the Green Man"
Fun Fact #1: The words to control Anghamerabad are in the nest of the Leviathan at the bottom of the Abyssal Ocean.
Fun Fact #2: Coucolain's sword is made of permanently bound Light Crystal
We are told we need to slay Coucolain of the Erelheine before Reunification can be achieved. We demur slightly and change the subject.
Lucius tells Sha'mez of what's been happening in the elven empire (or what's left of it) since Iratheyma entered her Dream, Sha'mez is both shocked and amused by the news, especially of those who have sort to replace Him/Her/It and outlawed his followers. For a God He/Her/It seems remarkably uninformed. With Lucius making promises and dreaming of empire building we return to the waking world.
4th of Harvest
Lucius Leader
Back at the entrance we leave a note for the Dragon and retire to a safe local to await his response. In the meantime we experiment with shaping the crystal; Anooke creates a deformed bunny, Serra a main gauche and Eltan a menhir.
Anghamerabad seems amenable to a chat so we leave our cover and introduce ourselves. The Black is full of helpful advice, including slaughtering our gods ourselves to get the Calamar to leave us in peace, using a circle of maidens to entrap Seir and constructing a circlet from the eyelash of a Titan maiden's eyelash to protect against demonic powers. He does seem content for the elves to reopen the mines as long as he is guaranteed a daily Light crystal snack. Lucius asks what he would require to protect the province for a century to which he replies he wishes to know "the true reason why the province is undefended" but is willing to settle for the knowledge of what caused the hatred between the sisters Lady Anellia and Lady Celeblothel.
We consider Anghamerabad's offer and how or if we should approach Lady Anellia over the matter as we cloud back to Lalhaudh City.
The Beltan have arrived in the form of Star Commander Tashan and a company of troops sent ahead to ensure accommodation and security. We direct them to the old militia barracks and grant them carte blanch to fix and upgrade the premises. Tashan asks about the security including the Nexus Stones. At our looks of confusion he explains that the Nexus Stones were 9ft shaped light crystal monoliths that protected the empire from demon manifestations and inter-dimensional portals. The Star Commander is shocked to hear that we no nothing of these vital links in the nations defence network. We assure him that we will investigate the matter and take our leave.
We arrange an appointment with Lady Anellia and catch her up on our dealings and concerns but she can shed no light on what has happened to this areas defences. When we broach the subject of the Dragon's proposal the lady loses her composure and flees into her private rooms. We leave her to her sorrows and secrets and retire for the night.
5th of Harvest
Serra Leader
While making arrangements to travel to Bergelfen the Lady Anellia informs us that while taken by surprise she is willing to endue the pain of telling her secret to Anghamerabad for the protection of Lalhaudh. We agree to take her up to see the Black after we get back when a Pixie appears with a message from the 23rd Legion reporting a contingent of priests were trying to cross the border and asking for orders.
The party travels to the border where the priests of Manway tell us that they have come to warn us off after detecting our investigations of the old portal gates. We are informed that a great evil arose in the Shadow realm and that the portals were destroyed to stop it invading our world and that any attempt to interact with the portals could draw its attention and provide a conduit. The priests do not know or are unwilling to share whether the evil came from the Shadow realm or from somewhere else. We assure them that now we know why the portals were destroyed we won't go near them again and the priests return home.
We continue with our travel plans.
6th of Harvest
Anooke Leader
After an extensive search through historys, records and the memories of the oldest citizens we learn that most of the Nexus Stones were broken up to make magical road markers and only a few still exsist intact. Trolling through verious pubs we pick up many rumours and start a few of our own but learn nothing useful. Silia the Beltan emmissary to the Elven court picks our brains about the current situation both inside and outside the empire. We do learn that the last time an Elven Queen was deposed was 800 years ago during the reign of Queen Manway the Mad.
7th of Harvest
Douglas Leader
We pick up the Lady Anellia and together with some Beltan engineers travel to the mines. The lady converses with Anghamerabad completing her side of the bargin while the rest of us play with the crystal and begin mapping the mines. A pixie arrives in the afternoon with a message from Tarahell asking for orders. He is camped on the border and has engaged an invading force of Elves who are demanding he stand down and allow them to enter the provence. Anghamerabad sensing his first chance to legally eat some elf flesh flys with us to the border where we find the 525th Legion encamped.
The 525th 2000 elves under the command of War Leader Garath have been ordered by the Queen to escort Lady Maris to Lalhaudh City to discover what is going on and surpress any seditous persons. Tarahell informs us that he has won all the challengers sent against he to date and as a result has a nice little pile of arms and armour and the 525ths parole that they will not advance or attack for five more days.
Under flag of truce we attempt to parlay with War leader Garath and explain that there has been a misunderstanding and would he please stop making threats. Lacking the imagination to interprit his orders for the good of the empire, or realise the threat a 10,000 year old unkillable warrior, a black dragon, a Seagate Guild Party and two holders of the Swords of Ascendancy pose to him and his men Garath demands surrender.
Serra refuses to accept his surrender until he meets our demands and gives him five days to consider his options, relay our objections and send to the queen for further orders. The pompus idiot finally pushes Serra to far questioning her Word and her Honour and she insults the Queen goading him into challenging him to a duel. She promtly accepts naming Anghamerabad as her second and two handed swords as her weapon of choice.
Tarahell Alatáriël tells us that the reason the Queen is so upset by Lucuis' new title of Lord Protector is that it was the last Lord Protector that led the forces, including the 23rd legion, that overthrew the monarchy 800 years ago.
8th of Harvest
Eltan Leader
Meeting at midday Serra enters the deul naked and unarmed. The amusement of the war leader and his troops vanishes as Serra raises her voice and summons Jus into her hands. Serra takes Garath to task pronouncing judgement on him providing him lessons in humility, hubris and respect. Two hours later Serra accepts the sweat stained and blooded War Leader's apologey and offers her own for her comments about the Queen.
With four days before the deadline expires the party talk to the dryads about planting a garden in the shape of a spellform. We travel to a secluded valley where the Earth mages assist the drayds layout the spellform over the next day and a half.
10th of Harvest
Serra Leader
Returning to Lalhaudh City we check on the progress of the Beltan in making the barracks liveable and secure. Star Commander Tashan tells us that he and some of his men can sense a dark pressence upon the land and asks if we know what is causing it. Perplexed we investigate and find that he is correct, and subtle curse has infected both the Land and the people. Determining that the curse was laid by the Marquis of Corruption we Ent back to the resting place of the Laughing God to talk with High Priest Alphr given his history of conflict with Savnok's minions.
The curse cast mellenia ago is one of Entropy and Ennui and goes a long way to explaining the declining birthrate and attitudes in modern eleven society.
With no namer we resort to DA's and a Crystal of Vison's Limited precog.
DA question: "what event(s) will end the curse?" Answer: "A Birth!" (note capitalization)
Crystal: "when we find the source of the curse and go to destroy it, what does it look like?" Vision: a vast mound of drow bodies in a excavated site.
In talking to the dryads we descover that their King is the Green Man and that he lives in the court of the Low King and that his Queen was captured by an elven wizard called Mythalaygos and imprisioned by the elven court. They allso tell us that the Fire trolls gaurd the secret of True Iron and that the lake below Eidolon was formed after Melchor was cast down by the tears of his sister. Also that the original city was sucked beneath the waters and is now home to an old evil.
11th of Harvest
Anooke Leader
Our avenues of research exhusted we return to the border via the city where we passed on our findings to the Beltan. As per Serras sugestion the 23rd has been training the 525ths troopers hard while Lady Anellia has been visiting with her aunt Lady Maris and gather information. The War Leader is apparently still in the capital trying to obtain clearer orders. We take tea with the Ladies and Serra explains the missunderstandings and what has actually been happening.
Lady Maris realising the truth when she hears it then turns her attentions to matchmaking which Serra is only to happy to help along. Dispairing at the bumbling efforts of her niece and Lucuis to even look each other in the eye she takes matters into her own hands and slips them a mickey.
Packing up the camp we move the 525th and the two sleeping paramours back to Lalhaudh City and install the legion in the barracks and lock Lucuis and Anellia in the lady's suite. We refrain (just) from beating them with the clue stick and wonder of wonders are rewarded with chemistry.
With our tasks completed, the immediate crisis adverted, solid information on how to secure the future of the Elven Empire and most importantly with our pay in hand the party disbands to go thier seperate ways until the next Guild meeting.
Summery
People
Tarahell Alatáriël - The sole surviving member of the Elvandian 23rd Legion
Lady Moria - Noble of Duke Leto's court
Seermaster Yarbareal - Recorder of histories for the Old Ones
The Beltan - Elves and there descendants who left to fight the Calamar several millennia ago
Lord Veltyn - Wild Elf nobility, betrothed to Princess Carrianne
John Pontanus - Human Master Alchemist who lives in a moving tower
Sharn - Wild Elf outlaw said to be a priest of the old gods
Sha'mez - Old Elven God of magic
Nuckavalee the Skinless - Old elven god of death and rebirth
Lady Isil - Douglas' contact in Eidolon.
Malaal - Wild Elf
Alphr - Priest of Kael and Malaal's Uncle
Savnok - Marquis of Corruption, one of the 72
The Nagaroth - Necromancer cult
Sallos - The Mighty Duke, one of the 72
Lord Denias - Elven Noble rescued from Nagaroth
Allan Smith - Smith/shaper living and working in Baal's Mountain volcano
Lord Fenar - customer of Allan Smith
Lady Anellia - Younger sister to Lady Celeblothel
Beriadan - An air mage residing in Lalhaudh City
Anghamerabad - Black Dragon
Iratheyma - Consort to Sha'mez ritually bound to the Light Crystal in Lalhaudh province
Coucolain - Erelheine who must die if reunification of the Elves is to happen.
Manway - One of the New Elven Gods
Star Commander Tashan - Leader of the Beltan presence in Lalhaudh
Silia - Beltan emissary to the Elven Court
Ta'sheri'an - Master of the Hunt
Garath - Poltroon, War leader of the 525th Legion
Lady Maris - Aunt to Lady Anellia and Lady Celeblothel
Mythalaygos - Great Elven Wizard
The Green Man - The dryad's King
The Low King - Fae
Points to Note
Two Precognitive Visions were performed by Lucius last season.
- The first vision showed the Elven court destroyed and occupied by demons if the Laughing God dies.
- The second vision showed the Elven court overrun by the wild Elves if the Laughing God was Divinated.
The words to control Anghamerabad are in the nest of the Leviathan at the bottom of the Abyssal Ocean.
Coucolain's sword is made of permanently bound Light Crystal
The Nexus Stones were shaped long ago to protect the Elven empire against inter-diamensional threats and most have been destroyed.
The Green Man is the King of the dryads who resides in the court of the Low King.
A curse is upon the Elves and their lands placed there mellenia ago by Savnok Marquis of Corruption.
The Fire trolls guard the secert of True Iron
The Queen of the dryads was imprisoned by the elves, specifically the mage Mythalaygos.
Eidolon sits on the lake formed when the goddess cried for her brother Melchor when he was cast down. The city below the lake is home to an old evil.
Party Leader Rotation
Decided to split the blame with a five day cycle starting from Duesday 1st of Fruit 808WK going alphabetically:
Anooke
Douglas
Eltan
Lucius
Serra