How about an untold tale? The first time Skiesbane meets the King of the Southland, Raphael Saberstrike. Raphael was constructing a large castle/palace complex on the annex Albiele Isle when the great wyrm known to men as Skiesbane decided it was fit to demand tribute. Raphael was outside the castle on the steps before his grand hall when the dragon swooped down and let his presence be known.
The dragon Skiesbane demanded a king’s ransom or the dragon would demolish the castle and kill the king. Raphael being one to placate the creature offered up several chests of gold and silver that was to be the castle workers pay. Skiesbane the dragon took the loot and told Raphael that he would kill him one day but as long as the gold is offered as tribute the king could buy himself time.
How about another untold story? The Royal Flush Gang was given permission to set-up and operates a casino, and Karem planned on a grand casino that would attract guests from all over Anuire. Under this guidance skilled workers were hired and the casino began to take shape; name the shape of a spade. The dragon Skiesbane could see the spade from far up high and saw it as a personal insult. When the dragon Skiesbane came a courting, Salim the King of Spades was not present but another high ranking Royal Flush Gang member was: Larry Diamond, the King of Diamonds.
Larry Diamond invites the dragon in, but Skiesbane does not take a humanoid form fore that is below a great wyrm of his station. Skiesbane offered Larry a game of chance of his own; what will you give the dragon for your life? Larry Diamond had no choice but to empty the grand casino of all gold and sliver to present to the dragon. Skiesbane demanded one more thing; that Larry conceals the shape of the spade so that Skiesbane is not offended when he flies over. Skiesbane the dragon has not returned to the casino but then neither have very many guests, the casino maintains minimal profits for how elaborate and huge it is.
One more? Sure, how about how the dragon got to be known as Skiesbane. Long, long ago when man was barely able to understand the world before him; a great dragon menace loomed in the world. Unbeknownst to the world of men, the Age of the Dragon followed the Age of the Titans but many of the dragons were mortally wounded or slain outright. While the dragons were in control of the world for thousand upon thousand of years, one dragon stood out more than others, being a constant bane to all other races. The elves gave the dragon a name that is now lost to the ages but early human scholars translated it as, “Skiesbane.” Whenever goblin or elf would try to dominate the world of Birthright, Skiesbane would be there to let them know their place. But the coming of man was quick and Skiesbane was sleeping. The war of the gods changed Birthright forever but Skiesbane has not changed and every creature in the world of Birthright is soon to learn who rules the sky.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Far Flung Adventure part 1
The Warlock of the Stonecrowns (TSR 3110) aka the Far Flung Adventure, an adventure in two parts. In part one we catch up the brave and the bold: The Royal Flush Gang meets the Monster Society of Evil. These groups are run by Karem the Shade and Duke Nightmare (aka Alexander) from each group respectably. The combined adventuring party totaled fifteen when all accounted for and after meeting the Eyeless One, the adventurers were ready to jump into the Dark Path. Malik Toadspit had dug a hole outside of his tower to access the Dark Path and the adventurers hopped in the hole: Duke Nightmare ordered one of his henchmen to go down, one without fear, an orog berserker (whose name escapes me at this time). As the orog jumped down the hole, Karem along with two new thief trainees joined (one a gnome thief/illusionist and the other a grippli thief). The only menace the adventurers ran into were a series of huge bats (the orog berserker torn them up and the frog-like grippli thief scored his first kill).
Once the entirety of the adventuring party was inside of the underground tunnels below the
While winding through the maze like underground passages, Alyza about stubbles into an odd natural trap, a dozen hairy spiders had formed a ball of web and were all chilling on it waiting for a passerby to walk into a ball of thirteen spiders. Alyza is trained as a thief, even though her profession is as a cleric to the new Dark God, so Alyza deftly avoids the spiders and alerts her compatriots to the hairy spiders. Arquan the Gary being a dwarf and naturally resistant to poison wants to just kill the spiders while the Red Hand wants to eat them if it is possible. Karem considers burning them with fire and moving on but instead moves to trap them.
With the assistance of Arquan, Karem moves to cut the line on the web and grab the spiders in a sack (in game terms Arquan rolled badly and Karem rolled even worse). Karem fails to successfully cut the line and the spiders assail him. Karem take the bites and slowly removes the spiders one at a time and put them in the sack, getting bite by the spiders along the way. Arquan helps out and by the time they are done, Karem had been bitten over half a dozen times (game terms Karem was hit eight times and took forty eight damage). Karem had a magical item in his possession that allowed him to shrug off the brunt of the spiders attacks. Karem and Alyza used some of their clerical power to restore health and vigor to Karem, afterwards the four members of the stealth squad moved on.
The stealth squad would come across a patrol of six orogs in armor carrying weapons. The player’s rolled their hide in shadow skills and Karem noted that Alzya had real crummy hide skills and wondered why by DM fiat she was in the party. I reminded him it was because Duke Nightmare declared Arquan the Gray as Alzya’s personal bodyguard so it was the best chance for us to see the pair in action together. So of the four members of the stealth squad, three of them hide themselves from orogs while Alzya is sticking out like a swore thumb.
The orogs notice a lone human female in their cave system and move to attack. Alzya steady herself and cast clerical protection to dampen the sound around her in fifteen feet. The orog rush forward and Alzya moves back to allow the orogs to move into the kill zone for her hidden compatriots. When the orogs move to get into striking distance of Alzya, Alzya decides to try and attack but falls to the ground helpless against her attackers (in game terms the player rolling for her got a natural one on the dice).
The orogs stand menacingly over Alzya momentarily but their death is imminent when Karem, the Red Hand, and Arquan the Gray all successfully backstab and slay three different orogs. The orog numbers cut in half, the next round of battle was swift. Arquan the Gray easily moved and stab two different orogs with his long knife, dropping both dead to their knees. Karem drove his pick deep into the brain of the last orog (in game terms Karem rolled a natural twenty).
By the time that the stealth squad has finished looting the bodies of the orog guards, Duke Nightmare has caught up to their position and seeing no live orog to interrogate, uses evil clerical power to speak to the dead. Duke Nightmare asks three questions of the fallen orog: where to these tunnels leads (to the orogs mines), where is the warlock (the orog knows of the warlock’s personal tower), and do you know about the Dark Cauldron (special orogs drink from a well in the Great Hall). Karem asks five questions of the dead and then Duke Nightmare raises five of the orogs as skeletons to serve him. Karem cuts of the head of another to fashion into a trophy.
I had just recently picked up this module and has impressed by the intricate work the Warlock had put into his citadel, but the players somehow found the quickest room to his personal bed chamber. Upon review we are really surprised how unguarded the Warlocks disposal shoot was, there was only a grease spell protecting the lining. Master thieves easily get around programmed illusions and level one wizard spells routinely, so for all the death traps the Warlock put in I guess he through the dead-body shoot was just that, a greasy place to drop waste. The adventures would come up out the sewer in their own words to kill the Warlock.
Alyza and Arquan were retired from the stealth squad and Duke Nightmare along with the necromancer Andre Livengud joined Karem and the Red Hand to move in and investigate the orog mines. The stealth squad found the mines empty and quickly moved into a cross paths section, with four possible ways to go. Two of the ways were blocked by wizard protected doors, the other two were just more caves. The stealth squad moved down one while the rest moved to the other (and that is when we leave these guys for part two).
The stealth squad moved cautiously down the path be fore them but was eventually overtaken by the stench of death and decay. The adventurers began to search for traps and Duke Nightmare discovered a false section of the floor was an illusion. Upon searching the players found a small shat that would lead up to the floor above. Duke Nightmare prepared himself by using a ring of free action and using his thief training ascended up the shaft. It was simple business for Duke Nightmare to lower a rope to get the rest of the stealth squad past the grease trap on the walls that the ring of free action allowed Duke Nightmare to pass easily.
Duke Nightmare wanted Karem up in the next room to see an incredible sight, a bound celestial deva. The Warlock had bound a movanic deva in chains with words of evil written on the wall. The deva begs for his release and the players can see the deva has been tortured and scared by the Warlock. The players simply proceed up the stairs in this room to find themselves in the bed chamber of the Warlock.
I decided that because the players had moved so quickly the Warlock was caught up guard and while the players were checking out the deva, the Warlock was able to cast a few protection spells and hide himself in the room using his shadow form ability hide in the room. The Warlock thinks himself a cunning individual and tried to tempt the players with ticks and treats if they would leave him alone or work for him. Duke Nightmare talked up the guy while Karem read from a scroll. Now the Warlock is a smart individual but did not have time to roll a spell craft check when Karem started reading the scroll, the Warlock was caught up in planning a backstab on Duke Nightmare. The Warlock sensed only cleric magic from Karem so thought nothing of the scroll (thinking that there is no way Karem would be reading a wizard scroll) and the Warlock wanted Duke Nightmare’s blood power (being that Duke Nightmare was the person in the room with the most blood power).
The Warlock strikes Duke Nightmare out of the shadows with a dagger to the back (in game terms inflicting more then twenty five percent of Duke Nightmare’s total hit points). Karem’s scroll being read surrounded him in a five foot globe of anti magic aura. Karem then rushed the Warlock and got so close that none of the Warlocks magic or blood abilities would function. What proceeded next I dubbed the weakest melee battle ever (Duke Nightmare assisted Karem in killing the Warlock). Karem would eventually stab the Warlock in the heart, claiming a fraction of his blood power and all the Warlocks remaining regency points.
The Warlock was dead, they collected his ashes, but for the adventures the real adventure had only begun. The Royal Flush Gang and the Monster Society of Evil needs still to rescue the goblin ambassador for the Eyeless One and loot the Warlock’s citadel before the Gorgon arrives with a new blood-silver spear in hand only to find his son already dead.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Far Flung Adventure
Ruins of the Empire (TSR 3100) set the time at 551 MR, thee Warlock of the Stonecrowns (TSR 3110) starts activity 554 MR going till 558 MR (until the Warlock either becomes a regent of a sizable territory or has fallen into war with the Gorgon). The timeline I am working is flawed because I never set as the particular starting date. Alexander hosted his grand tournament roughly 6 years ago, putting the Warlock in a considerable position of power in the region. For game purposes I am going to run the adventure about two years into the Warlock’s rise to power (basically meaning the Warlock has had time to rise up some fhoimorien wizard sons and secure more troops).
The Gorgon recently acquired Alexander’s blood-silver spear and is heading directly to kill his son the Drake. Alexander learns of this when using the aide of Karem, the pair spied through Karem’s crystal ball the Gorgon with Alexander’s blood-silver spear in hand given to him by a woman dressed as one of the Seven Daughter’s of the Sword Mage. Karem and Alexander will learn through a bit of leg work that the Warlock in the Stonecrowns is the Drake and now the pair must out race the Gorgon to be the ones to claim the Warlock’s treasure.
The adventure hook is going to follow: word comes that wizard’s are needed to cure a nobleman in the realm of Cariele (in game terms they are looking for people who could cast limited wish to cure the nobleman Prince Tresmer who is ploymorphed into the form of a sparrowhawk). Karem was looking for wizards of high talent will be alerted of this news and with Alexander make departure to investigate the occurrence. Karem hopes to meet “the Wizard” but for story purposes their contact will be “the Eyeless One.”
The Eyeless One lost an ambassador Ysterac (male elite goblin wizard) whom the Warlock took prisoner; if the players can rescue Ysterac the Eyeless One will make them one magic item of their choosing. The Eyeless One will guide and pay for their passage with the mercenary group run by Malik Toadspit (male elite goblin wizard). Malik has a tower along the Stonecrowns that is positioned so that his orog warriors could dig down into what Malik refers to as “the Dark Path.”
Alexander along with whatever retinue of assistants he chooses will join Karem and the Royal Flush Gang to travel into the Dark Path to hope to assault through the bottom-up the stronghold of the Warlock. The players plan should be to rescue the goblin wizard for the Eyeless One, get the Warlock’s blood power, and when Alexander hears about the rumors of the Dark Cauldron he must have it.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sorry for lack of updates (was out of town in conferences for a week). Came up with many great new ideas but really came up with a barn burner for an idea when I got back to town. I had spent the air plane ride thinking of what the players might have schemed up and what my NPCs are plotting themselves. But when I got back to town and hung out with two of my players a great idea struck me. I mentioned the name Duso Lamonte and Karem said, "age 16 starting adventurer."
Sunday, June 20, 2010
So began the siege of Diemed: Trogdor’s raiders pillaged the mountains of Bhliene while the Roesone forces would finish off Diemed’s forces in Ciliene and Aerele. Alexander ordered the pillaging of provinces and destroying of anything that belonged to the Duke of Diemed. Medoere pulled out of the alliance as news spread of an evil warrior killing the Duke of Diemed while riding a nightmare.
The news of the nightmare rider stared to spread so Alexander just rolled with it and began to raise taxes while militarily occupying the lands of Diemed. The odd rule of Alexander continued by allowing new immigration of the provinces of Roesone (game terms: Alexander used the Rule action to increase most of the provinces of Roesone from 3/2 to 4/1). With the new girth of people, the taxes raised even further until the end of his rule when paladins would come and seek out the evil regent.
Alexander had the service of the efreeti Firebeard Blackaxe for one year and one wish left. This year would be the last for Alexander Roesone; his death would become public knowledge by years close. Firebeard Blackaxe told Alexander about an infernal bazaar that is held in the City of Brass once every ten years and that it was coming up by the end of the year. Alexander set up his last year as regent of Roesone to rob the coffers for all their worth before faking his death and escaping to the outer planes to use his ill gotten gain at the infernal bazaar. But before that all could happen, Alexander and the other adventures would have a few more memorial encounters.
Karem the pirate sought to expand his holdings and the best way would be to take over someone else’s holdings that were of like mind. The Eoele of Mieres was the target and the adventures headed out to the colony. Karem and a the adventuring party headed into the port of Seward aboard the stolen caravel, while a few of the Royal Flush gang would stay out of port on the xebec. After paying the docking fee, the adventures headed out to their various points of interests.
Karem, Trogdor, Lady Deathstrike, and Duke Nightmare headed off the ship and into the city. When the city guard demanded a fee of 25gp per weapon and set of armor that anyone wanted to pay to get into town, Trogdor reacted badly and refused payment. Duke Nightmare quickly handed over the gold and proceeded into town by himself. Trogdor declared that he was going to cut one of the guards in half and rolled very well. Quickly more guards appeared and Trogdor cut them down too, Lady Deathstrike might have attacked but that was not really important, the deaths of so many guards caught the attention of the wizard Mhistecai.
Mhistecai magically appeared in the sky above the adventures and demanded they lay down their weapons. Trogdor did not want any of that and used a ring of jumping to try and slash at Mhistecai but the wizard used some mass effect spell that immobilized the aggressors. Trogdor, Lady Deathstrike, and Karem were arrested and placed in the governor’s castle. The wizard inspected them, found Karem’s black dagger (holy symbol of Eoele) and Trogdor’s sword (the sword was taken from the paladin that was killed to get the Tighmaevril spear). The black dagger was enough to get them imprisoned and the sword of a paladin was enough to get them the death sentence.
Duke Nightmare disappeared into the city and let the distraction of the murder on the docks allow for him spread some gossip. Duke Nightmare traded gossip for information that led him to a gambling den. As sly as possible Duke Nightmare insisted that he was an assassin and was looking for gainful employment. The thieves of the gambling den quickly learned of the disturbance on the docks and that one captured had a black dagger but was not part of the local Eoele. And then some assassin comes looking for a job, the thief’s smell what is up and set Duke Nightmare up.
Duke Nightmare is given an assignment to kill some dude at midnight in some graveyard. The dude shows up and Duke Nightmare kills him but then a lot of people show up and find the murderer and victim. Duke Nightmare eluded authorities and made his way back to the thieves den, were he was jacked my more thieves and a wizard. When Duke Nightmare realized that the numbers were against him summoned his magical steed and fled all the way to the xebec.
Duke Nightmare would eventually make his way back to the caravel and meet up with Josef the Kid, the Ten of Spades. Josef informed Duke Nightmare about what had transpired and that Trogdor, Karem, and Lady Deathstrike were being held in the castle and that the port was closed, no ships could come or go. Josef came up with a plan to get arrested for a petty crime, be placed in jail, use his thief abilities to escape and check out the jail, find and release the captives, and escape with them all too where they could meet up with Duke Nightmare who would go and get the xebec.
All went to plan but meeting up with the xebec, the port was truly shut down to ships coming or going. The escaping prisoners had to hide out on the caravel locked down in the port. The governor began to search the city and the port to find the escapees and it was just a matter of time before they would be caught. While talking over what to do, a messenger approaches the ship and delivers a message.
The message says it is from the Vos of Mieres and would offer shelter to the Vos escaping the law; Trogdor and Lady Deathstrike. The two Vos decided they got nothing else to lose and check it out, they are led to the gambling den were Duke Nightmare was at earlier (but I made the players role-play that they did not know this and they hated me for it). Basically Trogdor and Lady Deathstrike were taken to a back room and killed, their bodies given to the governor to curry more favor with him.
Karem the pirate waited and waited, but the Vos never came back and Karem decided to check it out himself. Sleuthing around the city was hard as the guards were out in numbers and not taking bribes. Eventually Karem found the same gambling den and was dealt with as well.
Two player characters were killed (Trogdor and Karem) and one of the most prized henchmen (Lady Deathstrike, we still sing her praise). Trogdor’s body would be displayed for awhile to show what happens to evil people and the paladin’s sword sent back to the proper church. Trogdor’s body would disappear one night, a night the locals say that was filled with unusual weather (Trogdor’s body was taken by Baba Yaga and raised back to life; Trogdor was always her favorite from the adventuring party and had raised him before, so Baba Yaga felt a little insulted that her work was undone).
Karem’s body would be taken by somebody quite different. It was determined that of the three deaths each would be dealt with differently. Trogdor would be brought back the quickest, Karem would return eventually, and Lady Deathstrike was killed right out. Karem was killed by the Eoele of Mieres and dumped into the sea were it was salvaged by the vampire/cleric from Storm Tower.
The vampire/cleric worshipped a new dark god and saw an opportunity with Karem. Karem felt betrayed by Eoele when the clerics of Mieres killed him for being a threat but to be fair Karem’s plans were the same. The vampire/cleric offered new dark shadow power but it would take time to train Karem. From a player’s aspect, I killed Karem and allowed him to play as his henchmen for the year led up to the Infernal Bazaar.
Salim the Sailor was promoted to King of Spades, Josef the Kid was promoted to Jack of Spades, and the Mystery Man remained the Ace of Spades. The Royal Flush Gang was devastated by the Eoele of Mieres but still had all their tangible assets; temple holdings in Abbatuor and Albiele Isle, a few pirate vessels, and the support of the other player characters. Everyone loved the idea of a tri-class, so for the new Ten of Spades a half-elf fighter/thief/wizard was hired and brought aboard.
I guess I should have mentioned it before now, but when Alexander Roesone hired Otto the Rake, Alexander also hired several clerics from Karem. Karem allowed five level one clerics to serve Alexander while in the guise of Duke Nightmare sought to explore more of the Underground Forest. Duke Nightmare reported that all the clerics of Eoele were killed and it was very believable that low level clerics would not survive long in a dungeon. Duke Nightmare lied to Karem and one cleric was still alive; a young Khinasi woman, Alyza, whom Duke Nightmare kept secret from the rest of the players (it was attempt to gain clerical power apart from known sources to allow Duke Nightmare to go on solo adventures). But when news of Karem’s death eventually reached Alyza, she escaped Duke Nightmare’s confines and rejoined the Royal Flush Gang as the new Queen of Spades.
Later we would ret-con a lot of the back stories for the henchmen and Otto the Rake would become an alter identity for the Mystery Man, the Ace of Spades. It was determined that while there is no honor among thieves, one can by loyalty with some coin. Otto the Rake would train Alexander as a thief but kept an eye out for Alyza because she was property of the Mystery Man’s other master, Karem. Otto the Rake would simply tell Alyza about the death of Karem and it was on her own initiative to leave Alexander and rejoin the Royal Flush Gang. But why wouldn’t Alexander get mad about losing his secret cache of cleric power? It was determined later that Alexander got with Alyza and that they had an intimate relation ship (this was determined about the time when the players began to think that they might want children as replacements if their main characters die or act as heirs).
With the death of Karem came the revolt by the lizardmen who began to tear some ass across the countryside from Abbatuor working their way through Roesone and Arenewe eventually settling in the swamp of Spiritsend. Karem only had one unit of lizardmen but the reports came in that there were hundreds of them, maybe thousands. Now the players were suppose to go on an epic adventure to rescue Trogdor from the clutches of Baga Yaga who had moved her hut to Spiritsend and summoned the lizardmen as her defenders.
Now the player playing Trogdor did not like that I just killed him in the back alleys of Seaward or that he was going to have to roll as henchmen or nothing at all until he was rescued. The player playing the Red Hood switched to 3rd shift to make a hellva lot more money (3rd shift is 11pm to 7am for you who have not worked in a factory). So that left Karem (really just the Royal Flush Gang) and Alexander Roesone, so it was decided that having an evil regent with his own cadre of thieves and assassins was enough to keep the story moving forward.
Alexander grew tired of administrative affairs, of having to play the game of diplomacy, and not being able to out right attack whoever he felt like. Alexander decided to hand over his kingdom to the Red Hood who under the disguise of Raphael Saberstrike was seen as the defeater of pirates and the people’s champion. After the death of Alexander’s clone, Raphael could be appointed the regent of Roesone but Alexander had also conquered much of Diemed but Medoere lied in the way of that too.
In the Player’s Secrets of Medoere (TSR 3106) talked about the Sword of Enlien, a powerful sword that was used to liberate Medoere from Diemed and that it is waiting for the rightful champion to claim it. Hermphedhie used her position in Medoere to get a close examination of the sword and found that it radiates good and as history goes it was a flaming long sword. Hermphedhie makes a fake up that any player can hold and when they do; they radiate good (which is good for the players who are all evil). The plan becomes that some how a switch needs to be done so Raphael Saberstrike can claim the fake sword and thus claiming regency of Medoere. The only problem, none of the players were good enough thieves to be able to steal a lawful good paladin’s sword. But the idea was laid out that Raphael Saberstrike would become regent of Abbatuor, Roesone, Diemed, and Medoere.
Alexander robbed as much gold and other treasure from his kingdom as possible and headed off to the infernal bazaar. The Royal Flush Gang (being the other active player) did not have the ability to travel to the outer planes like Duke Nightmare on his fiend’s steed, but unbeknownst to Alexander, Karem had returned and was infused with the power for a new dark god. Karem stayed in contact with the Royal Flush Gang but took on a new roll, instead of the King of Spades; Karem would be the Shadow Emperor or the Shade as the new dark god was granting him shadow magic. Karem secretly ran the Royal Flush Gang and stole the Sword of Enlien.
Alexander arrived quite sometime before the infernal bazaar would get into full swing to check out the scene and get a feel for the environment. The efreeti under Alexander’s control was named Firebeard Blackaxe and he worked for a malik known simple as Deth. Malik Deth was unlike any other noble in the City of Brass because he was not an efreeti. Deth was a demi-god, once a powerful fighter that ascended into legendary status. The Great Sheik of the Efreeti held a tournament to find the bravest warrior to defend a portal between the Elemental Planes of Fire and Air. Using some loop-hole in the rules the demi-god known as Deth entered and won the tournament, the right to defend the portal, and the title of malik.
Alexander was impressed and took an offer to worship Deth as a god in return for the ability to level as a cleric. Alexander was given some minor quest to prove his worth and spent time in Deth’s brass citadel house in the City of Brass and time at Deth’s war fort guarding the portal between elemental planes. It feels kinda lame to explain Deth and the new dark god of Karem’s so I think I won’t.
The news of the nightmare rider stared to spread so Alexander just rolled with it and began to raise taxes while militarily occupying the lands of Diemed. The odd rule of Alexander continued by allowing new immigration of the provinces of Roesone (game terms: Alexander used the Rule action to increase most of the provinces of Roesone from 3/2 to 4/1). With the new girth of people, the taxes raised even further until the end of his rule when paladins would come and seek out the evil regent.
Alexander had the service of the efreeti Firebeard Blackaxe for one year and one wish left. This year would be the last for Alexander Roesone; his death would become public knowledge by years close. Firebeard Blackaxe told Alexander about an infernal bazaar that is held in the City of Brass once every ten years and that it was coming up by the end of the year. Alexander set up his last year as regent of Roesone to rob the coffers for all their worth before faking his death and escaping to the outer planes to use his ill gotten gain at the infernal bazaar. But before that all could happen, Alexander and the other adventures would have a few more memorial encounters.
Karem the pirate sought to expand his holdings and the best way would be to take over someone else’s holdings that were of like mind. The Eoele of Mieres was the target and the adventures headed out to the colony. Karem and a the adventuring party headed into the port of Seward aboard the stolen caravel, while a few of the Royal Flush gang would stay out of port on the xebec. After paying the docking fee, the adventures headed out to their various points of interests.
Karem, Trogdor, Lady Deathstrike, and Duke Nightmare headed off the ship and into the city. When the city guard demanded a fee of 25gp per weapon and set of armor that anyone wanted to pay to get into town, Trogdor reacted badly and refused payment. Duke Nightmare quickly handed over the gold and proceeded into town by himself. Trogdor declared that he was going to cut one of the guards in half and rolled very well. Quickly more guards appeared and Trogdor cut them down too, Lady Deathstrike might have attacked but that was not really important, the deaths of so many guards caught the attention of the wizard Mhistecai.
Mhistecai magically appeared in the sky above the adventures and demanded they lay down their weapons. Trogdor did not want any of that and used a ring of jumping to try and slash at Mhistecai but the wizard used some mass effect spell that immobilized the aggressors. Trogdor, Lady Deathstrike, and Karem were arrested and placed in the governor’s castle. The wizard inspected them, found Karem’s black dagger (holy symbol of Eoele) and Trogdor’s sword (the sword was taken from the paladin that was killed to get the Tighmaevril spear). The black dagger was enough to get them imprisoned and the sword of a paladin was enough to get them the death sentence.
Duke Nightmare disappeared into the city and let the distraction of the murder on the docks allow for him spread some gossip. Duke Nightmare traded gossip for information that led him to a gambling den. As sly as possible Duke Nightmare insisted that he was an assassin and was looking for gainful employment. The thieves of the gambling den quickly learned of the disturbance on the docks and that one captured had a black dagger but was not part of the local Eoele. And then some assassin comes looking for a job, the thief’s smell what is up and set Duke Nightmare up.
Duke Nightmare is given an assignment to kill some dude at midnight in some graveyard. The dude shows up and Duke Nightmare kills him but then a lot of people show up and find the murderer and victim. Duke Nightmare eluded authorities and made his way back to the thieves den, were he was jacked my more thieves and a wizard. When Duke Nightmare realized that the numbers were against him summoned his magical steed and fled all the way to the xebec.
Duke Nightmare would eventually make his way back to the caravel and meet up with Josef the Kid, the Ten of Spades. Josef informed Duke Nightmare about what had transpired and that Trogdor, Karem, and Lady Deathstrike were being held in the castle and that the port was closed, no ships could come or go. Josef came up with a plan to get arrested for a petty crime, be placed in jail, use his thief abilities to escape and check out the jail, find and release the captives, and escape with them all too where they could meet up with Duke Nightmare who would go and get the xebec.
All went to plan but meeting up with the xebec, the port was truly shut down to ships coming or going. The escaping prisoners had to hide out on the caravel locked down in the port. The governor began to search the city and the port to find the escapees and it was just a matter of time before they would be caught. While talking over what to do, a messenger approaches the ship and delivers a message.
The message says it is from the Vos of Mieres and would offer shelter to the Vos escaping the law; Trogdor and Lady Deathstrike. The two Vos decided they got nothing else to lose and check it out, they are led to the gambling den were Duke Nightmare was at earlier (but I made the players role-play that they did not know this and they hated me for it). Basically Trogdor and Lady Deathstrike were taken to a back room and killed, their bodies given to the governor to curry more favor with him.
Karem the pirate waited and waited, but the Vos never came back and Karem decided to check it out himself. Sleuthing around the city was hard as the guards were out in numbers and not taking bribes. Eventually Karem found the same gambling den and was dealt with as well.
Two player characters were killed (Trogdor and Karem) and one of the most prized henchmen (Lady Deathstrike, we still sing her praise). Trogdor’s body would be displayed for awhile to show what happens to evil people and the paladin’s sword sent back to the proper church. Trogdor’s body would disappear one night, a night the locals say that was filled with unusual weather (Trogdor’s body was taken by Baba Yaga and raised back to life; Trogdor was always her favorite from the adventuring party and had raised him before, so Baba Yaga felt a little insulted that her work was undone).
Karem’s body would be taken by somebody quite different. It was determined that of the three deaths each would be dealt with differently. Trogdor would be brought back the quickest, Karem would return eventually, and Lady Deathstrike was killed right out. Karem was killed by the Eoele of Mieres and dumped into the sea were it was salvaged by the vampire/cleric from Storm Tower.
The vampire/cleric worshipped a new dark god and saw an opportunity with Karem. Karem felt betrayed by Eoele when the clerics of Mieres killed him for being a threat but to be fair Karem’s plans were the same. The vampire/cleric offered new dark shadow power but it would take time to train Karem. From a player’s aspect, I killed Karem and allowed him to play as his henchmen for the year led up to the Infernal Bazaar.
Salim the Sailor was promoted to King of Spades, Josef the Kid was promoted to Jack of Spades, and the Mystery Man remained the Ace of Spades. The Royal Flush Gang was devastated by the Eoele of Mieres but still had all their tangible assets; temple holdings in Abbatuor and Albiele Isle, a few pirate vessels, and the support of the other player characters. Everyone loved the idea of a tri-class, so for the new Ten of Spades a half-elf fighter/thief/wizard was hired and brought aboard.
I guess I should have mentioned it before now, but when Alexander Roesone hired Otto the Rake, Alexander also hired several clerics from Karem. Karem allowed five level one clerics to serve Alexander while in the guise of Duke Nightmare sought to explore more of the Underground Forest. Duke Nightmare reported that all the clerics of Eoele were killed and it was very believable that low level clerics would not survive long in a dungeon. Duke Nightmare lied to Karem and one cleric was still alive; a young Khinasi woman, Alyza, whom Duke Nightmare kept secret from the rest of the players (it was attempt to gain clerical power apart from known sources to allow Duke Nightmare to go on solo adventures). But when news of Karem’s death eventually reached Alyza, she escaped Duke Nightmare’s confines and rejoined the Royal Flush Gang as the new Queen of Spades.
Later we would ret-con a lot of the back stories for the henchmen and Otto the Rake would become an alter identity for the Mystery Man, the Ace of Spades. It was determined that while there is no honor among thieves, one can by loyalty with some coin. Otto the Rake would train Alexander as a thief but kept an eye out for Alyza because she was property of the Mystery Man’s other master, Karem. Otto the Rake would simply tell Alyza about the death of Karem and it was on her own initiative to leave Alexander and rejoin the Royal Flush Gang. But why wouldn’t Alexander get mad about losing his secret cache of cleric power? It was determined later that Alexander got with Alyza and that they had an intimate relation ship (this was determined about the time when the players began to think that they might want children as replacements if their main characters die or act as heirs).
With the death of Karem came the revolt by the lizardmen who began to tear some ass across the countryside from Abbatuor working their way through Roesone and Arenewe eventually settling in the swamp of Spiritsend. Karem only had one unit of lizardmen but the reports came in that there were hundreds of them, maybe thousands. Now the players were suppose to go on an epic adventure to rescue Trogdor from the clutches of Baga Yaga who had moved her hut to Spiritsend and summoned the lizardmen as her defenders.
Now the player playing Trogdor did not like that I just killed him in the back alleys of Seaward or that he was going to have to roll as henchmen or nothing at all until he was rescued. The player playing the Red Hood switched to 3rd shift to make a hellva lot more money (3rd shift is 11pm to 7am for you who have not worked in a factory). So that left Karem (really just the Royal Flush Gang) and Alexander Roesone, so it was decided that having an evil regent with his own cadre of thieves and assassins was enough to keep the story moving forward.
Alexander grew tired of administrative affairs, of having to play the game of diplomacy, and not being able to out right attack whoever he felt like. Alexander decided to hand over his kingdom to the Red Hood who under the disguise of Raphael Saberstrike was seen as the defeater of pirates and the people’s champion. After the death of Alexander’s clone, Raphael could be appointed the regent of Roesone but Alexander had also conquered much of Diemed but Medoere lied in the way of that too.
In the Player’s Secrets of Medoere (TSR 3106) talked about the Sword of Enlien, a powerful sword that was used to liberate Medoere from Diemed and that it is waiting for the rightful champion to claim it. Hermphedhie used her position in Medoere to get a close examination of the sword and found that it radiates good and as history goes it was a flaming long sword. Hermphedhie makes a fake up that any player can hold and when they do; they radiate good (which is good for the players who are all evil). The plan becomes that some how a switch needs to be done so Raphael Saberstrike can claim the fake sword and thus claiming regency of Medoere. The only problem, none of the players were good enough thieves to be able to steal a lawful good paladin’s sword. But the idea was laid out that Raphael Saberstrike would become regent of Abbatuor, Roesone, Diemed, and Medoere.
Alexander robbed as much gold and other treasure from his kingdom as possible and headed off to the infernal bazaar. The Royal Flush Gang (being the other active player) did not have the ability to travel to the outer planes like Duke Nightmare on his fiend’s steed, but unbeknownst to Alexander, Karem had returned and was infused with the power for a new dark god. Karem stayed in contact with the Royal Flush Gang but took on a new roll, instead of the King of Spades; Karem would be the Shadow Emperor or the Shade as the new dark god was granting him shadow magic. Karem secretly ran the Royal Flush Gang and stole the Sword of Enlien.
Alexander arrived quite sometime before the infernal bazaar would get into full swing to check out the scene and get a feel for the environment. The efreeti under Alexander’s control was named Firebeard Blackaxe and he worked for a malik known simple as Deth. Malik Deth was unlike any other noble in the City of Brass because he was not an efreeti. Deth was a demi-god, once a powerful fighter that ascended into legendary status. The Great Sheik of the Efreeti held a tournament to find the bravest warrior to defend a portal between the Elemental Planes of Fire and Air. Using some loop-hole in the rules the demi-god known as Deth entered and won the tournament, the right to defend the portal, and the title of malik.
Alexander was impressed and took an offer to worship Deth as a god in return for the ability to level as a cleric. Alexander was given some minor quest to prove his worth and spent time in Deth’s brass citadel house in the City of Brass and time at Deth’s war fort guarding the portal between elemental planes. It feels kinda lame to explain Deth and the new dark god of Karem’s so I think I won’t.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Karem the pirate lived up to his name by going on several pirating adventures but none more profitable when he seized a ship belonging to the Prince of Avanil. Some cousin of the Prince’s was onboard and trying to smuggle some type of contraband into the Imperial City. After finding out all pertinent information, Karem killed the cousin through bloodthieft and claimed the vessel for himself. Karem then though, hey might as well smuggle this stuff into the Imperial City myself and sell it.
Karem the pirate delivered the contraband to a wizard known as the Swamp Mage in the Imperial City. Karem asked a lot of questions of the Swamp Mage and I pointed out that a smuggler really would not be so nosey. But for whatever reason the Swamp Mage was looking to make some money that day and told Karem that he could make any wish come true for the right amount of gold.
Karem thought it over and came upon the idea that he would love a unit of lizardmen in a battleship. The Swamp Mage and Karem were at the Swamp Mage’s holding in the Imperial City and the two went down to a basement with a large room. The Swamp Mage used his magic to fill the room full of water and mask the two with an invisibility spell. Then the Swamp Mage summoned a drakkar filled with lizardmen warriors, lead by a four-armed lizardman king.
Karem appeared from the invisibility spell and used literally every spell he had available to try and impress the lizardmen. Karem walked on water, talked in tongues, was surrounded by a variety of auras, used light spells and summoned food and drink. The lizardmen were impressed and Karem negotiated the price of delivering two humans a week in tribute to the lizardman king. The Swamp Mage then used more magic to make the summoning of the lizardmen drakkar permanent.
The Swamp Mage told Karem that he should come back and visit and bring others with gold as well. Karem told Alexander Roesone about the wizard and the two returned to the Imperial City with lots of gold. This was still about the time Alexander was undergoing an identity crisis and asked the Swamp Mage if there was a way Alexander could study to be a wizard. The Swamp Mage sold Alexander a scroll that the wizard told the regent that after a year of reading and studying, Alexander would gain the skills of a first level wizard (in actuality the scroll would place a powerful magical geas that would allow the Swamp Mage to control several of Alexander’s actions).
But Alexander sought more than just the knowledge of wizardly magic, Alexander wanted raw power; a magical item that could accomplish anything for him. Alexander paid the Swamp Mage to summon and bind an efreeti in a lamp to grant Alexander three wishes. But after the magical scroll and the magic lamp, Alexander still needed one more thing. The Swamp Mage made a clone of Alexander, the clone would be used to allow Alexander to fake his death after ruining his kingdom. After Alexander and Karem left the Imperial City, neither would see the Swamp Mage again for years.
The efreeti that was bound to the lamp that the Swamp Mage created for Alexander was inhabited by a strong warlord of an efreeti named Firebeard Blackaxe. This particular efreeti would be important in the future but until then the efreeti laid down some ground rules for Alexander; do not summon the efreeti for petty stuff and that all three wishes had to be used in one year.
Alexander made his first wish right away; wishing to be a prince. While this might seem a complicated wish to fulfill, all I did was declare, “ok, you’re a prince now, good for you.” It would not become until much later that Alexander would learn that I made him Prince of the Faries (one of the unseelie). Alexander would next have Sedrie Bellamie summon a nightmare, while Alexander feed the beast platinum shavings in the shape of oak leaves, while the efreeti used a second wish to bind the nightmare to Alexander. This would leave to Alexander taking up the identity of Duke Nightmare.
Alexander Roesone ruled his kingdom with an iron grip; truly living up to the name Black Baron. Alexander lost control of the Church of War (Cuiraecen) but issued many decrees that would tax them heavily. Alexander mustered a large army and secured the building of the bridge between his domain and Medoere and brokered a secret deal with the wizard Hermpedhie and the Red Hood to lead the aid of realm spells for an assault on one of the Duke of Diemed’s castles. While Trogdor’s assembled mercenary army was in the service of Ghoere, Trogdor still had a small band of drake riders at his disposal (elite warriors, with heavy lances and crossbows, mounted on battle drakes) and would be helpful on the assault on a castle in Diemed.
Alexander appealed to the clerics of Medoere for military support for the right to spread their religion unfettered in Roesone. The armies of Roesone crossed Medoere where they were meeting with Medoerean reinforcements and proceeded to cross the borders into Tier and Duene. A series of small battles where fought with local garrisons and scouts of Diemed, the Roesone forces pushing for the river city of Moerel. The Duke of Diemed secured himself in a river castle along the city Moerel, with the wall city being fortified by his troops.
Even more secret dealings were revealed when the wizard Caine used magic to allow Hermpedhie and the Red Hood to cast realm spells in the province of Moere. Using powerful realm spells the wizards razed the castle to the ground leaving the Duke of Diemed exposed in the walled city. That is when Trogdor’s drake raiders assaulted, and an adventuring party lead by Duke Nightmare sought out the ruler of Diemed. The Duke of Diemed put up and good fight and escaped on a boat down the River Maesil. Duke Nightmare then summoned his fiendish steed and gave case down the river after the Duke of Diemed. Over the River Maesil, the rightful regent of Diemed was pierced through the heart by a dark clad warrior wielding a spear, riding a fiery hoofed horse. The death of one duke lead to the rise of anohter; Duke Nightmare.
Karem the pirate delivered the contraband to a wizard known as the Swamp Mage in the Imperial City. Karem asked a lot of questions of the Swamp Mage and I pointed out that a smuggler really would not be so nosey. But for whatever reason the Swamp Mage was looking to make some money that day and told Karem that he could make any wish come true for the right amount of gold.
Karem thought it over and came upon the idea that he would love a unit of lizardmen in a battleship. The Swamp Mage and Karem were at the Swamp Mage’s holding in the Imperial City and the two went down to a basement with a large room. The Swamp Mage used his magic to fill the room full of water and mask the two with an invisibility spell. Then the Swamp Mage summoned a drakkar filled with lizardmen warriors, lead by a four-armed lizardman king.
Karem appeared from the invisibility spell and used literally every spell he had available to try and impress the lizardmen. Karem walked on water, talked in tongues, was surrounded by a variety of auras, used light spells and summoned food and drink. The lizardmen were impressed and Karem negotiated the price of delivering two humans a week in tribute to the lizardman king. The Swamp Mage then used more magic to make the summoning of the lizardmen drakkar permanent.
The Swamp Mage told Karem that he should come back and visit and bring others with gold as well. Karem told Alexander Roesone about the wizard and the two returned to the Imperial City with lots of gold. This was still about the time Alexander was undergoing an identity crisis and asked the Swamp Mage if there was a way Alexander could study to be a wizard. The Swamp Mage sold Alexander a scroll that the wizard told the regent that after a year of reading and studying, Alexander would gain the skills of a first level wizard (in actuality the scroll would place a powerful magical geas that would allow the Swamp Mage to control several of Alexander’s actions).
But Alexander sought more than just the knowledge of wizardly magic, Alexander wanted raw power; a magical item that could accomplish anything for him. Alexander paid the Swamp Mage to summon and bind an efreeti in a lamp to grant Alexander three wishes. But after the magical scroll and the magic lamp, Alexander still needed one more thing. The Swamp Mage made a clone of Alexander, the clone would be used to allow Alexander to fake his death after ruining his kingdom. After Alexander and Karem left the Imperial City, neither would see the Swamp Mage again for years.
The efreeti that was bound to the lamp that the Swamp Mage created for Alexander was inhabited by a strong warlord of an efreeti named Firebeard Blackaxe. This particular efreeti would be important in the future but until then the efreeti laid down some ground rules for Alexander; do not summon the efreeti for petty stuff and that all three wishes had to be used in one year.
Alexander made his first wish right away; wishing to be a prince. While this might seem a complicated wish to fulfill, all I did was declare, “ok, you’re a prince now, good for you.” It would not become until much later that Alexander would learn that I made him Prince of the Faries (one of the unseelie). Alexander would next have Sedrie Bellamie summon a nightmare, while Alexander feed the beast platinum shavings in the shape of oak leaves, while the efreeti used a second wish to bind the nightmare to Alexander. This would leave to Alexander taking up the identity of Duke Nightmare.
Alexander Roesone ruled his kingdom with an iron grip; truly living up to the name Black Baron. Alexander lost control of the Church of War (Cuiraecen) but issued many decrees that would tax them heavily. Alexander mustered a large army and secured the building of the bridge between his domain and Medoere and brokered a secret deal with the wizard Hermpedhie and the Red Hood to lead the aid of realm spells for an assault on one of the Duke of Diemed’s castles. While Trogdor’s assembled mercenary army was in the service of Ghoere, Trogdor still had a small band of drake riders at his disposal (elite warriors, with heavy lances and crossbows, mounted on battle drakes) and would be helpful on the assault on a castle in Diemed.
Alexander appealed to the clerics of Medoere for military support for the right to spread their religion unfettered in Roesone. The armies of Roesone crossed Medoere where they were meeting with Medoerean reinforcements and proceeded to cross the borders into Tier and Duene. A series of small battles where fought with local garrisons and scouts of Diemed, the Roesone forces pushing for the river city of Moerel. The Duke of Diemed secured himself in a river castle along the city Moerel, with the wall city being fortified by his troops.
Even more secret dealings were revealed when the wizard Caine used magic to allow Hermpedhie and the Red Hood to cast realm spells in the province of Moere. Using powerful realm spells the wizards razed the castle to the ground leaving the Duke of Diemed exposed in the walled city. That is when Trogdor’s drake raiders assaulted, and an adventuring party lead by Duke Nightmare sought out the ruler of Diemed. The Duke of Diemed put up and good fight and escaped on a boat down the River Maesil. Duke Nightmare then summoned his fiendish steed and gave case down the river after the Duke of Diemed. Over the River Maesil, the rightful regent of Diemed was pierced through the heart by a dark clad warrior wielding a spear, riding a fiery hoofed horse. The death of one duke lead to the rise of anohter; Duke Nightmare.
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