15.1: Taking care of business

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 11).

"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 11).

The Smith (LN Half-Giant Aegis/Psychic Warrior 11).

Taking care of business, Session 15.1 - 9/26/14

Days 24-28

Several days pass with out a lot happening as the party takes care of some mundane business. In that downtime they decide their next course of action will be to investigate entry to Tsar itself and perhaps deal with the tar dragon who roams the wastes around the city. They plan to check out the other fortified location they heard about in the Dead Lands, the one nearer to Tsar than the dorf fortress.

For those with the Slumber Tsar book, it is "The Firebase of the Damned."

The rangers provide them an exact location, but seem ambivalent about helping in this endeavor. Regardless, from there they will have a better strategic position to gather intelligence. Jake decides to bring a large portion of his men with him to help secure the area. Now the party waits for the men to be outfitted before moving out.

Jake

Jake gets a letter from Samar at the Bard's Gate embassy asking for a meeting. It seems he wants to hire the Greed Elementals. Jake goes and they talk. After the disastrous first official caravan by the city through the Desolation failed (and the party's aid in that matter was greatly appreciated), some time was needed to regroup before making a second attempt. That prep work is almost finished and so it is time for another shot at opening official trade lines with the northern city of Parsantium.

And this is where Jake comes in. They need security. The best. And everyone knows that means the Greed Elementals, though no one has seen them in action; the rep their is mostly from the party. Samar and Jake negotiate and come to terms. Jake will provide 5 men and Bard's Gate will each 250 bits per day in the Desolation, which they agree would reasonable be 2 days each way, plus 25 bits for every day outside of it. They agree that the city will pay half of the Desolation pay in advance and the rest upon successful completion.

The deal is done and Jake leaves with 2,500 bits. Will his men get it now? Hell no, only if they come back. If they have issues with that they should have read the Geas Quest treated contract they already signed upon joining the guild more closely. Jake picks 5 of his better recruits and lets them know they leave in a few days time.

In the mean time he decides to get some gear made for his crew, and he approaches the Smith looking to get items made at cost instead of full market price. Smith says that the forge belongs to the Usurer so he is the one to talk to about such things. So he goes to the Usurer... yeah the Usurer isn't going to do that.

Resigned to the fact he is going to get gouged, Jake commissions 20 sets of masterwork weapons and armor, plus something all magical for Rorgingard, an Impact weapon. That empties his 20,000 guild credit line as well as a rather sizable chunk from his own. The Usurer thanks him for his business.

The night before they leave into the Desolation, Jake throws a feast and hires plenty of girls from the Moaning Whale. The men are in good spirits and some seem to think that they will have something like this before each trek into the wastes. Going into the wastes is awesome! Jake is happy to let them think both of those things are true; they will just have to be disappointed.

The Smith

The Smith continues to work for the Usurer and the Usurer is very pleased. He even gives him an incredibly stale loaf of bread he had laying around when the Smith asks for food to go with hid lodgings, the dirt floor next to the forge.

The Smith carries out the Usurer's forge orders and each piece he makes it a masterpiece, though some aren't good enough. Anything created with less than a 40 craft check goes back into the scrap pile, and the Usurer watches and makes mental notes of Smith's techniques and dedication to perfection.

Note: The Smith now has a special bonus on crafting. Any masterwork item he creates with a craft check of 45 or better (i.e. him rolling a 15+ right now) is actually treated as magic for the purposes of further enchanting and bypassing DR.

While working, Smith contemplates the question Beltin asked him and the day after their meeting he approaches him and they talk. He asks why Beltin uses undead and Beltin explains they are simply the tools of his trade, they are his strength. Smith says this is a good answer, but has one more concern: Are they simply flesh and bone are is the soul of the creature bound as well? Beltin assures him that his menagerie is only cold, rotting flesh and bone, and the Smith is fine with that.

The Smith joins the party!

From there he spends the next several days again mostly crafting, this time fulfilling Jake's extensive order. He spends some time away from the forge, including going briefly to Jake's party, but such things bore him and again seeks solace in the act of fiery creation.

In one of his outings he gets food by approaching a vendor whose ancient cart had a broken wheel; it was essentially a permanent non-moving structure by this point. Smith told him he would fix it and the man would give him food. Note, he told him, he didn't ask him. Smith did it quickly and skillfully and then stared at the man. Intimidate check? Made it. The man decides to just go with strange half-giants barter system and starts slowly pushing food towards him.

He starts with only a few days worth of trail rations, but Smith just keeps staring, so eventually the man hands him a bag of several weeks worth just to get him to leave. The Smith says he is thirsty. The vendor tells him about the Dancing Bear, a place across town and far away from him and gives directions. The Smith goes.

Once there, Smith looks for anything that needs fixing and spots one of the taps is slightly bent. He pulls up several stools at the bar, fixes the tap, and then asks for water for his services. Floyd is amused and gives him a glass of water. The Smith drinks it and then gets up to leave. Floyd gives him a pitch about the fine alcoholic beverages the Bear provides and says that perhaps he would be interested for next time. The Smith is not. He leaves.

Back to forging and so goes his down time.

Beltin

Without Lucky to talk to, Beltin finds himself rather lost. He decides to invest in more real estate, this time something pricier for the high roller adventurers/high ranking crusaders. He remembers the work he and Augustine did on the jail, and he goes and recruits Augustine again.

Agustine is his usual happy self, but is more excited than usual to see Beltin again so soon. He asks if this is to do with the summoning? Did something happen? Did Jake get eaten alive and die horribly? He is so excited at the thought. Beltin says no, and explains his high value property creation plans. Augustine loves making things. He is in.

They spend the next few days making large, innately (and tastefully, insists Beltin; no scenes of death, to Augustin's disappointment) decorated stone homes through many ritualized castings of Stone Shape. In each Augustin creates a hidden area with a shrine to Nerull; one in a concealed room under an incredibly heavy stone bed frame, one in a secret room in a closest, etc. Beltin decides he will not showcase those areas to his potential buyers.

Dice are rolled and in the down time they managed to make 6 of these homes. Another roll says Beltin is able to "sell" them all to high ranking crusaders. Secretly, hidden in legalese in the sales contract, each home reverts to Beltin in the case of the "owner's" death. As each crusader only used the same lawyer, only one roll was allowed versus the deceitful wording in the contract and he failed. Yay, shady business practices!

Beltin makes a few thousand bits and life is good. Unfortunately the market for such homes is very limited, so it's not a source of in-come he can tap often, at least not yet. He needs to make sure he doesn't flood the market after all. He now considers making a gated community or maybe time shares... Beltin may yet become a real estate tycoon.

To be continued...

14.4: The consequences of poor life decisions

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 10).

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 10/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 3).

"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 10).

The Smith (LN Half-Giant Aegis/Psychic Warrior 11). BW's replacement character. The Smith is all he goes by as his name is lost to the past. As his name implies, he is a smith of unrivaled skill and he has left his clan in the mountains in the west to come to the Desolation for one reason: Just as how the steel is forged in fire, the soul is forged in the flames of conflict. Yeah, that's almost exclusively how he talks.

The consequences of poor life decisions, Session 14.4 - 9/19/14

Day 21, night

Bradley Weatherby

BW and Georgia approach the former Bender Brothers Inn, now known as "The Moaning Whale, a Hospitality Guild pleasure establishment." The building has over gone some hasty renovations in the last few days including some expansions, but is now open for business. BW is recognized as he walks in; the people running the place know who he is and don't stop him as he walks past the various sections (The Mermaid section for the high rollers, The Manatee section for the common folk, and the Manta Ray section for the deviants, both wealthy and less so) and into the back office, his office, with Georgia following behind.

They walk down into the cellar where BW has his fancy new bedroom setup and alchemy lab and once down there they have a drink and BW tells her the real, unembellished story of the undead army fight. She is impressed and they move toward the bed. At this point they hear noises both from the cellar door above and the dead end hallway at one end of the cellar that led to the secret entrances to the guest rooms.

From the hallway they hear the sound of metal being dragged against stone, coming near them, and then the curtain blocking the hallway is thrown open and one of Clantock's assassins enters, dragging a huge highly polished axe on the floor, seemingly just for dramatic effect. The noise from the cellar trapdoor was the sound of a lock clicking into place, and on the bottom of the stairs stands another of the assassins, this one stowing a wand of Arcane Lock.

The two assassins just stare at BW and he stares back, but as he does so he sleight of hands a vial of poison into one hand, concealed but ready to throw. He tells them that their business is with him and to let Georgia go. Plus the assassins surely don't want trouble with the rangers. Secretly he hopes they let her go so she can get help.

The assassins are not stupid. They say she will not be harmed, but no one leaves til this is finished. She is welcome to sit down in the corner quietly and wait. Georgia stands her ground, clearly not going to let BW stand alone. Suddenly BW throws the vial of poison at the assassin near the stairs! Death Blade! Fort save failed! Unfortunately the poison has a one minute onset period or else things may have worked out much better for him.

As soon as he does this the third assassin appears from invisibility bearing a garrote and tries to do what comes naturally with such a weapon, but he fails. Initiative is rolled!

The grappler does his thing again, fails, and then again turns invisible. The doorman approaches BW and lazily knocks his kukri out of his hand. The axeman looks ready to come forward when Georgia casts Wall of Light, completely cutting off his side of the room from the fight! 2v2 now instead of the planned 3v1; perhaps BW can pull this out after all.

BW Glitterdusts to find the invisible grappler who unfortunately isn't blinded, but there goes the surprise element. Unfortunately for BW the grappler doesn't need it and finally garrotes him. As he is being strangled, BW feels the barbs on the garrote as well as the poison coating them, but makes his save. Georgia temporarily forgets she has Liberating Command as a known spell, so BW gets to stay grappled, and stay grappled he does. And then things get even worse for him as the doorman steps up and reveals himself to be a Maneuver Master Monk/Fighter gestalt. BW is tripped, has his dresser emptied on top of him, entangling and blinding him with his own expensive clothes, and then gets kicked in the stomach, hard, for sickened. Yay, Dirty Tricks!

Knowing things aren't going well at the moment as he is now tripped, grappled, strangled, blinded, sickened, and entangled, he goes for a drastic measure. He pulls out a vial of Nightmare Vapor, an air based poison that does both wisdom damage and confuses the victim. He throws it around him and the two assassins, himself, and Georgia each get to make a save. And this is where BW screwed himself.

He and both assassins make it. Georgia, the level 10 Ranger/Sorcerer, the full caster capable of turning this impossible ambush into a legendary victory for BW? Oh no, she fails it. Horribly. And continues to do so for the remainder of the fight. As BW is held down and beaten and eventually gets his jaw broken and then most of the fingers on his left hand cut off, Georgia spends her time freaking the hell out. She finds herself unable to roll above a 5 on her save and equally unable to get a roll on the confusion table that isn't horrible for BW.

She starts out by lashing out at her nearest ally, BW, seeing him as some nightmarish figure emerging from the earth. And then she realizes she has bugs all other her, eating her alive, and she viciously scratches herself to get them off. Then they are gone, but where? She ponders this, wide eyed, and does nothing. Finally she realizes they are in her skin now, and frantically she resumes scratching her skin off. By this time BW loses consciousness, but before he does he tries praying to Thyr, to say he is sorry and seeking forgiveness. Thyr remains silent and BW passes out.

From there the assassins restrain Georgia, which isn't hard in her condition, and she gets to spend the next few hours tied up and unconscious, but otherwise left alone, on BW's new bed spread. The poisoned doorman falls into paralysis and starts to hemorrhage constitution soon after from BW's initial surprise attack, enough to kill him which was what the DM originally ruled. Unfortunately in retrospect, the assassin lives as the axeman was part Inquisitor and had Lesser Restoration on his pre-made spells known list; he knows his abilities even if the DM doesn't. Sorry BW, you didn't even get one.

From there BW is hung upside in the cellar and the few times he regains consciousness, he wishes he hadn't. Again he tries to make his peace with Thyr, and again, Thyr doesn't seem to be listening. The assassins take their brutal, slow, and painful revenge and leave BW's mutilated corpse hanging in the cellar.

The assassins untie the still unconscious Georgia and leave a note for her explaining the situation. They and BW had business and she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. She has no lasting injuries and was in fact treated while unconscious to ensure her good health. This business had nothing to do with her and the rangers. The letter suggests that it would be advisable for both Georgia and the rangers to leave emotion out of any considered response to this incident and realize it would benefit all parties to just let it go.

Skeriber will almost certainly see the reason in this, but will Georgia? Perhaps time and plot twists will make that question relevant.

Beltin

Late that night Beltin gets a knock on his door. Outside is one of the assassins and Beltin invites him in.

The assassin informs him that their vengeance is complete and BW is no more; he pulls out a bloody handkerchief embossed with the initials BW and shakes it. Several bloody fingers land on the floor, two still bearing rings.

Perhaps someday the sheriff, Tarl, will know their displeasure, says the assassin, but for now the blood debt is paid. Beltin is no longer in their debt. The assassin reaches into a pouch and pulls out a black stone, a soul, the soul of BW to be precise. He sets it on Beltin's bed and says that as a sign of good faith they did not destroy BW's soul, but instead decided to leave it to his discretion. What happens to it now is no longer their concern.

Beltin thanks the assassin and the assassin tells him that with their vendetta completed they will resume their normal business, though less openly perhaps due to now being actively wanted by Bard's Gate for that whole margoyle business. They will be around. If Beltin requires them for their services, ask Father Death; he will know how to find them. And then he leaves.

Beltin removes the rings from the fingers and pockets them before destroying the bloody physical evidence of BW's murder left on his floor. He ponders what to do with the soul and decides to hold onto it, for now at least.

Day 22

Beltin, Jake, and Augustine finish prep work for the summoning ritual and plan to teleport to the Cross Roads later in the day to create the seal. None of them are too upset by BW's death as business is business. There are some rumors about a body being found mutilated in the Moaning Whale, but the Hospitality Guild is able to hush it up mostly.

Beltin and Jake receive a letter from the Usurer that afternoon saying that he heard of their defeat for a particular lich, one that he happened to have an old open bounty on. Beltin and Jake each have 20,000 bits worth of credit added on to their credit line with the Usurer. In the note he says that as their dear friend BW no longer requires a share, his part will be credited to Yohann Kreshman for use for outfitting Jake's growing guild. Awesome.

When the time is right Beltin, Augustine, Roringard, three decently magic capable recruits, and the fuck-up recruit Carl are teleported to the Cross Roads by Jake. They meet minimal resistance from the dangerous creatures in the Desolation, mainly some mindless undead that go down quickly in fights that aren't even rolled.

Augustine painstakingly creates the seal for the summoning and the materials are prepared in the center. Beltin makes a check and realizes that this seal is strictly for summoning, not containing, and prepares Magic Circle; mistaking the summoning circle for a containment circle is a noobie mistake for the would-be conjurer, like the one who summoned "Bol" originally and got eaten for it... foreshadowing. The party is too good for that.

That night the incense are lit and the components ready, but no one knows how to proceed. Augustine suggests ominous chanting calling involving the name they have: Vol. They do that and the candle flames within the circle seem to respond, rushing upward slightly with each use of the name. They continue for who knows how long and the darkness deepens, but the fire within the circle remains. The incense rises. And then the smoke appears to take shape.

The chanting continues and the form becomes clearer, a small form that appears to have four arms. It is almost solid, but ghostly in appearance when a harsh voice from inside the circle demands blood be paid. Blood must be paid for the doorway to open, it says. Jake gestures to Carl and Carl looks back with a rather dubious expression. Beltin says they only need a few drops, it's not like they are going to sacrifice him. In reality he has no idea how much blood is needed. Bluff check succeeds though.

Carl pulls out a knife and cuts his hand and holds it toward the circle. Suddenly the blood ripped from hid hand and from his veins, pulling him as well. He is pulled inside the circle. His blood hits the smoky form which then becomes solid, some sort of unspeakable horror from the abyss! It's, it's... a quasit? No, a four-armed quasit. And it rips Carl apart and begins to eat him.

The others just watch, some stunned, some not really surprised, and one, namely Augustine, super excited by this turn of events. The creature, Vol, the former party member Bol, finishes the meal and sees Beltin. He asks if they brought BW with them, licking his lips. Beltin informs him that he is dead, and Vol says that is a shame; he has been demoted to this form by his lord due to BW's treachery.

He then turns to Jake, obviously the ritual leader and the one who bound him by his true name. He doesn't ask how he knows it and doesn't seem particularly surprised. He speaks with him and Jake asserts dominance. Vol says he will kill for him and says to seal the pact they must make a blood oath. He cuts one of his four hands so it bleeds freely and looks to Jake to do the same. Vol also has no bluff. It is obvious he is trying to trick Jake into the circle; he still hungers.

Jake doesn't go for it and Vol accepts this. Jake tells him that he will call him when he is needed, but for now, be gone. Vol vanishes and the candles in the summoning circle go out with his departure, leaving the group in darkness.

Jake's power grows; the creature Vol will be a powerful weapon, but also one that must be handled with great care.

Everyone, barring Carl who is dumped unceremoniously onto the side of the road, is teleported back to the Camp and they sleep.

Day 23

The Smith arrives in the Camp and is given a wide berth by most but he doesn't notice or care. He listens for the sound of a hammer striking anvil, of a smith at work. He hears the sound and is led to the Usurer.

He walks into the forge and watches the Usurer work and then once the Usurer acknowledges him, the Smith the tells him to do what he just did slightly differently and it will yield better results. His way of doing so is not judging or arrogant; as far as he is concerned it is a simple statement, a self-evident fundamental truth.

The Usurer ponders his advice for a few seconds and then says that yes, that would make the bond hold better. He is intrigued by this newcomer and his manner. He asks his name and is told that he is simply known as the Smith. He asks permission to work the Usurer's forge and asks him what to create. The Usurer steps back and allows him access. He pulls out a list and tells him to make several daggers.

The Smith does in record time and the results are of unparalleled quality. The Usurer keeps a poker face, but he is supremely impressed. He asks why the Smith is here and the Smith explains he is here to temper his soul with conflict, to gain strength through battle. The Usurer tells him he is in the right place; only the strong survive in the Desolation.

Then, says the Smith, I will survive. He asks the Usurer of those who brave the wastes and is told of the crusaders, who go in and tend to meet bad ends but whose numbers are large. Of the rangers who walk the wastes but observe, not conquer. Of the adventurers who come to seek glory and wealth but mostly find death. But not all adventurers are weak, and the Smith is told of the party and its exploits.

The Smith asks where to find the party and the Usurer explains. Before he leaves he asks the Usurer if he may sleep in his forge and create within it, though what shall be created is the Usurer's decision as is the right of the forge master. The Usurer, seeing a man of great skill and a certain naivety that may be ripe for manipulation, accepts and points to a corner; he may sleep there and work the forge when he wishes.

Nodding, the Smith pulls out one of his weapons, a large axe; he points out certain spots on it and explains the techniques used to make it. The weapon is an unrivaled masterpiece beyond anything the Usurer has ever created. He listens to explanation with rapt attention and when the Smith leaves he studies it closely and contemplates the riddles of the steel.

Walking again. The Smith finds Jake's guild and approaches Yohann. He say he heard they are strong and he too is strong. He will join them. Yohann challenges him to test his strength. While this is happening Jake and Beltin who happened to be there watch on. The Smith is dressed in the simple garb of a blacksmith, but as the battle commences armor appears from nothingness around him and his simple blacksmith hammer grows into massive weapon that seems capable of breaking down city gates.

He wins initiative and Yohann falls easily and would have died if not for Jake's magical intervention with a Force Sphere. With his last blow reflected by the sphere and the occupant inside on one knee barely conscious, it is clear the battle is over. The spell is ended and Yohann heals himself and tells the Smith he is powerful indeed and that he is in. But the Smith is not done yet. He tells Yohann to strike him back.

Yohann looks the man in the eye and realizes that his honor will not be satisfied unless Yohann indulges him. He swings and his blade is deflected by the Smith's armor and now the battle is truly over. The Smith, now content, asks when they will go into the Desolation.

Beltin approaches the Smith and says that before he may join them he must answer a simple question: How does he feel about undead? The Smith considers this and says he doesn't know but he will contemplate it and return tomorrow with an answer. And he departs, intent on returning to the forge, leaving the party both slightly amused and bemused.

End of session. Ding, level 11! 1 causality. All his accumulated bad karma finally caught up with BW, leaving him to face Clantock's three assassins alone, forsaken by Beltin. By using his metagame knowledge of his upcoming ambush but in a credible in-game way, he managed to bring Georgia, the level 10 full caster, with him to the fight, not only evening the odds but perhaps pushing them in his favor. Unfortunately he managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by knocking Georgia out of the fight with an ill advised use of poison, ensuring his slow, torturous death.

Notes: Vol (Bol's true name) functions as the Wizard discovery True Name except Vol scales with level. The old PC Bol is leveled to party level and all his stats and abilities are given to a Quasit in place of its base stats. No size adjustments are made for stats, but damage dice is affected. Vol also has all the Quasit abilities besides at will invisibility, which is now 3/day.

14.3: The noose tightens

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 10).

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 10/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 3).

"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 10).

The noose tightens, Session 14.3 - 9/19/14

Day 21

Jake

After getting caught up on the latest rumors, Jake heads back to his compound and after sitting through a status report from Yohann (the men are almost good enough to be considered low ranking soldiers now, by his esteem), Jake gets down to serious business. He again examines the painting fragment and studies the ritual he sees. Yes, he is able to identify all the components he sees and all are strange or exotic. Gathering them may be expensive, but it is doable.

He turns his attention to the geometric seal he sees in the painting but of course a portion is ripped off. That could be a problem, but after studying it closely he realizes that the seal is just an incredibly complex repeating pattern; it should just be a matter of replicating it to fill in the missing areas. Tricky because that part of the operation will require intense precision. He ponders that as he heads to the market place.

After digging through various stalls (including the one of his old friend the false wizard), Jake manages to find all of what he needs or at least something with the exact same magical properties. Except for one item that is: A human eye. It seems no one has one of those for sell, and though he could just get one from anyone nearby, instead he decides to go to the Church of Nerull.

Inside he sees a few people in pews, heads down, and the acolyte Augustine copying names from the death shrine into a large, weathered looking tome. The cover appears to be leather of some kind, but it looks a bit strange. Jake decides it is unimportant and greets the acolyte, who is pleased to see him and asks how his killings went. Jake says fine, fine, but he needs something. Would he happen to have any human eyes?

Augustine, his eyes always glazed with something akin to madness, says that yes, he does in fact. He has two. Jake tries not to facepalm and asks if he has any not in a head. Augustine considers this for a moment and then smiles. He says no they don't but he could get him one. Jake says he doesn't want one of his own eyes removed. At that, Augustine's shoulders slump and he goes back to thinking.

And then he smiles again, a knowing smile, and says yes, he can get him an eye, but asks what rite Jake is performing. Jake immediately goes defensive, but the acolyte puts up his hands and says that hey, he is no stranger to dark rites and their components, so he isn't judging, nor does he want what Jake is after. It is just an academic interest, a hobby of sorts. Jake stares at the acolyte, and yeah, he can believe that from a weirdo like this guy.

He explains about the painting and what he knows (but doesn't mention what he doesn't know, i.e. what it does exactly) about the ritual he will be performing. Augustine grows more and more excited and seems to be barely containing himself as Jake talks of the painting. Jake finishes and Augustine asks to see it. Jake shows it to him and he gasps.

He gives Jake an art history lesson. This is a work by the famed blind prophet and artist Raziel Alhazred. He lived a long time ago (Augustine doesn't seem to know when exactly) and was renowned and feared for his mystical powers, some of which was supposed to be suffused into his works, all of which were masterpieces the likes of which had never been seen. But each showed a scene of utter ruin and disaster, and each was seemingly a prophecy of doom to warn those who could decode the sometimes obvious and sometimes not symbolism. Eventually the prophet was put to death for heresy and his paintings were supposedly all destroyed.

Yet some of his works have reappeared over the years, seemingly at the time when their prophesied time is approaching. It is said that his work, "The Corruption of the South" was discovered shortly before the first disastrous crusade against Tsar; supposedly it hung in the emperor's own personal art gallery as he and the Army of Light were forever lost in the poorly named Forest of Hope.

And that is not the only story like that, and Augustine gives more historical hearsays. No one knows how many pieces were created by the prophet and most of the names of his works have been lost, but among the believers the most commonly sought after piece is the mythical "The Fall of Man," for obvious reasons says Augustine with a laugh.

And now, Augustine concludes, another of the prophet's works has been found. He doesn't know if the myths concerning them are true or not, but wouldn't it be exciting if they were, and death was coming for them all? Many people would be very interested to possess a work of Raziel, especially one that has seemingly not yet come to pass. It appeals to two types of collectors, says Augustine, the philosopher and the one who just thinks it will look fabulous on his wall.

He looks at the painting fragment longingly as he hands it back to Jake, and says that if he ever finds the other pieces he would love to see it whole. He would love to know which scene of horror and atrocity he had examined.

The acolyte looks sad for a moment and then suddenly perks up. He says he wants to help with the ritual. He wants to be there and see what it does. It's just so exciting! Jake believes him when he says that he just wants to be there for the ritual's own sake, but damn is the kid creepy. But useful too. He agrees and says that he can use his artistic ability to create the seal. Augustine smiles and says he will get the eye and then they can talk more. Jake says fine and to meet him at his compound.

About an hour or so later Augustine arrives with a still bloody human eye. Jake doesn't ask. At this point he had already teleported Lucky's waitresses and Beltin is with him discussing the ritual. Augustine joins in, still so excited to be included especially now that his "death buddy" Beltin is involved, and they come to the conclusion that the best place to try what they are trying would be the Cross Roads; the barrier between worlds is already thin enough there.

They work to finish preparations and decide that tomorrow night will be the night. Jake says he will bring four of his students, the ones he thinks are magically gifted enough to help with the ritual without any chance of fucking it up.

Augustine points out that blood may be needed so perhaps he should bring someone else too, someone that he won't miss should that be necessary. The look on his face makes it clear that he dearly hopes it is necessary. Jake agrees and has just the right person in mind: Carl, his worst student. Finally, he may be useful in some way.

When it's nearly hanging time, Augustine says they could use a break and a hanging is always worth seeing. The other two reluctantly agree, but he is just so enthusiastic. The town square is crowded and people look like they've been having a bit of a party. Near dusk the Usurer climbs onto the gallows and stands still and silent.

The sight of him brings silence to the crowd at once, and then Sheriff Tarl approaches with two bound men in tow. One seems to have a broken jaw... and a bloody, dripping rag over one eye socket. So that's where that eye came from! Tarl reads a long list of charges, most of which deal with using gold instead of bits in a variety of mercantile endeavors. Then he asks if they have last words.

The one with the broken jaw tries to say something but can't and the other starts to go on about how this is a mistake. He starts blubbering and Tarl loses his patience and hits the lever. They hang! The crowd cheers! The party begins again! And with the spectacle complete, Augustine, Beltin, and Jake leave to get back to work.

Bradley Weatherby

Though in character BW doesn't know it, today is the last day of his life. Out of character? He is prepared. He knows he has this coming. And he does his best to in character metagame himself into a better position. Can't argue with that.

BW first heads over to the Dancing Bear and gets a free drink from Floyd. The guild is pleased with him. He is in. He spends some time talking up their exploits, sees Beltin in passing, and then heads over to see his friend Horace at crusader encampment. He meets him outside of a newly set up field hospital as he is overseeing the transfer of some wounded crusaders. He is a bit grim due to his duties, but he smirks a bit as he sees BW approach wearing his new dwarven crown.

They talk and BW explains how they met the undead army and the lich and destroyed both. He makes himself out to be the key player again, of course, and also says that the dwarves were so grateful for their aid that they gave him the crown. Yay, high bluff. Horace believes him, not only because he is a great liar, but also because this undead menace was on the crusade's radar; they had reports of it and BW's story fit. Of course they would send people to the battle site to confirm and see if there was anything missed, but that was standard procedure. He shakes BW's hand and says he's won another great victory in the war against evil, but alas, the fight continues.

At this point BW says he didn't just come to spread word of his feats, but he also wanted to give him something. He takes the crown off his head and says he is tithing it to the church of Thyr and the crusade. May they use it well. Horace wasn't expecting that and asks him to reconsider, but BW says no, they could make better use of it than he. He also doesn't realize that if they were so inclined they could use it to see through all his lies. Hope they don't check.

Horace asks if there is anything they can do for him as repayment for such a gift, but BW is humble. He just asks for some doses of holy water and that maybe they could name something after him. Horace says they could do that and the hospital will be named in his honor. And BW gets his holy water.

Horace excuses himself and says that he has more work to finish and then as a representative of the god of justice, he must attend the lawful executions of the two criminals and that time is approaching. He clearly finds the spectacle of hangings distasteful, a feeling BW shares. BW departs and heads over to the rangers.

As he goes he sees a crowd gathering in the town square and vendors selling food. Looks like it will be a bit of a block party for the plebian masses. BW turns his head at the excited crowd as he goes by; hangings are low class. Now, a good beheading, that's something worth seeing. He passes some of the rangers on their way to the spectacle, but he continues on toward their base. He sees a single ranger standing at the door and he nods to BW as he enters. The only people inside are Skeriber and Georgia, both studying a map in silence.

BW approaches and waits and soon after Skeriber folds the map and asks what he needs. BW says that he gets the feeling he has made a lot of enemies and now he is trying to rectify that. He's looking for people he can trust, people who may at some point be offered a sum of money to kill him, but out of loyalty will instead come to him and warn him. Friends, you know.

Friends would also give advice, perhaps legal advice. BW mentions that with his growing connections with the crusade he was thinking of confessing to his involvement with the murder of Caepio, but claiming ignorance, self-defense, whatever. With the rep and what he has done he thinks it may fly, though Beltin and Tarl may have some issues.

Georgia and Skeriber look at each other and both ask if he is stupid or something. The church of Thyr is not known for forgiveness and that in their estimation, the best he could hope for by throwing himself at their mercy would be for a quick death after which they would sanctify his body and pray for his soul.

No, it would be better to stay quiet. Plus, adds Skeriber, from what he heard there wasn't any evidence to be found at a certain cemetery. It seems the crusade has no leads about what happened to the doomed expedition after all. He gives BW a meaningful look.

This is clear to BW and he thanks Skeriber for his wisdom and his aid. Friendship is fun. And friendship works both ways. He has some items the rangers may find useful.

Skeriber nods and BW begins pulling out weapons, loot he has accumulated and not had any use for personally, but that they may find helpful. He places each piece on the desk one by one and Georgia picks them up, examines them, and places them off to the side. When BW gets to a coat pistol he got from somewhere at some point, Skeriber takes it and begins to play with it, spinning it. He doesn't say anything, but it looks like he likes it.

BW finishes giving away some old belongings to curry favor with the rangers, thinks for a second, and takes out one last item, his Ring of the Sophisticate. He explains it can locate people and be used to find taverns; always useful, but he has other rings now. He asks Georgia to wear it and think of one of Clantock's assassins. It seems that one is in town somewhere, she says, but that is not surprising. There are many places in the Camp for people to stay hidden.

BW says they won't stay hidden for long. Soon he will take care of them (as per the agreement with Father Death, right?), but in the mean time, why doesn't she go for a stroll with him? She says, well, there is that hanging going on, but BW says that is low class thrills. She smiles at him and asks what he has in mind then. He mentions he got a new bedroom setup and rolls for it. She is interested.

Skeriber is uninterested and waves them away, and they begin to walk toward to the Bender Brothers Inn and BW's inevitable assassination.

To be continued...

14.2: Hospitality prevails

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 10).

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 10/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 3).

"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 10).

Hospitality prevails, Session 14.2 - 9/19/14

Day 21

As they are much too high level to walk anywhere (screw walking), the party teleports away from the site of their latest glory and back to the Camp. Upon arrival they notice something a bit odd though: Why are so many people walking around in surgical masks?

Beltin stops someone and gets some of the latest rumors. Turns out a couple of days ago some sort of plague started rapidly spreading through the Camp, but it is all over now. Apparently due to the quick response from the clerics of the crusade, the disease was seemingly defeated with minimal casualties. People are still cautious though, and the masks were given out for free from the Hospitality Guild, who though was happy to fulfill it's "civic duty," was quick to remind everyone that the clerics were the real heroes.

This does not sound right to the party, but they listen. Beltin asks about the victims of the plague. So it seems a lot of people were violently sick, but only about 10 or so actually died. Most were nobodies or the poor among the Camp, but sadly Lucky Fjork and one of his waitresses were also claimed by the deadly disease. Sad times, man. Fortunately, the Hospitality Guild is already taking over the Sip of Blood and the Bender Brothers Inn, so it seems life will go on somehow.

Oh, thinks the party. Now we're getting somewhere. Based on what the party can mostly guess what happened, but out of game the full extent of it was shared.

With the simultaneous, but uncoordinated, poisonings at both the Dancing Bear and the Sip, the Hospitality Guild's PR people in the Camp saw an opportunity to both cover up the murders at the Sip and raise their own standing with the locals. They paid clerics to go around announcing a plague and go around healing "sick" people, i.e. some others on the take, and then started handing out cheap, quickly-made surgical masks. They were able to get most of the common folk (though some of the smarter ones were of course a bit suspicious) to buy into their false plague and subsequent quick cure narrative.

It's quite the story. It makes the Crusade look good. It makes the Hospitality Guild look good. It covers up that pretty much everyone who was actually sick got that sickness from drinking at the Dancing Bear. It even covers up the terrorism-related assassination of Lucky Fjork. And it worked while staying well within budget. It was a very successful campaign.

Side note: Percentiles were rolled for BW's assassination scheme and luck was on his side. Lucky didn't dodge death this time and took over 20 con damage, and then more dice were rolled to determine the number of innocent victims and their affiliation (nobody, waitress, adventurer, crusader); that could have been bad, but again, the dice loved him. Minimum side casualties; 2 people, a no body and a waitress, people no one will deep to deeply to investigate for. But wait, you may be asking, didn't more people than 3 die? Well yes. And the plague story required more dead bodies to sell itself; let's just say some otherwise healthy people with no important friends were recruited by the Hospitality Guild to do an unexpected service for them.

The party makes most of the connections and about guesses the truth, but the man they stopped is still talking about rumors and he has one more juicy tidbit. There's going to be a hanging tonight and it promises to be quite the social event. Who is being hanged and why, asks the party, and they learn two lowlifes are going to the gallows for "counterfeiting," which in this case means using gold in the camp instead of bits. Oh, thinks the party, all of whom regularly do just that. It seems they weren't the only ones and that a message needed to be sent by the Usurer reminding people of the only law that really matters in the Camp; the Usurer gets his cut. Always.

The party leaves the man and splits up to go about their business.

Beltin

First order of business, Beltin goes to the Church of Nerull and meets with Father Death, who is clearly anxious to hear a blow by blow. He listens with rapt attention to Beltin's tale, and then sighs deeply. He says he did not expect this to happen and that clearly he has underestimated Beltin; he is mightier than he had imagined. Beltin accepts the compliment, and Father Death continues to say that this escalated faster than he had anticipated.

He then asks about the phylactery they had destroyed and the necromantic symbols Beltin had seen. He asks if Beltin can recall any or if he saw anything strange with the magic. A low intelligence check says no. A pity, says Father Death, but Beltin cannot be blamed for issues that were not explained to him. At this point he continues to not explain as he thinks things over, but Beltin is a smart one. Perhaps someone was looking for a way to lichdom and didn't expect his intel gathering team to actually destroy his enemy and the clue needed to make it happen.

Father Death gets over his disappointment quickly and asks to examine the scepter Beltin recovered. His eyes light up as he examines it and he explains that there are perhaps a dozen scepters like this remaining in the world, and each is a "holy relic," but for which god is always up for debate. Traditionally, the scepters were fought over between the disciples of Orcus and Nerull, and now another is back in Nerull's grasp. Father Death is pleased and tells Beltin he is a worthy bearer.

Now, to your "reward," says Father Death. He pulls out a map that leads to a cave in the mountains to the west, the base camp of a certain group of assassins. Of course, that is not actually their base, nor are they currently in the mountains. They are right here in Camp waiting to seek their revenge on BW, as they had discussed previously, says Father Death.

Brief rewind: Remember when Beltin met the assassins after his "communion?" They had a nice discussion. Clantock's assassins had three people they could take vengeance on, but now the list dwindles. They can't kill Tarl as he is the sheriff now and walks in the Usurer's favor. For now at least, but someday he won't and his time will come. The second target would of course be Beltin, but he is now their brother so they will have peace. That leaves only one person to pay for the sins of three: Bradley Weatherby.

Beltin tries to diplomacy them into letting BW live as Beltin can use him, but they don't go for it wholly but are sympathetic. They counter offer by suggesting they just horrifically disable and disfigure him and then Beltin can have him back. Beltin says that would make him useless and says they can cut out one of his eyes and one hand, but leave him intact after that.

Roll diplomacy... rolled a 3? Awesome. No, say the assassins. How about if they torture him to death, but don't consume his soul, so Beltin can have him back if he so desires. Beltin thinks it over and says if that's the best they can do then they might as well just do it all the way. They can have BW. The assassins are pleased that he has been so reasonable, but also agree that Beltin can keep him until after the mission to hunt the undead army; if Nerull takes him there then so be it. If not, they will be waiting.

Back to present day, Beltin takes the map. It should hold BW over and make him think things are going according to plan. Beltin makes to leave, but Father Death stops him for one last thing. In a couple weeks there will be another communion to Nerull and he is of course invited. Beltin diplomatically asks if it will increase his power. Father Death smiles and says that is for Nerull to decide.

From there, Beltin decides to head over to the Sip to try to claim some items, namely the Decanter of Endless Grain Alcohol he sold to Lucky as well as his lucky stone if possible. He approaches the Sip to see it closed and under hurried renovation by about a dozen workers. He walks inside and sees the bar pulled up and an upstairs being put in, but ignores that and walks to the foreman. He tells him he was a part owner of this business and that he came to collect some belongings. The foreman looks at him disdainfully and tells him that this building was sold to the Hospitality Guild "as is" by the Usurer after Lucky died, so anything inside it belongs to them now.

Beltin thanks the man for his time, walks out, casts Greater Invisibility, and walks right back in. He looks around for the items, but finds nothing. He leaves again for real, but now casts Locate Object and gets a ping on the decanter. He is led to the Dancing Bear. He walks in and sees BW buying drinks and spreading word of their latest exploits (making it sound like he did all the work of course and Beltin and Jake were sidekicks). Behind the bar is the man who approached him to make a building for the Hospitality Guild, the dead-eyed bartender Floyd.

BW enthusiastically greets Beltin and asks him to join them, but Beltin says he is on business and that the people should take BW's version with a grain of salt. And then he innuendo rolls to lets BW know that he does not appreciate being name-dropped and then being made to look inferior; if he keeps it up the people may get to hear some more truthful stories that he, BW, may not like. BW innuendos back a confirmation and calls him a spoil sport. Beltin walks by him and approaches Floyd to speak with him.

Floyd's dead eyes light up when Beltin approaches and he very insincerely offers his condolences on his loss of his dear friend Lucky, and that he was hoping to see him in fact. His boss would like a word. Perfect, says Beltin, he would like a word as well.

Beltin is led behind a sectioned off area of the massive tent, past some divided off rooms with beds and in a couple, hookahs, and to the back. There is what Beltin takes to be a ridiculous sight; there is a free wooden wall to block off this back area of the tent, and set in it is a fine mahogany door. There is a silver name plate on it that reads: "Bartholomew Weyend, Manager."

Floyd approaches the door, but as he does it is clear to Beltin that his enjoyment over Beltin's misfortune has melted away and been replaced by a barely concealed anxiety. Until that moment Beltin didn't notice, but he was beginning to feel some of that too. Floyd knocks on the door and a sharp voice immediately responds, "Why are you bothering me?" Floyd starts to stutter for a second before apologizing profusely and saying the former part owner of the Sip of Blood was there to see him. The voice says to send him in, and the door opens of its own accord and reveals almost complete darkness within.

A definite feeling of unease settles over Beltin, but business needs to be conducted. He goes in. Inside is a rather roomy office that looks as though it was transplanted from a fine manor of some sorts; it has the feeling of both power and old money. There are bookshelves crammed with tomes, a four poster bed in at one end with fine night stands on either side, a massive wardrobe, and more items have no place at a shit hole like the Camp. All exceptionally high quality. The floor is covered in thick carpets that must either sit on boards placed just over the dirt, or just on the dirt itself. On every "wall," really canvas still as it is a tent, is covered with expensive tapestries and curtains that hang low enough to the floor to block out all outside light.

The only light comes from a small, dying candle on a large mahogany desk to the left as you walk into the room. Behind the desk is a lean man in an exquisitely crafted, but clearly many years out of style suit. He looks ancient, but he moves deftly and his eyes are very much alive. He ignores Beltin for a second as he finishes signing a document of sorts and then stamping it with a seal, and then he looks up at Beltin and tells him to take a seat. Beltin does. The door closes behind him and Beltin begins to wonder if this was a mistake.

The manager starts talking immediately and with the air of a man who is not to be interrupted and whose word is unquestionable. He tells Beltin that the Sip of Blood and the establishment known as The Bender Brothers' Fine Accommodations are now the property of the Hospitality Guild as per a signed contract with the Usurer and the deal is done. That said, though they are under no obligation to do so, as a sign of good faith the Hospitality Guild will pay a one time sum of 1,500 bits to Beltin, but it again it should be stated they are under no obligation to do this; it is merely a show of good faith. Beltin will no longer have any stake in either business. He is out.

And then the manager pulls out a bag sets it on the desk. He stares into Beltin's eyes with a look that says asking for more would be un-wise and waits for his response. Beltin looks at the bag and back to the man, and says that he actually came for an item he gave to Lucky Fjork that has some sentimental value to him, a certain decanter and stone. The manager replies that all items in the Sip of Blood are now Hospitality Guild property, but the "lucky" stone was was not recovered; it was most likely stolen by thieves as soon as Lucky's death became public knowledge.

But you do have the decanter, Beltin replies, and the manager gives a stare that seems to be affirmation. Perhaps they could consider an alternative "buy out" currency, suggests Beltin; keeps the bits, give the decanter. It's not something a high quality establishment would need anyway.

The manager smiles the kind of smile you would expect to see on a walking corpse and lets out a short cold laugh. He opens a cabinet inset underneath his desk and Beltin hears the sound of a safe being opened. The manger collects the bag of bits and stows it before pulling out the decanter and sliding it toward Beltin, who takes it and puts it away in his bag. The two men stare at each other for another moment, and the manager says that their business is concluded for now, and that until it is time to do business again, Beltin should take his leave.

Beltin does and secretly thinks hell will freeze over before he does business with that man again. As he steps out he realizes that he was almost shivering. The office must have been 20 degrees cooler than the outside, or perhaps it was just the presence within that gave that impression. Beltin departs.

One item found. Beltin casts Locate Object again and this time is led to one of the older shanty sections of the Camp reserved for the most desperately poor. Outside a crude lean too he sees one of the waitresses from the Sip tending a small cooking fire. As he approaches, the woman sees him and jumps to her feet and runs over to him. She's glad to see someone who was such a dear friend to Lucky and she goes on about how the whole plague story was nonsense and that Hospitality Guild must be behind it. Beltin soothes her and agrees with her assessment and turns the conversation toward Lucky's rock. Did she happen to know what happened to it?

She shifts, almost guiltily, before rapidly saying that she took it because she didn't want it being robbed by thieves in the camp or the fiends over at the Dancing Bear, and that she wanted to see Beltin about it but he found her first. With Lucky dead, her and the other waitress decided that perhaps their time in the Camp was done and regardless of the problems that drove them here in the first place, it was time to go South again. But they couldn't do it without money. And she looks Beltin in the face.

The meaning is clear. She says she knows Lucky would want him to have the stone, but he also wouldn't want his girls to die of poverty, and Beltin is a rich adventurer. 1,000 bits for the stone. That would let them safely book passage with a group heading south and let them maybe set up something for themselves in the South if they managed to get there alive.

Beltin counter offers for the spare gold he happens to have, about 250. The woman replies it would probably cost them that to even get to Bard's Gate, if it was enough at all. Beltin says safer, quicker, more magical transportation can be arranged for free as part of the deal. The women accepts, takes the gold, and gives Beltin the stone. Beltin now has a +1 luck bonus to all his saving throws!

He tells her to get the other surviving waitress and then meet him at Jake's training compound. The woman agrees and says they will be there soon. Beltin heads over to tell Jake the arrangement and once the women arrive, Jake teleports them to the outer market of Bard's Gate and wishes them luck. The women thank him profusely as because of him they didn't get murdered on the road back and ended up with more gold than they had expected for their new lives. One kisses Jake on the cheek.

He gets that warm fuzzy feeling for a second before Teleporting himself back to the brutal world of the Desolation.

To be continued...

14.1: Dorf Fortress IV - The Inevitable Conclusion

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 10).

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 10/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 3).

"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 10).

Dorf Fortress IV - The Inevitable Conclusion, Session 14 - 9/19/14

The undead battle continues with the promise of shit getting unbelievably real.

Day 20, night

The lich hovers in the sky above the battlefield with his posse of two vampires and two crucifixion spirits. The vampire sorceress that dueled Jake is clearly agitated as she attempts to have a hurried conversation with the lich, but the other vampire and the spirits do not join in; the vampire is still perhaps dazed by the sudden reversal of his awesome tank driving fortunes and the spirits have no free will of their own.

The lich continues to stare down at the remains of his undead legion and at the swirling darkness further out that promises fresh reinforcements. He is thoughtful and remains silent, much to the chagrin of the sorceress who is waiting with much anticipation to know what the hell they are going to do now. And then he looks her in the face and seems to say something.

Whatever it was, she it was not what she wanted. Desperately she tries to flee the lich's side, but it is already too late. The gem set in one of his eye sockets flares into life, shedding a red glare over the battlefield. As it does, more swirling darkness arises around the head of his scepter and tendrils erupt from it and impale the vampires and crucifixion spirits. The spirits accept what is happening and the dazed vampire is still too dazed to react quick enough to what is happening, and those three seem to break apart as they near the scepter, and the sky is awash in a cloud of negative energy.

The sorceress tries to fight what is happening to her, to claw at the lich as she is pulled close by the tendril, but the lich is supremely unconcerned with both her attempts at violence and her desperate struggles to stay "alive." She too breaks down into nothing and her power joins the cloud of energy surrounding the lich.

As that petty drama unfolds in the sky, the coalescing darkness at the edges of the battlefield takes on a new form and flows across the ground and blazes red. From the sky the new shape is clear; it is in the form of a gigantic seal, formed with geometric runes of unknown arcane power. And then tendrils again erupt, but this time from the seal. The remaining undead, the bodies of all the fallen on the field and the freshly buried dwarves, and even the ancient bones from the battle of Tsar are all pulled together into a colossal swirling mass of carrion. The waves of bodies into the formless pile ceases and the area within the seal is undeniably blighted, the ground terraformed into a sheet of black volcanic glass.

Above, the lich moves until he hangs over the mass, visible to all even through the storm of negative energy around him. His eye and the seal send blinding crimson light into the darkness of the Desolation, but suddenly whatever force was holding him suspended in the air ceases and he falls into the shivering mound of corpses. As he is swallowed by it, the glowing seal suddenly goes out and the battlefield is again covered in darkness.

While that un-skippable cutscene was playing out, the party had about two rounds to prepare. Buffs are cast and Beltin commands his undead down to the wriggling pile of bodies. The corpses flow around the outside of the blob, but nothing else happens. And then Beltin commands his undead to attack.

As it is attacked, the pile suddenly begins to take the shape of a massive humanoid figure, but with great difficulty. Two massive arms made of untold dead try to push the mass up from the ground and two tendrils of corpses, nearly 40 feet long, begin to whip around into air. The mound is forming into a (nerf'd) Charnel Colossus! Initiative!

The assembled undead fight the wave of bodies and deal significant damage. Jake Damnation Strides around the mass, slashing as he goes. And then the mass strikes back! One massive arm slams down on both Jake and BW, but their magical defenses hold, Jake with his Mirror Images and BW with his 50% miss chance from Blink! From the mass a face suddenly seem to become clear and it stares into Jake's face with no effect due to a successful fort save. Undeterred, another face becomes clear in the pile and screams out a word of arcane power in a long dead language! BW and Jake roll saves versus Horrid Wilting, and to the DM's disappointment, both make it and the damage roll is sub-par anyway. Meh. And then BW counter attacks!... and fails. Low rolls plus his only hitting attack being countered by his own Blink makes him sad.

Beltin's undead menagerie hits again and the wave of bodies threatening to smash them suddenly withdraw and the mass pulls back into itself. A wave of negative energy ripples through it from within and suddenly it explodes upward into the fully formed shape of a by-the-book, (mostly) un-nerf'd Charnel Colossus. Shit just got real.

6 slams from the colossus obliterates Beltin's new pet t-rex skeleton and several of his other most power undead. Another face stares into Jake's eyes with such hatred that he goes blind, after failing a fort save of course. A lash of bodies slams into BW and his Blink does not protect him. One failed fort save later and he is cursed to have no actions 50% of the time.

Jake blasts a bolt of lightning at his now unseen attacker but the mass seems to open up around the bolt, giving it a clear line through, but now without taking some damage. BW considers acting on his turn, but his percentile dice decide that is not needed and so he does nothing. Beltin's undead continue to smash into the colossus with their diminished numbers and their damage is still significant. The colossus again focuses his energy on destroying the hated, diminished, but still much to effective undead menagerie. Pop, pop, pop, go the undead, but still the two weakest undead remain, and on their turn it is clear they are enough to seal the deal.

They again beat back the tide of rolling bodies, but this time instead of coming together to reform for a new attack, the necromantic glue, the negative energy ectoplasm holding the mass together begins to come undone. The massive humanoid figure of corpses begins to collapse and as it goes it lets out a scream with a thousand voices, the being of ever creature in its makeup, and the sound tears into the minds of the party. BW and Beltin are able hold back the overwhelming tide of thoughts and memories that aren't their own, but Jake is momentarily lost in the shock, unsure of which voice in the cacophony of gibbering voices in his head is actually his own.

In the giant pile of now still corpses there is movement. The lich pushes corpses off of himself and stands a top the mound. The red eye still glows, though much more dimly. Though undead do not tire, he looks about as exhausted as any man the party has ever met as he straightens himself. Yet he still holds the scepter and the gem still glows with its own kind of vitality. The party realizes that an end like this must have been what King Kroma has been waiting for in all his forced years of years to Orcus, yet his indoctrination and perhaps his pride wouldn't let him just roll over and die. He won't flee, but he will not hold back. It's not over yet.

Beltin sends his two remaining undead beasts to engage the King Kroma, who then effortlessly assumes control of them and commands them to stand down. Jake and BW, still blinded and cursed respectively, advance on him as best they can, and he is ready, though clearly weakened. The fight takes place almost in slow motion, with each combatant fundamentally wounded in some way besides Beltin, whose spells against the lich are effortlessly resisted. Finally BW is able to seize an opportunity to end it. He slashes deeply in an opening in the lich's armor, breaking both bones and the magic holding them together in place of muscle, and then swings his kukri up and stabs up from under King Kroma's jaw and into his skull.

With something akin to a sigh of relief the creature falls to a knee and then rolls over onto his back. His bones turn to dust before the party's eyes (though Jake doesn't see it), and then he is gone. All that remains are his treasures, a scepter, a gem, a suit of armor, and a crown.

While the battle was happening, the dwarves inside had been rallying and preparing to join the fray. Now they arrive in time to see their long dead king released from his torment, and they begin to muster as much of a cheer as they can after all that has happened, but Beltin tells them to stay back because the danger may not yet be over. Really it's a bluff check, because hey, loot.

Beltin immediately claims the scepter the lich held; it is obviously a tool of a master necromancer, though it will take time to unravel its mysteries (See the notes section). BW picks up the crown, a masterpiece of stone craftsman ship in laid with immensely valuable gems and metals. It is a crown worthy of the mightiest and wisest of dwarven kings. He places it upon his own head without a second thought and turns to look toward the dwarves. Out of game, the crown functions as a Staff of Revelations, except it must be worn for one hour before use and it automatically restores a charge if unused for a week.

He ignores the armor and picks up the gem, but is immediately scalded by the negative energy within it. Also without hesitation, as he correctly assumes this is a phylactery, he pulls out an alchemical explosive and throws both it and the slightly glowing gem away from him. The explosive goes off, but the gem is completely unharmed. Jake stands around being blind while this happens.

Beltin scolds BW and suggests they actually, you know, try to make a knowledge roll or something. He uses an ability to be unharmed by negative energy and picks it up to examine it more closely. It is clearly a Gem of Trueseeing, but with many runic symbols of power carved into it, and around the symbols in both Necril and Abyssal, are prayers to Orcus. It is clearly a phylactery. They decide to wait an hour for the bloody skeletons to revive themselves and then have Gurg break it.

To pass the time and to know what they have before speaking to the dwarves, Beltin and BW investigate the last piece of treasure, the armor. They realize why this is considered a relic for the Shalemace clan; it is fullplate with both the properties of mithril and adamantite and is magically enchanted to resist even the hottest flames (Greater Energy Resist Fire). Such construction was only ever known by the greatest of dwarven grandmaster smiths and that knowledge has since been lost. The party gets the feeling the dwarves are going to want this and the crown back.

Speaking of which, a dwarf again approaches now that it seems the danger truly has past. His name is Corin Shalemace and he was the man who got his soul crucified trying to rally the dwarves after the fall of Fenris and Gorrak. He looks lessened and wounded by his ordeal, but seems to be the defacto leader of the dwarves now both for his bravery and blood right. He hails the party and begins to announce how they are forever grateful for their aid in laying their wayward ancestor to rest and that once the ancient clan relics are returned to their clan all will again be well and the party will forever be revered friends of the Shalemace clan.

BW interrupts. Yeah, that's not going to happen, he says as he wears the dwarven crown. The thing is that they did all the work and the dwarves would be dead without them. He thinks they will hold onto these items and they can just be grateful for the whole lich destruction and curse lifting thing. Corin seems shocked for a second. He feels utterly betrayed, as do the dwarves, all of whom can hear this. They thought the party were heroes. They were wrong, they now realize.

So, continues BW, he sees it like this. They can be happy with what they got and go home relic-less, or they can all die by the party's hands. He says this knowing full well they are badly wounded, but he knows the party could probably still take all the dwarves. The dwarves know it too. Corin gives BW a look of utter contempt and the dwarves march back into the fort without a word. The party went from exalted to hated with the Shalemace clan!

The party is unconcerned. Beltin prepares the spells to lift the afflictions on Jake and BW and then once Gurg is revived, he smashes the phylactery. There is the sound of a distant scream as it shatters, but then nothing. King Kroma is defeated.

With that done, the party heads back into the fort and their magical cabin. They are exhausted after all and it's still only about 3 a.m.

Though utterly exhausted, Jake awakens before dawn and finds himself utterly restless. From outside the cabin he hears the sounds of squeaky wheels. The sound of a hand cart. He gets a feeling unreality. It must be a dream. So why not see what is happening?

Outside he sees a figure in shabby black robes pushing an ancient and battered cart filled with random items of low quality. From under the hood he can make out a jutting jaw with too many teeth. The Midnight Peddler has again arrived.

Jake approaches the Peddler and the creature pulls out a battered looking scrolls case.

"Buy?" it asks. "30 gold."

Jake does and holds the case, examining it. It is not magical as far as he can tell. The Peddler stares at him and then begins to speak. Jake is building an army, building power, but for what purpose, he wonders. Jake says he is unsure. The Peddler replies that he should beware the folly of short-sighted ambition and the search for power for its own sake; the Desolation is a monument to such ideals, and it is a place of utter ruin.

Jake ponders this advice for a moment and then seems to discard it. He tells the Peddler he will keep that in mind. Without another word the Peddler moves on and disappears into the darkness.

Day 21

The next morning (afternoon), the party awakens to find that the dwarves are already gone. Good, they think, one less thing to worry about.

Jake yawning and stretching, considers the whole encounter with the Peddler to be a strange dream. That is until he sees the battered scroll case laying on the floor near his bed. He shares his story with the party (they remember the strange "fish monger" BW met before they entered the Chaos Rift and share it) and then he picks up the case.

He cautiously opens the it and inside he finds sand and some sort of rolled canvas. He unrolls it and realizes it is a fragment of a large painting, perhaps a third or a fourth of a larger whole. He has the bottom right segment and he can see signature of an artist, though he can't quite make it out. He studies the artwork.

He sees a partial circle of geometric shapes, seemingly all variations of three letters. V O L. About a third of the circle is torn off. From within it he sees a bowl filled with incense and several strange things, all of which he recognizes as spell components. Perhaps summoning components. From the smoke of the incense there appears to be a translucent figure rising, in the process of taking solid form from the smoke. The true form of the figure it cut off, but by looking closely he can see the smokey lines are actually countless tiny scenes of suffering.

Outside the circle, he sees more symbols, but they appear to less magic symbols and more artistic symbolism. What they mean is beyond him and he doesn't care. The painting fragment is clearly the work of a master and by staring at it Jake feels as though he can almost see movement, hear what must be screams and chanting in the background of the scene depicted. He can almost smell the smoke and perhaps the blood. And then the moment is gone and it is only a painting again, though one of extraordinary quality. He examines it again for magic and finds nothing. Only canvas and paint.

Yet he is now sure the ritual is real and one that with a little bit of effort he may be able to reproduce. He doesn't know what it will do exactly, but he knows deep down it will lead to power. The Peddler's warning against such recklessness is already forgotten as he begins in his mind to reverse engineer the ritual in the painting. Why? Because power is its own reward.

To be continued...


Notes: Each player is going to get something special beyond their already formidable gestalt abilities at a certain point as decided by the DM; consider it a congratulations for surviving so long. The scepter from the King Kroma as well as the gained mastery over souls from his communion to Nerull is Beltin's reward.


Scepter of the Undead Legion

• Unholy, Conductive Heavy Mace.
• Counts as a holy symbol for any cleric able to channel negative energy.
• If held by an intelligent undead, the scepter confers +8 channel resistance and immunity versus undead controlling effects. Living wielders are instead harmed by positive energy and healed by negative and receive a +2 bonus on Will saves.
• As a full round action, the wielder may touch the scepter to a mindless undead he controls and store it in an extradimensional space to be called forth at a later time. Alternatively, the wielder may spend a minute and target all mindless undead under his control in a 60ft burst centered on the wielder.
• This extradimensional space seemingly has no limit, but stored undead still count toward the wielder’s HD limit for the number of undead he can control. Any duration for how long the undead remain under his control is suspended while they are in storage. If the wielder gains control of an amount of HD over his limit, the scepter automatically consumes any excess stored undead, starting with the lowest HD creature. Creatures consumed this way are permanently lost.
• As a full round action, the wielder may call forth a single undead creature of any size from the scepter’s extradimensional space. The wielder targets an area within 400 feet and a patch of writhing darkness appears on the ground from which the undead arises. Alternatively, the wielder may spend one minute of concentration to call forth up to 20 stored creatures. For this purpose small and medium undead count as 1, large as 2, huge as 3, gargantuan as 4, colossal as 5, and below small as 1/2. Most swarms count as large.
• By sacrificing some of his own essence or that of another to power the procedure, the wielder may instead call forth any number of stored undead rapidly. As a full round action the wielder and any willing or helpless living sentient creature within 30ft may receive any number of permanent negative levels to call forth the undead at a conversion rate of 5 undead per negative level bestowed, as per the size scale listed above. This ability otherwise functions as the standard calling ability.

13.2: Dorf Fortress III - The Downward Spiral?

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 10).

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 10/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 3).

"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 10).

Astar Luno (NG Human Kata Master, Many of Many Styles Monk 10/Sacred Fist War Priest 10).

Dorf Fortress III - The Downward Spiral?, Session 13 - 9/13/14

Day 20, day

The T-Rex skeletons are defeated (and enslaved in one case) and there is much rejoicing by the dwarves. With that out of the way, the digging continues and the party ponders their next move.

Ideally it would be better if they could find and kill this necromancer before he attacks and along those lines their only lead is the crossroads, which according to the ghost, he was at last night. After much debate, including whether or not they should hang around til midnight for a wish that will totally help them out (the DM approves of this strategy, though the players don't), they teleport to the crossroads, leaving the undead behind as they have to due to the limits of the spell.

They see no sign of anything living or undead, but they do notice something about those crucified bodies around the square. They and their crosses are burned and at the ground below each is an intricate set of symbols, now hard to decipher due to a night open to the elements. Knowledge checks are made, and though no one can figure out the specifics of what it means, the general meaning is clear.

Beltin knows that the way people die can influence their undeath and that powerful suffering in death tends to equal power in undeath. Someone (the party wonders who it could have been) used that to their advantage and performed some kind of necromantic ritual with the crucified bodies. Given how the actual bodies are still on the crosses, though badly burned, whatever was called here is most likely not corporeal.

Awesome, thinks the party. They look forward to facing whatever it is, and the DM looks forward to using it.

They look around for any tracks of any kind and find a set leading back into the Dead Lands, but then quickly lose them. It's hard pan after all and it's not like any of them are particularly good trackers. They teleport back to the dwarves.

The party discusses their next move and BW and Beltin have an innuendo filled conversation while Astar listens obliviously and thinks they are speaking literally and joins in as such. The DM loves you Astar; it's a shame about what happens to you later. Dun dun foreshadowing.

BW throws out the idea that they could finish off the dwarves themselves and perhaps use that as leverage to come to terms with the necromancer. Beltin is iffy and is not sure he is the kind of guy they can negotiate with. BW sees his point and suggests that maybe they could abandon them all to die and then come back later to see what they can find. Astar agrees they are having lovely weather today. He is ignored. Beltin says BW has a point, but they might as well stay for now and see what happens. They can always teleport out if things get too bad.

And so it is decided: The party will stay and help the dwarves as long as it doesn't get too bad, in which case they are leaving those fuckers to die. Astar and the dwarves are not aware of the second part of that plan.

Beltin Makes Whole the heavily damaged wooden gate and BW spends some time getting to know the dwarves and raising their morale, though he secretly has no confidence at all in them. And then they sit down and wait.

The birds circle overhead and there is a feeling of impending doom in the air regardless of BW's morale boosters. It seems that tonight will be the night...

Day 20, night

As darkness approaches, clouds begin to move in. It promises to be an especially dark night. Astar lights and places torches 50-100 feet out from the walls in all directions around the fort, hoping it will give them time to see the enemy coming.

The dwarves mostly take to the walls and some stay near the doors on the inside, next to many of the undead who were given the same job. Gorrak and Fenris, both with Air Walk, patrol around, giving encouragement and orders. Time passes and darkness settles in.

Around 2 a.m. it happens. With the help of the torches the defenders see some sort of black bubbling substance quietly appear on the ground a hundred or so feet away from the fort... in every direction. Soon is coalesces into solid forms, ranks of silent undead, hundreds. And then they begin to all shamble toward the fortress. The torches are trampled and they are lost to sight, but not for long.

Initiative is rolled.

Beltin commands his hydra to cling to walls of the fortress above the path leading toward the gate. His archers begin to fire into the horde, and though each arrow brings down an individual member of the undead horde, another just steps in to take his place. Jake fireballs, with similar effect.

BW, counting on the fact that his AC is so high and not realizing the horde works like a swarm, parkours his way down the wall (and air as he has Air Walk), and jumps into the horde to start wrecking things. He slices and dices, but there are always more. The horde advances and BW finds himself overwhelmed but holds his ground and brings down more undead, but not enough. He decides this was a poor choice and air walks himself up above the zombies.

The dwarves fire into the undead along with Fenris, but Gorrak air walks above the horde, not far from BW, and channels energy. Astar does the same. Undead fall, but more come. And then through the horde below those above see movement going against the grain, moving toward them. 3 Mohrgs push themselves on top of the horde, crowd surfing almost, and lash out with their tongues!

Astar and BW avoid being paralyzed, but Gorrak, the level 9 cleric with access to 5th level spells that he didn't use yet, rolls a 3 and the Mohrg, making a rattling sound that must have been laughter, begins to pull him down into the horde!

And then Beltin uses an ability the DM had not forseen. Darkness Domain. He turns on his level 8 ability and treats darkness like it wasn't even there and begins to look for someone commanding the undead. Above he sees a massive flock of swirling darkness; birds. But beyond the ranks of the 60 feet deep horde, he sees two figures moving with purpose and intelligence, making hand movements that the horde then seems to react to.

As the horde reaches the walls and begins to turn and walk up the slope toward the gate (with the help of the intelligent people in the back) or if not on the gate side of the fort, begins to dog pile on top of one another to eventually, inevitably reach the top of the wall (60 feet up total; 40 foot hill that steep enough to be almost vertical, plus 20 feet high walls), Beltin calls out the location of the figures he sees.

Jake teleports to Astar, then BW, ignores Gorrak in distress, and then blinks all three around one of the figures, surrounding it. As they land next to it they see what would appear to be a man in black armor, except the extreme paleness, glowing red eyes, and fangs reveal him for what he is. Vampire.

The three attack him simultaneously and he is now a dead vampire. Astar punches him in the lower back and feels his spine begin to give way under his fist and then the body breaks down into ash. They turn and look over and see another vampire, this one a woman in black robes. She is wearing an expression that is a clear mix of "oh what the fuck" and obvious concern. She looks up toward the sky and makes a "what the hell is this" expression.

Beltin sees this and looks up into the swirling mass above. Aha, so that's where you are hiding, necromancer!

The vampire looks between the three of the people who just ganked her ally and considers which one to Dominate when it occurs to her she has a better idea: Dimensional Anchor on Jake and Quicken Invisibility. Jake is pissed now. And unfortunately for her he has permanent see invisibility. He watches her fly up and she sees his stare. She doesn't like where this is going.

The Mohrg reeling in Gorrak finishes and he disappears into the horde. The horde has work to do and continues on, but the other two Mohrgs come back and try unsuccessfully to ranged touch tongue paralyze some of the party. Fucking stupid high touch ACs.

Jake charges into the air and attacks the vampire, telling her "bitch, drop the dimensional anchor," with the implication that he may spare her if she does. She doesn't buy it and for the next several rounds they play a game. In this game she tries to Dominate Jake, touch him, or do just about anything to him only for her to fail. And Jake slashes at her, hitting almost every time, but has issues breaking her DR 10 and her fast healing 5. As she is slowly but surely losing health, the vampire eventually gets tired of this shit and just starts running up while Jake chases.

Not far into Jake's dance with the vampire sorceress, the vampire's shrug to the heavens in answered and three ghostly figures descend from the flock of birds. Each appears to be still nailed to a cross, though no cross itself is visible. Beltin sees them and it clicks this time: Crucifixion Spirits. Well then.

Two float down and hang above the horde, but well above the party, and another hovers above the top of the keep. Fenris gets his soul crucified. BW manages to dodge the effect, but Astar is not so lucky and his soul is ripped out above him as Mohrgs close in. BW steps over him and defends him, and soon only the Mohrg in the ground is there. And then he approaches with his new fast zombie, Gorrak.

Gorrak coup de graces Astar! DC 25 to not die. And Astar gets 26! And then on his turn his soul escapes its torment and returns to his body. BW fights on above him and more soul crucify attempts come at the party, but that fucking high touch AC. Gorrak is taken down and Astar gets back to his feet.

Beltin doesn't like this at all and goes Greater Invisible. His archers start picking at one of the Crucifixion Spirits as the dwarves can't due to their lack of magical weapons. The hydra keeps snapping at undead but they continue on up the hill. The gates are being battered and are nearly gone, but dwarves repair them desperately and the larger undead wait to embrace the horde should they get in. The dog piles of undead are nearing the top of the walls. Beltin Flame Strikes and obliterates who knows how many and the tower collapses down again on one side at least.

Then using another ability the DM had forgotten about, he begins his Dance of the Dead performance, and the fallen undead at the foot of the path leading to the gate rise up to battle their once undead compatriots! The flow of undead to the gate has been severed!

The undead horde is still massive, but clearly thinning! But wait, is that more liquid blackness on the ground further out, beginning to summon anew? And then BW sees something else of concern. The clouds have broken and moonlight lights the scene, and from the Desolation he sees some massive metal... thing blowing up dust around it. Moving quickly towards them. Is that a battering ram on the front? It is. (For anyone with the Slumbering Tsar book: It is the Battle Hulk, the remnant of the war that wanders the Dead Fields, now forcefully conscripted.)

So now a tank is rushing toward the fray, and what's that? BW sees figures clinging to the back. 4 ghasts and another vampire, this one wearing a conductor's hat. There is a look of wild happiness on his face as his ride zooms closer and closer and he raises his hand outward. A Wall of Stone ramp appears, crushing many undead beneath it, making a straight shot for the battle hulk up to the gate.

Oh shit, thinks the party, but BW has an idea.

He asks Astar if he is ok and Astar says yes. And then he promptly fails against paralysis and falls at the feet of the Mohrg. BW says cool and runs away, leaving him. Astar gets coup de graced for the second time this encounter, but this time fails! BW doesn't have time for that though.

BW acrobatics out in front of the steadily approaching battle hulk and out comes the Immovable Rod. Click!

The battle hulk slams into it and nearly shattered the rod, but it holds after being forced forward 10 feet. The creatures on the back of the tank look down at BW as he tries to unsuccessfully attack the hulk. At this point fast zombie Astar charges and pounces over the tank, landing on BW! BW gets slashed, but forces him back, now in front of the tank. And then he un-clicks it.

The tank immediately rumbles forward again and Astar's zombie body is obliterated under its treads, but now it is Jake's turn. He turns his attention away from the tedious task of vampire hunting and does something that breaks the DM's heart: Spiked Pit. The battle hulk begins its final rush toward the gate only to find it cut short as it fails the reflex save. It tumbles down into the pit, crushing the ghasts and almost pounding the vampire riding it into dust as well.

Inside the fort Fenris's soul finally dissipates into nothing as it dies. The dog-piling undead have begun to enter the fort. With the death of both leaders, some dwarves break down, morale broken, and flee the walls, but other dwarves take command get them back up... only to get soul crucified for their troubles. Regardless, the defenders fight again and with the help of Beltin's undead beat down the forces that made it over the walls. Soon it is clear that the horde has been thinned to the extent that they no longer have enough to dog pile high enough.

The undead in front of the gate are getting smashed and Beltin's dance of death still holds off the rest from the ramp. The undead archers take down one of the Crucifixion Spirits! It seems victory may be at hand!

Suddenly the swarms of birds descend and crash into Beltin and his dancing minion. He gets eye raked, but manages to fly out of the swarm. The birds turn the tables and now the horde begins again to move up the ramp, but their hive mind seems to be weakening, with some merely hitting against the wall instead of turning up the slope to head for the gate.

Silhouetted against the moon, the party (barring Beltin) and the dwarves can see a short stocky figure wearing ancient armor and a crown, bearing some sort of scepter. He has a long, white beard and in one eye socket rests a glowing red gem. It is a dwarf. A dwarf lich, the necromancer. It is the lost ancestor the dwarves sought, King Kroma of the Shalemace clan.

Out of game there is nothing but groans. Astar's player hears this and just throws up his hands and walks away. "Those fucking dwarves," is the general consensus. Much lulz are had by the DM.

BW considers fleeing the fight at this point and almost invisibly slips away. If it wasn't for the fact that he realized he would be running away alone into the Desolation, he probably would have. Let these fucking dwarves deal with their own mess, is now the general mentality.

But yet the party stays, mostly because Beltin wants that scepter, the one seemingly conjuring this endless mass of undead. He wants it badly. BW begins to move up, Air Walking and invisible. Jake finally just Dispels Magic on himself to get rid of the Dimensional Anchor. The two vampires and the two remaining Crucifixion Spirits rise up, seemingly at Kroma's unsaid command and they begin to revolve around him, making a defensive perimeter. The two vampires seem ready to cast spells and also float nearby.

And the lich himself just stares down and watches as the party readies to engage. The bubbling blackness on the ground, his reinforcements for the siege, begin to take form, but he doesn't seem to notice. He knows who the real threat is here and it isn't his kin huddles behind their defenses.

Here will be the final battle he has sought.

End of session. 1 casualty. Astar, soul crucified then paralyzed, he survived one coup de grace only to fail on a second after BW left his paralyzed body on the ground to fend for itself... though to be fair BW probably couldn't have saved him anyway.

13.1 (Mini-Episode): BW adds "terrorism" to his resume

Dramatis Personae

Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 10).

Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 10/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 3).

"Jake" aka Alex, the actual character name but I refuse to go back and edit the old entries (Human Wizard/Rogue 10).

Astar Luno (NG Human Kata Master, Many of Many Styles Monk 10/Sacred Fist War Priest 10).

BW adds "terrorism" to his resume, Session 13.1 - 9/13/14

A brief rewind to explore BW's last day in Camp before heading out with the rest of the party to investigate the rumors of an undead army.

Day 18

In the morning BW receives a message ridden with innuendo and code speak from Floyd the bartender of the Dancing Bear: His boss has approved the plan to hit Lucky and a meeting is requested to work out the details, perhaps in a place where they can speak more openly.

BW, remembering the last time he tried to do such business, namely with the Benders, demands they meet on neutral ground to discuss business. He sends his reply off with the courier and about 10 minutes later gets a message back from Floyd mentioning how the outskirts of the Camp, just a small ways into the Desolation are such lovely places. So calm and flat you can see things coming for miles.

BW sends a brief response to that: East of camp, noon. He gets a polite confirmation back.

Planning on getting there first to scout it out, BW attempts to be there early enough to beat Floyd but instead finds him waiting, serenely smoking a fancy cigaret from the South. They don't make small talk for long before Floyd gets to the point. Lucky is to die, but quietly. They don't want a scene. Given Lucky's lack of security and the general ease in which he can be taken down, but also considering his status, the Hospitality Guild is willing to offer BW the going rate for such a job in the south: 1,000 gold.

BW thinks this a low offer for a man of his caliber, but then again the job is one doesn't necessarily need a master to complete. BW counter offers: Let them think of this as his job application, his initiation. Once it is done he will be an "employee" of the Hospitality Guild. Floyd smokes his cig and considers it for a moment, and then accepts the deal. He shakes hands with BW and again stresses that the elimination should be something that can't be traced back to them.

That won't be an issue, says BW, and as it would be awkward to walk back to town with the man he just did business with, he stays to enjoy the view of nothing while Floyd walks back first.

He has a plan. One that is hilarious to the DM given how it was independently thought up, but practically identical to the scheme the rest of the party would that night pull off against the Dancing Bear. BW makes up a large batch of contact poison. Here the two parallel party plans split; while the poison procured and placed by Jake to indiscriminately affect patrons of the Dancing Bear was meant just to ruin their day, the poison BW makes to indiscriminately affect patrons of the Sip of Blood, including Lucky, is meant to end their lives.

That night BW enters the Sip invisibly and rubs contact poison in various spots of the bar that Lucky is likely to touch as well as customers. There is no concern for "innocent" casualties, nor is there any guarantee Lucky will even be exposed to the poison; a percentile roll will tell, but he is called "Lucky" for a reason.

BW is now a terrorist!

With his biological terrorism plan now in motion, BW goes back to his lair at the Bender Brothers inn and sleeps like a baby. He has a big day in the Desolation tomorrow after all.

And then all the stuff that happened in the Desolation in session 12 occurred with him there of course.

To be continued...