Dramatis Personae
Beltin (Aasimar Dirge Bard/Cleric 8).
Bol (Tiefling Vivisectionist Rage Chemist/Barbarian 8).
Phil (player kept his sheet so his character gets to keep his name; Oread Ranger/Empyreal Sorc 8). ABSENT PLAYER
Bradley Weatherby (Human Dervish Dancer 8/Knife Master Rogue 7/Duelist 1).
Obnoxiously Long Name, aka Mac aka Sun Bro replacement character (not his real name besides the nickname, but he kept his sheet and his name was made to be ridiculously long and pretentious sounding; Ranger / Inquisitor 8).
Tarl (Aasimar Inquisitor 8 / Paladin 8); there's a new crusader in Camp and he has a thirst for justice and smiting evil! But secretly he is only here for one reason... as a replacement for a dead player character! DUN DUN DUN.
Murder & Metagaming, Session 5.1 - 5/24/14
So the party is told about a magical item Clantock has to communicate with the garygoyle tribe ("See this necklace? See this spot? There used to be crystal here. Clantock has crystal. Kill Clantock and take crystal and we can speak," explains the shaman) and it seems all that has to be said has been said.
BW is still considering killing them all, but the party decides to see what kind of treasure haul they get from their first tribute before they make up their mind for realz. Also the hostage (whose name I can never recall) is getting antsy and wants to leave.
The spitters call out and tell him how they had a wonderful time with him and that he should come on back anytime. Tears start to flow from the hostage's deadened, thousand-yard-stare eyes, but hey he can suck it up; other people get systematically tortured for days all the time and you don't hear them complaining. The fact that Bol exists and there is an undead entourage surrounding him does not help his anxiety.
Up and out! The party travels the 200 feet up and gets back to ground level. They try to head southward but eventually realize they are trapped on an island of level with chasm all around; eventually it is decided Bol will Ant Haul and make multiple trips to get everyone across. The few hours roll by uneventfully and BW makes friends with the hostage (aided by Charm Monster after a certain point), who then starts to calm down, but he won't have Bol near him and is reluctant for the "fiend" to dangle him offer the Chaos Rift; he eventually sucks it up.
As the final flight across the chasm is being made, Bol sees a group of margoyles start to fly toward him to engage, but then they stop and turn tail; either they heard of the alliance or margoyles will now forever have some sort of intense fear of flying 4-armed demon spawn embedded in their genetic memory. Party doesn't give a shit either way.
South to the road! Onward they trek, encountering nothing besides a handful of Ghoul Wolves (which we don't even run), but eventually perception checks and the party notices some things, namely the broken fragments of armor and weapons throughout the area they are traveling. A knowledge check reminds them that this was once the main encampment for the Army of Light, so left over crusader garbage is to be expected... but what's that shiny thing? The party notices polished and gleaming pommel and hilt of some sort of blade... and it detects magic.
Jackpot! After spending a few minutes studying it they come to the conclusion the magic is keeping it nice and shiny, and BW pulls it out. It's a broken sword with Prestidigitation permenancied on it; appears to be an officer's blade from the war. The party keeps it and begins to discuss how much a "relic of the Army of Light" would sell for.
As the hostage discusses this with his new best friend BW, Bol suddenly approaches him from behind and for no good reason tackles the hostage and carves the symbol of his lord, Demogorgon, into his arm. He then releases him but the hostage understandably freaks the fuck out, and begins to scream and cry about how the beast has marked him and now will consume them all. BW works to quiet him down and makes Bol tell him that he has no intention of eating the man's flesh, but then from nearby they hear a deep chuckle from something that had been watching but now has decided to show itself.
A wild Nabasu demon has appeared! He watched the drama unfolding while invisible (because I misread his statblock and thought he had Invisibility like any other self-respecting demon). He has eyes only for Bol; he finds his refusal to eat the man amusing and he has just shown himself to be an enemy of Orcus. Time to get real. Initiative and Nabasu opens with an Enervation on Bol, because why not if you have it 3/day? His eyes then flash dangerously and Beltin is reminded of what it feels like to be level 7. He goes into the air and now it is an angry Bol's turn.
Bol buffs. He Rages. He flies up... and is out of actions. BW keeps an eye on the hostage, guarding him; Mac turns invisible for some reason; Beltin stares determinedly at the ground, and the archers do meh damage because of DR. Nabasu uses Enervation... it's not very effective and Bol only takes 1. Lucky. He then nearly proceeds to show the Nabasu the error of his ways; silly NPC, the only condition worth inflicting is "Dead."
Nabasu survives with about 2 HP and then is promptly dropped by archers. Beltin excitedly prepares to make himself a new, shiny undead but Bol puts his foot down. He disembowels the creature on the spot and draws a symbol of Demogorgon as a warning... to whatever. He then remembers that there were plenty of pre-made crosses at the Crossroads and that's where they were going! He takes the Nabasu corpse because there's nothing like crucifying corpses to send poorly defined a message. Beltin looks sad.
The party makes it to the Crossroads and camps. Not a single worthwhile encounter; based on what has happened and the demon corpse, anything with a semblance of intelligence has decided not to engage, at least at this time. BW makes a Tiny Hut and Bol hangs his trophy from a cross. All is right with the world. OR IS IT? The party gets some rest and BW takes first watch... at 11:59 p.m. a strange feeling like static electricity and malevolence fills the air.
BW feels the power all around him, building, building, and... midnight. It is gone, but a shadowy figure stands now in the middle of the Crossroads. Staring right through the opaque surface of the Tiny Hut at BW. He knows how this works and walks right up to the Dweller of the Crossroads and asks if he gets a wish. The Dweller replies he only offers solutions for immediate problems. Oh, I have one, thinks BW and he wishes "for a way to control Bol."
Granted. The alarm spells in the Tiny Hut start blaring and BW turns to see a shadowy figure plunge an equally shadowy blade into Bol's chest. 5d6 say 18, add 10 for the coup de grace DC for a grand total of 28 fort save or die. Bol rolls 22 and dies. The others in the hut and the undead begin to attack the shadowy figure (which is identified as some sort of assassin shadow creature thing from the plane of shadow) but after its deed is done it is already dissipating back to nothing.
So you asked for a way to control someone and you have a necromancer with a horde minions that obey his word as though he was their god... now all you have to do is raise Bol and he is controlled. Thank you for the wish, come again! The party is in disarray wondering what just happened and BW does his best to lie... but then at the same time both he and Beltin notice what appears to be a business card at his feet.
BW gets it first but Beltin insists on seeing it: "Bradley Weatherby, It was truly a pleasure doing business with you. Please feel free to stop back any midnight. Sincerely, the Dweller of the Crossroads." Yeah... BW comes clean about his wish ("It offered me a wish. Why wouldn't I make a wish?") and after some discussion the party decides Bol was a bit of a liability, so screw him, we're not using our Resurrection scroll on him. They loot him and don't even make him into an undead. Mac burns the body and back to sleep they go.
Meanwhile, Bol finds himself before a very upset Demon Lord and is asked why he failed his master... he doesn't know. But he will. And I will bring him back as an NPC... preferably in the form of a super low tier demon that will maintain his exact stats and class levels and also have an extra set of arms and has a fixation on murdering BW. Come on party, summon a demon. Demogorgon fucking dares you.
Day 7. The party continues back to the Camp, but besides the eeriness and loneliness of the wastes, they encounter nothing but the incessant howling of the wind that carries of the shrieks of the damned... and the screams of those on their way. As the sun begins to slip below the western mountains, the Camp is in sight and after a long journey they are "home." It appears as though there are more tents and ramshackle buildings; more have taken up the call for loot and glory at the crusade's call it seems. The hostage parts company and heads to the embassy and tells the party to come in the morning. To the Bender Bros!
The brothers are more than happy to see the party and welcomes them most graciously. They are just in time for dinner. Joining them are two shifty looking fellows and a noble and powerful looking Aasimar who introduces himself as Tarl, a paladin who has answered the call to cleanse the desolation in the name of good. BW strikes up a conversation and says that the desolation sucks and he never met a place that needed cleansed more.
They enjoy a pleasant dinner, with BW and Mac drinking some fine wine but then the Benders come out with something a little stronger. On the house as business is booming, they say! And because, they tell the paladin, men like him are the true heroes here. And then they thank him for his service. Fort saves are made for the dinner. Beltin, Mac, and BW fail... DUN DUN DUN. Everyone knows what this means out of game, with predictable results.
The shifty guys leave, but conversation continues at the table. On of the Benders sits and drinks with Mac, an angry drunk, and commiserates, always being sure to keep his glass full while drinking suspiciously little himself. BW, a sly bastard out of game, strikes up a conversation with the other Bender and says how impressed he is with the place and that he has trade consortium connections; they may be able to do some real business together and maybe even invest/expand Bender Bros Fine Accommodations!
The Bender seems intrigued, and BW's player gives a satisfied smirk as he knows he will not be murdered while on the crapper... maybe. Eventually Mac insists that he must leave in order to send a status report to the church of Muir/Thyr as he is behind schedule due to his being captured and all and staggers out, despite the best diplomancy the one Bender can offer. Meta-gaming bastards.
Like clockwork Beltin awakes in the night and heads to the privy (no one noticed the trapdoors in the rooms yet... maybe next time I'll use em'), one of his disguised archers in tow. The Benders are not fooled, but they also know he has the rest of his menagerie out back. And if he dies they may go berserk. The necromancer gets to live as he is a time bomb. Next up is BW. He is told that there is a 10% chance the Brothers decided they don't need him. Roll... and he's safe. He has his issues and sleeps fitfully, but everything is fine.
So Mac. He stumbles around in the dark, bumps into some people asking if they are adventurers, and then passes out in an ally but casts Alarm and Sanctuary on himself first. Sanctuary ends after 40 seconds and then he drunkenly sleeps through the Alarm as he is robbed of all his gold and the fine wine he insisted on taking from the treasure cache. And then he vomits and shits all over himself in the gutter.
Such a magnificent and shining example of the church of Muir/Thyr. We all see why he was sent to the Camp. The night passes uneventfully, but those two scruffy guys at dinner? Yeah, no one will ever see them again.
TO BE CONTINUED...
