Post by David on Jul 22, 2013 17:01:17 GMT -5
The heroes (Prince Garlok with Timrith, Mizzrie, Aeronne, Helga, Cliffy, Ichi, Tandris, Anasta, Saanau, and Oran) rest briefly in Veluna City as Saanau naps and the group plot their next move. In Iuz' dungeons, there are still a few rooms unsearched and all of the second level virtually untouched. Joined by Wynd, Thunder, and Joe, the group enters Cliffy's magical house and Tandris shadow walks the party back into Old Wicked's cell block B in Dorakaa. The group quick searches the rest of the first level, determining that any living (or undead) being has fled and been destroyed...except for the High Priestess Halga, several of her clerical minions, a host of demons, and a horde of undead under the evil clerics' command!
The group comes to a magically trapped door and Helga tries to dispel it, intentionally catching the room beyond. That's when two nalfeshnee and two glabrezu appear among the party and start attacking. In the confusion, the door snaps open and a tall, thin, strawberry blonde priestess in platemail uses a black staff to fireball everyone...including her own demons! Cliffy is okay because the demon he's fighting has used telekinesis to pull him clear of the battle...but a rutterkin swoops out and ruptures his stomach with a lucky blow, a mortal wound to the hapless and helpless elf! Three other rutterkin and a vrock also swoop out of the room, but not before another priest uses a wand to cause fear and a third priest attempts to hold the psis, drow, and winged elf (all the magics fail). Unfortunately, the psionic attacks drop Garlok.
The party fights back as Halga, Iuz' most-powerful priestess lobs fireballs into the melee, trusting to her demonic allies' magic resistance. They lack sword, axes, and (most especially) naginata resistance -- Ichi hacks down several demons quick quickly with Timrith chomping through a couple more. Mizzrie turns the horde of shadows, juju zombies, and ghasts that pour from the room, giving Anasta a chance to dimension door to the far side of the hall in an attempt to rescue Cliffy. Tandris mentally engages the nalfeshnee, forcing it to drop the now-dying elf. Another fireball takes out Oran (rather than incinerate him!) and seriously damages several party members.
Anasta, now engaged with the rutterkin that struck Cliffy, unleashes a well-places psionic blast, catching all three priests. The heroes surge forward and slaughter the last of the demons while Mizzrie returns most of the unturned undead. Only juju zombies and regular remain. Ichi battles his way to the priests, but one by one they get back on their feet. The first one uses a wand to blast bone shards at the bones. Ichi dodges but the skeletons, despite their near-immunity to the effect, don't do as well. Timrith joins the monk and the two male priests join Iuz in the Abyss. Garlok flips in and knocks the priestess unconscious with a little help from Ichi. The heroes then mop up the undead and tend their wounds.
In the interim, Tandris slides into the priestess' mind, discovering precisely who she is. This is Halga, the most powerful of all of Iuz' clergy. The All Saint's heroes have already slain Althea and with Halga's capture, the faith of Old Wicked is decapitated. The telepath sifts through the evil priestess' thoughts and memories. She does not know who is captive on the level below, but she does know how to get there. Tandris telepathically, shares a mental map with Anasta before probing deeply for the existence and location of a trove of soul gems. Tandris uses most of her mental strength carefully scrutinizing Halga's mind, although first she cripples each of the priestess' hands and has her bound. While the rest of the party searches for captives, Tandris will rest and then continue her telepathic interrogation of one of the vilest women on Oerth.
The group deals with a few other distractions on the ground level, including the lair of the two nalfeshnee who teleported away from the previous battle. They tried to use projected image to deal with the heroes, but the monk saw right through the image, literally. Ichi slaughtered one demon before the other and its succubus ally teleport away.
The group bypasses a magically trapped staircase and drops more than 60' to the first level of dungeons, below. There, Cliffy, healed by Mizzrie's scroll, disarms all the traps. The heroes quickly battle and slay seven of eight rutterkin, the last teleporting away. They find one cell block with a magical emotional field of vile and dark thoughts. Helga loses it, but Saanau uses her telekinesis to prevent too much bloodshed. Using her ability to thought shield, Anasta frees the prisoners and Mizzrie stone shapes one of the magical stones, largely disrupting the effect. Oran then deposits the lose stone in the drow's bag of holding.
The group rushes on and frees a few more unfortunates of Iuz' death row. They then all enter Cliffy's magical house and the elven wizard teleports back to Veluna City. Good job!
Eeps: 6172 xps each
Mission Accomplished: 2000 xps for anyone Good (half for others)
Keep in mind, these eeps are the same day as the previous bunch, so if you were burning before, you still are now -- sorry!
Epilogue -- Tandris labors well into the night, delving into the deepest depths of Halga's mind. The dark telepath knows no shame and shrinks from nothing in the High Priestess' thoughts. She knows the PRECISE location of two troves of soul gems and with Cliffy's help quickly recovers them (with Iuz' death and the loss of power of his clergy, they're all but unguarded, save for traps).
Tandris also learns that Iuz employs three different groups to support himself. They are the Greater Boneheart, the Lesser Boneheart, and the Boneshadow.
The Greater Boneheart consists of Iuz' most potent and capable minions. If anyone will bring their master back, it will be these six.
Althea -- 18th lvl cleric -- slain by All Saint's party's ice storm
Halga -- 18th lvl cleric -- captive of Pope Hazem and mind-rape victim of Tandris
Null -- 18th lvl mage -- location unknown, he fled Dorakaa when Iuz fell
Jumper -- 18th lvl illusionist -- insane commander of the Western forces
Kermin the Mind-Bender -- powerful wizard??? -- location unknown
The Lesser Boneheart:
Cranzer of Riftcrag -- 14th lvl mage -- commands the forces near the Rift Canyon and Bandit Kingdoms
Marynek -- 13th lvl cleric -- liaison with the Horned Society (presumed dead without his spells, since Queen Fanggrabber HATES him!)
Maskaleyne -- vampire mage -- slain by the Egyptian team during the Panthiad
Panshazek -- 14th lvl cleric -- commander of the armies in the Vesve, narrowly escaped a couple of hungry tigers last year...
"Snake" -- 9th/6th drow mage/fighter -- effective link to the drow and Maskaleyne's replacement
Vayne -- 16th lvl mage -- clone of the slain Baklunish mage, now trying to regain his lost position
Xenvelen -- 14th lvl cleric -- slain during the liberation of Crockport
The Boneshadow includes a dwarf, an elf, a half-elf, a hobbit, and two humans. These are spies among the forces of others. Halga knows little about them, but doubts any would have the power, resource, or drive to work for her master's return without some great reward.
The idea -- slay the remaining Boneheart -- greater and lesser -- and it is EXTREMELY unlikely Iuz will be able to return to Oerth before the full CENTURY is up...
The group comes to a magically trapped door and Helga tries to dispel it, intentionally catching the room beyond. That's when two nalfeshnee and two glabrezu appear among the party and start attacking. In the confusion, the door snaps open and a tall, thin, strawberry blonde priestess in platemail uses a black staff to fireball everyone...including her own demons! Cliffy is okay because the demon he's fighting has used telekinesis to pull him clear of the battle...but a rutterkin swoops out and ruptures his stomach with a lucky blow, a mortal wound to the hapless and helpless elf! Three other rutterkin and a vrock also swoop out of the room, but not before another priest uses a wand to cause fear and a third priest attempts to hold the psis, drow, and winged elf (all the magics fail). Unfortunately, the psionic attacks drop Garlok.
The party fights back as Halga, Iuz' most-powerful priestess lobs fireballs into the melee, trusting to her demonic allies' magic resistance. They lack sword, axes, and (most especially) naginata resistance -- Ichi hacks down several demons quick quickly with Timrith chomping through a couple more. Mizzrie turns the horde of shadows, juju zombies, and ghasts that pour from the room, giving Anasta a chance to dimension door to the far side of the hall in an attempt to rescue Cliffy. Tandris mentally engages the nalfeshnee, forcing it to drop the now-dying elf. Another fireball takes out Oran (rather than incinerate him!) and seriously damages several party members.
Anasta, now engaged with the rutterkin that struck Cliffy, unleashes a well-places psionic blast, catching all three priests. The heroes surge forward and slaughter the last of the demons while Mizzrie returns most of the unturned undead. Only juju zombies and regular remain. Ichi battles his way to the priests, but one by one they get back on their feet. The first one uses a wand to blast bone shards at the bones. Ichi dodges but the skeletons, despite their near-immunity to the effect, don't do as well. Timrith joins the monk and the two male priests join Iuz in the Abyss. Garlok flips in and knocks the priestess unconscious with a little help from Ichi. The heroes then mop up the undead and tend their wounds.
In the interim, Tandris slides into the priestess' mind, discovering precisely who she is. This is Halga, the most powerful of all of Iuz' clergy. The All Saint's heroes have already slain Althea and with Halga's capture, the faith of Old Wicked is decapitated. The telepath sifts through the evil priestess' thoughts and memories. She does not know who is captive on the level below, but she does know how to get there. Tandris telepathically, shares a mental map with Anasta before probing deeply for the existence and location of a trove of soul gems. Tandris uses most of her mental strength carefully scrutinizing Halga's mind, although first she cripples each of the priestess' hands and has her bound. While the rest of the party searches for captives, Tandris will rest and then continue her telepathic interrogation of one of the vilest women on Oerth.
The group deals with a few other distractions on the ground level, including the lair of the two nalfeshnee who teleported away from the previous battle. They tried to use projected image to deal with the heroes, but the monk saw right through the image, literally. Ichi slaughtered one demon before the other and its succubus ally teleport away.
The group bypasses a magically trapped staircase and drops more than 60' to the first level of dungeons, below. There, Cliffy, healed by Mizzrie's scroll, disarms all the traps. The heroes quickly battle and slay seven of eight rutterkin, the last teleporting away. They find one cell block with a magical emotional field of vile and dark thoughts. Helga loses it, but Saanau uses her telekinesis to prevent too much bloodshed. Using her ability to thought shield, Anasta frees the prisoners and Mizzrie stone shapes one of the magical stones, largely disrupting the effect. Oran then deposits the lose stone in the drow's bag of holding.
The group rushes on and frees a few more unfortunates of Iuz' death row. They then all enter Cliffy's magical house and the elven wizard teleports back to Veluna City. Good job!
Eeps: 6172 xps each
Mission Accomplished: 2000 xps for anyone Good (half for others)
Keep in mind, these eeps are the same day as the previous bunch, so if you were burning before, you still are now -- sorry!
Epilogue -- Tandris labors well into the night, delving into the deepest depths of Halga's mind. The dark telepath knows no shame and shrinks from nothing in the High Priestess' thoughts. She knows the PRECISE location of two troves of soul gems and with Cliffy's help quickly recovers them (with Iuz' death and the loss of power of his clergy, they're all but unguarded, save for traps).
Tandris also learns that Iuz employs three different groups to support himself. They are the Greater Boneheart, the Lesser Boneheart, and the Boneshadow.
The Greater Boneheart consists of Iuz' most potent and capable minions. If anyone will bring their master back, it will be these six.
Null -- 18th lvl mage -- location unknown, he fled Dorakaa when Iuz fell
Jumper -- 18th lvl illusionist -- insane commander of the Western forces
Kermin the Mind-Bender -- powerful wizard??? -- location unknown
The Lesser Boneheart:
Cranzer of Riftcrag -- 14th lvl mage -- commands the forces near the Rift Canyon and Bandit Kingdoms
Panshazek -- 14th lvl cleric -- commander of the armies in the Vesve, narrowly escaped a couple of hungry tigers last year...
"Snake" -- 9th/6th drow mage/fighter -- effective link to the drow and Maskaleyne's replacement
Vayne -- 16th lvl mage -- clone of the slain Baklunish mage, now trying to regain his lost position
The Boneshadow includes a dwarf, an elf, a half-elf, a hobbit, and two humans. These are spies among the forces of others. Halga knows little about them, but doubts any would have the power, resource, or drive to work for her master's return without some great reward.
The idea -- slay the remaining Boneheart -- greater and lesser -- and it is EXTREMELY unlikely Iuz will be able to return to Oerth before the full CENTURY is up...