Post by David on Jul 28, 2008 13:44:28 GMT -5
The heroes (Dion, Clanndennagh, Marc, Mikhail with Samhain, Sky, Cliffy, and Dajamira) spent the night in the abandoned farmhouse, although Mikhail, Clanndennagh, Daj, and Cliffy felt as if they were being watched in the morning. Mikhail used his mental powers to put up a mind blank and the feeling subsided. Clearly, the young psi is being scried and/or stalked from afar! Cliffy scouted the woods outside, but the group was alone...
Clanndennagh used his psionics to heal many of the wounded party members, Mikhail now manifesting the same talent and sharing the work. The heroes decide to rest briefly so the psi-warrior and mentalist can both regain their strength. Daj begins cooking breakfast, sending Dion and Marc to get some parsley from the woods. The group heard a pounding and suddenly three wererats burst into the room, having shouldered off the weight of rocks and knocking open the trap-door. The lycanthropes made enough noise for the heroes to prepare themselves and the fight was relatively short. Marc joined shortly after the melee began and while more wererats poured in through the trap door, all seven were eventually slain. In the process, however, one got a lucky strike and severed Marc's left leg at the knee. He, Clanndennagh, Mikhail, and Daj were all wounded as well. Worrying about the possibility of lycanthropic infection, the group sent Daj to town to buy belladonna.
Before the young ranger returned, the group decided a more reliable solution was needed; they were going to head to Klarr and get the potential infection cured. As soon as Daj got back, all of the party save Mikhail and Samhain mounted the waiting horses and rode to Klarr. Meanwhile, Mikhail teleported himself and his companion to his hometown. Because of the distance, he needed to make several "jumps" but still arrived in less than four hours. When the saddle-sore party arrived 12 hours later, the teen was nowhere to be seen!
Stephanos explained that while a high priest, he lacked the ability to cure the lycanthropy, even in its earliest phase, and so had sent Mikhail on to Tanorim. While Allyrion could not cure the condition either, he and Brand could use their spells to transport the party to Portown, where Mikhail knew the Druid, Taurix of Silvanus, has his grove. Shortly thereafter, the two griffon riders (and Mikhail) flew into town. In exchange for nearly 6000gp worth of jewelry, the pair transported the infected as planned, returning mid-morning of the 20th. The party spends the day in town, planning on leaving in the morning.
That evening, the heroes are in the town bar, the Displacer. Clanndennagh is having his fortune read by the Norsk/Rhennee witch, Esmerelda ("You possess a strange inner fire -- it's not magical..." "It's called gas!" quips Jenn at 5:12pm, cuz Van had been farting A LOT all afternoon!). The witch had attempted to "read" Mikhail earlier, but strangely come up with nothing substantive.
A group of three adventurers came into the tavern -- a barbarian, a mage, and an athletic man in robes. The barbarian immediately headed to the bar and banging on the counter demanded service. Meanwhile, the slender, strawberry-blond man began talking with Marc, asking the dark-skinned man where he was from. The mage just fussed with her cloak in the doorway. Once Marc identified that he was from Maneä, the athletic man ran his fingers through his curly hair and made a gesture to the woman. With this, she read a scroll she'd had held in her cloak. The fear washed over Esmerelda, Daj, Clanndennagh, and Andonia, sending the first two screaming from the room. Marc rose to help, but was slapped by the fair-skinned monk, who attempted to engage both the beastmaster and Cliffy. The barbarian meanwhile flicked his trident into his hand and skewered Samhain as another man suddenly materialized behind Mikhail, stabbing him with a sword and a dagger.
The young psionist crumpled, nearly dead and with dark ooze dripping from blades and wounds. The new figure, a man in his late 20s with short light brown hair and eyes moved in for the kill, but suddenly a strange looking woman with unruly, calico-colored hair appeared, gestured, and a trap door behind Mikhail opened, out of which poured a seven-headed hydra which engaged both barbarian and assassin! Jellie's spell saved Mikhail. The barbarian didn't take the bait, and thrust at Samhain again, leaving the giant weasel mortally wounded. The assassin slashed through one hydra's head and cocked his head to the side. Meanwhile, the monk was dealing with both Marc and Cliffy and the mage pulled out another scroll, this time using a cone of cold to cover almost half the bar and almost all the heroes! Mikhail's benefactor was stunned by the freezing cold and Dion badly hurt.
The cleric of Apollo attacked the wizardess, while an amazon named Andonia (also caught in the cold) attacked the assassin. Marc kept at the monk and the hydra chomped on the barbarian. At this point, the heroes began to catch the names of their attackers. The assassin asked Andonia to "stay out of this" since the boy was his target, nothing more. He warned that the venom on his blades was truly lethal and he didn't want to hurt her. The barbarian, Phoebus, took out two hydra's heads with his trident and called out to the mage, Jeanette, to make sure she was alright. The woman laughed and blasted Dion with magic missiles. Cliffy shot some at her, but she had a shield up). Clanndennagh attempted to ego whip the assassin, but encountered mental defenses.
The assassin was surprised, clearly quite familiar with psionics. He turned to finish Mikhail, only to watch the boy disappear, so instead he slashed the amazon, Andonia, one of his blades cutting her. The barbarian nearly finished off the hydra, killing two more heads. The wizardess attempted to charm Dion, but failed. Meanwhile, the monk, Luthor, was having trouble, and called to the assassin, Lassivar, to help.
About this time, Sky managed to bite Lassivar, who seemed QUITE familiar with fire snakes and their venom. But Mikhail had reappeared and the assassin instead attempted to finish the boy off. Strangely, he didn't seem to be convinced the psionist was dead, glancing meaningfully at Jellie after he ran Mikhail threw. The real Mikhail, meanwhile, had time-shifted to Clanndennagh and whispered for help under cover of a table, but the Baklun didn't hear him over the roar of combat. Instead he used his ego whip on the barbarian, so fled combat. Jeanette couldn't get rid of Dion, so instead the mage charmed Andonia to do so. Phoebus and Luthor swapped opponents, so that the barbarian battled Marc. Cliffy magic missiled the monk and Sky bit at him.
The battle continued. Phoebus nearly killed Marc, who Jeanette then held. Jellie tried to color spray the wizardess, but she resisted, so Clanndennagh moved to engage her while Luthor and Cliffy traded blows. Lassivar tried to take out Sky, but missed.
By this point the monk was seriously wounded and turned to escape, but Cliffy cut him down. Lassivar turned and saw this as Sky's venom began to take hold. He flew up and faded out, but Jellie wasn't fooled and recognized this invisibility for what it was. As Lassivar dashed for the door, the wild-haired spell-caster caught the assassin, the wizardess, Jeanette, and even Clanndennagh in a lightning bolt -- nothing at ALL happened to this psychic warrior or Lassivar, but the wizardess fell immediately. Clanndennagh ego whipped Andonia as Mikhail rematerialized in the middle of the tavern, having succumb to the assassin's poison.
With Lassivar gone, Luthor down, and Jeanette unconscious, the group made short work of the barbarian, Phoebus. Cliffy gutted the wizardess, breaking the charm on Andonia. Sky paralyzed the barbarian and the party tried to figure out what to do. Clanndennagh set about healing Dion, with Cliffy getting Daj's potion of extra-healing (she was cowering in a hallway still from the fear spell). Meanwhile, Jellie pointed out that Mikhail was dying. In truth, both he and Samhain were already dead -- the boy from poison and the weasel from the trident's wounds.
Thinking quickly, the heroes ran to the temple of Apollo under construction and got Stephanos. The high priest used a neutralize poison in time to save both Mikhail (who was having an out-of-body experience) as well as Andonia (who was now succumbing to her own poisoned wounds). Mikhail succumbs instead to his grief once he learns that Samhain is no more. The party tends to the wounded, healing and capturing both Phoebus and Luthor. Dion then charms and questions the monk, learning quite a bit about both Lassivar as well as the monk's true masters, the Scarlet Brotherhood.
It would seem that a heavy-set cleric in platemail hired Lassivar to kill Mikhail. It turns out that the assassin had assembled his party to take out a list of individuals; the order was Mikhail, then Samandra, then Adama, then Dion, then Clanndennagh, and finally Marc, with no mention of Cliffy or Daj. Sky, so the assassins thought, was simply one of Marc or Mikhail's familiars. Luthor happily cooperates with Dion, giving him lots of information but as he was Lassivar's operative, the monk doesn't know much about how to get in touch with the man who hired Lassivar...and man who sounds quite a bit like Mordrammo...!
While the party learns a great deal from Luthor, they also get the impression that Luthor and his lover, Jeanette, were hired muscled. While the group is distracted, Marc slips into where the barbarian is being held and kills him in cold blood. Nearly does the same to Luthor, but Sky stares him down with her reptile gaze. About this time, Jasmine, Mikhail's mother, arrives and takes control of the "investigation" casting a network of charm-like spells on the hapless monk. Before he know it, he's charmed, enslaved, influenced, and in love with the houri. "I'll take it from here, boys," says the White Witch of Klarr, her maternal ire simmering.
Although they have every reason to believer assassins will still be on their tail, the group decides to wait in town for three days so Cliffy can scribe a spell in his book. They elect to camp in the woods, so there are no points of reference if they're scried (and they DO feel like they're watched a couple of times). During the day, the rest of the group divides up their magical treasures and plays with some of those they'd found before. It's in this way that Clanndennagh, playing with the golden ankh charm Sky took learns of its true power. He feels the item yearning to exchange some of its power for his. The psychic warrior gives into this feeling and a fraction of his life force leaves his body and enters the ankh. While he loses a level, he now finds he can project a blade of glowing life-force from his body so long as he wears the talisman (so, Van's "jedi" now has a "light sabre"...oy!)
Clanndennagh used his psionics to heal many of the wounded party members, Mikhail now manifesting the same talent and sharing the work. The heroes decide to rest briefly so the psi-warrior and mentalist can both regain their strength. Daj begins cooking breakfast, sending Dion and Marc to get some parsley from the woods. The group heard a pounding and suddenly three wererats burst into the room, having shouldered off the weight of rocks and knocking open the trap-door. The lycanthropes made enough noise for the heroes to prepare themselves and the fight was relatively short. Marc joined shortly after the melee began and while more wererats poured in through the trap door, all seven were eventually slain. In the process, however, one got a lucky strike and severed Marc's left leg at the knee. He, Clanndennagh, Mikhail, and Daj were all wounded as well. Worrying about the possibility of lycanthropic infection, the group sent Daj to town to buy belladonna.
Before the young ranger returned, the group decided a more reliable solution was needed; they were going to head to Klarr and get the potential infection cured. As soon as Daj got back, all of the party save Mikhail and Samhain mounted the waiting horses and rode to Klarr. Meanwhile, Mikhail teleported himself and his companion to his hometown. Because of the distance, he needed to make several "jumps" but still arrived in less than four hours. When the saddle-sore party arrived 12 hours later, the teen was nowhere to be seen!
Stephanos explained that while a high priest, he lacked the ability to cure the lycanthropy, even in its earliest phase, and so had sent Mikhail on to Tanorim. While Allyrion could not cure the condition either, he and Brand could use their spells to transport the party to Portown, where Mikhail knew the Druid, Taurix of Silvanus, has his grove. Shortly thereafter, the two griffon riders (and Mikhail) flew into town. In exchange for nearly 6000gp worth of jewelry, the pair transported the infected as planned, returning mid-morning of the 20th. The party spends the day in town, planning on leaving in the morning.
That evening, the heroes are in the town bar, the Displacer. Clanndennagh is having his fortune read by the Norsk/Rhennee witch, Esmerelda ("You possess a strange inner fire -- it's not magical..." "It's called gas!" quips Jenn at 5:12pm, cuz Van had been farting A LOT all afternoon!). The witch had attempted to "read" Mikhail earlier, but strangely come up with nothing substantive.
A group of three adventurers came into the tavern -- a barbarian, a mage, and an athletic man in robes. The barbarian immediately headed to the bar and banging on the counter demanded service. Meanwhile, the slender, strawberry-blond man began talking with Marc, asking the dark-skinned man where he was from. The mage just fussed with her cloak in the doorway. Once Marc identified that he was from Maneä, the athletic man ran his fingers through his curly hair and made a gesture to the woman. With this, she read a scroll she'd had held in her cloak. The fear washed over Esmerelda, Daj, Clanndennagh, and Andonia, sending the first two screaming from the room. Marc rose to help, but was slapped by the fair-skinned monk, who attempted to engage both the beastmaster and Cliffy. The barbarian meanwhile flicked his trident into his hand and skewered Samhain as another man suddenly materialized behind Mikhail, stabbing him with a sword and a dagger.
The young psionist crumpled, nearly dead and with dark ooze dripping from blades and wounds. The new figure, a man in his late 20s with short light brown hair and eyes moved in for the kill, but suddenly a strange looking woman with unruly, calico-colored hair appeared, gestured, and a trap door behind Mikhail opened, out of which poured a seven-headed hydra which engaged both barbarian and assassin! Jellie's spell saved Mikhail. The barbarian didn't take the bait, and thrust at Samhain again, leaving the giant weasel mortally wounded. The assassin slashed through one hydra's head and cocked his head to the side. Meanwhile, the monk was dealing with both Marc and Cliffy and the mage pulled out another scroll, this time using a cone of cold to cover almost half the bar and almost all the heroes! Mikhail's benefactor was stunned by the freezing cold and Dion badly hurt.
The cleric of Apollo attacked the wizardess, while an amazon named Andonia (also caught in the cold) attacked the assassin. Marc kept at the monk and the hydra chomped on the barbarian. At this point, the heroes began to catch the names of their attackers. The assassin asked Andonia to "stay out of this" since the boy was his target, nothing more. He warned that the venom on his blades was truly lethal and he didn't want to hurt her. The barbarian, Phoebus, took out two hydra's heads with his trident and called out to the mage, Jeanette, to make sure she was alright. The woman laughed and blasted Dion with magic missiles. Cliffy shot some at her, but she had a shield up). Clanndennagh attempted to ego whip the assassin, but encountered mental defenses.
The assassin was surprised, clearly quite familiar with psionics. He turned to finish Mikhail, only to watch the boy disappear, so instead he slashed the amazon, Andonia, one of his blades cutting her. The barbarian nearly finished off the hydra, killing two more heads. The wizardess attempted to charm Dion, but failed. Meanwhile, the monk, Luthor, was having trouble, and called to the assassin, Lassivar, to help.
About this time, Sky managed to bite Lassivar, who seemed QUITE familiar with fire snakes and their venom. But Mikhail had reappeared and the assassin instead attempted to finish the boy off. Strangely, he didn't seem to be convinced the psionist was dead, glancing meaningfully at Jellie after he ran Mikhail threw. The real Mikhail, meanwhile, had time-shifted to Clanndennagh and whispered for help under cover of a table, but the Baklun didn't hear him over the roar of combat. Instead he used his ego whip on the barbarian, so fled combat. Jeanette couldn't get rid of Dion, so instead the mage charmed Andonia to do so. Phoebus and Luthor swapped opponents, so that the barbarian battled Marc. Cliffy magic missiled the monk and Sky bit at him.
The battle continued. Phoebus nearly killed Marc, who Jeanette then held. Jellie tried to color spray the wizardess, but she resisted, so Clanndennagh moved to engage her while Luthor and Cliffy traded blows. Lassivar tried to take out Sky, but missed.
By this point the monk was seriously wounded and turned to escape, but Cliffy cut him down. Lassivar turned and saw this as Sky's venom began to take hold. He flew up and faded out, but Jellie wasn't fooled and recognized this invisibility for what it was. As Lassivar dashed for the door, the wild-haired spell-caster caught the assassin, the wizardess, Jeanette, and even Clanndennagh in a lightning bolt -- nothing at ALL happened to this psychic warrior or Lassivar, but the wizardess fell immediately. Clanndennagh ego whipped Andonia as Mikhail rematerialized in the middle of the tavern, having succumb to the assassin's poison.
With Lassivar gone, Luthor down, and Jeanette unconscious, the group made short work of the barbarian, Phoebus. Cliffy gutted the wizardess, breaking the charm on Andonia. Sky paralyzed the barbarian and the party tried to figure out what to do. Clanndennagh set about healing Dion, with Cliffy getting Daj's potion of extra-healing (she was cowering in a hallway still from the fear spell). Meanwhile, Jellie pointed out that Mikhail was dying. In truth, both he and Samhain were already dead -- the boy from poison and the weasel from the trident's wounds.
Thinking quickly, the heroes ran to the temple of Apollo under construction and got Stephanos. The high priest used a neutralize poison in time to save both Mikhail (who was having an out-of-body experience) as well as Andonia (who was now succumbing to her own poisoned wounds). Mikhail succumbs instead to his grief once he learns that Samhain is no more. The party tends to the wounded, healing and capturing both Phoebus and Luthor. Dion then charms and questions the monk, learning quite a bit about both Lassivar as well as the monk's true masters, the Scarlet Brotherhood.
It would seem that a heavy-set cleric in platemail hired Lassivar to kill Mikhail. It turns out that the assassin had assembled his party to take out a list of individuals; the order was Mikhail, then Samandra, then Adama, then Dion, then Clanndennagh, and finally Marc, with no mention of Cliffy or Daj. Sky, so the assassins thought, was simply one of Marc or Mikhail's familiars. Luthor happily cooperates with Dion, giving him lots of information but as he was Lassivar's operative, the monk doesn't know much about how to get in touch with the man who hired Lassivar...and man who sounds quite a bit like Mordrammo...!
While the party learns a great deal from Luthor, they also get the impression that Luthor and his lover, Jeanette, were hired muscled. While the group is distracted, Marc slips into where the barbarian is being held and kills him in cold blood. Nearly does the same to Luthor, but Sky stares him down with her reptile gaze. About this time, Jasmine, Mikhail's mother, arrives and takes control of the "investigation" casting a network of charm-like spells on the hapless monk. Before he know it, he's charmed, enslaved, influenced, and in love with the houri. "I'll take it from here, boys," says the White Witch of Klarr, her maternal ire simmering.
Although they have every reason to believer assassins will still be on their tail, the group decides to wait in town for three days so Cliffy can scribe a spell in his book. They elect to camp in the woods, so there are no points of reference if they're scried (and they DO feel like they're watched a couple of times). During the day, the rest of the group divides up their magical treasures and plays with some of those they'd found before. It's in this way that Clanndennagh, playing with the golden ankh charm Sky took learns of its true power. He feels the item yearning to exchange some of its power for his. The psychic warrior gives into this feeling and a fraction of his life force leaves his body and enters the ankh. While he loses a level, he now finds he can project a blade of glowing life-force from his body so long as he wears the talisman (so, Van's "jedi" now has a "light sabre"...oy!)
And I had already started to like the "dark" Mikhail personality I was going to go with...8-P