DM Endel

[Endel]

Chapter Two: Apocalyse

Session 14: "The Attack Begins"

Written By: Lalina
DM: Endel
IC Date: 2-10-734
RL Date: 12-27-03
PC's Present: Lalina, Rhade, Karec, Aidanis, Eiolas, YamYam, Goiteia
NPC's Present: Too many to count, but including: Lord Hammer, Lord Malissin, Sillibys, Captain Sindel, Lieutenant Maulkin

Location: Magmaville

Short version: YamYam departs from Magmaville, heading home. Eiolas, Lalina, Rhade and Karec step through the Fey realm, reappearing near Magmaville. They attempt to rescue a naked, tied up man but are attacked by an undead creature. They have Rict'a'tin go ahead to warn the elves as they batte the creature. They defeat the creature just as the elven guard appears. They take the group to the barracks inside Magmaville. There, they discuss the army they saw earlier with Lord Malissin, Lord Hammer, Captain Sindel, and Lieutenant Maulkin. The booty from the skeleton is temporarily away by Sillbys, who examines them and then returns them to the group. The group then prepares for the looming battle. They take up a position behind some of the elven defenses and do their best in the attacks to slow the advance. They, along with the other elven forces, seem to be failing until the ground shakes and a giant chasm rips open underneath the invading army, sending many of its number to their doom as they fall into the lava. The battle won, for now, everyone in the group deals with the aftermath of the battle.

Long version: YamYam packs up his things to leave. Eiolas notices the gnome is leaving and goes to say goodbye. YamYam seems to think Eiolas owes him some money but Eiolas differs. Eiolas convinces YamYam the debt is paid through some cheap items. He then sees the young gnome off as YamYam heads out of town.
Meanwhile, Karec, Rhade, Lalina and Aidanis reach the Fey gate. Rict'a'tin asks the group to step through and Lalina and Aidanis do so easily. Karec, however, is frightened of running through a rock. Rict'a'tin and Rhade tries to rouse the dwarf to courage but fail. Meanwhile, whatever beast is in the cave begins growling and even Rict'a'tin looks visibly concerned. Finally, Rict'a'tin insults Karec on his bravery which makes him enter the place out of spite. Once in the Fey realm, Rict'a'tin asks the group to be quiet; the kobold on Aidanis's shoulder begins fidgeting and Rict'a'tin uses his arrows to put it back to sleep. Without incident, the group exits the old oaken tree (the same one Lalina exited from to reach Magmaville the first time) and is within reach of Magmaville.
As soon as the group sets out, they notice a naked man hanging upside down. Lalina instantly rushes to him, Karec cuts him down and Aidanis helps catch the man after Karec cuts the rope. Lalina takes off her warm cloak and wraps it around him, trying to see if she can help him. While she does so, a skeleton warrior appears, bearing the symbol of Diadria on his chest. Rhade tries to turn the creature, but he presses on. Rhade calls for everyone to retreat and Rhade and Karec immediately runs, picking up the unconscious human man wrapped in Lalina's cloak. As she is trying to get away, Lalina is trapped by the skeleton's magical metal bars. Aidanis and Rict'a'tin then try to defend her and calls for the others to come back. Rhade grumbles at the request and Karec comes barrelling back, ashamed he left his comrades in battle. Rhade then casts a spell, wrapping the skeleton, Aidanis and Lalina in plants. Rhade then dispels the plants around Aidanis, setting him free. Aidanis picks up Lalina's staff, as she told him to, and begins trying to hit the creature with it. Meanwhile, Karec throws his hammers at the skeleton. Then he takes out his flask and begins to breath fire on the skeleton. As he does so, he sets the skeleton free, who then turns and tries to attack him by loses its grip on its mace and sends it flying. Karec continues to breath fire on the skeleton. Rhade tries to strike the creature with her staff. When she does so, the creature turns on her. It tackles her and then wrestles the staff from her; Karec keeps breathing fire and hits Rhade with it as he attacks the skeleton. With another breath of hot air, Karec fells the skeleton and it turns to dust.
Aidanis begins searching it for valuables while Karec goes to retrieve the mace of the skeleton. Rhade objects to Aidanis taking the items and a tense moment begins to brew between Rhade, Aidanis and Karec. Meanwhile, Lalina is still stuck in the iron bars. The elven guard appears, along with Eiolas. Eiolas throws the clothes at the unconscious man wrapped in Lalina's cloak. The elves help get Lalina out of the bars. Lalina rushes over to the unconscious man, healing him to rouse him and helping him get his clothes on. Meanwhile, the elves have a tense moment with Rhade as they need to investigate all the items. Eventually, they all agree to just go to the barracks in Magmaville and figure it all out there. The unconscious man turns out to be Goiteia, a human mage of the SCE.
The group begins discussing the army, the upcoming attack with Lord Malissin and Sindel. They are interrupted by the entry of Lord Hammer and Maulkin. Karec wants to go out and rally the defense and persists, despite Hammer telling him that the city has been called to arms and defenses are being put into place. Sillibys comes and collects the items the group found. Rhade discusses possibly having someone communicate with the undead's remains and Sillibys says someone will look into it. Lord Malissin asks Lalina and Rict'a'tin what they think of Rhade and both affirm that she is trustworthy and not part of those trying to destroy the elves. Goiteia tells his tale about the mage Tallant, who seems to have been a spy or instigator the entire time. The rest of the npcs leave except for Malissin, who continues to talk to the group. Karec leaves, wanting to rally the dwarves of the city to fight with him. Lalina asks for Rhade's forgiveness for any past wronging which Rhade gives. The rest of the group discusses the mage Tallant and what they can do before the siege, as a bag arrives with the items. The note from Sillibys indicates the magical quality of the items and that contact with the undead spirit wasn't possible. Aidanis takes the armor and the gold belt buckle and Lalina takes the iron sphere. Rhade takes the mace. The other items they leave as the skeleton's personal affects, as Rhade had demanded earlier. Rhade, Aidanis and Lalina agree to try to find the mage, Tallant.
The group heads out; they all recieving healing at the temple of Aranthis along with recieving a healing potion. Karec fails to rally the dwarves and the others fail to find Tallant. The group - Karec, Rhade, Lalina, Eiolas, Aidanis, and Goiteia - agree to stick together for the coming battle. They move up near the front of the city and take cover behind one of the elves' wagons.
The assault begins, both sides wielding terrible and powerful magics against one another as the Sythian giants humanoids clash with orcs, elves and the other defenders of Magmaville. The group itself wields magic, sword, arrow and staff against the Sythian attack. They defeat many foes and suffer some wounds themself. The group, like the rest of the elven defenders are constantly force to move back before the horde. Eventually, a well-disciplined and organized unit of humans appears, wearing the distinctive sign of Syth. Lalina tries a spell against them (as do other mages, for sure) but the spell seems to slip right off them.
Then, orc priests of Jandor appear and begin chanting. They begin to move into a ritual and the head priest lifts a sythian soldier in the sky and begins binding him with magical chains. Goitea and Eiolas, in a moment of battle confusion, mistake the orcs for enemies and interrupt the ritual. The orcs seem confused but there is little time before a boulder sweeps through and crushes them. The group continues to retreat and walls of iron begin to appear, blocking the path of the Sythian forces. One by one these walls appear and then are destroyed by the Sythians. All hope seems lost before the ground itself begins to rumble. The ground beneath the Sythian army splits open, sending many humans, orcs, giants and others to their deaths in the lava-filled chasm. The Sythian army retreats, for the time being.
The group looks around to ascertain damage to the city. Most of the king trees that the elves reside in have remained intact. Most of the city also does, except for the part that was sent into the chasm opened up by the powerful magics. Goiteia sees the SCE on fire and rushes towards it, hoping to help put out the flames. After the fire is stopped, he moves around trying to help any injured mages from the College. The ones he finds dead, he searches for their spellbooks. Eiolas meanwhile, moves to a weapon store and pilfers some items. Rhade and Lalina move among the wounded and dead, bringing their different skills to those who need it.

Session length: 5 hours

XP: 100 experience/hour/level

Treasure: Mace +2 (Karec), Plate Mail +1 (Aidanis), Iron Bands of Billaro (Lalina), a golden belt (Aidanis), a banded agate and an emerald (Aidanis). Eiolas pilfered a heat stone, two light stones, and a few coins. Goiteia took some spellbooks from fallen SCE mages.

Casualties: One skeleton warrior. Too many to count at the attack on Magmaville.

[Endel]

Chapter Two: Apocalypse

Session 15: No Time to Breathe

Written By: Karec
DM: Endel
IC Date: 1/11/734
RL Date: 12/30/03
PC’s Present: Karec, Rhade , Eiolas, Aidanis, Lalina, Goiteia, Gibreel
NPC’s Present: Robert Albright, Lord Malissin, Captain Sindel, Lieutenant Maulkin, Suleidan,
Melchior, Blodgett, Molly

Location: Magmaville, Enemy Encampment

Short Version:
The group attempts their own interrogations with the wounded Syth but hand him over to the Elven authorities. They receive some gold and Lalina gets into a controversy with Malissin. This in turn caused much tension between Lalina and the other members of the group. The members of the group awake the next morning at the inn only to divide themselves. Karec follows Rhade to try and set up a raiding party to attack the Sythians while the rest of the group stay to defend the SCE. Karec and Rhade meet the goblin Gibreel and barely survive their raid. The rest of the group prepares for the coming battle.

Long Version: (Third Person Perspective)
The session starts right after the discovery of the wounded Sythian soldier. Karec and Rhade forcefully interrogate him causing much bickering from Lalina who mends his wounds. The group learns the Sythian’s name is Robert Albright. The group then took the “imposter” to the barracks to hand him over to Lord Malissin and the elves for interrogation. Inside the room are Malissin, Sindel, and Maulkin. All of their clothing is a bit worn and dirty, Malissin's in particular is scorch marked. While the group talked with Sindel about Robert, the Litharian sailor seemed
almost to be at ease. The six companions are then ushered out of the barracks with Malissin and are given a ten crown reward for bringing in the captive. As they leave the barracks, Captain Sindel can be heard commenting to Maulkin to warm the cools. Aware she just shuffled the traitor from one group of torturerers to another, Lalina goes off on a rant with Malissin about the downfall of the Elven race. Lalina throws her reward money at Malissin
calling it “Blood Money”. When no move is made to retrieve it, Karec stoops down and pockets it. This in turn angered Lalina even more. Taking the risk of being arrested, Lalina attempts to barge her way into the barracks. After Rhade attempts to console the infuriated Hopebringer she storms off.

While this conflict is going on, Aidanis takes the newly acquainted mage named Goiteia aside. Speaking barely above a whisper, Aidanis mentions to Goiteia that the saw him rooting through
the dead mages looking for spellbooks. The human fighter then asks if when Goiteia is done with them, if he’d be willing to sell them off to him. Goiteia replies that he’d be willing to let
Aidanis look through them but would prefer to keep the originals because of the high cost of scribing a spell from one page to another.

With much tension surrounding them, the rest of the group heads back to the inn. Most of the turmoil focusing around Lalina with the other members of the group. Upon entering, Aidanis strikes up a pleasant conversation with the bartender and asks if his family is ok. They learn that most of the inn is filled with the wounded and those tending to them.

The next afternoon, the group begin waking up one by one. Lalina wakes first, staying in her room and praying to Celenia. Then comes Aidanis who rises as early as he can to begin plotting his next actions. Rhade can be seen consuming her oatmeal and Goiteia waits in the common room for the rest of the party. After Aidanis comes the groggy Karec who orders an ale to wake up to. Next comes the sleepy thief Eiolas, tromping down the stairs and finally Lalina, looking like she had gone to hell and back that night. The bartender is nowhere to be seen with a note on the bar claiming he had been called to the trees.

Grabbing a quick biscuit to go, Lalina hastily departs the inn, leaving the rest of the group with no idea of where she went. Eating her biscuit as she walks through the town, Lalina reaches the barracks. Claiming to be a healer under Celenia’s guidance, she states that it is her task to make sure the wounds of the injured inside have been tended to properly. After being directed
that the wounded are being held at the temple of Aranthis. Lalina asks about Robert but is greeted with only a confused expression and a statement that he might be in the human camp. Upset to have not found the prisoner, Lalina heads off in search of the Scion House. Finding it abandoned, she rushes to the barracks in order to speak with Captain Sindel. Being directed to where the elf is rallying troops to conduct a raid against the Sythian army. Running to meet him, Lalina discovers him along with 20 or so other elves. Lalina questions Captain Sindel about Robert and learns that he is “being provided for”. Constantly watching the Captain’s body language, Lalina becomes hopeful when it sounds as if the captive was not tortured. Offering words of encouragement to the Elven soldiers, Lalina heads to the SCE in search of Malissin. On her way, Lalina runs into Karec and Rhade.

After Lalina stormed out, Goiteia speaks up and so begins the plotting of the Slaughterhouse Six. He brings up the point that the college would most likely be attacked harder then the previous day. His reasoning being, "What threat is there to them in this city but the college? The elves aren't strong enough to offer much resistance in a full out invasion of the lands." Goiteia continues his reasoning on the need to defend the college, it being the biggest threat, and the hardest to defend... There seems to be some agreement among the group that this is likely going to be the focus of the enemy on their next attack. At Karec’s prompting, the group share in a round of ales.

Goiteia, the newest addition to the group, manages to peak Rhade’s interest with a mere comment about how strange it is to see such a band of adventurers traveling together. This in turn leads to an argument between Rhade and Goiteia on the practicality of defending the college from the inside. Goiteia’s defense is that the Syth would not seek to destroy the college
before draining it of all of it’s usefulness. Rhade however, recalls how in the past, they Syth’s razed many libraries and orders of the arcane. Growing angry, Rhade proclaims she will not sit around and wait for the Sythian army, and that she believes it would be better to strike out at the enemy where they don’t expect. Attack their encampment to cause confusion. Tempers flare and Rhade storms out followed by her ever faithful companion, Karec. The remaining comments trade harsh words on Rhade’s behalf before agreeing to stick together during the battle.

Still agitated, Rhade tells Karec her plans of retrieving the skeletal corpse from the garrison to give it a proper burial. A few words are exchanged between Karec and Rhade when they are greeted by Lalina. She apologizes for her hasty departure but claims she had business of her own to attend to.

Outside the trio spotted a lone goblin looking over the buildings around the garrison, scanning the basic layout of everything. They didn't recognize him. Gibreel was dressed in a deep gray tunic, trousers, and an off white orcish headwrap, complete with an embroidered abstract symbol in the center. On top of that Gibreel was also wearing a gray cloak and gloves free of the signs of battle, along with a secondary heavier cloak of white with a tightly pulled hood.

Lalina tells Rhade and Karec of how she went and spoke with Captain Sindel and seems to be about to continue speaking when Karec finally notices Gibreel. His hatred for goblins once again arising in him, he grabs his sword “Grobi Drengi” and begins marching to meet the goblin, his face twisted with fury and disgust. The goblin seems completely unfazed by this angry dwarf
approaching him with the sword nearly the size he was. Noticing her dwarven companion, Rhade hurries to stop and scold the dwarf who is going on a non-stop tirade under his breath about the poor hygiene of goblins. Gibreel simply raises his hands and greets the two adventurers. Hearing Rhade’s voice, the dwarf backs off and they head to the garrison.

Lalina however had left during this little fiasco and headed towards the SCE in order to speak with Lord Malissin. As she approaches the college she finds Eiolas, Aidanis and Goiteia.
Greeting them the four comrades enter the college and are greeted by a rather tired looking man. He points them in the direction of library. Entering the library they see Malissin, he is
pacing back and forth kicking at the burnt ashes that lay strewn everywhere. He seems to be conversing with the he empty air. They also see another elf leaning against the opposite wall.
The elf is taller than Malissin and is dressed in robes of red and black with the symbols of Fyrre on them. His hair is cropped short and a long sword is at his belt and a shield leans against he wall.
The elf is introduced as Suleidan, Malissin’s brother. After greetings are exchanged, Lalina politely inquires if she may have a word with Malissin stating it is urgent but brief. He accepts and the rest of the people in the room leave. Goiteia goes to talk with Melchior, and the rest leave so Lalina may have some privacy. Lalina states that she is rather confused as to the whereabouts of the prisoner the group had brought in. She states how Malissin had implied that the traitor would be killed but Captain Sindel claims he is alive and well. However, the elves at the barracks indicate that there are no prisoners. She believes that one of them must be deceiving her, or else something very strange is afoot. Malissin states that both are in fact true. The prisoner was handed over to Count Hammar and is with him still. Lalina seems relieved that he wasn’t killed but is shocked to find he was tortured. She did not see the reason to torture him after he was willing to cooperate. Malissin states how a person will tell you anything to avoid pain. Malissin and Lalina exchange a few words leading to Malissin’s statement that he’ll do anything to save the elves. Even become Ballog himself. More words are exchanged
and Malissin grows angry demanding that Lalina leaves.

After leaving the main library, Goiteia headed out to find Melchior. He finds him sooty faced and rather impatient. The elf claims he needs to work on memorizing his spells so Goiteia takes his leave. The mage returns to the library as the rest of his companions begins to leave. He stays behind and inquires of Malissin if he and those who just left would be able to defend the college. The elf tells them to guard the front door. Outside of the college, the group agrees to stick together and defend the SCE. Then, hoping to find some arrows before the upcoming battle, Eiolas begins searching the corpses. Gibreel shows up just as the discussion is ending and waits in the doorway politely. There seems to be alot of tension between the goblin magus and Suleidan the Flamewarrior. Gibreel then tells Malissin he will follow the raid crew. Malissin comments on the mysterious earthquake which saved them last battle and Gibreel replies that he had thought he had found the cause with a shrug in Suleidan’s direction. Gibreel then leaves and finds himself being greeted by Lalina. After a small discussion, Gibreel leaves and heads towards the raiding party lurking in the shadows and moving as silently as a mouse.

Meanwhile, after departing from Lalina, Karec and Rhade reach the garrison and look for the sack containing the bones of the undead warrior they vanquished earlier. After retrieving the remains of the skeleton and his personal effects, they encounter a guard and ask the whereabouts of Captain Sindel. They then become excited at hearing the elf is preparing to launch a raid on the enemy encampment as they speak. Rhade and Karec then head south
looking for this soon to be raid. Rhade and Karec find the elves in full battle regalia and cloaked in the magical cloaks of the fey that make them almost seem to disappear against the natural surroundings. Rhade approaches Captain Sindel about joining his raiding party but exclaims that the enemy would be sure to hear Karec plowing through the snow, his armor clanking loudly, at least a mile away. He also complains about the need for speed which would not be achieved by having to trudge through the snow. The end result is the pair are each given an elven cloak and a pair of elven boots. Karec as well has his armor padded with Rhade’s
lizard skins. Karec and Rhade almost seem to be in much higher spirits and make several jokes during their preperation.

Karec and Rhade set out with Sindel and the other elves, the dwarf is amazed at how lightly his feet fall and how fast he finds he can travel now. The elves with their two companions move
like wraiths across the snow barely leaving an indentation behind. Bows and weapons in hand they make their silent way in the dying sun. A few out laying sentries fall easily to elven arrows. Soon the camp lies infront of the group. One group of elves moves toward a lone tent with a single guard out in front. The rest start moving towards a few pitch pavillon type tents. The camp on the southern end is deathly silent. There is mainly just kobolds moving about.
Meanwhile, Gibreel flies along confident in the distance he is is from the ground, and in the invisibility spell he enhanced with non-detection to keep him hidden from view. Knowing the plan for the groups he sets himself up to watch from above near where the raiding party will enter the camp. Here thinking he can do the most good when the time comes. Sindel raises his hand out from underneath his cloak and signals for the elves to attack. Like silent spectors of death they glide into the encampment. The first dogmen they descend on let out a few yelps but are quickly cut down as the troop moves in on the tents. a few of the kobolds are starting to realize they are being attacked from the south. Rhade keeps her pick hidden under her cloak until they descend upon the dogmen and then the blade sweeps in a swift arc and tastes the
kobold blood and flesh. She moves on, killing as silently as she can, following the main company led by Sindel still. One of the elves lifts a flap of a tent and is immediately engulfed in flames.
Rhade then warns her dwarven friend to be aware of the glyphs set on the tents. Karec then strikes his blade down hard on a kobold skull, severing it completely in two. The tent flap comes open revealing a a tall woman with black curly hair. She is wearing the symbol of Diadra with a black rose clenched in the grinning skulls teeth. She is dressed in full armor and is carrying a bastard sword. She ends the burning elf's life with a quick swing of her sword and just smirks at the coming onslaught of elves. Sindel roars at the woman and charges at her. Karec as well swings at this Diarian priestess but his sword is blocked by someone else in the tent. A blond haired man bearing a simliar symbol as the woman comes out shaking his head. With a mere wave of her hand, Molly wills 17 of the elves to die. While approaching this fellow priestess, Rhade quickly says a prayer to her Mistress. Gibreel begins sending a message to Rhade using the wind, she hears a voice as if from nowhere, "This warning I can only send once, when you get a chance run. You and your companion dwarf are no match for these two... not even close. I will attempt to bring enough help to delay them...warn others"

As Rhade receives the message, Molly steps forward and brings three quick devastating attacks on the charging Sindel. While Molly is attacking, Rhade freezes Blodgett in his tracks. Karec
swings his mighty sword at the frozen man striking twice. The first attack bouncing off his armor, the second seemingly bouncing off his skin. Meanwhile Sindel helplessly swings his blade through empty air in an attempt to attack Molly. The kobolds plunge up attacking the remaining elves slowly beating them down. In the air above the fight a dozen small beetles appear and fly towards the enemy. These small beetlelike clockworks can fly and while they are partly made of metal they are mostly made of glass that seems to be filled by some sort of green liquid. Half go straight towards the frozen enemy breaking as they crash into the figure,
seemingly on purpose.

Molly raises her blade and swings one striking down the Elven Captain, and once again attacking Rhade. As Molly strikes out with her blade, Karec hacks at the frozen Blodgett’s throat while Rhade calls upon her godess to drive fear into the heart of Molly. Only five elves remain of the original raiding party and they continue to fight furiously to prevent being overwhelmed by the ever increasing amount of kobolds. Half of the strange beetles crash into the defenseless Blodgett breaking open the acid they hold inside while the others attack a kobold each trying to support the elves. One stikes a kobold followed by another, another just
nose dives into the ground while the other three just simply miss taking down two kobolds. From snow banks surrounding the tent rise four skeletal forms armored much like the one the group had confronted the day before. They are weilding an assortment of weapons. Their dark eye sockets are illuminated by red pin pricks of hatred as they look over the survivors.

Karec continues his furious onslaught on Blodgett, relentlessly attacking his frozen form in a hope to decapitate him. Yet again his blows land solidly but bounce off the priest’s stone skin. The four skeleton warriors divide themselves, two attacking Rhade, the other two attacking Karec. Compliments of Gibreel, a line of fog then appears beyond the back of the tent where Molly escaped filling an area dividing you off from another area of the camp, and making moving in that area more difficult. Rhade now begins to help Karec in the chipping away at Blodgett’s defensive skin. The kobolds take down another elf and yelp in glee as they notice Karec and Rhade.

Two of the skeleton warriors try and tackle the two companions, the one colliding straight into Rhade while the other flows wide of his mark and misses Karec. Dodging the skeleton warriors attack and then another, Karec smashes his sword into the face of Blodgett. Karec feels a light tap on his shoulder and Rhade feels a gloved hand grab a fist full of her hair yanking it slightly. A small goblin appears betweent he two for a moment and then all three are gone as a dark shape casts a shadow over head.

The three find themsleves on top of a flat stone building on the eastern side of town, Rhade is lying in the snow and Karec has a bewildered look on his face with the goblin standing between
them. Both Rhade and Karec are rather confused when Gibreel fades into focus. Noticing him Karec turns on the goblin, his sword raised. "You!" Rhade cries, sitting up as she recognizes the goblin. The priestess rubs her head where her hair was yanked. "I suppose I ought to thank you. But still, the bitterness of the failure of the raid..." The dwarf lowers his sword after being scorned by Rhade who finally recognizes that Gibreel was the one who warned her to retreat. Gibreel tells the two that reinforcements were about to arrive at the encampment and so would have been the end of them almost instantly. Gibreel completely ignores the furious dwarf and explains to Rhade that the two they fought are part of the Poison Black Rose. Rhade listens to the goblin's strange words as she glares annoying at the Eye shooting rays into her eyes. "I am called Rhade, goblin," she says after a moment. "I have not had fine dealings with your race before, but that is no matter, and you have my gratitude for what you did." The goblin receives no such gratitude from the dwarf who merely spits on the ground.

The last dying rays of the sun fade from view in the west. Perhaps the last sunset to ever look out onto Magmaville. As if the fading light was a signal great horns blast out of the east and a new sun is rising as a purple and black banner bearing a rose rises out of the enemy encampment. Red skinned orcs beyond the shot of a bow gather near the lip of the lava filled rent and take up a chant. The earth seems to respond to their chant as a mighty slab of obsidion rises up from the fiery bowels to bridge the gap. Form the ground were they had been hiding from the suns rays rise the blackened and brackish spirits of dead men, coming to fight for the cause of the rose. All around where there was a fallen enemy, the corpses start to move once more with new life within the summoned walls of magmaville.

[Endel]

100xp/lv/hr for 6 hours on session 15

Treasure was various prizes of war.

[Endel]

Chapter Two: Apocalypse

Session 16, “Rose on the Rise”

Written By: Rhade
DM: Endel
Group: The Slaughterhouse Six
IC Date: 2/11/734
RL Date: 01/06/04
Location: the embattled city of Magmaville
PC’s Present: Eiolas, Rhade Bowlen, Aidanis Aerotide, Karec, Lalina Kronidar, Goiteia Magevo, Gibreel Deeowen
NPC’s Present: Malissin, Suleidan, Ninion, Rict’a’tin, and elven and human Magmaville defenders; troglodytes, undead legion, hobgoblins, stone giants, Sythian/PBR human warriors, Molly, spitting image of Ninion, Dark Woman



Short Version: A vicious battle erupts at dusk on the second night. The heroes fight valiantly, but as the night deepens, Magmaville is ablaze and in ruins, and so too look to be the hopes of its defenders.



Long Version:

Three hundreds yards away from the swelling ranks of the legion of undead, Aidanis, Eiolas, Lalina and Goiteia stand nervously in front of the Stormbringer’s College of Edilar, which they have been charged by Malissin to defend. Each watch the front line of defense being battered, each respond differently. For Aidanis, vowing to not let the college fall is an attempt to ease the foreboding sense of ill that drapes the defenders like a damp cloak. Goiteia, on the other hand, toys nervously with a frayed edge of his cloak, muttering to himself and almost despairing at the terrible sight before him. Lalina faces the trying scene by offering a smile to any who looked in her direction. And Eiolas cloaks himself in silence, his eyes turned to the east.

Hope for the city was breaking, but the defenders would cling to the driftwood from the wreckage as long as it remained. With the failure of Sindel to return, Malissin was now the great captain of elves in spirit if not in rank, and he cut a grim, resolute figure along the forces surrounding the Temple of Aranthis and the magic academy. Now and then standing beside his equally imposing brother, Suleidan, or walking among the ranks of soldiers, Malissin finally approaches Aidanis as long minutes pass and the fight to the east continues. He pointedly avoids looking at Lalina, who attempts to catch his gaze with a smile, and frowns deeply because of it. This too brings a frown across Lalina’s face. Evidently, the words she had uttered the other day had lingered with the captain, and still affected him for whatever reason.

Upon obtaining Aidanis’ grateful permission, Malissin casts a tandem series of spells on Aidanis so that he would be stronger and faster in combat. His three comrades also catch the benefits of being hasted. Even as he does so, the mages surrounding the temple and academy launch a barrage of spells that rip into the ranks of the undead. Yet the undead still surge across the obsidian bridge and continue to spill onto the other side, pushing back the front line warriors. The group catches sight of a young apprentice magus, bravely hurrying by and carrying what smells like bat guano towards a group of waiting magi. One of the mages allows the field surrounding them to slip for a moment for the boy to approach, but as the boy does, his shape starts to bubble and pop as he gets more and more massive. Soon there is a stone giant standing in the place of the boy, in the midst of the magi, and with one large hand he scoops one up, tosses him in the air, and belts it with his club, sending him flying through the air into the lava-filled crevice.

Then this giant turns toward the group, waving his bat menacingly, as other apprentices start to lose their guises, becoming stone giants and wreaking havoc in the city’s center. Two of Eiolas’ arrows fly past their mark as the giant leans in toward the group. Goiteia scurries away, while Aidanis draws his longsword and unleashes a series of slashes, three of which draw deep wounds. With a roar of pain the giant retaliates, hardly noticing Lalina’s staff thumping his leg, as he crushes his club into the short human warrior. Eiolas looses another barrage of arrows, snapping his bowstring from drawing too hastily, but one arrow buries itself deep in the giant’s chest. With a grunt, the giant falls face forward into the dirt. All around the square, the defenders have regrouped and similarly defeating the giants, who begin a full retreat to the west. With the immediate threats around her dispersing, Lalina begins treating Aidanis’ heavy wound.




The preoccupation of the elven magi with the giants that had slipped among them unawares proved devastating to the fortunes of the brave warriors and priests of Aranthis at the front lines to the east. Without arcane power blowing up their ranks, the undead horde begins push the defenders back. Many defenders meet grisly fates as they are swallowed by the onslaught. In the meantime, Karec and Rhade, not fifty yards away from the front lines at the start of the battle, join the fray. Karec charges in, bashing with mace and hammer, and undead skeletal parts go flying as he lays into them. As Rhade draws near, she recites a prayer of power, and immediately priests of Aranthis among the defenders feel empowered by her spell, as though their god is listening closer to their pleas to turn, or perhaps it is some other god who is listening. As Karec continues to forge a bone-riddled path through the undead, Rhade channels Diadra’s might to destroy three skeletons and cause two to drop their weapons and flee from her. Soon the rushing tide of undead is stemmed and the defenders are holding their ground.

As a wraith appears before him, the dwarf clobbers it with his mace. Meanwhile Rhade continues to fight, her raven dreads flying loose about her as she brings the hammer end of her pick down on several of the undead. All down the lines, the undead begin to waver as though their resolve is being tested. Spots of darkness appear on the other side of the lava-filled ravine, where the orc dreamcasters are gathered. Karec bashes through several more undead creatures before Rhade channels her god’s power once again to turn thirteen skeletons around them, destroying nine of them outright. The tide begins to turn, and the undead are being battled back across the bridge. Soon, the defenders could hold the bridge.




Back at the center of Magmaville, against the backdrop of many trees which had been set on fire to the south while the defenders were repelling the giants, priests of Aranthis hurry about trying to heal the wounded, and Lalina joins their efforts. But from the south, a large roar echoes as many lizard-like men charge out of the blazing trees carrying large clubs studded with pieces of stone, the glow of the fires casting their already hideous looks into positively demonic features. Goiteia shrinks away at the sight, dread and hopelessness threatening to consume him, while Aidanis take his place in front of Lalina and the mage, sword held at ready. Eiolas scrambles about searching for a bow among the fallen defenders as a line of elven archers wheel on the advancing trogs, loosing volley after volley of arrows into their ranks and dropping the beasts like a scythe cuts grain. At Lalina’s prayer, the flaming trees along the treeline bend and twist, ensnaring a mere score out of hundreds trogs, flames licking at their hides. The rest have moved past the treeline and now surge forward on the position of the defenders.

As the small group and the rest of the SCE defenders turn to meet the trog charge, Magmaville is attacked from several other fronts. Overhead, several dark shadows block out the stars as wyverns drop large bundles from their claws onto troops below. The contents become apparent as the they smash into the great ancient trees which hold many Magmaville homes, setting them ablaze. The wyverns wheel around back towards the enemy camp after dropping their loads. To the north, the steady clank of marching, armored troops can be heard as the hobgolins begin to loosen their ranks into a full out charge on the northern earthworks. The more militaristic of the monster cultures attacking Magmaville, they match the brave men of Tuth, steel for steel. Elven rangers hiding amongst the trees quickly drop the hobgoblin lines into chaos as they kill the officers with skilled bowshots, but still the creatures stream forth, overtaking the bulwarks.

The fight becomes more desperate for the defenders as the enemy is nearly in position to close around them like a vise. Goiteia snaps out of his depression and puts several leading trogs to sleep, while Lalina uses her lasso to trip a few among the enemy. Those enspelled by Goiteia or entangled by Lalina are trampled by others charging behind them. Eiolas, having abandoned his search for a bow at the moment, takes up his longsword and dagger to join Aidanis, slashing furiously at the enemy trogs. They prove more adept than most of the defenders, but in turn are overshadowed by the prowess of the elven captain Malissin, whose blade cuts a bloody swath through his foes, flames roaring in arcs from his blade with each deadly slash.

Suddenly the forces are thown to the ground by the enormous blast that accompanies the detonation of several fireballs within the dwindling ranks of defenders. When the flames clear, several elven mages are dead and even more are scrambling to bolster their magical protections, which begin to wane under the assault. One huge fireball completely engulfs the elf Suleidan, while another slams full on into Aidanis and catches Lalina, Eiolas, and Goiteia in its blast radius. Goiteia is knocked unconscious, on the brink of death with this blast, and Lalina hurries to his side with a prayer to Celenia.

The lizard men start to fight with renewed vigor as the ensuing heat from the fireblasts speeds their metabolism, but out of the flames steps Suleidan, seemingly unhurt. His hands glow with a fire-like quality as he joins his brother Malissin, whose face seems to glow with the same sort of light, and what appears to be a flaming bird with wings outstretched can be made out. All around them trogs scatter or are taken down.

Even so the valiant defense of the SCE is faltering. The elves are being pushed back from their protective ring around the Temple of Aranthis and the Stormbringer Academy, and to their dismay, the hobgoblins to the north have finally punched through the Tuthian defenders who had answered the call of the elves. These beasts rush forward now unchecked, hurtling into the ranks of elven defenders around the SCE. The vise begins to take shape.




To the east, the undead army is being pushed back and the bridge is being held by those faithful to Magmaville. But tides of battle are fickle as Sembral presides over the conflict, lending strength to one side at one moment and then taking it away and giving it to the other on a whim. And so it happens that Rhade feels the power of her goddess begin to fade prematurely. With dark eyes flashing, she sees a red haired sorceress across the divide, staring at her and muttering words arcane. Soon Rhade’s spell fades away as if its own power was used against it, and the undead surge forward with renewed vigor.

With a scream of rage Rhade unleashes a spell that brings total silence to the area around the sorceress. Meanwhile, Karec takes hold of his crossbow, intending to take down the mage, but three ghouls get in his way and sink their teeth into him. As the ghouls continue to grapple the dwarf as Karec thrashes about trying to be rid of them, Rhade turns them with another call to her god. The ghouls shriek in terror at Rhade’s power and flee.

But the damage had been wrought, and the eastern front rapidly collapses into a rout. The undead press forward, cutting down defenders all over the field, and behind the onrush of undead come rank upon rank of screaming men. Their eyes almost seem to glow, as if it is a reflection of the lava, or perhaps some sort of maniacal faith that imparts this fearsome quality. Foaming at the mouth, these fanatics pour into the elven city.

The hour looks dark for those who remain at the eastern front. Most defenders are in full retreat, if not fleeing or already slain. The heroic Karec, stricken by some poison injected by the ghoul-bites, stumbles to the ground, losing feeling in his limbs as they stiffen and fall to his sides as if made of lead. The poison rapidly runs the course of his veins and the paralyzation spreads through his body. Mace and hammer clatter to the ground, and his cry for help comes out as a barely audible gasp.

Rhade returns to her comrade’s side after fending off another skeleton with her pick and tries to drag him while retreating, but she finds him to be too heavy. Quickly the Diadrian causes a thick mist to rise around them, obscuring them from the enemy that charges heedless through the obscurement. Rhade takes a hold of Karec again and begins to drag him at a painstakingly slow pace. Soon, two skeleton warriors appear, directing the undead away from them as they approach Rhade and the immobile Karec.




In the midst of the horrible battle when all seems to turn against the Magmaville defenders, Gibreel fades existence. At first he is just a ghost of himself, and gradually more fully himself as he becomes solid and color returns to him. A large crow perches on his shoulder, deep black with unusually shiny feathers that almost seem to gleam even in their darkness. The bird's eyes are a deep gold color. It caws to the goblin and then with a flick of its midnight wings, it streaks to the sky, beginning to bulge as it takes on a more massive, serpentine form. Soon all battle stops for a drawn out moment as Ninion comes fully into his true form. A deafening roar fills the battlefield as the magnificent gold dragon surveys the armies below him. With all eyes drawn to Ninion, Gibreel also takes to the sky, veering towards the burning trees that hold elven homes. Within the burning trees a thick mist forms to smother the flames.

As if to answer the sudden appearance of Ninion, the spellcasting from the elven mages stops again as large explosions from fireballs detonating rock the ranks of defenders around the magic academy. Flames spread anew as these fireballs thunder into the SCE, with the trogs and hobgoblins still pressing from north and south. As the defenders hasten to regroup and recoup, the giants that had fled before return from the west road. No spells go out to keep them at bay this time, as the remaining elven mages are forced to concentrate on the forces before them. Aidanis and Eiolas, the effects of the haste spell spent, find themselves in tougher straits, while Lalina parries to the best of her ability, unable to tend to the swelling number of wounded on her side. Goiteia finds himself despairing once again and stays close behind Aidanis, avoiding enemies as best he can. In the meantime, Malissin’s face blazes with the bird symbol, nearly as bright as the glow of Suleidan’s hands. Suleidan crouches and extends a hand, blasting trogs with fire of his own.

Gibreel flies over towards the goblins and unleashes a magical glow that fills the western road with huge tentacles that quickly enwrap themselves around the giants’ feet acting. Those tentacles near the buildings climb up the walls a bit, attacking above the knee height of the giants. The stone giants roar in fury as they are impeded from entering battle, and Gibreel quickly extends his staff at them, and from it shoot lightning bolts, cutting short the roars of the giants as they zap through them.

As Gibreel boldly eliminates the giant threat, those on his side but on the ground are heartened. One of the priests of Aranthis beseeches his god and is answered as the starry sky begins to be clouded over, blotting out the stars. From behind a priest of Aranthis, a circle of clerics join in another prayer to Aranthis. All around, blasts of lightning travel in jagged lines, often splitting, illuminating the battlefield in bursts. They strike down into enemy troops, each blast leaving gaping holes in the ranks of the enemy. All around the battlefield, the smell of burnt flesh and blood is strong. Most of the snow has melted from the fires and lighting, and the ground is a giant mud pit from water and spilled blood.

But even as this slows the enemy and spills its ranks into confusion, to the horror of the defenders, the bodies of felled friends and foes alike begin to twitch and move. These newly summoned undead rise, taking up fallen weapons. From the south, more of the enemy marches. These are humans bearing the standard of the Black Rose, and among them move several skeleton warriors. As they move out from the treeline, Gibreel blinks out of sight.




A punctuated, strong wind three hundred yards to the east of the main battle disperses a thick fog that covers the area. There among the dead stand three figures, two glowering at one that stands before a paralyzed dwarf. Then the pale lady with the dreads acts, calling once more upon Diadra, but the two skeleton warriors are unintimidated by the power she wields. As their red eyes glow brighter at the prospect of taking revenge on one of the Lady’s followers, the Diadrian Charitadi brings her staff into position before her, and calls out an icy challenge to them. But as they take their first steps forward, Ninion’s massive bulk slams down, and the skeleton warriors crumble to the ground. Briefly the gold dragon looks at Rhade, who stumbles back with astonished eyes opened wide, before swiveling his head towards the forty-foot wide obsidian bridge.

The dragon takes in breath and fills the silence with a roar of searing white flames, which engulf the bridge. On the bridge, undead and humans alike die. Those that had already charged past double back, heading towards the massive wyrm in an attempt to get at it before it can let loose another blast. The gold dragon extends his long neck along the ground, breathing forth his mighty flames once again and sweeping it along the ground, reducing the undead to ash along with several buildings.

Recovered from her shock and near brush with Ninion, Rhade kneels beside the immobile Karec and quickly places a spell on him to keep him safe while he is paralyzed. Then she rises to her feet and with cold fury takes her pick to the skulls of the undead once again. Meanwhile, the poison from the ghoul-bite having run its course, Karec starts to feel his limbs return to life. Soon he is able to stand, albeit shakily, and the dwarf wastes no time to uncork his healing potion and drink it.

Ninion’s devastating presence against the army of the Rose did not go unnoticed by the enemy. From out of the east, without a whisper of warning, a gigantic mass slams into Ninion, flipping him head over tail over both Rhade and Karec, who dive to the ground. To their utter amazement, two Ninions are entwined in battle against one another. Their massive bodies writhe and their claws gouge one another’s flesh. Flames spurt from their nostrils, setting more buildings ablaze as even more undead are crushed under their bulk.

For a moment Rhade and Karec both stare, stunned, as they rise to their feet. But a movement to the east once again captures their attention, and the dark-armored lady from the raid earlier in the day strides across the bridge, smiling broadly. As Molly approaches, Rhade tosses Karec her healing potion, which he quickly imbibes, and then the dwarf readies his goblin slayer sword, the Grobi Drengi. Rhade in the meantime glares at the lady facing her.

With Blodgett’s wounding earlier in the day and hence vengeance on her mind, Molly offers a sinister, confident smile. Then she looks at Karec and opens her mouth, but stops all of a sudden, as if she had forgotten what she was trying to do, and transfers her gaze to Rhade instead. “Die.”

After the lady’s utterance of that single, simple word, Rhade feels the Diadrian magic churn around her, attacking her soul’s hold on her living body. But Rhade too is strong with her goddess – not nearly as strong as Molly, but strong enough – and she had quietly cast protections on herself upon Molly’s approach. The Diadrian Caretaker escaped the fatal effects of the spell with only minor wounds, causing a look of rage and disappointment to cross Molly’s face. As her response, Rhade, cold and calm, begins weaving a spell of her own.




Back at the main part of the battle, the situation is increasingly desperate for the defenders, especially with Ninion locked in a deadly combat of his own. More and more defenders begin to abandon the fight and start barricading themselves within the SCE or Temple of Aranthis, while those that remain are being squeezed into a tighter and tighter ring by the pinching tactic of the hobgoblins from the north and the trogs from the south. Lalina charms a trog captain, but finds herself unable to converse in a meaningful manner to it. Still, the trog chops his way to her side, looking at her possessively, hacking at his own trog warriors. As Lalina points to the undead rushing from the east, the charmed trog turns to face them only to be hamstrung and spit upon the end of a spear.

Goiteia has a little more luck, as he throws a charm upon one of the hobgoblin captains and tells the creature to order his troops against the trogs. Soon total chaos erupts around the magic academy, as trogs and hobgoblins are killing and maiming one another as well as the defenders, who have dwindled to a scant few now. Goiteia, his spells refueled by the mana battery, continues to hurl charm spells about to keep himself safe. He aims a few of these at the human PBR troops, who are rushing to bolster the Rose army, but they are more resistant to his spells and do not succumb to them immediately. Several wearing circlets are seen raising those that had died to fight as undead.

Spying a handsome, armored man with a circlet nearby, Lalina throws a spell at him, holding in rigidly in place. Both Lalina and Aidanis charge towards the man, and the young human warrior gets there first, slashing at those in his way, and takes the criclet from the man’s head. With one powerful swipe of the sword he kills the held man, but then feels a blade dig deep into his back, dropping him with excruciating pain. The circlet tumbles from his fingers, and the skeleton warrior lets go of its blade, its eyes glowing red. It reaches for the bouncing hoop and grips the rim, clenching it tightly. Light fills the thing’s face for a moment, and then the red lights go out from behind its eye sockets and it tumbles to the ground in a heap. As the battle rages on, Lalina helps Aidanis to his feet with a prayer to Celenia.

Shaken by the attack, Aidanis quaffs a potion and tries to hack his way back towards the magic academy while Lalina encourages him to try to knock circlets from the heads of other enemies bearing them. Meanwhile, Goiteia redoubles his efforts, scrambling about slinging his charm spells at humans with circlets, while Eiolas does less fighting than scavenging. The thief finally finds an intact bow and slings it over his shoulder, and with a self-satisfied smile, resumes fighting with sword and dagger. The number of defenders continues to dwindle rapidly, however, and by now most have retreated into the two buildings which were to be held at any cost…




The spell Rhade completes as Molly draws her bastard sword. The priestess’ attempt to strike fear in the fighter’s heart, however, do not catch Molly by surprise this time. Karec, already gripping his Grobi Drengi, sprints forward and strikes twice, missing the first time, while the second time his giant sword bounces off of Molly’s body. The human fighter retaliates with three accurate slashes of her own, and Karec staggers backward, bloodied and blurry-eyed, his senses warped as he can barely make out Rhade’s call to run. Throwing a marble-size clay sphere down at Molly’s feet, Rhade flees as well. A large splotch of darkness springs up where the clay ball struck, and a string of curses stream from Molly’s mouth as she makes her way out of the darkness looking for her fleeing prey.

Karec and Rhade slip behind a still-intact building, but not before Molly sees them and picks up the pace in pursuit. The two comrades, however, elude Molly by pulling their cloaks around themselves and their cowls over their heads, blending in with the side of the building.

After Molly wanders off, still searching, Karec and Rhade move silently to the north and west to investigate why the dragon screeching and roaring had gone strangely silent…




Trees and buildings to the north and east of the center of Magmaville have been completely razed by the raging battle between Ninion and his imposter. As these great serpentine beasts struggle for their lives, a curious sight greets the onlooker, for those very few who can watch this battle, if any. Six copies of a goblin, all dressed similarly but with different color cloaks, float near the fighting dragons. They yell in unison, louder than is possible for a small goblin or even six, asking what the first words Ninion said to the goblin that day were.

It is loud enough for the dragons to take notice of the goblin, and the more wounded Ninion risks a look at one of the floating goblins, bellowing the answer. This is quickly echoed by the second dragon, however, prompting the Gibreels to ask for the last words before they left the lair.

Locked in their tremendous battle, it takes a while for either to respond. The less wounded gold dragon finally spits a jet of flame at the images, but it is cut short as the true Ninion slams its claws against its maw, closing it forcefully. Meanwhile, two dozen glass beetles filled with some green liquid appear and crash into the imposter dragon. Squirming in pain and rage, the imposter gold dragon tries to push off Ninion, and succeeds, though suffers a hard slash of Ninion’s claws, laying open its belly. As it flies back, it bobs its head while its right hand unconsciously curls as though it was holding a giant goblet, and then disappears…




Occuring synchronous to the imposter’s sudden disappearance – perhaps by coincidence, perhaps by design – a loud rumble reverberates across the field of battle, much like the night before. Defenders and attackers alike are violently thown to the ground as another rift rips through the earth, releasing a hissing of steam. The crack forms from the southern edge of the lava-filled ravine and the ground continues to split as the ever widening maw spreads westward through the city, charging with terrifying speed towards the Stormbringer’s College of Edilar. The panicked try to scramble away from it and many of the grievously wounded are swallowed by it. As the ground breaks, magma flows into it, and soon the eastern edges of the college of magic are beginning to crumble and fall in…




When the ground stops shaking, Rhade and Karec scramble back to their feet. Through the wreckage and burning buildings, they see a beautiful woman among the carnage. She is dressed in black silks that are nearly translucent where they cover the legs and arms and across her abdomen. Her long dark hair cascades down her back to hover just above a thin chain of gold acting as a belt around her waist, while her delicate, pale hands end in long finely cared for nails that glimmer with polish. A small, gilded dagger hangs from her belt loop, but that is the only thing she seems to be carrying on her person. After that glimpse, she disappears behind a building at the same leisurely pace she was setting before.

Upon seeing her, Rhade hurries to where the pale lady was seen last. Apprehensive of this fleeting apparition, Karec mutters a few things under his breath after Rhade ignores his protesting, and quietly follows, keeping his cowl drawn, whereas Rhade had folded hers back. When the woman appears between two buildings a short distance away from Rhade, the priestess feels a cry form in her throat, but it comes out strangled sounding. She rapidly closes the distance to the woman, who sees her and smiles.

Karec maintains a small distance behind Rhade, keeping his sword hidden. The Caretaker stops before the woman, looking at her with deference and wringing her hands as if she is at a loss of how to act, eliciting a laugh, a childish giggle, practically, from the dark lady. Her tone, however, belies her laugh, as it is regal and authoritative, and one which a patron would adopt to her servant. Rhade, clearly tormented by something, falls to her knees and asks about her brother, to which the dark lady replies with solemnity but little sympathy that he still walks the Path. A distraught look comes across Rhade’s ghostly pale face, and her shoulder slump visibly. It is this moment that Karec, still concealed, winces as an image of Saec comes into his mind. The dwarf, however, forces himself to remain vigilant.

The dark lady reassures Rhade that she did not do wrong in her eyes, and that the path she had taken, the way of the Charitadi, was only to bring Rhade to her. She asserts that the former path is no longer needed, and the true path is the one of the Rose, which seeks to build her kingdom on Kyranath. The mysterious woman then offers Rhade a consolation, a promise, that service to her would allow the Path to be shortened for Rhade’s brother.

Rhade rises at the dark lady’s command, tears still on her cheeks. However, her smile turns chilly and her face dark as she casts aside the pretender’s offer with a sneer. But the thought that her brother was still walking the Path brought her no comfort and indeed struck her a grievous wound in spirit. Not yet quite herself, not yet cloaked fully in the power of her mistress and her cause, Rhade finds herself ill-prepared to withstand the dark woman’s anger and cunning. The priestess falls back down to her knees, renouncing the words she had only just uttered and begging for forgiveness.

With a loud cry, Karec sweeps back his cloak, draws his mighty sword, and sprints toward the dark lady. He skids to a halt, however, when Rhade steps between the dwarf and her new mistress. Saddened and confused, Karec dodges an ill-aimed strike, holding up a twisted piece of metal that signifies something to both Rhade and himself for the priestess to see, but Rhade does not step aside, maneuvering herself between the dwarf and dark woman, pick in hand.

He looks past Rhade, his eyes boring angrily into the dark woman, who returns his stare and then beckons for him to come to her. As Rhade watches the dwarf distrustfully, Karec drops to one knee and bows his head to the dark woman. The dark woman giggles again, and smiles maliciously…




Treasure: longbow for Eiolas
Casualties: hundreds of Magmaville Defenders, hundreds of Rose troops
Session Length: 6 hours
XP Awarded: 100/lv/hr

[Endel]

Chapter Two: Apocalypse

Session 14: "Victory...for now"

Written By: Lalina
DM: Endel
IC Date: 2-11-734
RL Date: 1-13-04
PC's Present: Rhade Bowlen, Aidanis Aerotide, Karec, Lalina, Goiteia Magevo, Gibreel Deeowen, Eiolas (NPCed)
NPC's Present: Malissin, Suleidan, Ninion, Child, and elven and human Magmaville defenders; troglodytes, undead legion, hobgoblins, stone giants, Sythian/PBR human warriors, Turin

Location: Magmaville

Short version: The second night of battle continues as the defenders try to stave off the PBR horde. Turin makes an appearance, as himself, and devastates the defenses but then is countered by an unexpected transformation of the mana battery into a child who proceeds to wield tremendous magical power. Despite the child's considerable aid, the battle still looks to be lost until Gibreel and a contingent of IMI battlemages appear, who send the enemy forces fleeing into the woods just as dawn approaches.

Long version: The second night of battle rages on and there looks to be little hope for the defenders. The defenders are surrounded and fighting a losing battle. Gibreel watches in horror as Ninion clutches at his heart and starts to shake. Ninion wobbles and then topples to the ground, laying very still and hardly breathing. Looking at the wounds Gibreel can see a strange green poultice smeared there. The Magmaville defenders are surrounded by enemies who push them in a tighter around the SCE and the Temple of Aranthis. The second earthquake has sent one of the ancient trees supporting the SCE building into the lava, which rips out the east end of the passage, sending multitudes of books, papers and the like into the lava. Malissin and Suleidan are still cutting swathes into the enemy lines. Lalina, Aidanis, Eiolas and Goiteia are discussing what they should do with both Aidanis and Goiteia indicating they think the best option might be to flee the city. Lalina vows that there is still Celenia's will, and therefore hope, left. She begins to try to make her way to Malissin. Malissin, meanwhile, seems a familiar statue tottering towards the lava from the SCE. He quickly sheathes his blade and runs towards the SCE. While he does so, his legs and hands become fiery. As the stone stature begins to drop into the lava, Malissin jumps towards the statue, fiery wings forming from his back. He struggles to save his sister, barely able to maintain his hold on her as his fiery wings are slowly raising both of them in the air. Lalina moves to help him but is blocked by the enemy forces. The four of them battle human soldiers, hobgoblins and most of all, undead. Rhade and Karec flank the enemy forces and are attempting to make their way back towards the SCE.
Above the SCE appears a casting Turin, dressed in dark blue, runed robes with the symbol of Diadra on the chest. All spell casting around the SCE becomes interrupted and all magics that had been in place fail and flicker out of existence. The flaming wings protruding from Malissin's back disappear and he and his sister plunge back towards the lava. Suleidan seems uneffected as he continues to rage in his fiery form. Mages appear above the SCE and send waves of death onto the now unprotected mages beneath them. Turin becomes to make his way towards the mana battery, which is no longer a swirling globe of magic but rather a young child in the fetal position, slowly turning on an axis. Aidanis, Eiolas and Goiteia have somewhat reached an agreement to attempt to flee the city. Lalina has not given up hope and eventually convinces them to aid the defenders around the temple of Aranthis. Rhade and Karec continue their movement through the enemy forces toward the SCE.
Meanwhile, Gibreel has left the battlefield with Ninion, bringing the dragon to safety. He then makes his way to Coopserville, where he assembles a contingent of IMI battlemages.
Rhade tries to push forward in an attempt to reach Turin and stop him. Lalina tries to stop Turin with a spell, that easily slides off the high mage's protections. Arrows fire up from elves below and they too are deflected by the protections that swirl around the powerful magus. Meanwhile, from the rent in the earth there is a large explosion as a fireball in the shape of a phoenix rears out of the crevasse. At the same time the flames disappear from Suleidan's form and he collapses to the ground. Turin eventually reaches the child and brings out his blade to strike the child. The child stops in its rotation and opens its eyes to look at Turin. Turin strikes down, only to find that his blade bounces off the child's skin. He looks puzzled. A hand then forms out of the ether behind the child and slams into Turin, sending him flying backward in the air. Turin quickly begins casting another spell and tentacles appear on the top of the temple, trying to get at the child. The child, however, has cast a spell of her own and easily flies out of the reach of the tentacles. Turin launches a fireball against the child as she completes another spell. The fireball dissipates harmlessly as the whirling, prismatic sphere appears around the child. Turin then casts another spell and disappears.
Meanwhile, Rhade has been blocked by a red-headed mage. A fireball is launched and Rhade manages to not suffer the full damage of it. Rhade's attempts launch her own spells against the mage fail. Eventually, however, the mage begins to gurgle and choke as if someone had grabbed her and Rhade manages to get close enough to kill the mage with her pick. The child, formerly the swirling ball of magic, looks out at the battlefield before her. With a few quick incantations, the enemies of Magmaville begin to fall, like wheat to the scythe. The child utters more incantations and lightning arcs from her fingertips, decimating the enemy lines. The Magmaville defenders rally at this, and the mages and defenders begin casting and swinging their swords with renewed energy, actually pushing their enemies back. The child then summons up more magical power and releases it, which destroys and neutralizes all the undead on the battlefield. However, whatever power that needed to be released for such a great feat, it seemed too much for the child and she passes out and falls, floating in the air with her prismatic sphere oscillating around her.
The defenders have now rallied and re-organized. Rhade, Karec, Eiolas and Lalina have joined the renewed effort and have met up while Aidanis and Goiteia attempt to flee the city and the battle. Despite the neutralization of the undead, the battle still seems to be falling in favor of the attackers. Karec charges into battle, cutting into the enemy forces beyond the mainline of defenders. Lalina remains next to Rhade and helps protect the Diadrian as they move with the rest of the defensive line. Spirit trolls, enchanted with silence spells, then begin to charge the defending line and begin to tear into their ranks. One grabs ahold of Karec and begins to drain his strength. Rhade moves to help Karec and with the power of her diety, fells the creature. Lalina moves to defend Rhade, allowing the Diadrian to use her divine powers to push back the spirit trolls. Rhade's power against the trolls seems to fail and even her pick cannot strike them. She retreats with Lalina, following the defenders as their entire line is retreating. Eiolas has already completely turned tail and has begun to flee. Aidanis and Goiteia are still fleeing the city. It seems like all the defenders tricks have been pulled out of the hat and victory seems as far away as it has been.
Just then, when almost all hope had been abandoned, nearly three dozen mages appear above the fighting in deep black robes. Higher above two other mages appear, one the goblin Gibreel Deeowen and the other the human Artemis Corellion once Head of the IMG. All the mages are surrounded by obvious spell protections, glowing colors of the rainbow as if they had taken some time to prepare before showing up. The mages then cast at the same time launching huge webs over the largest areas of enemy attackers near them. Casting again as a unit, many walls of thick Stone appear on the field blocking enemies into bad positions. The Sythian mages are overwhelmed by the new magic assault and the tide begins to turn. The IMI mages cast in concert again, greasing the enemy forces with some sort of goo, which causes many of them to drop their weapons. The humanoids that were fighting in the Sythian service begin to flee. Karec charges forward once again into the enemy forces and Eiolas has now turned around again and joined the fighting. Lalina and Rhade move with the rest of the defenders, slowly pushing the enemy forces back. The IMI mages then attempt to cast another volly of webs, hoping to catch the leadership for questioning afterward. Most of the leadership sheds the webs and they fight with a maniacal gleam. The IMI mages then pull out scrolls and begin casting again. From the scrolls wither tiny ghosts with terrible faces who fly towards enemy mages. Some enemy mages seem to drop down dead while others seem completely unaffected. Closer examination of one of the 'dead' mages indicates that they still breathing and are simply passed out. Aidanis and Goiteia, seeing that the enemy forces are in retreat, stop their own desperate flight and move toward the battle. The enemy mages retreat through glimmering doors of power, leaving the battlefield. Without this magical support, the rest of the attackers are pushed back into a full rout. The IMI mages construct a serious of defenses out of stone and web as the attacking army retreats as the first few rays of the sun begin to pour out from over the horizon. Unfortunately for the defenders, anyone who might have looked like they would have been taken prisoner were killed by the retreating forces. Aidanis and Goiteia begin searching the bodies of dead mages for spellbooks while Karec carelessly tosses aside corpses, looking for things of value. Lalina, once the battle is over, quickly begins to try to help the injured who lie about the ground.

Session length: 4 hours

XP: 100 experience/hour/level

Treasure: To be decided by Endel what the looters find.

Casualties: Malissin (presumably), countless Magmaville defenders and attackers, the horde of undead. Many NPC whereabouts and status are unknown (Lord Hammar, Sillibys, etc.)

[Endel]

Chapter Two: Apocalypse

Session 18: "Questions and Answers"

Written by: Lalina
DM: Endel
IC Date: 2-12-734
RL Date: 1-20-04
PC's Present: Rhade Bowlen, Aidanis Aerotide, Karec, Lalina, Goiteia Magevo, Gibreel Deeowen, Eiolas, Nyr, Liriel, Jelani, Zee, Thragnar
NPC's Present: Child, Collerian, Sillibys, Melchior, Lord Hammer, Lord Ashenwood and elven and human Magmaville defenders

Location: Magmaville

Short version: With the immediate threat gone, everyone goes about their business. Rhade and Karec go to the Sighing Mageling for a rest. Goiteia and Aidanis do so as well, but have a good talk in the common room beforehand. Lalina helps the wounded and then approaches the mages (Gibreel, Collerian, Sillibys, Melchior), asking of the Child is hurt and she tries to be of any help she can as the child once again becomes conscious. The new arrivals (Liriel, Zee, Nyr, Jelani and Thragnar) come into the city and are greeted by Lord Ashenwood. After a brief discussion with Ashenwood, the new arrivals are led to Lord Hammer's command center. There, they discuss the state of affairs with Lord Hammer.

Long version: With the battle over, Gibreel begins to speak to Collerian. Rhade and Karec both move back to the Sighing Mageling and retire. Aidanis and Goiteia go back as well and have a nice conversation in the common room of that establishment. Lalina, after seeing that the wounded on the battlefield are taken care of, moves towards the collection of mages: Gibreel, Collerian, Melchior, Sillibys. All were examining the Child and her protections and Sillibys was trying to find Lord Hammer.
Lalina insisted that she be allowed to heal Sillibys before he went looking. A long gash on his arm was closed and healed by the magical touch of Lalina. As Sillibys left in search of Lord Hammer, Lalina asked the other mages if they thought the Child was injured and if she could help. Gibreel is further asking about the mysterious Child, trying to get Collerian and Melchior to explain. Both seem to be indicating they simply do not know, when the half-elf Child's prism disappears and she steps outside of it. Lalina immediately moves toward the girl to see if she's alright. Noting she is naked, Lalina quickly takes off her cloak and wraps it around the girl. The girl then indicated she wanted to go someplace warm, indicating a smithie. Lalina, the three mages and the child all made their way.
Once inside, the girl brought herself to the coals of the smithie, warming herself. Lalina asks about the status of Ninion and Gibreel responds that he is injured, but alright. Collerian and Melchior begin to question the girl a bit, who responds that she is both ready and capable to perform the task she was created to do, despite the fact that she has awoken early. The girl then asks Collerian and Melchior if she was given a name and they look confused, baffled. Lalina moves over to the girl, offers her characteristic smile, and asks her what she would like to be called. The girl responds that she would like to be called Amies and it becomes her name. Gibreel indicates that he thinks the best idea is to abandon the city, now that Amies has been awakened from the mana battery and no longer needs to be protected as such. Amies responds that it is not as simple as that and Gibreel looks confused. Gibreel indicates that the PBR wanted to destroy her. Why? Amies responds because she is both a half-elf and soon to be their bane. In response to a question posed by Lalina, Melchior explains that Amies was to be the Defender of Edilar but that she was not supposed to awaken for some time yet. Gibreel seems frustrated and questions the elves, pestering them with why do they remain here? What is left to defend in Magmaville? Amies responds that something may be returning to the elves here and is worth defending. Lalina begins to speak to the goblin, saying she understands why the elves would want to defend the place. To flee is to abandon home, the Harmony's Voice and the hope of the elven people. Gibreel responds by insulting her and, in what seems to be a common feat, makes assumptions about what Lalina knows, believes and thinks. Lalina lets the insult roll off her shoulders and responds that Gibreel may not be listening to her, understanding what she is saying. She further responds that it is not her decision whether to stay or flee the city but that she has merely decided to help the elves and will abide by their decision. Gibreel insults her again and then conjectures that she is inexperienced, young and that her preaching is wrong. Lalina did not seem to think she was preaching but merely expressing her views of the current situation. Amies seems amused by the talk and then declares that she plans to go next door to get some proper clothing. Lalina responds that she will accompany the girl, citing the goblin's seeming hostility to her presence. Gibreel asks Melchior if he plans to remain here and the elder elven mage responds that his place is in books and it is not his decision to stay or abandon the city. Gibreel then asks one final question of Amies before she departs, asking what she was talking about earlier. Amies responds that she believes that the lunar tree might have been reborn. Gibreel then asks if the girl plans to protect herself with magic and she indicates that she will not because it is not necessary. Gibreel questions the wisdom of such a move, indicating that Turin could come back and harm her. She indicates that that particular mage, Turin, will not be returning anytime soon as she cast a spell that limited his casting to spells of no higher than the second circle. Lalina wishes farewell to the mages before exiting with Amies in search of clothing for the girl.
Meanwhile, Nyr, Liriel, Zee, Thragnar and Jelani arrive on their phantom steeds. They are greeted by Lord Ashenwood. He warmly welcomes Liriel, a friend, as well as the others. They question Lord Ashenwood about a variety of things. He indicates that the enemy forces have withdrawn for the moment, that many were lost in the great battle and that Lord Hammer has set up a command center in a Magmaville garrison. It is at that moment that Sillibys makes his way to Liriel and the two warmly greet each other. The group then takes their leave of Ashenwood heads towards the place with Lord Hammer; Sillibys and Liriel follow behind them. Zee remains behind, helping Ashenwood recover the dead and the injured. There are a few tense moments as Jelani tries to explain to the guards who he is and whom his friends are. The guards seem nervous, particularly because Jelani claims that other people are with him when they are invisible. Eventually, a page is sent to Lord Hammer and the page returns with the message to let them come inside. Liriel and Sillibys have now caught up with the others and the guard leads the entire group through the garrison to Lord Hammer.
Lord Hammer quickly asks the group to dispense with formalities and thanks them for coming at his summons. Jelani asks of Hammer's current plans. He responds that he plans to retreat to Westdalia. The group has a mix of responses to the idea. Liriel seems visibly upset that the city will be abandoned; Thragnar questions the tactical intelligence of that idea and Nyr and Jelani seem to agree, indicating that help from the other kingdoms should arrive. Hammer also informs the group that Heartsville was attacked. Sillibys and Liriel -- the elves in the room -- both feel uncomfortably and upset with abandoning the city. Nyr, Jelani, Thragnar and Hammer continue to discuss what moves can be made once the retreat is underway. Hammer thinks that if the fight is carried to the woods, the elves will have a better chance. He also indicates that he has sent scouts to see if the enemy army is preparing to continue the attack. Also, he explains that the red-skinned orcs have filed for a separate truce and are meeting with emissaries. They also discuss other options: rousing a coalition force from the various kingdoms, contacting the Deep Elves and seeing if they are willing to help as well as possible asking the help of Kral Elkrane, who haunts Yorktown Waters and attempts to defend Edilar in his own way.
Meanwhile, Goiteia and Aidanis have a good conversation in the common room of the Sighing Mageling. They speak about the magical arts and what they have looted as well as what the future holds in store for them. They speak of what they should do next, if the city is defensible and Goeitia guesses at what the Child is capable of. They agree that if this is the Syth, then Magmaville is probably not the only place attacked. They discuss their own abilities and wonder if they can do anything to assuage the current situation. Aidanis reveals to Goeitia that he is interested in the magical arts, and Goeitia responds that he ought not to wait too long to begin to fulfill his dream of becoming a practioner. Goeitia indicates that there is not much in the College left for him; he had almost completed his studies and that teaching will perhaps not be their prime concern for some time. Goeitia realizes he is already speaking of the College as if he is no longer a part of it. Goeitia further agrees that he would like to join Aidanis and his companions. The two men further discuss what they should do and where they should go, although they come to no definitive conclusions. They then retire for the night in order to get proper rest so that they can face whatever the next day brings.

Session length: 4 hours

XP: 80 experience/hour/level

Treasure: None

Casualties: None

[Endel]

Geekfest Conclusion

Session 1: "Coming Together and Setting Out"
Written By: Liriel
DM: Endel
Group: n/a
IC Date: 3/17/734
RL Date: 9/16/2004
PC's Present: Liriel, Adrianna
NPC's Present: Kental, Lasa, Neu, Captain Robert, Mr. Jorgenson (first mate)


Short Version: Liriel and Kental meet up with the other three and proceed southward on phantom steeds, meeting up with a schooner and sailing westward.

Long Version:
Adrianna, Lasa, and Neu search out Kental. They find not only the man, but Liriel with him, who he introduces saying that she's helping him find his daughter. The women introduce Neu, and explain that he's Torin's messenger, and that Torin wants them to finish up what they started before.

Despite the fact that Kental was going to ask Torin to complete it so that he could get his daughter back, he hides that fact and forces Neu to promise rewards for both himself and Liriel for completing the task. He demands magic, weapons, and gold to help find his daughter for himself.

Their discussion reveals that one of the prophecies from the reading of the Book of Kaldinsky and Liri's dream are already fitting the pieces: Lasa's mention of the Sythian's being here because of a lie, Adrianna the mother, perhaps even the ending of the war. Revealing their final destination to be the island, Liriel mentions she's already seen the temple in her dreams.

Impatient to get started, Lasa creates five phantom steeds for the group and they mount, heading out for the southern shore and a schooner that Torin has arranged for them to travel to the island on.

They travel for three and a half days to reach the southern coast, their discussions during their travels revealing Lasa's true origins to Liriel, along with the fact that Liriel had once travelled with her brother, Robillard, who is missing. They discussed, as well, the first Prophecy from the Book as well as the Syth's belief that they must conquer Thardferr in order for their old Emperor to be returned to the living by Diadra. Lasa believes this to be a lie, believes that the emperor isn't Diadra's to return.

Finally reaching the shore, they use the steeds to get out to the schooner rather than a rowboat, much to the displeasure of Adrianna. Ropes are dropped and they climb aboard. Once all are aboard, they follow Neu to meet with the captain and Liriel recognizes the man, much to her dismay, as the one they captured at the battle of Magmaville who was fighting with the Sythians.

After a discussion on the deck with Captain Robert, Liriel finally decides to watch the man carefully, but take no overt action against him.

Session length: 2 hours
XP: 80/lv/hr
Treasure: none
Casualties: none


=================================

Session 2: "On the ship -- And OFF of it"
Written By: Liriel
DM: Endel
Group: n/a
IC Date: 3/21/734
RL Date: 9/22/2004
PC's Present: Liriel
NPC's Present: Adrianna, Kental, Lasa, Neu, Captain Robert, Mr. Jorgenson (first mate)


Short Version: A boring week, then a giant Kraken attacks the ship, sinking it. Through some unknown magic with a golden disk, the companions, minus Neu, end up on the shore with Adrianna unconscious.

Long Version:
After a week at sea, the ship is becalmed in warmer air, with tensions running a bit high.

Awakening in the early morning, Liriel finds Kental on the deck, his words revealing that they are moving despite the calm winds, closer to the island. The orb has been giving him dreams and speaking of the island guardians coming soon.

As they fall silent, watching the sea, Kental notices a ripple in the water, pointing it out to Liriel. As a snake-like form appears, Liriel runs to waken the others, a crash of something hitting the ship helping them jolt awake. She remains below only long enough to put on her armor and grab her things, then to the deck as the ship lurches under some sort of attack.

Hurrying onto the deck, Liriel finds the masts and rigging in chaos, snapped by the tentacles of a giant kraken. Several sailors are dead and her companions are fighting the creature as best as they can. The thing tries to pull itself over the side, and Adrianna's tossed over the side by the listing ship. The others manage to stay on the ship, attacking the creature's head and forcing it to retreat, freeing the ship.

Liriel rushes to the side with a rope, trying to rescue Adrianna, but the woman's pulled under as one of the Kraken's tentacles finds her. Neu jumps in after her, armor and all, sinking quickly.

As they search the water for the missing pair, the water grows still and smooth as Kental claims he can feel the thing coming back quickly.

Liriel sees a glowing light in the water that appears to be coming up under the ship, then suddenly the water around it looks as if it's beginning to boil. The ship and everything around, even debris that should float begins sinking as Liriel begins to panic at the thought of being drawn under the water.

As the water continues to climb, they begin to notice that it's not like water. There's no resistance and they quickly learn that it's possible to talk and breath under the strange 'water'. The silvery light is still there. The ship and all of them, including the sailors, continue sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

Liriel reaches for Kental, holding on to his hand as she searches for Lasa with her other hand, not finding her. The light grows brighter until everything is obscured and suddenly sounds begin to return, starting with the pounding of surf on a shoreline. Eventually shapes begin to reconcile themselves and they find themselves on a white sand beach standing on a large silver sun-shaped disk whose glow is slowly fading. Lasa is beside them and Adrianna lays unconscious at their feet, oddly enough the only one that's wet.

Session length: 3 hours
XP: 7700 total
Treasure: none
Casualties: Neu and a number of sailors plus Captain Robert's ship.


=================================

Session 3: "On the Island -- And OFF of it"
Written By: Liriel
DM: Endel
Group: n/a
IC Date: 4/3/734
RL Date: 10/14/2004
PC's Present: Liriel
NPC's Present: Adrianna, Kental, Lasa, The Ghost of the Sythian Emperor


Short Version: They traipse across the island, following a path to the ruined temple. Beset by small dragons that are controlled by the dragon orb that Kental carries, they finally make the temple and enter, eventually finding the pieces of the gate along with the ghost of the ancient Sythian emperor. Lasa puts the gate together and all are scattered back to where they came from as a bright light and some sort of explosion ensues.

Long Version:
The group regroups on the beach as Adrianna wakes up and Lasa explains that the disk appears to be some sort of travel disk, likely one way. They spot a plume of smoke several miles down the beach and make their way toward it. They approach it cautiously, only to find it's the remains of a burning body -- that of Kental's clan chief Gyrun.

Spotting a path, they begin to follow it, only to hear movement of something large around them.

Liriel's sword indicates that danger is near and the dragon orb glows brightly. They are herded into a clearing where they are surrounded by a number of red, fire-breathing dragonlike creatures. Liriel recognizes that they're too small to be full-grown dragons, but the dragon orb appears to be protecting them from the beasts.

Using the orb, Kental forces the drakes back and the group continues through the clearing and around a bend where Liriel recognizes the ruined temple of her dreams. Liriel and Kental first try the door, but suddenly Liriel turns to Adrianna and tells her to try, remembering the prophecy about the mother. As Adrianna steps forward to try it, the key held by the wingless angel on the roof drops to her and she easily opens the door with it, allowing the group to proceed inside.

Once inside, Liriel finds the interior exactly as she remembers from her dream and she approaches the altar. Turning, she realizes that the others have suddenly stopped and are completely still, just at the beginning of the aisle to the altar. Not knowing what else to do, she continues down the aisle and studies the altar and the flowers on it, first noticing that they're flickering, then realizing that they're actually dying and being reborn over and over again.

Realizing that her companions seem frozen, Liriel studies the flowers more closely wondering if they are the 'fields of red, sown and reaped in a day' of the prophecy. Her sword appears dull and lifeless, alarming her. Finally she reaches out and touches one of the flowers, only to find that it stops blinking. She reaches down and picks it, noting both that it wilts immediately and that her companions seem to move slightly as she does so. Walking back to them, she tries to move them back to the door, but is unable to budge them.

Finally she returns to the altar and begins picking all of the flowers, collecting a bouquet of withered flowers in her other hand as she does so. As the last flower is picked, her companions suddenly are aware, with Adrianna demanding to know what happened. Liriel's unable to explain, knowing only the actions and not the why, and Lasa says that it would take too long to explain, pointing instead to a door which has just appeared, not having been present before.

Lasa opens the door and enters. As soon as she does, a semi-transparent red-haired man runs screaming through the chapel and follows her into the room and the door begins to shut. Liriel forces it open so that the rest can follow them through the door. As they enter, the door slams behind them and disappears, leaving them in a featureless plain, apparently endless in all directions.

Directly ahead of them are four pedestals holding four pieces of stone. The ghost circles them in a panic and Lasa examines them, apparently stunned by something. As Liriel begins to panic at being trapped with a ghost, Lasa tells them it's the Emperor. The ghost suddenly stops, becoming aware of them and addressing Lasa, confirming who he is. Lasa confirms that the Sythians have indeed been fighting for a lie, since the emperor doesn't belong to Diadra to return to the Sythian Empress.

Retrieving the Dragon Orb from Kental, Lasa begins to assemble the pieces to the Peace Arch. As they finally come together, a bright light obscures everyone's vision. Liriel is torn from where she was holding to Kental's arm and finds herself in a snow-covered field with a road nearby. The others are nowhere to be seen and it's unknown what happened to them at this point.


Session length: 3 hours
XP: tbd
Treasure: none
Casualties: unknown

[Endel]

Group: Endel's 3e Group
Session 1&2: "First Step" & "Gone"

Written By: Endel
DM: Endel
IC Date: 6-10-734 to 6-12-734 (I think)
RL Date: 4-13-05 and 4-20-05
PC's Present: Lithor, Leia, Tergius, Malik, Marxus, Golgoth, and Gregors
NPC's Present: Giddlestump and Dabe Yogga

Location: Heartville and countryside

Short version:
The group gets a mission to recover a rod made of gold. On the way there they fight a hag and then the next day they find an abandoned farm. They stay the night but then are disturbed by some halfling kids. They capture the kids for questioning.

Long Version:
The messages arrived on scraps of parchment that looked like they had been torn from a larger piece. The ink was smudged and it looked like someone had written hurriedly but the message was clear: “Come to headquarters, your new assignment waits. – Giddlestump”.
I watched through the crystal as each member got their messages; delivered by one of the innumerable, dirty faced children that over ran the streets of Heartville in the days following the war. I saw the twin paladins, the Mahacto zealot, the overly bubbly halfling, halfwit elf, and the cocky kid gather their equipment together and head out among the torn streets of the city.
One by one they entered the Adventurers Incorporated building, with its gold painted sign façade and new doors trying to pull the eye from the leaking roof and the missing planking from the side of the building. There is the paper-strewn office of the legless gnome they were given their assignment.
The job was simple: an Aldred noble that had to flee before the onrushing army of the Syth had left behind everything to save his life and the life of his family. Carrying large amounts of coin and belongings can really slow a gnome down. Now with the Sythians gone and peace on the land it was time to return and gather up what could be gathered. Returning to his manner the noble found that some gnolls had taken to it; making it their base to raid into outlying farms and homesteads. Gnome doubted the stupid beast would tear up the floors in the cellar and find his tucked away riches but still there was no way for him to it. So he hired out.
The noble described the riches, in particular a rod wrought from solid gold and a family heirloom but he had no coin to finance the task. So it was completely understandable for Giddlestump to take the job from his fellow gnome on credit. The weight of gold in the rod would pay for the mission several times over.
So the little party of six was shown an illusion of the rod and given a map to the mansion and a little drawing of the first level. They decided they would try to sneak in without the gnolls knowing and steal the rod and make their way back to Heartville. The paladins and the zealot would act as muscle if they were found out. It was a good plan and I found myself nodding and smiling as they laid it out amongst themselves. If they only knew what I knew. I had been watching this for a long time and they just didn’t know they were going to just be another chapter in my book.
The mismatch group left through the city gates and headed out into lands south of Heartville. Checking my maps I knew they would be passing by Dabe Yogga’s cottage and I smiled with anticipation for that encounter; it should add a little spice to the beginning but that wouldn’t happen until the next day so I stopped watching and went to bed.
It was sometime the next afternoon when they made it to the cottage; a well made and well kept little piece of thatch and plaster, something my old mother would have lived in. It sat next to a clear pond and a small wood stack in the front yard. She threw the bones of her victims out the backdoor; and well, that would be her undoing.
Let me pause to tell you something of Dabe Yogga. Dabe was a hag, an old crone that had been in residence at that cottage in one form another since at least the second mage war.  She had been feasting on the ignorant for centuries and most of the locals knew to keep away. She had a particular taste for halflings but that is neither here nor there.
While the main part of the group went to the front door, the happy halfling and the cocky kid went to the back trying to stack out the place. There seemed to some caution in this group so maybe they might live to be in a few other chapters.
I spare you the boring bits with the dialogue and failed trickery by the hag but cut right to the facts. The halfling, I believe he is called Tergius or something the some other, found the bones of her previous victims swept out the back door. Well you can image how the relationship between the group and the hag degraded from there. Soon there are swords being swung about and claws rending flesh and all that messing bits. The paladins, the zealot, and the dimwit elf retreat out the front door when the zealot gets an interesting idea. He decides to lock the hag in and burn the cottage down around her.
I nearly jumped with glee at this development. I had never imagined the cleric to have more in his head than all those laws he kept spouting and found it delicious that he was willing to do something that would seem deviant. The plan wasn’t a complete success though as the hag crashed through the front window and out into the yard. I guess it did help so now they all could try to hack her apart with their sword at one time instead one after another as before.
For the most part their attacks were ineffective; the halfling was able to b e the most help, casting a few spells to hurt the hag. It wasn’t until a dark clad woman burst from bushes and stabbed the hag in the eye that finally brought the battle to a conclusion. Now, I had not been expecting this lithe woman in dark leather that whispered instead of squeaking. This chapter was getting more exciting by the minute.
The thing about hags is that they are particularly nasty and if they have to die, almost all of them have some sort of nasty curse for when that happens. In Dabe Yogga’s case she had a curse for the fatal wound to be shared by all those near that couldn’t resist. So when dark woman’s dagger enter Dabe’s eye so did the dagger enter everyone’s eye. Most of the group resisted but the cocksure kid and the zealot. They fell to the ground clutching their left eyes, their pupils quickly turning milky white. For twenty miles around all pregnant women felt a pang in their stomachs, like a bit of indigestion and thought nothing of it. I knew all their children would be born blind in the left eye.
Healing themselves and moving on, the group made their way out of the small wood and into the countryside once more. Beyond the wood they came across a farm that looked to be abandoned. Searching the grounds revealed nothing of foul play but did show quite a bit of possessions and foodstuffs had been left behind. In the barn tack and stables were still in order but none of the animals were there. With rain coming in from the west the little group decided to camp in the barn.
During Tergius’s watch he heard voices coming from below the loft doors. Looking down he saw two halfling boys with daggers drawn sneaking about the barn door. Quickly the halfling made his way form the loft and alerted his companions. One of the paladin twins, I think his name is Malik drew out his great sword but with a little too much noise and scared the two boys outside. Hearing them flee the paladin decided to pursue.
The boys panicked when they saw the large paladin wearing only a loincloth and carrying a huge greatsword bearing down on them. They split up; one headed out into the fields and the other tried to run around the barn. The latter ran right into dark clad woman and her blade. He skidded to a halt and surrendered. The former who had ran out into the field was quickly overtaken by the long legged paladin. There was a brief struggle and the boy was knocked unconscious. Throwing the boy over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes the paladin took the boy to be with his friend and to be questioned in the barn and out of the rain.


 XP and Treaure TBA

[Endel]

XP for Endel 3E Group Sessions 1&2

Kyrell: 763xp
Tergius: 853xp
Golgoth: 200xp
Gregors: 493xp
Lithor: 463xp
Malik: 230xp
Marxus: 433xp