Rassi goes to see the Lathenmeir's. Shensen scouts the half-orc encampment to the east of town.
(OOC: Lord Lathenmier sees Rassi. He is receptive to Rassi; his family has a martial history and he has heard great things about Rassi. He agrees to speak with rest of the nobles, specifically the Vanderborins and the Taskerhills. He doesn't have hope for the Aslaxins.)
(OOC: Shensen turns into a bird and flies over the encampment. The encampment is built against the city wall. They've set up fifteen foot tall wooden walls around the encampment. It's about 300 feet wide and maybe a thousand Close to the inner walls are simple wood supported tents. In the center is a training area. About 40 half-orc and orcs are training. On the far side are three larger tents. In the middle is a commander's tent, a line of people waiting to enter. To the right is an unguarded tent. On the left is a reinforced tent with guards posted outside.)
Rasssi and Shensen return and report on what's happened. We plan our raid.
In the late afternoon we exit town through the north gate. Some distance away we cut east around the city. As we approach the orc encampment, I hide us with an invisibility sphere. Aidan silences us. We approach.
The grounds near the back of the encampment show signs of patrols. There is some crude graffiti on the malachite city wall nearby. One says, "All hail thee Blue Duke." Nearby is a platform on the wall; four orcs stand guard.
Inside there is smoke from fires and the sounds of celebration.
Gadrey hacks at the wall, the spell of silence keeping him from making any noise. However, the invisiblity fades from him. I hasten the party. Rassi and Gadrey move in and enlarge themselves. Kyrin spreads a wall of fire from the malachite wall to the encampment wall, dividing the encampment. Shensen entangles the orcs on the other side of the wall of fire. Aidan hits the guard platform with a flame strike, slaying three of the four orcs.
"I killed the first orc! I win!" - Joe 2006-09-24
The orcs raise the alarm, just in case the wall of fire wasn't enough. One blows a horn that echoes off the walls. The orcs move into Aidan and Gadrey. I slay the last orc on the platform with magic missiles. Kyrin hits the two orcs threatening Aidan with an arc of lightning. Shensen turns into a troll and pounces on one of the orcs, cutting it up a little. Aidan invokes a mass shield of faith. The orc with the horn approaches Shensen, drawing a greatsword.
A blue skilled ogre wearing fine clothes and carrying an arcane staff steps out of the central tend. An ogre mage. A tax collector follows it out. The ogre mage calls his forces to him, then disappears. The tax collector hits Gadrey, Rassi, Kyrin, and I with a flame strike. I respond with power word blind. Rassi runs over to the tax collector. Gadrey repeatedly strikes and orc, leaving it barely standing. Kyrin hits two orcs with another arc of lightning, slaying one. Shensen tears the guts out of another orc. Aidan approaches the tax collector and pulls out his silenced stone.
The wall of fire disappears, presumably the ogre mage dispelled it. The orcs beyond fight their way through Shensen's entanglement and approach. The blinded cleric staggers around, blundering into Rassi, who drives her sword into his side. I advance, casting see invisibility to find the ogre mage. It's near the door. Rassi and Gadrey slay the last two orcs nearby. Kyrin summons a new wall of fire on the approaching orcs. I point out the ogre mage. Shensen approaches it. It strikes her with its greatsword, appearing to normal sight. Shensen's troll form tries to strike back, but misses. Aidan magically heals some of Shensen's wounds.
The orcs continue to advance through Kyrin's wall of fire. Several orc barbarians make it through and rush Aidan. The ogre mage falls back, getting clawed by Shensen as he does. It flies upward and hits our warriors and the orc barbarians with a cone of cold. Our warriors are injured, but the orc barbarians are slain. I hit the ogre mage with a orb of force, but some protective spell deflects most of the force of the blow. Rassi moves up to the wall of fire and cuts an orc in half. Kyrin hits the ogre mage with an orb of fire. Shensen grows bat wings on her trollish back. Aidan heals Gadrey. The ogre mage flies over and hits Gadrey, Aidan, and I with another cone of cold. Aidan and I are barely still standing. The orcs charge through the wall, collapsing into flaming heaps. I grant Gadrey flight so he can get to the ogre mage. Gadrey flies up to the ogre mage. Kyrin hits the ogre mage with an orb of acid. The acid burns into the ogre mage's face. It falls to the ground with a wet crunch. Aidan magically cures himself.
Joe: "Sudden Widen is useful in the sack." Viv: "Sudden Enlarge?" Jeff: "Sudden Lengthen?" Viv: "Sudden Maximize?" 2006-09-24 |
7800=84499 ogre mage (the Blue Duke), tax collector/cleric of Vecna, 3 orc barbarians, 4 elite orcs,15 orcs
We rapidly loot the most valuable things from the bodies. From the ogre mage we find magical gear: a chain shirt, a greatsword, and an amulet. The orcs guarding the tents had magical breastplates and orcish double axes.
The large central tent is divided in two with a curtain. The near half has a rack of mundane weapons and a large desk. I grab the paperwork. Under some papers I find a pouch full of money. Rassi notices a bisected mask carved into the back left leg of the chair. Half of the mask is dark, half is light. A maker's mark from the Last Laugh? The back half has pillows for a sleeping area. Shensen asks Gadrey to cut the leg off for her.
The unguarded tent is full of supplies. In the back are a number of rotting bodies: Imer and Skellerang. We grab Skellerang's body.
The final tent holds a half-dozen people manacled to the back wall of the tent. It's perfectly quiet, a silence effect. Gadrey easily cuts the wooden bars open. We lead them out.
Outside the wall of fire a group of orcs howls. Kyrin hits them with a cloudkill, the survivors flee.
We flee north. Aidan blocks the hole we opened with a wall of stone.
At the north gate is a quartet of orc guards. As we approach, they flee. At my suggestion, Kyrin summons a greater floating disk, upon which we put Skellerang.
We talk to six prisoners. They're a family that was captured en route to Sasserine. There where four prisoners already when they were captured, those people has since disappeared. The family is faithful to St. Cuthbert, we'll take them there.
As we head to the Church of the Righteous Cudgel, we loudly call out that we've freed these prisoners from the orc encampment and recovered Skellerang's body. After a few blocks we acquire a large crowd. Some of the town guard show up, then run off as a group down an alley. Strange.
When we arrive at the Church, the doors are already open. Jenya and two acolytes are waiting. The acolytes take Skellerang's body inside. The prisoners head inside. Jenya says she wants to speak with us tomorrow morning.
Jenya addresses the crowd. She says we've revealed a great evil. She encourages everyone to come to the festival.
We retreat down some alleys to lose anyone following us. I summon a mage's magnificent mansion and we head in.
Shensen points out the Last Laugh maker's mark on the chair leg. She suggests it might be Detrick's.
We rest for the night.
2nd of Wealsun
Gadrey looks outside and calls to us. There are signs of smoke from multiple places. There are people rushing about. Two carriages go by on Obsidian Avenue. A band of orcs and a tax collector chase after someone.
We quickly head to the Church of the Righteous Cudgel. The doors are open. Acolytes are calling the faithful inside. When an acolyte yells for Jenya, she runs out to see us. She looks like she hasn't slept. She fills us in.
There was a magical explosion early in the morning. It was probably the resistance who got access to an alchemical bomb. They blew up a Smoking Eye cult haven. Many cultists were killed, as was Skylar. The city is now in revolt. Something attacked the Lantern Street Orphanage; there were many deaths.
Jenya shows us a notice. "Wanted for crimes against the Cauldron city government." It portrays the six of us; the list includes us six plus the Telemmaites. We're charged with theft, murder, impersonating a law enforcement officer, destruction of city government property, destruction of city religious property, murder of government officials, and a few more. I suppose it was expected.
Jenya also has a copy of our flier. Apparently it's being distributed.
Jenya has raised Skellerang from the dead. They came for him in the night. He had been objecting to making the MTA more militant.
Jenya is worried that people are already crowding Ash Avenue, it's too early.
We head to Ash Avenue via my house.
A pile of the city fliers have been scattered across my lawn. They've been blown off my porch by the explosive runes on my door. A pair of young men in Last Laugh face paint lay dead on my lawn. We close the window and gather up some of the fliers,
On Ash Avenue there is a large mob. Bands of bards are playing in the streets. The booths have been broken into and the wares are being given away. The mob is dancing and celebrating. The mood is rowdy and uncontrolled. Some crowd members are scarred. One person has had their left eye removed. The occasional orcish patrol pushes through, but they don't interfere with us or the crowds.
We make our way to the stage. Things are particularly rowdy. A group surrounds a knife fight. Many people are making bets. This is too much. We step into the center. The orcs in the crowd take off. I approach the fighters and tell them to stop; Spellmason founded this city to be a focus of law and order. They laugh at me. Right. I smack one of them. He stops laughing and tries to stab me, but misses. The larger fellow also tries to stab me, but can't focus on my blured image. The crowd beings chanting, "Glin." Glin? The littler fighter puffs up. Guess it's him.
Shensen turns into a troll. The crowd gasps. Shensen grabs the large fighter. The fighter screams. Gadrey enlarges himself. Kyrin grabs the smaller man.
I call to crowd, asking them to look at what is happening to them, they're turning as savage as the orcs. Some of the crowd looks ashamed. Rassi shouts at them as well. The crowd begins to disperse.
I warn the two fighters off and have them let go. The little guy seems ready to grab his knife, but the big guy grabs him and drags him off.
Kyrin suggests that the two men might be Last Laugh. Is this their plan? To turn the city into a lawless base of operations?
As we're regrouping Fario bursts out of the crowd shouting for Shensen. Apparently Fellian has been captured by the Last Laugh and is being tortured. The two have some sort of psychic link. Fario wants us to follow him to a house that the Striders of Fharlanghn are squatting in so we can meet Mirthan.
Fario leads us to a ramshackled single story building. He taps out a quiet pattern on the door. Mirthan opens the door and we enter. Mirthan looks like he's in pain. The psychic link again? He's not happy to have to cross paths with us. Fellian is being tortured in the Last Laugh safehouse. The Last Laugh has squatted in the Brass Trumpet. They've coverted into into a bordello. Mirthan will share everything he knows if we rescue Fellian.
Mirthan pulls his hat off. He shudders and grows. He grows wings and turns green. Apparently he's actually a planetar.
Fellian has been monitoring Vhalantru's circle, especially House Rhiavadi. Mirthan thinks they grabbed Fellian because the Last Laugh broke up with Vhalantru and they want information.
There are a number of Last Laugh, all wearing face paint. One wears a colorful cape, a cape of the mountebank. Another is a handsome man with a pair of daggers. There is a woman with dark hair with a patch over her left eye.