Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

(Completed) Campaign Journal - Tethys: Fool's Gold (DnD 5ed)

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
We had more downtime to do, so I've done some 1 on 1 stuff. This is just a short summary.

---

Chapter XIV
fzENYRDl.jpg

Downtime: Quick Three Day Trip

Balasar:
- Met with the dragons. Raerlin hoped for a good journey for Balasar, since he himself will leave. The gold dragon revealed that he was similar to Balasar, also, tried to contact Lord Sun but nothing came out of it.
- Balasar met with Johnathan, who became the Warden of the country and leader of the Sunriders, the hippogryph riders. He left him duties and spent some time flying with the riders.
- Met with Solange's parents. They both thanked him for great work for the worshippers.

Solange:
- Met with his family. The Brotherhood in the east isn't in the best shape, it could be worse. More undead shows up from the south there. Mother was a strong one, deciding one, wanting Solange to get married. Later, father revealed that he met Solange in the shadow plane, mother was furious.

Elhaeltôr:
- Spoke with the drow. Gained information that there some Undertethys tavern somewhere under the canyon. Gained teleportation circle to Orlytlar, the drow city.
- With the Lasse'hyanda (remember that Wood Elf "moonblade"?) in hand, he went to the marked meeting spot in the Renewed Green, north of Estel'Anoron. Spoke the words and ghosts appeared. He met with the previous five owners of the blade. It wasn't passed on from father and son, used sparingly as the souls of the warriors would stay in the blade. There was a discussion, the ghost didn't believe the wizard was worthy until he spoke the right words. It was revealed that if he would accept, his soul might be sundered, since he is promised to another blade (the sunblade, high elf version of the moonblade). He agreed notheneless since he needed their help. With that he even gained some memory back - his strength changed from 5 to 8 and his hair would turn silvery blonde (he would change the color back with magic).

Baâ:
- Met with her brothers. Here she would gain knowledge on what is going on. She even gained knowledge that the Magister (that gnome guy) thinks that the canyon is in trouble in 124 years, 9 months, 13 days, give or take 5 years, because the east canyon wall is eroded and the seas are pushing, so it might collapse. It needs help.
- Met with Wiktor, the leader of the hunters. Had some "alone time" with him.
- Visited her woodland enclave in Gardens Forest, where the Hand of Midnight was. She found out that some people were there and the city itself was patrolled by soldiers. She made some offerings to Curupira, the god she blessed this place for (she did find that it was "A miracle" that the jungle didn't turn into a swamp due to the disappearance of Hand of Midnight, a god had to help). When she was leaving, she felt some hand on her shoulder.
- She visited the Elementars. She got to know them a little more. She informed them about the canyon wall, agreed to help with it and to restore nature to their lands.
- She would later visit her homelands, just to look around. They seemed okay, even her brother, who is the archdruid, had an eye on her when she was there. She made a quick visit to her parents.

Mario:
- Spent his time with Luigi, who showed the rebuilt Castra Vetera. Some father-son moments there.
- Talked to Beniamino. Found out that they were basically thrown out in a "take whatever you can with you and leave" way. He promised to take care of this stuff.

Finn is the only one left out. His family will be introduced next time the party returns to the keep. There was just too much to do.
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
We descend down, the party chose the right path and might end in the next one. Also, Aerendir and Finn gain level as a catch-up mechanic.

---

Chapter XIV
2lndd9wl.jpg

Session 113: One Step Closer to Truth

The party split up to search around and gather information. Elhaeltôr went right, Baâ, Aerendir, and Finnean went left, while Solange and Mario waited. They found more trolls around and quickly recognized that they found them with smell alone. Combat started where the three were and the rest had to catch up, while trolls started to swarm the area. They found out that their leader was a gargantuan troll that bathed in poison. Elhaeltôr was running all the way to the rest and almost got caught. The party disposed of a couple of the trolls, which made the king troll jump and with his weight, break into the party like the kool-aid man. The party was able to stand their ground, Mario almost died due to heavy hits from the king troll. When the main boss was killed, he exploded in poison. Thank god, that Mario didn't have Rexgladio, he would get 228 poison damage. Not outright death but enough to fell him. The other trolls ran away when the boss died. The party barely won. They took a crown that was atop of the king troll's head. Not magical, dwarven crown, might be from 3000 years ago, no signs, so there was no way of telling of whom it was. They kept it for later. Made a short rest and found out that there were two other ways. One would take them to the other part of the laboratory, the second was a crack in the cave system that led them below. They decided to take the smaller path. Quickly found themselves smelling foul air, that reminded them of the corrupted trolls and giants, that slime. When they got to the other side, they were in a giant cave that once housed a big room, now it was almost fully destroyed, collapsed into a lake of that strange waste. They had a choice, either try their luck and jump around from pillar of stone to another one or just use magic and get to the other side. They chose the second option. They did find there was another way out of here but that would bring them "back" and they wanted to venture forth.

2C6WSqzl.jpg

They got into another series of rooms, destroyed by the earthquake. There were signs that the drow, over two years ago, made encampment here. The walls, floors, and ceilings were all broken up and sticky. After a while, Aerendir found something on the ground, something black sticking out. He advised the others to stay back, he kneeled and the black goo turned around to show it's eye. They were fighting a shoggoth or more like they were standing on him. It was a brutal fight and it was close to another TPK but they were not only able to take the creature down to low HP, which would make it retreat underground, Elhaeltôr used Disintegrate and turned the whole creature into dust. They won over the monstrosity. Mainly Elhaeltôr and Aerendir were capable of doing damage since the creature was immune to slashing and resistant to other stuff. Time to rest before going against the big bad.

More Dungeon Map and battle maps.
Pq0Rx6T.png

pSAEgAP.png

Hpn3tqk.png

8RtWCH0.png

RrT7mcU.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
The end of the dungeon, the party might explore more. However, here they finish the last boss. After it, they gain 17th level (so Finn and Aerendir would gain 2).

---

Chapter XIV
kELHZq6l.jpg

Session 114: Their Heritage, Their Sins, Their Creation

The party took a breather in the magic mansion. Read some magical books (they got some +2 books that they can read) but their magic will take time. In the meantime, the party got to know Aerendir more. He told them about Estel'Anoron, how he traveled between planes. There were more interactions between the members about their future, goals and what to do next. After the rest, they ventured deeper into the laboratory. They found glass, very thick but transparent, some masterwork. Later, they found the places for the glass. They were containers ontop a stone base. The glass was too thick for a human to be able to break through. Giants' runes revealed that there should be some magic here, at each of the containers (think test tubes for giant creatures). Magic left long ago. There was no drainage or any way to fill the containers with water, only a single hole in the base that went into the glass container. The party went searching further and found more containers, maybe hundreds of giants would be created here. They did find tracks of the drow, nothing more. Also, a skeleton of a giant in one of the containers. He tried to break his glass prison but died as soon as he broke it - his arm was hanging on the hole, while the rest of his body pressed on the glass. Maybe the party would find something horrific here. After a while, they found the biggest container and something new. There were new runes around the base and container, on the walls and floor. New "orders", so while the others were like Open, Close, Stir or something, these were Enhance, Increase, Decrease, Strength, Toughness, etc. These new runes were younger than the one in the base but still nearly 3000 years old. Maybe somebody continued the work after the first earthquake hit this place? Then, the party felt some disturbance. The dagger of Warning started to tremble, an ambush coming. There was nobody around. Those with Scout Feat felt something too. Nobody. They used the lantern to reveal invisible creatures. There were no invisible creatures, however, when they flashed the light onto a rock wall, it moved. It was just a normal rock wall when they got here first. Now, it revealed its real nature.

Q4GzZKH.jpg

Pinnacle of Giants

When it moved, it changed its color to blueish hue and the creature pushed itself away from the wall. Two pair of arms. Great musculature. Stonelike skin. Giant smile and yellow eyes. The size of a giant but it looked like a strong and terrifying creature at the same time. It looked at the party, didn't move. The party debated what to do using telepathy, so Mario decided to speak to it in dwarven. He answered in the same language. Asked who they were and why they were here. He told Mario that he is the Pinnacle of Giants, created by his mother. The creature asked him, why they spoke in dwarven, they aren't dwarves. Then Mario started to talk in Common, the creature too spoke in that language. At first, it was very basic "Who you?" but as the communication went on, he mastered the Common tongue and revealed that not only he is the Pinnacle of Giants, he is "The Life Spark manifest into flesh form" whatever that meant. He learned pretty quickly and wanted to fight. He spoke about the creature (Shoggoth) and with his death, he has nothing to train on. That he killed the drow with ease. Aerendir then spoke in Sylvan, after a while he learned that too, however, Aerendir tried to say to him that there is no need to fight, there are more worlds than this one, he could try to see more reason than to fight. "There are more worlds than this one?" he asked and then the party saw him move his hand to his side like he was pressing on air. After a while Aerendir felt it, he was trying to break from this reality, open a rift between planes. This creature not only learned languages fast but with knowledge, he could act on it and adapt. Also, when the party started to communicate telepathically, he asked: "I heard... a whisper... are you talking to each other without moving your mouths?" and after that, his hand slipped, disappeared from the material plane for a moment. The party had to stop him and he was eager for a fight.

The combat was pretty intense since the creature not only was resistant to a lot of damage, he could dish out a lot more. Also, he could learn skills, attacks and even tried to make identical. He would be able to learn healing magic but he was defeated before he could use it. The party saw him stretch his arms and flex, his "power" rose to that level that the party felt the ground tremble and some pebbles around the creature levitated. He jumped on top of the group. He could also use his hands to make a "sonic boom" and stun a couple of people. The party used their attacks but he was resistant to almost all types of damage, except for radiant and force. They didn't use necrotic and it was actually the only energy he was vulnerable to. Each time it was hit with new kind of damage, he could get resistance to it, he did with Radiant. The party was able to defeat him with Mario delivering the final blow. However, the creature didn't die. He laid dead, unmoving but the blow was done with Radiant and Slashing, which meant that his regeneration worked. Elhaeltôr used Disintegrate on him, just when the creature moved and wanted to leap up. He wasn't resistant to Force, so it was one of the few damage types that could kill him. The creature when from shouting that he is the pinnacle of Giants, the greatest creation, Life Spark taken form, a perfect being evolving into something more, to a creature that shouted for mother, tried to claw the wall (make a tear in reality) and finally was stopped. When he was damaged by the spell, he didn't die outright or turn to dust, he stopped moved and "did a Thanos." He looked around, at his hand, sat down and said: "I'm sorry Mother, I've failed." Then he turned to dust that traveled with the wind, no dust was left. It seemed like the Life Spark burned him into nothingness. The party regretted killing him, felt like this was wrong but they couldn't leave him alive - he could rampage and kill more people if left alone. He wanted to fight, to kill, there was no other way. Mario saw the axe from Onul turn into a rusty axe, their duty done. The party took a moment to rest and look around. They found not only a crack in the laboratory, that lead them to the probable exit but also signs that the Mother tried to do other experiments but all of them were destroyed with the earthquake 300 years ago. However, they found a secret passage here.

aRlHte5l.jpg

The hidden entrance lead them to a small room filled with dwarven text on the walls. There was a skeleton of a dwarf on the throne, with a stone figurine similar to that of the Pinnacle. This was Mother. While half of the team read the walls, the rest found a strange symbol at the back of the throne and some strange weapon - it was a magical musket. The text revealed the true history of this place. Long ago, when humans came, All-Father tried his best to create warriors that could battle them. He sent out five dwarves - Onul, Udesh, Utus, Kosoth and the one in the throne - Unara, the Great Inventor. She wasn't mentioned by the other dwarves above, forgotten on purpose. Also, they were sent with Alval, Heaven's Thunder, which was the son of Stronmaus, who is the father of all Storm Giants. They gained Life Spark and went to work, working to find something that could help them fight against the humans, who had a lot of technology at their disposal. Unara spoke about crossbows without strings, which could penetrate body and steel with ease, ships capable of flight and underwater movement, bombs that could destroy whole cities, and their leaders with a just a word control whole armies and with a shout resurrect their dead. They were able to kill Thrym, the father of the Frost Giants. The dwarves were ordered to find something that could beat them, while Alval worked in secret. She also spoke about what she heard during that time - that humans came with something the dwarves dubbed God Spark, that allowed Corellon to speak to his people and Urist Thunder, which to her was ridiculous for some reason. They were going in the right direction, at least to her, her compatriots didn't think so. Many died during creation and experimentation. Then the earthquake happened, this was the moment that All-Father died but she didn't know about it, Unara was trapped in the laboratory. Almost everybody died, the rest the following days. She put to sleep her creations, hoping to wake them up later. The laboratory would not survive another earthquake. She felt that this would be her grave, so she spent her last years working on the Pinnacle. Nobody came to her, she knew that they wouldn't look for her and it was good for her, they would just destroy what she created. She didn't regret her decisions, dozens of dead, because she did all she could to stop the humans. She hoped history would be kind for her. And this is the story of the dungeon. It was a staging ground to create a weapon against Actuvians, the humans that came first and used Magitech. After the laboratory collapsed, the dwarves (the other 4) conspired with the humans and betrayed All-Father, changed to heroes and built a fortress above the laboratory. Took Urist Thunder as their religion and safeguarded the entrance. However, in time their betrayal resurfaced in their descendants, who became traitors, greedy dwarves. When Actur died, most of them turned into duergar, the rest felt that this was their real sin, they killed the duergar and closed the fortress. Their Heritage, Their Sins. That was the story of Saràmottan, the forgotten dwarven fortress.

The party later left the place, closed the burial and exited using the tunnel, which leads them above ground, at the foot of the mountain where the fortress laid atop.
7CDtbYs.png

AFNMDpQ.png

Also, Baâ's player drew some nice fanart of the campaign.
7n0r3RE.png

More Dungeon Map and battle maps.
JPsSMCC.png

k5lEmRo.png

pmQ1aVC.png

iSBl1MH.png

UmXNTcy.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
The party ends their adventures in the dungeon and sets out to the frozen north. Also, Finn catches up to the party level with his 17th level bard, while Aerendir is at 12th level. The party reads their Tomes/Grimoires that give them a stat boost. Mario was out and might not be for the next session or two, Solange will be gone for the next one or two also. New Chapter!

---

Chapter XV
WGwzJeYl.jpg

Session 115: The Great North

The party continued for a while in the dungeon. Mainly, they returned to the fortress and left the rusty axe behind in the crypt. Mario (as NPC) did some religious ritual and the party went to destroy the ghost binding stone. Their duty was complete and the place was once again quiet. Before they teleported out, the apparition showed up. He thanked the heroes for their deed, that the souls finally can rest easy and he can too leave this place. The party knew that this was Urist or something connected to the god. They asked a couple of questions. However, he wasn't able to answer them. Something or someone bound them. They did get some stuff out. First, the crown belonged to the King Okran IV Steelaxe, Thunderhammer clan from Anamsodel fortress. He was killed by elves when they got inside his throne room. The crown was kept by these dwarves as a memento and reminder that they will not only fight against humans but others. The creatures that they were going to create would have been used firstly at Anamsodel, to take the fortress back. However, All-Father's death changed a lot. The other info they got is that God Spark and Life Spark, while different, can't exist without one and the other (or only one of them can't exist with the other, he wasn't clear about that). After that, he thanked the group and wished them luck. The party got back to their kingdom. Mario stayed behind with his family. The rest rested a little. Baâ gained access to high-level spells (Shapechange), so she asked Palarandusk (the gold dragon) to show up in private. She showed him the spell and changed to a younger gold dragon, to which he was impressed. The group didn't do a lot, so they departed for Baâ's homelands.

LsPBvYam.jpg
IJBS5mSm.jpg

Harhid and Maab
Baâ's Parents

The northern mountains are called the Crown Mountains. They were the lands of the White Dragons and later Frost Giants, before the dwarves and humans took over. A giant taiga separates the mountains from the civilized regions to the south. Legends state that the dragons created this forest to slow down the Giants' advance, so they built giant ships and sailed from the west. The forest is not very populated, no big city is built there, only on the edges. The north one falls to freezing temperatures, while the forest itself is very warm. The party met with Harhid, Baâ's father, who was taking care of other kids. Baâ's has about 7 other siblings (Frur and Noah the party met, there's Yul the oldest one who is the archdruid and about 4 other younger ones). They were greeted like friends. After a while, they meet with Maab, Baâ's mother, who was eager to meet Wiktor (Baâ's boyfriend) but he wasn't there. The party also met with Grandfather, a very old, blind bear, that the mother thinks she is her father. A lot of reincarnation stuff. The bear very much like Aerendir for some reason (fey stuff, you know). The party thanked for the meal and they were later teleported to the archdruid since that was their goal.

WVx46vim.jpg

Yul
Archdruid of the Moon Druids
Leader of the Sijbir Glades
Baâ's Eldest Brother

The druid's grove was were big, a lot of animals lived here in harmony, while druids roamed in the dozens. There were even "giant dire wolves" that are known in the north (they are huge). The party saw that the archdruid was connected to The Great Tree, that was in the center of the glade. With this, he knows what goes in the taiga (hundreds of kilometers). He isn't all knowing but will know if an army shows up or a forest fire breaks out. The party asked about the situation and Yul told them what he knew. He showed them Grimstav Draugsleiven, the sorcerer that is a Runechild (talked about it long ago, a sorcerer bloodline from the times of the war against the dragons). He united many tribes under him for unknown reasons. He is in the mountains so it's hard for the archdruid to know more since those are outside his sphere of influence. The party recognized the cloak he wore, the archdruid didn't want to mention it, from the appearance it was an artifact called Dziadyga's Beard (that archfey guy). He didn't know how can he wield it, how did it find it or if it's even the real one. The dragon was recognized as Cudiryr the Hungry, the daughter of Rinnam, The Mammoth, who, from what is known, was killed thousands of years ago by the dwarves and humans of the mountains. What are her goals? Nobody knows. The party asked about Phalanges of the All-Father since this artifact Palarandusk said must be here. The archdruid heard about it but doesn't know about it, where it is or what it does. However, when asked about the resting place of a Frost Giant, he knew something. He asked for something in exchange. The northern tribes might come down and start pillage, the taiga is like a wall that separates the wild from the civilization, if it breaks, they will flood the peaceful countrysides and murder and rape. In return for the knowledge about the resting place of Gnirdir, also called Glacieraxe, the party promised to defend Sijbir. They agreed and later left.

u9IREYgl.jpg

They traveled north for many days, would be weeks if not for Aerendir (ranger class allows the group to travel without any difficulties, so the travel instead of 3 days takes 1 day). When they got close to the place, the party saw Cudiryr in the distance, she flew to the east for some reason. She couldn't see them, they were too far and too small to be seen. The party noticed the place they were going to was hidden under a snowstorm, Baâ used Control Weather to remove the obstacle and it revealed an ice glacier between the mountains, a canyon you could call it. The party ventured down and found tracks of Frost Giants. In the canyon, the party saw that the ice was quite unique, it was clear to a point of mirror effect in some places. After a while, they found an entrance to a cave guarded by a Frost Giant. Solange, having finally the monk's all language ability spoke to the Giant. They found out that he guards this place and wasn't willing to allow them through. The party noticed that he wasn't the only one. The mirror effect was so good that they almost didn't notice two more Frost Giants in the cave. Solange tried to convince the Giant that they are on the same side, that there are hard times ahead, the world might end and the Phalanges of the All-Father might help them with it. They were lucky on their rolls, so the Frost Giant only said they will need to fight the guardian since the giant was more of a curator. He touched the ice and outside part of the glacier broke off before the group turning into a gargantuan ice salamander. The fight was a joke, literally. The druid Shapechanged into a dragon, tanked everything, while the other was able to overpower the beast pretty quickly (it died in turn 2, no joke). It was pretty sad. I might never use that homebrew again (Critters Compendium, it was CR 23 for a party of 4 17th levels and 1 12th level, it was a cakewalk). After that, the Frost Giants didn't say anything, just showed the group to follow them, which they did. They ventured into the cave. The ice had a blueish glow due to light refracting of it. The further they went, the more defined the cave was like it was turning into a structure. This glacier that was about 2 kilometers wide, had to be many more kilometers long and much more than a couple of dozen meters high. The party saw that they were inside an ice fortress but only those three frost giants remained. The party was brought before a corpse of a bigger giant. This was Gnirdir son of Thrym, the father of all Frost Giants. The fathers of giants are called Jotunn, while their first children are called Jotnar. They were bigger than normal giants, this one was nearly 8 meters tall. He wore a strange ice-metal armour on him, that was so cold it made vapor around it due to the temperature in the room being much higher. He wore two gigantic gauntlets that the giants, all three, had to take out one by one, then carefully place down. It had to weight over a hundred tones and was so big, that Solange might easily fit inside one of them. The monk carefully moved closer, while the giants watched him in silence, not answering anything. They were angry for some reason but didn't attack or anything. When he touched them, they turned smaller but still humongous. They were so big for a normal human, that they would go over the elbows and the hands were double in size, which could make for a troublesome item manipulation later. Solange thanked the giants, took the gauntlets but didn't wear them. The party left the fortress, then the cave, while the giants followed. When they got outside, all three touched the ice walls and the whole place started to quake. The party moved and quickly saw that they need to get out faster - the glacier canyon was closing on them. Teleporting out, they saw the ice close itself, snow returning to the place and suddenly falling down. The whole glacier vanished. The party gained a new artifact with Solange going to research it. In short, it is able to deal double damage to structures, create earthquakes and even "crack" reality (if somebody watched One Piece anime, Whitebeard has the power).

Phalanges of the All-Father
erTnzju.jpg

hhiC819.gif
PohrBnS.gif
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
No Solange and Mario. The party continues on their journey in search of Grimstav.

---

Chapter XV
CL7uuBll.jpg

Session 116: Centuries Worth of Vengeance

The group went east, wanting to check nearby villages. After a day of travel, they found one. It was pretty obvious that there a lot of people missing, where it should have housed at least 300 people, there were less than a hundred. Finnean talked to the eldest looking person and gained information about their situation. Apparently, warriors from Grimstav Draugsleiven came to the village, challenged their jarl and defeated him. With that, they became the de facto leaders of the village. They ordered the able men and women to come with them, to join Grimstav's army in the south-east. They didn't take a lot of supplies, just those that were needed. The party found out that the dragon was seen in these parts but doesn't attack, at least not this village or nearby ones. However, they heard stories that the dragon does attack other villages or the dwarven lands. The party decided to stay for a little longer. Baâ and Aerendir used their skills and magic to improve the surrounding area to help these people come with the loss of manpower, so they will have food for the Winter (right now it's Spring). Finn sang music to them, to cheer them up. When the party left, they were given partying gifts. Elhaeltôr was given a bouquet of flowers, Aerendir some furs, Finn a small statuette of Ilios (he is one of the Trinity, here is worship is the main one as strength is most valued in these lands) and Baâ was given a small statuette of Dziadyga (a wooden carving of his head).

phhDScSl.jpg

Hortlax

The party then went to Hortlax, the only human city in these mountains for days and days. Hortlax is situated upon a cliff, so it makes a very hard place to siege. Also, there's a lot of rivers nearby and some go to the Majesty River, which is the main river to the south that goes through the northern kingdoms. The city itself thrives on trade since a lot of villages come here to trade their stuff in the Summer time and even some outsiders - dwarves from the Crownaxe clan or the southerners. This wasn't the time but still, there were many travelers here. Mainly humans lived here but there were some dwarves and white dragonborn, all working and living together in this mishmash of cultures. Everybody wants to survive in these parts. The party went to the nearest tavern and Finn used his bardic charms to get people's attention and gain information. There were many rumors about Grimstav like "he fucks dragons" or "he fucks giants" but there was little to nothing to them in most cases. The information that was reliable told a story about Grimstav. He comes from the icy north, beyond the Crown Mountains. There he started his conquest, uniting people under him. Went south, after having thousands of men and women as his army, and visited dwarven fortresses on the way. These lands long ago belonged to the dwarves of the Giantsbane clan. When Actur died and some dwarves turned into duergar, this clan just disappeared, nowhere to be seen, only their empty halls as evidence. While their neighbors, the Crownaxe were the only dwarven clan, officially, not touched by the curse. The empty fortresses were taken by human tribesmen, monsters or left alone. Nothing stayed permanent, no village or city was created during these three centuries. Grimstav pillaged and found many magical items in the dwarven ruins. He then united other villages in the mountains under him. Right now, he has dozens of thousands of ready-to-fight people - humans, dwarves, and dragonborn. He is stationed at the start of the Majesty River and many people think he will attack the main human in the south, that is heavily fortified. How did he gain so many people? He sends his warriors to duel villages' leaders and submit them. Those that refuse the duel or joining him are visited later by the army that ransacks the whole village. He even sent some men to the Jarl of Hortlax and they still are in the city but are denied entry to Jarl, so they can't challenge him. The party would later talk to a local Druid and he reveals that many younger druids joined Grimstav's army, while he stayed behind. Also, he revealed information about the dragon and her routes. It became apparent that the white dragon doesn't attack villages that are on the way of Grimstav's army and she stays in the boundary of the mountains, doesn't go deep into the dwarven lands or even flies over the taiga.

xGvqhuFm.jpg

Balgruuf
Jarl of Hortlax

The party was stopped by Jarl's men, who heard Finn's singing and wanted him to come to Jarl to sing for him. He accepted and the group went to meet with the Jarl. Balgruuf's the name (Jarl Ballin'!). Finn was asked to sign a song since it was already time for dinner. After some festities, the party gained knowledge about the situation. Jarl Balgruuf denies meeting with a person calling himself Agnar Thrice-Dead, who is a person of a legend in these parts. He is a renowned "duelist" or more like he challenges people to fight to the death. He was killed many centuries ago, that was his first death. Last recorded death was two hundred years ago. After being killed, he searches to kill the person who killed him last or one of his descendants. He wanders the land, dueling everybody on the way. Apparently, he now works for Grimstav. Jarl Balgruuf already sent men to defeat him and twelve people died doing so. He is out of options and either Agnar will relent and leave or Balgruuf will have no other option to accept and fight him. The Jarl doesn't care about Grimstav since he believes that the sorcerer won't attack Hortlax as this would just be a net negative for him, he would need to expend many resources and men to besiege this place and would gain very little out of it. Jarl tells the party that Grimstav will do a major move in the upcoming months since he can't have his army stay in one place for the next winter, he needs provisions. The party decided to check on this legendary figure.

jjFvwBzm.jpg

Agnar Thrice-Dead

He was found in the nearby tavern. The city has a lot of dragon bones and giant's weapons and armor, probably tokens from centuries ago, the tavern itself have the roof filled with dragon wing bones. The party didn't need to look a lot, he stood out. Black armor, his face forever hidden with magical darkness and a giant axe with him. When they tried to talk to him, Grimstav's men, who were with Agnar talked, Agnar sat quietly. The party tried a little rouse of trying to get these men out of here, to escort the party to Grimstav, since they wanted to meet with him. They didn't care, they had their orders and if the party wants to meet with Grimstav, they will need to do it themselves. The group was able to talk to Agnar, who had magically changed his voice that didn't reveal his true identity nor even race. He came for Jarl Balgruuf and he only cares about him. Joined Grimstav to fight. There was even a moment when Baâ even made a comment about that - he sits and does no fighting. People around them were in shock. However, Finn was able to convince Agnar to tell them more (he had a DISADVANTAGE on Persuasion and still rolled TWO NATURAL 20s, which made the test 38 in his hands). Agnar revealed the truth, even when Grimstav's men tried to stop him. Jarl Balgruuf, according to Grimstav, is the only descendant of his killer, which means he will have his vengeance after his death. That's the main reason he is here. This was a shock to everybody in the tavern, even some ran out with this information. Agnar told the group that he only cares about his vengeance and doesn't know what will happen next, might the curse be lifted? He doesn't know. He does remember his past vengeance and when he was killed. When asked, he told the story about his first death. It was at the hands of no other than Tiberion Courvelux, for those that don't remember, he was the first bearer of Rexgladio, united the warring nations that later formed the Kingdom of the Golden Brook and defeated Nyrydes, the green tyrant dragon. Tiberion went north to get Rexgladio, apparently, this place was no other than Sijbir, the taiga, Baâ's homeland. When Agnar returned to the living, he went south to kill Tiberion but he was already dead by the hands of his friends, poisoned. He opted to kill his firstborn son and that's all he remembers. Right now, Agnar cares about one thing - Jarl Balgruuf and nothing more. He doesn't want help from the party, who now have a conundrum to solve.
 
Last edited:

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Short session. The party was stumped on what to do and Elhaeltôr couldn't be fully for the session, so we ended earlier. Still no Solange and Mario.

---

Chapter XV
O80R97Wl.jpg

Session 117: A Cursed Existence

The party discussed their next course of action but there was no definitive move. For now, they would talk to the Jarl. Agnar telling the truth made everybody in town anxious and suspicious of the group. This will make the Jarl decide faster. The party talked to Balgruuf trying to find how what and when. However, there was little to no good information about his past. One of his ancestors nearly 200 years ago fought against Agnar Twice-Dead, he was decapitated then. The ancestor didn't check the body, just left it in the snow. People later came to check on it or rob it but found nothing. Since then, the family past, in secret, about their potential demise. Even Balgruuf doesn't know the details since it was many generations ago and it was more word of mouth. His closest advisors and family knows the truth, nobody else. He doesn't know how Agnar or Grimstav knows the truth. The group was debating what to do. Even made Jarl tell them the truth - he will lose either way. If he takes the duel, there is no chance he will survive it, he will die. At least, that's what he believes. Then, the duel will seal the deal between Hortlax and Grimstav giving him men. If he doesn't take the duel and just sits it out, maybe Agnar will leave. Grimstav would be a fool to attack the city. Jarl will lose many good men, who will believe Jarl for a coward and join Grimstav but most of the population will stay, the only price is his honor. Also, Balgruuf will not endanger one of his children, since Agnar wants blood, it doesn't need to be his, he won't do it. Then Baâ made an obvious comment, its Grimstav that wants Jarl Balgruuf, Agnar doesn't care if you are Jarl or not. Balgruuf's eyes widened, finally respite. He thanked the group for everything and left. The party went to the front of the tavern. They saw the Cleric of Ilios enter the Jarl's longhouse, there was some combat inside, then Jarl exited the building. He was bloodied but all his wounds were magically healed, he didn't wear his cape nor crown. He went to the tavern and shouted for Agnar to come out and fight him. The black plated warrior almost flew out of the door. There was little to no talk and the two fought. At first, it felt like it was a duel of equals, then Agnar, being bloodied, fought back with twice the ferocity and speed, almost inhuman like with dark smoke coming out of his armor. He cut off Jarl's right arm and then decapitated him in the goriest manner by exploding his head with a strong slice through it. Jarl stood for a second or two and then fell over. He was dead, Agnar won. It took a long moment and then Agnar's smoke stopped, his eyes stopped glowing and the darkness lifted.

j8JWCpWm.jpg

Rhogar

Agnar took his helmet off with a slow movement. People were still in shock how the Jarl died and saw that under the armor there was a white dragonborn. After the helmet, he quickly started to take all of his armor off. When he did so, he took the axe and helmet and left the square, where there were hundreds of people. The group made a small commotion later. They used magic to spirit away the armor and had to explain that it is cursed and better in their hands. They were able to stop the dragonborn, who spoke in Draconic revealing that he wants to sell the helmet. Finn was able to buy it. The party convinced him to speak with them and tell everything he knows. His story was as follows. His name was Rhogar and comes from the north (further than what the party is at), near the Dragon Mountain (or the Crown Mountain, the biggest mountain in Tethys). He lived in a fishing village and left with his mates. During their travels, they found a magical armor and he decided to wear it. The moment he did so, he lost control over his body. Now, there was only Agnar Thrice-Dead. He could only see what Agnar does, he couldn't do anything else. He murdered his friends, using the same axe he once used to save them and fight for them. He traveled as Agnar and found Grimstav and his men. The latter did try their luck, dying in the process but Grimstav offered something else - revenge, that he will do whatever it takes to find Agnar's killer in return Agnar would fight for him and duel those he wants. Agnar agreed to the terms, in doing so, he killed more than 10 Jarls of different villages, granting Grimstav thousands of warriors. Agnar would be restless, waiting for his revenge. It was not until the army stopped under the Minor Olympia Mountain, the same one that the Majesty River flows out and into the kingdoms. There Grimstav's men made camp and prepared for war, building ships to transport them down the river. The leader is known fighter and magic user, quite charismatic in the eyes of Rhogar. He was seen going to the top of the Minor Olympia Mountain, which is known for very harsh weather and maybe even giants. Nobody knows what he does there. The dragon was mentioned by Rhogar that Agnar saw her, however, nothing else. She flew around the army, sometimes landed not far from it. Grimstav might or might not meet with her. Rhogar says that its matter of weeks, if not months, that the raiders will march south. Rhogar wanted to leave this place, travel as far as he could, the party proposed him to teleport him to Sijbir, so he can walk the rest, without the risk of being found out by Grimstav's men. They even offered going to the Golden Shield, to join their kingdom. Rhogar talked to Finn and Aerendir about this, so while that was going on, Baâ met with the new Jarl. Apparently, Jarl Balgruuf went to his son, dueled him for the position and after his defeat, he went to fight Agnar. Jarl Koll talked in private with Baâ, who offered resurrection, since Agnar Thrice-Dead was actually a dragonborn, wearing cursed armor. She was successful in convincing the new Jarl that his father's death was not honorable and he could be resurrected.
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Double whammy, since we didn't finish the first session, so made a short one next. Aerendir bumped to level 16th so one more session and he caught up to the party.

---

Chapter XV
oyN8Y5al.jpg

Session 118-119: Ice for the Ages

The party went to the Jarl and prepared for the resurrection ceremony. It took over an hour but they were able to bring back Balgruuf. He was content with the fact they did so since a duel with a cursed man isn't honorable. He thanked them, told them they will always be welcomed to Hortlax. However, the party didn't stay for the festivities and decided to leave, taking Rhogar with them, who left just after. They teleported back to the druids' grove. There they met up with the rest of the party. While talking to the archdruid, it was revealed that Gerdau, the first city on the Majesty River has a problem. All their influential people and leaders are gone - kidnapped or maybe dead. He knows this thanks to a hunter that works in Gerdau and informed the druids of Taiga about the situation. Yul decided that he cannot leave this be, he needs to confront Grimstav and get the truth. He wants to go with the party, as he isn't going to do it alone. Furthermore, apparently, Grimstav's army prepared boats and ships and some of them already went down the river. The group discussed and argued about what to do next and decided it is best to delay the army and give them some time to confront Grimstav. They had no time to hunt down the dragon. The party made preparations by buying potions and teleporting their friend adventurers' to Gerdau. The army, while using a river, would take some days to get to the city, so the party scouted out ahead. It became apparent that some raiders already started and some villages are pillaged with ships docked there. The party made plant vines (with spells) and Finn used his paints to create stones. They filled the river with this. It will slow down the army for a day or two.

N6eRZ8Ul.jpg

After that, the party with Yul teleported near the army. Thousands of tents. The party met with some of the warriors, most of them were young, not everybody had a good weapon or armor on him. However, they didn't look malnourished. There was no aggressive confrontation, they talked with them about where Grimstav is. He pointed at the Minor Olimp Mountain, from which the Majesty River flows, it had a "crown", which was more akin to a giant cloud. It was magical in nature, hiding whatever was inside there and making double sure everything could just die in the freezing temperatures. The party didn't talk much with the people here and just left to meet with Grimstav, who was supposed to be atop the mountain. He went there a couple of times. Once he left before the winter started and came back after, took some sorcerers with him. Something bad was about to happen. The party traversed the mountain at a quick pace, thanks to Aerendir. When they got close to the snowstorm, they used to Detect Magic to confirm the magical nature. However, the sheer size of the snowstorm meant that it can't be easily dispelled from the outside like they did last time. Those were more magical stones for defending and quick response, here the magical anchor had to be a couple of times bigger. Aerendir was able to detect a Planar portal nearby (up to 1 mile), that was inside the mountain, not nearly at the top. The party decided to drink the cold resistance potions and travel to the top.

VRyUfqnm.jpg
lUOss0wm.jpg

Storvald
Voice of Avalanche
Jarl of the Frost Giants

Grimstav Draugsleiven
Sorcerer Warrior

Along the way, they saw a Frost Giant that was going to meet with them. However, when he saw Solange's new artifact, he lunged towards the party. The monk asked the party not to interfere. The two clashed and it was pretty close but the giant was defeated, not killed. The party saw the artifact gauntlets suddenly get a coating of ice on it and Solange felt that one of the six figures, Jotunn probably, that watched over him, leave appeased. When the Frost Giant woke up, the party asked about Grimstav, so the giant lead the party to the top of the mountain. There the snowstorm was over, it ranged around a plateau, that surrounded a cave entrance in the shape of a head, so big that giants could freely move around. The party was now in the middle of a group, nearly ten, Frost Giants and were able to ask them about Grimstav, which made of them "go for the Jarl." They didn't need to wait long, but couldn't get inside the cave. Three new giants appeared in icy armor, their leader was called Jarl Storval, Voice of Avalanche. A massive giant with his two bondsmen. There was a human at his feet and no other than Grimstav Draugslevein, looking exactly like Yul showed the party not so long ago. However, his runes and eyes glowed in arcane energy. Before the talks started, the Jarl asked Grimstav "if those are the people" and he confirmed, saying that "they are here to stop us." The talks then turned into a debate. Grimstav and Jarl were people of strength. Both saw an end coming, Ragnarok, the end of all things. Both agreed that the south became weak. Grimstav wants the strong to fight, weak to be killed, so when the end comes, the strong will stop the end of the world. He is of the opinion if the world would be destroyed, then that means the world was weak and deserved it. Jarl heard the counterpoints and grave warnings from the party. While he was very angry at first and wanted to kill the group, he decided that this can't be won with words. The party will fight with him, his two bondsmen and Grimstav, to the shock of Grimstav. Saying that if the party defeats them, he will listen to everything the party has to say, seeing them as stronger. The party agreed and combat ensued, Yul didn't fight here. It was quite deadly. Grimstav was a powerful sorcerer that turned into an avatar of magic (Rune Child 18th level power), while the Jarl and his bondsmen were much more powerful giants than normal. Even the Jarl showed his power of stunning people with his voice. Solange was able to show off his artifact by using Crack! ability, that cracked the reality/air/plane in a line and damaged every creature. The party was able to take down two bondsmen, one of them died. Grimstav used Power Word Kill on Finnean, when he was low HP and killed him. He was later put down by Mario (didn't kill him outright). Jarl was subdued by Baâ's Gold Dragon form. Mario and Elhaeltôr used Revify to get the giant back and Finnean. The party barely had time to do anything when the terrible happened.

ydhthR9m.jpg
AZaWe2Qm.jpg

Cudiryr
The Hungry

Avatar of Nature

They felt the whole ground move, like a huge earthquake but there was little to no shake, just like the whole plateau moved from the right couple of meters and back. Suddenly, the top of the mountain, above the cave entrance, exploded, ice stones fell to the ground and the entrance, the mouth spilled a powerful snowstorm wind. Jarl shouted to Grimstav, asking what was going on and that this wasn't part of the deal. Grimstav only laughed, that he succeeded and it was too late. Jarl revealed that Grimstav was supposed to bring back Thrym, the father of the Frost Giants. The sorcerer said he brought something else. The party then saw claws at the new hole, powerful blue light, like a column of light, came out of it. The claws moved and the white dragon appeared. Cudiryr showed up from the inside and showed her new toy. It was nested in her neck, as part of her body, a blue sphere that brimmed with icy energy. The Everice, the power that All-Father granted Thrym long ago, it was now in the hands of the dragon lady. A bright flash almost blinded the party. They thought that they saw double, triple even, however, it was real. Suddenly, besides the dragon, two more appeared out of nowhere, made entirely out of ice, like ideal copies. One of the dragons flapped her wings and flew out of the snowstorm to the south. The party didn't know what to do, there was barely any time. One of the ideas was to fly after the copy but what about the giants? Yul came to the party quickly and told them to teleport from here, maybe to Gerdau, since the copy-dragon is flying south, she is going to attack the city. He will stand here with the giants. The party decided that this would be the best action. Before they teleported, Yul changed into a new form, a legendary Avatar of Nature (this was my reveal for epic "levels" that the Druid will be able to turn into such a being). I've done some dramatic moment, where Elhaeltôr was doing his teleport, in those couple of seconds Baâ felt her brother's raven on her dragon shoulder and spoke only to her. Asked about the south, if she found a family, friends and what about those here. He was happy that she found friends and will start a family, create a new home in the south. He told her to look to the future and not to worry. Then they teleported and we ended the session.

One screenshot and gif
pntDecl.jpg

771ef38030d1029c5d1c102da18483c89417f422_hq.gif
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Sorry for taking so long. A lot of happened in my private life. This session was bad from my side. I was too stressed and did the session anyway, not a good choice. Also, Aerendir caught up with the party with his character.

---

Chapter XV
7Nopazcl.jpg

Session 120: Preparing for Early Winter

The party teleported in the center of a field scared some peasants and talked to the local guard. The adventuring parties are already here and at work. The group first talked with Grimstav. He revealed that the giants wanted to get Thrymn back, their founding father. However, he wasn't able to, so he went with a different creature. He fell in love with the white dragon, for her ferocity, for her instincts and primeval nature. He saw nature manifest in her and decided to work with her. The sorcerers he took with him weren't strong enough or willing to cast the summon. The magic wasn't there and the mountain prevented a lot of it. Somebody needed to be an anchor for the spell - he chose himself, that's why he is dying. The spell worked but he is dying differently than he hoped - instantly or at least to see the world turn to ice. He wished the party good luck, for if they succeed, then the south has stronger people than he thought and that's a good thing. When asked about his grave, he wanted to be next to the dragon. Also, his last words were "Even if south is weak, even if its infested with frail people who live in too much peace, the world is still beautiful, still worth fighting for" and he asked the party to continue the fight, while he did all he could. Mario then stabbed his heart to grant him respite. His runes disappeared, Grimstav Draugsleiven died. The party took his stuff and went to the city.

The city isn't in good shape. Their morale is shaken. The adventuring parties are competing against each other. Baâ went south to the Taiga forest since the druids didn't come to the city. There her brothers revealed that they aren't willing to fight for the city. They should retreat to the forest, leave the city behind, it can be rebuilt. They had all the notice they wanted that something is going to happen, they ignored it. The people of the Taiga are preparing for war. Baâ was at odds with her brothers. She changed, they saw it too. Baâ from the start of the campaign would agree with the brothers, now she doesn't think the same. She understood their position and left them. The party started their investigation into the missing leaders. Sergeant Rossman helped with everything they needed. Using Scrying they were able to find them, tied in a basement somewhere, hidden and surrounded by traps. Magical traps. With some ingenuity, they found the house, that was once the governor home, he never sold it to anyone. Later, it was revealed he used it as rendezvous with his secret lover. The party used magic etherealess to pass through the wall. However, they didn't spot hidden magical traps that turned on, when they got inside. Time again slowed down and for some reason, Finn was able to cast Teleport without himself (normally you need to teleport with the targets). He was able to teleport everyone except for Mario. The traps exploded, the building caved on the pair. The party was able to retrieve them, Finn was holding on his back a rock that would slice Mario in half. Both of them were unconscious. They were nursed back to health, while the leaders were healed from a concoction called Eris Sleep, that is used to kidnap people (makes them unresponsive while slowing down the metabolism for long journeys). The party learned that the people behind this was none other than the Great Empire. They offered safety if the city would bow down to them. They had 24h hours to answer after their secret meeting ended. No answer, so they were attacked, knocked out and they don't remember the rest.

Map
u7FdH2n.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Another session. A short one, since we started with a long talk.

---

Chapter XV
rULUrdGl.jpg

Session 121: Day of Hope and Ice

The party discussed their next move and what the Great Empire wanted to achieve here. However, they weren't sure what to do with the white dragon. Before going to rest, Mario and Baâ took this moment to talk about family and the future, since the druid couldn't contact her brother and that made her worry. The next day, the first thing the party did was to make a speech. They took the saved leaders and asked people to come to the walls. With Finn's music, they were able to gather over two thousand people. Mario made his speech about the future, a one where they need to fight for their home. With this rousing speech in progress, Elhaeltôr used Mighty Fortress to create a structure outside the walls to give an additional boost. A sudden thunder and sunlight made the scene look like the gods were watching. However, the party saw that the thunder might be normal but the better light not. They saw a flash of light at the horizon. The ice clone was the reason and she was far, far away. She was coming. After the speech, the party saw a mysterious figure in the midst of the civilians. They tracked him to a tavern, where it was revealed that he was no other than Rhogar, the white dragonborn. He came back and it quickly was apparent that he felt at least somewhat guilty and may be indebted to the party. They accepted his help and asked him to watch over the Mighty Fortress. At noon, the party moved north. Not further than a kilometer from the city, the raiders landed and started to build a base of operations. About 500 men and women, all armed and ready to fight. The party saw the icy horizon, the ancient dragon was creating ice sheets on the hills, allowing the army to move faster down the slopes. The first batch could be here before sundown. The party decided to talk to the vanguard. Showing not only the body of Grimstav but also that Baâ had the cloak on her. They were able to convince the warriors to join them. Now, it was time to prepare for the worst. When the dragon showed up, she showed her prowess in her breath like no other creature. She was able to create ice walls, something only the oldest of white dragons were capable of. She created walls around the army that sled down and the rest would come the next day to join the battle. The clock was ticking.

Map
3NqZI7d.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Another session.

---

Chapter XV
C8eM3FLl.jpg

Session 122: Neverending Ice

The party prepared for the worst. Elhaeltôr teleported to the druids, to check if their main grove was attacked but it was safe. The Great Tree looked like it was weeping. Like the archdruid died and it was mourning. The group then decided to make more problems for the dragon and the army, using spells like Tsunami. The dragon almost attacked during the night but decided it wasn't worth it. The next day, the army arrived in full force and started their preparation. The heroes didn't want to wait, they used their magical acumen to get their allies to the city - their golden company, sun riders (hippogryph riders) and the goliaths. Using the dragon temper, the party teleported outside the town, used their spells to attack the camps from afar. Baâ turned to the golden dragon, so it would provoke the enemy. It did. The icy clone charged at the party, while the army moved against the city, wholly unprepared. The combat was quick since the party was fully healed. However, the dragon was still powerful, with her breath very much deadly. When she died, her body exploded and it could take another person but the party was able to survive with just some damage on them. The group joined the siege. Solange used his new artifact with the help of the party's spells. When enlarged, his Quake ability (which is like the Earthquake spell) had a range of 250 feet. He used it when the enemy army entered the northern town. The trap set, he started slamming the ground. It was devastating. In under a minute, all the buildings collapsed, bricks and planks fell on people, earth ruptured and "ate" people alive. It was a horrible sight that made the whole party stunned for a moment. They killed a couple of hundred people, wounded thousands more. Warriors only. Civilians were evacuated long ago. Half of the group moved to help the attackers, save them and treat their wounds. Aerendir and Finn continued the fight in other parts, while Baâ shouted to people to move. The battle was victorious for the defenders, no contest. Without the dragon, the army was tired and depleted. The party wanted to meet with the attackers, sent emissaries from the wounded attackers that they took and treated, so they would meet on neutral ground. When it was the late noon, the sides sent their leaders, however, the sky shined once again. Another dragon. No. Three more ice clones. All of the looking the same but different from the previous ones, these had identical scars on their heads, like some huge axe left a mark. This was devastating. If the dragon can create clones over and over, this won't end and might be the end. When the group debated what to do, they heard a familiar voice. "It seems you need help... neighbors", the Elementars showed up. Ishmael was shaking due to the cold but tried to be standing tall. They conversed and the newcomers offered their help. The group would teleport to the mountain, while the Elementars would stay in the city and help against the dragons. Why were they here? Apparently, Ishmael had a vision from his god, All-Father, that he will be needed in the north. When they heard about the Golden Shield's actions (teleporting army and adventures to Gerdau), they knew where it was. Ishmael didn't like that Solange had a the All-Father's artifact and asked only if Solange would die, that he would get it. Solange smiled that it doesn't need to be written in his last will, it was obvious. The party departed and teleported to the north. They need to find out about the artifact, the dragon and finally if the archdruid is alive.

Map & Battlemaps
UJYyrZ6.png

44O0G3X.png

YQYPvgi.png

IkFzUo4.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Another session. We had a long break, mainly due to WoW and people going on vacations.

---

Chapter XV
7BVcitKl.jpg

Session 123: A Piece of a Chance

The party teleported safely to the top of Minor Olympus, the mountain they fought against the Jarl and Grimstav. They found evidence of combat with the dragon but no dragon, giants or Yul, the archdruid. The cave looked like there was a cavein, however, it quickly became apparent that the giants sealed it off with snow and ice. They didn't do a very good job and the group was able to get inside the cave. The inside looked like the giants made it more like a corridor. It went down in a spiral path, around the giant hole the dragon came out off not long ago when the top of the mountain exploded. When the party traveled about couple of minutes, they got to an ice door. Using Aerendir's Etherealness skill, they were able to open it from the other side, since it was barricaded and didn't budge to open. After a moment, they were confronted by the giants. Thankfully a fight didn't break out. The party was escorted inside, saw dozens if not hundreds of giants with families. The giants lived here with no problems, fully stocked with food, metal, and wood. Nobody from the party knew how they got all of this stuff. Finally, they were brought to Yul. Here they learned what transpired when they were gone. After the teleport, Yul and the giants fought against the dragons. The copy was destroyed, however, the giants were losing against the real one. The Jarl almost died, so they retreated. About 8 out of 10 (not counting Jarl) giants died against the dragons. Yul didn't survive the combat. He tried his best but the dragon was able to freeze time and the coldness around her was unbearable. When he returned to his normal form, he was slashed "to pieces" and taken by one of the retreating giants on the orders of the Jarl. He was taken care of inside the fortress, however, he really died there. Yul speaks that he couldn't heal his wounds and that's why he is fully bandaged. He lost his powers. Baâ's patron, Curupira, gave Yul a choice - join him in the afterlife or go back and start his journey again. Yul didn't feel like he finished his job in the real world. He returned but lost of his druid powers. The giants gave him wood for a fire to keep him warm and meat to eat. Yul wanted to return to his family, help them, so the party, for now, decided to teleport him to Golden Spring Castle.

LnSIFy4l.jpg

Hidden Frost Giant Fortress

The group went to meet with the Jarl. This was a disaster on the party side. However, they learned a thing or two. First off, the Jarl showed them what happened with Thrym, using ice and snow magic tricks. He was guarding these mountains, that looked different back then. These lands were filled with thousands of Frost Giants. Suddenly the sky opened and a beam of light destroyed everything in an explosion. Thrym died, the mountain range changed to what is now. The Actuvians used some kind of magitech weapon (orbital strike?) to defeat the father of Frost Giants. Jarl called them cowardly. Later, he spoke that the party isn't able to defeat the dragon since they can't come near her - they will die due to cold. Aerendir was able to see that the Jarl didn't say the whole truth, there was something missing. The party was connected with telepathy, so he told them what he feels. However, before he was able to convey that the Jarl is thinking in terms of honor and can't speak the truth next to his men, the party spoke up. Claiming he speaks in half-truths, that if they want to work together he needs to say everything and that him going against the dragon is foolhardy. The Jarl didn't like that, at all. The group didn't have any good rolls to convince him otherwise. The party persisted that he puts honor above everything and it will doom his clan, that he act pride, not honor. Well, they made things worse. He told them they need to leave and only wants one thing out of them - the location of the dragon, nothing else. The party discussed what to do next. There was a portal below the fortress, Aerendir felt it and the party agreed they need to get there to search for clues, answers. Finn asked the party to wait, he will talk to the Jarl himself, maybe convince him. And he was able, he said he is sorry for his friends, for how they acted, etc. and wanted to speak to the Jarl one on one, since he is small and alone, he shouldn't be a danger to the Jarl. He agreed, told his men to leave and the halfling convinced him to spill the beans. Jarl asked only for one thing - secrecy, nothing what he says can be told outside these walls. He revealed that the Everice as with other artifacts given to Jotunns (like Thrym) wasn't created by All-Father but by the Red Dragon King, the First Son, the creator of the dwarven race. These artifacts were supposed to be gifts to the Mother when she would wake up. When the rebellion started, they were taken and used against the dragons. This explains why the white dragon was capable of using the powers of the Everice so quickly and in such powerful fashion, something no giant was capable of. He later expressed that his forefathers debated what was the reason for the rebellion in the first place, some accuse the First Son of being a tyrant, while others say that the giants, then dwarves saw destruction coming, wanted to wake up the Mother and none of the dragons allowed that to happen, so they decided to rebel. Jarl Storvald revealed also the reason why he trusted Grimstav. He promised to bring back Thrym, however, only dragons are able to touch the Everice without the fear of death. There is a hidden place, trials somebody needs to complete to giant access to a place that will give them powers to withstand the coldness and the ability to use the artifact. Grimstav was able to pass the tests. This made Jarl Storvald believe that Thrym might come back, thanks to this sorcerer. He was a fool and was used by humans and now they come saying they want to help him, again. Not a chance. The party didn't know a lot of this stuff but they could talk to him better. In the end, Jarl told them that if they want to confront the dragon, they will need to pass these trials. One of his rangers, who has access to the halls where the trials are can show them. Now, the party knew what was going on. There is a portal to a demiplane under the fortress, this demiplane was long ago created by All-Father but abandoned when he died. He wanted to use it as a place to experiment and have his people live there too. It's in pieces, however, what is left is usable and the Forst Giants hunt there and gather stuff. Also, this place could be connected to other giant fortresses, even a place called The Throne, where the Red Dragon King and All-Father ruled over smaller races. This place is far south where the Great Empire of Freedom resides.

5n9udPX.jpg

Shard of All-Plane

Jarl Storvald told Finn that once the party is ready and will know where the dragon rests, they will go together on the winds of the north. Finn thanked for the info and returned to the party. The group teleported Yul out of here, met with the ranger giant, that the party met before (he was the first one they fought) and went deep into the fortress. The Frost Giants didn't waste time, trained and created weapons. Truly, hundreds of them lived in the fortress. When they got to the bottom, they entered a giant cavern with no ceiling. There was some light there and it became apparent they were at the bottom of the hole the dragon created. There was a giant magical circle in the center, the head of Thrym (his skull, bigger than a building) on it. Claw marks suggested it was here Grimstav teleported the dragon. The party was escorted further. Found a ravine here and this was the place the giants "bury" their dead, they throw them down, where the rest of their creator body lies. Returning to him in a way. The party was lead to another door, where two more giants stood watch. Their guide was able to convince them to open the door and the group was let in, only telling them to knock if they want out. Inside, there was no ice, no snow and the temperature was great, for everybody, no matter where they come from. The stone walls looked identical to those that the Frost Giant Fortress had but these looked new or more like they might repair themselves magically. The party saw that this place wasn't used by the giants, it was filled with rooms ready to occupy but nobody was here. They found an exit that took them outside. There they saw floating islands. Most of it was unfinished (image shows "scaffolding" for construction, not cities). However, nature in the demiplane took over. The party didn't have time to explore this wonderful place. They were able to find answers here, giant elks and big trees, this was the exact place where the giant take their resources from. Also, they found footprints of two non-giants. One was apparently Grimstav himself, wearing the cloak. While the other footprints were of someone confident like he wasn't afraid of this place. They didn't know who the second person might be and didn't have time to search for him.

ZOiuFys.jpg

Hear me to those who enter these rooms,
You enter a forgotten area, handed over to the most trusted.
Between these corridors is the truth of our past,
And also those who created us.
Let this place remain as evidence of our bravery and resourcefulness.
The king became a tyrant, even against the opposition of metal.
They didn't come to our rescue, they couldn't stop our choices.
The blood was spilled, we didn't feel joy or anger
It had to be done for our good.

All-Father

The party later found the entrance to the trials. A place out of the ordinary. The stonework didn't match the rest of this place like it made with claws. They entered the first room. There was a lot of dragon imagery and draconic runes were scratched out, replaced by giant ones. They found a plaque with the above message. This room had some stone plates that had to be some kind of riddle. The party later was able to finish it and didn't activate the guardians (there were 4 stone golems in the room masquerading as dragon-like statues). We finished the session there.

The riddle (the sides must match, not corners)
H6AtqlN.jpg

The riddle completed
Q51vGAt.jpg
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
A shorter session, only the riddles and one combat.

---

Chapter XV
FPzqfKzl.jpg

Session 124: Forgotten Knowledge


Here is the first test, one of several,
Watch as you walk and rearrange the runes,
The enemy is just waiting for your mistake
I hope they will be readable for you in your time,
Let them form the path where you take the first step.

This was the plaque next to the riddle, what I wrote before was supposed to be a different one, next to the entrance. Anyway, the group successfully did the riddle and their path was open. The door opened, the exit closed and they entered a new room.


This path is full of lies and truths,
Open your mind, let it lead you further
The wrong gate will lead you to doom.
Remember why you are here.

A couple of things were here. All-Father's message was next to the center of the room. There was something written on the floor and three doorways that were engulfed in darkness. Over the doorways, symbols were written in stone. Giants overwrote dragon symbols. Finn read what was written and what the symbols meant. After reading the tablet, he read words on the floor. It was a question "Who was the First Son?" The question asked about Red Dragon King, the first dragon that was created by Mother of All Dragons. Three doorways had different symbols. One had Warrior, the second had Tyrant and the third had King. The party debated what is the meaning of this riddle. They even checked if something was hidden and there was. While under the floor question there was nothing, then under the doorway symbols the original symbols laid. While the dragon runes were destroyed by someone, they were readable. The Giants translated two out of three symbols, under Tyrant there was Creator in draconic. The party debated and choose one door. I will write the answers later. The doorways were teleporters, after entering the darkness you were moved into a different room but you had to be not connected to anything. When they got to another room, there were some statues.


If you read this, you probably survived
Forgive me, my descendant, come back and find the truth

When the last person was teleported, the darkness disappeared. The identical room with another riddle was a trap, they choose wrong. Four guardians attacked the party. Two of them were draconic stone statues, while the other two looked more like living metal that breathed fire. They were able to defeat them. One thing was certain, a singular giant might not survive this, even Grimstav. After the guardians were destroyed, the darkness in the doorways returned, even the one they came out from. Finn read the tablet. The question on the floor was "Exit just a step away" and the symbols were each different but all in the end meant "exit". The party left and they chose a different answer. They were teleported to another identical riddle room but without the guardians. There was no plaque here. The question was "If water is the natural enemy of fire, then who is the natural enemy of metal?" The answers were Time, Color and Forge. Under Color they found the draconic rune for Water. The party found out the secret to these rooms - they were created for one person in mind, so when they get teleported, they can return back to the rest, allowing them to check stuff. Aerendir checked one of the answers, it was wrong, it teleported him to the combat room, he returned. They found the correct answer and teleported to another question. "What can't the Spark of Life create?" with answers - Life, World and Free Will. After answering that, they were teleported again to "What was the feeling that preceded the creation of the dragon race?" question with Joy, Sadness and Anger answers. The party did answer some questions wrong but it allowed them to fill gaps of knowledge they had about the world and even contradict what they knew. After that, the correct answer didn't teleport them, the darkness did nothing, so they had to enter the darkness together and when they did, they were teleported together.

Answers
"Who was the First Son?"
- King(the wrong answer was chosen - Tyrant/Creator)
"If water is the natural enemy of fire, then who is the natural enemy of metal?"
- Time
"What can't the Spark of Life create?"
- Free Will
"What was the feeling that preceded the creation of the dragon race?
- Sadness


You are one step away from the end
In this room, history was recorded,
Boundaries in the ground were created
Let the memory of them not be forgotten.

Another tablet from All-Father greeted them in a giant room with some engravings on the floor and statues of dragons on pedestals. The doorway behind them was connected to a corridor that would lead them to the second room, which they could take to go to the first room, where their journey started. What they found out was that the whole room was a giant map of the world, of Tethys but hundreds of thousands years ago, when the dragons ruled over the world, before the giants came. There were new places, old places didn't exist and finally, they saw the original continent that was lost - the Home of the Mother of All Dragons that was up to the north. The party assumed correctly that they need to move the dragon statues into slots in the map to signify the regions over which type of dragon ruled over in majority like the White Dragons ruled over the icy north. There were two Red Dragons, one Red Dragon King and one of the Mother as the stranger ones, while the rest were normal Green, White, Brass, Bronze, Silver etc. The party had some problems understanding the new map and I didn't have time to spend hours upon hours to recreate it as I want it, so I just did some adjustments. The party successfully moved the dragons and a doorway appeared at the end of the room, where there was only a stone wall. It led them to the room where the artifact was supposed to be - Everice. There was another plaque, the last one and all they had to do is drink the water, they did and we finished the session there.


This is the Everice, a work from before our time,
A gift ready to be given to their mother.
Closed for millennia, it never saw the light
She was sleeping, tired of traveling, with sadness in her heart,
Our time has come and we knew what we had to do
We had to save us, the choice was obvious.

None of us can touch the artifact,
Only those with pure dragon's blood.
Water will let you do what you have to do
Let Thrym be in your heart, my descendant.
However, if you come to destroy the Everice,
You will have to satisfy his endless hunger.

Room 2 Combat map
xwy6jqw.jpg

Room 3 Riddle
yU9ACG5.png

Room 3 Riddle (Dragons)
RCykpy4.png

Room 3 Riddle (Completed)
BYQPIMb.png

Room 3 Map Comparision with current World Map
ezgif-2-cb8cd2f61102.gif
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
And another! The party finished the chapter in style and gains another level, 18th level party.

---

Chapter XV
ysTpuNVl.jpg

Session 125: Fresh Ice Fortress

The party exited the chambers of tests and returned to the door, where the planes were connected. Knocked at the door, like it was advised and the giants behind them opened them. The party conversed with them a little. It was revealed that they are about 2,000 years old each. The group wanted to know about any other human that might walk these halls. However, the giants said that apart of Grimstav, the party was the only non-giants that were allowed to enter or exit. So, the group returned to the Jarl. When they were alone, he revealed that his father, the previous Jarl, saw someone nearly 400 years ago, that's before the last cataclysm and right where High King Actur lived. This person was seen in the demiplane but he only searched for knowledge and didn't want to fight, so the giants didn't start anything with him. As of now, the rangers didn't see any non-giant during their travels to the other plane. This was the moment the party decided to get information. Gerdau, the city that is besieged, holds on. Hundreds are injured, dozens dead and two adventurers with them - a tiefling and halfling, the two members of the less experienced group called Fat Boar. Later, Baâ used Scrying to find Cudriryr, the Hungry. The dragon was prideful so she didn't care that she lost the Wisdom Saving Throw (didn't use her Legendary Resistances). It became apparent that she isn't in a cave but in an ice fortress. There was a lot of ice kobolds and frost salamanders around here. Looking up, she was able to see where the sun was, with a great Survival check, the druid was able to know where the dragon could have her fortress. The Jarl had what he wanted, he gave the group time to rest and regenerate, while he would find the fortress with the shamans and prepare for war. The group did so.

fwYUMMEl.jpg

When they got out from their magical mansion, one of the giants found them and told them that the Jarl is waiting. Most of the fortress was empty, no more sounds of blacksmiths, training or cooking. They were escorted down, to the place where the summoning took place. Now, instead of the summoning circle and skull of Thrym, there were about 300 Frost Giants armed to the teeth, their Jarl atop of a ice pedestal with four giant horns. The giant made a speech after he saw everybody is ready. He talked about how Grimstav made a fool out of him and the clan, how he allowed it to happen, that the dragon will pay for the theft and that today is their time. "For Glory" screamed the giants and four of them blew into the horns. The room filled with more ice and snow, like they were in the center of a hurricane. The party was once on the receiving end of this when they were south. Now, they were a part of the snow-storm. The party saw they were more like a chariot on the night's sky, the giants shouting all the way. Thankfully, the party drank the cold resistance potions, since it was nearly -30 temp. so high up and the snow-storm to boot. The group was able to land in a matter of minutes in a place that would take days to arrive.

oP9gGIil.jpg

The giants rushed to attack the ice fortress, which opened the gates and thousands of kobolds with frost salamanders flooded the area. The party was able to sneak past the whole combat going to the side. Using their magical paints, they made stairs to the underground of the fortress, where the druid saw glistening gold and ships - the white dragon likes to encase their riches in ice under her lair. It looks like a night sky with all those glimmering coins. They were able to get near the ship that was in the vision when they were attacked. The dragon sent Frost Salamanders down, while she herself was able to walk through the ice without an issue. She was confused why the group was able to stand - the temperatures where so low due to Everice, it would freeze them to death on the spot but it didn't do anything. Combat ensued. The party was able to dispatch the salamanders quickly. However, after the second round, the dragon used the Everice to stop time, gloat, create an ice copy of herself and attack the party. She was able to make a double whammy with her clone (two dragon breaths!). However, because the clone was more autonomous, it was weaker than what the party fought last time. Nobody died but it was getting dangerously close. She also wanted to exit but when her HP was over 150, she still didn't think about retreating and that was all the party needed. They were lucky the whole session, I think I counted nearly 15 natural 20s. The last kill was thanks to Baâ with her sunbeam. She had the shittiest luck during the session, had only one chance to do something and later Cudriryr paralyzed her with her breath. The dragon was pierced through the hear with the beam and fell down dead, her clone turned into snow. The party won. Finally. Elhaeltôr after all this gained his Hero Points back (yes, they don't need to make some giant sacrifice to get them, just be a hero character for a long time). The druid and Aerendir started to take the scales and fundamentum of the dragon. The Everice, they could finally touch it but it was bigger than anybody of them (nearly 2.5m in diameter). The party debated what to do with it, in the end when the frost giants came, they gave it to the Jarl, who was the only person from them that could touch the artifact, the rest looked like it was cold for them. The dragon hoard was theirs. After a couple of minutes of search, they found some magical items (four magic potions and two scrolls), three very expensive art pieces (like a jade game board with gold game pieces). The coins were all in ice, it would take some time to dig it up and who knows whats more under the ice. They counted over 300,000 gold in coins.

Combat Screen
Kv295Pzl.jpg
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
With this, the group has a farewell party, takes care of their last things to do in the north and goes back to their kingdom. Their next plan is to take care of the Abyss, you know, the giant hole in center of Orth, that big city in the Canyon? Yeah, that place. Also, end of a chapter.

---

Chapter XV
ro40J0j.jpg

Session 126: Tidy North

The party took their stuff and left the place. They weren't going to stay in the white dragon's treasury for too long. With Finn's teleport, they got to the center of Gerdau. The city looked like it went through a hell. They were immediately stopped by unknown soldiers, through the darkness the group was able to recognize that these were Alliance of Northern Kingdom soldiers. After a quick couple of words, they were escorted to the leader. There were corpses all around, patrols of soldiers around the clock. Maybe even thousands of Alliance soldiers in the city with ballistae to boot. There were no dragon bodies but a lot of snow. When they got to their leader, it was none other than the Lord-General. This person was the leader of all armies of the Alliance. He looked like some highborn man, riding a horse with his own standard-bearer. The party did some etiquette when speaking to the Lord-General and found out some stuff about what happened. The Alliance came to the city couple of hours ago, maybe a two hours after the party left, and took over the siege forces. Right now there's a curfew and the remaining forces of adventurers and the Golden Shield army are stationed in a different part of town. The enemy was captured, at least some of them, couple of thousands from over a dozen of thousand. Many had to die. The party tried to negotiate about their future, however, the Lord-General said that it was out of his hands - they will be a trial or summary execution, depending on the Great Jarl (some of the attackers were citizens of the Kingdom of the Winterwind, so their king) and the King of the Upper Midlands (the kingdom where Gerdau is). The party saw that there's little to do here, since the law isn't something they can decide, so they went to their allies.

RKacOKYm.jpg

Luca Bright
Lord-General of the Alliance of Northern Kingdoms

Along the way, they found Johnathan, the leader of their army detachment. He spoke that they tried their best to fight the dragons, however, the hippogryphs are mightly wounded, while the men are in no shape to fight. It was a miracle that the Alliance showed up by ships. The party later joined Ishmael and the other adventurers in the local inn, while Baâ went to meet with her brothers. Ishmael and his party were able to take one dragon but there were four more in the last bout. The Lord-General was fighting alone of the dragons, from what the adventurers saw. The groups were mostly fine, except for Fat Boar, they lost their two comrades - Harriet Goodbarrel, their Halfling Rogue and Nija, the Tiefling Sorcerer. Later, Elhaeltôr cast Raise Dead upon the pair to bring them back, since the adventurers wanted to keep of fighting with them at their side if there was any chance, they wanted to take it. Ishmael even ordered a giant cake to commemorate the joined cooperation of the two kingdoms. Both parties were called "pretenders" by the Lord-General, that they wanted to become kingdoms. Was it a bad name or not, they weren't sure but at least the Alliance sees them as something looking like a Kingdom. Baâ returned to her two brothers and told them all about what happened, while they were happy she returned safely. The Alliance told the druids that either they remove the blockade for their ships or they are branded enemies and will wiped off the forest, the druids agreed to hastily remove the dam and the ships sailed straight to Gerdau couple of hours before the last confrontation. During their talks, Yul and Isha showed up. Apparently, the eldest brother wanted to return to the Taiga and Isha decided to help in that, seeing that Yul was Baâ's brother. She was quickly dispatched to Gerdau, so Baâ could talk to her brothers alone. It didn't take long and Baâ flew back to Gerdau to meet wit the rest of the group. The whole party had a last round in the tavern, talking about their exploits and victories in the last day.

The next day, everybody took off. The white dragonborn was nowhere to be seen, might escaped during the coming of the Alliance. Ishmael and his men teleported back to their kingdom, vowing that they might work together taking care of the Abyss. The two adventuring parties were teleported with the armies and hippogryph riders and their mounts. Also, five kegs of beer for Baâ, since she killed the dragon, the dwarves chipped in and bought her a lot of alcohol, saying even that there might be more if they visit their clan - Crownaxe. With these things out of the way, the group teleported to Baâ's home and stayed there for a day or two, since the group was asked to visit the druids before returning to their kingdom. After relaxing two days in the wilds with children and homemade cooking, the druids returned and the talks started. Mainly, there two issues. First, what about the men that were captured by the Alliance and the gold of the dragon. Yul told the group that he will take of this - he will petition as the Arch-Druid the two kings that he wants to take these people under his wings and give them labour to do. They will dig out the dragon treasure and some of it will go to the miners as well as the dwarves, since those are their lands. The other issue was the position of Arch-Druid. Yul said that whenever Baâ feels ready, she can come back to the Taiga and the title will be granted to her, until then Yul will keep the title as an influence tool. The party had some good moments last couple of days but this adventure came to a close. Next stop is the Abyss.
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
New chapter! The party ventures into the Abyss, the giant endless hole in Orth!

---

Chapter XVI
YMh19ytl.jpg

Session 127-128: A Quick Way Down

The party returned to their kingdom. They asked, with magic, Basch about getting a ship to Abyss, but he said he won't use his and will try to get a gnome one. This gave the party some time to rest and catch up with stuff.

au0P2xem.jpg

Oswald Quickstep
Finn's Father
Music Instrument Maker

One of those things was Finn's family. They didn't have time to do it last time after they returned from the dead. Finn's family is a family of musicians. His father, Oswald, makes the instruments, while the rest of the family has some musical gift. Maybe, except Lindal, whom the party met before Finn departed, that one has a more technical knack. Lidda is the mother and is the only one keeping the rest from doing insane stuff. Wellby and Jasmine are twins, younger than Finn, who is the eldest brother. While Sheena and Gynnie are the youngest and still not in adult age. The party met with the father outside the keep but inside the castle walls, where he made a swine porch. Three little piggies ran around. The father wanted the pigs to be safe, since he treats them like family. Mario offered Finn's family home, which the family agreed to. They will move to the kingdom and get a workshop. The party also spoke with Magmos, who wasn't happy about the frivolous spending, since in Gerdau Mario promised double pay. He explained that this isn't about money really but the amount the message the money sends. The party only took their human soldiers, while the human rangers or orcish riders stayed behind doing nothing. All of them want to help since the party are heroes in their eyes. Everybody must be treated the same or it all falls apart. After that, they met with Sigurd and talked about the Abyss and what is going on. Apparently, Sigurd knows a lot. About Agnar and his curse, about that the man was Actuvian, that Courvelux went to the north for the sword. However, he didn't go into detail. The party wanted to know about the Abyss and the attack. He gave them two major pieces of advice. One is that the aberrations act like some mushrooms, spreading their spores that mutate and kill people, so the party needs protection. The party later went to Odon, who created special masks for the party, while for Aerendir a magical armor. The second piece of advice was that whatever is down there is troubling. That Orth stands where once Capistalta stood. If the ancient city still exists, then it is very dangerous. It was once the seat of the most powerful wizards in Tethys. Their magic collegium was like no other and if not for the Archmage Vannozzo, the Duke Domumagni would be the right hand of the ruler of the Golden Brook Kingdom and the Golden City.

P2nfQifm.jpg

Manny Boddynock
Admiral of the Quadropolis Sky Navy Forces
Twin-sister of Menny Boddynock

The party then prepared for the journey, they even bought their adventurer-friends - Eagle's Wing as defence. The druid went to meet with Elementars, who were more than willing to help the party. While the rest got information about what happened in the north. The Archdruid Yul was able to convince the kings to give them the captured men and give them work, possibly mining the dragon's gold. While the Great Jarl, ruler of the Kingdom of the Winterwind, after what happened had a discussion with the Alliance and decided to join them. Something wasn't quite right but it seemed like the obvious turn of events. The party finally meet with Balthier and Basch. However, they didn't come alone. Menny Boddynock, the pirate captain, showed up with her ship and this was the ship the party will use. She knew that the Golden Shield is somehow guilty of stealing stuff from her cabin and that they owe her for the wyvern attack, however, she was interested in Finn and going to the Abyss. After hearing about the spores, Menny needed to return to Quadropolis for one item. Finn helped with that by teleporting himself and her to the city. Quadropolis started over 3000 years ago when the humans won the war against the giants. All gnomish cities were destroyed by the giants because the gnomes turned their backs on their creators. Quadropoli or Quadropolis was a refugee camp for gnomes that turned into a city. For many centuries, it was mainly to survive the harsh lands after the earthquakes. Later, it turned into a place of knowledge and tried to be neutral. Here, the first Bardic Colleges were formed and Magitech was found. The gnomes created their own form just calling it Gnome Technology or GnomeTek for short. They were able to create magical war machines and skyships. However, they much preferred to be peaceful, so a lot of their technology wasn't for war. That changed when High King Actur came and Quadropoli agreed to help in the war against the monsters. Changed their ships into warships and flew south. One of those ships was called Shippy, a Demogorgon-class skyship. A gigantic ship that is quieter than it looks. It survived that era to this day and is used by the Admiral as her own ship and the main ship in the Quadropoli Sky Navy Forces. The Admiral is no other than Manny Boddynock, twin-sister of Menny Boddynock. Finn had some little adventure in Quadropoli, where they went by a skytaxi, ventured into Menny's workshop where her people still worked on stuff and retrieved a "battery" that was at least 30-40 liters. Inside there was an air elemental that would create a barrier around the ship, not allowing not only elements by also breath weapons. This was stolen by Menny from her sister, who came to the workshop and Finn had a moment to see her and say "sorry" before teleporting himself and Menny out.

5taDdIZl.jpg

Capisalta

The descent down didn't take as long as the party might think. There were more than 10 kilometers to fly down but it couldn't go at breakneck speed. It was about 3 hours before the party got to the end. They have entered an enormous cave that they couldn't fanthom how long or wide it was since everywhere was darkness. They entered it by the "ceiling." The water stopped dripping, it stopped raining really, like the cave was somehow magical. Inside, there was about 500 meters more of a drop to a place that there was light, green sickish light. They found the ancient city. A lot of it, about 10 kilometers wide was in that strange green light. Most of the ruins levitated above ground or more like pieces of ruins. Before the party departed, they put down their flags (Elemenatars and Golden Shield, separate) in a rock-mountain that was outside the city. They've checked if they can go back or it is some kind of plane, but they weren't trapped at all. Along the way, from the ceiling of the cave, they saw something like a rope dangle from a hole but decided not to investigate. They went down again and Aerendir used his power. This allowed him to detect the exact number and locations of creatures of the undead and/or aberration type (Ranger Revised). He was in for a shock. There was about a quarter of a million of the undead in the city itself, while outside another quarter, nearly half a million of the undead. Aberrations were still there but the only 1/10th. The group split up. The Eagle's Wing would stay behind on the ship. Elementars would stay on the land below the ship. While the Golden Shield would venture into the city to look for clues.

First, they found out that there was a lot of the city still left outside the green light. However, most of these buildings fell over. Looked like all of them fell in one direction - away from the city center. They found undead lurking about. There were ancient, maybe from the time the city fell. When they got inside the green light, they saw that most of the undead were ghosts, apparitions with no features that didn't mind them. While there were some green buildings that looked like they were transparent. The wizard touched it, it made all the ghosts shout and after the party hid, a group of skeleton warriors came to check out the scene, they mingled between the green ghost and were mostly invisible due to that. Thanks to the druid turning into an earth elemental (tremor sense), Finn flying and Aerindir skill. The party was able to miss all the skeleton patrols and aberrations, getting safely under the inner city walls. Behind them, nearly 500 meters from the party, was the biggest tower, the keep of the city that was lit in the brightest green of all. However, there were a lot of skeleton warriors, still in magical armour around. The party used magical spells to get themselves off the ground, however, casting a spell was detected by the skeletons that rushed to the group. The party thought they were safe until the skeletons used magic to shoot at them. However, cantrips don't have a big range so the party only got hit a couple of times before getting high enough. The group flew inside and found the magic collegium. Not only there were skeleton warriors but also skeleton mages. The wizard tried to send the skeletons a message so they would talk to them, so he made a paper airplane and threw it. Rolled natural ONE. The airship flew straight into one of the skeletal mages' eye socket. He read the note, showed it to his friends and started looking for the party. The group flew down to meet them, the skeleton warriors saw them but they were out of range. However, when the party got to 120 feet to the skeleton mages, they used Dispel Magic upon the group. The monk and wizard fell down but with a Feather Fall. Aerendir still as in the air thanks to the boots. A combat might start soon.
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
The group fights their way out and finally heals their old friend.

---

Chapter XVI
0M6EP7ll.jpg

Session 129: Back from the Dead

The group was able to convince the undead mages to speak. The skeleton snapped his fingers and the warriors stopped being hostile but the group was surrounded. Even if two of the party were flying, Solange and Elhaeltôr were not, while Baâ was safely underground in her Earth Elemental form. Solange was able to eavesdrop on the skeletons, since they talked to themselves in some unknown language. Apparently, the whole city knew about the party and they were informed they might come. Elhaeltôr and Finn mainly talked with the mage, who waited for someone to come before he could talk more. Not long after more mages exited the building, two of them glowed in green aura of magic, liches or similar, these were Court Mages and there in theory 20 of them. The Duke had to be a powerful mage. Augustus and Julius were the names of the two and the party able to get some information. First, the undead is responsible for the attack that took 3-4 years ago in Orth. The monstrous aberrations were their creation. Second, apparently they didn't know about the Great Empire nor the Emperor, even the undead army of Actuvians. However, a name popped up - Aquilians. This might be a connection/group that Sigurd had since the party suspected that the undead had their info thanks to the aberration. Third, it became apparent that the undead were planning an invasion and the Duke is going to rule over the world, Capisalta will return. Fourth, from what the party gathered, the undead told about no cure for the Aberration that Sigurd had. This could have been a lie by the undead. The situation was getting bad, since the undead wanted the party to stay for little longer. Especially that the undead knew who Elhaeltôr really was. The elf tried to get information about Guinatur, who was his apprentice and the mages knew that he was Elhaeltôr's apprentice. However, before they could explain more, thunderstruck. Explosions. The Quick Eagle, from Menny Boddynock came to the rescue firing her explosive cannonballs. Buildings collapsed due to cannon fire and she was even able to make a "drift" maneouver with her ship, since it had two jet engines behind it, and fire another salvo later. It was all by Mario's orders, who was still on the ship. The rest of the adventurers helped with ranged magic by making more explosions happen. The party quickly decided that this is the moment to retreat, they were in the center of a city full of undead with mages nearby. They stood their ground, destroying undead mages and guardians that came. When the ship was near, they boarded it and retreated. The magical keep, the great green tower blackened with waves of monsters that flew from it towards the party. Elhaeltôr used his Meteor Swarm (9th) to stop the pursuers. Baâ was able to retreat thanks to her being underground.

psTkdlum.jpg

Melul
Djinni

After the attack, the party consolidated their strength. They needed a plan of action. Ishmael was the one who came to the party with the idea - since the party already stuck their necks out and barely survived, it was their turn. Elementars would go into the city, gain information for the party, while the rest would gather an army. The problem wasn't to fight the Duke and his mages, it was to get to him. The party would need more firepower, more airships, and an army. Better yet - Sigurd. He is an unwilling spy for Capisalta. He must be rescued for whatever the cost. The party made their goodbyes and thanks, Ishmael left with his men (his original party plus Caim, tiefling monk, and Zod, goblin rogue). The plan was simple. Get to Sigurd and try their best to get him up and running. Get to Quadropolis and gain the power of their Sky Navy to help with the undead city, which Menny hated since it would mean getting her sister to help. Then consolidate their forces, maybe even get more allies to help. But for now, get the hell out of the hole, which was pretty easy to do. When they were outside, they rested for the night and came to Sigurd. They didn't tell him what they were going to do but tried their best to gather information on how to approach the aberration. Apparently, they had some spells that would help (not counting Wish), however, Sigurd and the Parasite become one being not so long ago. It would be impossible to separate them without killing Sigurd. They were late. Their only chance was to think of something and the only thing that came to their mind was using the Wish spell. Finn and Elhaeltôr had the spell, the former didn't really want to use it but was willing if everybody agreed to it, while the latter didn't even mention it, rather kept that for himself. They remembered that they had something that would help with using the Wish - a trapped djinni. Using the ring, they summoned Melul, who was trapped in the ring by none other than the Archmage Vannozzo. After it was revealed that the party wasn't gifted the ring, he was unwilling to help them. However, hearing the name allowed Aerendir to remember something from his past, where he was nursed back to help by another djinni. Melul was hunted by the other genies due to stealing the Scimitars of Black Fire, artifact weapons that were created when the previous city where Tauzar now is, was destroyed by Actuvians with their magitech. Not only it created the weapons, it created a new plane of existence (where genies and rakshasa live to name a few). Finn was able to blackmail the genie to help them, the genie laughed at their courage to do such a thing against someone that might help them succeed and agreed to cast the Wish spell but they need to prepare it first.

okXr46rm.jpg

Sigurd Courvelux
Reborn Actuvian

After at least 50 minutes of debating everything with the genie and creating the wish, they went to Sigurd and Elhaeltôr spoke the words. They wanted to separate the parasite from Sigurd in a non-threatening and non-painful way. The genie snapped his fingers and blinding light appeared. Sigurd was lifted up, the creature was plucked tentacle by tentacle from Sigurd's body and flung to the corner of the room. The warrior was nothing but bones, barely any of his internal organs survived, while the rest was kept together by sinews and some meat, barely. His body careful flew down and his eyes were closing slowly. However, Finn used another spell Power Word Heal (9th) to fully heal him. In blinding light, again, Sigurd's body returned, his eyes glowed in heavenly light and the aura around him almost pushed everybody out. Humans and those with human blood subconsciously wanted to bend the knee before him. The Actuvian returned. The parasite was destroyed with Disintegrate spell. The party heard the laughter of Humilipugio, he got what he wanted. People outside were kneeling, since they came after the party walked around with the genie. Mario was the only one of the party that knelt. Sigurd spoke that he is done with sitting in the darkness and it is time to come into the light.

I was planning for Sigurd to return later, when Capisalta made their siege. Now it won't happen since he doesn't have the parasite. He would become a boss against the players, with Humilipugio as his sword.
g1bk1fu.jpg
 
Last edited:

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Revelations! Also, a visit to the city of machines. NPC dump! Now you know why I don't update the first page. Baâ decided that she will sit this adventure out, since going to Quadropoli might not be good for her druid health.

---

Chapter XVI
Ek2ApVIl.jpg

Session 130: Automated Bid

Sigurd took care of the observers and the group was finally alone. The party gained a lot of information from him, about humanity and his true nature. When the humans crashlanded upon Tethys, they were desperate and a secret project was made, which created the Legati. Their blood was powerful and filled with magic, more than just humans. This meant, that whenever they mate, their offspring would be them, not a mix. However, in time it would erode and Legati is measured by the blood percentage they have in their body, Sigurd has 70% of his ancestor's blood. This was also the reason why the Rexgladio reacted (all runes shined) because Tiberion Courvelux and Sigurd Courvelux share a lot of common, not only in spirit. The Legati goal was to help humanity, not guide it. When Actuvius was lost, five legions and their respective Legati died (at least this is his knowledge). The other Legati formed a pact, they would ensure humanity survival from the shadows, never lead them and only come out of the shadows in dark times. They formed the Aquillian organization, each Legati leads a group of agents, most of them are able to control human politics from the shadows because each Legati has powers like domination or resurrection. When the war with All-Father ended, there were fifteen living Legati, now they are only four, Sigurd included. The Legati interfered with humanity two times. Once, when Tiberion Courvelux rescued his people (descendants of his legion lived there). He was later killed by the other Legati, his "friends" like history wants to call it, that's why there's no written history who they were. There was a small chance that Mario, a descendant of the Contegoaurum family might have some Legati blood in him. The second time was when High King Actur appeared, he lived peacefully as a noble, where the Actur Kingdom is now. His real name was Legati Telleus. He went to Actuvius with his dragonborn agents and returned "new" to the Aquilians. He saved humanity, so he was spared death by Aquilians, at least that's what Sigurd knows since Actur died and with him, the world broke. Aquilians believe it was because he was granted powers by the Gods and had his own, he was "overpowered" and when he died, he released all this power. This made all other Legati move from being religious to safeguard future humans. There were other questions. About the Hidden Lord, which might be underground, in Undertethys as a god-like being. About Eye of Many, that Sigurd knows of and that he might have shown up when humanity crashlanded. He believes there must be some power behind humans and elves crashlanding on Tethys and not able to leave. Sigurd explained the origins of Gods. Trinity didn't start as gods but more as ideals. Illios meant in ancient Actuvian Honor, Eris meant Knowledge, while Valena Society/Family. These three ideas were what guided humanity, that's why they stood behind their new friends - gnomes and dwarves and fought against the giants. In time, these ideas answered and Gods appeared. Lord Sun is one of such beings, he was once worshipped by ancient lizardfolk, after the war, humans took over their lands and started to worship him instead and he answered. He was asked by Elhaeltôr about a strange box the elf saw in his visions of lost memory. Sigurd explained that it looked like those very ancient Legati boxes, the XIII meant it belonged to Telleus, High Actur's line of Legati. This should be only opened by his blood.

What about the current state? Sigurd told them that he will help them. He will get people to save Elementars, which still had Sending communication (they were able to get near the walls, used Magnificient Mansion as a staging point and used Zed and Caim to scout, their goblin-assassin and tiefling-monk, they were able to deduce that some undead were able to detect living). He only needs the ship, which the party will help get. After all of this is done, he will help them politically. "This means your friends will kill you, right?" someone asked and Sigurd only nodded, saying it doesn't matter anymore, since the parasite fed on his knowledge, it might be too late for Aquilians to hide. He even sends a message next to the party using Alyssa, who took out a device, think of Star Wars communicators with holograms, which she talked to one of the agents to relay that Sigurd is well and fully healed. The party later meets with Menny Boddynock. It was decided that Balthier and Basch would stay on the ship and take it down, while she would go with the party to Quadropoli. Baâ decided that she will sit this one out. The party teleported to the city later.

FsSS9wDm.jpg
HimDXo5m.jpg

IyHwBddm.jpg
l34Pltom.jpg

Y1xCYArm.jpg
S8hAQBIm.jpg

Eg9AIhim.png
7XxMla9m.jpg

The Guildmasters of Quadropoli (Main Rulers of Quadropoli)
From top left to bottom right

Glim Ironhide
Guildmaster of Guild of Sword, Bow, Arrows and Cannons
Commander of the Quadropoli Military Forces

Alvyn Fabblestabble
Guildmaster of Great Guild of Explorers, Searchers, Crawlers, Observers, Seers and Prospectors

Delebean Glittergem
Guildmaster of Guild of Machines, Machinery, Mechanisms and Everything That Moves

Crampernap Humplebumple
Guildmaster of Guild of Art, Meta-Art, Great Art and Everything That Is Magic

Brottor Crownaxe
Guildmaster of Great Adventurers' Guild

Loopmottin Nucklestamp
Guildmaster of Guild of Architects, Geography, Cartography and Technical Drawings

Ella Boondiggles
Guildmaster of Guild of Music, Strings, Screams, Whispers, Resonance, Tone and All Art Near Magic, but More Bardic

Orryn Quillsharpener
Grand Inventor of Guild of Gnome Technology

The party had their first experience in a strange place. Mario almost was crushed by a flying board. Solange ate some "fast food" from a slow-moving flying food vehicle. Aerendir was able to detect a portal in the center of the city. Menny Boddynock decided that she would meet with the party later. This meant they were on their own. They decided to go for the guildhall, to the leaders. Their job would be to convince most if not all of the guildmasters of Quadropoli to their cause. They needed their ships and maybe machines and army to help them in this endeavor. When they got to the place, they were able to get an audience. This was mainly because they had a embassy in the city so the leaders were willing to stop everything and meet. Almost all of the guildmasters showed up but one by one.

First was Glim Ironhide, the Guildmaster of Guild of Sword, Bow, Arrows and Cannons and Commander of the Quadropoli Military Forces. He was serious and no non-sense. He waited for the rest to show up. Next was Alvyn Fabblestabble, Guildmaster of Great Guild of Explorers, Searchers, Crawlers, Observers, Seers and Prospectors. He was quite pleased that the party came and was willing to hear them out. Another gnome appeared, similar to Glim, he was serious about the situation - Delebean Glittergem, Guildmaster of Guild of Machines, Machinery, Mechanisms and Everything That Moves. He only cared if there was some machinery to use. A confused gnome appeared next, who sat down before being reminded by the rest to go and greet the party. This was Crampernap Humplebumple, Guildmaster of Guild of Art, Meta-Art, Great Art and Everything That Is Magic. Kinda eccentric that only cared about magic stuff. Next was Brottor Crownaxe, Guildmaster of Great Adventurers' Guild. He told the party he must be neutral but told them they might hire anybody if need be, they can go straight to him. He asked about Om Ragebeard and his alcohol, the party had none, so he asked for a favour - to sell him the alcohol with the embassy, the party agreed and later the dwarf walked around the hall telling all guildmasters that "these are good people!" Well, the party was going to bribe someone sooner or later. Next was Loopmottin Nucklestamp, Guildmaster of Guild of Architects, Geography, Cartography and Technical Drawings. The party had a relationship with the person, as this was the leader of the same guild as their friendly Magister and they built a guildhall for them. He had big animosity with Fabblestable of the explorer's guild. She even shouted at him many times during the meeting and threw a book in his direction - hitting someone else by mistake. Later came Ella Boondiggles, Guildmaster of Guild of Music, Strings, Screams, Whispers, Resonance, Tone and All Art Near Magic, but More Bardic. She was willing to help the party like Loopmottin. Admiral Manny Boddynock also came to the hall and sat down next to Glim, as the leader of the Sky Navy, she answered to Glim but was more independent with her ship - the biggest one called Shippy, a Demogorgon-class gnome airship. The Grand Inventor was nowhere to be seen, so the meeting started.

The party told everybody about what they saw and explained that they needed the ships. There was a lot of debate going on and arguing. Humplebumple of the Mages was more than happy to help "LICHES?! MAGIC?!" was the only reason he needed. A new place to explore was appealing for the Great Guild of Explorers, so Fabblestabble agreed, to angry shouts from Loopmottin of the Cartographers. Ella of the Bards hearing that there might be some great stories to tell and music to sing about the adventure was willing to help. Brottor of the Adventurers said he must stay neutral but said again that the party is good guys. Glittergem and Ironhide weren't convinced. Especially after hearing that the party worked with Menny Boddynock, the pirate lass. They said that only Orryn, the Grand Inventor (who had the most sway in all politics in the city) could convince them to help and because he wasn't here, the party would need to wait for his decision. They had barely half of the guildmasters (more lesser guildmasters in the room). This made the Admiral stand up and tell that the party will get her ship, even if all of the navy will not go. Before the party could try to convince again, they heard a shout "MENNY! YOU LITTLE BITCH!" and the doors burst open with the Admiral showing up! There were two admirals! Yes, the twin used that her sister was out of the city to disguise as her and try to sway the guildmasters and/or promise the most powerful ship for them to use. She tried to escape but was caught by Solange mid-jump to the window. The party was able to calm down everybody in the room. Glittergem was furious since the pirate lass destroyed one of his towers due to her "pirate stuff." During another heated argument, everybody saw that a gnome appeared in the now opened doorway. The oldest gnome around walked in with patience and quiet, silencing the whole room. The Grand Inventor, the guildmaster of Guild of Gnome Technology, Orryn Quillsharpener showed up. He greeted everybody, went to the party and greeted them, even showed that he might know Harthion, as he greeted him by name. He asked simple questions "what do you need?" "your ships and machines" "you will get them." He assured the guildmasters that the city won't be empty-handed in this exchange and asked the party "you still work as adventurers? I need some help." The party agreed. Orryn looked at Menny, that was still next to Solange "It seems you found something more important than flying." He told Solange to get near them and when he did, Orryn took out a device and clicked it. It teleported the party and Orryn from the guild hall.
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
The party gets inside the mecha... I mean... Mechan... strange plane of machines!

---

Chapter XVI
VULUisel.jpg

Session 131: The Endless Machine

After the teleport, the party showed up in a place of gnomish technology, many wheels and cogs. The Grand Inventor took them before a mechanical gate and explained what is going on. Nearly 400 years ago, about 80 years before High King Actur's death, the gnomes created (or found) a new plane of existence that was fully mechanical. At first, it was very small, like room, but over the centuries it grew to be ten times bigger than Quadropoli itself. He even noted that the Archmage Vannozzo helped in this endeavour. However, many years later, inter-plane pirates called Gith attacked the plane, that the gnomes call Perpetum Machinarium, and stole some items from the plane. As the plane is all about laws and shit, the plane itself changed, adapted and a new law was created - nobody can exit or enter the plane, unless by the gate (the gnome one) or if they are designed for it - one creature was created. His task was to hunt down the pirates, kill them and bring back the items. He was called a Marut. He returned not longer than two years ago and when asked, he tells that he didn't finish his job - this is a no-no. The laws stated that he couldn't return unless he finished his job. This didn't go well with the citizens of the plane called Modrons, who went all whacky, rogue due to him. The party is asked to stop him or destroy the Marut before he corrupts the whole plane. If he isn't stop and the plane is corrupted, who knows what the Modrons decide. Before venturing forth, the party took a moment to make a long rest. Mario even got a haircut (another portrait change).

kdIn0Gol.jpg

Perpetum Machinarium

Inside the Perpetum Machinarium, that looked like giant cogs turning and more being constructed. A city for milions. Grand Inventor tells the story that he was there when the place was created/found and from that point on, the gnomes became Curators of the plane, treated with respect. The gnomes treat the plane as their staging grounds for experiments and new technologies. The party could see many strange Modrons, like those in Mechanus in normal DnD. However, there was something missing - hierarchy. There were no higher-ranked Modrons nor Primus himself, this perplexed the Grand Inventor but he explained that maybe someday one will arrive - its like nobility, you task people to build your home but never come live there until the thing is finished. The plane is still growing so maybe it will stop and the leaders will show up. The party was brought before the place where the Marut stayed. Even if the Grand Inventor is over 400 years old, he still doesn't know everything about the plane and what is where. The place where Marut is new to him and he doesn't know what lies inside. He sent over a dozen people there, most of them died. Even adventuring parties. Last group was from the famous all over the world rogue guild (Golden Sands). The party went inside. Here they saw Modrons acting whacky and strange automata abominations. The party was lucky with rolls for Stealth and used Invisibility + Fly all the time. They were able to avoid all combat and got to the Marut in no time.

TRwzstpm.jpg

Marut

The being just stood there and did nothing. A golden plate spun around on his chest, later it was revealed that this golden plate had the map of the plane on it, might be even the source of his power - the bigger the plane gets, the more powerful he is. The party was found out the moment Finnean used his paints to get to a closed door he was guarding. He used one of his powers to create a block of radiant energies and heavily wounded the group. They were able to talk him down from attacking some more and tried their best to not look like they are here for a fight. During this talks, it was revealed that the Marut successfully killed the pirates and got the items back but the pirate captain escaped. He was able to track him down but was captured by a powerful human - it was assumed by the description to be Archmage Vannozzo himself. Marut was captured for over 350 years and Gith captain too. He waited patiently until he would get out and chase after the Gith. However, this only came recently, when the Drow plundered the Archmage tower and allowed the prisoners to escape. Not only the Gith and Marut but also some Demons, a Unicorn and a Rakshasa. The Unicorn was butchered, the party found evidence of that. The Gith escaped and the Marut had no means to track him, he was successful when he attacked the ship and later moved after him. The party tried to reason with the Marut but most arguments didn't work, until one was mentioned - the Gith has no ship, has no items and he was a captain, he has no crew. He isn't a captain anymore and was imprisoned for a long time, he was punished, Marut fulfilled his duty, there is no need to say otherwise. Marut agreed. The problem was resolved and the rest of the Modrons would have to be reprogrammed or destroyed for the plane to survive. The party returned to the Grand Inventor with the Marut.

The gnomes were happy with how it all turned out. Orryn told the party they will get their armies and ships, no problem. However, there is one thing left. He wanted to grant a gift to Harthion. He explained that he knows the elf for a long time, before the fall he was more arrogant, after less and they had some good arguments and shared knowledge. He heard that Harthion was cursed and decided he wants to help in that regard. The procedure would be very painful but Elhaeltôr didn't mind. The rest of the party was weary but decided to trust the gnome. Elhaeltôr was taken into a circular room that looked more alike generator from those 70s sci-fi movies. Lightning bolts hit Elhaeltôr and the gnome was able to specify - the curses were made with Cosmic Energies, higher than god powers. He wasn't able to remove the curses but would instead weaken them, if Elhaeltôr wanted. Mario flipped the switch. It took five seconds of primal screaming from the pain by Elhaeltôr and then the machine stopped and the elf fell to the ground. The machinery was destroyed, some was from Actuvians but most of its was gnome manufacture. Elhaeltôr was granted a vision that would be revealed later, for now, his grey hairs turned golden.

dGjiP1H.jpg

Mario's new portrait
Old Portrait
202d3Fk.jpg
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Moar! Two sessions, since we ended with combat. The party sieges the hole and the Duke uses his trump card.

---

Chapter XVI
DgsAFDcl.jpg

Session 132-133: Siege of Abyss

The group spent some time in Quadropoli, mainly getting everything ready. About 20 airships would fly to Orth in two weeks, while the flagship - Shippy (the Demogorgon) would go there instantly. The party was surprised that the ship was able to "teleport". Using some kind of crystal, it tore the fabric of the Material Plane to connect their space to space above Golden Spring. With this, they were able to plan stuff for the siege and get allies. Everybody contributed, like Solange that got reinforcements from his Brotherhood or Mario from the Kingdom of the Vale. Even their allies helped and some came to them without the need to be asked. They had hundreds of men and women ready to help. Brotherhood of the Sun, Order of the Silent (those hunters of undead), Scarlett Griffin and Blood Oath Orders (Kingdom of the Vale, the first works in the canyon, the second the party helped with giants), there was no Actur since the party felt that there is too much political turmoil (the Kingdom of the Vale knights were smuggled in), Druids from Baâ's homeland likewise from the elven forest, elven warriors and priests from Estel'Anoron, dwarven warriors, priests and monks from Logemakam, couple of wizards from The University (Elhaeltôr asked for their help, mainly their contact a necromancer tiefling), paladins from the God Scale Order (Actur's Paladins) that work for the Alliance, the party army and Elementar's army, the gnome army plus their machines and of course people from Orth - the soldiers, guards and even local thugs (even Belhadur showed up). There were even some NPCs like Allura Vladimirovich (that forever young wizard, wife of a vampire), friends from Estel'Anoron and Logemakam, old friends from around the globe, even those new like the white dragonborn Rhogar. Too long to count them all. Here's a screenshot of all those NPCs (green is they stayed in Orth, while Red means they went down to Capisalta).
LdmHI45.png
The party prepared for the worse. Elementars did return with info but not much. They got note of a place in the tower where the Duke might be and that there are not only undead and aberrations going around but also demons - they saw a Balor there. The party was ready. They mounted an attack on the undead city. When they got to the bottom, they were attacked by swarms of flying gargoyles and other creatures of the night. At first, it was a scouting party, later the attacks were heavy-hitting but not enough to make a dent in the line of the ships. When they got close enough, the airships bombarded the wizard's tower, the main keep, but it didn't make a scratch, so the gnomes used their main ship cannon, that was inside the ship itself. A powerful show of magic and technology made a clean hole in the keep, this allowed the party to move. The plan was simple - they are the heroes here, their goal is to get inside, take out the Duke and stop whatever magics to defeated the undead on the ground. Wizards casted Fly spells on the group and they flew inside.

en8iB6Qm.jpg

Cato Domumagni
Duke of Capisalta
Undead Lord

They moved quickly. The corridors were filled with undead, demons and aberrations but the party was able to move past them. Quickly they found some giant room but before they could search around, the doors closed behind them. The Duke was here. He looked different from his four wizard liches, he was more ethereal and his legs were changed into a mass of spiders. His bones were almost invisible in the green light he emanated. Behind him, a giant crystal skull, a couple of times bigger than himself and between the skull and the Duke, the party recognized a monster - a Shoggoth, that the party once fought. The party tried to talk to the Duke but he said that the playtime is over, even scoffed on the idea that he sold his soul. Two creatures showed up before the fight started. One slid through the cracks of a nearby doorway and looked ghastly, like some amalgamation of flesh and meat. A Sibriex, they never saw one of those or heard about them (maybe only read), this was one of the leaders. He laughed at the party, seeing them just "as the Duke predicted". Before the party could decide what to do, the Duke snapped his fingers and a flash of fire hit the party's behind. A giant creature with wings, sword, and whip showed up - a Balor. Two demonic generals showed up for the fight. At first, it was hard for the party since the enemy was hard-hitting. However, it quickly changed. Solange went after the Sibriex and was able to make some critical blows, Aerendir was able to damage heavily the wizards before they made more trouble, while the Balor was tanked by Mario. They were able to take down the Sibriex before a door opened.

ko2FUL4l.jpg

When the door opened, more undead flooded the room, with aberrations. However, they weren't alone, another door burst open with force, there flying Sigurd came with Humilipugio, to help the party. The fight might have felt as this would be party win, however, the Balor summoned three powerful minions and he tried to escape. The party "met" with an old friend - the Abyssal Rotfiend from Golden West. Sigurd charged, saying that the party needs to focus the leaders, while he tried to take on the Goristros that were summoned. Party was successful, with Aerendir and Elhaeltôr using their attacks and magics to take down the retreating Balor. With him gone, the demons disappeared. The party was on a winning side. The fight continued but then Aerendir saw something unusual. The Shoggoth never took part in the combat, almost at the start he was stopped with Prismatic Wall from Elhaeltôr but he didn't move or fight before that. He has gotten smaller for some reason and each time he got smaller, the Duke regenerated his powers. Something was off, then he realized, that the Shoggoth was being "eaten" by the skull or more like the Shoggoth was crawling inside the skull. He was almost completely inside. The party was able to take down four out of eight council mages before Solange was able to make the crucial hit on the Duke. Only he heard the Duke's last words, when he turned even more ethereal, looking like a green ghost, he spoke that the party did delay his work and defeated the demons but it doesn't matter - he will flood them one way or another. Solange, with an insight check, was able to detect that the Duke was unimpressed by being destroyed. Something was off. When the Duke was gone, the rest of Council Mages Teleported out of the room and at the same time - everybody felt the ground trembling. The tower wasn't collapsing, it was flying. The whole ground was going up very fast and the party felt it. They decided to check the skull, while Sigurd urged them to retreat to the ships, to help them. They had quite a conundrum on their hands. The Shoggoth disappeared inside the skull and it was filling rapidly with water. Elhaeltôr used an Anti-Magic field to disrupt the skull but nothing changed, Baâ dispelled the skull which just made it go grey and break a little. Water poured from the skull like a fireman's hose. A powerful force that could break bones. No matter what side, all of them were the same power. Aerendir shot at the skull, breaking it, even more, making more water pour to the room. They decided that Mario would try to get inside (rolling for Strength, getting bludgeoning damage from the water and Dexterity to find something). Why? Because Aerendir said that there must be something inside, he visited the Astral Sea for a moment and saw a connection between the Material Plane and Plane of Water. The water then turned green-brown, sickly color and odor. Baâ went inside with her water elemental form, she was hit with necrotic energies by the water but not from the strength, with advantages she was able to get to the item but didn't have enough movement to get out. She knew that if she tried to get the sphere out with Mario still inside, the force of the water would kill him. Lastly, Finn decided that he would cast his most powerful spell - Wish. "I wish to close all connections to the Plane of Water in kilometers from me." This stopped the water from pouring out, the sphere went black (non-magical) and Finn fell to the ground (3 Strength). The party decided it is time to return to the ships - the building still felt like it was flying up. When they got to the ship, they saw that the Shippy, Demogorgon was the only one flying, the rest were on the ground in Capisalta and the whole city was flying with breakneck speed up. It took a matter of minutes for it to burst out from the hole in Orth, it plugged the hole, the Abyss. The undead now could attack the city directly. However, they would meet with the other part of the army. The water from the river started to flood the undead city and it was turning the same green-brown. During this chaos, they saw that their friends and allies were alright, mostly injured, while their armies and ships were hit hard. Solange got his hero points back!

No combat screenshots, didn't make any.
5cUWLa6.gif

GWwdLtr.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Last session before 2020! Happy holidays and happy new years! Yes, it ended in a cliffhanger, sue me.

---

Chapter XVI
MohP2EV.jpg

Session 134: Liche-dom

Sigurd took the initiative, turning into a bright being (aura and glowing eyes) and shouted orders to save the civilians and make a stand. Rescue everybody. The gnome, Grand Inventor Orryn, whispered "Actur", when he saw Sigurd's Actuvian form. The party used this moment to plan as quickly as possible. Finn stayed on the ship, using his voice and mandolin to inspire people aboard. Magmos and Quennar flew to the river split, which is artificial and can be destroyed, to stop the water flowing into the city - turning into diseased water. Mario took the initiative and split the forces between the enemy gates, to stop any undead and aberrations flowing to the city. Elhaeltôr flew around the city, using his last spells to stop falling buildings from killing civilians or dimension dooring allied injured. Baâ used her scouts/rangers and Wiktor (her boyfriend and leader of rangers) to work as a communication system between the forces, while she would join the forces at the river, trying to stop the undead to attack the most vulnerable part of the city. Solange used his time to buy time for the injured, that would be "boated" up to the Demogorgon (Shippy!) by the gnomes. He even used his SLAM! power of the artifact fists. Aerendir jumped between buildings, shooting at enemies. He used one of the Actuvian Tetrahedrons, this one had Demiplane, to transport the biggest injured group to safety. He was even chased by one of the wargoyles (gargoyles for war). The party spent nearly three hours fighting the enemy, everybody was tired after that and the undead kept coming. They had to restrategize what to do. During their talks, they were visited by the green dragon - Sedyryn, Green Fury. The giant dragon was so big, he used the walls as some kind of support for his claws. Nobody was willing to attack the dragon, not at this time, everybody was exhausted. Well, almost nobody, Sigurd was more than willing. The Dragon quickly recognized him as the descendant of Courvelux and said to sit down or he will enact revenge. He came here to make a deal. In short, he will take Orth for himself and promises that the undead and aberration won't come out to inflict pain and suffering on the folk. Those that lived in Orth "whatever, I don't care about them, take them, grant them shelter." The party tried to get some information out of him but the dragon grew weary of questions and insinuations. Only Elementars felt like they could go for the deal. In the end, the constant discussion made the dragon apathetic to the deal, he didn't care anymore so he said that the party will fight it out themselves. He revealed however crucial information - lichdom. This information was new even to the necromancers. He even explained how it works - you create a ritual where you suicide yourself and create a phylactery for your soul. If your body gets destroyed, it is regenerated next to the object. It must be destroyed for it to completely kill a lich. If only the phylactery is destroyed and not the body, the lich will just recreate it later. With this, the dragon flew away and teleported. The party had to plan their next move.

Zs9Fn2kl.jpg

The party met with the leaders, even the archdruid that helped with the water. The situation was dire. The waters turned people to undead or if they survive - mutate to aberrations. Foul waters flooded the whole undead city and the outside walls. Not knowing what to do, the group went to rest. The next day showed that they are fighting time - the undead do not rest and come in droves. They would need to think of something. So, the party used Scrying to find the Duke, maybe his phylactery would be shown. He didn't use his Legendary Saves, allowing the party to see him. And there were 3 of them (look at the combat screen lower). Baâ was the caster and saw not only the Dukes but also the court liches (16 of them) with 4 more skeleton mages and more undead and wargoyles. They were atop the tower, that previously looked like a green dome, nothing more. It was used when the undead city popped up - a greenish magic ray created a moat around the city walls. The foul waters filled it. Under the sphere, the undead were creating some ritual. There were strange crystals and metal hands around the place. The was no entrance, so they needed to teleport there. At the center of it, there was a sphere of dark liquid that moved, swirled like it was living. The party discussed a form of action. It would be suicidal to attack the tower but there was no other option. If they searched for the phylacteries, the mages are still alive and could escape or worse, use their powers to attack the party to stop them, command the undead to do their bidding. The decision was made. Elementars would go inside the tower to find the phylacteries, while the group would use the Demogorgon to attack the top. The Grand Inventor used the ship's powers to create rifts to create a small one to completely get around the green sphere. The cannon even shot at the top (but not the main one) and the party teleported inside, taking with them Sigurd and two more - Avush, the dwarven monk, head of Open Fist Monks, and the cleric leader of the Order of Silent.

Start of Combat
VMOro0A.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
And we are back! The chapter finishes on a high note. Also, level up! We are close to the end, boys!

---

Chapter XVI
3Q5uUMWl.jpg

Session 135: Liche-doh

The ship opened the portal and shot its cannon, devastating a lot of the tower, but barely scratching the surfaces of the stones. The party teleported inside with Avush (the dwarf monk, leader of the Open Hand monks), Hildegunn (the grave cleric, leader of the Order of Silent clerics) and Sigurd. They struck hard against the enemies, who slung spell after spell at them. Raw force won and some good rolls since Maze was a thing and the liches trapped Mario and Finn to balance the odds. The fight ended in five rounds, nearly two hours of fighting out of the game. The Dukes behaved like each was a separate entity. When the last one was defeated, the strange sphere spoke in a dark language that only Solange understood - "You failed me. I don't need you anymore." The other liches tried their best to retreat by taking the dark stones with them, these were their phylacteries (but the Duke's). They did teleport with at least 3 but their destination was overrun by the Elementars, so the enemy was defeated in the end. Bloodied the party checked their surroundings and suddenly everything went dark and in that darkness, they were able to see the sphere. This was insane since it was black on black and they still saw it. The sphere spoke up and revealed that he is the Hidden Lord. Through the conversation, he revealed that there was a race already on the planet before the dragons came, that this race was capable of creating stuff with their minds, primitive yet advanced at the same time. Their graves now lie in the world he created - Undertethys. "I was always there, sleeping. When the fight broke out and the walls were filled with blood, I've risen but slowly." His goal is to take over the world but that might take time, he has all of it. He was given the Life Spark (probably the corrupted version) and God Spark (people started to worship him as a god). He explained that the Duke still lives as his soul belongs to the Hidden Lord, those demons didn't know the truth and one of them (his Demon Lord) works for him, unknowing. The sphere then made a strange move - he described where the Duke is, this was a demiplane, where he split his soul into five fragments to create five phylacteries. The group quickly realized that the Hidden Lord is buying time for the Duke, maybe as his last gift. They exclaimed this and the darkness disappeared, with the sphere too. The coming of a god was halted. They used their spells to prepare and the wizard cast Demiplane. They have found the Duke, who was furious and went insane with it. They destroyed his body and five phylacteries that were made out of gold and diamonds.

NPH3gVel.jpg

Tear of Stronmaus

With the Duke and liches death, the rest of the undead and aberrations was just a matter of time, the waters were bad but allowed the parties to search the place up. They found a lot of magic stuff. Many spell scrolls, some taken by Elhaeltôr. Duke's staff (That worked as a better Staff of Magi) was also taken by Elhaeltôr. The barracks had equipment for at least 1000 men (magical swords and armour), the party took it for their kingdom. The tower had a vault with gold and magical items. The gold (300,000) was distributed to the Vale army, Orth survivors and the Elementars. The magical items were:
- Łza Stronmausa went to Ishmael/Elementars - this is capable of casting Control Water at will and has a powerful version once a day, that allows you to move over a kilometer of water. An artifact, a spear with a lightning bolt encased in glass/ice, gifted to Stronmaus by All-Father. This was the ace that the Duke wanted to use later. With this, he could move his infected water everywhere and change the whole world.
- Deck of Many Things went to the University - this would be the key to enter the forbidden vault.
- Belt of Storm Giant Strength - Taken by the Party, Solange
- Ring of Regeneration went to the Valemen.
- Manual of Quickness of Action - Taken by the Party, Aerendir
- Wand of Polymorph went to Belhadur, the Orth leader of the underground
- Mantle of Spell Resistance went to one of the adventuring parties, Eagle's Wing
- Wand of Enemy Detection went to one of the adventuring parties, Fat Boar
- Censer of Controlling Air Elementals went to the Gnomes, as this could help them use the elementars better

The groups celebrated their victory, a giant fest was held over the victory. When noon struck and the sun showed its face over the city. Everybody saw a miracle happen. The waters, those putrid waters that formed a lake inside the city, they were suddenly cleansed and the tower stopped glowing. Which god did this? Everybody would point to theirs. This would allow people to return but slowly to the city. The party would need to decide their next move.

During Combat
N5pusGG.jpg

We have also taken care of Kingdom Building! There wasn't a lot that happened. Orth was taken over, rebuilt. Solange increased the number of spies he had. There were two new settlements (one built west from Aramoor, the second next to the dam). They tried to create an embassy in Dominium but failed. They recruited hundreds of more soldiers and recruited 50 elite guards (maybe another 50-100 flying hippogryphs, its debated). That's it really.

---

Kingdom Building

Time - Round 31-33, Season Summer, Year 315

Kingdom Building Full Stats - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FdgMRzQZO6Qd9xBBT0YqN68V3LkRQliva9ZFslM-G8o/edit?usp=sharing

Roles:

MeIncHGs.jpg

Ruler
Mario de Capodimonte

aJHt3ORs.jpg

Consort
Vittoria de Albarate

0pyRVBNs.jpg

Councilor
Finnean Quickstep

XHmtsNHs.jpg

General
Gwendolyn

WJbxttWs.jpg

Grand Diplomat
Beniamino de Capodimonte

ZMzjXOXs.jpg

Heir
Luigi de Capodimonte

CwXYm0ks.jpg

High Priest
Solaire Solaire

alHMdBWs.png

Magister
Elhaeltôr

f91AYPqs.jpg

Marshal
Baâ

UOwOkRNs.jpg

Royal Enforcer
Boghat Reborn

yyoc0RNs.jpg

Spymaster
Solange Sunseer

HOsQj1Ds.jpg

Treasurer
Lord Magmos

Viceroy
None

URkYUZts.jpg

Warden
Johnathan

Kingdom Map
9T5RQGd.png

Undertethys Map
5N7MKqT.png

Settlements
WdOreHw.png

Golden Spring Settlement
Buildings:
- Castle (Golden Spring)
- Houses x3
- Mansion (Orth Embassy)
- Mansion (Quadropolis Embassy)
- Mansion (Elementi Revivo Embassy)
- Mansion (Kingdom of the Vale Embassy)
- Brewery (Om's)
- Smithy (Odon's Armorsmith)
- Smithy (Zutshosh's Weaponsmith)
- Foundry
- Barracks
- Exotic Artisan (Maria Jeweler)
- Caster's Tower (Elhaeltôr's Laboratory)
- Market
- Noble Villa (Capodimonte Family Villa)
- Warehouse
- Mint
- Sacred Grove (Baa's Grove)
- Academy
- Guildhall (Guild of Architects, Geography, Cartography and Technical Drawing)
- Waterfront
- Skyport
- Palace
- Cathedral (Trinity)
- Temple (Lord Sun)
- Theater
- Bank
- Paved Streets
- Bardic College

D9F01A8.png

Citadel of the Sun Settlement
Buildings:
- Castle (Citadel of the Sun)
- Military Academy (Paladins and Soldiers)
- Garrison
- Inn
- Houses x3
- Tenement x2
- Temple (Lord Sun)
- Stable
- Stockyard
- Orphanage
- City Walls x4

dcI52hd.png

Ogrimmar Settlement
Buildings:
- Garrison
- Stable
- Houses x1
- Inn
- City Walls x4

iNDi6fc.png

Aramoor Settlement
Buildings:
- Inn
- Noble Villa
- Barracks
- Houses x3
- Stockyard
- Temple (Valena/Trinity)
- Brewery (Wine)
- City Walls x4

8BBdTIR.png

Estel'Anoron Settlement
Buildings:
- Houses x5
- Pier
- Barracks
- Sacred Grove
- Magic Shop (Annael's shop)
- Temple (Corellon)
- Inn
- Hanging Gardens (Actually, the Archdruid Sacred Grove)
- Park x2
- Lumberyard
- Bridge
- Alchemist
- Exotic Artisan
- Stable
- Mill
- City Walls x4

h4v2Jjo.png

Shiny Darkness Settlement
Buildings:
- Jail
- Watchtower
- Inn
- Houses x1
- Barracks
- City Walls x4

qRuEDV0.png

Golden West Settlement
Buildings:
- Castle (Dragon Fortress)
- Houses x1
- Inn
- Foundry
- Warehouse
- Smithy
- City Walls x4

ibrsyvk.png

Claywall Settlement
Buildings:
- Brickyard
- Inn
- House
- City Walls x4

ym7euSy.png

Moohill Settlement
Buildings:
- Stockyard
- City Walls x4

Tn74k5V.png

Aural Brewery Settlement
Buildings:
- Houses x1
- Barracks
- Stable
- Brewery

TGCffzh.png

Golden Briny Settlement
Buildings:
- Houses x2
- Foundry
- Smithy

DWg7SdU.png

Orth Settlement
Buildings:
- Cathedral
- Noble Villa
- Mansion x2 (one of them is the embassy that the group had)
- Lumberyard
- Castle
- Bordello
- Arena
- City Wall x16
- Paved Streets x4
- Stable x3
- Stockyard
- Tavern x4
- Tannery
- Warehouse x2
- Watchtower x4
- Shrine x2
- Temple
- Hospital
- Trade Shop
- House
- Graveyard
- Garrison
- Inn
- Market
- Guildhall x2
- Granary

Armies
- Regular Army - 100 men, 2nd level Fighters, Equipped with Magic Weapon and Magic Armor
- Regular Army 2nd - 200 men, 2nd level Fighters, Equipped with Magic Weapon and Magic Armor
- Golden Guard - 50 men, 6th level Fighters, Equipped with Magic Weapon and Magic Armor
- Red Mercenaries (Orth) - 100 men, 1st level Fighters, Normal Equipment
- Gantholorank (Goliath Mercenaries) - 20 men, 4th level Barbarians, Normal Equipment
- Sunriders (Elite Hippogryph Riders) - 50 men, 6th level Fighers, Magic Weapons, Magic Armor, Flying Mounts
- Canyon Rangers - 1000 men, 2nd level Rangers, Normal Equipment, Healing Potions
- Ork Riders (Wolf Riders) - 500 men, 2nd level Barbarians, Normal Equipment, Heavy Mounts
 
Last edited:

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
We continue our journey. First, the guys wrap up stuff after Orth, then they travel to the University as they now have access to their hidden vault and later to the Dominium, finally taking care of the religious part of being crowned king.

---

Chapter XVII
aOgtr2Ol.jpg

Session 136: Magic Wrap Up

The party didn't take long. The players just said their goodbyes to everyone there. Elementars returned to their country, so did the Vale. The gnomes stayed to take their ships back, piece by piece, after that dreadful encounter. Refugees from Orth will take their time to change homes or decide if they want to stay. Sigurd would be staying in the city since the council won't work like it did before. Others returned too or stayed for longer to help with the cleanup. The players discussed their next course of action and firstly finished the stuff with Lord Magmos, they gave them his name - Defender, which can easily be translated to other languages of Tethys. The party received three messages. One from the Queen of Actur Kingdom, all official with fanfares, thanking the group for saving people in Orth. The second was from King of Kingdom of the Vale, where he was less formal and thanked the group for a job well done. He even commented that he worried that Mario's balls would not allow him to resurface. The third was from the Cardinals from the Dominium, they also thanked the group and invited them to their city for a meeting. The party then teleported to the University, since they wanted to check the secret vaults and they had to go through the University to get to Dominium.

1aFOy2Nl.jpg
aQks6aRm.jpg

Atlas and Bellioso (Archmaster of Evocation)
Prisoners in Dark Vault

There they met with the Rector Wilhelm Kranz, who congratulated them personally and the group was later teleported to the Dark Vaults. There they learned that these vaults were built long ago and their purpose is to store dangerous items, knowledge and imprison dangerous people. During the fall, when Actur died, some of these things disappeared. First was Atlas, nearly 20 meters adamantine golem from 1500 years ago, he is the reason the vaults were created. He is immune to magic, so he has the job to carry over his shoulders the whole university grounds, tones upon tones of rock. He killed his master after creation, a black dragonborn named Black King. Among the prisoners, there were 2 out of 4 that escaped. Those that escaped are Quertann (imprisoned over 800 years ago), called Living Shadow, who was a searcher of magic and arcane, he found a way to become immortal and changed into a shadow that can't be killed, even harmed as some weapons are impervious to his shadow smoke form. The other one was Sindilla (imprisoned over 1000 years ago), whom Elhaeltôr wanted to meet. Called by elves as the Emerald Lady, due to her unnatural green like emeralds hair, but by others the Banshee Queen. She is responsible for creating the demiplane that imprisoned the demon Targruun, who was unkillable and was killing elves left and right, she was cursed for this by the Demon Lord and her voice became a weapon of destruction. Even hear breath could kill people while a whisper level places. The two that stayed were Ilryk the Jumper and Bellioso, the Archmaster of Evocation. All cells have some kind of wall of force to stop people from escaping as well as magic to keep them alive, forever, extending their lives. Sindilla and Bellioso had rooms catered to their needs, looked very royal. Ilryk had nothing since his prison was time, he was frozen in time. The party didn't see his upper body, only his legs, because he was in the moment of teleportation and it warped him in the room. He was imprisoned over 1000 years ago. He ate something he called the egg of Mother of All Dragons (if he is to believed) and it granted him the powers to teleport at will and jump dimensions. He killed thousands of people, many times killing someone, teleporting out and looking at the chaos he formed. The last person was Bellioso, who was once an Archmaster of Evocation at the University hundreds of years ago. He looked for the final spell of Evocation, a destruction nobody would believe could be achieved. By many regarded as forbidden work. He found it and made a mistake (he says everything was planned). During his tests, he successfully cast the spell and threw it out of the window. During the judgment they wanted to kill him but the Divination wizards found out the reason why they spell didn't destroy anything. It needs one more component - his life, so as long as he lives, the spell doesn't activate and kill thousands upon thousands of people in some unknown place. Bellioso was pretty content with being in the cell, at that time reading some books.

The party later checked the magical items. The Deck they found was added to the collection. Now the Dark Vault had three decks (12 and 10 cards one and now an 18 one). There were dozens of items that would be regarded as dangerous, so the Rector told them about two that are still here while three that were stolen. First, a simple northern blade called Varrycka Sword, that made the user go into a berserker state. It was found that the soul of a barbarian lady called Varrycka was trapped inside, destroying the sword would probably destroy her soul, so it was kept here. Fiery Scar was a strange item, a destroyed one even. Long ago people found some burned ground in the jungle that stretched for kilometers. The closer you got to the center the hotter it got until the land started to burn and the center was an inferno. The Druids and Mages who could change or control beings that were immune to the fire were able to get close and found out that there was a broken sphere that had access to the Plane of Fire and it was spewing energies from that plane due to it being cracked. When they tried to take it, it broke too many pieces and by luck were able to catch them and up to them into a coffer. The one in the Dark Vault isn't the same one, they need to change them every 500 years since they start to break and new ones need to be put unless the Fiery Scar would burn the whole place down. The three that were stolen were Eye of Darkness, Nahlot's Arm and Kingdom of Heaven's Egg. The eye was found by Archmage Vannozzo and allowed him access to the vault, as well as his disciples. The eye had many properties like being un-ambushable or granting the user the ability to cast Wish, however, the person soon became inside as the energies of two planes (feywild and shadowlands) collided. The arm was found in the shadowlands, Shadow Reflection, and it was rumored to be an artifact of Nahlot, the leader of Shadow Lords. It granted the ability to control death, undeath and kill people. The last was the egg, which was an artifact from the days of Red Dragon King and it was able to create demiplanes the size of kingdoms and allowed to transport armies between places with ease.

After that, the party went to the library part and met with Naevys Moonshadow, who was the keeper of knowledge here. They weren't allowed to browse the books but to ask questions to Naevys what the University knows. While some questions had answers they gained not so recently, like about the cosmic powers, there were many that the party didn't know yet (or somebody didn't reveal to them). The Lord Sun worship began as sacrificial worship to the sun, started by lizardfolk (under All-Father they had to move to the southernmost part of Tethys) and continued by humans from a legion that wasn't so keen on the Trinity. He spoke to them after many sacrifices. Bloody beginning. That the God Spark is capable of creating gods and maybe even shape them over time. That Life Spark might be cosmic in nature and that the Mother of All Dragons as well as Corellon might be such beings. Eye of Many is also a contender for cosmic power, who probably has control over time and prediction, while his five temples travel through time-space on Tethys. Shothragot, also known as the Hidden Lord, Creator of Underground, Eternal Chaos is a being that probably existed before dragons came and were awakened (it took time) after tasting Life Spark. That All-Father's real name was Urist before he defeated the tyrant. Cobalt Dragon question was turned down. Apparently Naevys has some inside knowledge about the issue and can't say anything more than a being called Zaphkiel (The One Who Watches over the Thrones, the leader of the Celestial Council) denied her to reveal anything. That halflings do not know their real origins, they came to the hills long before Actur and that there are other Halflings sighted in the far south in the mountains. Naevys said that some might know it or actually did since a secret among thousands won't be kept. They now know that the Mother of All Dragons went to sleep after arrival and the creation of Dragons and when the All-Father came to fight her, she woke up and the fight was brief with her teleporting out with her lands.

After all of this, they teleported to Dominium.

gIn51iDl.jpg

Capital of Dominium

The city of Dominium lies on a couple of islands that once were a peninsula. Each island a different district. One for each god, with different aesthetic and entertainment (Ilios has the only hippodrome in the world, Valena has a lot of gardens, while Eris has the whole city judgment system), Old Quarter where most of the people live (there are over 150 thousands of people in the city and nearby) and there's the leadership of Actur's religion there but the group couldn't discern which building that would be. The last was the Avatar's District, where the main cathedral is and most of the important religious buildings like Eye of the Gods, where the cardinals reside, and Avatar's Mausoleum, to where nobody has access, probably Actur's resting place. When the party exited the University's guild building, they were immediately recognized and escorted to the cardinals.

UuUuWGIm.jpg

oEzrhlNm.jpg
AhhoqA5m.jpg
SMC0Nljm.jpg

Miltiades III the Calm
Archcardinal of Church of Trinity
Ex-cardinal of Eris

Cathrin Herzig
Cardinal of Valena

Neopolo Di Cello
Cardinal of Eris

Ezekiel Ruthbaum
Cardinal of Ilios

The party met with the cardinals in their building. They had to leave their weapons, due to the rules, and only Elhaeltôr declined, so he stayed behind to keep an eye on them. Interior was beautifully crafted with such a marble that it looked almost like mirrors. The cardinals again thanked the group for their heroics and were sorry they couldn't act sooner on what happened in Orth, also, were sorry about the weapons but protocol had to be maintained. Mario made a speech about what happened, that the canyon needs to unite. During which the Archcardinal rose saying that he is too old for this (maybe long speeches or politics, who knows) and went down with the others to meet with the group face to face. He told them that the cardinals are ready but Mario, as the new king, must promise two things - that the main religion of the country will be the Trinity and that as long as he lives anybody that would sit on the throne (be it his children or not) must be a worshipper of Trinity. Mario asked the rest of the group but was willing to do it. He just wanted that what happened in Orth be announced everywhere, that everybody knows, to which the archcardinal that it will be done but after the meetings of Kings, and if Mario isn't invited by another king then he might as well come, the archcardinal will just push him inside. Mario accepted the terms, made the promise on his knee and the divine power surrounded the group, they felt the gods watching over them. Cardinals then discussed the date and it would take in 6-7 days, on the holy day called Birth of Dominium (date mostly to grieve) and it will be on Valena's hill, where High King Actur announced his crusade. With that over, they were dismissed. The party discussed what to do but they were content with how it ended, returning to their home.
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
We continue to play. Aerendir/Balasar's player quit the game, he might come back later. Finnean player switches back to Scarlett. Baâ's player takes a break, might take a long, who knows. Long Campaign Fatigue kicks in, that's normal. I'm going to continue the game even if I have 2 players, can't stop now.

---

Chapter XVII
00ilyb3l.jpg

Session 137-138: Jungle Honeymoon

The party prepared for the ceremony. Mario would not only be crowned, but he would also marry his beloved Vittoria. The group took care of any preparations. Even Mario had a moment to reconcile with his daughter Gianetta. The party then moved to the ceremony time. First, people came in droves, thousands of people came to see the coronation or be nearby. A moment for the ages, especially that it was on the sacred hill. Many guests, from around the world. The party could meet up and talk to old friends and acquittances. Only the Oasis and Mario's and Vittoria's family didn't come. The Frost Giant came, telling that no other Giant will dare to interfere when he is here. Jarl Balgruuf came to bring a present - jeweled mammoth tusks. Other delegations came with their gifts too. The Vale gave a special scabbard. The Actur gave a gold statue of High King Actur. Brightaxe brought an axe called Liberator. One of the adventuring parties gave potions of fertility. The gnomes gave a music box. Elementi Revivo pair mithril necklaces for the pair. There even was the dwarf the party met long ago, working for the Great Empire, he bought a bottle of vodka. The party took their time to talk to people before the ceremony took place.

FCO7blHm.jpg
Su6lBoGm.jpg

Kyrdun
Coast Claw

Sedyryn Humanoid Form Illusion

The most important talks, that revealed some information, was that two new dragons came to the ceremony. There were five dragons in their humanoid forms, three the party knew - Defender (Lord Magmos), Palarandusk (Rearlin) and Naevys (that University elf). The two new were Kyrdun, that later revealed himself as a bronze dragon that came to pledge his loyalty to the group's cause, while the other one was Sedyryn's humanoid form, an illusion. The second talk was with King of the Vale. There will be a problem with the kingdoms at the meeting and Mario is invited. It will be either the Alliance or be alone since the Vale and Canyon are in a bad strategic situation to defend against the incoming army of the Great Empire, that talked with the halflings, dwarven nations, Oasis and monster cities. They even talked to Ishmael but he was here for a moment, he wanted to be for the wedding and skedaddle since he didn't want to be seen by the cardinals, it would make problems.

The wedding went smoothly. One of the clerics of Valena led the ceremony. The pair had specially crafted rings of wood and metal, made from the little tree that's sprouting from the seed they planted months ago. Old couples that had their tree still would have more refined rings of wood, a sign of long marriage. After they made their promises, said yes and kissed the pair were supposed to go to the forest to run around and roll in the ground, then, not cleaning themselves, go to their bed. After all, it is done, they would take a bath, a new beginning for them. They couldn't go anywhere to complete the first part since there were thousands of people, but the Barons had an idea. They were invited to their house and to go to the cellar, where the holy hill is located. Later they would go to one of the bedrooms and complete the ceremony. When that was done, Kyrdun came to the Mario announcing his plans and wished to pledge his loyalty after Mario was crowned king.

phjIk3pm.jpg
irPXKhBm.jpg

Regiala of the Canyon King

Before that happened. Mario was given the regalia. It was made from different materials. The crown is from the Tree of Life as a base, then "silvered" with mithral. Jeweled with different jewels, the main was a fire opal with a golden-crowned key in the center (symbol of the future kingdom). Other jewels meant other things like Dwarves, Dragons, Elves, Orth and other cities. There were a golden scepter, purple worm boots and a robe made with mithral. There was even an orb of rulership, given by the church of Lord Sun. Everything made by their close allies and friends. While most of these things weren't magical, except for small enchantments that allowed these items to last forever. The crown later was enchanted by the Cardinals (it gave +2 CHA without attunement) and the orb allowed to cast Daylight (once, only by the wearer of the crown).

The coronation begun. The cardinals teleported in. When that happened, Raerlin, Defender, and Kyrdun changed into Dragons to stand behind Mario, as a sign of their alliance/fealty to the new king. There were a long ceremony speech and exchange of promises by the King.

We have gathered here as witnesses to the founding of a new state and the coronation of the head of the new king. The Kingdom of Contego has gone through many difficulties to become what it is now. And the heroes at their controls repeatedly showed their subordinates that they are in good hands.

Mario kneels.

Let no evil stand in the way of your future. Walk in the dogmas of the Trinity, let therm be a lantern in the dark for you and advice during problems. Rule with an honest heart, honor, and justice. Mario de Capodimonte. On behalf of the Trinity Church, the Loving Mother Valena, Judge Eris and the Righteous Blade Ilios, I, Arch Cardinal Militiades Third the Peaceful, is my honor to crown you.

Are you ready to take the oath?


"Yes"

Do you promise and swear that you will rule the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Contego in accordance with designated laws and customs?

"Yes"

Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

"Yes"

Will you do everything you can to maintain the laws and faith in the Trinity?
That in mercy and love people would believe and serve the Loving Mother, Valena?
That the population would live by established law, and that criminals would be adequately punished, as it says in the faith of Judge, Eris?
That you would rule honorably and justly, that every stain on your honor and your crown would not go unpunished, as it says in the faith of Righteous Blade, Ilios?


"That in all, I swear. I promise the Trinity, you all my witnesses, that I will keep my promises."

A crown is placed on the head.

Let your reign be long. Long live King Mario the First de Capodimonte! Mario the Restorer! Long live King Mario!

Long live King Mario!
The crowd shouts.

Arise, King Mario I de Capodimonte, King of the Kingdom of Contego.

After that, there was a blinding light coming from the crown. The clerics were startled, this wasn't part of the ceremony. The crowd didn't know so they cheered. Cardinals only squinted their eyes. The crown was enchanted and the lands around them turned green. The holy hill returned to its former glory. The gods have spoken. The cardinals excused themselves since too many people in one place could lead to some problems. They would teleport out. This was also the moment the bronze dragon bend the knee and took an oath to serve the Kingdom of Contego and the Golden Shield.

ZhYI0CJl.jpg

The Reveal

After all of this was done. Elhaeltôr asked people to come to visit him. He had something to reveal. The main plot of the campaign was revealed here (well, maybe part of it, there's still a lot to reveal). Harthion Goldleaf, Elhaeltôr previous incarnation, after the fall happened, the drow. He searched for a way to escape this world. He helped the elves to repair their ship. However, there was a problem. The world was ending soon and he couldn't stop it. The world would break and the elves wouldn't be able to escape. He needed to do something. This was the legend that carries that Heroes Save The World. During each near-extinction cataclysm, the heroes show up and save the world. Then they die like some sacrifices. Harthion/Elhaeltôr came with a plan. He would create such heroes to give his allies time to repair the ship. He broked a deal, allied himself, with Eye of Many. He would lose his memory, become weak and create a group of heroes. All of the campaign is due to this. The party gathering. The party rescuing people. Elhaeltôr insisting on saving stuff. All of this was preplanned by Harthion and Eye of Many. That's why the latter didn't interfere with the party, only once, when Elhaeltôr's curses started to break. He saw a flaw that he wanted to fix. This is why the Eye of Many wasn't at the forefront of the campaign this entire time. His plan was going as planned. There are no coincidences. Elhaeltôr said he is sorry for everything and was willing to go away if the party wished so. However, they affirmed that to them he is Elhaeltôr and their friend, at least some said that. The party would have to plan their next steps. Now they know what the stakes are. They need to save the world and to do so, they need to travel beyond the sphere, that binds the world and fight against the darkness that are the lords of Eye of Many. How they do it if they are ready and other questions popped up. Right now, they would need to prepare. The party discussed their next course of action. There were couple of suggestions. Talk to the Travellers, the archfey that might know where Mother of All Dragons is, she is the key to salvation or rather her Life Spark, since it was a weapon against the darkness in the void. Take care of Elhaeltôr stuff in the forest and on the island. Also, they could try the far south, to check on Lord Sun's emergence place.

Scarlett was for this and she later revealed that the amulet she got belonged to a Quickstep, the uncle of Finnean. Finn would stay in the kingdom for a while longer but would send spies to gather information about his uncle in Quadropolis, where he died. This would be the key to understanding who were Scarlett's parents. The party decided that they would Gate the Traveller to their world and talk to him, next they would go to the Far South with teleport. The spell was successful and the archfey was neutral on being Gated ("It was long ago since last time"). He said that he knows where the Mother of All Dragons rests but he can't go there, her prison, made by beings of the void blocks access. There is a continent on the way, populated by the first race, the beings that were before the dragons. Their home is also defended against magical travel. He revealed that somebody else asked about this before - clad in dark armour with diamonds. This description fits the Great Emperor. He also said he has some kind of vehicle, ship that is able to fly to the continent and he is working on making it able to go the Mother of All Dragons. The Traveller said to look for him if they want to get to the continent and that is their journey, not his. With this information, the party starts to doubt that the Great Emperor is their enemy. They gather together and teleport to the Far South, seeking answers in Lord Sun.

vyENJd2l.png
LK0N6Xvl.jpg

Far South
Ziggurat of Sun

Thanks to Solange's book, they were able to teleport to a description of the first temple of Lord Sun. However, when they got there, it was filled with people around the temple. Thousands, tens of thousands of people came to the temple. It looked like a ziggurat and the stairs were filled with people going to the top. The party had some problems with the weather but didn't stay to chat. They did scare the people around them but didn't talk to them. The deeper they got, they saw that some people aren't fully human. They had some lizard/snake elements. Snakefolk are a rarity among Lizardfolk. There are many stories that they bonded with humans after they came and using magic they well able to combine their souls or something like that. The Yuan-Ti (they aren't called in the campaign but let's keep calling them this until they get a real name). When they got close to the ziggurat, they were stopped by the serpentfolk but Solange was able to convince them to let them pass and ignore the queue.

pFVpiZrm.jpg
naJ0yvvm.jpg
sI7riIom.jpg
x3FA2iTm.jpg

Serpentmen, True Followers of Lord Sun

At the top, they were stopped again. They saw two large serpentfolk (abominations), a triceratops and a "cleric" that has his hand changed into snakes. He was taking one by one of the volunteers to check their blood. Then decided if they will be a future sacrifice or not. Nobody was scared here. Everybody was happy to come and willing. One was even rejected which made him angry and only the serpentfolk were able to convince him otherwise. Solange was able to go next, while the party stayed behind. He talked with the priest and it was revealed that their leader is called Lord Skuthus and he will call you if he wants to see you, not the other way around. Seeing that the only peaceful way of meeting with this leader is by becoming a candidate for the Blood Sun ritual, Solange gave his blood like the previous people. However, when his blood touched the blood-filled bowl, all of it turned to water. The priest was angry and it made all the serpentfolk hostile. The party fought against them but the cleric was able to escape deeper into the temple.

When the party got inside, they arcane locked the entrance and started their delve deeper. The first chamber had the relic that was once used to sacrifice people, the sacrificial stone slab. Nobody used it for centuries. The walls were filled with symbols of lizards, snakes, humans and the sun. The party was able to find where the cleric escaped and ventured down, following a trail of blood from the candidates that couldn't see in the dark and hold their bloody hand on the right side of the wall. Along the way, they found one of the candidates that were happy to be chosen and wanted to go. The party dropped them quickly unconscious, fearful that they will be sacrificed. Last time they did the Blood Sun ritual it was five years ago. Which would work with the Great Empire of Freedom formation and expansion timeline. The next room had "islands" separated by a drop filled with holes, fire traps, and connected with bridges (some destroyed just now). The serpentfolk defended this place but the rogues were able to get behind, turn off the trap and killed some. The party killed everybody, except for one that escaped. They had 3 ways to go and decided to follow the blood of candidates. This was also the corridor that the escaped took. There they heard them talking in draconic. They called the party "the great enemy", that they are here to stop the Blood Sun ritual and such. The party saw that this room had couple of serpentfolk. Two large abominations, another cleric with changed hand and a serpentfolk that had to be higher on the hierarchy (better robes, head of a serpent, full body scales). Behind them was a wooden wall, where the candidates were, they were grilling food for themselves and were happy. The party rushed in, killing the large monsters. The human cleric tried something but was killed before he could use his power. The serpent cleric was taken alive (unconscious). The candidates were angry and threw rocks at the party, there was no reasoning with them.

KC61WQ3m.jpg

The Avatar

The party later interrogated the cleric. Apparently, the Blood Ritual gives them powers and they were preparing to attack the north. The sun turns red at that time. They believe themselves the descendants of the real worshippers of Lord Sun and that Solange is nothing but an impostor. That the blood turning into water is a sign of it. Asked about where Lord Skuthus might be. The cleric explained that he either met with "the avatar" to the left or went to the right were the sacrificial hole is and further the main part of the temple. The party decided to check on the avatar, the snakefolk followed them. In the next room, they saw an even bigger serpentfolk, with many heads. He spoke that he is the avatar, chosen. That they are mere mortals before him and why they came. The party again said that they come peacefully and Solange asked again about the blood. This was the moment that all of them hissed and attacked.

Combat Screenshot
JAX96kC.png
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
One more thing, I've forgotten. After the coronation, the Barons (Baron and Baroness Vladimirovich, vampire guy and forever young wizard) greeted the party when they entered their mansion to rest. It came out that Baron (The vampire guy) became mortal again and this means that the wizard lady returned to her normal aging. This was huge for them, they cried when they found out and it happened the moment Mario was crowned and the bright light came. They thanked the group and pledged their loyalty to them, swearing to serve them, help the kingdom while the party is away. Sadly, the Kingdom Building aspect of the campaign is going to die, since the only guy (Aerendir/Balasar's player) quit and I don't have anybody to continue this massive project. I might do it myself but for now it is dead. The baroness could have been the Magister (magic stuff) and the Baron could be the Councilor or grand diplomat (Speaking to the people or allies). Also, the curse/gift of the Barons might have been something the gods prepared for the party, that they cursed/gifted them to stay on the hill, meet with the party along the way and help them. After the hill was restored and Mario was crowned, it was the main hidden objective to lift the curse/gift. For now, their history will go public, they will announce their real names (as the baroness was daughter of then Duke Mercatoporto +300 years ago). The vampire infamy will be gone.
 

Havoc

Cheerful Magician
Patron
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
5,520
Location
Poland
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
We wanted to play vampire yesterday but during the game, something came up and we didn't really start off the session, so we switched to Tethys.

---

Chapter XVII
U1CeuCyl.jpg

Session 139: Blood Sun

The combat started with advantage for the party. However, the tables turned quickly when the avatar moved. He was able to use sun energies to attack with his eyes and make powerful flurries with his many snakeheads. He was a gruesome opponent. Almost fell Scarlett (from 119, she fell to 11 in a single turn) with his constrict and claws attack. She barely got out and ran away, allowing Solange to heal her. Apparently, the enemies could heal too and the party retargeted the snake priests first, since healing the avatar would make it an unwinnable situation (especially that they cast Heal). The party was able to kill those priests and then the avatar. Solange fell unconscious just after that when two abominations still lived but were defeated by the rest of the party. The party healed up and saw that the avatar's body started to shrivel up, almost to the size of a normal human and his heads turned into a couple of centimeters long little snakes. Elhaeltôr caught one and experimented - he touched the snake to Solange's bloodied body and it turned to dust. Solange's blood is doing something but the party has yet to reveal the truth. There was another exit here but after scouting they found that these were breeding grounds for more serpentfolk. Apparently, it seemed, that the ritual that changes a human into one of the "Children of Sun" could go wrong and changes them into more pitiful but still strong creatures, those were here hidden with more abominations. They tried to hide but the party found them out. They didn't reveal themselves and just retreated, not wanting to waste resources on another fight.

rK3zIbfm.jpg

The party returned to the main room and went to the ritual chamber. After some walking down, they found a hole that had the sunlight shine on it. The wall around it and nearby was in dried out blood from decades or centuries of sacrifice. There were more serpentfolk here and the party jumped them. The priests fell first and Solange found "their old friend" in the back - the priest from the topside. He tried to run away but Solange was able to knock him unconscious. The party had to focus enemies that were attacking Solange, since he was the most damaged but they were able to win against them. Only one surrendered, they intimidated him to run away and never come back. Once that was done, they checked the room. There were two more corridors here and the giant hole. Throwing a rock there would reveal it was a long way down (later revealed it was about 300 feet or 90 meters). The walls of the hole were blackened with dried blood. Even if Solange tried to give a droplet of his blood down, it might never reach the bottom where the blood pool is. The party decided to interrogate the priest.

qj7XM4im.jpg

Blood Vampires
The Blood Eclipsed

In the corner, he had no way to escape and revealed what he knew. He was an astute student and learned whatever he could. The corridors lead to different places. One leads to a gifting chamber, where people, before their death, leave gifts (gold, jewelry, wine or even blood) to Lord Sun, while the other would lead them to the main temple. However, before they could get there. There was a room filled with fire traps and more enemies and after that another chamber with more guarding the entrance to the temple. The party would need to defeat them to get to Lord Skuthus and his entourage. He revealed that the leader of the serpentfolk is named Sunlord and that there is a "guest" that delivers slaves to them - a pirate with a golden mask. The party recognized him instantly. It must be Calandor, the man they fought before at the entrance to the Eye of Many temple. This would be a tough fight. The party asked about the ritual and their history. The man doesn't know the whole history, everything began centuries ago. After the tsunami came, it killed millions. The Children of the Sun (serpentfolk) came, preaching that Lord Sun is angry and they need to return to their old ways to redeem themselves. Over the three centuries, their religion grew. During that time, a vision was shown that someone will come that will "purify the waters", turn them into water, that would spell their doom. He even spoke about what happened in the last five years. The ritual - Blood Sun is capable of turning the sun red, during that time all worshippers of Lord Sun (probably only the snake people) gain powers and can fight even the worst odds. This was used nearly 5 years ago when the Great Empire invaded their lands. With this power, they were able to turn the tables. Now, they wanted to use the ritual to be the aggressor and fight the Great Empire. He never once thought that their religion is the evil one or they are misinterpreting Lord Sun's vision. During questioning, he skipped something and Scarlett caught it, he told them that it isn't important since they are going after Lord Skuthus but told them anyway. He observes his fellow priests many times. That snakefolk sometimes go to the gift room and disappear, he tried to shadow them but they were gone from the room like they used magic. Sometimes even the priests go there with sacrifices and they come back with them being fully drained. He didn't know what's going on. The party had about an hour or two before the ritual will commence. They made it difficult by killing people and priests, they needed to sacrifice about ten people to make the ritual go quicker but now it was moot.

The party went to check the gift room. There they were four statues and wording in draconic on the wall. "Lord Sun calls for sacrifice. Our corridors are empty and the bowls dry. Give the most valuable thing and the road will be open." The party checked the bowl on the statues. One had gold coins. The second had jewelry. The third wine, some of it dried off already. The fourth was empty but was all bloody. They discussed their course of action and decided to try and get at the mechanical parts. They had to roll high (28) and they did. They were able to bypass the statue, make it move and descend down on a stone ladder. They had to go like this for a long time since it was 300 feet but there were some stops and more ladder. When they were at the bottom, they had another room. Solange and Scarlett scouted ahead and found a room filled with gold coins. Scarlett stayed behind, while Solange went deeper. Columns, behind them stone sarcophagi and at the center, under a giant hole, there was a huge stone bowl filled with blood. Maybe vampires are nearby? Who knows. Solange got close to the blood and decided to test his own. He cut his arm (since he can't take off his artifact easily) and a droplet fell into the blood, turning it all into water. Suddenly a hiss and vampires behind the columns showed up. They were hostile. Human looking and had strange symbols on their chests. While the priests in the temple have Lord Sun's symbol with a red border and a droplet of blood at the bottom. These vampires had the Eclipsed version of the symbol, blocked out Lord Sun symbol with the red border and a droplet.

Combat Screenshots
cfQLMaE.png
dzUKUBU.png
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom