- This topic has 69 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 2 months ago by .
-
Posts
-
Uriel, a songmaster, is playing in the square. He’s one of a dozen who take turns entertaining and taking coin for their efforts. One song that seems to stir the audience is about the lesser-known god of a millenia ago, Alduain, god of justice and revenge. As the song goes, he was murdered by Pelor when Alduain dared strike a blow at Pelor. In a misunderstanding, Alduain believed Pelor to have betrayed his followers. In the end, the two gods faced off and Alduain was struck down. Pelor, of course, was the heroic victor.
Another bard going by the name Dalia Sunsong offered some fanciful tales about days gone by when Everton Wells wasn’t just a marker on a long trade route but had a tower of great magical power. Per her preamble.the tower is long gone but within the lost ruins, magic yet resides.
A time ago in township fare
A tower tall that wasn’t there
Into the ground it sank its spire
Leaving the good mage to retireBalmar left his lofty home
To travel far and all alone
The tower t’is we know not where
‘Cept hidden ‘moungst this humble fairA third bard, Gip Dobrite, swears his tale of a Giant in the water is true.
An ancient religious fanatic is screaming at people. Two town guard watch him, but he seems harmless. (Gravemaster Tilben)
You forsook Alduain and allowed his execution at the hands of Peylor!
A time of reckoning is upon you for Alduain demands vengeance before he may rest!
I prayed, calling out, and the Triad of the Fallen have answered!
Let all who rejoice while my god lies in his unrestful grave be wary for your time is nigh!Something is amiss despite this being much like any year in your memory. One man in particular gives you a sense of unease. He’s almost 7 feet tall, human, and has a large hump on his back. He speaks with no one but carries himself with utmost confidence. He’s been in town since the day the event started. But he’s one of hundreds and most are happy and enjoying the celebration.
A large, oily fat man has a tent and he puts up a sign offering to see a real live minotaur for only a silver. You see the man and a large cloaked figure with one arm in the bar later that eveing.
Two women in an open-front tell fortunes.
For a copper, they tell Rollender that “A fine woman will be yours when your gold matches her value.”Three dwarves were selling and trading fine baubles. They have twelve Stones of Sorcery for 4 GP each, which grant 1d6 healing one time. The gem is still worth 2 GP. If they like you, they may buy you an ale at the inn.
Other rumors overheard:
I heard grievous sounds from the ruins on Baddock hill!
I saw things of unnatural comportment near the castle Abendil.
I know of a dock by the lake that is haunted with the black of a lost moon.
I know that dock! Doric the Sailor was ripped to shreds. They only found his leg!
I hear wailing of a sort like the screams of the damned wantin’ to come out.
I said ‘afore and will say again, we have giants in the wildering wood!
I know of a witch in the dell who causes our children to think evilish things!Day Two of the festival
Illan Rasmant and Kridlin Hurester find seats on opposite ends of the Copper Cockatrice.
The Tall unsettling man sits as a wide circular table that could seat eight by himself. No one approached as there’s an unsettling feeling about him.
Zelrath was having no part of leaving the man to his own devises.
With the city guard sparse amidst the fair crowd, they took far too long to gather mass to approach the man.
Two tall humans, one male, one female, come into the bar. The male carries a mace, the woman a short spear. Both give those around them that same feeling of unease.The tall man is seated at a large table and no one approaches. The other two come in and go straight to the table. The heavy crowd parts to allow their unabated passage.
“Our travel was delayed by the carts on the roads,” the woman says.
“The time for obfuscation is over,” the Tall Man says. “We will gain in strength as the mortals weaken.”
“As will the kindred,” says the woman.
“Is it here?” Asked the third man.
“It is here, Mardius,” says the Tall Man.
“Do we know where?”
“No. But we all feel it. It’s here.”
“So it begins,” says the woman.
“So it ends,” says the Tall Man. “Let us call the Kindred.”
The three stand up and the man with the staff points it to the ceiling. A burst comes from the staff covering the room; everything goes into chaos. The glamour falls, revealing the three Fallen Angels of Alduain; beautiful but tainted with something dark. The former white wings are grey and black. Their eyes are dark agates.Three portals open and Kindred Harriers come through, attacking the thick crowd in the bar.
The Man with the mace bangs the staff on the table. The table shatters and everything glass in the bar shatters.
The Tall Man bangs his staff on the ground, uttering a single word: “Avulsion”.
You can feel the tremor through your feet and into your body as a wave passed from the staff. A loud crack is heard, and everything shakes like in an earthquake.A portal opens in the center of the bar. Within the portal you can see Court Mage Asimarn Druisamar, Kellen Oriaster, and Wraith, urging you through. Panicked townsfolk and fair attendees stumble through, many helping comrades who have fallen.
The party did their best and either made it to the portal, helped others, or were helped. Despite five of the seven being unconscious due to wounds, they all made it through the portal, which closed behind them. Their wounds have been stabilized but the large crown in the cavernous room is in tatters with various wounds.
Dark days ahead as we face Alduain’s doom. And yet we are fortunate for having survived the fall of the Copper Cockatrice. Thanks be to Moradin that we unlikely companions all made it.
Week 2:
You are in a large cave though it’s been furnished with several dozen cots, mushroom beds, and a small stream runs through the south end.
When the dust settles, there are sixty-two who made it through the portal, including an infant and a boy of 2. Others may yet survive elsewhere.
The Baron is there as well as Asimarn, Wraith, Lordis Garington (Female Captain of the Guards, 68), Kellen Oraster: Young lady in waiting in the Baron’s service, Illan Rasmant, the Mercenary, & Dalia Sunsong.
Hengar the barkeep is not there nor are his two daughters, Aeden and Stori. Despite pushing one of your unconscious through the gate, Kridlin Hurester, the tattooed mage, is not there.
The Baron leads the group of survivors up a long flight of stairs winding along the wall to the top of the cave. At the top, it opens to a wide garden with low walls – 4 ft – with several pagodas within. He looks over the west wall. Below you can see Everton Wells, which appears to be in ruins and actively getting worse.
Looking about, you see black infernos on all four sides of the township, maybe two or three miles out in each direction. The infernos box in the lands within. Black shadows swirl about on each border, swooping inward.
Below, you can see Kenderson Karthgate, Cleric of Pelor, setting the fence he worked so diligently on aflame. It bursts with a magical sapphire blue flame that creates a barrier around the entire temple. Some sort of warding as none of the creatures below go near it. Likewise, the park/graveyard is similarly warded.
Wraith and Illian are speaking quietly with the baron.The Baron speaks:
“My friends, we are besieged. We have safe harbor for the moment as this keep is warded from view. Alas such as we have seen in our fair city, they will eventually seek us out.
I have consulted Asimarn, our court mage, and it seems prophesies and omens have played their wicked hand. If Asimarn is right – and I trust his wisdom and knowledge that he is — we face the angry triad of fallen angels of the lesser god Alduain. We always feared someone – or something – would come to Everton Wells. We may seem a humble barony on a humble trade route but there was a time in my grandfather’s grandfather’s time when Everton Wells was the final known home of Balmar the mage. He created wondrous items and upon realizing what he had wrought and the power they could be in the hands of the corrupted, he buried them within his tower, now lost to those long years. One day it was in the township and then next it was gone with no one having memory of how it went or exactly where it had been. They knew only that it was no longer there. Rumors and stories whispered in the dark have warned of this day. I have no doubt that the fallen angels are here seeking the items in the tower.
“I have no sons, nor do I have daughters. My beloved wife succumbed to the grave early and my heart would allow no other. I have encouraged the education of our youth. I have provided men of education to pass along their knowledge to you. I did this knowing that our time of peace and tranquility could be challenged before my end. I have no strength in my bones. My captain of the guard, loyal and a woman of renown prowess in battle in her prime, is no longer able to fend off what we fear is upon us.”
“I shall die defending the last of the barony, M’lord.”
“I know, Captain. But dying will not save what is left.”
“I am asking those young men who are able to set your course for war with these monsters. I’m asking those young men who love anyone within the bounds of this barony or even these total lands, to take up your sword or skills, muster your courage, and save us all. I have tried to be a good ruler. I ask you to repay that with your loyalty to those about you. I have no daughter’s hand to give. I had limited gold as I refused to tax our people into poverty and with the ruin of the keep, I likely have nothing. I have but my tile, and no heir to leave it to. As such, the man who brings me the focus of our trouble will have both my sincere gratitude, but my blessing as heir as well.Captain Garington will remain here with me while Parrow continues to tend the wounded.
Asimarn, Wraith, and Illian, I beseech you to find your way to the temple. Seek out Kenderson and see what insight he may have. He clearly foresaw this evil in some manner. As they move into the city, I ask for volunteers, yet able, to form a party of men to move to the edge of the Swirling Black. We must know if, should things fall to horror, that at least those still alive have a road to escape.
The court mage, opens a small chest and gifts you with some powerful items.
1. An amulet of Striking. +1 on attack rolls.
2. A Salisman’s Stone of Sharpening, giving +1 to any edged weapon for 4 hours. Usable 1 per day.
3. A charm of truth-saying. DC 25 or subject compelled to answer any single question truthfully. Two charges.
4. Hat of Leadership. While within 15 ft, +1 on will and morale saves.
5. Gem of Accelerative Support. Gives +1 to any single stat.
6. Pendant of Natural Armor +1
7. Wand of Curative Nature: Heals 1d8 up to two times per day. Range 25 ft. 12 charges.You may know, but the stories of four items of great power are true. This small kingdom, even before Balmar’s retirement to our town, was well seeped in magic in the ways both light and dark. I possess the staff of peaceful rule, which was handed down to me by my father and his father before him. It allows the one who wields it great wisdom as well as gives keen insight into those to whom one speaks. (+4 wisdom, +8 Sense Motive. Detect Lie 2 X Day.)
The other items were secreted away, possibly in the catacombs of the three cousins’ castles, all now ruins but within the bounds of the blackness. Despite my every effort to uncover what these items may be, or where they may be, rumors and stories are the coin of those seeking attention; there are many who would curry my favor and my reward.(Bonus for reading)
Dali Sunsong calms the group with a song:
The tower tall
The thunderous call
The mage did heed a warning
It never fell
The stones do tell
A god’s gravestone earningAsimarn will hand his staff to the party mage. “This is a staff of Safe Passage. It will open a portal, like the one in the Copper Cockatrice, to this place for two rounds. There are two charges left. It is yours if you are going on such a terrible journey.
The party set out, down the hill toward the forest, away from the town. They met Deer and Owls, which seemed possessed.
Everyone felt a wave of fatigue.
Week Three
The party got to the edge of a lake, formerly good for fishing. It’s mostly drained away with rocks cragging out of the former water. A silvery woman sits on a rock 20 feet out. Swampy water pools between her and the shore. As the party looks closer, they saw she’s not human.
Swamp Minions came pouring out of the swampy water and attacked as did a large monstrous creature, which slunk back into the swamp water after being thrashed.
Kindred Naiad, with her tentacles extra hands holding twin wicked-looking daggars, told them:
Go home.
1. The land is now claimed by the Kindred.
2. Time will take the humanoid elements from the table.
3. The tower is here, somewhere. The Kindred will find it.
4. Once the artifacts are found, the ward will drop, and chaos will reign; the vengeance of Alduain will be complete as he returns in glory.
5. You’ll be dead and gone within the year if not months so anything you do is for naught. Time is fleeting.A hundred yards up a hill, is a rotting shed. Fingers of light creep through the cracks in the wood. It is decrepit. Inside are various rotten fishing nets, oars, poles, and crab cages. The light comes from a permanency continual light coin that sits in a lantern. A search revealed a door sunk in the floor. A ladder descends into a hallway 50 feet down, 5 ft wide, flooded 3 feet deep (difficult terrain). The water is stagnant. A ghostly Hall Monitor moans and then attacks.
Thank you for these weekly updates Phil. I know that sometimes it can seem like a thankless job to put out material regularly, but it is appreciated.
Yup much appreciated. Helps us stay on task sort of like when you throw a dog a tennis ball.
Soon we need to start figuring out the riddle of the ‘missing’ tower. There be Hell Treasure in that tower!!
After defeating the spectral Hall Monitor and Gladeson the dead mage, you found a rusting box with a potion and several papers in it. The papers get more frantic in the writing.
1. “The castle of Heren Rossmarden is believed to be where the Holy Scepter of Barigan fell for the last time. I know it to be most powerful. Alas, it is hidden by a spell of concealment, so I have failed to scry it. I have visions of a stone door with a star on it and a ceiling crumbling in disrepair. A pattern of tiles makes up a faded sun in a long hallway.”
2. “I have observed the poison dragons. They hate their captivity. Free them and they will flee.”3. “I have searched for the tower using the Tome of Balmar but alas, the book was stolen from me and the thief seems to have fled the plane. I know the tower did not fall nor was it destroyed, but that Balmar sank it within the earth somewhere in the space of Everton Wells. He placed a glamour on it to conceal it further and cast a spell of forgetfulness that rendered all memory of the tower gone.”
4. “Pelor help us, the seal to the Artifact of Time has fissures. Any sudden blow could crack the protection open. I fear all men, and the allies of men, in Everton Wells and beyond shall know the bite of time in equal measure. Time shall take all. It is here.”
Bracers +2
Potion
+2 dagger
+2 Pearl of DexterityYou beat two Forest Guardians, who used caged humans as shields. Rescuing both, you can now head to Santuary Hill.
I’m going to pal up to the formerly captive female whom you said was attractive and raise her spirits, find out if she’s married and if so just how married she is.
1. I believe the Artifact, one of the great magics of Everton Wells, has resurfaced. It was sealed in black tourmaline two generations past to keep it from killing all those about it.
2. I believe we are all aging at a rapid pace. The stone is cracked, and the artifact of time is stealing the life from all within Everton Wells and possible beyond. Those of us of unnatural advanced age will wear quicker.
3. I need some books in my library, along with some items of minor renown, needed to help slow the effect.
4. I need you to get to my library but be warned, though a beautiful and pleasant place of solitude and study if ever there was one, I cannot speak to the atrocities that may inhabit it now. Kindred are drawn to magic and there is much to draw them there. I wish I could recall some of the wards I placed on some of the remote areas in the lower levels but alas, I have not had need to be there for many years and I fear my mind faulters.
5. I have an amulet of recall that will drop you into my private study. I considered making the trip myself though I am unsteady on my feet. The study is off the main rooms. It will drop you two feet off the ground as I never remember where I’ve left stacks of things so be ready. I twisted an ankle some jumps ago.
6. To stave off the aging, the items he needs:
A. Book of Medicinal Magicks
B. Hendrendile’s Themes and Theories
C. Jonjan’s Book of All Known Magics of Reknown
D. My Alchemy set. It’s heavy. (50 lbs)
E. Viles of dragon bile, elf blood, Troll ichor, and aberration bile – these are all key ingredients.
7. You cannot defeat these demonic angels in their home. You’ll need the Tome of Silas Grothmill, kept in the lowest levels to be able to face them on neutral ground.
8. Key ring with six keys. Unicorn / Minotaur / Angel / Lion / Knight / Stars
9. Once you retrieve the items, if you can, get to Kenderson Karthgate at the temple of Peylor. I do not know the protective magics he has placed upon the temple, but Wraith said he could not breach them. If you can contact him, he may be able to help you. If you cannot make your way here, use the staff I gave you.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.