While out about town the Knot heard of a festival of Princess Iris, a long lost noblewoman of Ghastenhall. The name sounded familiar, and checking with the journals Galen left with the Knot, they determined the ring they found from the Horn was labelled as being from Iris of Ghastenhall.
A quick check with their local contact Thrane confirmed it. So the Knot quickly sent their goons to "find" a skeleton of a half-elven woman from a near by farming town graveyard.
The Knot did discuss what favor to ask. They thought of titles, or information about the vale, but ultimately settled on the best reward ever. Money.
As the Knot prepared to leave their manor house & make the short trek up the hill to the Duke's castle, they met an uninvited guest.
Appearing in a poof of brimstone & smoke a contract devil stood before the Ninth Knot. Introducing himself as Dessiter, he offers the knot his help in their quest to undo the vale & bring ruin to Mitra's agents on this plane. The Ninth Knot doesn't buy it and expects something more is at play. Still, when the Devil offers a contract with limited terms and a reward of transforming Yvainne's three hell-hounds into Nessian War-Hounds, how could the Ninth refuse.
And sign the contract they did. They would kill a monadic deva, the head of the Mitrians on this plane. And gain three powerful beasts of hell as payment delivered up front.
Only after signing the contract, did the groups legal expert Wasyli point out the risk. If Thorn ordered them to abandon their mission & leave monadic deva Ara Mathra alive, they would be forced to breach a contract. As unlikely as it would be, it would be advised to leave their side dealings from being known by Thorn.
With the interruption from hell behind them, the Ninth dons the appearance of Hallack's crew and head to the Duke's castle. Emmerick takes the roll of Hallack. The knot considered using the real dwarf, but were reluctant, so Mardus, having spend the most time around the blacksmith plays that role. Yvainne plays up the bard. Summit the Monk, an easy role to play for sure. They do not bring along a fake Sister Marta, deciding instead to claim she died at the Horn. For all great lies profit from a sliver of truth. Wasyli & Quell play new members of the adventuring band.
Initially their meeting with the Duke's court appears to go over poorly, the Mad Duke's aids seem to not buy the story & the assembled crowd seems to agree. But Quell's keen ears hear a reassuring whisper from the Duke to his aid. "Think, if we pretend to buy the story, I'll be ride of this long line of charlatans once and for all." The Duke bluntly cuts to the chase, asking the Knot what reward was worth it. Mardus responds asking for a large sum of over 20,000 gp. The Duke balks, Emmerick tries to press it. The Duke then asks to see the "alleged" evidence for himself, as he has his doubts. Mardus, sensing their plot unraveling, jumps in and accepts the much smaller amount of 12,000 gp. The duke agrees & adds the Ninth will have a feast in the Lord's Quarter to honor their efforts.
The Ninth enjoy the lavish feast, but wish to shake their disguise soon. Their new found noteriety is weighing them down, so while wining and dining with the elites of Ghastenhall, "Hallack's Crew" mentions wishing to explore the rumors of a nearby Medusa. Some dignitaries urged caution, but "Hallack's Crew" insisted.
The Ninth plan to shed their disguise the following day, hoping to not don it again.
As the feasting wrapped up, Wasyli mentioned to the group that the Tavern & Inn they were at happens to be the rumored location of the Arcanist Ben. Wasyli was quite interested in meeting the man, so Yvainne & Mardus offer to introduce him that night. A discrete payment to the Innkeeper manages to lead them to Ben's suite upstairs.
Wasyli meets the fellow arcane caster who kindly offers his sitting room to the acquaintances and brief pleasantries are exchanged. Yvainne is sure to ask about Ben's wife, who Ben simply says is "doing fine". Though Ben constantly seems to eye the door to the bedroom. Inquiries about Ben's travelling companion, Vincent are made. And the Knot finds out the vampire hear visiting a local vampire of some note. A meeting is arranged between the Ninth & Vincent for the following night. And Ben is quick to hurry his guests out of his suite without mentioning his wife.
The following day the Ninth meet Vincent. The Ninth asked for help, in particular strength of arms. Vincent pushed until the Ninth revealed their plot to assault the vale. Vincent offered to bring the Ninth before his ally, “Prince” Gaius Vestromo, vampire of Ghastenhall. Further Vincent gave the Ninth an edge, he told them Vestromo needed a family heirloom held in the vaults of the Cathedral of Mitra-Made-Manifest in the Vale. When asked what Vincent got out of the deal, he made it quite clear. He knew Thorn's organization would be in a place of power, when that time came, he'd come calling for favors owed. With a fang lined grin Vincent added "When you're forces rule this kingdom, and rule it they will, I will come calling."
That same night, Vincent lead the Knot into a near by graveyard & into an abandoned mausoleum. Mardus noted the banal and stereotypical lair for a vampire, to which Vincent gave a sympathetic response of "Not my choice for a home..." The Knot met with the dread vampire & under the guidance & advice of Vincent managed to gain the Prince's support in the form of 10 vampire spawn.
With the macabre scene behind them, the Knot runs into trouble of a different nature the following day. Mardus is sought out in the Red Quarter by one of the pimps who works at the Golden Palace in the Red Quarter. It seems Master Vex needs some help.
Rounding up the Knot, Mardus meets with Master Vex. They find the eastern priest there badly injured, along with some scared looking thugs. Master Vex is quick to ask for help. His creatures have broken loose & he needs the situation dealt with. And quickly. He'll gladly pay the regular winnings for the game, just so long as speed is taken. Quell, smelling fear & profit pushes, he wants a shadow stake-holding in the Golden Palace. Master Vex balks at that. But to sweeten the pot, Quell offers to not only capture as many of these creatures alive as possible, but further will ship future creatures they find back to the pit fighting arena. In exchange a simple 1% cut of the profits is required. Forced with little option, Master Vex buckles & agrees.
The Knot makes quick work of the creatures that fled into the sewers. Relying on their powerful skills, the Knot recovers most without incident. The only exception, the mighty Allosaurus which they were forced to kill.
As the weeks slipped by the Knot became increasingly restless. Sending a cell of the shroud to the Vale they scouted out the area. There was a village full of innocents. Woman and children. Emmerick was the most vocal. He disliked the idea of wonton slaughter. It reminded him of the uncaring fires of the inquisition. Quell has a moment of pause as he remembered the burning flame of mitra kill his master & leave his master's children as orphans of the state. Mardus reminded the group that ever since the beginning he's been a proponent of corruption but maintaining social order. Simply with a new absolute ruler and the law of Asmodeus. This destruction and worse the plague. The more research into the savagery of the plague gave the Knot more pause. Except for Yvainne, the death priest seemed quite pleased with the prospect of sending her dark god so many sacrifices. Still, a reluctance hung about the Knot. Was Thorn truly looking to rule Talengarde or simply cause chaos...
With their free time spent, Tiadora arrived to inform the Knot it was time to meet an old friend, The Fire-Axe. Taking the form of a white-furred female bugbear, Tiadora provided teleportation coordinates to the ruins of Westkirk Castle, the current headquarters of Fire-Axe.
Arriving in mass across the mountains, Tiadora quickly led the Ninth to see the First. A warm reunion was had. Fire-Axe informed them they'd be given one squad of soldiers to invade the Vale with. Tiadora pushed for a second troop lead by Fire-Axe's chief lieutenant, Night-Mane. Fire-Axe hated that idea, but soothing words from the Ninth changed his mind. He & Tiadora spoke to the Ninth of some different sources of potential help, Drugar were in the mountains near by, likewise, the Medusa was on the other side of the mountains near Ghastenhall. He also told the Ninth of a Ogre Magi on the run in his camp. Something about killing a sub-chieftain over a dispute.
With pleasantries & business concluded, the Ninth left the First to his planning.
Combining arcane divination and cunning tongue, the Ninth easily tracked down the Ogre Magi and explained plainly he had no future left in Fire-Axe's hoard. But glory still awaited him. After haggling over a price, the Ninth settled on a fee nearly identical to the monthly profits they'd just secured from the Golden Palace.
A convenient arraignment if there ever were one.
With affairs in order, the Knot makes their next move. To track down this Medusa they keep hearing about. With a little bit of luck & skill they manage to find the ruined temple that's the supposed location of the snake-haired horror. Doing areal recon they spot a cluster of stone statues out front, likely victims.
The Knot steels itself & approaches on foot...
Friday, July 26, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
Session 27
The first week in Ghastenhall is a whirlwind of activity. Wasyli meets the Ninth Knot's new cohort, Trik. The priest of Asmodeus invites Wasyli to join an interfaith service the first morning of their stay in the Manor house in the Lord's Quarter of Ghastenhall. The service is not held in a basement, or hidden closet, but rather on the ground floor sitting room. It is a surreal experience for Wasyli to see. All those years of his Aunt telling him to hide his faith. And here it is being openly worshiped, not less than a mile from the Duke of Ghastenhall's audience chamber. The trappings of Hell and the Midnight Lord on full display. An odd sight indeed.
The rest of the week is filled with various actions. The knot is quick to sell off the ill gotten equipment recovered from Branderscar as well as do some long overdue shopping. Emmerick disappears to gather information from the town. Others ask Thrane more questions about what is going on and how the disease will be released. And other sundry actions take place.
The only other major event of the first week is the day of the pit-fight.
Brother Summit "hungry" for combat, goes with Mardus & Quell to the Golden Palace, a hive of scum and villainy in the Red Quarter of town. Having heard rumors that this is the place to get into pit fights, he's not disappointed. Quell acts as fight manager & fast talks with the owner, Master Max, about the rules & getting Summit into the fight. Using the same stage name as back in Farholde, "Empty". Mardus does raise an eyebrow at the overly friendly nature of Quell. A side of the elf he hadn't seen before. Clearly the rogue is comfortable now that he's back home in Ghastenhall.
The negotiations finalized, the three return that evening where Brother Summit fights against 3 savage beasts. First the giant two-headed cobra falls to the monk. The Owlbear who followed fared an equally poor chance against Summit's blows. Some in the crowd notice his fighting stance looks similar to the Monks of the Serene Order. But under the roar of the crowd, Quell & Mardus don't notice their comments. Mardus is too busy shooting out narrations of Summit's fighting style, while Quell chats with Master Max as the fight goes on before them. The last brute to face the monk is an Ankylosaurus. The dinosaurs large stunning tail & think armored skin prove a hard challenge. At one point Mardus is worried about needing to use a Breath of Life spell on Summit if he were to fall. But the Monk perseveres & triumphs.
With the fight over, Mardus takes a battered & bruised Brother Summit back to the manor house to recover. And Quell slips away to find himself at his old stopping ground. The Silver Tankard Inn. Eager to see how his old friend Khyber the elf slips into the tavern. His usual table is empty, and Khyber is no where in sight. He does spot his favorite barmaid, Eve. Part friend, part little sister, it's comforting to see a friendly face, even if under his disguise she fails to recognize him.
He smiles and is a bit surprise to see her flirting so much with a patron. But his smile disappears when he sees who she's flirting with. Emmerick. The Unholy Warrior fails to notice Quell as he sits smiling & chatting up Eve.
Quell wonders in the back & picks a spot near his old table & waits.
The second week progresses along. Much like the first.
Quell continued to watch for his friend at the Silver Tankard, while quietly watching Emmerick maintain a role of wounded veteran and hobnob with locals and flirt with the pretty barmaid, Eve. Quell eventually saw his friend Khyber show up. And though Khyber gave Quell a look and even asked him "Do I know you?" the elf simply shook his head. Afraid to speak & blow his cover. Khyber also noticed the wounded soldier flirting with Eve, which raised an eyebrow on his rugged face. But Quell noted he seemed too busy giving orders to a couple of thugs working for the local crime boss Nicholas Breuder. It seems old Khyber has moved up in the ranks in Quell's absence.
The other Knot members continued their routine. Emmerick gathered information & flirted with Eve, unaware of Quell's ever watchful eye. Other knot members went about their business. Two rumors did cause some of the Knot to investigate. Rumors swirled of murder of woman in Red Quater. That combined with rumors of an older man with a young woman who seemed confused wondering the market place raised concerns among Yvianne & Mardus. So they went snooping around but found little to go on. Consulting with Quell, they decided to dismiss the murders as likely an unfounded rumor. But the story of the older man & confused woman did lead them to a name. Ben. It seems the necromancer who travels with a vampire is in town somewhere.
Also there was more pit fighting. Brother Summit went up against a Wooly Rino that tried to skewer the Monk on his great horn, only to be stomped to the ground & knocked out. A slicer beetle tried to take off a hand but found his pincers weren't sharp enough to bother the punishing kick & flurry of knuckles the Monk had to offer. The charging Dire Lion that attacked the Monk nearly shredded him to ribbons. And Mardus was worried he'd have to jump in and rescue the monk. But the cat eventually fell just like all the others.
All in all, a pretty tame week for the Ninth Knot.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Session 26
Galen hurriedly teleports the Ninth Knot outside the familiar Branderscar prison before teleporting away.
The five remaining members of the Ninth Knot looked on their old home once again. The infamous Branderscar prison.
Quell attempted to stealth up to the gate house of the prison only to be spotted by some local villagers doing some sort of construction. Quickly resorting to bluffing he's able to blend in with the workers & see what's going on.
The disguised elf spots a couple obvious changes. First, construction efforts are underway to increase the gate-house of the prison. Second, a much larger guard contingent is present manning the walls of the prison. And last, two banners fly beside the prison's flag, those of the Knights of the Alerion Order and the Mitrian Inquisition.
Times have changed.
The Knot spends considerable time guessing at their options. Without an arcane caster, they'll be hard pressed to launch a magical assault into the compound. Further, not knowing how long remaining their prisoner has forces them to not wait and pray for different spells. So they fall back on what they do best. Lie. Bluff. And sneak their way into position. Then burn things down.
Emmerick & Brother Summit take on their role of Priest of Mitra and Knight of the Alerion Order. Though they swap names in case their actions around Farholde & Balynten have raise suspicions. They come with a guardsman (Quell) and two prisoners (Yvainne & Brother Summit).
The silver tongues of Emmerick & Mardus manage not only to deceive the simpleton guards but also the clever inquisitor. Yvainne & Brother Summit are hauled off to the prison. And thanks to the trusting words of Emmerick aren't even checked for weapons. Meanwhile Emmerick & Mardus give their report to the inquisitor.
One flaw in the hasty plans of the Ninth Knot becomes apparent. Quell, who deftly disabled the locks in their last stay at Branderscar prison is stuck upstairs with an inquisitor, leaving Brother Summit & Yvainne stuck in shackles.
Still, the Monk sees in a near by cell a bound & gagged prisoner matching the description of their target. Not wasting any time the monk begins to break his bonds & those of Yvainne. Causing a large amount of noise. Meanwhile up above the fabricated story being told by Emmerick & Mardus begins to fall apart before the inquisitors insistent questioning.
Realizing the story is falling apart Emmerick makes some noise himself as he hurls a table up onto the inquisitor & all three of the knot members in the room attack. With Quell's precision stabbing backed by the gross power of Emmerick's mace, the inquisitor falls, but not before calling for help.
And with the jig up, the Ninth unleashes hell on Branderscar.
In the prison below, Brother Summit & Yvainne remove the gag from Wasyli's mouth. With the Sorcerer able to speak, he quickly dimension door's out of his wall mounted chains.
The three rush to the door to find it barred. It seems the guards noticed the noise. Wasyli doesn't hesitate and casts Shatter, reducing the door to a pile of splinters. And the three prisoners rush forward & up the stairs.
That's where they run into the other Knot members who are in the middle of fighting a half-dozen guards, one cleric & have a wall of fire up burning part of the keep.
Unleashing Hell indeed.
The combined arms of the Knot destroy the remaining resistance within the keeps interior. A quick use of arcane magic by the new sorcerer blocks the main entrance of the keep. Quell and Mardus have to pass through their own wall of fire to break into a store room & recover Wasyli's gear. Meanwhile Brother Summit & Yvainne move toward the servants exit in the kitchen where they get waylay-ed by a pair of Knights of the Alerion Order. Brother Summit finds himself reeling from the blows when Emmerick rushes up and lets the staggered Monk fall back and receive healing.
Under the unrelenting mace blows from Emmerick and punches from the healed Brother Summit, the Knights fall before the Knot.
Unsure of how they'll all flee the island, Wasyli brings up that he can cast the Fly spell on all of them. Yvainne adds an enveloping darkness and the six criminals of Talengarde flee Branderscar prison. For five of them it's their second time.
The Knot arrives at a familiar all-be-it abandoned manor house. Dust, cobwebs & decay fill the air.
After breaking their clay seal & waiting for an hour, Tiadora arrives. Taking a reluctant Wasyli she departs. Wasyli finds himself before Thorn in a freezing cold throne room of sorts. The trappings of Hell adorning the walls. At Thorns side stands some sort of guard.
A pleasant if stiff conversation ensues, ending with Wasyli signing a familiar contract with the High Priest of Asmodeus in Talengarde.
Then as quickly as he came, Wasyli is teleported back to the abandoned manor house and his new fellow Knot members.
The Knot settles in for a long overland journey to the bustling trade port of Ghastenhall.
Arriving from the West they find an Inn in the crime riddled Red Quarter and quickly get a lay of the land. And only until after spending a couple days gathering information around town, does the Knot approach their contact at the Library of Ghasten. The member of the fifth knot. Barnibus Thrane.
Making contact with Thrane is quite easy & they schedule a private meeting in the evening. Speaking with Thrane then, he's quick to take the Tears from the Knot. He informs them there is an estate set up for them, with servants. And also 6 magical gems, each able to be socket-ted to the Iron Crowns they each possess. Each stone provides a different magical bonus to the wearer of the crown. A gift from the Cardinal for a job well done.
With that settled the Knot is faced with the decision of what to do next. They have Ghastenhall before them and a month of free time.
Four weeks is probably not enough to bring Ghastenhall to its knees, but how will they know if they don’t try?
The five remaining members of the Ninth Knot looked on their old home once again. The infamous Branderscar prison.
Quell attempted to stealth up to the gate house of the prison only to be spotted by some local villagers doing some sort of construction. Quickly resorting to bluffing he's able to blend in with the workers & see what's going on.
The disguised elf spots a couple obvious changes. First, construction efforts are underway to increase the gate-house of the prison. Second, a much larger guard contingent is present manning the walls of the prison. And last, two banners fly beside the prison's flag, those of the Knights of the Alerion Order and the Mitrian Inquisition.
Times have changed.
The Knot spends considerable time guessing at their options. Without an arcane caster, they'll be hard pressed to launch a magical assault into the compound. Further, not knowing how long remaining their prisoner has forces them to not wait and pray for different spells. So they fall back on what they do best. Lie. Bluff. And sneak their way into position. Then burn things down.
Emmerick & Brother Summit take on their role of Priest of Mitra and Knight of the Alerion Order. Though they swap names in case their actions around Farholde & Balynten have raise suspicions. They come with a guardsman (Quell) and two prisoners (Yvainne & Brother Summit).
The silver tongues of Emmerick & Mardus manage not only to deceive the simpleton guards but also the clever inquisitor. Yvainne & Brother Summit are hauled off to the prison. And thanks to the trusting words of Emmerick aren't even checked for weapons. Meanwhile Emmerick & Mardus give their report to the inquisitor.
One flaw in the hasty plans of the Ninth Knot becomes apparent. Quell, who deftly disabled the locks in their last stay at Branderscar prison is stuck upstairs with an inquisitor, leaving Brother Summit & Yvainne stuck in shackles.
Still, the Monk sees in a near by cell a bound & gagged prisoner matching the description of their target. Not wasting any time the monk begins to break his bonds & those of Yvainne. Causing a large amount of noise. Meanwhile up above the fabricated story being told by Emmerick & Mardus begins to fall apart before the inquisitors insistent questioning.
Realizing the story is falling apart Emmerick makes some noise himself as he hurls a table up onto the inquisitor & all three of the knot members in the room attack. With Quell's precision stabbing backed by the gross power of Emmerick's mace, the inquisitor falls, but not before calling for help.
And with the jig up, the Ninth unleashes hell on Branderscar.
In the prison below, Brother Summit & Yvainne remove the gag from Wasyli's mouth. With the Sorcerer able to speak, he quickly dimension door's out of his wall mounted chains.
The three rush to the door to find it barred. It seems the guards noticed the noise. Wasyli doesn't hesitate and casts Shatter, reducing the door to a pile of splinters. And the three prisoners rush forward & up the stairs.
That's where they run into the other Knot members who are in the middle of fighting a half-dozen guards, one cleric & have a wall of fire up burning part of the keep.
Unleashing Hell indeed.
The combined arms of the Knot destroy the remaining resistance within the keeps interior. A quick use of arcane magic by the new sorcerer blocks the main entrance of the keep. Quell and Mardus have to pass through their own wall of fire to break into a store room & recover Wasyli's gear. Meanwhile Brother Summit & Yvainne move toward the servants exit in the kitchen where they get waylay-ed by a pair of Knights of the Alerion Order. Brother Summit finds himself reeling from the blows when Emmerick rushes up and lets the staggered Monk fall back and receive healing.
Under the unrelenting mace blows from Emmerick and punches from the healed Brother Summit, the Knights fall before the Knot.
Unsure of how they'll all flee the island, Wasyli brings up that he can cast the Fly spell on all of them. Yvainne adds an enveloping darkness and the six criminals of Talengarde flee Branderscar prison. For five of them it's their second time.
The Knot arrives at a familiar all-be-it abandoned manor house. Dust, cobwebs & decay fill the air.
After breaking their clay seal & waiting for an hour, Tiadora arrives. Taking a reluctant Wasyli she departs. Wasyli finds himself before Thorn in a freezing cold throne room of sorts. The trappings of Hell adorning the walls. At Thorns side stands some sort of guard.
A pleasant if stiff conversation ensues, ending with Wasyli signing a familiar contract with the High Priest of Asmodeus in Talengarde.
Then as quickly as he came, Wasyli is teleported back to the abandoned manor house and his new fellow Knot members.
The Knot settles in for a long overland journey to the bustling trade port of Ghastenhall.
Arriving from the West they find an Inn in the crime riddled Red Quarter and quickly get a lay of the land. And only until after spending a couple days gathering information around town, does the Knot approach their contact at the Library of Ghasten. The member of the fifth knot. Barnibus Thrane.
Making contact with Thrane is quite easy & they schedule a private meeting in the evening. Speaking with Thrane then, he's quick to take the Tears from the Knot. He informs them there is an estate set up for them, with servants. And also 6 magical gems, each able to be socket-ted to the Iron Crowns they each possess. Each stone provides a different magical bonus to the wearer of the crown. A gift from the Cardinal for a job well done.
With that settled the Knot is faced with the decision of what to do next. They have Ghastenhall before them and a month of free time.
Four weeks is probably not enough to bring Ghastenhall to its knees, but how will they know if they don’t try?
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Session 25
The massive Mud Elementals surge forward toward the Sanctum of the Horn and the Ninth Knot rush to the defense.
One of the Mud creatures entraps Emmerick's nightmare, but the Anti-Paladin of Hell doesn't miss a step as he leaps from the saddle & slams his heavy mace into the creature's goey mass. Brother Summit, Grumblejack & even a reluctant Quell stand by Emmerick to face the beasts, backed up by a well placed Wall of Fire from Mardus to split the two elementals up and divine and arcane buffs from Yvainne and Galen to buff and protect the Ninth for the fight to come.
Blade, fist and magic slam into the creatures. The first falls quickly, trapped between fire behind it & the forces of hell in front of it. The second creature lasts longer but starts to falter under relentless blows when it's bathed in a cone of acid from behind and falls to the ground. Looking outside, the Ninth spots their Green Dragon ally, Sanderax, landing and surveying the damage.
The fight went quite well and the Horn remains quite for the remainder of the day. And as night falls, another day passes by. Another day closer to the return of Vetra-Kali.
The dawn rays of the next day bring a dreaded foe of the ninth. The Ninth first get alerted when Sanderax comes flying through the magical energy sheath & straight over the half-wall to crash land out of site. His words chill the blood of the Ninth. "The spawn of Antharia Regina has come!" The silver dragon is at hand.
Mardus is quick to cast communal resist energy cold on as many of the Ninth as he can get. Galen and Yvianne begin buffing the group with their own magical means. They hold nothing back. As this happens, the magical energy sheath disappears around the entrance to the Sanctum. Then the Silver Dragon lands and gives out a roar.
The Ninth manage to steel themselves in the face of the terror and a swift battle ensues. The Dragon's cold breath weapon proves nearly useless against the well prepared Ninth Knot. And trying his paralyzing breath only managed to stop Emmerick's Nightmare, but not Emmerick himself.
In fact, the Silver Dragon has a hard time hurting the Ninth. The worst single attack comes to Quell, but not from the Silver Dragon, but rather the Green Dragon. Right before the fight, Galen was quick to cloak Quell in magical invisibility and it shielded the Elven rogue from the eyes of all dragons. A problem that proved nearly deadly when he was caught from behind by the breath weapon of his ally.
However, with the Silver Dragon trying to fight it's way on foot & unable to take to it's natural home in the clouds above, the Ninth was able to leverage it's full might against the magical beast.
In particular, the negative energy channelling, good smiting anti-paladin of hell, Emmerick, lead the way in putting out huge amounts of damage. And eventually under his unrelenting heavy mace the silver dragon, Argossarian, hatch-ling of Antharia Regina, fell.
Sanderax rejoiced in the slaughter. The young green dragon rushed out as Argossarian fell and ripped out the silver dragon's heart and feasted on it before letting out a roar and taking to the air around the horn. The dragon flew circles around the horn, breathing cones of acid in triumph.
With the silver dragon dead, the ninth finally begin to relax. The rest of the day passes by. At the midnight ritual the ninth take their places, knowing this will be the last ritual to do. For at this time tomorrow, Vetra-Kali will arrive.
They eagerly intone the chant when they feel a coldness settle in on them. Then, stepping through the corners of the room step out Hounds of Tindalos. These eldrich beasts quickly attack the surprised ninth knot. Their primary ire appearing to be Brother Summit. It seems the Monk's journey through the dark places out of time were not without physical risk...
The hounds prove to be a much more challenging fight then the silver dragon. They quickly rake into the members of the ninth knot. Mardus attempts to maintain the ritual but eventually has to abandon it to come rescue Galen, who gets trapped & blocked from using his extra-dimensional travel when one of the hounds dimensional anchors him.
Brother Summit too takes a few tough hits, along with other Knot members. But still, they persevere and somehow overcome these otherworldly horrors.
When questions arise as to why the hounds seemed to focus mostly on Brother Summit, he mentions he encountered them on his meditation. When pressed if there are any more the Monk thinks back to the horrors he saw & simply lies and says there are no more.
The ninth quickly redo the midnight ritual and manage to complete it within the allotted time. Only two more rituals remaining.
The next morning, the sunrise ritual completes without incident. Leaving only the final ritual and sacrifice remaining. But shortly after the morning ritual, the Daemon guard with them in the Horn shouts out "We're under attack!" and teleports away.
Galen, thinking quickly, realizes there must be a threat beneath them, where the other Daemon was guarding, in the stairs leading up to the sanctum. They bring up the scrying and see one Daemon already missing and the other in a pitched battle with the likes of Sir Thomas Havelyn and his band of adventurers. Included in their number are the two members of the Banner Verdant who escaped from the Horn but four days ago. It seems they didn't have enough of the Ninth.
Seeing the threat below, the Ninth hurries and magically buffs themselves as they see the Daemon stagger under blow after blow. And then they teleport right into the midst of the good-doers, leaving behind Grumblejack to guard their prisoner & Vitra-Kali's eyes.
The fight that ensues is as brutal as it is quick. It's all over in less than a minute.
Brother Summit manages to outright kill Brother Donnigan in a matter of seconds. Emmerick & Sir Havelyn fight a little longer, but in the end they both fall over unconscious under each others blows. Though, technically it's the wizard Erik who's magic missiles finally take down the anti-paladin. Vethia and Brunhild from the Banner Verdant help the forces of good, but prove once again out of their league against the forces of hell as they struggle to contribute significantly.
Mad Mott manages to push his way into the ranks of the Ninth and take down Yvianne before she's able to heal back up Emmerick. But he begins to get swamped by Brother Summit and a blinding glitterdust from Galen doesn't help his situation.
Erik watches and the ever cautious evoker comes to the realization. They are doomed. Brother Donnigan is dead. Brunhild might be able to restore Havelyn, but not for long. The forces of good will not triumph this day. It is time to flee, but not before inflicting a lasting blow. Erik quickly arcs lightning between the downed Emmerick & Yvianne, making sure the Anti-Paladin of Hell and the Priestess of the Midnight Lord both were sent to the respective fiery and cold embrace of their gods. Then with a snap of his fingers, all this companions and their gear teleport from the Horn in a flash of arcane magic somehow able to by-pass the magical barrier of the Horn.
The Ninth is badly damaged, but still able to push on. Mardus uses a scroll of raise dead to bring back Yvainne. And they wrap Emmerick up in a shroud of gentle repose to await a future raise dead. And they settle in for the last ritual and the coming of Vetra-Kali.
The evening ritual comes. With Emmerick dead it falls to Galen to sacrifice the Blood of the Victor. The ritual goes off without complication & the still beating heart of Sir Valin Darian is placed in the alter. There is no grand earthquake, or shaking or maniacal cackling. Simply a strong steady pulse of green energy piercing the heavens & acting as a beacon for the Daemon Prince's return.
As the glowing subsides, the wraith Ezra Thrice Damned floats through the wall into the Sanctum. He makes a grand declaration that it is he who will receive the gift of Vetra-Kali, and that the Ninth is doomed. As he says that, a half-dozen wraiths move from the surrounding walls. The Knot is confused, seeing so many wraiths then they recognize the new ones. They look like frog-men. It seems Ezra also betrayed the Boggards living far below.
The knot engage with the undead. Perhaps if Ezra had simply surprise attacked the Ninth things would have gone better. But he didn't. He lined up his "soldiers" and gave a speech. At the end of which, he and his spawn promptly got hit repeatedly by fireballs, flamestrike and other magical destruction. The damage destroyed over half his force in a matter of seconds. Further, Brother Summit charged into the exploding magical energies with indifference. He would end Ezra. A creature he considered an ally and acquaintance. A betrayer. The monk promptly destroyed the spirit. Even without Emmerick, the Ninth managed to easily destroy Ezra and his army. And along the way Yvainne managed to command one of the wraiths over to the Ninth's side. Not bad for one combat's work.
Midnight comes, the moment the Ninth Knot has waited 222 days for is finally at hand. A glowing dark portal to the outer planes opens up & through it comes the monstrous Daemon, Vetra-Kali Eats-The-Eyes. It screams out for it's eyes. And that's when Quell realizes it's eyes were not metaphorical as the elf had assumed. The Daemon has gaping eye sockets the same shape as the emeralds the Ninth possesses.
Galen steps forward and offers the first eye, but only if the ninth is granted protection from Vetra-Kali. The Daemon prince agrees and greedily takes the eye & eats it. After a moment, a bulge is seen moving up to an empty eye socket, the eye lid closes & reopens revealing the shining emerald gem. Quell looks a little uneasy at the sight.
For the next eye the Ninth requests the Tears of Achlys and when asked promise to spread it throughout Talingarde. Vetra-Kali is clearly pleased and hands over his Tears to the Ninth. However, the Daemon Princes sick pleasure is short lived.
For the next eye the Ninth insist Vetra-Kali returns to his home plane and NEVER return. Vetra-Kali shrieks out in blind rage. He seizes the last eye and howls out that the Ninth stink of the failed god Asomdeus and that they will regret their foolish demands. Then the Daemon Prince disappears through the portal he came in. And as all the magic and essence of Vetra-Kali leaves the Prime Material Plane, the Horn gives a sickening sound as the magic supporting it starts to fail.
The Knot doesn't hesitate, Galen grabs everyone & teleports straight to Farholde.
Back in the Caer Bryr, Sanderax pokes his head out from the entrance to his lair to look out over the forest to the Horn. He sees it crumble to dust and rubble. The green dragon hisses in Draconic "Some gift they left me for a new lair" before the his head slips back into the entrance to his lair. The green dragon scales covered over in shadows leaving only two pin-pricks of light from his gleaming eyes.
Meanwhile, back in Farholde, the Ninth Knot is quick to crack the seal & notify Thorn.
After an hour of waiting, Tiadora arrives and is quick to examine the Tears. Seeing they appear genuine she quickly departs and returns a few moments later with a pouch bursting with emeralds and a letter from Thorn detailing instructions to go to the trade capital of Ghastenhall & meet another Knot there who will know how best to use the "gift" of Vetra-Kali. Quell eyes the gems & says the reward is not enough. Tiadora shoots a deadly stare his way and reminds him of the fate of the greedy captain of the Frosthammer at the hands of the Ninth Knot all those many months ago.
Tension fills the air as the Elf insists the reward is not enough. Spread out over the 222 days, it's hardly anything per day he insists. He further states some guards in Ghastenhall get paid more to guard a merchant's warehouse. Let alone an evil fortress in the middle of a jungle! Tiadora sneers and is about to give an unpleasant rebuttal when Galen quickly points out that based on the letter, Thorn has more of a reward waiting for them in Ghastenhall.
The tension subsides a bit as Quell relaxes a little. Unnoticed to the others, Emmerick gives a faint smile at seeing Quell push against Thorn's Lieutenant and their Master's commands.
Tiadora informs the Ninth that Galen has been requested to aid the Sixth Knot. "It seems the Malebolgian Knot has need of your assistance my sweet heart." Tiadora informs the Conjurer. "You can bring your lacky with you if you wish." Tiadora says, pointing to Grumblejack. Tiadora, Galen & Grumblejack leave that evening.
It seems all is going according to plan. And at dawn the next morning the Nessian Knot prepares to depart Farholde for Ghastenhall when Tiadora returns in a huff with Galen in tow.
"We have little time but a potentially useful ally is about to meet an untimely end in a familiar place. A Sorcerer devoted to the cause of hell is about to be executed for trying to express his... religious freedom. You must act. And quickly. We have desperate need of Galen elsewhere, but time's a factor. So he'll be able to teleport you all to outside Branderscar Prison before heading to Abselom. Rescue the arcanist of house Veryn and hurry with the Tears to Ghastenhall. But I'll warn you, security is not what it was the last time you were there my sweethearts..."
Tiadora only pauses a moment to answer any last minute questions from the Ninth before preparing to leave.
Before she goes she says "Oh and do contact Thorn when you have him safely away from the prison. There should be an empty manor house near by you can hold up in when you contact our master. After all, our new recruit will have a contract to sign..." And with that Tiadora leaves in a flash of arcane magic.
One of the Mud creatures entraps Emmerick's nightmare, but the Anti-Paladin of Hell doesn't miss a step as he leaps from the saddle & slams his heavy mace into the creature's goey mass. Brother Summit, Grumblejack & even a reluctant Quell stand by Emmerick to face the beasts, backed up by a well placed Wall of Fire from Mardus to split the two elementals up and divine and arcane buffs from Yvainne and Galen to buff and protect the Ninth for the fight to come.
Blade, fist and magic slam into the creatures. The first falls quickly, trapped between fire behind it & the forces of hell in front of it. The second creature lasts longer but starts to falter under relentless blows when it's bathed in a cone of acid from behind and falls to the ground. Looking outside, the Ninth spots their Green Dragon ally, Sanderax, landing and surveying the damage.
The fight went quite well and the Horn remains quite for the remainder of the day. And as night falls, another day passes by. Another day closer to the return of Vetra-Kali.
The dawn rays of the next day bring a dreaded foe of the ninth. The Ninth first get alerted when Sanderax comes flying through the magical energy sheath & straight over the half-wall to crash land out of site. His words chill the blood of the Ninth. "The spawn of Antharia Regina has come!" The silver dragon is at hand.
Mardus is quick to cast communal resist energy cold on as many of the Ninth as he can get. Galen and Yvianne begin buffing the group with their own magical means. They hold nothing back. As this happens, the magical energy sheath disappears around the entrance to the Sanctum. Then the Silver Dragon lands and gives out a roar.
The Ninth manage to steel themselves in the face of the terror and a swift battle ensues. The Dragon's cold breath weapon proves nearly useless against the well prepared Ninth Knot. And trying his paralyzing breath only managed to stop Emmerick's Nightmare, but not Emmerick himself.
In fact, the Silver Dragon has a hard time hurting the Ninth. The worst single attack comes to Quell, but not from the Silver Dragon, but rather the Green Dragon. Right before the fight, Galen was quick to cloak Quell in magical invisibility and it shielded the Elven rogue from the eyes of all dragons. A problem that proved nearly deadly when he was caught from behind by the breath weapon of his ally.
However, with the Silver Dragon trying to fight it's way on foot & unable to take to it's natural home in the clouds above, the Ninth was able to leverage it's full might against the magical beast.
In particular, the negative energy channelling, good smiting anti-paladin of hell, Emmerick, lead the way in putting out huge amounts of damage. And eventually under his unrelenting heavy mace the silver dragon, Argossarian, hatch-ling of Antharia Regina, fell.
Sanderax rejoiced in the slaughter. The young green dragon rushed out as Argossarian fell and ripped out the silver dragon's heart and feasted on it before letting out a roar and taking to the air around the horn. The dragon flew circles around the horn, breathing cones of acid in triumph.
With the silver dragon dead, the ninth finally begin to relax. The rest of the day passes by. At the midnight ritual the ninth take their places, knowing this will be the last ritual to do. For at this time tomorrow, Vetra-Kali will arrive.
They eagerly intone the chant when they feel a coldness settle in on them. Then, stepping through the corners of the room step out Hounds of Tindalos. These eldrich beasts quickly attack the surprised ninth knot. Their primary ire appearing to be Brother Summit. It seems the Monk's journey through the dark places out of time were not without physical risk...
The hounds prove to be a much more challenging fight then the silver dragon. They quickly rake into the members of the ninth knot. Mardus attempts to maintain the ritual but eventually has to abandon it to come rescue Galen, who gets trapped & blocked from using his extra-dimensional travel when one of the hounds dimensional anchors him.
Brother Summit too takes a few tough hits, along with other Knot members. But still, they persevere and somehow overcome these otherworldly horrors.
When questions arise as to why the hounds seemed to focus mostly on Brother Summit, he mentions he encountered them on his meditation. When pressed if there are any more the Monk thinks back to the horrors he saw & simply lies and says there are no more.
The ninth quickly redo the midnight ritual and manage to complete it within the allotted time. Only two more rituals remaining.
The next morning, the sunrise ritual completes without incident. Leaving only the final ritual and sacrifice remaining. But shortly after the morning ritual, the Daemon guard with them in the Horn shouts out "We're under attack!" and teleports away.
Galen, thinking quickly, realizes there must be a threat beneath them, where the other Daemon was guarding, in the stairs leading up to the sanctum. They bring up the scrying and see one Daemon already missing and the other in a pitched battle with the likes of Sir Thomas Havelyn and his band of adventurers. Included in their number are the two members of the Banner Verdant who escaped from the Horn but four days ago. It seems they didn't have enough of the Ninth.
Seeing the threat below, the Ninth hurries and magically buffs themselves as they see the Daemon stagger under blow after blow. And then they teleport right into the midst of the good-doers, leaving behind Grumblejack to guard their prisoner & Vitra-Kali's eyes.
The fight that ensues is as brutal as it is quick. It's all over in less than a minute.
Brother Summit manages to outright kill Brother Donnigan in a matter of seconds. Emmerick & Sir Havelyn fight a little longer, but in the end they both fall over unconscious under each others blows. Though, technically it's the wizard Erik who's magic missiles finally take down the anti-paladin. Vethia and Brunhild from the Banner Verdant help the forces of good, but prove once again out of their league against the forces of hell as they struggle to contribute significantly.
Mad Mott manages to push his way into the ranks of the Ninth and take down Yvianne before she's able to heal back up Emmerick. But he begins to get swamped by Brother Summit and a blinding glitterdust from Galen doesn't help his situation.
Erik watches and the ever cautious evoker comes to the realization. They are doomed. Brother Donnigan is dead. Brunhild might be able to restore Havelyn, but not for long. The forces of good will not triumph this day. It is time to flee, but not before inflicting a lasting blow. Erik quickly arcs lightning between the downed Emmerick & Yvianne, making sure the Anti-Paladin of Hell and the Priestess of the Midnight Lord both were sent to the respective fiery and cold embrace of their gods. Then with a snap of his fingers, all this companions and their gear teleport from the Horn in a flash of arcane magic somehow able to by-pass the magical barrier of the Horn.
The Ninth is badly damaged, but still able to push on. Mardus uses a scroll of raise dead to bring back Yvainne. And they wrap Emmerick up in a shroud of gentle repose to await a future raise dead. And they settle in for the last ritual and the coming of Vetra-Kali.
The evening ritual comes. With Emmerick dead it falls to Galen to sacrifice the Blood of the Victor. The ritual goes off without complication & the still beating heart of Sir Valin Darian is placed in the alter. There is no grand earthquake, or shaking or maniacal cackling. Simply a strong steady pulse of green energy piercing the heavens & acting as a beacon for the Daemon Prince's return.
As the glowing subsides, the wraith Ezra Thrice Damned floats through the wall into the Sanctum. He makes a grand declaration that it is he who will receive the gift of Vetra-Kali, and that the Ninth is doomed. As he says that, a half-dozen wraiths move from the surrounding walls. The Knot is confused, seeing so many wraiths then they recognize the new ones. They look like frog-men. It seems Ezra also betrayed the Boggards living far below.
The knot engage with the undead. Perhaps if Ezra had simply surprise attacked the Ninth things would have gone better. But he didn't. He lined up his "soldiers" and gave a speech. At the end of which, he and his spawn promptly got hit repeatedly by fireballs, flamestrike and other magical destruction. The damage destroyed over half his force in a matter of seconds. Further, Brother Summit charged into the exploding magical energies with indifference. He would end Ezra. A creature he considered an ally and acquaintance. A betrayer. The monk promptly destroyed the spirit. Even without Emmerick, the Ninth managed to easily destroy Ezra and his army. And along the way Yvainne managed to command one of the wraiths over to the Ninth's side. Not bad for one combat's work.
Midnight comes, the moment the Ninth Knot has waited 222 days for is finally at hand. A glowing dark portal to the outer planes opens up & through it comes the monstrous Daemon, Vetra-Kali Eats-The-Eyes. It screams out for it's eyes. And that's when Quell realizes it's eyes were not metaphorical as the elf had assumed. The Daemon has gaping eye sockets the same shape as the emeralds the Ninth possesses.
Galen steps forward and offers the first eye, but only if the ninth is granted protection from Vetra-Kali. The Daemon prince agrees and greedily takes the eye & eats it. After a moment, a bulge is seen moving up to an empty eye socket, the eye lid closes & reopens revealing the shining emerald gem. Quell looks a little uneasy at the sight.
For the next eye the Ninth requests the Tears of Achlys and when asked promise to spread it throughout Talingarde. Vetra-Kali is clearly pleased and hands over his Tears to the Ninth. However, the Daemon Princes sick pleasure is short lived.
For the next eye the Ninth insist Vetra-Kali returns to his home plane and NEVER return. Vetra-Kali shrieks out in blind rage. He seizes the last eye and howls out that the Ninth stink of the failed god Asomdeus and that they will regret their foolish demands. Then the Daemon Prince disappears through the portal he came in. And as all the magic and essence of Vetra-Kali leaves the Prime Material Plane, the Horn gives a sickening sound as the magic supporting it starts to fail.
The Knot doesn't hesitate, Galen grabs everyone & teleports straight to Farholde.
Back in the Caer Bryr, Sanderax pokes his head out from the entrance to his lair to look out over the forest to the Horn. He sees it crumble to dust and rubble. The green dragon hisses in Draconic "Some gift they left me for a new lair" before the his head slips back into the entrance to his lair. The green dragon scales covered over in shadows leaving only two pin-pricks of light from his gleaming eyes.
Meanwhile, back in Farholde, the Ninth Knot is quick to crack the seal & notify Thorn.
After an hour of waiting, Tiadora arrives and is quick to examine the Tears. Seeing they appear genuine she quickly departs and returns a few moments later with a pouch bursting with emeralds and a letter from Thorn detailing instructions to go to the trade capital of Ghastenhall & meet another Knot there who will know how best to use the "gift" of Vetra-Kali. Quell eyes the gems & says the reward is not enough. Tiadora shoots a deadly stare his way and reminds him of the fate of the greedy captain of the Frosthammer at the hands of the Ninth Knot all those many months ago.
Tension fills the air as the Elf insists the reward is not enough. Spread out over the 222 days, it's hardly anything per day he insists. He further states some guards in Ghastenhall get paid more to guard a merchant's warehouse. Let alone an evil fortress in the middle of a jungle! Tiadora sneers and is about to give an unpleasant rebuttal when Galen quickly points out that based on the letter, Thorn has more of a reward waiting for them in Ghastenhall.
The tension subsides a bit as Quell relaxes a little. Unnoticed to the others, Emmerick gives a faint smile at seeing Quell push against Thorn's Lieutenant and their Master's commands.
Tiadora informs the Ninth that Galen has been requested to aid the Sixth Knot. "It seems the Malebolgian Knot has need of your assistance my sweet heart." Tiadora informs the Conjurer. "You can bring your lacky with you if you wish." Tiadora says, pointing to Grumblejack. Tiadora, Galen & Grumblejack leave that evening.
It seems all is going according to plan. And at dawn the next morning the Nessian Knot prepares to depart Farholde for Ghastenhall when Tiadora returns in a huff with Galen in tow.
"We have little time but a potentially useful ally is about to meet an untimely end in a familiar place. A Sorcerer devoted to the cause of hell is about to be executed for trying to express his... religious freedom. You must act. And quickly. We have desperate need of Galen elsewhere, but time's a factor. So he'll be able to teleport you all to outside Branderscar Prison before heading to Abselom. Rescue the arcanist of house Veryn and hurry with the Tears to Ghastenhall. But I'll warn you, security is not what it was the last time you were there my sweethearts..."
Tiadora only pauses a moment to answer any last minute questions from the Ninth before preparing to leave.
Before she goes she says "Oh and do contact Thorn when you have him safely away from the prison. There should be an empty manor house near by you can hold up in when you contact our master. After all, our new recruit will have a contract to sign..." And with that Tiadora leaves in a flash of arcane magic.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Session 24
With minion deaths from energy attacks piling up, the Ninth seeks clarity on the attacks.
Renewed questioning of the Gollem raises more questions. So the Ninth turns to divine magics. Fortunately, their resident cleric is practiced in dealing with the dead. The priestess of the Midnight Lord speaks with the dead and in the questioning finds two vital pieces of information. First, the Gollum is killing minions who get too close to it. And Second, there's a separate attack coming from glowing balls of light. Something else is in the horn! And their Gollem is a sociopath but that worries the Knot less.
Using magic to see invisible creatures along with the divine scrying of the Horn, Galen begins scouring the Horn. But not finding much, and taking a long time to do it, others come up with an alternative. Mardus & Brother Summit act as bait, disguised as minions, patrolling the evil halls of the Horn separately.. And like clockwork, Mardus is attacked by a half dozen Will O' Wisps. Using the scrying of the horn and the full arcane conjuring might Galen has developed, he's able to transport an assault force from the sanctum down to Mardus's side. At first the invisible creatures prove challenging, but massive electricity resistance from the Oracle of Hell, coupled with Galen's always effective Glitterdust renders the threat moot.
And though a couple Wisps manage to flee, they're the ones in terror, not their intended victim Mardus who's parting words "And stay out!" seem to hit home regardless of the language barrier. For the Wisps never return to the Horn, at least as long as it remains standing.
Over the next few weeks things seem quite. It's during that time when Brother Summit, who'd been meditating for a while throughout the Horn decides he's ready for a real challenge. He decides to meditate in a room in the Horn specifically meant for the (likely mad) priests of Vetra-Kali to commune with the outer-planes.
Exposing his mind to untold psychic energy, his thoughts are nearly ripped asunder. But he swims in the outer planes, seeing places hardly imaginable, including untold suffering and savagery. But refusing to step down to the challenge, he meditates for three straight days. During that time, he opts to ignore the current struggles of Hell & learning more about the possible planer machinations of Master Thorn and chooses instead to focus on the dark places between the stars. There his mind encounters and battles horrors behind reason. Crazed hounds backed by some shadowy spider creature. In the end, Brother Summit manages to retrain his sanity and is stronger for his struggles, but still. Those hounds saw him. They knew of him. And they are still out there, wanting to kill him. Them and their dark spider-like master...
Still to the rest of the Knot has an uneventful time as the weeks slip by.
With less than a week remaining, the Knot begins discussing evacuating the Horn of all but a handful of guards. They move their prize prisoner, the Blood of the Victor, to the sanctum, along with all their gear. And begin preparing the minions for evacuation
That's when the earthquake strikes. Already there have been a couple tremors. But they pale in comparison to the revolt the earth gives against the unholy ritual being performed on it's surface. Massive hunks of the Horn go tumbling into the forest below. And worse, the handful of prisoners they were housing flee. Including one inquisition guard & the two surviving members of the Banner Varnet. Still, their prize is safe in the Sanctum.
Over the next day, the minions all flee north to the relative safety of Farholde, former Seventh Knot member, Trik coordinating the evacuation. The Knot says behind to finish what they started along with the ever reliable Grumblejack.
They speak with the Green Dragon near by & offer even more money if the dragon will be a more active scout & skirmisher. The dragon agrees, provided the Sanctum of the Horn can remain open, for him to be able to flee into should the feared silver dragon ever attack.
Agreeing to the coin & offer of protection, they gain the allegiance of the Green Dragon. Which they add to their other guards, a crazed Gollem, a power hungry wraith, two daemons bound to serve the Horn, a cult of Boggards and a host of undead. But no partridge or pear tree could be found...
In the evening after the earth quake a surprise happens. The green energy field shimmers away around the entrance to the sanctum and screeching in from the heavens come a flight of giant eagles, their leader, a multi-colored eagle commanding from the rear.
The sanctum of the Horn is turned into a cacophony of noises. During the fight the commanding eagle teleported onto the shrine & tried to rip the emerald eyes from the statue of Vetra-Kali but the swift actions of the Knot prevented the bird from leaving alive. After the death of their leader, the eagles break & try to flee, but the looming presence of the young Green Dragon seals their fate, as they are blasted out of the sky with acid.
The following day the last of the minions flee the Horn and slip into the Caer Bryr. That afternoon, while on "scrying" patrol around the Horn, Galen spots an odd sight. He spots large piles of mud all over the cavern entrance. Then he spots a boggard arm & spear poking out of the mud, un-moving. The Boggards have been attacked!
Still using his magical scrying via the Shrine, Galen follows the mud trail & finds the Boggard village completely destroyed. The only survivors he spots are a half dozen or so Boggards hold up in the Shaman's hut. The mud trail continues past the village and ends in a nearby pool of bubbling mud.
Galen turns to Emmerick as says "I think something wasn't attacking into the caverns, but rather something came out." Emmerick's response was "So something left into the forest?" Galen's response "That, or it could be climbing up the side of the horn..."
Then there's a shout from Quell as two large monstrosities made entirely of mud rise up over lip of the Sanctum balcony and move forward.
Renewed questioning of the Gollem raises more questions. So the Ninth turns to divine magics. Fortunately, their resident cleric is practiced in dealing with the dead. The priestess of the Midnight Lord speaks with the dead and in the questioning finds two vital pieces of information. First, the Gollum is killing minions who get too close to it. And Second, there's a separate attack coming from glowing balls of light. Something else is in the horn! And their Gollem is a sociopath but that worries the Knot less.
Using magic to see invisible creatures along with the divine scrying of the Horn, Galen begins scouring the Horn. But not finding much, and taking a long time to do it, others come up with an alternative. Mardus & Brother Summit act as bait, disguised as minions, patrolling the evil halls of the Horn separately.. And like clockwork, Mardus is attacked by a half dozen Will O' Wisps. Using the scrying of the horn and the full arcane conjuring might Galen has developed, he's able to transport an assault force from the sanctum down to Mardus's side. At first the invisible creatures prove challenging, but massive electricity resistance from the Oracle of Hell, coupled with Galen's always effective Glitterdust renders the threat moot.
And though a couple Wisps manage to flee, they're the ones in terror, not their intended victim Mardus who's parting words "And stay out!" seem to hit home regardless of the language barrier. For the Wisps never return to the Horn, at least as long as it remains standing.
Over the next few weeks things seem quite. It's during that time when Brother Summit, who'd been meditating for a while throughout the Horn decides he's ready for a real challenge. He decides to meditate in a room in the Horn specifically meant for the (likely mad) priests of Vetra-Kali to commune with the outer-planes.
Exposing his mind to untold psychic energy, his thoughts are nearly ripped asunder. But he swims in the outer planes, seeing places hardly imaginable, including untold suffering and savagery. But refusing to step down to the challenge, he meditates for three straight days. During that time, he opts to ignore the current struggles of Hell & learning more about the possible planer machinations of Master Thorn and chooses instead to focus on the dark places between the stars. There his mind encounters and battles horrors behind reason. Crazed hounds backed by some shadowy spider creature. In the end, Brother Summit manages to retrain his sanity and is stronger for his struggles, but still. Those hounds saw him. They knew of him. And they are still out there, wanting to kill him. Them and their dark spider-like master...
Still to the rest of the Knot has an uneventful time as the weeks slip by.
With less than a week remaining, the Knot begins discussing evacuating the Horn of all but a handful of guards. They move their prize prisoner, the Blood of the Victor, to the sanctum, along with all their gear. And begin preparing the minions for evacuation
That's when the earthquake strikes. Already there have been a couple tremors. But they pale in comparison to the revolt the earth gives against the unholy ritual being performed on it's surface. Massive hunks of the Horn go tumbling into the forest below. And worse, the handful of prisoners they were housing flee. Including one inquisition guard & the two surviving members of the Banner Varnet. Still, their prize is safe in the Sanctum.
Over the next day, the minions all flee north to the relative safety of Farholde, former Seventh Knot member, Trik coordinating the evacuation. The Knot says behind to finish what they started along with the ever reliable Grumblejack.
They speak with the Green Dragon near by & offer even more money if the dragon will be a more active scout & skirmisher. The dragon agrees, provided the Sanctum of the Horn can remain open, for him to be able to flee into should the feared silver dragon ever attack.
Agreeing to the coin & offer of protection, they gain the allegiance of the Green Dragon. Which they add to their other guards, a crazed Gollem, a power hungry wraith, two daemons bound to serve the Horn, a cult of Boggards and a host of undead. But no partridge or pear tree could be found...
In the evening after the earth quake a surprise happens. The green energy field shimmers away around the entrance to the sanctum and screeching in from the heavens come a flight of giant eagles, their leader, a multi-colored eagle commanding from the rear.
The sanctum of the Horn is turned into a cacophony of noises. During the fight the commanding eagle teleported onto the shrine & tried to rip the emerald eyes from the statue of Vetra-Kali but the swift actions of the Knot prevented the bird from leaving alive. After the death of their leader, the eagles break & try to flee, but the looming presence of the young Green Dragon seals their fate, as they are blasted out of the sky with acid.
The following day the last of the minions flee the Horn and slip into the Caer Bryr. That afternoon, while on "scrying" patrol around the Horn, Galen spots an odd sight. He spots large piles of mud all over the cavern entrance. Then he spots a boggard arm & spear poking out of the mud, un-moving. The Boggards have been attacked!
Still using his magical scrying via the Shrine, Galen follows the mud trail & finds the Boggard village completely destroyed. The only survivors he spots are a half dozen or so Boggards hold up in the Shaman's hut. The mud trail continues past the village and ends in a nearby pool of bubbling mud.
Galen turns to Emmerick as says "I think something wasn't attacking into the caverns, but rather something came out." Emmerick's response was "So something left into the forest?" Galen's response "That, or it could be climbing up the side of the horn..."
Then there's a shout from Quell as two large monstrosities made entirely of mud rise up over lip of the Sanctum balcony and move forward.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Session 23
The Fate of the Seventh is sealed by the Ninth.
Elise is offered up as a sacrifice. Her attempt to betray the ninth & take over at the Horn dooms her. Yvainne pushes for a ritual to the Midnight Lord. Mardus wants her to burn for her insolence to the Lord of Hell. Her final fate matters not, her screams fill the Horn of Abaddon.
It's clear to Mardus & others, Trak & Dosten must also meet their ends. Both possess unwavering loyal to Elise. Trik however is a salvageable resource. So the other two knot members are killed and Trik is offered a simple choice. Join or die. The cleric of Hell chooses service over death and the fiery fury of his god.
And the Shroud moves a network of spies into the town of Farholde. As well as ship off more members throughout the major cities of Talengarde. The eyes and ears of the Ninth Knot extend through the Shining Lord's lands.
Over the following weeks various events happen.
At one point a boggard tribesman asks Emmerick for more food & masterwork weapons to hunt. The environs around the Horn have gotten dangerous and the Boggards are feeling it. Emmerick & the other Shroud leaders are unwilling to aid the frog-men that much. They opt to simply hold a feast & provide some more food. It placates the Boggards though it riles some of their human followers.
At another point, the spy network of the Shroud manage to intercept & destroy a letter from the local nunnery asking for help from the capitol. Continuing to hide their dark actions from the Kingdom as a whole.
Then another whisper comes from the Shroud's spies in Farholde. Whispers of strangers asking pointed questions about the Baron and spying around the safe-house/secret entrance to the Baron's manor house. Each stranger turns out to be a ghost of a person. No background, no known residence. Clearly someone or something is investigating the Noble.
The Ninth, unsure if they should intervene choose to have their spies wait & watch. And what a show the Agents of the Shroud see when the huge silver dragon attacks and destroys the Baron's manor house, killing the Sorcerer noble. Only his fire spells seem to phase the beast, as it rips apart the Baron apart and then rips apart the Baron's house, searching through the rubble before flying off in the sunset.
A good dragon striking a suspected villain in town bolsters moral of the town folk. And leaves a follower of Hell dead. Some in the Knot are frustrated at the loss of an associate. Others shrug it off. The Way of the Wicked is a brutal affair.
As well over a month has passed, the Knot, still needing to acquire the blood of the Victor and unwilling to allow any more time to pass, move into action.
Emmerick, Mardus & Quel revive their old roles of Knight of the Alerien Order, Priest of Mitra & Elven Scout. Using magic and their natural abilities at subtrafuge, along with Galen's linguistic skill at forgery to mark up the Knight's Journal recovered from the Raiders, they manage to weave quite a tale.
They start with Emmerick & Mardus speaking to Abbess Temperance. Armed with a tale of how only one with the Blood of the Victor could purge the Horn of Evil they ask for help. Wielding the journal, with forged notes added (and incriminating pages removed) they managed to convince the Abbess to help.
Seeding the conversation, they get her to suggest speaking to Sir Valin Darian. And with haste she leads them to Hamorhall Keep. There they find Sir Valin meeting with a group of Knights of the Alerion Order. They interrupt a heated debate. It seems the group of Knights are pressuring Sir Valin to assault the Horn. The honeyed words of Mardus backed up by the helpful and insistent Abbess push Commander Valin into action. In the matter of a day, Emmerick & Mardus lead the Blood of the Victor and an entourage of Knights and a warrior-nun straight into an ambush at the Horn.
There are a couple tense moments. Along the way one of the Knights who squired around the same time as Emmerick did years ago almost recognizes him. And brings up Emmerick's old mentor, Sir Balen. Somehow the Knight of Hell contains his rage & maintains the ruse.
Another moment happens when the group encounters a "guard" of skeletons left by an entrance to show some sort of defense. The fight goes well, but Mardus' lack of positive energy channelling raises an eyebrow from the Warrior Nun. Mardus brushes it off, knowing the ambush is almost at hand.
Then, in the main temple on the second floor of the Horn, the trap is sprung. For the duration of the fight, Emmerick avoids Sir Valin Darian knowing his rage might boil over. And they needed the Blood of the Victor to finish their blasphemous ritual. Instead, he focuses on this old squire-mate. The battle is quick and savage.
The full furry of the Knot is unleashed. A couple of Yvainne's Hell Hounds get hurt by Knights. But most of the Knot comes away unscathed. Which can not be said for the Knights. Most of the Knights and the Nun are all dead. And Sir Valin is taken down under the iron grip of Brother Summit & the relentless sap of Quell.
Another hurdle is overcome by the Knot. And they move one more step to freeing a plague on the lands.
With the Victor's Blood in hand, the Knot settles in for what they hope will be another couple uneventful months. But that hardly lasts a week. For in a few days, a minion is found dead on the third floor. Burned from alchemical fire. Surprisingly close to the Alchemical Gollem's guard post. Questioning the Gollem, it claims to know nothing, but is not convincing. Afraid of a possible malfunction, Galen examinees the Gollem but doesn't find anything. Still worried, he institutes an isolation and orders all human minions off the third floor as a precaution.
While the Knot settles in at the Horn the agents of the Shroud continue to gather information. They find out about a minor Knight, the son of the fallen Watch Commander at Balentyne, Sir Richard Thomason Havelyn. The Knight was last spotted following a trail of murder and destruction toward Farholde. The trail of crumbs left by Tiadora all those months ago. He was investigating the Watch Tower, to see how exactly the fortress fell. And with him is the twin brother of the fallen Balentye pastor, Brother Donnagin. What's worse Sir Havelyn had originally investigated a certain prison break at the Kingdom's most infamous prison, Branderscar.
Though the news is worrying, the Knot simply has to wait.
While they wait, and it gets to be a month left, an unwelcome forest visitor arrives. The massive Chimera bursts into the Horn's third level entrance and begins destroying anything it can find. Fortunately, Brother Summit was checking on the odd Gollem at the time and between him and the Alchemical construct, along with the fast responding wraiths, they managed to destroy the Chimera before it can do too much damage.
What could have been a bad attack turned out incredibly well. Or it seemed that way until after the attack a servant was found dead, having been electrocuted to death. The odd thing, the Chimera was no were near the servant, nor possessing an electrical attack.
So the question remains, what killed the minion....
Elise is offered up as a sacrifice. Her attempt to betray the ninth & take over at the Horn dooms her. Yvainne pushes for a ritual to the Midnight Lord. Mardus wants her to burn for her insolence to the Lord of Hell. Her final fate matters not, her screams fill the Horn of Abaddon.
It's clear to Mardus & others, Trak & Dosten must also meet their ends. Both possess unwavering loyal to Elise. Trik however is a salvageable resource. So the other two knot members are killed and Trik is offered a simple choice. Join or die. The cleric of Hell chooses service over death and the fiery fury of his god.
And the Shroud moves a network of spies into the town of Farholde. As well as ship off more members throughout the major cities of Talengarde. The eyes and ears of the Ninth Knot extend through the Shining Lord's lands.
Over the following weeks various events happen.
At one point a boggard tribesman asks Emmerick for more food & masterwork weapons to hunt. The environs around the Horn have gotten dangerous and the Boggards are feeling it. Emmerick & the other Shroud leaders are unwilling to aid the frog-men that much. They opt to simply hold a feast & provide some more food. It placates the Boggards though it riles some of their human followers.
At another point, the spy network of the Shroud manage to intercept & destroy a letter from the local nunnery asking for help from the capitol. Continuing to hide their dark actions from the Kingdom as a whole.
Then another whisper comes from the Shroud's spies in Farholde. Whispers of strangers asking pointed questions about the Baron and spying around the safe-house/secret entrance to the Baron's manor house. Each stranger turns out to be a ghost of a person. No background, no known residence. Clearly someone or something is investigating the Noble.
The Ninth, unsure if they should intervene choose to have their spies wait & watch. And what a show the Agents of the Shroud see when the huge silver dragon attacks and destroys the Baron's manor house, killing the Sorcerer noble. Only his fire spells seem to phase the beast, as it rips apart the Baron apart and then rips apart the Baron's house, searching through the rubble before flying off in the sunset.
A good dragon striking a suspected villain in town bolsters moral of the town folk. And leaves a follower of Hell dead. Some in the Knot are frustrated at the loss of an associate. Others shrug it off. The Way of the Wicked is a brutal affair.
As well over a month has passed, the Knot, still needing to acquire the blood of the Victor and unwilling to allow any more time to pass, move into action.
Emmerick, Mardus & Quel revive their old roles of Knight of the Alerien Order, Priest of Mitra & Elven Scout. Using magic and their natural abilities at subtrafuge, along with Galen's linguistic skill at forgery to mark up the Knight's Journal recovered from the Raiders, they manage to weave quite a tale.
They start with Emmerick & Mardus speaking to Abbess Temperance. Armed with a tale of how only one with the Blood of the Victor could purge the Horn of Evil they ask for help. Wielding the journal, with forged notes added (and incriminating pages removed) they managed to convince the Abbess to help.
Seeding the conversation, they get her to suggest speaking to Sir Valin Darian. And with haste she leads them to Hamorhall Keep. There they find Sir Valin meeting with a group of Knights of the Alerion Order. They interrupt a heated debate. It seems the group of Knights are pressuring Sir Valin to assault the Horn. The honeyed words of Mardus backed up by the helpful and insistent Abbess push Commander Valin into action. In the matter of a day, Emmerick & Mardus lead the Blood of the Victor and an entourage of Knights and a warrior-nun straight into an ambush at the Horn.
There are a couple tense moments. Along the way one of the Knights who squired around the same time as Emmerick did years ago almost recognizes him. And brings up Emmerick's old mentor, Sir Balen. Somehow the Knight of Hell contains his rage & maintains the ruse.
Another moment happens when the group encounters a "guard" of skeletons left by an entrance to show some sort of defense. The fight goes well, but Mardus' lack of positive energy channelling raises an eyebrow from the Warrior Nun. Mardus brushes it off, knowing the ambush is almost at hand.
Then, in the main temple on the second floor of the Horn, the trap is sprung. For the duration of the fight, Emmerick avoids Sir Valin Darian knowing his rage might boil over. And they needed the Blood of the Victor to finish their blasphemous ritual. Instead, he focuses on this old squire-mate. The battle is quick and savage.
The full furry of the Knot is unleashed. A couple of Yvainne's Hell Hounds get hurt by Knights. But most of the Knot comes away unscathed. Which can not be said for the Knights. Most of the Knights and the Nun are all dead. And Sir Valin is taken down under the iron grip of Brother Summit & the relentless sap of Quell.
Another hurdle is overcome by the Knot. And they move one more step to freeing a plague on the lands.
With the Victor's Blood in hand, the Knot settles in for what they hope will be another couple uneventful months. But that hardly lasts a week. For in a few days, a minion is found dead on the third floor. Burned from alchemical fire. Surprisingly close to the Alchemical Gollem's guard post. Questioning the Gollem, it claims to know nothing, but is not convincing. Afraid of a possible malfunction, Galen examinees the Gollem but doesn't find anything. Still worried, he institutes an isolation and orders all human minions off the third floor as a precaution.
While the Knot settles in at the Horn the agents of the Shroud continue to gather information. They find out about a minor Knight, the son of the fallen Watch Commander at Balentyne, Sir Richard Thomason Havelyn. The Knight was last spotted following a trail of murder and destruction toward Farholde. The trail of crumbs left by Tiadora all those months ago. He was investigating the Watch Tower, to see how exactly the fortress fell. And with him is the twin brother of the fallen Balentye pastor, Brother Donnagin. What's worse Sir Havelyn had originally investigated a certain prison break at the Kingdom's most infamous prison, Branderscar.
Though the news is worrying, the Knot simply has to wait.
While they wait, and it gets to be a month left, an unwelcome forest visitor arrives. The massive Chimera bursts into the Horn's third level entrance and begins destroying anything it can find. Fortunately, Brother Summit was checking on the odd Gollem at the time and between him and the Alchemical construct, along with the fast responding wraiths, they managed to destroy the Chimera before it can do too much damage.
What could have been a bad attack turned out incredibly well. Or it seemed that way until after the attack a servant was found dead, having been electrocuted to death. The odd thing, the Chimera was no were near the servant, nor possessing an electrical attack.
So the question remains, what killed the minion....
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Session 22
The following week exposes a great betrayal.
It starts as a normal week at the Horn of Abaddon. If ruins of a daemonic alter being taken over by the forces of hell to destroy a powerful Mitrian artifact to unleash a plague upon the lands could ever be called "normal". Emmerick is away from the rest of the knot, busy training the troops near the barracks & his personal quarters. Elsewhere on the 1st floor is Galen, off fiddling with his alchemical golum.
The other Knot members are around the Horn doing other various daily activities, with Mardus on guard duty at the Sanctum.
Emmerick hears the sounds of battle coming from the near by blocked first floor entrance. The anti-paladin of hell rushes to the guard room near by to find a stone door has been shaped in the side of the room. And through this new (magically created) portal, a group of four adventurers has burst in. What's odd, with them is One Eye, the dire tiger the knot found. And the tiger is ripping through guards. Clearly the magical enchantment on the beast has been removed and it's come for revenge.
Emmerick rushes in to fight along side his men, hollering for the soldiers outside in the training yard to go get help.
Quell is the first to respond & comes rushing in. He finds Emmerick & his men getting pummelled. A druid has called down balls of lighting, a sorcerer is blasting minions. More minions are falling in the jaws of the dire tiger. And an elven archer is turning Emmerick into a pin cushion. But what gives Quell pause is the dwarven barbarian. Rabid and foaming at the mouth, the brute sunders through a minions blade & the axe keeps going through the minion underneath.
Quell hesitates unsure what to do. The soldiers are falling all around & Emmerick is now going toe-to-toe with the rabid dwarf. But without any support, the rogue will be exposed. So he waits, opting for some ranged support behind a doorway.
Quell's judgement pays off as he sees the dwarf sunder Emmerick's Mace, shattering it to pieces. And further taking metal chunks off the Knight of Hell's shield. All the while the withering hail of arrows rains down on him.
Once Emmerick falls, the gnome shouts. "Emmerick's down, keep it up!" And horror fills Quell. They know the names of the Knot members. Who are these people!
Eventually support comes, first in the form of Galen & the Gollum. The alchemical monstrosity begins lobbing bombs & slamming into all enemies who get near. The conjurer pulls a one two punch of arcane might. First summoning in fiendish constrictor snakes to block the exit back outside and following it up with a stinking cloud. Leaving the adventurers and Emmerick's bleeding form stuck between summoned hell snakes and a gollum backed up by Quell.
More Knot members arrive Yvainne & Brother Summit come to aid Quell while Mardus comes from the outside of the Horn with Grumblejack close in tow.
Still, the Cloud lingers and the fight drags on. Yvainne unable to reach Emmerick. When all of a sudden, bursting out of the cloud right as Brother Summit is chocking his wan in comes a soldier. Carrying the bleeding form of Emmerick. Somehow one of the guards survived the lighting, the dire tiger, the spells, and the arrows & retrieved his leaders fallen form. Yvainne is quick to revive the anti-paladin. Who promptly charges back into combat.
Meanwhile on the other end of the cloud, by the new Stone door, the adventurers are trying to break free. The dire tiger makes quick work of the snakes, all while shrugging off the effects of the cloud. Eventually he makes it out & nearly eviscerates Mardus who is with Grumblejack and Emmerick's Nightmare, trying to block the exit. The Oracle of Fire falls. But it is no matter, the combined might of Grumblejack, the Nightmare & Galen is too great. The tiger falls.
In the end, the adventuring group is whipped out. The dwarf is dead, having fallen to Quell's blade & the Gollum's acid. Though not before further damaging Quell's swords.
The leader, a Gnome Sorcerer dies to Galen's arcane power. And the Tiger falls to Grumblejack's hammer. The Elven archer & half-elvan druid, suffering severely from the stinking cloud are taken alive. Though the archer just barely, as the Golum was quite savage in it's attacks.
The soldier, a tough brute from the slums of Farholde named Roderick, who likely saved Emmerick's life is made the Anti-Paladin's personal squire and attendant.
The Knot is surprised to find a set of potions on all the adventurers that look remarkably similar to those on the earlier adventuring parties. but the Knot is outright shocked to find a set of files on the gnomes corpse outlining the defenses of the Horn, the names of all the knot members, and suggesting attack routes. Also on the Gnome is a personal journal entry, which states a secret meeting with an old man claiming to be a "prophet" of Mitra who provided all the information. And was later tracked secretly to reveal himself a younger man speaking with a woman with a white raven on her shoulder saying "It's done, the ninth is finished."
The Seventh Knot, Elise herself, betrayed them...
There is a period of silence as all assembled consider what do do next.
What follows is a long series of discussions. Mostly focused on how to go after the rogue Knot. The ninth decide not to bring Thorn in. Not until it's finished and they know more.
When the inquisition attacked without warning, shortly after Alicette came to "check on them". The knot decides it's possible she was checking to see if Elise's plot worked & they all died. So they wait to see if she arrives. After two days pass and she fails to arrive the Knot figures Alicette likely wasn't part of the plot, but still can't be sure.
They decide to send Mardus to find Alicette & her overgrown ape to lie to her, saying he's all that's left & they need the seventh at the Horn immediately.
Then the ninth wait in ambush. Like clockwork the seventh arrive in full force. Hiding, lying in wait, the Ninth buff themselves with arcane and divine magic and then descend upon the seventh like the fury of hell itself. Brother Summit and Mardus only pause long enough to tell Alicette to stay out of this. It's an internal "political" matter.
Seeing members of the seventh fall left & right, the Courtesan of the the Aspis Consortium opts to stay out of the fight. Or more accurately, the slaughter. For slaughter it is.
Elise falls, without even getting time to act. Dostan gets one swing in before succumbing to the repeated sap attacks from Quell and subduing blows from Brother Summit.
Trik, in confusion tries buffing himself, while calling for the ninth to stop. Trak, blinded by glister-dust attacks with longsword instead of bow & quickly falls as well. Eventually Trik surrenders as well.
The Knot don't attempt to confiscate Alicette's weapons or torture her for information. But they do ask some straightforward questions. At the end of witch, they decide she truly is not involved and had been almost outcast the entire time by Elise.
Speaking with Trik it becomes clearer. The Cleric of the Trickster God got tricked himself. He thought it was on Thorns orders that Elise was trying to kill the ninth. When he finds out he's been duped he's devastated.
In the end, with ample evidence & the seventh all alive and safely imprisoned, the Ninth breaks the seventh's clay seal to contact Cardinal Thorn.
The Knot is a bit surprised when their contacted not by Tiadora, but by the Cardinal himself. He is irate that the seventh would dare to betray him. He declares their contract null and void. And leaves their fate in the hands of the ninth.
It starts as a normal week at the Horn of Abaddon. If ruins of a daemonic alter being taken over by the forces of hell to destroy a powerful Mitrian artifact to unleash a plague upon the lands could ever be called "normal". Emmerick is away from the rest of the knot, busy training the troops near the barracks & his personal quarters. Elsewhere on the 1st floor is Galen, off fiddling with his alchemical golum.
The other Knot members are around the Horn doing other various daily activities, with Mardus on guard duty at the Sanctum.
Emmerick hears the sounds of battle coming from the near by blocked first floor entrance. The anti-paladin of hell rushes to the guard room near by to find a stone door has been shaped in the side of the room. And through this new (magically created) portal, a group of four adventurers has burst in. What's odd, with them is One Eye, the dire tiger the knot found. And the tiger is ripping through guards. Clearly the magical enchantment on the beast has been removed and it's come for revenge.
Emmerick rushes in to fight along side his men, hollering for the soldiers outside in the training yard to go get help.
Quell is the first to respond & comes rushing in. He finds Emmerick & his men getting pummelled. A druid has called down balls of lighting, a sorcerer is blasting minions. More minions are falling in the jaws of the dire tiger. And an elven archer is turning Emmerick into a pin cushion. But what gives Quell pause is the dwarven barbarian. Rabid and foaming at the mouth, the brute sunders through a minions blade & the axe keeps going through the minion underneath.
Quell hesitates unsure what to do. The soldiers are falling all around & Emmerick is now going toe-to-toe with the rabid dwarf. But without any support, the rogue will be exposed. So he waits, opting for some ranged support behind a doorway.
Quell's judgement pays off as he sees the dwarf sunder Emmerick's Mace, shattering it to pieces. And further taking metal chunks off the Knight of Hell's shield. All the while the withering hail of arrows rains down on him.
Once Emmerick falls, the gnome shouts. "Emmerick's down, keep it up!" And horror fills Quell. They know the names of the Knot members. Who are these people!
Eventually support comes, first in the form of Galen & the Gollum. The alchemical monstrosity begins lobbing bombs & slamming into all enemies who get near. The conjurer pulls a one two punch of arcane might. First summoning in fiendish constrictor snakes to block the exit back outside and following it up with a stinking cloud. Leaving the adventurers and Emmerick's bleeding form stuck between summoned hell snakes and a gollum backed up by Quell.
More Knot members arrive Yvainne & Brother Summit come to aid Quell while Mardus comes from the outside of the Horn with Grumblejack close in tow.
Still, the Cloud lingers and the fight drags on. Yvainne unable to reach Emmerick. When all of a sudden, bursting out of the cloud right as Brother Summit is chocking his wan in comes a soldier. Carrying the bleeding form of Emmerick. Somehow one of the guards survived the lighting, the dire tiger, the spells, and the arrows & retrieved his leaders fallen form. Yvainne is quick to revive the anti-paladin. Who promptly charges back into combat.
Meanwhile on the other end of the cloud, by the new Stone door, the adventurers are trying to break free. The dire tiger makes quick work of the snakes, all while shrugging off the effects of the cloud. Eventually he makes it out & nearly eviscerates Mardus who is with Grumblejack and Emmerick's Nightmare, trying to block the exit. The Oracle of Fire falls. But it is no matter, the combined might of Grumblejack, the Nightmare & Galen is too great. The tiger falls.
In the end, the adventuring group is whipped out. The dwarf is dead, having fallen to Quell's blade & the Gollum's acid. Though not before further damaging Quell's swords.
The leader, a Gnome Sorcerer dies to Galen's arcane power. And the Tiger falls to Grumblejack's hammer. The Elven archer & half-elvan druid, suffering severely from the stinking cloud are taken alive. Though the archer just barely, as the Golum was quite savage in it's attacks.
The soldier, a tough brute from the slums of Farholde named Roderick, who likely saved Emmerick's life is made the Anti-Paladin's personal squire and attendant.
The Knot is surprised to find a set of potions on all the adventurers that look remarkably similar to those on the earlier adventuring parties. but the Knot is outright shocked to find a set of files on the gnomes corpse outlining the defenses of the Horn, the names of all the knot members, and suggesting attack routes. Also on the Gnome is a personal journal entry, which states a secret meeting with an old man claiming to be a "prophet" of Mitra who provided all the information. And was later tracked secretly to reveal himself a younger man speaking with a woman with a white raven on her shoulder saying "It's done, the ninth is finished."
The Seventh Knot, Elise herself, betrayed them...
There is a period of silence as all assembled consider what do do next.
What follows is a long series of discussions. Mostly focused on how to go after the rogue Knot. The ninth decide not to bring Thorn in. Not until it's finished and they know more.
When the inquisition attacked without warning, shortly after Alicette came to "check on them". The knot decides it's possible she was checking to see if Elise's plot worked & they all died. So they wait to see if she arrives. After two days pass and she fails to arrive the Knot figures Alicette likely wasn't part of the plot, but still can't be sure.
They decide to send Mardus to find Alicette & her overgrown ape to lie to her, saying he's all that's left & they need the seventh at the Horn immediately.
Then the ninth wait in ambush. Like clockwork the seventh arrive in full force. Hiding, lying in wait, the Ninth buff themselves with arcane and divine magic and then descend upon the seventh like the fury of hell itself. Brother Summit and Mardus only pause long enough to tell Alicette to stay out of this. It's an internal "political" matter.
Seeing members of the seventh fall left & right, the Courtesan of the the Aspis Consortium opts to stay out of the fight. Or more accurately, the slaughter. For slaughter it is.
Elise falls, without even getting time to act. Dostan gets one swing in before succumbing to the repeated sap attacks from Quell and subduing blows from Brother Summit.
Trik, in confusion tries buffing himself, while calling for the ninth to stop. Trak, blinded by glister-dust attacks with longsword instead of bow & quickly falls as well. Eventually Trik surrenders as well.
The Knot don't attempt to confiscate Alicette's weapons or torture her for information. But they do ask some straightforward questions. At the end of witch, they decide she truly is not involved and had been almost outcast the entire time by Elise.
Speaking with Trik it becomes clearer. The Cleric of the Trickster God got tricked himself. He thought it was on Thorns orders that Elise was trying to kill the ninth. When he finds out he's been duped he's devastated.
In the end, with ample evidence & the seventh all alive and safely imprisoned, the Ninth breaks the seventh's clay seal to contact Cardinal Thorn.
The Knot is a bit surprised when their contacted not by Tiadora, but by the Cardinal himself. He is irate that the seventh would dare to betray him. He declares their contract null and void. And leaves their fate in the hands of the ninth.
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