Yesterday...
First...I (with my Mom and Brother for company) finally got to see The Dark Knight.
OMG....
The Joker was just...omg...
And second...as promised to ichiban_victory ...
Kinslayer...!
Game picked back up with ichiban_victory , but it was a farily reasonable approach considering the location...) which then closed when two stone slabs moved into place over it.
*The continuation of the Alya part of the story here is that she makes her way out of the lower labyrinth after many harrowing adventures, and after discovering a certain suitor who had found his way into the labyrinth looking for her. After making their way back out again...they retired to the safety of the forest where they will wait until the battle with Eldath resolves itself.*
Mean while (back at the ranch) during the loading of Baron/Sir Dorn's troops (balony_samitch ), Badger (danarchy84 ) spied a tall man in blued plate armor approaching on horse back.
*When asked what he wanted to do...he replied...'I watch him"...*
Upon arrival, it was learned that the man was the famous pit fighter (and enemy of Eldath) named Angus (once a character of friend Herb), come to join the mission. Simultaneously (because I forbid any role playing the game master can't hear) Vorath (Eric) confronted 'Justin Honest' (aka Jeremiah played by Herb) about the spectacular way he finished off two demons during the last battle with the master vampire Mallock. Mostly...'Justin' avoided the subject...
Until Vorath mentioned the dagger to Angus (sneaky Eric...manipulating the game master like that...Heee...). 'Justin' was then confronted by Angus and it was learned that the dagger was the 'key stone' weapon that Angus and others had been searching for to destroy the weapons carried by Eldath. And (incidently) that 'Justin' had been pretending to look for. Seems he'd had the weapon prior to meeting Angus and Eldath and had determined that it was the weapon that could destroy any or all of the weapons that had been forged with it. After the discovery Angus (who avoided touching it) told him that he would watch his back as best he could, but in time only you can fight the battle for your self.
*bum bum buuummm....*
After the loading and preparations concluded...the heroes were on their way. As previously discussed, they set down and off loaded a couple of miles from the fortress. At this point 'Justin' left the party promising to 'get the gates open for you', and the werewolf left the company with out any comment at all.
*My thanks to Paul/Surok for reminding me he was there at that time....*
At this time Leila and crew re-encountered the cave troll like monster which chose to 'roll' a ball made of stone and metal down the passage way at them. After dodging aside (Leila and the slave girl whom she saved to the left, Ariana to the right) Leila noticed that the 'boulder' moved like it was on wheels, and that there seemed to be a viewing slit in the front of it. A piloted vehicle. The pilot...after it had re-aquired Leila then triggered a mechanism that caused two foot long spikes to jut from the body of the vehicle and then continued pursuit.
Leila tried casting scorching ray on the orb, but the rays were reflected back nearly striking her. She then started running with the slave girl in tow. Ariana followed behind trying to jump onto the construct to find a way to get at the operator. During the pursuit, Leila was able cast a summoning spell, and chose to summon a celestial spider. She then began running again. The spider wound up appearing behind Ariana and the spiky ball of doom. Leila was able to dodge right at the next T intersection dragging the slave girl with her. The ball, unable to stop it's momentum, once again crashed into the wall flinging Arianna into it. Arianna managed to scramble out of the way when the spider caught up, webbing the ball into place. The Ladies then took off down the passage way that Leila had turned down. Shortly after the creature following them caught up with the spider and sounds of battle were heard. Leila (with a bit more time now) was then able to figure out the pattern of the maze and was able to get them back to the area of the cells, from which the girl was able to lead them to a stair case she knew of...
*I forgot to mention here that they spent much of their time avoiding hobgoblin patrols, some times having to back track considerable distances*
Out side the fortress, Dorn redied his assuault on the front gates.
*A note on attacking a castle in which the only approach is a direct attack. It's typically a suicide run. In such cases the road to the castle is a switch back which forces an attacker to spend more time with in the 'kill zone' created by the castle walls and the natural terrain. A company sized unit such as Sir Dorn's could never hope to pull off such an attack. Of course...this doesn't factor in magic....*
During this time 'Justin' had successfully infiltrated the fortress by judicious use of an invisibility spell and an open sally port near the gate house. He then proceeded up into the gate houses control room for the gates and tried to decide how to deal with the six hobgoblin and human soldiers stationed there. Who were taking bets on what would happen to the invaders...before then actually showed them selves...
*bum bum buuummm...*
Dorn then began a two pronged assault. His cohort cast wind walk on himself, Corian the sorcerer, and several hand picked men, while Corian cast fog cloud to cover the approach to the gate. Dorn then had his cohort cast earthquake in the area of the gate house casing several archers and 'Justin' (who had gone up to the wall to create a distraction since he was tired of waiting for Dorn) to fall off the wall. As luck had it, 'Justin' fell into the court yard which had several siege engines in it, and was able to make it back into the control room from there. The assault then began in earnest As Dorn and his cavalry began to storm up the causeway, His cohort and Corian wind walked to the gate house proper and began an assault from the top down. 'Justin' triggered the gate mechanism but was 'caught' by a goblin messenger, who after gaping in astonishment at the appearance of a man from thin air tricked the goblin into thinking that he's accidently bumped the chain which held the gate lever. The goblin shouted the alarm about it, and the six warriors raced to stop it. During the confusion, 'Justin' attacked and killed three of them out right. The terrified goblin ran away to get help, and in the next two rounds 'Justin' was able to finish off the other warriors. Much to his dismay, he then heard the approach of booted feet...
Just prior to that Dorn's cohort and company had finished taking the upper gate house and dealt with the siege engines that were harrasing Dorn and his cavalcade. One well placed firestorm later, they retired to the inner gate house to encounter "Justin'.
Dorn and his cavalry made their charge up the causeway under heavy resistance from archers and siege engine 'fire' but was able to break through the gates with most of his men still with him. They then ran on through the wreckage of the siege engines finishing off any hobgoblins that were in the way. Dorn's in the gate house (after hooking up with 'Justin') cleared the walls with the judicious use of a couple of lightning bolts, further clearing the way for Dorn. They then wind walked to the gate to the inner fortress to open the gates there. 'Justin' once again made his way alone from there.
Leila and company prior to most of this, had been guided by the slave girl to a narrow spiral stair case which lead up to a curtain just behind Eldath's throne. There she surved her situation. She wasn't far from her familiars (she has five incidently) and she could sense her dagger nearby. She then took stock of the guards around the room and then observed Eldath. He was wandering in a random circular fashion around the room singing. He eventually made his way back to his throne. During his approach they could make out that Eldath was singing a lullabye. Upon being able to make it out, Arianna went stiff with shock...
*SPOILER...the lullabye Eldath was singing was taught to Arianna by her guardian who told her it was a favorite song of her mothers, and that her mother had written it!*
Eldath then sat upon his throne and said (apparantly to the air) 'The song is about to begin little fire elf...' Though Leila wasn't sure, it seemed a reference to her...
*We can now cue the earthquake and the assault on the outer gate for time line context. And...seconds after the earthquake struck...*
The remainder of the party Michael (Jason), Vorath (Eric), Badger (danarchy84 ), Surok (Paul), Guz, Angus, and Melindy took the flying ship and attacked an inner tower top. Michael chose to fly and carry Vorath dropping him like a bomb into the middle of the distracted guards on the tower top. Badger then shot several of them before dis-embarking. Vorath roared to intimidate (successfully in the case of the three now injured guards) and then knocked one from the tower and killed a second. The three unintimidated guards roared back and attacked him, one of them successfully striking him. The rest of the party finished them off and began to force their way through the tower towards the inner fortress.
Eventually...all three assault groups made their way into the audience chamber. There they were attacked by massive numbers of troups on the floor. From ten balconies they were assailed by archers and spell casters. The party cast several area effect spells ranging from eye of the storm to cure moderate wounds mass.
From the time that the assault first began, Eldath began to sing in an opera style (completely ad libbing and doing it well). At the point where the heroes broke into the audience chamber Eldath came to his feet, drew his blade and drove it point down into the floor of the dais. He then began singing louder in perfect tempo to the battle.
The two major groups of heroes began trying to reach Eldath, while 'Justin' crept unseen around the edges of the battle trying to get close enough to the sword to attempt to destroy it with his dagger, and Surok took spirit form and began searching for evidence of Alya and Arianna. During this time he discovered Leila's familiars in their cages and Leila's gear...
The battle continued to progress with Leila casting spells to clear some of the balconies in accidental conjunction with Badger, Michael, and Corian, quickly killing or scattering those above. Dorn and his men became bogged down near the center of the chamber. The others continued to make painstaking progress towards the dais.
'Justin', coming within fifty feet of Eldath and his sword, was horrified when Eldath took up his bow and began panning around for targets like a child fooling around migh. Moments later, he spotted (the invisible) 'Justin' and said "I see you old friend...why do I see you...?' And then shot him twice (doing around fifty points of damage to the already injured rogue) who then made his escape onto one of the balconies.
Seeing an opportunity...Surok began to prepare to cast wall of stone over Eldath's sword...but just before he had a chance, tears began to open in the fabric of reality around the chamber and demons led by Thodl began to enter the room (despite the dimensional lock spell in effect in the room).
Eldath...enraged by their appearance shrieked in rage and ordered his troops to attack the demons. He then took up his sword and attacked the demons directly.
* O.o *
At this time Leila saw that her path to her familiars and to her dagger was opened. And then...the faery host that Michael had asked his friend Petalwing to gather arrived and things got really interesting...
The next installment of the Kinslayer story arc will be in two weeks. If things go the way I expect, it will come to it's exciting conclusion. And I'm very excited about it. The Duskwood campaign will continue after a long hiatus this monday. As good a way to spend labor day as any I can think of. And...I don't expect the weather to be a factor...! XD
OMG....
The Joker was just...omg...
And second...as promised to ichiban_victory ...
Kinslayer...!
Game picked back up with ichiban_victory , but it was a farily reasonable approach considering the location...) which then closed when two stone slabs moved into place over it.
*The continuation of the Alya part of the story here is that she makes her way out of the lower labyrinth after many harrowing adventures, and after discovering a certain suitor who had found his way into the labyrinth looking for her. After making their way back out again...they retired to the safety of the forest where they will wait until the battle with Eldath resolves itself.*
Mean while (back at the ranch) during the loading of Baron/Sir Dorn's troops (balony_samitch ), Badger (danarchy84 ) spied a tall man in blued plate armor approaching on horse back.
*When asked what he wanted to do...he replied...'I watch him"...*
Upon arrival, it was learned that the man was the famous pit fighter (and enemy of Eldath) named Angus (once a character of friend Herb), come to join the mission. Simultaneously (because I forbid any role playing the game master can't hear) Vorath (Eric) confronted 'Justin Honest' (aka Jeremiah played by Herb) about the spectacular way he finished off two demons during the last battle with the master vampire Mallock. Mostly...'Justin' avoided the subject...
Until Vorath mentioned the dagger to Angus (sneaky Eric...manipulating the game master like that...Heee...). 'Justin' was then confronted by Angus and it was learned that the dagger was the 'key stone' weapon that Angus and others had been searching for to destroy the weapons carried by Eldath. And (incidently) that 'Justin' had been pretending to look for. Seems he'd had the weapon prior to meeting Angus and Eldath and had determined that it was the weapon that could destroy any or all of the weapons that had been forged with it. After the discovery Angus (who avoided touching it) told him that he would watch his back as best he could, but in time only you can fight the battle for your self.
*bum bum buuummm....*
After the loading and preparations concluded...the heroes were on their way. As previously discussed, they set down and off loaded a couple of miles from the fortress. At this point 'Justin' left the party promising to 'get the gates open for you', and the werewolf left the company with out any comment at all.
*My thanks to Paul/Surok for reminding me he was there at that time....*
At this time Leila and crew re-encountered the cave troll like monster which chose to 'roll' a ball made of stone and metal down the passage way at them. After dodging aside (Leila and the slave girl whom she saved to the left, Ariana to the right) Leila noticed that the 'boulder' moved like it was on wheels, and that there seemed to be a viewing slit in the front of it. A piloted vehicle. The pilot...after it had re-aquired Leila then triggered a mechanism that caused two foot long spikes to jut from the body of the vehicle and then continued pursuit.
Leila tried casting scorching ray on the orb, but the rays were reflected back nearly striking her. She then started running with the slave girl in tow. Ariana followed behind trying to jump onto the construct to find a way to get at the operator. During the pursuit, Leila was able cast a summoning spell, and chose to summon a celestial spider. She then began running again. The spider wound up appearing behind Ariana and the spiky ball of doom. Leila was able to dodge right at the next T intersection dragging the slave girl with her. The ball, unable to stop it's momentum, once again crashed into the wall flinging Arianna into it. Arianna managed to scramble out of the way when the spider caught up, webbing the ball into place. The Ladies then took off down the passage way that Leila had turned down. Shortly after the creature following them caught up with the spider and sounds of battle were heard. Leila (with a bit more time now) was then able to figure out the pattern of the maze and was able to get them back to the area of the cells, from which the girl was able to lead them to a stair case she knew of...
*I forgot to mention here that they spent much of their time avoiding hobgoblin patrols, some times having to back track considerable distances*
Out side the fortress, Dorn redied his assuault on the front gates.
*A note on attacking a castle in which the only approach is a direct attack. It's typically a suicide run. In such cases the road to the castle is a switch back which forces an attacker to spend more time with in the 'kill zone' created by the castle walls and the natural terrain. A company sized unit such as Sir Dorn's could never hope to pull off such an attack. Of course...this doesn't factor in magic....*
During this time 'Justin' had successfully infiltrated the fortress by judicious use of an invisibility spell and an open sally port near the gate house. He then proceeded up into the gate houses control room for the gates and tried to decide how to deal with the six hobgoblin and human soldiers stationed there. Who were taking bets on what would happen to the invaders...before then actually showed them selves...
*bum bum buuummm...*
Dorn then began a two pronged assault. His cohort cast wind walk on himself, Corian the sorcerer, and several hand picked men, while Corian cast fog cloud to cover the approach to the gate. Dorn then had his cohort cast earthquake in the area of the gate house casing several archers and 'Justin' (who had gone up to the wall to create a distraction since he was tired of waiting for Dorn) to fall off the wall. As luck had it, 'Justin' fell into the court yard which had several siege engines in it, and was able to make it back into the control room from there. The assault then began in earnest As Dorn and his cavalry began to storm up the causeway, His cohort and Corian wind walked to the gate house proper and began an assault from the top down. 'Justin' triggered the gate mechanism but was 'caught' by a goblin messenger, who after gaping in astonishment at the appearance of a man from thin air tricked the goblin into thinking that he's accidently bumped the chain which held the gate lever. The goblin shouted the alarm about it, and the six warriors raced to stop it. During the confusion, 'Justin' attacked and killed three of them out right. The terrified goblin ran away to get help, and in the next two rounds 'Justin' was able to finish off the other warriors. Much to his dismay, he then heard the approach of booted feet...
Just prior to that Dorn's cohort and company had finished taking the upper gate house and dealt with the siege engines that were harrasing Dorn and his cavalcade. One well placed firestorm later, they retired to the inner gate house to encounter "Justin'.
Dorn and his cavalry made their charge up the causeway under heavy resistance from archers and siege engine 'fire' but was able to break through the gates with most of his men still with him. They then ran on through the wreckage of the siege engines finishing off any hobgoblins that were in the way. Dorn's in the gate house (after hooking up with 'Justin') cleared the walls with the judicious use of a couple of lightning bolts, further clearing the way for Dorn. They then wind walked to the gate to the inner fortress to open the gates there. 'Justin' once again made his way alone from there.
Leila and company prior to most of this, had been guided by the slave girl to a narrow spiral stair case which lead up to a curtain just behind Eldath's throne. There she surved her situation. She wasn't far from her familiars (she has five incidently) and she could sense her dagger nearby. She then took stock of the guards around the room and then observed Eldath. He was wandering in a random circular fashion around the room singing. He eventually made his way back to his throne. During his approach they could make out that Eldath was singing a lullabye. Upon being able to make it out, Arianna went stiff with shock...
*SPOILER...the lullabye Eldath was singing was taught to Arianna by her guardian who told her it was a favorite song of her mothers, and that her mother had written it!*
Eldath then sat upon his throne and said (apparantly to the air) 'The song is about to begin little fire elf...' Though Leila wasn't sure, it seemed a reference to her...
*We can now cue the earthquake and the assault on the outer gate for time line context. And...seconds after the earthquake struck...*
The remainder of the party Michael (Jason), Vorath (Eric), Badger (danarchy84 ), Surok (Paul), Guz, Angus, and Melindy took the flying ship and attacked an inner tower top. Michael chose to fly and carry Vorath dropping him like a bomb into the middle of the distracted guards on the tower top. Badger then shot several of them before dis-embarking. Vorath roared to intimidate (successfully in the case of the three now injured guards) and then knocked one from the tower and killed a second. The three unintimidated guards roared back and attacked him, one of them successfully striking him. The rest of the party finished them off and began to force their way through the tower towards the inner fortress.
Eventually...all three assault groups made their way into the audience chamber. There they were attacked by massive numbers of troups on the floor. From ten balconies they were assailed by archers and spell casters. The party cast several area effect spells ranging from eye of the storm to cure moderate wounds mass.
From the time that the assault first began, Eldath began to sing in an opera style (completely ad libbing and doing it well). At the point where the heroes broke into the audience chamber Eldath came to his feet, drew his blade and drove it point down into the floor of the dais. He then began singing louder in perfect tempo to the battle.
The two major groups of heroes began trying to reach Eldath, while 'Justin' crept unseen around the edges of the battle trying to get close enough to the sword to attempt to destroy it with his dagger, and Surok took spirit form and began searching for evidence of Alya and Arianna. During this time he discovered Leila's familiars in their cages and Leila's gear...
The battle continued to progress with Leila casting spells to clear some of the balconies in accidental conjunction with Badger, Michael, and Corian, quickly killing or scattering those above. Dorn and his men became bogged down near the center of the chamber. The others continued to make painstaking progress towards the dais.
'Justin', coming within fifty feet of Eldath and his sword, was horrified when Eldath took up his bow and began panning around for targets like a child fooling around migh. Moments later, he spotted (the invisible) 'Justin' and said "I see you old friend...why do I see you...?' And then shot him twice (doing around fifty points of damage to the already injured rogue) who then made his escape onto one of the balconies.
Seeing an opportunity...Surok began to prepare to cast wall of stone over Eldath's sword...but just before he had a chance, tears began to open in the fabric of reality around the chamber and demons led by Thodl began to enter the room (despite the dimensional lock spell in effect in the room).
Eldath...enraged by their appearance shrieked in rage and ordered his troops to attack the demons. He then took up his sword and attacked the demons directly.
* O.o *
At this time Leila saw that her path to her familiars and to her dagger was opened. And then...the faery host that Michael had asked his friend Petalwing to gather arrived and things got really interesting...
The next installment of the Kinslayer story arc will be in two weeks. If things go the way I expect, it will come to it's exciting conclusion. And I'm very excited about it. The Duskwood campaign will continue after a long hiatus this monday. As good a way to spend labor day as any I can think of. And...I don't expect the weather to be a factor...! XD