game
This is stuff from Peter's game, that I'm playing in.
10th level characters netted 4000XP this session.
11th level characters got 3500XP.
Treasure was divied up this session: 6540gp each (including absent characters, if you want it, Simon)
Other treasure was gained later in the session which was not divided yet.
Does Warren Trulaine's cohort get a share of the treasure we gain?
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Session Summary - Enter Westgate
Rules were discussed, some discussion about goals, what the characters wanted to do next. Saevel is in Evermeet, (private session with GM) (ooc - spells are cast to divine future, scry time usurper (horrific vesuthant) and something is learned... which Saevel does not yet reveal to the whole party (Tim, could you make a note of this somewhere, for future reference? What happened there, I mean?) Saevel returns to Suzail Two days later, after others in the party have taken care of various errands (+ what happened last session in this time) Treasure was divvied: Illel bought the Blue? Ioun stone of str +2 and amulet of health +2, Warren bought the +2 adamantine warhammer of constructbane for Justine the cleric of Tyr (his cohort) and Illel took the Holy Water of the Dead netherese Sun Diety Amantaur (sp?) for safe keeping (she specifically requested to: Alohgra complained the party shouldn't let her, because she would throw it at undead like regular holy water or something, but no-one else had a problem in the general vote when I checked with everyone)
Illel mentions wanting to return to Evermeet on urgent personal business at some point in the near future, needs Saevel's help to get there.
Day 1 in Westgate-
The party prepares to leave for Westgate, and teleports the next day a little ways outside the gates to the city. Trulaine of Tyr speaks with guards, and he and his servant are allowed passage beyond the gates. The rest of the party (?with Saevel in drag- I mean, disguise) are then addressed by the guards, asked their names and business. Wizard + floating large-sized great sword behind him = conspicuous, but Saevel doesn't like Illel's BRILLIANT suggestion to put an 'apocalypse cloak' on it and pretend it is a servant/bodyguard of some sort. Oh Peter, maybe you would have liked this idea better... he should give the sword an umbrella that makes everything dark under it to conceal it, instead (...forshadowing/ suspense oooh!) The guards mistake the group for (though perhaps later, this becomes true...) a 'team' of people come for the 'tournament' at the 'colliseum' in Westgate. Morgan inquires about this, hmm no actually it was some amusing roleplaying at the time but I don't remember it well... but he basically said we were. We were asked who our sponsor was, and we said we didn't have one yet, and I think it was at this point that we learned that to participate in the tournament, you need a sponsor. Then the group is let to enter without further harrasment.
Notes on tournament: 6 member teams, 4 can fight, 50000gp to enter (sponsor pays?) + 25000gp for true res that party pays. Fights may not be tiered for our level. Starts in two months time, party can't surrender until at least one person has died.
The party finds an inn near the entry gates - Saevel isn't satisfied with the low-quality and finds an upscale Inn on the eastern side of westgate closer to the market square, and Warren, Justine and Morgan follow suit, getting their own expensive (20gp/day) rooms (satisfactory to store items in, high security, and where Saevel can work on crafting the upgrade to his headband of intellect) while Alogra and Illel get cheapie rooms at the other inn. Oh, the weather was cold, it is the equivalent of 'mid decemberish' and the weather of the day was snow. Morgan, Justine and Warren and alohgra do gather info checks, Illel does hers separately. The party learns more about the tournament, including rules (Tim made notes - tim, could you post those please, or copy them so I or someone else can post the rules/details?), and the group learns of a House Urdo having caravan troubles with Dwarves - apparently they are transporting silk and other trade goods that dwarves don't usually care about (mithral?) and these are being stolen. It is possible to get a tour of the colliseum which is almost built, if we want, for 1000gp per two people who go.
Illel finds out that among the rogues and assasins of Westgate, there have been mysterious deaths in the city, which is being kept quiet but has put their associated guilds on alert. The deaths were particularly brutal and the guilds don't want this information to get out - also, they may be competing somewhat for the prestige of being the ones to kill whoever did it.
Group meets for dinner and discusses what they've learned.
Alohgra does a sending to Grayger for Illel; he replies saying he doesn't have any contacts in Westgate, and to pick up a message he left for her in Suzail in a certain box.
Day 2 in Westgate -
Morgan and Warren and Justine go to see Lord Urdo at his house: they are instead directed to the caravan master, and Warren and Justine leave at this point, while Morgan goes in, and learns of the job to investigate the attacks, and stop them, (the dwarves? who are preying on the caravans?) - when discussed at lunch, it is argued that one of the goals should be to find out if the ones doing some of these acts in town are in fact good or evil - Illel mentions there is a fine distinction between evil and chaos, and whether people are privateers vs pirates (stealing from the evil to stop their machinations as per "Crow Shadow" commentary).
Illel wants to scout out the neighbourhood during the day, and Alohgra wants to search out portals in the city, so they travel together during the morning, getting an idea of some places. Alohgra find a portal at a temple of cyric (from outside) and discerns that the portal leads to the plane of the Supreme Throne (Cyrics' plane?) and that the portal would strip the items from one who passed through possibly sending them somewhere different.
Illel mentions she wants to find a guide to tell them about the place, as well as witnesses to the freak murders going on, and to check out the areas where things happened, to see if we could get any more information about the perpetrators of the crime. The group had agreed to pay for this as a whole, so Illel spreads some money around in seeking a guide for this, while together with Alohgra they searched for a guide. They find one, but he wants to go immediately, and fears for his life. He wants to leave in five minutes - Illel and Alohgra step aside to discuss whether or not it is a trap - he wants to go immediately, which is at night, and Westgate is a dangerous place... They decide to go ahead and do it, pay his 300gp price up front (got renumerated by the party for some of this later) and take a tour of Westgate's Shadowy side. Meanwhile, I think Saevel may have been crafting or casting some spells (guys, wanna fill in the blanks here? If we can fix this up, we can repost a mostly correct version...).
The group was told about three murders, at three different locations in the docks.
About a month ago, during the new moon, in the Dhostar sheds in the north west of Westgate, the elite drow assasin known as 'White Death' was murdered in the dead of night. Her body was found, with two iron spikes driven through her shoulder blades, pinning her up to a wall, and the bottom of her face and jaw were removed. Illel found 'White Death's' tracks, but none of her assailant. Whoever did it was so skilled as to leave no trace or witnesses.
Approximately two tenday (weeks) ago (Peter, is it a month between lunar cycles? Or Simon? Would that make it a full moon this night?) a human was found murdered on the penisula of westgate that juts out into the inner sea, near the center line and most Northern point in Westgate, in a docks district. He was known as a human caravan master (smuggler?) and like the others, he, too, was killed in the dead of night, with no tracks left by the killer. He was nailed up to a wall upside down by his ankles, one iron spike in each, the bottom of his face/mouth removed, and a single spike driven through the top of his head into the wall. Like the previous location, Alohgra was not able to find any residual traces of magic with detect magic at this location.
One ten-day ago, the most recent killing had taken place. It was a gnome informant, who Illel and Alohgra were told, kept tabs on the goings on in Westgate. (Don't remember entirely what was done to him) His entire head was missing when he was found. He was found by a couple warehouses right near a dock a few hundred feet from the East gate of Westgate, overlooking the harbour.
***
Day 3, Westgate
The next morning the group meets up at the expensive inn, privately in a one of the groups rooms for breakfast and to discuss what to do next. Saevel mentions the results of his legend lore spell (which were? I don't remember O_O; )
People decide to do stuff, Illel says she thinks based on some of her actions that some of the illicit guilds may make a move, contact the party somehow (in a postive or negative way, she could not say).
Alohgra patrols further parts of the city looking for portals, and finds none. Illel shops at some Apothecary shops. She finally finds what she is looking for (4hours a day for 10 days, 800gp, 80/day). While walking down a street on her errand, Illel is mysteriously 'tripped'. She checks her pockets, and finds a note that wasn't there before. It was from the Drow Assasin White Death; she wanted to meet at a location in the Dhostar Sheds before sundown.
Illel finds Alohgra, and the two of them return to the others' inn, where they eventually find them, and tell them of the developments. They make preparations for the meeting, preparing disguise self, and walking separately, so Illel and Alohgra together, and the rest disguised (magically) as roguish humanoids. One with a giant sword floating behind him.
The group meets with White Death, although Warren is hesitant to enter at first, for some reason (he did have undetectable alignment on him though). She explains (I forget some stuff here) that the three murdered people were members of various guilds, and that 'someone' was probably trying to send a message to the guilds - that 'it' could strike at any one of them, at any time, and there was nothing they could do about it. She said the guilds were going to handle it, and didn't want us to persist inquiring about it, although if somehow we ended up ending the menace, that probably wouldn't be a problem.
The group begins to discuss various things among themselves; White Death leaves, and just to be safe, the group leaves the basement of the building where they met, to discuss issues elsewhere... Morgan and Saevel suggest we let 'trouble' find us - some of the rest of the group (Illel and Alohgra) are somewhat hesistant about staying out at night until trouble finds us, without prior preparation, but the group on a whole agrees, and 4 hours into the night of wandering the city, a demon-like creature seems to be summoned before the party in flash of purple flame (?s-dash? ). It is a four armed large sized winged humanoid outsider, which we later discover is called a Nycoloth? (like a yugoloth but neither demon nor devil) We also learn it has dr 10/good, and is immune to most forms of elemental damage - fire, electricity, cold, and has spell resistance. A second one appears behind the party formation; next to Illel, near Saevel, who, after successfully casting 'unluck' on it, asks that someone hold that one off for a time, and have everyone else focus on the other Nickeloth, while he stops this one.
Illel is hit, rages and strikes back at it, doing minimal damage to it, only beating it's DR by a few hitpoints. Morgan begins to panic when he realizes none of his weapons are capable of doing any significant damage, and doesn't continue to fight. The paladin and his cohort cast some buffs spells, the Master of Swords casts align weapon on itself and attacks the unlucked nikeloth with smites. Meanwhile, Illel stay toe to toe with the Nikeloth and is getting severely injured, so the other Nikeloth the rest of the group is fighting greater teleports to her, flanking her, to focus on killing just her. She lets people know she needs healing, and Alohgra moves in to cure crit her, drawing an aoo, but they focus on Illel, wanting a kill. Illel has moved into flanking, and did more damage against the new Nikeloth, but is hoping to retreat with Alohgra soon, knowing he has a dimension door and can get them away for a bit to heal up. However, Saevel has another plan, and tells those who are wounded to stand near him, so Illel makes an attack, and then tumbles out of reach of the Nikeloths to stand near the wizard. Although the Master of Swords is having no trouble hurting the Nikeloths, noone else is doing significant damage to them. Saevel casts a resilient sphere, encapsulating much of the party, Illel drinks a potion and is cured some hp, so she won't die when her rage ends, but Alohgra is left between the two Nikeloths alone, while much of the party is trapped behind the wall of force, unable to help him. Alohgra decides retreat is better than death, and dimension doors to safety. Saevel summons a hound archon to help fight, and The Sword slays one of the Nikeloths. The last Nikeloth lays into the Paladin, but after seeing him not near death after its round of attacks, with the Master of swords turning on it, and the rest of the party preparing to drop the resilient sphere and attack again, it retreats using magic, disappearing from sight. From somewhere high above drops a pouch, which contains a few thousand in gems, and a note, which we believe is in White Death's hand, which says 'thanks for doing all the work for me'.
--end of session--
Legacy of the Drow - of Shadows and Nightmares
The smell of burning flesh was acrid in the air, the screams of men and women piercing red flame lit night, souls were crying out in agony and despair.
Illel could see her mother, turning towards her, reaching back towards her, with a look on her face that said 'help me', while Illel reached out towards her with one arm, but was frozen in fear, as two Drow, laughing wickedly, yanked her by the arms and pulled her away forcefully.
Suddenly everything was dark, and quiet, and Illel's chest tightened with a sense of impending doom. A white haired, dark skinned female drow with violet eyes whose gaze pierced Illel to the very core peered at her from behind a white mask. "So how does it feel, now that you've killed her?" the Drow said with a mocking, evil laugh as Illel looked down, with a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach, as she look down to see the lifeless body of her mother dishevelled beneath her grasping hands, eyes emptily staring back at Illel.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHhhhh!" Illel screamed shrilly as she leaped up from her bed with a start, instinctively pulling the silver blade of the dagger she kept beneath her pillow noiselessly out of its sheath. Her hair was dishevelled, in her face and soaked with sweat, her night clothes clinging to her body tightly. She put her face in her hands, then realized the dagger, and the wet on her face from the tears silently streaming down her cheeks.
As she was putting the dagger away, Illel heard shouts in the hall, and she pulled the blade free again with a start as a great blade came smashing through the door to her room, breaking the door into pieces as a tall human in night clothes wielding a greatsword forced his way into the room.
"What's going on!" Alohgra shouted, scanning the darkened room for enemies, a glimmer of light off of Illel's silver dagger catching his eye. He looked over at her, seeing her tears. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"Sorry," Illel said quietly, her wet cheeks glistening in the light from the door, "it was just a dream..."
Alohgra lowered his sword and took a seat on the end of the bed, his face revealing an expression of sympathy as he tried to show his support. By now, other patrons of the inn were hesitantly peering in through the wreckage of the door, somewhat fearfully eyeing Alohgra's massive blade, as Illel waved them off and told them everything was all right. The inn keeper moved into view at the door, with a hefty looking man wielding a broadblade, and once Illel embarrassingly assured him everything was all right, he offered her another room until they repaired the door (the price of which would be added to their bill, he slipped in unobtrusively). Then all was quiet again, and Alohgra helped grab a few of Illel's things as she brought them to the other room, pulling her clinging night clothes from her body self-consciously as an inn hand who was eyeing her questioningly guided her to the new room.
"It must have been quite the dream," Alohgra offered with a half-chuckle, trying to lighten the mood as Illel settled the last of her things away. She sat cross-legged on the middle of the bed, brushing her hair from her face to either side with both her hands, as Alohgra took a seat on a stool next to the nightstand, near the lamp that was providing a dim yellow glow. Wind blew outside the shuttered windows, and a slight draft of chill air blew through them , making the light and shadows in the room dance.
"It was a nightmare. I have them all the time... There were things that happened when I was younger. With the Drow." She hesitated, brushing aside some uncomfortable thoughts that came unbidden.
"I thought I had them under control. I I... I didn't realize how shaken up things lately had made me. That meeting with White Death... I guess it unburried some feelings I'd put away."
Alohgra nodded, and bid her to continue as she looked at him hesitantly.
"My whole clan was massacred when I ... I don't even know how old I was... I was a baby, in Elven years... The things they did..." tears began to stream from her eyes, and her voice strained and broke.
"Sorry, I don't mean to... I can't help it," she sobbed quietly.
"It's OK, Illel... there are some things you should be sad about. I would be sad too..." he let his words trail off into silence.
"I'm still afraid of them, terrified of them, hate them sooo much!" she said with passion, "but I know it's not fair to you guys. I let it get to me, when that Nycoloth attacked me, I just lost it..." Her words trailed off, as she wiped away her tears, that had mostly stopped now. Then I panicked when they surrounded me, and you had to heal me, and stand there trying to draw them to attack you, and I ran away and hid behind the wizard's shielding spell while they all attacked you...!" Guilt and torment played across her face, and tears threatened to flow forth again.
"I don't know if it was fate, or luck, but things could have worked out very badly... you were able to dimension door away in the nick of time... the last Nycoloth chose to retreat..."
"You would do the same for me," Alohgra said calmly, reassuringly placing a hand on her knee, then pulled his hand away quickly, feeling awkward and noticing her body too closely. Illel smiled weakly, understanding his good intentions.
They sat for several minutes in the quiet, in thought. Then Alohgra began to stand, saying, "I better go. I'll see you bright and early, after my morning prayers," he said, his holy symbol of Shaundakul shining in the lamp light.
"Al, I have things to do to prepare for the fight ahead," she said, seeming a little conflicted about what to share. "I need to go to Evermeet, and seek counsel and aid..." She fingered the holy symbol she wore, next to the necklace with a silvery acorn on it; a broken arrow over a tear, the sign of the elven god Shevarash. "From Shevarash, or Rilifane Ralathil, or whichever of the Seldarine that will help me..." she trailed off.
"I won't keep letting the people close to me down anymore!" she declared more passionately. No, not like that time when all she could do was watch her whole family get massacred. "I will seek the power to fight against Evil. I'm going to become stronger!" She spoke loudly, as if she was trying to convince herself more than him, but there was a calm, steady resolve behind her words that gave them strength.
"Goodnight Illel," Alohgra said as he blew out the lamp, walked quietly to the door, locked it with the spare key she had given him, and left. She scrambled under the covers, more to feel enclosed than for any warmth, and stared up at the ceiling, before making herself a promise.
"I will become stronger," she said quietly, and meant it with her whole being.
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Does anybody (Dave in this one) mind me using their characters in stories a little? Huh huh?
Michael
Illel story snippet:
~has nightmare in the night and screams, alohgra busts in the door with greatsword *wearing nightclothes*... she tells him of the dreams of her past, nightmares about Drow killing people horribly, reveals that she was shaken up more than she realized by meeting the drow assasin... she still fears and hates drow, but she thought they wouldn't have this kind of effect on her, apologizes for losing it and flying into a rage and nearly dying and risking everyone else's lives and making everyone have to come to her rescue, and Alogra nearly dying, when she had to retreat to Saevel's protection spell when she was severely wounded... Realizing how close to death she may have been... fate or luck may have been on their side, but it could have ended very differently. She cries quietly and then later says she has things to do to prepare for the fight ahead, that she is going to go to Evermeet and seek counsel and aid (from the temple of) Shevarash and Rilifane Ralathil.
She won't keep letting the people close to her down anymore. Not like that time, when all she could do was watch her whole family get massacred. She will seek the power to fight back against Evil, and become stronger.
m_G
10th level characters netted 4000XP this session.
11th level characters got 3500XP.
Treasure was divied up this session: 6540gp each (including absent characters, if you want it, Simon)
Other treasure was gained later in the session which was not divided yet.
Does Warren Trulaine's cohort get a share of the treasure we gain?
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Session Summary - Enter Westgate
Rules were discussed, some discussion about goals, what the characters wanted to do next. Saevel is in Evermeet, (private session with GM) (ooc - spells are cast to divine future, scry time usurper (horrific vesuthant) and something is learned... which Saevel does not yet reveal to the whole party (Tim, could you make a note of this somewhere, for future reference? What happened there, I mean?) Saevel returns to Suzail Two days later, after others in the party have taken care of various errands (+ what happened last session in this time) Treasure was divvied: Illel bought the Blue? Ioun stone of str +2 and amulet of health +2, Warren bought the +2 adamantine warhammer of constructbane for Justine the cleric of Tyr (his cohort) and Illel took the Holy Water of the Dead netherese Sun Diety Amantaur (sp?) for safe keeping (she specifically requested to: Alohgra complained the party shouldn't let her, because she would throw it at undead like regular holy water or something, but no-one else had a problem in the general vote when I checked with everyone)
Illel mentions wanting to return to Evermeet on urgent personal business at some point in the near future, needs Saevel's help to get there.
Day 1 in Westgate-
The party prepares to leave for Westgate, and teleports the next day a little ways outside the gates to the city. Trulaine of Tyr speaks with guards, and he and his servant are allowed passage beyond the gates. The rest of the party (?with Saevel in drag- I mean, disguise) are then addressed by the guards, asked their names and business. Wizard + floating large-sized great sword behind him = conspicuous, but Saevel doesn't like Illel's BRILLIANT suggestion to put an 'apocalypse cloak' on it and pretend it is a servant/bodyguard of some sort. Oh Peter, maybe you would have liked this idea better... he should give the sword an umbrella that makes everything dark under it to conceal it, instead (...forshadowing/ suspense oooh!) The guards mistake the group for (though perhaps later, this becomes true...) a 'team' of people come for the 'tournament' at the 'colliseum' in Westgate. Morgan inquires about this, hmm no actually it was some amusing roleplaying at the time but I don't remember it well... but he basically said we were. We were asked who our sponsor was, and we said we didn't have one yet, and I think it was at this point that we learned that to participate in the tournament, you need a sponsor. Then the group is let to enter without further harrasment.
Notes on tournament: 6 member teams, 4 can fight, 50000gp to enter (sponsor pays?) + 25000gp for true res that party pays. Fights may not be tiered for our level. Starts in two months time, party can't surrender until at least one person has died.
The party finds an inn near the entry gates - Saevel isn't satisfied with the low-quality and finds an upscale Inn on the eastern side of westgate closer to the market square, and Warren, Justine and Morgan follow suit, getting their own expensive (20gp/day) rooms (satisfactory to store items in, high security, and where Saevel can work on crafting the upgrade to his headband of intellect) while Alogra and Illel get cheapie rooms at the other inn. Oh, the weather was cold, it is the equivalent of 'mid decemberish' and the weather of the day was snow. Morgan, Justine and Warren and alohgra do gather info checks, Illel does hers separately. The party learns more about the tournament, including rules (Tim made notes - tim, could you post those please, or copy them so I or someone else can post the rules/details?), and the group learns of a House Urdo having caravan troubles with Dwarves - apparently they are transporting silk and other trade goods that dwarves don't usually care about (mithral?) and these are being stolen. It is possible to get a tour of the colliseum which is almost built, if we want, for 1000gp per two people who go.
Illel finds out that among the rogues and assasins of Westgate, there have been mysterious deaths in the city, which is being kept quiet but has put their associated guilds on alert. The deaths were particularly brutal and the guilds don't want this information to get out - also, they may be competing somewhat for the prestige of being the ones to kill whoever did it.
Group meets for dinner and discusses what they've learned.
Alohgra does a sending to Grayger for Illel; he replies saying he doesn't have any contacts in Westgate, and to pick up a message he left for her in Suzail in a certain box.
Day 2 in Westgate -
Morgan and Warren and Justine go to see Lord Urdo at his house: they are instead directed to the caravan master, and Warren and Justine leave at this point, while Morgan goes in, and learns of the job to investigate the attacks, and stop them, (the dwarves? who are preying on the caravans?) - when discussed at lunch, it is argued that one of the goals should be to find out if the ones doing some of these acts in town are in fact good or evil - Illel mentions there is a fine distinction between evil and chaos, and whether people are privateers vs pirates (stealing from the evil to stop their machinations as per "Crow Shadow" commentary).
Illel wants to scout out the neighbourhood during the day, and Alohgra wants to search out portals in the city, so they travel together during the morning, getting an idea of some places. Alohgra find a portal at a temple of cyric (from outside) and discerns that the portal leads to the plane of the Supreme Throne (Cyrics' plane?) and that the portal would strip the items from one who passed through possibly sending them somewhere different.
Illel mentions she wants to find a guide to tell them about the place, as well as witnesses to the freak murders going on, and to check out the areas where things happened, to see if we could get any more information about the perpetrators of the crime. The group had agreed to pay for this as a whole, so Illel spreads some money around in seeking a guide for this, while together with Alohgra they searched for a guide. They find one, but he wants to go immediately, and fears for his life. He wants to leave in five minutes - Illel and Alohgra step aside to discuss whether or not it is a trap - he wants to go immediately, which is at night, and Westgate is a dangerous place... They decide to go ahead and do it, pay his 300gp price up front (got renumerated by the party for some of this later) and take a tour of Westgate's Shadowy side. Meanwhile, I think Saevel may have been crafting or casting some spells (guys, wanna fill in the blanks here? If we can fix this up, we can repost a mostly correct version...).
The group was told about three murders, at three different locations in the docks.
About a month ago, during the new moon, in the Dhostar sheds in the north west of Westgate, the elite drow assasin known as 'White Death' was murdered in the dead of night. Her body was found, with two iron spikes driven through her shoulder blades, pinning her up to a wall, and the bottom of her face and jaw were removed. Illel found 'White Death's' tracks, but none of her assailant. Whoever did it was so skilled as to leave no trace or witnesses.
Approximately two tenday (weeks) ago (Peter, is it a month between lunar cycles? Or Simon? Would that make it a full moon this night?) a human was found murdered on the penisula of westgate that juts out into the inner sea, near the center line and most Northern point in Westgate, in a docks district. He was known as a human caravan master (smuggler?) and like the others, he, too, was killed in the dead of night, with no tracks left by the killer. He was nailed up to a wall upside down by his ankles, one iron spike in each, the bottom of his face/mouth removed, and a single spike driven through the top of his head into the wall. Like the previous location, Alohgra was not able to find any residual traces of magic with detect magic at this location.
One ten-day ago, the most recent killing had taken place. It was a gnome informant, who Illel and Alohgra were told, kept tabs on the goings on in Westgate. (Don't remember entirely what was done to him) His entire head was missing when he was found. He was found by a couple warehouses right near a dock a few hundred feet from the East gate of Westgate, overlooking the harbour.
***
Day 3, Westgate
The next morning the group meets up at the expensive inn, privately in a one of the groups rooms for breakfast and to discuss what to do next. Saevel mentions the results of his legend lore spell (which were? I don't remember O_O; )
People decide to do stuff, Illel says she thinks based on some of her actions that some of the illicit guilds may make a move, contact the party somehow (in a postive or negative way, she could not say).
Alohgra patrols further parts of the city looking for portals, and finds none. Illel shops at some Apothecary shops. She finally finds what she is looking for (4hours a day for 10 days, 800gp, 80/day). While walking down a street on her errand, Illel is mysteriously 'tripped'. She checks her pockets, and finds a note that wasn't there before. It was from the Drow Assasin White Death; she wanted to meet at a location in the Dhostar Sheds before sundown.
Illel finds Alohgra, and the two of them return to the others' inn, where they eventually find them, and tell them of the developments. They make preparations for the meeting, preparing disguise self, and walking separately, so Illel and Alohgra together, and the rest disguised (magically) as roguish humanoids. One with a giant sword floating behind him.
The group meets with White Death, although Warren is hesitant to enter at first, for some reason (he did have undetectable alignment on him though). She explains (I forget some stuff here) that the three murdered people were members of various guilds, and that 'someone' was probably trying to send a message to the guilds - that 'it' could strike at any one of them, at any time, and there was nothing they could do about it. She said the guilds were going to handle it, and didn't want us to persist inquiring about it, although if somehow we ended up ending the menace, that probably wouldn't be a problem.
The group begins to discuss various things among themselves; White Death leaves, and just to be safe, the group leaves the basement of the building where they met, to discuss issues elsewhere... Morgan and Saevel suggest we let 'trouble' find us - some of the rest of the group (Illel and Alohgra) are somewhat hesistant about staying out at night until trouble finds us, without prior preparation, but the group on a whole agrees, and 4 hours into the night of wandering the city, a demon-like creature seems to be summoned before the party in flash of purple flame (?s-dash? ). It is a four armed large sized winged humanoid outsider, which we later discover is called a Nycoloth? (like a yugoloth but neither demon nor devil) We also learn it has dr 10/good, and is immune to most forms of elemental damage - fire, electricity, cold, and has spell resistance. A second one appears behind the party formation; next to Illel, near Saevel, who, after successfully casting 'unluck' on it, asks that someone hold that one off for a time, and have everyone else focus on the other Nickeloth, while he stops this one.
Illel is hit, rages and strikes back at it, doing minimal damage to it, only beating it's DR by a few hitpoints. Morgan begins to panic when he realizes none of his weapons are capable of doing any significant damage, and doesn't continue to fight. The paladin and his cohort cast some buffs spells, the Master of Swords casts align weapon on itself and attacks the unlucked nikeloth with smites. Meanwhile, Illel stay toe to toe with the Nikeloth and is getting severely injured, so the other Nikeloth the rest of the group is fighting greater teleports to her, flanking her, to focus on killing just her. She lets people know she needs healing, and Alohgra moves in to cure crit her, drawing an aoo, but they focus on Illel, wanting a kill. Illel has moved into flanking, and did more damage against the new Nikeloth, but is hoping to retreat with Alohgra soon, knowing he has a dimension door and can get them away for a bit to heal up. However, Saevel has another plan, and tells those who are wounded to stand near him, so Illel makes an attack, and then tumbles out of reach of the Nikeloths to stand near the wizard. Although the Master of Swords is having no trouble hurting the Nikeloths, noone else is doing significant damage to them. Saevel casts a resilient sphere, encapsulating much of the party, Illel drinks a potion and is cured some hp, so she won't die when her rage ends, but Alohgra is left between the two Nikeloths alone, while much of the party is trapped behind the wall of force, unable to help him. Alohgra decides retreat is better than death, and dimension doors to safety. Saevel summons a hound archon to help fight, and The Sword slays one of the Nikeloths. The last Nikeloth lays into the Paladin, but after seeing him not near death after its round of attacks, with the Master of swords turning on it, and the rest of the party preparing to drop the resilient sphere and attack again, it retreats using magic, disappearing from sight. From somewhere high above drops a pouch, which contains a few thousand in gems, and a note, which we believe is in White Death's hand, which says 'thanks for doing all the work for me'.
--end of session--
Legacy of the Drow - of Shadows and Nightmares
The smell of burning flesh was acrid in the air, the screams of men and women piercing red flame lit night, souls were crying out in agony and despair.
Illel could see her mother, turning towards her, reaching back towards her, with a look on her face that said 'help me', while Illel reached out towards her with one arm, but was frozen in fear, as two Drow, laughing wickedly, yanked her by the arms and pulled her away forcefully.
Suddenly everything was dark, and quiet, and Illel's chest tightened with a sense of impending doom. A white haired, dark skinned female drow with violet eyes whose gaze pierced Illel to the very core peered at her from behind a white mask. "So how does it feel, now that you've killed her?" the Drow said with a mocking, evil laugh as Illel looked down, with a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach, as she look down to see the lifeless body of her mother dishevelled beneath her grasping hands, eyes emptily staring back at Illel.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHhhhh!" Illel screamed shrilly as she leaped up from her bed with a start, instinctively pulling the silver blade of the dagger she kept beneath her pillow noiselessly out of its sheath. Her hair was dishevelled, in her face and soaked with sweat, her night clothes clinging to her body tightly. She put her face in her hands, then realized the dagger, and the wet on her face from the tears silently streaming down her cheeks.
As she was putting the dagger away, Illel heard shouts in the hall, and she pulled the blade free again with a start as a great blade came smashing through the door to her room, breaking the door into pieces as a tall human in night clothes wielding a greatsword forced his way into the room.
"What's going on!" Alohgra shouted, scanning the darkened room for enemies, a glimmer of light off of Illel's silver dagger catching his eye. He looked over at her, seeing her tears. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"Sorry," Illel said quietly, her wet cheeks glistening in the light from the door, "it was just a dream..."
Alohgra lowered his sword and took a seat on the end of the bed, his face revealing an expression of sympathy as he tried to show his support. By now, other patrons of the inn were hesitantly peering in through the wreckage of the door, somewhat fearfully eyeing Alohgra's massive blade, as Illel waved them off and told them everything was all right. The inn keeper moved into view at the door, with a hefty looking man wielding a broadblade, and once Illel embarrassingly assured him everything was all right, he offered her another room until they repaired the door (the price of which would be added to their bill, he slipped in unobtrusively). Then all was quiet again, and Alohgra helped grab a few of Illel's things as she brought them to the other room, pulling her clinging night clothes from her body self-consciously as an inn hand who was eyeing her questioningly guided her to the new room.
"It must have been quite the dream," Alohgra offered with a half-chuckle, trying to lighten the mood as Illel settled the last of her things away. She sat cross-legged on the middle of the bed, brushing her hair from her face to either side with both her hands, as Alohgra took a seat on a stool next to the nightstand, near the lamp that was providing a dim yellow glow. Wind blew outside the shuttered windows, and a slight draft of chill air blew through them , making the light and shadows in the room dance.
"It was a nightmare. I have them all the time... There were things that happened when I was younger. With the Drow." She hesitated, brushing aside some uncomfortable thoughts that came unbidden.
"I thought I had them under control. I I... I didn't realize how shaken up things lately had made me. That meeting with White Death... I guess it unburried some feelings I'd put away."
Alohgra nodded, and bid her to continue as she looked at him hesitantly.
"My whole clan was massacred when I ... I don't even know how old I was... I was a baby, in Elven years... The things they did..." tears began to stream from her eyes, and her voice strained and broke.
"Sorry, I don't mean to... I can't help it," she sobbed quietly.
"It's OK, Illel... there are some things you should be sad about. I would be sad too..." he let his words trail off into silence.
"I'm still afraid of them, terrified of them, hate them sooo much!" she said with passion, "but I know it's not fair to you guys. I let it get to me, when that Nycoloth attacked me, I just lost it..." Her words trailed off, as she wiped away her tears, that had mostly stopped now. Then I panicked when they surrounded me, and you had to heal me, and stand there trying to draw them to attack you, and I ran away and hid behind the wizard's shielding spell while they all attacked you...!" Guilt and torment played across her face, and tears threatened to flow forth again.
"I don't know if it was fate, or luck, but things could have worked out very badly... you were able to dimension door away in the nick of time... the last Nycoloth chose to retreat..."
"You would do the same for me," Alohgra said calmly, reassuringly placing a hand on her knee, then pulled his hand away quickly, feeling awkward and noticing her body too closely. Illel smiled weakly, understanding his good intentions.
They sat for several minutes in the quiet, in thought. Then Alohgra began to stand, saying, "I better go. I'll see you bright and early, after my morning prayers," he said, his holy symbol of Shaundakul shining in the lamp light.
"Al, I have things to do to prepare for the fight ahead," she said, seeming a little conflicted about what to share. "I need to go to Evermeet, and seek counsel and aid..." She fingered the holy symbol she wore, next to the necklace with a silvery acorn on it; a broken arrow over a tear, the sign of the elven god Shevarash. "From Shevarash, or Rilifane Ralathil, or whichever of the Seldarine that will help me..." she trailed off.
"I won't keep letting the people close to me down anymore!" she declared more passionately. No, not like that time when all she could do was watch her whole family get massacred. "I will seek the power to fight against Evil. I'm going to become stronger!" She spoke loudly, as if she was trying to convince herself more than him, but there was a calm, steady resolve behind her words that gave them strength.
"Goodnight Illel," Alohgra said as he blew out the lamp, walked quietly to the door, locked it with the spare key she had given him, and left. She scrambled under the covers, more to feel enclosed than for any warmth, and stared up at the ceiling, before making herself a promise.
"I will become stronger," she said quietly, and meant it with her whole being.
-----
Does anybody (Dave in this one) mind me using their characters in stories a little? Huh huh?
Michael
Illel story snippet:
~has nightmare in the night and screams, alohgra busts in the door with greatsword *wearing nightclothes*... she tells him of the dreams of her past, nightmares about Drow killing people horribly, reveals that she was shaken up more than she realized by meeting the drow assasin... she still fears and hates drow, but she thought they wouldn't have this kind of effect on her, apologizes for losing it and flying into a rage and nearly dying and risking everyone else's lives and making everyone have to come to her rescue, and Alogra nearly dying, when she had to retreat to Saevel's protection spell when she was severely wounded... Realizing how close to death she may have been... fate or luck may have been on their side, but it could have ended very differently. She cries quietly and then later says she has things to do to prepare for the fight ahead, that she is going to go to Evermeet and seek counsel and aid (from the temple of) Shevarash and Rilifane Ralathil.
She won't keep letting the people close to her down anymore. Not like that time, when all she could do was watch her whole family get massacred. She will seek the power to fight back against Evil, and become stronger.
m_G