D&D Plot Summary: Nefara's Campaign - Heroic Tier
So this is mostly to arrange my own thoughts, but I suppose others can read it as well, if they are so inclined. As the campaign has been going on for a full semester now, it will take a while to write down all of the events, so this summary will be growing slowly as I get the time and desire to write.
Also, I'm writing all this fairly quickly just to get the facts on paper, so expect typos and awkward phrasing until I finish writing it all and get around to polishing.
Also, party members should feel free to add their own input via comments or email, for my memory is often faulty and tends to be skewed towards Nefara's point of view.
Arc 1 - Clean-Up in Lockhollow
The story begins with the party, consisting of Nefara, Jero, Elspeth, Lucan, Heldmorder Bastard (referred to by either name), and Therrigan being called together to take the Captain of the Guard's quest. The goal is simple: find and defeat a local crime lord who has taken over the city of Lockhollow. In search of the boss' location, the group tries to make their way to a bar where they will allegedly find the informant Mouse. On their way, however, they get lost in the slums, where a back-alley fight leaves Elspeth unconcious and all the muggers either dead, unconcious, or terrified. The party rests a bit, then proceeds to Mouse's location.
Heldmorder, being a literal and figurative Bastard, proceeds to execute "nice job breaking it, hero," bursts into the bar in full armor with sword unsheathed, causing Mouse to flee. The rest of the party proceeds to make chase, with Elspeth lingering a moment to speak to bar patrons about the quest.
The group corners Mouse in the sewers, where they convince him to tell them about the location of the crime boss Ragnes Khool. The man has taken up residence in a secret part of a night club, which has two entrances: one from the sewers and one from the normal front entrance, where customers come to party. After receiveing assurances that Mouse won't warn Khool about their approach, the party spends the night at a local inn and procures fine clothes with which to enter the club as normal patrons.
Getting in proves easy enough for most of the party. They simply hide what they can under their clothes and put everything else in Nefara's bag of holding and get it back once they're inside. It's a simple enough procedure... Until Bastard breaks it again. He gives the bouncer a conspicuously fake name, which gets him kicked out and forced to take the sewer route, where he blows all his daily attacks on a giant crocodile monster that tries to grab him. The commotion gains the attention of Lucan and Therrigan, who, like the rest of the party, are snooping around for Khool's hideout entrance.
As it turns out, Nefara and Jero find it first, and they schmooze their way in by Nefara claiming that they have an appointment with Khool, to whom her family secretly has ties. Elspeth uses a charm to follow closely behind, but as she enters the hallway, the other two have already been whisked away to speak - alone - with the crime lord. In the ensuing discussion, Jero, who as a fleshforger already did a number of projects for Nefara's family (see here: Loki, among many, many, many other and nastier things) finds out that their dark side runs rather deep. In the end, Nefara and Jero launch a simultaneous attack mid-conversation as Elspeth enters the room and Lucan and Therrigan make their way down the hallway.
The battle lasts a while with the three squishies taking a beating at one end of the room with the others making their way over. Unfortunately, after the trio's third/fourth KO, Nefara gets desperate and defiles to make her daily spell hit, damaging all party members and blowing up everything in the room - including Khool and 8 innocent prisoners. The reactionary "oops" doesn't go over well and it's mostly luck and Elspeth and Jero's intervention that prevents Lucan and Therrigan from killing her on the spot.
After the fight, the party frees the remaining prisoners and finds a secret passage. Upon entering and walking for a bit, Lucan and Elspeth get caught in a trap room. Worse, the number of traps increases quickly as the rest of the party attempts to free them through pressing a number of levers and working on a central mechanism. During the rain of traps, Lucan falls unconscious and his demon, Pyeter, takes control of his body, though the rest of the party believes that Lucan was merely drawing upon his powers. Eventually, however, the party manages to free the pair, and they all grab treasure from Khool's office before reporting back to the Captain of the Guard. There, they receive their quest reward and Nefara (and soon after, Jero) learns that she has been disowned from her house for the major crime of defiling.
From there, the party heads to the capital, where they plan to tell Empress Katrana about Nefara's defiling.
Arc 2 - Empress Katrana's Quest
Upon the party's arrival in the city...
Also, I'm writing all this fairly quickly just to get the facts on paper, so expect typos and awkward phrasing until I finish writing it all and get around to polishing.
Also, party members should feel free to add their own input via comments or email, for my memory is often faulty and tends to be skewed towards Nefara's point of view.
Arc 1 - Clean-Up in Lockhollow
The story begins with the party, consisting of Nefara, Jero, Elspeth, Lucan, Heldmorder Bastard (referred to by either name), and Therrigan being called together to take the Captain of the Guard's quest. The goal is simple: find and defeat a local crime lord who has taken over the city of Lockhollow. In search of the boss' location, the group tries to make their way to a bar where they will allegedly find the informant Mouse. On their way, however, they get lost in the slums, where a back-alley fight leaves Elspeth unconcious and all the muggers either dead, unconcious, or terrified. The party rests a bit, then proceeds to Mouse's location.
Heldmorder, being a literal and figurative Bastard, proceeds to execute "nice job breaking it, hero," bursts into the bar in full armor with sword unsheathed, causing Mouse to flee. The rest of the party proceeds to make chase, with Elspeth lingering a moment to speak to bar patrons about the quest.
The group corners Mouse in the sewers, where they convince him to tell them about the location of the crime boss Ragnes Khool. The man has taken up residence in a secret part of a night club, which has two entrances: one from the sewers and one from the normal front entrance, where customers come to party. After receiveing assurances that Mouse won't warn Khool about their approach, the party spends the night at a local inn and procures fine clothes with which to enter the club as normal patrons.
Getting in proves easy enough for most of the party. They simply hide what they can under their clothes and put everything else in Nefara's bag of holding and get it back once they're inside. It's a simple enough procedure... Until Bastard breaks it again. He gives the bouncer a conspicuously fake name, which gets him kicked out and forced to take the sewer route, where he blows all his daily attacks on a giant crocodile monster that tries to grab him. The commotion gains the attention of Lucan and Therrigan, who, like the rest of the party, are snooping around for Khool's hideout entrance.
As it turns out, Nefara and Jero find it first, and they schmooze their way in by Nefara claiming that they have an appointment with Khool, to whom her family secretly has ties. Elspeth uses a charm to follow closely behind, but as she enters the hallway, the other two have already been whisked away to speak - alone - with the crime lord. In the ensuing discussion, Jero, who as a fleshforger already did a number of projects for Nefara's family (see here: Loki, among many, many, many other and nastier things) finds out that their dark side runs rather deep. In the end, Nefara and Jero launch a simultaneous attack mid-conversation as Elspeth enters the room and Lucan and Therrigan make their way down the hallway.
The battle lasts a while with the three squishies taking a beating at one end of the room with the others making their way over. Unfortunately, after the trio's third/fourth KO, Nefara gets desperate and defiles to make her daily spell hit, damaging all party members and blowing up everything in the room - including Khool and 8 innocent prisoners. The reactionary "oops" doesn't go over well and it's mostly luck and Elspeth and Jero's intervention that prevents Lucan and Therrigan from killing her on the spot.
After the fight, the party frees the remaining prisoners and finds a secret passage. Upon entering and walking for a bit, Lucan and Elspeth get caught in a trap room. Worse, the number of traps increases quickly as the rest of the party attempts to free them through pressing a number of levers and working on a central mechanism. During the rain of traps, Lucan falls unconscious and his demon, Pyeter, takes control of his body, though the rest of the party believes that Lucan was merely drawing upon his powers. Eventually, however, the party manages to free the pair, and they all grab treasure from Khool's office before reporting back to the Captain of the Guard. There, they receive their quest reward and Nefara (and soon after, Jero) learns that she has been disowned from her house for the major crime of defiling.
From there, the party heads to the capital, where they plan to tell Empress Katrana about Nefara's defiling.
Arc 2 - Empress Katrana's Quest
Upon the party's arrival in the city...