Campaign 9 - Everybody Comes to Flitterbug's

General Summary

The Eight campaign set in Farrah. Set in 502 AQ and played by The Razors of Phobos (PC group) and The 7th Strings (PC group).
THE SEVENTH STRINGS CAMPAIGN Session 1 Recap (8 Orcs, 6 Humans, 6 Horses Killed) Called to Samuel Colt’s tannery for a new mission. Informed that Endel of the Ninth Strings has been following an army of Orcs and Trolls out of the mountains, the party is asked to sneak into the army camp and kill its leadership to disrupt it and save the towns on the far side of the Gorge from sacking. Party crosses ravine and makes haste to the orc camp. After a stealthy search of the armies campsite, a distraction is made on the far side of the camp drawing a number of warriors away and a frontal assault is mounted on the Warlord’s tent. This attack meets heavy resistance and is driven back by a troll based counterattack. Forced to retreat, the regroups and, still pursued by Orc cavalry, make haste for the gorge. Being followed, and with the Orcs nearly on them, the Harpers arrive at the gorge to find the bridge destroyed. Trapped, and facing hopeless odds, they dive off their cart and cloak themselves with invisibility, sending their horse and cart to its doom over the side of the canyon. Their pursuers arrive in time to see the cart’s fall, and return to the main army to report on the bridge. The party trudge to an alternative bridge and return to Phobos. They briefly visit Flitterbug and adopt a single kitten. They return to Colt who asks that they kill a tax man. The Tax man has been beating, torturing citizens and taking all their gold, with the town mayor paying out of his own pocket. They stake out Wells Fargo (beg 3 copper off Corporal Lightfoot) until the tax men arrive and set off for the country towns. They follow. After an escape from an encounter with the tax man and his guards in a town tavern the party lays in ambush for them on the road, blowing most of them up with explosive runes and taking the gold for themselves.

Session 2 (2 Gith, 7 Humans, 94 Magerippers killed) Returned to Phobos and talked to 9th Strings, 5th Brass and Colt at Tannery. 9th Strings had been investigating disappearances around town, 5th Brass killing corrupted wild animals. Informed of a letter the Harpers received from rebel leader Eagle offering reward if they ambush and kill a mysterious force in the forest. The PCs also agree to sell the dangerous fanatic, Azeal Quickblade, a explosive runes device capable of great destruction. Harpers accept and travel to the Haunted Cairn, taking their allies the 5th Brass with them. Together they lay in wait with explosives planted around cairn. A group of 5 Gith teleport into the clearing and the deadly bombs are detonated. They fight the survivors of the blast, including a facially scarred Gith that fights unarmed and carries a Ranseur made of bronze and adamantine on his back (‘Godbinder’) which he does not draw. The Gith incapacitate 5 of the 7 ambushers and escape, taking Godbinder and a single unconscious member of the 5th Brass with them. The two battered and barely alive teams of Harpers trudge back to Phobos. Upon their return, they task the 9th Strings to investigate the location of Eagle, who is a thought-dead mentor of one of the team. The PCs take over the missing women investigation, which has been tracked back to a city councillor, Councillor Green. They infiltrate Green’s house at night, killing his guards and discovering a dungeon where he is holding 11 middle aged to teen women. They overhear from Green ‘Tell Renfield that we have another batch for the master. He will provide the location for the transfer as usual. We will be one short this month, the Grey Masks bungled the Ganton hit. Cemetery had to help the City Guard retrieve the girl to keep his cover. It is all a bloody mess.’ They attack the guards and Green in the dungeon. Green draws a wand and seemingly tries to use it to escape, but is, to his apparent surprise, disintegrated by his own magic item. The girls are rescued and taken to the Church of Heironeous. They return to Colt and, after some rest, ask for any employment he has. Colt has a job offer requesting a team to enter the under-city and slay whatever is killing people down there. The team explore and discover the Helm of Cain, a series of statues of folk heroes, and are attacked by a mage-ripper swarm. They just manage to destroy it with an explosives device before it tears them all apart. They retreat hastily to the surface.

Session 3. (2 Orcs, 2 Dire Wolves Killed) The party determine that the Renfield Counsellor Green mentioned was Ambassador Renfield, an elf who is shortly returning to the city. They know that he has the locations to drop the girls off to the master, and want to discover the kidnapping victim’s location. They fear that a direct attack on the Ambassador would result in Razors being sent to the city to investigate, which they want to avoid. They also hear of the disappearance of the Mayor of Dunwell, Colt’s friend, and suspect he was kidnapped. They ask the 5th Brass to look for him but hold little hope. The Harpers decide that they should infiltrate the Ambassador’s welcome home party and attempt to steal his documents there. They have a member of the 9th Strings forge invitations, get fancy suits and go to the party. After some investigation they determine that the building that likely holds the documents is magically warded, not possessing a means of bypassing this, the party lure Private Hopkins (who is guarding the party) and charm him. The Private opens up the house and they send an invisible scout to search the house while the rest of the party distract Hopkins. The Scout finds coded documents hidden in Renfield’s office, and takes them. The Harpers then leave the party, and are suspicious about the Ambassador’s failure to appear. They suspect something might have happened to him. Upon returning to their Goat farm the Harpers meet a mysterious Orc bearing a bear hammer. He tells them that he is a Cleric of Vecna, and his master opposes the Vetala. The orc, Graamuk, tells them that they interrupted a Gith attempt to rebind the evil creature. Graamuk warns the party that Eagle, the rebel leader, is possessed by the Vetala. He says that challenging Eagle in combat would result in certain death, and warns the party that they could still have a role in bringing an end to the darkness but not if they fight Eagle. They decode the Ambassador’s notes and work out that there are two drop points and there is another drop off due in about a week. In the mean time they take a job from a village on the north side of the Gorge to hunt down some monsters that have been killing people. They buy feather fall magic from Flitterbug, who is paranoid about escaped Chickens. When the Harpers leave the shop they spot a chicken on the opposite roof. Two act naturally in the street while one fades into the shadows, he sneaks around the alleys and quietly climbs to the roof behind the chicken. It turns to face him. He charges it and knocks it unconscious with a sap. They present it to Flitterbug. The Harpers then ride out to the Gorge and sleep there. During the night they are ambused by 2 orcs, one with magical boots, they manage to kill both. In the morning they jump off the cliff. They (surprisingly) land safely and manage to cross the river, and climb slowly up the other side. They then trek to the village and, upon direction from the locals, they hunt the wolves out to the wilderness. They spot a single Dire Wolf laying in wait and charge it only to be ambushed by two others. A brutal fight follows and the Harpers manage to kill two wolves and drive the other off. They begin to track the beast back to its lair.

Session 4 (3 Vampire Spawn, 2 Strike Team Guards) The Harpers tracked the remaining Dire wolf to Drakkenwald Castle. They discovered that it was protected by a powerful magical field that barred entry. Curious but unable to enter the grounds, they returned to Phobos and Colt. Colt told them that the 5th Brass were still investigating the whereabouts of the Mayor of Dunwell, and so the 9th Strings would have to assist with the ambush of the drop for the kidnapped women. The party returned home to prepare themselves, and found Eagle waiting in their kitchen. Eagle told the party that he wanted them to hunt down the remaining Gith strike team and retrieve the Godslayer, and that he would give the party two days to decide if they would join him. Eagle left the house. The Harpers, shaken, decided that they should deal with the kidnappers first and set out, with the 9th Strings going to one drop point and the 2nd Strings going to the other. They lay in wait around the clearing and at midnight three figures emerged from the fog in the middle. One Harper heard a number of people creeping up behind those lying in wait, and the Harpers quickly attacked. Charging into the clearing, the Harpers discovered that the three figures were female vampires. There were three more creeping up behind them. A fight broke out and the Harpers (through violent explosives and holy power) slew 3 of the women and drove the other three off. Badly injured, they limped away to find their horses dead and their cart destroyed. They summoned magical horses and returned to the city in haste, along the way receiving a blank message from messenger pigeon (later reveal to be sent by Eleyne in a desperate attempt to communicate before being captured). They returned to Phobos. Colt found them and informed them that the 5th Brass had been captured by the authorities and they needed to abandon their hideout. He took them and Endel to a secret safehouse. Colt also said that a guard (Gunton Fender) had tipped him off to the location of powerful magical artifacts known as the sword and shield of Cain. Harley realized that Eleyne had not returned from her ambush and he and Kurt (the fastest two) moved quickly to the ambush site. Finding bodies of her 9th Strings but not Eleyne, they tracked the drag marks in the direction of Drakkenwald, sending a message to their team of their course. The Harpers hastened to the under-city, encountered and drove off Polonious’ Strike team via magerippers, and retrieved the sword of cain. They then escaped. When they returned Colt showed them the letter from Harley informing them of the planned assault on Drakkenwald. Endel accompanied a search of the Shield of Cain’s hiding spot, but it was gone. The Harpers asked some nearby children if they had seen anyone emerge from the well and they said they had, and pointed out the direction they had gone, the Wells Fargo building. Disguising himself, James entered and tried to impersonate a man (Nero) with scales. He was shown up to Renton and Renton informed him that his disguise was poor. James tried to threaten Renton for the Shield’s location, then bargain with him. Renton agreed to let James go if he did as he said he would and tried to kill the Vampires in Drakkenwald. The remaining Harpers went to Flitterbugs and retrieved the Helm of Cain, they asked for his help and he gave them a wand that would allow them to bypass the magical defences of Drakkenwald, asking them to promise to kill all they found in there. They rode in haste from Phobos to the point opposite Drakkenwald across the Grand Gorge, and met up with the rest of their team.
They scaled the gorge and forded the river. They then entered Drakkenwald through a high window. The 7th Strings there encoutered the Razors of Phobos engaged in battle with the undead of the castle. The Strings allied with the Razors and did battle with Lamar Auralias. Through combined feat of arms they were able to slay the vampire. The groups agreed to leave each other in peace given their short term alliance, but the next day the Razors killed one of the Strings that approached them. Eleyne Winter was found vampirised and fled the castle, now having free will with the death of Lamar Auralias.
RAZORS OF PHOBOS CAMPAIGN
Session 1 RECAP (29 Orcs, 3 Trolls killed) Arrived in Phobos for the first time. Met Corporal Lighfoot and took a brief tour of the city. Went to City Guard Headquarters and met a number of other guards. Sent with haste to the Great Gorge to cut a bridge, delaying the army of Orcs long enough to allow the Eastern Defence Army to engage and destroy them. Battled Orcs and Trolls guarding the bridge and defeated them, destroying the bridge. Two Orcs, one with magical boots, escaped the party.
Returned to Phobos. Spent some time with Flitterbug, adopted Kittens and are shown their house location by Corporal Fenton Gunder, they set up their house and security. Began to investigate the murder of Councillor Michael Ganton and his wife, believed to have been killed by the assassins group the Grey Mask, they determined that the daughter had been kidnapped. Stole valuables from the dead Councillor’s house and sold them to Flitterbug. Linked Venom used in the assassination to a seller and investigated. They then organised to buy the same venom from the seller the next day by brandishing Wells Fargo security ring. Stole items from the kidnapped girl’s house and paid Flitterbug to scry the girl, communicating with her and working out where she was held. When they arrived they found the assassin base deserted except for poison traps and the girl, left behind alive. They returned the girl to the Church of Heironeous for care until the guard could take care of her. Took Corporal Lightfoot and Corporal Dawn and stormed the venom seller’s store, finding it empty and also deserted, with both groups having fled before the Razors could get them.

Session 2 Recap (4 Humans Killed, 2 Wolves) Met Renton Fairless in Wells Fargo. Talked about the morning briefing. Introduced to Councillor Green, who gave the Razors information on the whereabouts of the Grey Masks and asks that they hunt them down and in return Green will provide information on a recent attack on a tax collector. The party agree. They follow Green’s instructions and attack the Grey masks in their new hideout, killing all but one, who escapes to the surface and is killed by Corporals Lightfoot and Dawn. They arrest the barkeeper who owned the hideout and return him to the City Guard for interrogation. The Razors return to Wells Fargo and Green informs them that the Mayor of Dunwell likely ordered the rebel freedom fighters to kill the tax man and take the gold. Suspicious of Green’s intentions, believing he may be using the Razors to start a civil war, they request Renton Fairless have the councillor followed. They also decide to simply abduct and interrogate the Mayor rather than kill him. They travel to Dunwell and sneak into the Mayor’s house, taking him and his wife without any witnesses. They give the captives to Renton at Wells Fargo. They are then summoned to the City guard to discuss the arrested barkeeper and the Summer Solstice Festival. While talking with Commander Ironstrike, a dazed looking man enters and begins talking to Corporal Lightfoot. The PCs suspect he may be under an enchantment and approach him. Before they can get to him he yells “FREEDOM FOR LEVINAS!” and blows himself up with explosives in a scroll case, killing Corporal Lightfoot and several civilians. The Razors clean up and go to Wells Fargo to discuss the bombing. Two of them bring the news to Lightfoot’s family. Renton Fairless says that the mind control and the willingness to kill innocents lines up with Azeal Quickblade’s M.O. They discuss recent events including the murder of a cabbage merchant and the continued disappearance of young girls. The PCs go to the house of the most recently kidnapped girl, Essie. They take personal items and ask Flitterbug to scry her, which fails. They then purchase items and prepare to act as security for the Festival that night.

Session 3 (5 Humans, 7 Elves, 5 Horses killed) Attended the Solstice Festival undercover. Examined the crowd and identified a number of suspicious characters. Flitterbug performed entertainment at the festival. Azeal Quickblade began his attack before the party could identify and arrest him, a large fight broke out and numerous civilians were killed. The party killed Azeal and his fanatics, taking one prisoner. Razors called with haste over to Counsellor Green’s house, the counsellor was due at the festival but never arrived. They find the house bombed and investigate. In the front room the Wells Fargo spy sent to watch over Green is dead in a chair. They examine the blown up bedroom and determine it to be a cover-up, as no one was in the bed. After a search the Razors find the secret passage and explore it. They take blood from the stairs and the dust from the floor. They also take a sample of blood from the street and return to Renton at Wells Fargo, reporting on their findings. The next morning the PCs go to Flitterbug and get him to attempt to locate counsellor green through a scry and try to identify who the blood belongs to. Flitterbug says he believes the counsellor to be dead, and cannot determine the owner of the blood, although he suspects that they are in Wells Fargo’s building. The party sell Flitterbug a number of acid arrows and the dust they found in return for this information. They then go to talk to Renton, who has had his people decipher the coded books of Abrahams, they have determined that ‘Grey Wall’ is the Grey Masks, ‘Sheep’s Clothing’ is Counsellor Green and ‘Ivory Tower’ is Ambassador Renfield. They are told that Ambassador Renfield is under the protection of regular scry magic, and that a search of his Embassy would risk a war. If he were to suffer an ‘accidental’ death then the authorities would be able to legitimately search his documents and locate the missing girls. The Razors decide to ambush the Ambassador before he can return to Phobos. They purchase potions that will disguise them as orcs and ride out of the city in haste. They cross the Great Gorge to the South and lay in wait by the road. When the Ambassador comes by the transform into orcs and attack, killing the whole party except one elf, who they let escape to spread word of the ‘Orc’ attack.

Session 4 (2 Horses, 38 Zombies, 6 Shadows, Kastor Nycthemeron, 1 Hawk, 2 Harpers killed) Razor’s loot the corpses of the Elven group, then dispose of the remains (via canyon drop). They take their time to return to Phobos, and report to Renton to tell him of their success. He is happy with the group, but tells them that the guard is investigating the attack as a secret compartment in the ambassador’s house was found robbed. The guards took the rest of the documents for their investigation. Renton tells the PCs to help with the investigation but to ensure that they are not caught. He also tells them that there is someone that needs to talk to them that evening. The PCs go to the guard where Ironstrike has been demoted and Polonious has been made commander. Polonious asks that they interview the survivor of the attack and Private Hopkins who was charmed while guarding the house. The Razors talk to Hopkins, who describes a rude man, a mysteriously friendly man and their large but silent friend who did not approach. He tells them that he led two men into the house and let them search, then stayed a little longer with one. He says he did not see the rude man leave the party but the other two did walk out. The PCs investigate the embassy, noting the torn up grass on the ground. They search the house but find no clues. They then talk to the elf that survived their attack, telling him that they know the cleric that was present and that he was hunting orcs. He asks to meet the cleric to ensure it is him and they delay the meeting, promising to make sure it happens as soon as possible. They then return to Wells Fargo and meet Nathruam Godse and his sister Elizabeth. Nathuram explains that he managed to plant a device on the SILVER ARROW(using peasant fishermen as bait) that will allow a short window of scrying and teleporting. Nathuram explains the aim is to slay the warforged captaining the ship and retrieve a magical crystal that he will have. The group quickly buy magic items from Flitterbug, asking for anti-undead weapons, and return to Wells Fargo. Nathuram scrys the dead fisherman and teleports the group onboard the ship. They magically hide themselves from the view of undead and cross the zombie-ridden deck unharmed. They proceed below deck where they are attacked by shadows. They activate the anti-undead blast and the shadows disappear into the walls. They storm the ship’s final room and slay Kastor Nycthemeron, who has managed to send the crystal away (presumably) via a transporting box to its linked pair. The Razors then examine the hold of the ship, which contains barrels of a liquid that would spread the zombie disease. They burn the barrels and then the ship, escaping on a liftboat and being teleported home. They return and suggest to Renton that they should frame someone else for the Ambassador killing, namely state’s enemies, the Harpers. Renton suggests moving the Mayor of Dunwell and spreading the word to the underworld, tempting the Harpers to launch a rescue. The Razor’s camp out at the safehouse with the hostages and attack the small team of armed individuals that come to break in. They take a dwarf hostage and a human bowman escapes, the other two attackers are killed.
The Razors are then tasked with storming Lamar Auralias' castle of Drakkenwald. They are having difficulty fighting through when the 7th Strings arrive and aid them. Together the teams slay Auralias. The Razors accept a defector from the Harpers to their side, and kill another Harper. The Razors try to kill the vampiric Eleyne Winter but fail to before she escapes.

PC groups in campaign:

• Razors of Phobos
• 7th Strings

Report Date

14 Apr 2022