Session 369 - The Resistance Continues
General Summary
The Story So Far
The King is dead. Long live the King.
King Minigath Elendsa, who had ruled the Kingdom of Kaldor well for thirty-three years, has been assassinated. His nephew, Sir Conwan Elendsa, has been crowned King, but the former King's bastard son, Sir Maldan Harabor, has contested this and made his claim.
While the kingdom is embroiled in a civil war, the mysterious Esoterical Order of Lothrim has struck. Armies of orcs, many thousands strong, have invaded the fractured realm.
This is the continuation of Session 368 - The Corrupted Temple.
Location - The occupied City of Tashal in the New Empire of Lothrim.
20th Ilvin (Winter) 727TR
The resistance continues.
The New Empire of Lothrim has seized control of the City of Tashal, now renamed Ekall-Anuz. The heroes take whatever opportunities they can to continue their sabotage efforts. One of the evil Magocracy's leaders, an especially vile Conjurer of Demons, is looting Tashal's Guildhall of Arcane Lore. The party plans to assassinate this despicable woman.
Part 1 – Dangers in the Sewers
The heroes enter the town's ancient sewer system. Previously, they discovered that this leads to a contaminated pool of chemicals directly under the wizards' guildhall (refer to Session 335 - Ghost in the Sewer).
The trip through the stinking sewers is uneventful until the party arrives at the toxic pool. Sliding out of a drain pipe, the party discovers a strange ooze whose oily surface ripples with vibrant colors. When struck by Rycon's katana, which glows with heat, the ooze turns bright red and strikes back with a white-hot pseudopod. When Valeria hits the ooze with a blast of magical cold, the creature turns white and inflicts frost damage. Soon, the seasoned adventures work out the blob's weakness, and by quickly alternating attacks with different energy types, they find the monster cannot adapt quickly enough and is destroyed.
Later, the party finds the access point to a storeroom under and connecting to the guildhall. Out of nowhere, the ghost of a dead burglar slain by a magical trap materializes. The heroes have fought this distorted specter before and quickly dispatched it. However, as the vengeful lost soul has not been properly put to rest, it will reform in a few days.
Part 2 – Battle in the Guild Hall
The Guildhall of Arcane Lore is occupied by a dozen people, mostly collaborators, inferior wizards, charlatans, and a couple of well-armed guards. Nevertheless, the main threat is the Conjurer, a gaunt, bald woman with jagged black tattoos cut into her face. She stands near a summoning circle. Trapped within its murky boundaries is a huge serpentine female demon with six arms, each brandishing a wicked scimitar.
Dryueh sneaks up on the Conjurer and, catching her off guard, stabs her with his rapier but does not get a clean strike. She backs off, smearing the magic circle containing the demon with her feet, while Rycon, Valeria, and Valeria's Shadow Hound animal companion charge in. The demon attacks Dryueh, but the wily rogue disappears into the shadows, so instead, it focuses its attention on Valeria. The worried Shadow Sorceress summons an Anti-magic Field, which should stop the demon and the Conjurer's witchcraft. Unfortuately, Valeria's shrewd plan works. Instead, Conjurer mutters an incantation, and Valeria's Shadow Hound's blood boils instantly and painfully, killing him.
Meanwhile, Rycon hacks his way through a quartet of the guild's other occupants, and then he moves to help Valeria, who is being attacked by the guildhall's guards and two stone gargoyles who appear out of an adjacent chamber. Dryueh strikes from the shadows, wounding Conjurer further while dodging scimitar attacks from the demon.
Valeria, trapped in her own Anti-Magic Field, cannot cast offensive spells, is ineffective, and badly wounded. The heroes are losing, so in desperation, Valeria dispels the protective barrier, focuses on her destructive magic, and Disintegrates the Demon.
Rycon, having dealt with the guards and gargoyles, charges forward and drives his red hot katana into the Conjurer's side. As she falls to the ground dying, Dryueh applies first aid just long enough to keep her alive while he uses his Brain Sponge to record the woman's memories. Valeria then Disintegrates the Conjurer's body, and the heroes escape back into the sewers.
Part 3 – The Enemies Plans
That evening in his safehouse, Dryueh reviews the conjurer's recent memories for information on the Empire. The highlights are as follows.
In less than two months, the Council of the Wise will meet at Castle Elend on the 15th of Morgath, near the end of Winter. This will include most of the Empire of Lothrim's ruling wizards and Marshals of its Orcish hordes. The Empress (the renegade wizard Dyalne Dulye or Lothrim's daughter) or her representative will also be present.
In the castle, a power curse is being contained. This is the same curse that the Order of Lothrim recovered from an ancient Dwarven Keg (refer to Session 332 - A Keg and a Curse, and a fragment of the curse afflicted and nearly killed King Conwan (refer to Session 356 - The Battle of Fisen).
The Empire is confident and plans to finish off what is left of Kaldor's military resistance in early spring with a two-pronged overwhelming attack driving from South from Nenda Keep and East from Ternua Keep.
The former usurper, Sheriff Sir Maldan Harabor, still has a sizable army in the field and has caused problems for the Empire. He has been raiding its northern supply lines and interfering with reinforcements from the Northern Orc strongholds.
The church of Naveh has murdered one of the Order of Lothrim's leading sorcerers. To the heroes surprise, the Empire is hunting down the evil order of assassins.
As a medium-term goal, once the New Empire fully controls Kaldor, it plans to eradicate the churches of Ilvir and Halea. It is still hunting down worshipers and priests of Larani.
To be continued.NPC Interactions
No one this week.
Player Characters
Valeria - Human - L18 Shadow Sorcerer
Background - Magical Experiment.
Archetype - Beastmaster/Wizard.
Rycon - Human - L18 Fighter
Background - Rebel Knight.
Archetypes - Liberator Champion/Dual Weapon Warrior/Swashbuckler.
Dryueh - 1/2 Elf - L18 Thief Rogue
Background - Scout.
Archetypes - Vigilante/Medic/Shadowdancer/Wizard.
Next Session
Rycon
Dryueh
Valeria
Esoterical Order of Lothrim
Hope you guys had fun!
I think so. There was lots of tension there for a while, and the party was considering retreating, but when I rolled a 1 on the saving throw for the Disintegrate, it turned everything around in an instant.
Zorp! LOL sometimes the dice fall the players way.