Session 372 - Council of the Wise
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 370 - The Haunted Wood.
Location - The occupied City of Tashal in the New Empire of Lothrim.
The resistance continues.
The evil Magocracy, the New Empire of Lothrim, is meeting on the 15th of Morgat to plan the following year’s campaign in Castle Elend, in the occupied City of Tashal. The heroes have decided to crash this "Council of the Wise," hopefully eliminating the Empire’s leadership.
The party has 45 days to prepare. During this time, Order of the White Hand agents supplied barrels of highly flammable oils, which were moved into hidden cavities in the castle via the secret escape tunnels. Additionally, Valeria has been using Disintegrate to undermine the castle walls while working with a skilled mason.
10th to 15th Morgat (Winter) 727TR
Part 1 - A Dagger in the Paint
Artists are redecorating the castle meeting hall. Dryueh plans to add toxic alchemical compounds to the collaborators' paint and plaster. In theory, when exposed to flame, it will release poisonous gas. He sneaks into the artists' workshop, finds their paint, and adds his nefarious compounds supplied by friendly alchemists. But he notices an object hidden in a paint bucket. It is an oilskin package, which, when opened, reveals a ceremonial dagger with a name inscribed on it.
Part 2 – Objective 1 – Stealing the Curse
On the day of the fateful meeting, the heroes set their intricate plan in motion. They navigate the secret passages, with Valeria's magic disguising them as the castle guards. They cross the well-patrolled castle, cleverly bluffing past the alert guards. Their first mission was to acquire a powerful magical anomaly, a potent curse.
The grim room containing the curse is well-guarded, but this is no obstacle to Dryueh, who easily sneaks in. The room contains a glass sphere containing a sickly green mist (the curse) that leaks a putrid light. Nearby, a fat, ugly sorcerer reads a book, and a large, intimidating automation, 10-ft tall suit of animated reinforced armor is on guard.
Dryueh considers this too risky and abandons his attempt to steal the curse.
Part 3 – Objective 2 – Rescueing the Prisoners
The party then travels down a spiral staircase to the castle cellar, where Valeria magically disguises herself as a prisoner. This time, the party's plan goes well. Valeria is dragged into the cells, and Rycon, Dryueh, and Valeria kill the surprised guards inside. Outside, Blaine deals with a nosy alchemist in a nearby room.
The prisoners are given Potions of Invisibility and make their escape. They cannot escape the castle's outer walls and hide in the nearby wooded courtyard.
Part 4 - Objective 3 - Destroying the Council of the Wise
Now, the heroes put their main plan into operation and return to the secret passages filled with small barrels of highly flammable materials. While Blaine, Rycon, and Dryueh leave the castle for the nearby common square, Valeria prepares her most potent magic.
She creates a duplicate of herself using the Bilocation spell, and one version joins the rest of the party outside the castle while the other prepares to destroy the tower. Invisible, she makes her way to the secret opening to the small chamber adjoining the meeting hall. While the council argues over trivial taxation issues, Valeria carefully moves some flammable material into the chamber. Then the Shadow Sorcerer casts Freeze Time, and as time slows down, she lays a Wall of Force on the chamber's exit to prevent escape. Then she conjures a ball of fire to ignite the flammable material and casts a nightmare spell to weaken the minds of the weak, then makes her escape.
The heroes well-prepared plan works perfectly; the council chamber explodes a burst of flame, which works down to the barrels of alchemical material hidden in the castle walls. With a roar of intense heat, the north-facing side of the castle tower's walls collapses, followed by the roof and most of the tower. Flames rip through the castle. The heroes hear screams of panic and agony as hundreds die in the inferno. Out of the rubble, half a dozen severely injured survivors crawl out, but they are slain by the heroes, as are a dozen guards stationed at the nearby gatehouse.
Part 5 - The Curse Walks
The party catches their breath, and their plan works perfectly. However, something is moving in the smokey rubble. The automation guarding the curse wrenches itself free from the fallen masonry. It has taken on a more menacing appearance; whatever that curse is, it is now free and enveloped the automation in a dark miasma. The sinister automation looks for life forms to kill and spots the freed prisoners hiding nearby. As it smashes forward, the heroes rush to save them; Blaine and Valeria's bird competition arrives first and distracts the golem. However, they find even standing near the mindless killer physically and mentally draining.
Rycon and Dryueh arrive soon after but discover that the golem hits very hard. Valeria is almost entirely out of powerful spells, but that does not matter, as she realizes what she has does not harm the construct. Her bird companion is nearly killed and has to back off.
Rycon protects the freed prisoners while Blaine continues to distract the golem. With nothing else working, Valeria throws a vial of acid. She misses, but some of the acid splashes on the construct's metal surface, and it bubbles and softens. Quickly, the party changes plan and lob their remaining flasks of acid. Eventually, the evil automation is wreaked, weakened, and collapses into a distorted steaming mass of dissolving metal.
Aftermath
The burning castle provokes a riot; enraged townsfolk start attacking guards, and most defending the city walls and gates are quickly killed or escaped. Well-known collaborators are butchered by the enraged populous, and many of their businesses and dwellings are put to the flame. Unfortunately, the fire gets out of control, and several city blocks burn to the ground. As the sun rises the following day, a smokey pall covers the city, and dead bodies litter the streets.
Tashal is free, and the Empire's plans are in tatters.
To be continued.NPC Interactions
Queen-Mistress Silena Ekiar of the Temple of Halea.
Serolan Deni Trochi of the Church of Larani.
Player Characters
Valeria - Human - L19 Shadow Sorcerer
Background - Magical Experiment.
Archetype - Beastmaster/Wizard.
Rycon - Human - L19 Fighter
Background - Rebel Knight.
Archetypes - Liberator Champion/Dual Weapon Warrior/Swashbuckler.
Dryueh - 1/2 Elf - L19 Thief Rogue
Background - Scout.
Archetypes - Vigilante/Medic/Shadowdancer/Wizard.
NPC Companion
Blaine - Human - L19 Fighter
Background - Bodyguard.
Archetypes - None gets in the way of drinking.
Next Session
Rycon
Dryueh
Valeria
NPC Companion
Blaine
A capable fighter, bodyguard, and occasional tavern owner. He likes to kill orcs and drink alcohol.
Esoterical Order of Lothrim
WOW! So they burnt down the city and destroyed the defenses. Sounds like there are several opportunities here, one for a real estate agent, two for a general contractor, three for yet another enemy to try and take the city, four room for ambitious folk to gain power; like who is left from the succession council to vote for the next leader and who would lead Kaldor? Finally, where did that pesky orb and fat sorcerer get off to?
There are lots of opportunities there for a future campaign, but it can’t be this one because it is winding down. The session council met about 40 sessions ago, and Conwan Elendsa was chosen as King not long before Lady Gwaderia launched the foulspawn invasion. That was session 329 https://www.worldanvil.com/w/misty-isle-of-harn-attacus/a/session-329---the-succession-cpuncil-report The orb with the curse was grabbed by a trio of orc survivors who fled the collapsing castle in the chaos, escaping into the city’s waterways and sewers. They hid it, and the orcs play a small part in a future session when they emerge from the sewers hungry. The orb is well hidden, and the fat sorcerer's wraith will direct its evil. However, it might be some time before I get to that plot hook.