Meet the Portents

An excerpt from the College of Lore's "Catalog of Prophecy, vol 2"

When the harvest moon is red, and full as a straining udder;

when the crisp autumn apples fall like hail;

when the threshing's been done and the last hay baled;

the column of flame shall reach into the sky, choking out life with ash and dust; burning our lands with raining fire. The she-demon will raise her flaming brand, and in her hellish halls, a chance, they'll stand.

Find the fated; fear the fiend. The tiny twain; the tiefling; the bearded lady. Protect the harpist, bring him safely to the frozen land..

...and in her hellish halls, a chance, they will stand.

HE 5400, 27^th day of the 10^th month

Lady Qualmia Kregor Cotnor

Plot points/Scenes

• Finding Reggie

Show spoiler
Reggie, a noble notable that donates regularly to Billy's theater company, becomes a suspect; he has been kidnapped, and replaced with a vrock

Themes

Cats, cats, everywhere Them Greys are really (like, actually) very noble There seems to be a pre teen boy, wearing a helicopter beanie, lounging around somewhere nearby every time sh*t goes down Pentagrams drawn at the scenes of crimes, and graffiti-ed onto 'Good' aligned temples and churches. Smell of brimstone at strange time (while they are being scryed upon)

Structure

Exposition

The candlelight flickered, as per usual. With early autumn sundowns, the food hall was lit by a battalion of tallow candles stuck in every nook and cranny of the old, stone keep's feast hall. Again, as per usual. But the dancing shadows cast by the (admittedly) smokey tapers reeled their way across a scene that was anything but usual. Anything but usual, at all.

Food was strewn about in such a chaotic pattern that Trayvon, who had thoroughly enjoyed Professor Kirkgaard's mathematics lecture on pingala sequences. It was terribly over his head, but he figured the gist of it was, there is a natural sequence to shapes, such as leaves and other natural things, as they grow. Trayvon marveled at how this seemed to be true even when the growing things had been smashed onto the floor by a large lady spontaneously seizing in some sort of apoplectic fit while she was in the middle of eating. Trayvon also marveled at how many of the people who sprung into action to help her had looks of wistful disappointment carefully concealed behind masks of efficient professionalism. But when the old cow (Trayvon had never liked her very much) snapped her eyes open and a blue glow came pouring out, he sat up in interest...a feat the dinner's attendees had yet to do. She began intoning a rhyme, which Trayvon scribbled on a cloth napkin with charcoal, that turned out to be confirmed by The School as a true, for real and honest-to-goodness prophecy. It is a rare thing, indeed.

Conflict

Gutterall, a cleric to the demon dragon Shayna, has her own prophecy she has been working off of. She has been instructed to murder 'the Tiny Twain', who other evil portents say are Cora Thornleaf and Nyxi Rinner, who she has stumbled across while carrying out a murder contract. Her contract foiled, she has been disgraced, and has become enraged, making it personal for the entire party, now.

Rising Action

Reggie, a nobleman associated with the Theater Company Billy Grey belongs to, is kidnapped by V'peef and Uthooplig, and replaced with a transformed Vrock. Traps and combat will follow, quickly, until Reggie is discovered bound and gagged in a Craysilt Warehouse, dumped just outside a teleportation circle.

Climax

Reggie tells them what he knows, happily, but the hapless Reggie has been infested with a slug that is quickly growing into a Barbed Devil, which is eating him from the inside out. This barbed devil will hunt and battle the party to the death, whether they find Reggie or not.

Falling Action

Gutterall is revealed, and a battle with V'peef and Uthooplig happens while she escapes to ready her lair for defense. If the party defeats the dynamic dummies, they move ahead to Gutterall's Lair, but first...Down Time!!

Resolution

Ultimately, Gutterall escapes, scarred and really angry. Fortunately (for our heroes), she has been so defeated that Shayna withdraws her clerical powers and abilities, and she has to use a magic broach to teleport away, back to her slave pen!

Components

Goals

Find the would-be assassins, and find out why they would want to kill Billy.

Hooks

Show spoiler

Reggie was replaced by a Vrock for an as yet unknown reason

Stakes

It's either them, or Gutterall.

Moral Quandaries

In Gutterall's lair, one of the traps is the 'one life vs. many lives' morality question.

Red Herrings

The original murder attempt, in the first place! It is simply adjacent. The assassins after Billy are Ravenhawkes, trying to eliminate the next Greynor air, having been hired by King Cotnor to do so.

Relations

Allies

Jessica/Jessie Grey Igle Icraophoe Trayvon the Lighthearted

Competitors

Gutterall V'peef Sujo Uthooplig Islapo

Backdrops

Locations

Hamminburg

Plot type

Chapter

Parent Plot

The Travelers Tale

Subplots

• What the devil?