Plague Politics

Session 104

Characters: Julian, Terus, Cael, Balin, Anthony, Randal, Grim.

NPCs: Constal Joseph "Plague-bane" Throffson, Duchess-Consort Lucia Thionne-Hhune (Ships), Lord Arbos Fullstein (Karlaggar), Samnilith Simonne Whitebrow (The Bindery), Azikiwe the Lobi-Tongo Chieftain, Asif the Librarian, Order of the Gorgon guardsman, Lady Elena Kessler, Kadan the Herald of Zazesspur.

L 23 Alturiak 1374 - M 24 Alturiak 1374

5200 XP

The masses of plague-stricken rioters had been broken by the great waves of the sea gates closing. The party moved into the main isle of the Ships District where Throffson awaited the return of Lucia Thionne-Hhune's imperial vessel. The ship docked slowly at the port while Throffson's remaining Knights of the Cleansing Flame surrounded it. Lucia Hhune exited and met with Throffson whom promtly took her into custody and sent her off to the Fortress of the Faithful under his powers of martial law. Throffson gratefully thanked the party for their quickness of action and decisiveness by rewarding them with the Purple Dragon merit of the Vigilant shield. As Lucia was sent away she ordered that the Ships District guardsman comply with the Cleansing Flame until she stated otherwise. The party then returned to the large and empty Firehawk Inn for the night.

Early in the morning they were awoken by the sounds of preaching, drums, and tribal chants coming from the Wainwrights streets. The party bustled outside to find a group of Chultan missionaries preaching against the "false pantheons" and moving the bodies of dead civilians out of the streets. Randal found one of them to be a former worshipper of Illmater whom had decided that worshipping Illmater was no different than praying to the most powerful priest of Illmater on Ferun. Also amongst the group was a number of Wainwrights guardsman whom graciously assisted the missionaries. The party interrogated these Defiants and finding no evidence of guilt moved toward the Fortress of the Faithful to seek out their leader Azikiwe. By foot the party passed over the civic bridge into the Markets District, guarded by a Knight of the Cleansing Flame and a number of followers. In the Markets District the party found the great tent-shops and store-fronts completely closed down and the streets baracaded. The only faces seen in the empty Markets District were guardsman and Lobi-Tongo, many of the guardsman were converting.

The party then crossed the greatest of the Zaz bridges into the Faithful District where a large non-violent protest was taking place on the front grounds of the Fortress of the Faithful. No signs of Bloodfever were present in the beautiful high-city of Zaz. The Lobi-Tongo chanted as they converted a number of acolytes from various temples to their tribe. The party passed through as an acolyte of Torm smashed his own holy symbol against the ground and embraced the Lobi-Tongo high-priest. Julian marched through the crowd as it parted and spoke personally with the leader on issues concerning the absence of divine power within the city. The well-educated leader told Julian of the fickle nature of the gods and made a number of convincing statements supporting his claim. Then the party was ushered into the Fortress where they were greeted and allowed to participate in an ongoing emergency council meeting. The meeting featured the remaining Lords of the Zaz city council, aristocrats from local noble houses, Triad high priests, other priests of Zaz, Azikiwe the leader of the Lobi-Tongo mission, and was presided over by Constal Throffson himself.

The party was formally introduced to the council by the Herald of Zazesspur and first heard of the recent claim that the blight of Harvest's-bane had been found in the largest grain store of the Bindery District. Food shortages were argued intensely by the council and then they turned to the party for a fresh opinion. The party offered their suggestions that the absence of high-powered arcane magic was severely hurting Zazesspur and that the disappearance of Jinjivar must be investigated. In addition, Julian and Randal led a push for the legal domain to use their powerful magical abilities to clear the city's waterways and streets of the dead. Members of the council, particularly Lord Arbos Fullstein of the Karlaggar District and Duchess Hhune expressed their concerns for outsourcing such dangerous powers to a group of non-bound adventurers. Still, Throffson and the rest of the council agreed, the party had little to gain through deception and had done much previously for the good of Zaz. Thus, it was decided they would be declared official Emissaries of Justice for Zazesspur.

With their new legal powers the party followed Balin to the Gardens District. While they found excellent and expensive quarantine methods being used, and no signs of Bloodfever. However, nearly all of the Garden District's formerly lush plantlife had been afflicted with a serious infection known as Archer's Blight. Although the sky was overcast, the remaining daylight still penetrated through the canopy to the marble floors. Asif, a librarian of the Zaz Library had already collected a great deal of historical information concerning Bloodfever, Harvest's-bane, and Archer's Blight. Balin and the rest of the party read through the texts and found similar symptoms to the one's previous in Zaz's history. Then they followed Asif to the lower auditorium where 3 human dissections were taking place. The different stages of the illness suggested that there was a terrible respiratory element not mentioned in the historical texts. Randal hypothesized that if they could examine bodies from the previous plagues that they may find concretely whether or not this is the same Bloodfever. The party went with Asif to the oldest noble house of Zaz, the Kessler merchant family. There they were met by a guardsman dressed in dark blue robes, carrying a magical staff as were permitted to enter after they cleansed themselves. Lady Elena Kessler, was deeply opposed to the exhuming of her ancestors. However, through Randal's incredible diplomacy they were given full access to the tombs of the 2 Bloodfever plagues. The old sarcophagi were opened and upon basic dissection the party concluded that the previous Bloodfevers did not have a respiratory component. Grim was most certain that this current disease was a heightened magical version based upon Zaz's old Bloodfever.

TREASURE BATH!!!

Session 102

Characters: Julian, Balin, Cael, Anthony, Grim, Davvin, Randal, Samael, Terus.

NPCs: None

22 Alturiak 1374 - 23 Alturiak 1374

0 XP

After 4 days with the dwarves of Gorm Gulthyn, the party Teleported back to the 3 Clanholds of Gildabarr. They piled over 80 tons of precious metals, coinage, gems, ancient art and magical items of all shapes and sizes into their portable holes, bags of holding, and any other space they could find. The worth of these treasuries was estimated to be at least 13 million gold, and the adventurers divided it as evenly as they were capable of. The rumors of the lost Gildabarr were certainly true, and its magnificence greatly understated even in legend. The party had overcome the thralls of the insidious Mindflayer Xfureba, traveled to the deepest regions of the Hizagkurr City, and survived its epic Clanholds. The simple adventurers from Pinehill had earned every copper piece, and would never be the same again.

Atonement and the Council of Gorm

Session 101

Characters: Julian, Balin, Cael, Anthony, Grim, Davvin, Randal, Samael, Terus.

NPCs: Grimir the Cleric of Gorm, 3 High Clerics of Gorm, 3 Starspire Gold Griffons, Acolytes of Gorm Gulthyn.

18 Alturiak 1374 - 22 Alturiak 1374

1000 XP

Back in the barracks the party slept uneasily and at dawn were awakened by the morning bells of the monastery. They slowly rose and ate a quiet breakfast with the dwarven defenders and then attended a morning prayer in the courtyard. Grimir presided over the ceremony and spoke of the importance of patience in battle and that during moments of war's greatest chaos one can still find enlightenment. The priests remained for some time after the ceremony, reflecting on his morning message and then went about their day preparing for a very formal occasion. In the afternoon each character again met with Grimir and they spoke further of their lessons learned and their individual quests for enlightenment.

Still later in the day 3 dwarven priests of Gorm dressed in Golden Plate armor flew in from the mountain range on the backs of griffons. Grimir met the high priests as they entered the chapel's threshold. Just before sunset Cael, Balin, and Julian were called by acolytes and given ceremonial white robes to wear. They walked out of the barracks into the center grounds as saw all of the Gorm followers dressed in full crimson and gold ceremonial armors. They entered into an exhausting magical ritual lasting upwards of 5 hours and near the end each character began to feel faint, and weak. Grimir and the other high priests questioned the characters intensely and were impressed with their genuine responses. The ritual ended with Julian, Balin and Cael kneeling before an altar and each were given a golden brand with a complex dwarven rune on it symbolizing Gildabarr, and the dwarven pantheon, attached to its magical aura was their Atonement. Cael and Julian pressed it against their human flesh, while Balin faltered at first. But with the axe of a paladin of Gorm resting on is neck the elf pressed the brand of forgiveness into his chest and it was done.

Later a great celebration commenced as the happy and grateful followers of Gorm feasted with the party. During the celebration, Davvin spoke with Grimir about the need for a Religious Council to be held concerning the use of Deathless servants by the church. The following morning the 4 High priests of Gorm had decided Davvin's initial arguments were convincing enough to warrant a special Council. The party waited patiently as the priests privately spoke and it was announced that there would indeed be a Council of Gorm called into order, the first in over three hundred years. On the third morning as a yellow sun rose above the eastern Starspire peaks all of the monastery's acolytes, priests, defenders, and of course the adventurers gathered in the center grounds to witness the Great Council of Gorm hear Davvin's arguments. Davvin spoke with conviction as he argued that the church of Gorm must not sway so carefully towards methods which although effective, are morally questionable. He spoke of the path of honor which they must take in their policies, and recited an ancient example from Gorm's and other dwarven churches on revising their doctrines. Finally, his words resonated the lesson that the gods though powerful must never tread too close upon other deities domains especially in times like these as many evil forces grow with power. The Council questioned Davvin further and were quite satisfied and impressed with his knowledge of religion and philosophy. Grimir and the other High Priests spoke in private and as minutes passed like hours it was decided that the Doctrine of the Deathless servants would be revised!

Following the Great Council of Gorm the party remained with the clerics for two more days while they recovered from their near epic adventures in Gildabarr's deepest halls. Some had the base of the Slaughterstone Eviscerator's adamantine blades reworked into a fitting handle while others spoke further with the clerics of war and philosophy. Grim settled into a comfortable room in the barracks and memorized more arcana. Overall, it had turned out to be a unexpected yet insightful time with the castled priests of Gorm Gulthyn.

The Return of Gildabarr's Final Anvils

Session 100

Characters: Terus, Cael, Balin, Julian, Anthony, Randal, Grim.

NPCs: Gargantuan Arcane Ooze, Elder Ice Elemental, Grimir the Cleric of Gorm.

17 Alturiak 1374 -18 Alturiak 1374

3400 XP

Leaving the room of Illusions the party was teleported to the 8th and final room of the Theoric Clanhold, the Divination chamber. In a large circular room a pool of green ooze in the center began to bubble rapidly. Along the walls were many carved murals and runes depicting the Theoric clan's greatest accomplishments in Gildabarr. Cael immediately felt the presence of the second artifact of Kenewrec within the ooze, and Calinus Brumalis violently shook and flew away from his grasp toward the ooze. Immediately, its greenish slime turned an icy blue and the room cooled to icy temperatures. The spellcasters Balin, Grim, Cael, Julian, and Terus felt their arcane and psionic energies being siphoned away towards the ooze as it became stronger and covered in thicker sheets of icy armor. The party began to attack the Ooze however with the power of Kenewrec's twin artifacts the Ooze summoned an Elder Ice Elemental which Anthony, Randal, and Terus engaged in a fierce melee.

Grim continued to use his arcane mastery to attack the formidable Ooze with his Force magic, as Randal, Anthony, and Terus managed to dispatch the Elder Ice Elemental. The Ooze however, had grappled Cael with its massive tendrals and soon grappled Anthony, and Terus as well. The party felt more of their arcane power slipping away every second as the Ooze converted their energies into a thicker icy hide. The party surrounded the Theoric guardian however and smashed at it with all their might and remaining magic. Eventually, the party had prevailed and the Arcane Ooze exploded in a terrible blast of ice and energy. All that remained below it were Kenewrec's two artifacts, the sword and the ring. The party re-grouped and began to study the runes of divination magic in detail. They learned much of the Theoric clan's accomplishments and history. After unlocking many arcane runes and solving the divination questions the party had arranged the mural in the proper chronological order necessary. The room began to glow as a staircase opened in the center of the room. Wal,ing down the staircase many of the party members became increasingly disoriented and dazed, only the few that failed their saves and submitted themselves to the will of the staircase were teleported. Meanwhile, Randal, Grim, and Cael were left searching for answers as to where their missing comrades had gone.

The other 4 party members however, had been teleported by the staircase to a forgotten treasury on Dwarfhome, the dwarven home plane. They marveled at the amazing treasure which had been so carefully organized and placed around the room. Magical runes of power illuminated precious metals, gems, and masterfully crafted items. The party immediately found the remaining anvils and teleported them directly to the monastery of Gorm in the northern Starspire mountains. Grimir welcomed the party heartily and within little time the remaining party members were teleported by Grim to the monastery and rejoined their friends. The anvils were exchanged and soon Grimir became somber as he knew what would come next. The adventurers had proven their strength in reclaiming the anvils, but would their words truly ask for forgiveness?

Each one of the adventurers privately met with Grimir in lengthy councils and discussed their moral problems, questions, and lessons learned. They were escorted back to the barracks by yet more somber acolytes of Gorm and rested the night uncertain of their fates with the Church of Gorm and vengeful Deathless Sentinel.

The Theoric Clanhold: Part 2

Session 99

Characters: Terus, Anthony, Cael, Julian, Samael, Grim, Davvin.

NPCs: Gargantuan Swarm of Wasps, Gnomes of the Golden Hills, 4 Diamond Golems.

14 Alturiak 1374 - 17 Alturiak 1374

8300 XP

The party teleported into the next room of the great runecaster clan's dungeon and immediately began to use their magical spells to restore their fellow adventurers from Petrification, Polymorph, and Stasis. They were surrounded by a small circular room with a domed ceiling and dry-fitted stone work. Missing blocks from the walls lay randomly on the room's dusty floor. Without warning, powerful yellow conjuration runes began to glow as a massive Swarm of Wasps flew through the missing holes. The party desperately attempted many magical defenses but were becoming overwhelmed. Eventually, they were abnle to fight the swarm and return the missing blocks to their respective holes. The swarm was broken and dissipated by the party's endurance. Next they again teleported to a long corridor where many evocation runes were inscribed on the walls. Grim briefly studied them and discovered they had been written in a great magical circuit to function together seamlessly. The party braved forth down the evocation corridor and was blasted by waves of fire, ice, electricity, acid, and sound. Grim battled to counterspell some of the effects as Davvin and Balin attempted to time their healing spells along with the circuit. At the very end the party was blasted by a wave of force sending Julian, Samael, Cael, and Balin back through the other traps. With great agility and strength they managed to reunite safely with their fellow adventurers.

Again, the party had activated another teleportation circle and found themselves in a very large circular brick room. Cael carefully read across the runes the words, "Stand 'round together, or die 'round apart." However, the enchantment runes of the room began to activate and sent powerful Dominations against the party. Terus, Julian, Samael, and Anthony were initially controlled to attack their fellow party members. As the other party members struggled to break the enchantment Balin, and Anthony were stricken Insane. Soon Terus, Julian and Samael were locked in a bloody melee. Cael acted against them and began to strike them to death with Calinus Brumalis. When only Balin, Cael, Anthony, and Davvin still stood, they gathered their fallen comrades in a circle and united with what they had left. The enchantment runes deactivated and the party was again gone. Now only Cael, Davvin, Anthony, and Balin stood capable of completing the unpredictable Theoric dungeon. They rested for 8 hours in a cramped space in front of the gateway to a room resonating with abjuration magic. After that time they moved forward and were surrounded by three shifting walls of prismatic energy. The shifting colors, shapes, surfaces, and positions of the walls dizzied the remaining 4. The party slowly began to navigate through these walls avoiding all contact until they became utterly confused and walked into one of the Prismatic Walls. The waves of energy passed over them and nearly killed all 4, Anthony however had been Planeshifted. Now Cael, Balin, and Davvin found an increasing urgency to their task as they navigated through the rest of the maze and searched for a way to rescue Anthony. Davvin used his Divination abilities to find that Anthony was in fact on the plane of the Golden Hills and the three shifted there.

From the glowing stone halls of the Theoric dungeon the party now found themselves on beautiful rolling hills with golden grasses and trees. Many gnomes happily greeted the adventurers and with their help Davvin, Balin, and Cael had found the Insane Anthony Manton and Healed him. They stayed with the Golden Gnomes for one night and ate honeyed bread and Sugarfruit, and drank Sunwine. The next morning the party Raised their dead friends, passed through the Graveyard Gate that Davvin had summoned and returned to the Theoric Dungeon. The reunited adventurers passed again through a magical gate and were teleported to a new Theoric room. Roughly hewn gemstone walls surrounded the party in a simple square shaped room. Julian, Balin, and Terus took a few steps and immediately fell 70 feet into an identical room. Things were not as they seemed. The rest of the party struggled to disbelieve the appearance of their surroundings and some believed they were actually on an illusionary catwalk above a pit below. Meanwhile, The fallen three became attacked by Invisible Diamond Golems and had many Targeted Dispells deactivate their magical abilities. It was now a race to find the room's hidden exit. Samael flew about the catwalk above and through his force of will discovered a lone block against the wall, he passed through and was gone. One by one the adventurers struggled to disbelieve. Davvin descended to assist his overwhelmed party members below and they fled the Diamond Golems seemingly inevitable attacks. With a few great leaps and tests of the mind the party had disbelieved their Illusionary room and were again gone.

The Theoric Clanhold: Part 1

Session 98

Characters: Terus, Balin, Samael, Julian, Anthony, Grim, Davvin, Cael.

NPCs: Grimir the Priest of Gorm Gulthyn.

13 Alturiak 1374 - 14 Alturiak 1374

2700 XP

The adventurers recovered from the amazing battle with the Anaxim. Julian began to search for yet another way out. During his search Julian discovered that the magical torches in the room were actually levers. Samael, and Terus helped Julian listen to the complicated series of mechanical noises that were created each time a lever combination was pulled and after several hours they had activated the final device. The entire room began to shift downward through a stone shaft and then leveled out into a moving platform along a mechanical tunnel. At the very end the platform joined with an amazing island of treasure surrounded by a moat burning clear acidic liquid. On the platform was the Uderhardt Clan's secret treasures, and in the center, a Huge casting mold structure adorned with magical runes, fit to create whole golems. Once again elated, the already treasure encrusted Julian leaped into the pile once again.

The rest of the party began to search through the pile and found two other anvils, a Medium sized Uderhardt anvil most likely for tool making, and a Tiny one made from magical platinum that was once used for ring-making; it was adorned with the symbol of the destroyed Dakul Clan. The party's spellcasters soon began to plan how to return these 3 anvils safely to the Gorm monastery. Grim attempted to shrink the largest anvil and its magical energy resisted. Meanwhile, Julian Terus, Balin and Samael were busy clearing an open floor space for Balin to turn into a Gold Dragon so that he could carry and teleport with the anvil. As they did their Geas activated and they began to internally bleed in terrible pain. With the treasure cleared Balin turned into a Great Golden Dragon and lifted the anvil with strain. Grim teleported the to spellcasters directly to the monastery of Gorm. The dawn sun illuminated the monastery and the two were again quickly surrounded by an increasingly prepared and yet amazed number of Gorm followers.

They returned three more ancient anvils of Gildabarr to Grimir who insisted that Grim and Balin stay with them and celebrate again. The next morning Grim and Balin Teleported back to the Uderhardt clanhold and re-joined their adventuring friends. The party then Teleported back to the location of the Theoric Clan guildhall. Amongst the many ruined structures in the great mining cavern they found many circular foundations of ruined Theoric buildings. Davvin's Find the Path spell allowed Julian to again lead the party through the ruins to the largest of circular foundations. At one time this building could have stretched to the very top of the cavern ceiling twenty stories high. They entered the first story rubble and down a collapsed staircase to find yet more rubble at the building's base. The party cleared away much of the collapsed stone and found an archway of dwarven runes which to Julian's Arcane Sight revealed strong Conjuration magic. Without thinking much further Julian began to carefully disable the magical runes, when he realized that these were runes of teleportation however, it was too late. Now cut off from the Theoric Clanhold Grim decided to cast a powerful Wish to undue and repair the magical damage Julian had wrought to the runes. The archway was fixed in a glow of magical power and the party ventured through.

They found themselves in a circular sandy room which had the bones of a number of dead orcs. Balin discovered that they had killed and eaten one another in a desperate act of cannibalism. Eventually Julian found a large metal brush and carefully drew the complex Theoric Clan symbol in the sand. The sand began to glow white with a teleportation circle and the party had entered the first room of the Theoric Clanhold. They found themselves in a dark small room made entirely of black stone.; purple runes adorned the walls with necromantic magical energy. In the center the party found a stone platform with 4 black skulls, in each of the room's 4 corners there were 4 matching alters. Grim reeled in disgust of this school's forwardness for he knew that each skull must be placed on each alter, however there was a great price to pay. Julian, Cael, Davvin, and Samael each placed a skull on a platform and were sapped with many negative levels. Just like that the party was teleported again into a similarly small room with a very tall ceiling.

The room glowed with runes of transmutation magic that were arranged in a checker board patter along the floor. The party found that their transmutation magical items and spells no longer functioned in this room. Once by one they crossed through the magical runes and as they did many magical transmutation effects were triggered. Davvin was flung upwards against the ceiling in a Reverse Gravity effect, Samael was Polymorphed into a frog and then a snake. Anthony was effected by a Temporal Stasis spell, and finally Julian was turned to stone. The rest of the party rescued their transmuted friends and teleported into the next room of the Theoric clanhold.