Where we left off (Night of April 9th 216 B) ----------------- Last session ended with the party at a gala heralding their recent victory over the cult threatening Brindenford. For a few hours the party mixed and mingled with the area's nobility and top businessmen. Many enjoyable discussions were held by all. Around 3 AM the party decide to call it a night. (at this point they are among the last people at the gala anyhow.) Bidding the last of their well wishers goodbye the group staggers out the door and head across town to their rented smithy. Death in the darkness (3 AM of April 10th 216 B) --------------------- On their way home Mel (as a cat) spies something suspicious in a nearby alleyway. Mel pounces on the figure in an unsuccessful attempt to immobilize it. The rest if the party only catches a glimpse of the large rat-headed humanoid as he shakes Mel off. and darts down the alleyway Mel follows close behind the figure and Korvath, incised that a were-rat still lives, charges after Mel. Alex halts the other before they to run off. "I smell an ambush, lets follow them using the rooftops." He then conjures a ladder to the rooftops nearby. While the party ascends to the nearby rooftop, Mel harries the rat figure down the alleyway. The two fast moving figures quickly lose Korvath in the twisting labyrinth of Southspur. The rat man finally escapes Mel. Hoping to get a better vantage point Mel climbs a nearby building to find several suspicious looking men in ambush positions. Mel scares the men out from their positions and procedes to spring from roof to roof to bring the fleeing men down. Moge, hearing the battle, rushes across the rooftops towards Mel, but is stopped short when assassins from below pelt him with poisoned bolts. The sound of battle slowly draws the rest of the party into the fracas. From the rooftops the party sees what would have been a nasty ambush, but even from the relative safety of the rooftops the party will have a hard time turning the tables on the would-be assassins. As the two forces exchange missile fire and bursts of magic, the night suddenly lights up as a torrential burst of magic is unleashed immediately above Mel and Moge. An Arctic wind claws at the two warriors before freezing their skin solid. Mel and Moge stumble out of the frigid blast, but their skin is cracked and bleeding profusely from the activity. Painfully aware that whatever hit the front line was a lot more powerful than anything Essandri could manage, the party spellcasters desperately scan the dark sky above. Alex catches a brief glimpse of a massive flying humanoid and blasts it with everything he can manage. A scream pierces the night and the figure begins to drift aimlessly stunned by the unexpected burst of power. The flying figure turns out to ten feet tall with ice blue skin and steer-like horns. Korvath, hearing the recent exchange of magic, staggers out of an alley mouth below the party and is immediately set upon by assassins from all sides. On the roof, several rogues engage the party in hand to hand combat. Mel has to retreat and Essandri is taken down, but Alex uses another trick of his power to knock a couple attackers off the roof and onto the blackguards surrounding Korvath. The battle grows even more chaotic as the enemy spellcasters finally join battle. A fell priest send demonic minions into the battle below, a cultist directs flaming spheres into the alleyway, and a figure cloaked in utter darkness slides menacingly across rooftops to inflict dire wounds upon whomever comes within reach. Moge leaps from the rooftop to sunder the fell priest and his demonic pets. Meanwhile Essandri (saved from death by Katie) provides cover with crackling bolts of electricity. The cultist and Essandri both exchange barrages of missiles, but as the energy dissipates only Essandri is left in one piece, while the cultist is bleeding from dozens of small holes. The figure cloaked in darkness is winged death, but while Katie engages the figure in darkness the rest of the party concentrate on picking off the would be assassins until the remaining forces break and flee. Seeing that the day is lost the figure in black curses in a low guttural voice and slips away, still untouched by both blade and magic. The clean up goes quickly. The flying form is carefully disposed of by Alex while the others try and find Korvath. Desperate to reach him quickly Katie jumps from a rooftop only to land with a sickening crunch upon his badly maimed form. Before the enemy can return the party slips off with their dead and wounded. Sanctuary (4 AM of April 10th 216 B) -------- The party retreats to the city guard barracks. Shella had only recently returned from the celebration herself and she quickly ushers the party into the guard barracks when she hears of their loss. The party spend the hours before dawn debating the best way to bring Korvath back from the dead. Finally near dawn the group decides to rest. Even in the safety of the barracks no one sleeps well. Every dream is filled with assassins and cultists. Could they have missed some? It seemed likely. At least one assassin had been wearing robes from the cult the party had "eradicated". How many more might still be left? Scant hours later, still mid morning the party wakes to repeated blasts of trumpets. It is a call to order, the barracks empty almost immediately and the party move to a room with a view of the keep. Outside the barracks in the royal square the party can hear the baron addressing the townsfolk. The area outside is packed with thousands of people. Meanwhile the party lounge in the relative cool and quiet inside and catch brief phrases of the baron's announcement. With dawning horror they hear the Baron order the immediate disassembly of the town guard. The order of Pelor is also dismissed and replaced with a "new order of absolute law". Even more chilling than these announcements is the sound of their friend's voice ringing out across the square. Korvath is on the balcony with the Baron informing the people of Brindenford that "No lawlessness will be tolerated. All violators will be served an immediate penalty of death. Draconian measures are being taken to ensure that further violence and assassinations do not take place." Stunned, the party retreat to the guard mortuary to check that their friend is dead. There they find Korvath's body and quickly realize that a pretender or Doppelganger must be disguised out in the square. A plan is quickly hatched. One Hell of a Debate (Noon April 10th 216 B) -------------------- Using some quickly conjured ladders... (Alex shrugs and says, "hey, I only got one trick, so lay off!?!") Moge, Katie, and Alex ascend the guard barrack roof and present the horridly mutilated corpse of their friend to the crowd. "Citizen's be warned, the figure addressing you is not Korvath. Korvath was killed by assassins last night. The form addressing you is a dopple" The Baron and other figures have already left the balcony, but hearing the cries from outside the dopple-Korvath returns. The dopple visibly sighs and addresses the crowd once more. "It does not matter any longer. The forces of hell have claimed this city for their own. Anyone violating the new rule of law will be terminated most delightfully." the dopple's form stretches and wavers. Spines begin to protrude from flesh and skin sloughs off of the form to reveal a Devil standing in the the blood and detritus that was his disguise. "Since you have spoiled out little surprise I guess it is time to get the party started" Gouts of fire soar from the palace battlements, the church of Pelor visibly darkens and shudders as waves of energy coalesce around it. A sense of cold menace sweeps outward and over the city even as the temples doors burst open pouring hellish forms out onto the mortal plain. People within the square below scream and stream away from the dire forms. A huge demonic beast shaped like a lizard jumps on one person and throws him in the air before swallowing him whole. Katie begins chanting prayers for the fleeing townsmen even as the Devil begins speaking once more. "My name is Ixion, run you pathetic scum. Hell rules here now. There is no escape. Only those that submit shall live." The Better Part of Valor (April 10th 216 B) ------------------------ After only momentary consideration, the party retreats from the barrack rooftop and follows the crowds in fleeing the city. Pushing through the crowds to join them is a lady in loose fitting robes with haughty aristocratic features. The lady ask, "Are you the companions of CeeJay? I come from the elves bearing a message." The party shelters for a moment off of the main road and turns to inspect Dreyah. Dreyah wears a pair of dueling knives along with a well worn "Marksman class" crossbow of an unfamiliar style. While Mel and Essandri watch the city streets for fiends the rest of the party tries to decide what to do. Dreyah, impatient with the leaderless band shoves a box in the hands of the group and says. "That is your freaking message. Do you mind getting the hell out of here before the host of Baator make our lives uncomfortable?" Ignoring the stranger the party open the box to find a bag inside. CeeJay's bag in fact. The bag has a large lump in it. Looking at one another in consternation Essandri finally opens the bag and looks inside. She gasps "CeeJay" and the others wince in anticipation of the grisly news. Then from within the bag comes a voice, "whuh?!?". Looking over Essandri's shoulder the bag opens to a much larger area and sitting comfortably inside the bag is CeeJay with a broken lute, and a pile of gold. CeeJay pokes his head out of the sheltering his eyes from the sunlight. "Hi, do I know you?" Katie steps to where CeeJay can see her and asks. "CeeJay, are you all right?" He looks confused, "I don't know am I?" CeeJay looks at them all blankly and asks again, "Excuse me, but I must have forgotten your names. You mind helping me out of here?" Alex sticks his thumbs through his pants and grins, "CeeJay, there are demons roaming the streets out here, you might want to stay in there a while." CeeJay wrinkles his face up as if he is thinking very hard, "Is that a bad thing?" The party rapidly gets the feeling that CeeJay isn't all there anymore. Politely they usher him back into the sack, they then encourage Dreyah to join him as a "free ride out of town". This has the side benefit of allowing the party to talk privately on the way through the now deserted streets. Finding the gates blocked and the town militia being pressed into service for the new Hellish overlords, the group uses magical concealment and slips over the town walls unseen. Talking on the hike Eastward the party decides that the best approach is to take word of the hellish incursions to the border town of "Three Cities". Three Cities is big enough that there might be a priest able to restore Korvath to life. The city would know what to do, and the party can decide what to do about CeeJay and Dreyah after he is back. Always in favor shunning personal responsibility, the holds a vote for a new party leader and Korvath wins 5 to nothing. After a while the group lets Dreyah and CeeJay put to walk with them. "I am glad you opened the sack, the air in there was getting stale fast! I don't see how the bard lasted three days in there without me opening it." Some discussion are held on dimensional gating effects and the difficulty of creating porous dimensional wormholes. Dreyah and Essandri do most of the talking, but Alex and even Katie occasionally chime in. CeeJay hums as they walk and the two days to Three Cities pass pretty quickly. Three cities is a unique city in that it is in three separate kingdoms. The city is split roughly into thirds at a river fork and the three "cities" are connected by bridges and tollways. Alerting the guards and finding a temple to perform a raising take most of a day. the next day is spent briefing various factions, re-equiping the party, and conducting the ritual to raise Korvath. SESSION END (April 13th 216 years after the Breaking) NEXT TIME : The Return of Korvath REWARDS ------- 3000 Experience to all Present for the session or at least parts of them being present. DEATHS ------ Korvath - killed by a falling halfling.