Mission to Shamath:
Victor sent us instructions for our first mission and, I've gotta say, it's a serious job. It turns out the high priestess in Shamath, the dark elf capital city, is considering a push for independence from Zerthadium. I guess the Spider Queen is tired of her followers bowing to Emperor Bosch. Victor wants us to dispose of the high priestess and secretly replace her with someone of a more favorable disposition toward the empire. To this end, he furnished us with an enchanted disguise kit and a pair or waystones, which can teleport to each other's location as long as they are no more than one mile apart.
Aside from the main objective in the service of the empire, Victor has a personal request. He asked that we plunder the Spider Queen's temple reliquary and return any interesting artifacts to him personally. If we succeed at both objectives, Victor has promised to release Kwaku's father into our custody immediately on our return. Given his special skills, knowledge of the area, and how much is a stake for him, Kwaku will be leading the operation.
We will use a slave trade deal as our cover. We will use Kwaku to get a good price.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 20
Zerthadium: Model District
When I woke up at the end of our boat ride, Ark and her friends were already gone. I felt a bit slighted that they would just vanish after all we've been through together. However, It turns out the soldiers on the ship planned to take them as prisoners when we arrived at Zerthadium proper. I guess Ark decided against slaughtering the crew and stealing the ship and made their escape. I'm not sure how they managed it, but most of ships crew don't even remember the dragonborn were ever aboard.
A little later, we arrived in Zerthadium where we were rapidly processed and given all the proper paperwork. Judging by the date stamps on the papers, I've been gone almost three months and the others about two months. My team seemed in a daze. I guess all of their lost memories must have come flooding back, though none of them felt like talking about it in the administrative offices.
After we were legal Zerthadian agents again, a couple of Emperor Bosch's political minders lead us through the model district and to our residential suite. I must say, the model district is almost nice enough to give Eibelstat a run for its money, even though there really isn't nearly as much magic in Zerthadium. Of course, the model district is just a model district, built by Emperor's Bosch's regime from wealth they exploit from Zerthadium's protectorate states. Not only that, but most of the rest of Zerthadium is overpopulated, dirty, and undernourished. It kind of makes me wonder about Eibelstat's dark secrets.
They put us up in the presidential suites, where we had every service we could demand on the government's dime. It always irks me when they do this; the guests of the state (and its members) live lavishly on ill-gotten gains. I didn't have much time to for moral outrage, though, because one of Victor's agents whisked me away from the minders for a meeting with Victor himself.
Meeting with Victor:
There I sat, on a silver platter before my master, gritting my teeth and wringing my tail as he laughed himself silly at my predicament. Victor and his goons interrogated me and, I'm not going to lie, I told him everything. He listened, his face indifferent and enigmatic as ever. My team members broke into the interrogation. I don't know if they wanted to save me from torture or if they just didn't want me to talk. Victor had to use a lot of manpower to subdue them, especially Spike. Powerful as they are, my team is still not strong enough to take on all of Zerthadium. Victor gave my wife a severe beating and shattered one of Mal's holy artifacts in retaliation. I guess that means there's no doubt he will hurt our loved ones if we don't play by his rules.
In spite of our misbehavior, Victor promised to keep us in the presidential suites for the duration of our remaining service to him in exchange for a little of our blood. I expect he's going to try to refine essentia from our blood. I have no idea what he's going to use it for, but I don't really care all that much right now. Victor offered to put Azaezul in a safe place for us, but I'll have to find out how my team's reaction before I agree.
Zerthadium:
This huge city is situated right in the center of a wasteland. It's population is completely dependent on food imports from cultures the Zerthadian empire has cowed with its military might. The level of repression, even in the city itself is staggering. There are laws for everything, including proper names for children. Partly on account of the prisons being overpopulated and partly because the regime is just plain nasty, violating the laws results in harsh, summary punishments. Though the empire's strength has been waning the past decade, the brutal repression seems to be working, for now.
Emperor Bosch:
Our current emperor is an incompetent crook, but his cult of personality is strong. The are icons of him in every home and everywhere people sing praises to him. Unfortunately, the cult of the emperor has been around for so long that I suspect most of Zerthadium's citizens' devotion is sincere. The empire's bureaucracy seems to be holding things together.
When I woke up at the end of our boat ride, Ark and her friends were already gone. I felt a bit slighted that they would just vanish after all we've been through together. However, It turns out the soldiers on the ship planned to take them as prisoners when we arrived at Zerthadium proper. I guess Ark decided against slaughtering the crew and stealing the ship and made their escape. I'm not sure how they managed it, but most of ships crew don't even remember the dragonborn were ever aboard.
A little later, we arrived in Zerthadium where we were rapidly processed and given all the proper paperwork. Judging by the date stamps on the papers, I've been gone almost three months and the others about two months. My team seemed in a daze. I guess all of their lost memories must have come flooding back, though none of them felt like talking about it in the administrative offices.
After we were legal Zerthadian agents again, a couple of Emperor Bosch's political minders lead us through the model district and to our residential suite. I must say, the model district is almost nice enough to give Eibelstat a run for its money, even though there really isn't nearly as much magic in Zerthadium. Of course, the model district is just a model district, built by Emperor's Bosch's regime from wealth they exploit from Zerthadium's protectorate states. Not only that, but most of the rest of Zerthadium is overpopulated, dirty, and undernourished. It kind of makes me wonder about Eibelstat's dark secrets.
They put us up in the presidential suites, where we had every service we could demand on the government's dime. It always irks me when they do this; the guests of the state (and its members) live lavishly on ill-gotten gains. I didn't have much time to for moral outrage, though, because one of Victor's agents whisked me away from the minders for a meeting with Victor himself.
Meeting with Victor:
There I sat, on a silver platter before my master, gritting my teeth and wringing my tail as he laughed himself silly at my predicament. Victor and his goons interrogated me and, I'm not going to lie, I told him everything. He listened, his face indifferent and enigmatic as ever. My team members broke into the interrogation. I don't know if they wanted to save me from torture or if they just didn't want me to talk. Victor had to use a lot of manpower to subdue them, especially Spike. Powerful as they are, my team is still not strong enough to take on all of Zerthadium. Victor gave my wife a severe beating and shattered one of Mal's holy artifacts in retaliation. I guess that means there's no doubt he will hurt our loved ones if we don't play by his rules.
In spite of our misbehavior, Victor promised to keep us in the presidential suites for the duration of our remaining service to him in exchange for a little of our blood. I expect he's going to try to refine essentia from our blood. I have no idea what he's going to use it for, but I don't really care all that much right now. Victor offered to put Azaezul in a safe place for us, but I'll have to find out how my team's reaction before I agree.
Zerthadium:
This huge city is situated right in the center of a wasteland. It's population is completely dependent on food imports from cultures the Zerthadian empire has cowed with its military might. The level of repression, even in the city itself is staggering. There are laws for everything, including proper names for children. Partly on account of the prisons being overpopulated and partly because the regime is just plain nasty, violating the laws results in harsh, summary punishments. Though the empire's strength has been waning the past decade, the brutal repression seems to be working, for now.
Emperor Bosch:
Our current emperor is an incompetent crook, but his cult of personality is strong. The are icons of him in every home and everywhere people sing praises to him. Unfortunately, the cult of the emperor has been around for so long that I suspect most of Zerthadium's citizens' devotion is sincere. The empire's bureaucracy seems to be holding things together.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 19
Rift crossing: Outskirts
We departed into the rift from Nebel under Azaezul's advice. True to our expectations, the soulstone antenna kept the duskriders away from us long enough for us to drive them away. Azaezul led us through a mostly gravitationless field of fog and debris. Surrounded by rumbling, grinding stone there in the nebula, I knew we didn't have a chance of finding our way without the daemon in the lamp. I wasn't crazy about trusting him, but it seemed like our only option. On our way through the debris field, we encountered a hostile group of twisted human-like creatures. To our surprise and disgust, they attacked us by firing their own venom-coated bones at us! Ark and her friends helped us flank them and we easily reduced the abominations to puddles of goo.
Not long after our battle with the abominations, gravity reintroduced itself. Fortunately, Azaezul lead us to a mysteriously intact road leading deeper into the rift. The reintroduction of gravity caught me a bit by surprise. Azaezul insisted that Erebus tries to pull everything down into itself. If that's true, falling off of the lonely road is certainly a life-ending mistake. Soon we a approached an old stone temple, completely infested with abominations. My team charged into the complex with Ark providing backup. Even though we tried to neutralize the abominations a quickly as possible, an abominable priest managed to summon a hideous, decaying demon at one of El's old altars. Hypatia summoned her banishing blade and sent the fiend back to wherever it came from. After the area was fully under control, we did a bit of looking around. It turns out the abominations were worshiping some sort of un-El being. Considering how nasty un-Bahamut is, I shudder to contemplate the real existence of an un-El. Azaezul seemed to get quite a kick out of our collective fear. He said, "Those killed by Iblis are doomed to serve him."
Beyond the temple, we found a wall of angry shadows blocking our path. The umber wall stood between two black obelisks, like the one we saw in Erebus. The "Oblivion Gate", as Azaezul called it, was put there by the old gods to block off the rift in both directions. It appeared that the abominations had tried several times, unsuccessfully, to cross. Hypatia courageously wielded our shadowstone and parted the shadows. We passed through, but Hypatia and the shadowstone seemed drained. There didn't seem to be any going back, so we pressed on in darkness and silence on a strange stone road through the middle of the rift.
Rift crossing: Oblivion
As we walked through the rift, the emptiness gnawed at us. It still gives me the shivers to think that the creator of our universe fell to his death though that place. I'm frankly surprised there's anything in there at all. The origin of the road is a mystery. Azaezul was close-lipped about it. There's a black hole in history between El and Iblis's battle and the eradication of the gods and primordials. I wonder if there's anyone who knows who has managed to hold on to sanity.
The sounds of crashing rocks shook us from our contemplative pace. A storm of stone came raining down on us. A few stone were so large that they punched right through the road, which regenerated itself (which horrified and pleased me at the same time). We ran as fast as we could and quickly arrived, beaten and bruised, at a lonely guard post. Inside, we found a half-elf from Zerthadium. We as emaciated and half insane. We gave him some of our provisions and had a short chat. We ascertained that he was the sole survivor of an expedition into the rift. He didn't seem to know Victor, nor could he remember much. He seemed capable, but a bit crazy. I had some reservations about taking him with us, but we couldn't leave him. We would have spoke longer, but a flood of life-draining shadows started seeping into the room. We fought them the best we could, and even stunned them with the soulstone antenna, but it was no use. They drove us back out into the pounding cacophony.
Rift crossing: The Fortress of Decay
Still being pounded by stone rain, we ran into a set of sturdy stone gates. The gates controlled one of the entry points to a huge stone enclosure, large enough to contain a whole city. Spike teleported through the arrow slit at the top of the gate, bashed some abominations, and opened the gate. We stormed the gates and eliminated the guards before they could kill Spike. We took a moment to heal and rest in the guard houses. It seemed as though the city was deserted to we took our time. We found some journals from the abominations. They seemed to be waiting for someone to break through the Oblivion gate so they could escape the rift and spread the disease of their master, a being they reverently "Papa Nurgle." Following Azaezul's directions through the city, we came across a patrol of hideously diseased goblins who mistook us for Nurgle's apostles. We played our good fortune the best we could. Mal sacrificed one of them and the half-elf sent the rest on a pilgrimage to nowhere.
As we proceeded deeper into the city, the buildings started being coated in a noxious slime. As we neared the town center, we discovered a whole colony of Nurgle's plague bearers. They gave us a friendly greeting and offered to infect us so we could joint their number. We passed on that offer, of course, and asked for their leader. When the welcome wagon went to summon their local priest, we made a break for it and tried to get through the colony. Unfortunately for us, we entered a new world of pain when we encountered one of Nurgle's demon friends, an Angel of Decay. She summoned her master and blasted us with clouds of maggots and filth, infecting some of our number with the plague. She tried to use the disease to command my team, but I guess the infection was too fresh; it wasn't enough to save her from our wrath. With Ark and friends slaughtering abominations left and right, we pressed in on the Angel. About that time, the most disgusting creature I've ever seen fell from the ceiling. A huge mass of diseased flesh, it's abdomen exploded and entrails dragging, approached us and offered us safe passage in exchange for Azaezul.
I didn't care for Azaezul, but doubted we would be able to complete the crossing without him, so we finished the Angel and charged the hulking mass. Quaku shot it in the eyes, but that only blinded it for a moment. The thing's bloated flesh seemed impervious and it entangled Mal in it's intestines and drew him into its innards. Spike leaped into the disgusting mass and retrieved our priest. I vomited. Then, Quaku did something that completely horrified me. He charged right in to the monster's guts and buried himself in it's abdomen. There, he planted the the origami tree we lifted from Helmut's place. Explosively, a 40 ft. oak tree formed, ejected Quaku, and splattered the monster everywhere. The blow to their master reduced most of the more afflicted abominations to piles of goo. Azaezul assured us that Nurgle was not finished, but it would take a week or more for him to reform. We set to work slaughtering the remaining abominations. We cleared as much of the colony as we could, but we had to make haste---those of use suffering from the plague had to get out of there. On our way, we met Kain, one of Azaezul's old friends. He lead us directly to Nurgle's high temple in hopes we could destroy the plague lord for good. In the inner sanctum, we found the most horrifying thing I had yet seen---a hunk of El's decaying flesh. There wasn't a damn thing we could do about that. We left Kain behind as our ticket back inside and got the Hell out of the Fortress.
Rift crossing: The Maze of Ith and the Umbral Sea
We passed through a maze of roads that continuously shifted and reformed. It seemed to go on forever, but Azaezul seemed to always know the way and we escaped. He said the maze has many, many exits, but most of them are terrible, leading to more and more places just like the Fortress of Decay. As we marched on, Azaezul was quiet. I wonder if he was thankful. Though I was previously afraid that handing Azaezul over to Nurgle would have resulted in Nurgle releasing Azaezul, I'm certain now that things would have turned out very, very badly for our little demon in the lamp if he fell into Nurgle's vile clutches. Don't read me wrong! I don't think we can trust him; I think we can use his rivalry the other rift lords against him.
The silent of the rift gradually gave way to the ominous sound of a waterfall. As we continued down the road out of Oblivion, it seemed as though a thousand oceans were falling down, all around us, cascading into Erebus. The road became a long causeway over a swiftly flowing pool of dark water. We walked for hours until we came upon a channel and dock with series of stairs and aqueducts on the other side. We used another piece of magic origami to summon a boat to ferry ourselves across the umbral sea and to the stairway out of the rift.
I have never been so happy to see the sky, even as bleak a sky the one on the other side of the rift. We stood on a platform over the ocean as it fell into the abyss. The sick members of the crew shivered and vomited. Luckily for us, the platform was equipped with a bright beacon, which we immediately activated. Within a few hours, a heavily armed ship with Zerthadian markings arrived. Put the sick members of our number into quarantine, but since we were so far away from Nurgle, the priest and the dragonborn had little difficulty curing the infection. It was a long trip. I couldn't stop thinking about my family and what manner of things Victor would want from us . . .
We departed into the rift from Nebel under Azaezul's advice. True to our expectations, the soulstone antenna kept the duskriders away from us long enough for us to drive them away. Azaezul led us through a mostly gravitationless field of fog and debris. Surrounded by rumbling, grinding stone there in the nebula, I knew we didn't have a chance of finding our way without the daemon in the lamp. I wasn't crazy about trusting him, but it seemed like our only option. On our way through the debris field, we encountered a hostile group of twisted human-like creatures. To our surprise and disgust, they attacked us by firing their own venom-coated bones at us! Ark and her friends helped us flank them and we easily reduced the abominations to puddles of goo.
Not long after our battle with the abominations, gravity reintroduced itself. Fortunately, Azaezul lead us to a mysteriously intact road leading deeper into the rift. The reintroduction of gravity caught me a bit by surprise. Azaezul insisted that Erebus tries to pull everything down into itself. If that's true, falling off of the lonely road is certainly a life-ending mistake. Soon we a approached an old stone temple, completely infested with abominations. My team charged into the complex with Ark providing backup. Even though we tried to neutralize the abominations a quickly as possible, an abominable priest managed to summon a hideous, decaying demon at one of El's old altars. Hypatia summoned her banishing blade and sent the fiend back to wherever it came from. After the area was fully under control, we did a bit of looking around. It turns out the abominations were worshiping some sort of un-El being. Considering how nasty un-Bahamut is, I shudder to contemplate the real existence of an un-El. Azaezul seemed to get quite a kick out of our collective fear. He said, "Those killed by Iblis are doomed to serve him."
Beyond the temple, we found a wall of angry shadows blocking our path. The umber wall stood between two black obelisks, like the one we saw in Erebus. The "Oblivion Gate", as Azaezul called it, was put there by the old gods to block off the rift in both directions. It appeared that the abominations had tried several times, unsuccessfully, to cross. Hypatia courageously wielded our shadowstone and parted the shadows. We passed through, but Hypatia and the shadowstone seemed drained. There didn't seem to be any going back, so we pressed on in darkness and silence on a strange stone road through the middle of the rift.
Rift crossing: Oblivion
As we walked through the rift, the emptiness gnawed at us. It still gives me the shivers to think that the creator of our universe fell to his death though that place. I'm frankly surprised there's anything in there at all. The origin of the road is a mystery. Azaezul was close-lipped about it. There's a black hole in history between El and Iblis's battle and the eradication of the gods and primordials. I wonder if there's anyone who knows who has managed to hold on to sanity.
The sounds of crashing rocks shook us from our contemplative pace. A storm of stone came raining down on us. A few stone were so large that they punched right through the road, which regenerated itself (which horrified and pleased me at the same time). We ran as fast as we could and quickly arrived, beaten and bruised, at a lonely guard post. Inside, we found a half-elf from Zerthadium. We as emaciated and half insane. We gave him some of our provisions and had a short chat. We ascertained that he was the sole survivor of an expedition into the rift. He didn't seem to know Victor, nor could he remember much. He seemed capable, but a bit crazy. I had some reservations about taking him with us, but we couldn't leave him. We would have spoke longer, but a flood of life-draining shadows started seeping into the room. We fought them the best we could, and even stunned them with the soulstone antenna, but it was no use. They drove us back out into the pounding cacophony.
Rift crossing: The Fortress of Decay
Still being pounded by stone rain, we ran into a set of sturdy stone gates. The gates controlled one of the entry points to a huge stone enclosure, large enough to contain a whole city. Spike teleported through the arrow slit at the top of the gate, bashed some abominations, and opened the gate. We stormed the gates and eliminated the guards before they could kill Spike. We took a moment to heal and rest in the guard houses. It seemed as though the city was deserted to we took our time. We found some journals from the abominations. They seemed to be waiting for someone to break through the Oblivion gate so they could escape the rift and spread the disease of their master, a being they reverently "Papa Nurgle." Following Azaezul's directions through the city, we came across a patrol of hideously diseased goblins who mistook us for Nurgle's apostles. We played our good fortune the best we could. Mal sacrificed one of them and the half-elf sent the rest on a pilgrimage to nowhere.
As we proceeded deeper into the city, the buildings started being coated in a noxious slime. As we neared the town center, we discovered a whole colony of Nurgle's plague bearers. They gave us a friendly greeting and offered to infect us so we could joint their number. We passed on that offer, of course, and asked for their leader. When the welcome wagon went to summon their local priest, we made a break for it and tried to get through the colony. Unfortunately for us, we entered a new world of pain when we encountered one of Nurgle's demon friends, an Angel of Decay. She summoned her master and blasted us with clouds of maggots and filth, infecting some of our number with the plague. She tried to use the disease to command my team, but I guess the infection was too fresh; it wasn't enough to save her from our wrath. With Ark and friends slaughtering abominations left and right, we pressed in on the Angel. About that time, the most disgusting creature I've ever seen fell from the ceiling. A huge mass of diseased flesh, it's abdomen exploded and entrails dragging, approached us and offered us safe passage in exchange for Azaezul.
I didn't care for Azaezul, but doubted we would be able to complete the crossing without him, so we finished the Angel and charged the hulking mass. Quaku shot it in the eyes, but that only blinded it for a moment. The thing's bloated flesh seemed impervious and it entangled Mal in it's intestines and drew him into its innards. Spike leaped into the disgusting mass and retrieved our priest. I vomited. Then, Quaku did something that completely horrified me. He charged right in to the monster's guts and buried himself in it's abdomen. There, he planted the the origami tree we lifted from Helmut's place. Explosively, a 40 ft. oak tree formed, ejected Quaku, and splattered the monster everywhere. The blow to their master reduced most of the more afflicted abominations to piles of goo. Azaezul assured us that Nurgle was not finished, but it would take a week or more for him to reform. We set to work slaughtering the remaining abominations. We cleared as much of the colony as we could, but we had to make haste---those of use suffering from the plague had to get out of there. On our way, we met Kain, one of Azaezul's old friends. He lead us directly to Nurgle's high temple in hopes we could destroy the plague lord for good. In the inner sanctum, we found the most horrifying thing I had yet seen---a hunk of El's decaying flesh. There wasn't a damn thing we could do about that. We left Kain behind as our ticket back inside and got the Hell out of the Fortress.
Rift crossing: The Maze of Ith and the Umbral Sea
We passed through a maze of roads that continuously shifted and reformed. It seemed to go on forever, but Azaezul seemed to always know the way and we escaped. He said the maze has many, many exits, but most of them are terrible, leading to more and more places just like the Fortress of Decay. As we marched on, Azaezul was quiet. I wonder if he was thankful. Though I was previously afraid that handing Azaezul over to Nurgle would have resulted in Nurgle releasing Azaezul, I'm certain now that things would have turned out very, very badly for our little demon in the lamp if he fell into Nurgle's vile clutches. Don't read me wrong! I don't think we can trust him; I think we can use his rivalry the other rift lords against him.
The silent of the rift gradually gave way to the ominous sound of a waterfall. As we continued down the road out of Oblivion, it seemed as though a thousand oceans were falling down, all around us, cascading into Erebus. The road became a long causeway over a swiftly flowing pool of dark water. We walked for hours until we came upon a channel and dock with series of stairs and aqueducts on the other side. We used another piece of magic origami to summon a boat to ferry ourselves across the umbral sea and to the stairway out of the rift.
I have never been so happy to see the sky, even as bleak a sky the one on the other side of the rift. We stood on a platform over the ocean as it fell into the abyss. The sick members of the crew shivered and vomited. Luckily for us, the platform was equipped with a bright beacon, which we immediately activated. Within a few hours, a heavily armed ship with Zerthadian markings arrived. Put the sick members of our number into quarantine, but since we were so far away from Nurgle, the priest and the dragonborn had little difficulty curing the infection. It was a long trip. I couldn't stop thinking about my family and what manner of things Victor would want from us . . .
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 18
The "Genie" Lamp
The great big dragon was very happy with us for the way we handled her business partner so she decided to devote some resources to helping us with the Magic Lamp that had been tantalizing us since we found it. Katja made us a huge, multiwalled magic circle to contain whatever came out of the lamp and we summoned the genie. Well, the creature inside was certainly NOT a genie. A huge demonic creature sprang from the lamp and attacked us. I was very, very worried, but Katja's barrier prevented the demon from reaching us. After bashing the barriers a bit longer, the demon collected itself and had a nice chat with us.
The wolf-headed beast introduced itself as Azaezul, one the original El betrayers. In his own words, "They locked me in the lamp for the same crime that got the fat dragon trouble---Deicide!" If we are to believe what poured out of his mouth, it seems he personally witnessed the battle between Iblis and El that created the rift and is quite proud of it. After that charming introduction, Azaezul promised us all sorts of things, from crossing the rift to freeing Katja, in exchange for releasing him. He tried to intimidate us to get his way, but he made a huge mistake. He started trash talking and threatening Katja and she wasn't about to tolerate it. Burning a positively huge amount of essentia, Katja hexed the demon, reducing his size and power so much that she felt it safe to lower the barriers and hand him over to us.
Azaezul seemed a lot less threatening after being reduced to gecko size. We threatened to put him back in Katja's vault for all eternity and he changed his tone. He promised us that he knew a way across the rift and he would guide us through just as long as we let him travel with us. We made the deal with the demon and put him away. Katja warned us that the curse she place would only last about three weeks (so we should be very careful to find a safe place to store him then!).
Not long after dealing with the devil, Ark and friends returned from their search with some books from Eibelstat. Katja worked with us to learn a few helpful tricks to get by in the rift, including a way to use our soulstone to keep the duskriders at bay. Then we had a nice dinner, got some rest and prepared ourselves for the harrowing adventure to come. While I was fretting about what we would find on the other side of the rift, it occurred to me that Katja has been spending an unsustainable amount of resources on us. She hasn't gotten down to selling her personal possessions, yet, but that can't be far away. Azaezul promised us we would find a way to get her out of the Obsidian prison on the other side of the rift. I hope it's not a lie. Even more, I hope it's really the right thing to do; Katja is a very shrewd, very dangerous creature.
Azaezul:
The demon in the magic lamp tries to act as scary and psychotic as possible, even to the point of absurdity. Although I sometimes find myself laughing at him now that he's small, I have little doubt the sick bastard really does get his jollies from watching things suffer and die. We must not let him lull us into a sense of security. I firmly believe he will take advantage of us in any way he can.
The great big dragon was very happy with us for the way we handled her business partner so she decided to devote some resources to helping us with the Magic Lamp that had been tantalizing us since we found it. Katja made us a huge, multiwalled magic circle to contain whatever came out of the lamp and we summoned the genie. Well, the creature inside was certainly NOT a genie. A huge demonic creature sprang from the lamp and attacked us. I was very, very worried, but Katja's barrier prevented the demon from reaching us. After bashing the barriers a bit longer, the demon collected itself and had a nice chat with us.
The wolf-headed beast introduced itself as Azaezul, one the original El betrayers. In his own words, "They locked me in the lamp for the same crime that got the fat dragon trouble---Deicide!" If we are to believe what poured out of his mouth, it seems he personally witnessed the battle between Iblis and El that created the rift and is quite proud of it. After that charming introduction, Azaezul promised us all sorts of things, from crossing the rift to freeing Katja, in exchange for releasing him. He tried to intimidate us to get his way, but he made a huge mistake. He started trash talking and threatening Katja and she wasn't about to tolerate it. Burning a positively huge amount of essentia, Katja hexed the demon, reducing his size and power so much that she felt it safe to lower the barriers and hand him over to us.
Azaezul seemed a lot less threatening after being reduced to gecko size. We threatened to put him back in Katja's vault for all eternity and he changed his tone. He promised us that he knew a way across the rift and he would guide us through just as long as we let him travel with us. We made the deal with the demon and put him away. Katja warned us that the curse she place would only last about three weeks (so we should be very careful to find a safe place to store him then!).
Not long after dealing with the devil, Ark and friends returned from their search with some books from Eibelstat. Katja worked with us to learn a few helpful tricks to get by in the rift, including a way to use our soulstone to keep the duskriders at bay. Then we had a nice dinner, got some rest and prepared ourselves for the harrowing adventure to come. While I was fretting about what we would find on the other side of the rift, it occurred to me that Katja has been spending an unsustainable amount of resources on us. She hasn't gotten down to selling her personal possessions, yet, but that can't be far away. Azaezul promised us we would find a way to get her out of the Obsidian prison on the other side of the rift. I hope it's not a lie. Even more, I hope it's really the right thing to do; Katja is a very shrewd, very dangerous creature.
Azaezul:
The demon in the magic lamp tries to act as scary and psychotic as possible, even to the point of absurdity. Although I sometimes find myself laughing at him now that he's small, I have little doubt the sick bastard really does get his jollies from watching things suffer and die. We must not let him lull us into a sense of security. I firmly believe he will take advantage of us in any way he can.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Frei's Memories: Day 17 (Part II)
Herrick's Punishment:
When we told Katja about Herrick's plan to "steal her dragon" she produced the angriest laughter I have ever heard. I could tell she was vexed that her business partner would betray her, but she was also amused at his lack of understanding---and maybe even a bit excited that Herrick had given her every excuse to do something terribly nasty to him. After scarcely a moment of contemplation, the great dragon told us to pay Herrick a surprise visit and grant him an surprise audience with her. As I look back on it, it is a bit unnerving how eager we all were to carry out her wishes.
After a long stakeout, (so long that our knight, Hypatia, ate crepes until she was a bit loopy from something in the filling) we tracked Herrick to one of his mansions. After the sun went down, all sorts of party guests began arriving at the mansion. We noticed a comparatively large number of employees from certain houses of ill repute among the guests and concluded that is must have been a sexy party---certainly the most opportune time to pay Herrick his surprise visit!
Spike and Kwaku (the mystic and the sniper) infiltrated the compound and neutralized some of the more incompetent guards. We waited for Herrick to retire to his personal chambers with his personal, sexy entourage before acting on the rest of our plan. Hypatia, still in a crepe-filling-induced altered state, presented our priest and herself to the guards at the gate as members of Herrick's evening entertainment. When he asked about her armor, she replied that it was part of the act. The guard asked about her sword and she replied that she was an expert sword swallower. The guard stifled a snicker and muttered, "the master gets stranger every day." I still can't believe that got them inside the mansion.
Once Hypatia and her escort were in place, Spike and Kwaku entered the house through a window on the top floor. They hid a few roaming guards in a room with a sleeping man who turned out to be Herrick's son. We decided messing with Herrick's family was outside of our orders (and really low) and left the man alone. As soon as a few more guards brought Hypatia and the priest to Herrick's room, the sniper and mystic sprang from their hiding place and attacked. Herrick's guards didn't stand a chance against us; we cut right through them can caught Herrick, pants down, trying to escape through a secret passed. We stole away into the night with our victim. Once Herrick was bound, gagged and blindfolded we took him to Katja.
We strapped Herrick to a chair in Katja's lair and removed his blindfold. The enraged dragon shouted at him so ferociously that her every word nearly knocked the chair over. The meeting only lasted about two minutes, but it was all that was need. Afterwards we left Herrick, pale, quivering and still without pants, in a mud puddle a half away from Keening. I don't think Katja will have any trouble from him for a while.
When we told Katja about Herrick's plan to "steal her dragon" she produced the angriest laughter I have ever heard. I could tell she was vexed that her business partner would betray her, but she was also amused at his lack of understanding---and maybe even a bit excited that Herrick had given her every excuse to do something terribly nasty to him. After scarcely a moment of contemplation, the great dragon told us to pay Herrick a surprise visit and grant him an surprise audience with her. As I look back on it, it is a bit unnerving how eager we all were to carry out her wishes.
After a long stakeout, (so long that our knight, Hypatia, ate crepes until she was a bit loopy from something in the filling) we tracked Herrick to one of his mansions. After the sun went down, all sorts of party guests began arriving at the mansion. We noticed a comparatively large number of employees from certain houses of ill repute among the guests and concluded that is must have been a sexy party---certainly the most opportune time to pay Herrick his surprise visit!
Spike and Kwaku (the mystic and the sniper) infiltrated the compound and neutralized some of the more incompetent guards. We waited for Herrick to retire to his personal chambers with his personal, sexy entourage before acting on the rest of our plan. Hypatia, still in a crepe-filling-induced altered state, presented our priest and herself to the guards at the gate as members of Herrick's evening entertainment. When he asked about her armor, she replied that it was part of the act. The guard asked about her sword and she replied that she was an expert sword swallower. The guard stifled a snicker and muttered, "the master gets stranger every day." I still can't believe that got them inside the mansion.
Once Hypatia and her escort were in place, Spike and Kwaku entered the house through a window on the top floor. They hid a few roaming guards in a room with a sleeping man who turned out to be Herrick's son. We decided messing with Herrick's family was outside of our orders (and really low) and left the man alone. As soon as a few more guards brought Hypatia and the priest to Herrick's room, the sniper and mystic sprang from their hiding place and attacked. Herrick's guards didn't stand a chance against us; we cut right through them can caught Herrick, pants down, trying to escape through a secret passed. We stole away into the night with our victim. Once Herrick was bound, gagged and blindfolded we took him to Katja.
We strapped Herrick to a chair in Katja's lair and removed his blindfold. The enraged dragon shouted at him so ferociously that her every word nearly knocked the chair over. The meeting only lasted about two minutes, but it was all that was need. Afterwards we left Herrick, pale, quivering and still without pants, in a mud puddle a half away from Keening. I don't think Katja will have any trouble from him for a while.
Frei's Memories: Day 17 (Part I)
Spike's Hireling Party:
We sold most of the prisoners from Helmut's tower to the mines in Keening. However, there were a couple of the wizard's former agents we decided to keep. The four of them served as Helmut's elite, traveling spies and enforcers and weren't very interested in working for the king back in Nashik. We paid them a healthy sum of gold and they agreed to work for us (specifically, our Shadar-kai mystic). Spike, our mystic, gave his hirelings the old land deed we discovered in the ossuary and ordered them to find the place.
Elves and Their Masters' Offer:
We ran into Nico and friends around Keening. They said that their Elemental masters desperately demanded an audience with us. Nico loaned us his magic mirror and we had a conference with the Elementals. The Elemental in the mirror offered us a huge amount of money, artifacts and land if we could bring them the Ossuary Grymoir. They seemed more than a little annoyed that we'd given it to the Aons. We agreed to get the book for them and ended the conference. The nearly destitute hippie elves were super angry and stormed away. I'm convinced the deal is a setup. It would certainly break the Aon/Elemental truce and I don't buy the Elemental in the mirror's argument that it could be kept secret. I think it's reasonably safe to assume the Elves are working for some kind of splinter group, the same group that attacked the Aons' Game. I just keep seeing that pyro-dragon with that Iblis-like symbol on it. These guys are making me very nervous and there's pretty much no way in Heck I'm going to give them that book. It looks like we have another book forging adventure ahead of us.
Herrick's Mistake:
Katja told us that her nasty plan for Herrick was prepared. She decided it would be best just to tell Herrick her secret for refining the essentia ore. That way we could collect our reward and have a chance at getting Herrick to reveal more about his plan. I thought it a strange decision considering how furious she was when we first talked about it. I guess, in spite of her temper, Katja really is a shrewd operator. Anyway, we secured an audience with Herrick at once. We told him, under a zone of truth, that Katja used a dragon's breath to refine the ore. Herrick gave us our generous reward for the information. Herrick then offered us a fortune to steal the dragon. He said he'd also pay for another dragon, but not nearly as much because he wanted Katja out of the picture. I'll bet, dear reader, you can guess what we did with that information!
Katja and Kwaku:
I suspect that something has changed with whatever is going on between the dragon and the elf. Sometimes, when she glances at him, I notice something more than lust in her eyes. And, the other day, I caught him rehearsing some lines from that book we bought in Eibelstat. I asked him about it, but he's tight lipped about the whole thing. I sure hope he knows what he's doing; I can imagine about a baker's dozen ways this could end in disaster. Of course, I have to admit, I do find his predicament extremely entertaining.
We sold most of the prisoners from Helmut's tower to the mines in Keening. However, there were a couple of the wizard's former agents we decided to keep. The four of them served as Helmut's elite, traveling spies and enforcers and weren't very interested in working for the king back in Nashik. We paid them a healthy sum of gold and they agreed to work for us (specifically, our Shadar-kai mystic). Spike, our mystic, gave his hirelings the old land deed we discovered in the ossuary and ordered them to find the place.
Elves and Their Masters' Offer:
We ran into Nico and friends around Keening. They said that their Elemental masters desperately demanded an audience with us. Nico loaned us his magic mirror and we had a conference with the Elementals. The Elemental in the mirror offered us a huge amount of money, artifacts and land if we could bring them the Ossuary Grymoir. They seemed more than a little annoyed that we'd given it to the Aons. We agreed to get the book for them and ended the conference. The nearly destitute hippie elves were super angry and stormed away. I'm convinced the deal is a setup. It would certainly break the Aon/Elemental truce and I don't buy the Elemental in the mirror's argument that it could be kept secret. I think it's reasonably safe to assume the Elves are working for some kind of splinter group, the same group that attacked the Aons' Game. I just keep seeing that pyro-dragon with that Iblis-like symbol on it. These guys are making me very nervous and there's pretty much no way in Heck I'm going to give them that book. It looks like we have another book forging adventure ahead of us.
Herrick's Mistake:
Katja told us that her nasty plan for Herrick was prepared. She decided it would be best just to tell Herrick her secret for refining the essentia ore. That way we could collect our reward and have a chance at getting Herrick to reveal more about his plan. I thought it a strange decision considering how furious she was when we first talked about it. I guess, in spite of her temper, Katja really is a shrewd operator. Anyway, we secured an audience with Herrick at once. We told him, under a zone of truth, that Katja used a dragon's breath to refine the ore. Herrick gave us our generous reward for the information. Herrick then offered us a fortune to steal the dragon. He said he'd also pay for another dragon, but not nearly as much because he wanted Katja out of the picture. I'll bet, dear reader, you can guess what we did with that information!
Katja and Kwaku:
I suspect that something has changed with whatever is going on between the dragon and the elf. Sometimes, when she glances at him, I notice something more than lust in her eyes. And, the other day, I caught him rehearsing some lines from that book we bought in Eibelstat. I asked him about it, but he's tight lipped about the whole thing. I sure hope he knows what he's doing; I can imagine about a baker's dozen ways this could end in disaster. Of course, I have to admit, I do find his predicament extremely entertaining.
Frei's Memories: Day 16 (Part II)
The old portal:
We made a quick search of Helmut's tower, but he must have liquidated most everything he had in is war against us. We found a nice coffee table book and some unusual origami, but we were generally disappointed. There was an old portal in the tower, but it wasn't much use to us, either. Helmut's notes said that he was sure there was some sort of treasure on the other side, but none of his minions managed to find anything. We passed though, but the only thing on the other side was an endless sea of scorching sand. Maybe if we get our hands on some serious desert survival gear, or find some way to fly, we could return and hunt for the treasure. Since killing Helmut officially made us the next greatest threat to the king of Nashik, we took a bunch of prisoners and hightailed it back to our safehouse. Helmut's tower is not in a convenient locale and there's not much of value in it that's not behind nasty traps, inhospitable wasteland or hideous monsters; I decided it was safe to leave the place and return when the heat dies down around Nashik.
Party at Katja's:
Strange, shadowy goblin-esq creatures greeted us upon our return to the Obsidian Prison. We went for our weapons (I hid in the sniper's cloak), but we relaxed when the shadow creatures started blowing horns and throwing confetti all over us. Moments later, Katja showed up, eager to hear our report. The dragon grinned maliciously at the grisly details of Helmut's demise and afterwards invited us in to her mansion for a party. The mansion was decorated and the table was set with a mouth watering feast. We seated our selves and partied the night away with Ark and the other dragonborn. Out of pity, we have the captives a few baskets of food so they could have a picnic with Katja's new, brain-damaged shadow minions.
After a few drinks and lots of food, a surprisingly serious matter came up. Ark suggested crossing the Rift. W were feeling confident and we all had important things in jeopardy on the other side so we agreed. Ark said they would set off for Eibelstat in the morning and see if anyone there could help us. Before the night was over, it occurred to all of us that Ark and her team were on the wrong side of Zerthadium, which we might have to assist to get our precious ones our of Victor's clutches. We made a solemn vow not to interfere with each other on the other side. I don't know how that's going to work out, but I have a feeling Victor is going to make it difficult to keep our word.
Katja and the Shadowstone:
Katja learned how to create shadow minions with the shadowstone. I think they turned out quite well---except for one of them, who just sat there eating the confetti at our welcome party. The dark elf later told me that she made a sky, an ocean and a very nice beach. He said there were seagulls, too, but some of them moo-ed like heifers. Using the shadowstone must be tricky business.
We made a quick search of Helmut's tower, but he must have liquidated most everything he had in is war against us. We found a nice coffee table book and some unusual origami, but we were generally disappointed. There was an old portal in the tower, but it wasn't much use to us, either. Helmut's notes said that he was sure there was some sort of treasure on the other side, but none of his minions managed to find anything. We passed though, but the only thing on the other side was an endless sea of scorching sand. Maybe if we get our hands on some serious desert survival gear, or find some way to fly, we could return and hunt for the treasure. Since killing Helmut officially made us the next greatest threat to the king of Nashik, we took a bunch of prisoners and hightailed it back to our safehouse. Helmut's tower is not in a convenient locale and there's not much of value in it that's not behind nasty traps, inhospitable wasteland or hideous monsters; I decided it was safe to leave the place and return when the heat dies down around Nashik.
Party at Katja's:
Strange, shadowy goblin-esq creatures greeted us upon our return to the Obsidian Prison. We went for our weapons (I hid in the sniper's cloak), but we relaxed when the shadow creatures started blowing horns and throwing confetti all over us. Moments later, Katja showed up, eager to hear our report. The dragon grinned maliciously at the grisly details of Helmut's demise and afterwards invited us in to her mansion for a party. The mansion was decorated and the table was set with a mouth watering feast. We seated our selves and partied the night away with Ark and the other dragonborn. Out of pity, we have the captives a few baskets of food so they could have a picnic with Katja's new, brain-damaged shadow minions.
After a few drinks and lots of food, a surprisingly serious matter came up. Ark suggested crossing the Rift. W were feeling confident and we all had important things in jeopardy on the other side so we agreed. Ark said they would set off for Eibelstat in the morning and see if anyone there could help us. Before the night was over, it occurred to all of us that Ark and her team were on the wrong side of Zerthadium, which we might have to assist to get our precious ones our of Victor's clutches. We made a solemn vow not to interfere with each other on the other side. I don't know how that's going to work out, but I have a feeling Victor is going to make it difficult to keep our word.
Katja and the Shadowstone:
Katja learned how to create shadow minions with the shadowstone. I think they turned out quite well---except for one of them, who just sat there eating the confetti at our welcome party. The dark elf later told me that she made a sky, an ocean and a very nice beach. He said there were seagulls, too, but some of them moo-ed like heifers. Using the shadowstone must be tricky business.
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