The Heroes of Kenebras
Zuriel Riversong: Female Half Elf Druid
Grunyier Cragsward: Male Dwarven Barbarian
Deldric: Elf Rogue
Fidgit Tannenbaum: Male Gnome Fey Blood Sorcerer
Oliver: Human Inquisitor, and
Khazad: Dwarf dual ax wielding fighter
Oliver stays awake with a contingent of Imodean paladins cleaning the derelict temple. Come dawn he uses some of the holy water to Consecrate the temple finding a hidden cache of healing potions that are distributed to the troops. At the camp below Zuriel and Grunyar trace down the source of some disgruntled talk to a paladin named Arles Jystander. Neither Zuriel or Grunyar are particularly diplomatic so they approach Fidget and explain the situation. Once the Gnome is certain that Arles grievances stem from the situation in general and are not a comment about his leadership he mounts his pony, casts a spell to give him a greater air of authority, and rides off to see to this Arles.
Khazad, Zuriel, and Grunyier watch from a distance as Fidget leads Arles off to speak with him. The gnome more wears down Arles resistance than convinces him that their situation is not doomed, but regardless the paladin agrees to stop spreading discontent.
Anevia and Aaron report a giant cloud of locust type creatures ahead. Irabeth suggests speaking to Aaron and Sosiel as they would be more knowledgeable about dangers in the Worldwound.
The group finds Aaron, who is acting curt and weird. Fidget pretends to know exactly what those creatures are, but wants to quiz his men to ensure they are always learning, Aaron tells the group they are called Vescanors. Deadly to a large group like the army if they got too close to the swarms, a smaller group could navigate through with some difficulty. They will burrow under armor and chew through people. There is generally a queen for a group this large and if she was slain then the rest would disperse in some time. They normally burrow underground to make their hive. Fidget thanks him and asks if everything is alright. He says yes but is cagey. Fidget asks if everything is alright with Sosiel. Aaron says yes, he just wants to go now. Fidget gives him some relationship advice and the group goes to see Sosiel.
Using the info that Aaron gave them earlier Fidget pretends to have already known all the info and asks Sosiel if he could add anything else as Fidgets knowledge is with the far more dangerous gnomish variety of Vescanors. Sosiel provides what he can and Fidget assigns him homework as well. Grunyar finds a paladin named Kayle with a large Warhammer and trades his 2 throwing axes to borrow it. Fidget asks Sosiel if everything I ok with him and Aaron and Sosiel asks why. When Fidget tells him that Aaron was acting weird Sosiel looks off into the distance and excuses himself. Khazad trades his 2 war axes for 2 light maces. Fidget finds Deldric and tells him to take this time to paint a beautiful landscape painting on the inside of Irabeth and Anevias tent. The painting is to show Drezen, fully repaired and with a verdant landscape, a swing set in the foreground, with Fidget, and Anevia on the swings, Irabeth pushing them, everyone is smiling. Its a beautiful picture of what we are fighting for.
The group heads out towards the swarm and following Khazad, Grunyar, and Oliver's survival skills they eventually come to a series of openings in the ground where they can see Vescanors emerging from. A large enough opening for the team to descend into is nearby. Grunyar holds a knotted rope while they others rappel down, then the dwarf does a superhero landing to get himself down. Khazad and Oliver make a show of who can determine the proper way to go to find the lair. Oliver starts and seems to be right, then reaching the next chamber Khazad takes his turn but Oliver checks his work and is adamant that the dwarf is crazy. None the less the group apparently chooses one of the most direct paths towards the queen, only attracting the attention of 2 swarms in a chamber just shy of the queen. Unfortunately no weapons are able to damage the swarms. Zuriel starts burning one with a flaming sphere and Grunyar breathes ice onto Khazad and one of the swarms but they are barely doing a dent. The creatures swarm their target and rapidly break any weapons or armor the person is carrying, so Grunyars borrowed Warhammer and Zuriels scythe are rendered useless for the moment. Fidget tells Zuriel to get her sphere off the swarm and for everyone to stop hitting them for a moment then casts Deep Slumber putting both swarms to sleep. Telling the group we only have limited time until they wake up causes Oliver to sprint down the chamber, everyone following after him.
Coming into a large cavern a big, green, angry looking, Abyssal wasp thing rises up and everyone rushes in to attack. Fidget, not knowing if it would even understand him tries some enchantments but he can either not penetrate the spell resistance, or the creature shrugs off the effects. The creatures aura confuses any who get too close and after savaging Oliver and dealing significant blows to Grunyar the angry Dwarf draws upon his mythic power and lands a killing blow. While some recover, Fidget, Khazad, and Zuriel harvest the head and stinger. Oliver and Grunyar notice a purpleish glow to a tunnel to the south and investigate, finding a rift to the Abyss. Clearly how these creatures came to inhabit these tunnels as the queens body is far too large to extract through the tunnels. Unable to close the rift the two settle for caving in the tunnel. Just as they are seeing progress they see a clawed hand reaching out of the portal. Khazad and Zuriel arrive to help and before something can claw out they bring the tunnel down, jumping out of the way before they are crushed themselves. The group takes a separate route searching other tunnels on their way out but find nothing of note.
Returning to the camp triumphant, Fidget brings the skull to Irabeth at the command tent, making thinly veiled yet still not understood comments it is settled that the head will be mounted and a small feast prepared. Fidget gets Irabeth to agree to have herself sit to one side of him and Anevia to the other. Fidget puts on the fancy outfit that Deldric stole for him back in Kenebras and goes to Nurah to see if she has any perfume. She does but wants to know what she will get for it. Fidget is cash light at the moment but she offers to give him a taste for free, but to get the bottle he would have to spend the night with either Aaron or Sosiel. She seems more interested in breaking them up, while Fidget prefers to be the guest star in a relationship and then go on his way, not leave heartbreak. Fidget asks if she has her eyes on one of them and wants to split them up so she could swoop in. She says she is just bored. So Fidget agrees, that he only has to spend the night in one of their beds, not break them up. The dinner is great, the fare is filling but the company fine. Horgus actually breaks into a stash of booze, at some point in the night Sosiel asks Fidget is they can speak in private. Fidget excuses himself, takes 2 glasses and a bottle and they go to his tent. Sosiel explains that Aaron has a bit of a history as a drug addict and has recently confessed to Sosiel that he has started using again. Fidget, reluctantly puts the wine and glasses down and they go to Sosiel and Aaron's tent, Fidget catching Nurahs eye and winks at her on the way past the feast. Aaron doesn't want to give up the drugs but Fidget convinces him, telling him that hes acting like an Aron with only one A. Aaron hands over 2 doses of Demonsblood drug, a rare and costly narcotic, and when Fidget asks if that's all he has Aaron says yes, he found 3 and had already taken one. Fidget is sceptical at first but doesn't feel any deception from Aaron so thanks him, Sosiel magically removes the disease to get rid of the addiction then asks that they be left alone for a bit. Fidget agrees but tells them he doesn't want anyone thinking he would just abandon a soldier who needed moral support, so if anyone asks them they are to say that Fidget spent the night here, they can say what ever they want about what we did, the more unbelievable the better, the important part is that he was here with them, all night.
Fidget returns to his tent, casts Rope trick then climbs up to take a dose of the drug and cast Enter Image, before realizing that the spell cant pass through the pocket dimension, so he climbs down, and tripping balls spies on the camp through all the paintings he has set up until he spots Irabeth and Anevia heading to bed, Anevia is kind of drunk and into it but Irabeth isn't. Fidget sighs and crawls back up into his dimensional space to sleep it off. In the morning Fidget begins to experience some serious withdrawal symptoms. He goes to see Zuriel and "confesses" that he didn't want to bring it up then but he was stung by a variant Vescanor in the hive and now is quite sick, she tries 3 times to heal him but cant quite overcome the drugs hold on the gnome. She suggests they go to Sosiel which Fidget convinces her not to as he will need his spells for the battles ahead. Fidget then goes to see Sosiel privately and tells him that when he returned to his tent he drank some of the wine he had left out and is feeling some of the symptoms that Sosiel had explained before, holding up both bottles of the drug, one which is filled with water that has been prestidigtated to look the same he says that he suspects he may have been dosed. Sosiel manages to cure the addiction and wants to launch a public investigation into this but Fidget convinces him that Deldric is better suited to this task and we don't want to tip our hand that we are on to the saboteur. Fidget then gives Deldric his second task, find the "saboteur" that dosed him and hid the drugs in Aarons stuff, he lets him know that this is a secret mission and to only speak of it to himself, Sosiel and Aaron if needed.
The army arrives outside Drezen and after Anevia, Deldric, and Aaron scout ahead they each return, having found a potential target for a surgical strike and a force that will require the army. Anevia spotted a demon army camped on Paradise hill, who are holding about 200 mercenary crusaders prisoner as well as a small contingent that is holding the only bridge into Drezen with large beasts chained to it, ready to bring it down.
Aaron found that of the 7 watch towers that guard Drezen's keep only 4 remain standing but they are all manned and 2 well equipped armies are camped along the southern bank of the city.
Deldric braved the local cemetery while dodging the army of undead noticed that the sun never quite fell on a particular tomb no matter what time of day and feels whatever now nests there may be worth their time removing.
The small council assembles and it is determined that the army will hit the southern forces first to gather the equipment, then while there is still daylight will liberate the soldiers held at Paradise Hill.
Fidget leads the charge against the combined tiefling and cultist forces to the south and crushes the opposition but the paladin army does suffer some wounds prompting the use of some of the potions. Before word can spread the army is mobilized and a second attack against Paradise Hill is made where the mercenaries are liberated. Scrounging what gear is available the mercenaries are outfitted and eager for some payback. Fidget puts Grunyier in charge of them to help mollify the dwarf who was so against letting Fidget lead.
At dusk the small council agrees to seize the bridge in a midnight raid. Approaching under cover of night in the dried riverbed Deldric spies 4 large oxen like beasts, each tethered to one of the bridge supports. He tells the party to remain behind while he deals with the beasts and sneaks forward. Fidget turns invisible and flies above the bridge to scout out the manned defenses, spying about 10 teiflings, one of which seems to be in charge. Oliver eager for some action also magically hides from sight, but his bulky armor and pungent scent don't keep him as hidden as he thinks and one of the beasts is alerted to his presence. The creature charges forward, but thanks to Deldrics quick fingers the harness no longer is attached to the bridge and though Oliver is trampled the bridge suffers no damage.
With Oliver announcing their presence, Deldric works with speed and soon has detached all the creatures from the moorings below. Fidget magically commands the apparent leader to perform no other action but dance, and tells a quick joke that causes one of the tieflings to collapse in a fit of laughter. The remainder however are only too quick to put some crossbow bolts into the Gnome, who flys around to get cover while the remainder rush up the battlements to join the fray. In the end the apparent leader and one other tiefling are captured and brought back for interrogation. Fidget and Khazad return to the Paladin encampment while Grunyier marches the mercenaries to occupy the bridge and the remainder spend the night there.
That night the paladin camp is attacked by the army of ghouls that Deldric had scouted. Some wounds are taken and Irabeth reports that the supply of healing potions for the army was scattered. It is quickly decided that the army will mobilize at first light. That night the party has a collective dream of the goddess Iomedae imparting what small boon she can to them. Her hand touching on Oliver last who suddenly lets out a horrible scream as the dream fades. All awake, Fidget and Khazad, knowing they are an hour away at best can only wish the remainder well. Oliver finds himself facing off with some kind of projection that is sucking his lifeforce out. Grunyier arrives and lands some blows but the insubstantial nature of the creature leaves the blows as likely to land as not. With Zuriel, Deldric, Grunyier and Oliver all focusing down the projection they finally best it, but not before it deals significant damage to Oliver and near kills Grunyier.
Come morning Fidget and Khazad await the return of the other before launching the attack on the cemetery. However it in near lunch before Deldric arrives and explains that 2 of their number are severely weakened and will not risk travel, the army will have to pick them up on the way to battle. As the paladins call on Iomedae to heal Oliver and Grunyiers wounds their forces enter the cemetery. The ghoul army is crushed under the might of the Paladin army and the heroes of Kenebras investigate the suspicious tomb that Deldric indicates. Inside there is no mistaking the form of the creature that near felled 2 of the party just hours ago. Oliver refuses to wait for the creature to come to them rushes in for some payback. A brief battle leaves the group walking out into the daylight, victorious.
With only the watchtowers remaining the party puts the army to rest while they head north to clear out the final obstacle between their army and citadel Drezen. Only halfway to the nearest tower a terrible roar is heard nearby from the skies. Fidget and Deldric turn invisible and dart to the side as a great winged creature dives rapidly towards them. Rather than the dragon they had feared a massive Chimera, with the heads of a White Dragon, Snow Leopard and Goat, land in the midst of the party. A blast of icy breath threatens to lock most of them in place while a series of rapid bites, claws, and tail pierces nearly fell Oliver, cause significant wounds to Khazad and Grunyeir and knock Deldric down. It is Grunyier who draws upon his mythic power to land a series of blows with his greataxe, the final one dealing a thundering blow that sends reverberations down the dwarfs arms but leaving the great beast dead. Reviving Deldric the group discuss their options and opt to return to the army to heal up then perhaps one last sortie to finally clear the watchtowers before the final battle tomorrow.
Thoughts.
Grunyier landed some serious crits this session. I think his chimera one was like 85 points just by itself. Had 2 arguments with Deldric's player. First was he thought I was deliberately being difficult when I said we would wait until lunch for the PC's who camped at the bridge. I told him I wasn't, since we never discussed the PC's camping at the bridge I had assumed they would have returned to the Paladin army once the bridge was secure. He didn't seem to buy it. The second was after Oliver's midnight encounter he managed to vaguely identify the creature, but the only report that got back to me was there was an assassination attempt, not that the culprit was an undead. So when we entered the tomb to face it I asked the GM if I could see a picture of the creature, so I could determine if Fidget would know that Enchantment spells would not work on it. He felt I should know it was undead because it was living in a tomb and we just fought an army of ghouls nearby. Regardless when the GM showed me a picture it looked fairly undead so I cleared with him that I would probably know enough to know its nature and not waste a turn trying an enchantment spell. Not sure what the issue was, kind of off putting. Either he or I must have been in a mood because neither of us seemed ready to blink first.
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