Thursday, January 31, 2013

[Inglemia] Five Element Majors - Cut Scene

Cut Scene

In the middle of the night, deep in a hidden chamber of the Castledown Inn, known to the owners only as a 'backup security room' and upon investigation found to be largely featureless....six torches light up in the darkness. Voices eminate from within.

"They have succeeded..." a bright white flame flickered in the darkness.

The green flame disagreed, "No. They have nearly disrupted the first blitzkreig but the enemy now arranges them in sequential order."

"Worse..." the Orange said, "There are fluctations. There is a critical impass coming..."

"Explain..." the White asked the Orange.

"Two converge, though their efforts have managed to keep the others separate..."

The Red sneered, "Barely. They barely even use their energy. There are far more worthy champions in Sensura if we discard their potential...what good is it if not used?"

The white flared with annoyance, "They have used it. No, they haven't used it all but there is still the future..."

The orange dimmed to barely a flicker, "There will be no future if they do not triumph here..."

Blue simply said, "They are now but four. My gift shall be useless to them."

The Steel said nothing...as usual.

******************

A giant block of mist surrounded a five pointed table...therein sat Loki, Bane, Dragonoth, Iuz and Lord Soth.

Loki looked at the others, "We are agreed then....we shall reach an accord with this....being."

Five champions stood forth, each a color of precious metal, flickering with negative energy.

Bane placed his mark on their forearm, "You shall resist the first energy type thrown at you. It will take an act of will to change it. Kill them all."

Loki cacked, "To each of you I give a special gift. You shall also be able to throw up images of yourselves...they shall be useless against the Clear Society, but they will protect you well against interloping attacks. Kill them all!"

Lord Soth's tragic skull echoed to the others, his voice specral and hollow, "They shall have all of the strengths of undead, but only half of the weaknesses. To any good thing you shall be a bane. Bring balance to the magic between the worlds...and to that, you must kill them all!"

Dragonoth's draconic visage sneered, eyes an ember of flame in their sockets, "Your spell resistance shall be as psi resistance as well. And I provide you with telepathic communications amongst yourselves."

Iuz was last, most humiliated...most enraged, the demigod roared, "For this purpose alone you shall be as outsiders with all the advantages thereof, and with my force of will agaisnt attempts to banish you. And you shall also be able to dimension door at will to counter their cursed tattoos....why have we not found those responsible yet?"

Bane pounded the table, "They are well hidden! Whoever is backing them have cloaked themselves well. Even the clear society does not know...."

Iuz's eyes blazed, "It does not matter. Find them...and kill them all!"

And the employer of the Iron Horse Gang laughed with them....the Iron Horse Gang themselves were intelligent enough to stay silent...legions of undead began to appear in the edge of the mist.

The enemy had learned...and the enemy was coming....

Thursday, January 24, 2013

[Grynn] The Mouth of Gods, Sunhome, Halrua and the Oath of Leiges

So there was some kind of a session I missed in which there was a great deal of glory, treasure and interesting things on an off night. I suppose Tock was off contemplating books he had memorized or something.

Traveling through the desert, the group came upon the Mouth of Gods. This location is one of the only places that can penetrate the planar barrier. A series of riddles were asked which Tock won and was reward with the ability's of his latent fay bloodline [Nymph's Kiss] as a result. Inside there were nine slots, representative of the nine alignments. Upon investigation of the items, Mira took a magical hand puppet, Tock took Gaia's Blessing and Calwen took a powerful sword designed to kill Undead. Most of the other items were too dangerous to deal with. Between becoming a champion of light and taking a blessing from another deity, Labeoras Enolath was...'disappointed.' Like most of the Gods on Grynn, she was jealous of anything that didn't involve obsessive devotion to her and her alone despite Tock's full intent to worship her and create an honor in her name. Indeed, earlier he had been given one of the items that the group had forgotten they had taken from Ulshania (the mad elf) and sacriced it to her. In the process, he became a chamion of light, gaining all kind of new abilities including the ability to aid his companions slightly in bright light. The group then went farther into the cave and saw a brass dragon. It didn't give them any treasure because apparently they had sufficient. Tock asked if he had any books. There were two history books which Tock read and later sacrificed along with several others to Laboaelas Insecure. She seemed somewhat temporarily mollified. Tock asked if there was anything they could to do help the Brass dragon. In the process, he gave them lots of valuable information about things going on in the world and brass dragons he was worried about. Tock agreed to help as he could. Because of this, the guardian dragon offered to mark Tock. Since this mark would prevent other dragons from marking him and bending his will to theirs, plus the fact that this guardian was a goodly dragon, Tock agreed.

Along the way the group ran into two idiot wizards who were very tough. They died when Mira got close enough to them to kill them. Oh and Tock killed a lot of Hellhounds. They were after the Four. Then Snidely Whiplash came out from a rock and monologged. No one really cared. Tock did care that the bastards deliberately disintigrated his Holy Shot Gun of Awesomeness. Apparently, the weapon's power was so extreme that their intelligence briefing included instructions to eliminate this item.

Then a shadow dragon Mira had dealt with before and a BUNCH (as in a BUNCH) of shadows came through a gate. The shadow dragon hadn't thought about the stupidity of trying to kill someone who worshipped Lathander and had a sword designed to kill shadow dragons. It died, but not before the shadows had shlurped the party a lot. Calwen, Tock and the others killed lots of shadows. Before it died Mira cast statue on it so its body parts could be salvaged. Tock ate its heart and THIS time gained power from it, including an increase in strength and constitution as well as a resistance to Cold.

Then they ran into a bunch of giants that were good but sensed the evil with them, so Mira had to convince them that they were serving the greater good by guiding this evil to Sunhome to be healed. The giants escorted the group to Sunhome.

At Sunhome, Belvin dedicated a shrine to his goddess but there was no room for Athena at Sunhome except a spot inhabited by a bunch of homeless people. One of them was strangeled to death nearby, and Belvin didn't stop it. Aretemis was less than pleased with this as were the authorities who arrested him.

When the group found out about this the next morning they were, to say the least, concerned but could not see the exact site because it might tamper with the evidence [and allow Tock to use his aftersight ability] but they did all speak to Belvin's good character. A convoluted series of events then took place, the long and short of which is that Mira deduced that Halruan agents (refer to Snidely Whiplash above) were attempting to determine if the group had evidence about Snidely's wicked deeds. They did. One of the two dead dumb wizards had a journal. Concerned that Snidely was going to threaten Baron Greyskull (...name not exact) the group teleported with the Four back to Halrua and Castle Greyskull where they informed the Baron of Snidley's plans. Baron Greyskull was pleased and smote Snidley and blessed the group with power from the Haluran isle that made their soul's stouter.

The group the then teleported directly to the Citadel Adbar where the Oath of Leiges was present. Since he wasn't a delegate, the group put Tock in charge of security, which was pretty elaborate including a diversionary illusionary council, locks on the doors, coded arm bands, interviews and a gnome that could see through illusions. We'll see how well it worked.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Inglemia - Right Bastards - Hobbes - Side Quest - "The Merchant of Dreams - A Dozen Downs Adventure"

[Narrative compesed by Bernie written marked by [B] and ending with [/b]

Before Merchant Day, before their dire straights in looking at the ritual disollution of the power of Aslan to dark and hostile Gods...

Hobbes found himself in his usual meanderings of some of the darker elements of Inglemian society, the forgotten areas, often the Downs where children of non citizens and the unregistered played in shadow, sometimes victim to horrific magical experiments or abduction for the colonies by the less than scrupulous, though in recent years that had gone down. WAY down for some reason.

Indeed, most had gotten the message rather thoroughly that the children of the downs were Off Limits.

So it was...interesting...to say the least when Hobbes was approached by several of his friends who expressed their concern.

"It's...weird."

Upon query, it appeared that the children were offered access to a magical chamber that would show them their fondest dreams. It was totally immersive. Hobbes, as a wide world traveler, could compare it somewhat to television, but even more interactive. It was likely the kind of thing that Earth would have in mass someday...

"It's wrong." One of the little girls, a rather creepy one that most of the other children rarely spoke to but always seemed to hang around. "The more they use it, the more they want to use it."

They were pretty sure the chambers belong to House Sosori, the major illusion house, but no one was sure.

[B]

"All right, let's see what all the hubbub's about!"

Hobbes has one of the children take him to see this machine. Along the way, he asks the child just who it is exactly that made this mysterious offer, in the first place.

Upon arrival, Hobbes will get the lay of the land, talk to anybody present, inspect the machine and then probably enter the chamber himself.

[/B]

The Machine itself is fairly innocuous. It is a thin wooden board with several self replicating runes on numerous sides. The key to the mechanism seems to be four pearls at the apex of each side of the box.

The offer was made by a tall man of gaunt build with brown hair and brown eyes, human, in his early twenties. Upon investigation, this individual is likely Hiderhawk, a free agent who often does deeds that 'need doing' for the powerful (societies, consortiums and the nobility) in the Downs. He is not evil, but kind of a jerk with no direct moral compass.

The children in the box will answer.

Upon using the Box himself, Hobbes finds that it is utterly immersive and responds to his mental commands. The people it makes are kind of stupid, but otherwise the illusion is tacticle as well as audial and visual. Of course...TECHNICALLY it is tuned to human senses so it isn't as effective on Hobbes as it would be a human, and the constant distraction of those sweet delicious pearls just hanging there keeps him from going all the way in, which is how he is able to notice the very subtle addictive quality to the boxes. They're designed to encourage anyone using them to spend more and more time using them.

[B]

After very careful deliberation, Hobbes decides to take the 3 pearls (having eaten one) for later examination by someone smarter than he is. HideyHawk is promptly shoved into the box, which is tied up in rope and hung from a very tall bridge just outside the Downs with the words "AND STAY OUT" scrawled across the outside of the box in red paint. He then treats the Downs Dozen (an urchin gang that has adopted Hobbes as their mascot. Think The Little Rascals but as hardened street criminals. Liars, thieves and con artists, the lot of them) to ice cream.

"What'd I tell ya, gang? Ice Cream beats havin' yer wildest dreams fulfilled any day uh the week."

"Aww, Hobbes!"

'Hobbes and The Merchant Of Dreams'

'...a Downs Dozen adventure!'@

[/B]

Inglemia Game - Five Element Majors - Journal Entry by Martel Martavious as played by Greg Sanford

Journal Entry "Merchant's Day"

Life used to be easier. Most people think that growing up a poor orphan is hard. I suppose it could be in some places, like out in the Cantons. In Inglemia proper though, growing up a poor street urchin is lets a boy live the life that most higher born boys dream of. You are your own master. You answer to no one. You are free. And if you can't find food and shelter in this city, you are clearly too dense for your own good. Especially during Merchant's Day. Oh the treasures that I used to get on Merchant's Day. All of the free food and drink. All of the arrogant nobles showing off their new creations. The look on their face when I made off with it. Such wonderful memories. I miss that life.

Now I am one of those arrogant nobles. HA! ME! A Segglestaff. I wonder if I could be tried for those jobs that I pulled on them years ago? Little did I know that I was just "claiming my birthright". Speaking of birthrights, I really need to think of a good way to break all of this news to the Doge. He REALLY didn't like my "family". He and I get along alright now. Even if he is an elitist prick. I have a feeling that our relationship will be souring pretty soon. If me being a Segglestaff doesn't do it, my stance on the Cantons will.

Speaking of, when in the hell did my stance on things start to matter? Oh yeah, when I woke up in jail with a cane, some magic tattoos, and proceeded to save the Doge. I mean making people "think" that I am a big deal has always come naturally to me. It was to compensate for just being some street kid. Now that I actually AM a big deal... I don't know that I like it. I will do what I have to do though.

I really wish we could have saved the Doge's son. He was a good kid. I had met him a few times at various society functions and always enjoyed his company. The fact that the Dogeship will now fall to his brothers scares me. Considering that my job is now to "defend Inglemia", they are going to make it that much harder. Their dad has been pretty good about not using us for his personal wet work. I don't expect that any of his other sons would have the same prudence. Those are going to be some bad conversations.

Speaking of bad conversations, I really hope dealing with Aushante the way that we did doesn't bite us on the ass in the future. It shouldn't, she is a dreaming statue.

And finally... I GOT MY OWN SHIP!!! I am gonna need to dress her up a bit, but the Serene is a beauty! Why? Because she is MINE! She is crewed by some good folk too. Well, I had better be off.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

[Inglemia] Right Bastards - Chapter 2 - A Matter of Some Urgency (Session #4)

Bill - Vithbad Schler - Mind Flayer Psi trapped in a Human's Body

Andrew - Gani Vihab (Wrinkles) - Shapeshifting Shaman from Animalia dedicated to help the wild who spends most of his time in the form of a dog.

Bernie - Hobbs - Demon from the Abyss who radiates evil but isn't. Has a nasty magic gun and eats magic items.

John - Virgilous March Banks Chumley - Intelligent Honeybadger from Narnia who is looking for items stolen from him by an evil Inglemian Wizard.

Immediately upon victory, the group was going to decide what to do with the IRS Sarah Dark but Charles was called via his iStone and summoned away to a mysterious task. They parked the IRS Sarah Dark, cloaked and hidden ten miles outside of the node (and thus undetectable by the Inglemian military).

The session started with an intro (after much discussion of obscure Tolkien mythology and awesome comic books) with the group waiting in the Casa of Charles Polyshane, waiting as backup since Charles had been called off to some super secret family conference about some political thing involving interhouse intruige. It also happened to be Merchant Day, the Inglemian holiday designed to stimulate the Inglemian holiday. Wrinkles and Hobbes had been out collecting bags full of the random free nicknacks merchants gave out for decoration and other celebration to advertize their products (and which Hobbes found delicious) when they saw a small Goblin had arrived at the door. Hobbes answered it, since Jeeves had been 'volunteered' to stay on the IRS Sarah Dark to keep the ship's spirit active. Jeeves wasn't pleased with this, but the golems and psi ghosts were more inclined to obey the Right Bastards than Jeeves. Jeeves had also given them all lumps of coal. Since it was traditional to give gifts to one's social superiors, the group was discussing exactly what to give Charles Darcy (Wrinkle's had made him a pendant of a magical demeanor)...when they heard Gweddie (the Goblin's) message.

Gweddie, a known runner for the Invisible Consortium, had a small package for Vithbad. He explained that they were aware of the group's recent successes. For this reason, Vithbad had been selected to make a delivery of a highly sensitive nature to the Midkemian hall of worlds. They were to take 12 Rods of Maximize to Prince Falistar of Rilananon. Vithbad, eager to pay off his debt to the consortium, agreed.

Vithbad took the mission. They decided to travel via the Astral Plane instead of the Mirror Tube. They boarded the ship and headed out. Thanks to Vithbad's expert guidance, they swerved around a powerful emotional tempest and a titanic battle between some Astral Shelad and Thought Eaters. They found the color pool and entered Midkemia. After traveling a few hours, they entered the market at the Hall of Worlds.

Hobbes explained that he had worked there before as muscle, and that the people here were not to be trifled with. As they went on their way, Virgil noticed his missing items for sale at a booth. They had just been bought by the Horned Devil Gastrotelax. After a short but unsuccessful attempt to talk him out of the items (Darcy wasn't present so this strategy wasn't going to work very well) Virgil disarmed the devil the instant he stepped out of the market to teleport away and then ran back into the market. A combat took place despite Hobbes's warning that they were rather severely outmatched.

Gastrotelax summoned a barbed devil who went in search of Virgil. Wrinkles had an idea and ran off to a nearby stand to buy some holy water with a holy rapier, then turned into a dactyle and carried one of the ship's golems to help them attack the demon. Vithbad telepathically listened to the true name of the next two demons Gastrotelax summoned and immediately compelled both of them; the first attacking the barbed devil seeking Virgil, and the second immediately attacking Gastrotelax. Hobbes opened up a can of whoopass on Gastrotelax...who ignored him several times until he personally called out and insulted the demon. The demon smacked down Hobbes, but Hobbes was quickly able to recover when Vithbad's compelled demon distracted Gastrotelax. As soon as the barbed devil attacking Virgil was destroyed by the market's guardians, immediately drew Edmund's dagger and plowed it into Gastrotelax. Unable to withstand the holy artifact, he was instantly banished.

Virgil was insistant that the artifacts be returned to Narnia immediately, and the group agreed though considered other courses of action to hide the items. Along the way they were attacked by a shadow demon who tried steal the items (and was nerfed by Hobbes and Wrinkles rather quickly) and then by a large force of Tinker Gnomes. Rather than bother with the gnomes, Vithbad teleported the group back to the Sarah Dark which then entered the Astral Plane.

Narnia was not directly connected to the Astral plane, but the group was reluctant to take the known route via the mirror tube. After meditating and consulting Aslan, virgil had a vision of a guide a half day away. They found a bar on the astral plane. Upon entering, Hobbes and Virgil saw the Almighty Thor, who had been waiting for them. Apparently, his brother Loki had been part of the conspiracy to take Aslan's power. Hobbes had previously been to Earth 616 and had heard of Thor and was ecastatic to get into an arm wrestling match with him. He also ordered a glass of pure magic and became...rather intoxicated from it. Thor guided the ship through the Beastlands to Narnia.

Upon arriving, they all felt something profoundly wrong with the world. They entered the border etherial and ended up at the Stone Table, where they saw a conspiracy of Gods; Loki, Bane, Lord Soth, Iuz and Gibberganalax as well as at least 30 very powerful minions busy in a ritual with Peter's Sword and Susan's Bow. The group was considering blowing Susan's Horn, but hadn't decided what to do yet...

When we entered a cliff hanger...

[Grynn] Joker's Wild - Session 3

The group was on their way to pick up the gear that they had commisioned when they were ambushed in the streets by the Mad Elf Aushenia. She threw down a magic card and banished the priest of Thor into it. The group was rightfully upset about this, while she claimed that it was merely self defense and a way to redeem her reputation. Nevermind the fact that she had magically buffed herself up as much as possible, ambushed the party, assaulted them magically with no legal jurisdiction, and then inflicted murderous consequences in the most dishonorable circumstances imaginable. When asked to release their companion from the area, the mad elf refused and so combat occured.

It was a tough battle, but a lucky dispel from the spectromancer took down her redicious stone skin and a second took down some of her other defenses. Mira and Tock were able to lay the smack down on her, and though it was moderately close, eventually she collapsed. In a fit of mercy, Mira decided not to rightfully kill the murderer but kept her alive for rehabilitation later. The mad elf had a hoard of treasure on her, some from her psychopatic crusade against dragons, and others with bribes by multiple parties in the past to keep her constantly shifting loyalty. The Joker's Wild laid rightful claim to it and distributed her goods among the group.

They then took her to the current wizard in the city, the one who had enchanted their items (including Tock's new rather spectacular Trenchcoat of Resistance with Deep Pockets). He explained the situation that he had been placed in, the ruler of Silverymoon in Exile. He implored the group for Corymrian aid. Mira countered with an offer of the sentient dragon slaying sword Alshinia had 'obtained' that rightfully belonged to the dwarves. He suggested that they present the sword to the dwarves as a way to reconcile elves and dwarves in a fight against dragon kind and those assaulting Corymr. He agreed and also provided the group with some magical transportation to return quicker from their quest to the defiled temple of Lathander, currently ruled by the blasphemous cleric of Midnight. Mira also drew up papers for Tock to act as a marshal for Corymr (specifically her demense) after giving him powerful dimensional shackles which could hold near any prisoner.

After taking this conference, they stopped for supplies and water, equipping themselves for the journey and set forth into the dark and unknown desert.

[Inglemia] Five Element Majors - Session 6

Mr. Green, Martel and Bjorn all came to the conclusion that Enchante was too much of a security risk to allow to roam around free on her own. So after a few quiet inquiries, they discovered that she was heading towards Greyhawk to begin a new life of adventure, far away from the evils and chaos of Inglemia. Meanwhile, upon learning that it was Merchant Day, they received several gifts from each branch of the military as well as their Cantons. They also promised the Doge a rather special gift.

After some discussion, they came up with a plan. They made inquiries about dream mages. After reviewing a few candidates, they ultimately decided on Farnistar of the House Manticore, an expert in Oeniromancy. They set forth in the IRS Serentity, the Etherial Air Sub that Martel had deployed marines to take back. It was commandeered officially by the Five Element Majors command. They set off through the mirror tube, cloaked and undetectable to scrying. They caught up with the ship that Enchante had bought a ticket on in short order.

The group snuck on board and Martel and Mr. Green convinced the captain that this was important in the name of Inglemian security. The captain had no problem complying with this and had his people avoid the deck. The group then informed Enchante that they were on board, but that they just wanted to talk. In the process of talking with her, the Oeniermancer cast a powerful ninth circle sleep spell that made it seem that the conversation kept going in the blink of an eye with no ability to tell one conversation from another, making the transition from reality to dream seamless. In the dream, the group made their offer and then left, with Enchante arriving at Greyhawk. In reality, they turned her into a statue via flesh to stone and presented her to the Doge as a Statue. He was most pleased at the artistic merit of it.