Mission Brief as received by the towersKing Paullandiss has struck a deal with House Valdurim for the exchange of knowledge of how to properly deal with the Chaos Vortex and the use of some rare and expensive items.
A group has already been despatched to arrange matters with the Patriarch of House Valdurim. In return for this knowledge & the items King Paullandiss has granted the whole of House Valdurim safe passage through the Astral Bridge and the Kern Valley on Orin Rakatha.
If the group that has been sent to finalise the deal with House Valdurim are successful then they will return with the patriarch and all loyal members of the House via the Astral Bridge.
Your group has been set as guard at the Orin Rakathan end of the Astral Bridge, and are assigned as security to prevent anything untoward happening with the members of House Valdurim as they travel between planes.
If the group that has already been sent does not return as expected then your group will travel to Murandir to investigate.
Whilst in the area, there are also some other missions of import to be performed on behalf of the Hospitallers in conjunction with the Druids and Green School of Magic concerning a recent severe illness that has been affecting some Sorcerers and Hierophants.
In attendance at the Orin Rakatha side of the astral Bridge:
Lady Kevralyn Soulfire Party Leader Sorceress and High Priestess Lord Giles Purple Sorcerer Quicksilver Purple Sorcerer Draal Lothspawn High Priest and Sorcerer Lancorrin Bloodcall Scout Thralk Stormbreed Scout Khandis Greykoil Wizard Obelisk 0 Warrior Kiara Evil Priest Anthrax Evil Priest Sutnac Evil Priest Jack Morgan Scout Slag Warrior Leitha Fey Warrior
1st Evening
We arrived on the Friday night to wait for the group who had been sent through to negotiate with house Valdurim and escort them back to the halfway house. While waiting a sorcerer from the green school of magic by the name of Causal Riverwind came looking for assistance with the problems that the green school is having casting magic. He claimed to have a cure which needed specific flowers collected from various places. The first flower he needed was on Akari Island and he offered to teleport the group there to collect it for him. The spell required each member of the group to stand forward and announce their true name. Despite the corsairs messing around with silly names the spell was successful and we were teleported to Akari Island.
On arrival we met a group who were clearly drunk and celebrating their new year. When we tried to press past the group they became hostile and a fight ensued. After killing the first group of Akari we pressed on and came across a garden guarded by a much more serious and sober group. We tried to gain entry to the garden and were repulsed several times. Between a great many repulsion spells and a viciously slippery little bridge the fight was fairly brutal and extended. Eventually we triumphed and gained entry to the garden. There we found a strange plant creature and lord Giles talked with it to try and get the flower. After one too many comments about Lord Giles being a pansy the evil priests resorted to killing the creature and taking its flower. On attacking it a number of elementals were summoned and a fight ensued. It was make difficult by the garden itself rising up and repeatedly entrapping everyone within it.
Eventually the creatures were killed but not before they had slain Thralk and without a member of our group able to cast resurrection we had to carry his body back. Having taken the flower we made ready to return to Orin Rakatha.
Causal began recasting the teleportation spell but as he started we were attacked by a large force of undead and despite our efforts they knocked him out part way through the spell. Causal began casting again and this time the undead were driven back and killed before he had finished.
We successfully teleported back to the halfway house and went in to await the other group.
The other group eventually turned up consisting of a few humans and a large number of Duegar. They had a corpse of their own and we tried to think of a way to resurrect them both. A group from Halmadons Heights led by a high priest Clement turned up, conserved about the possibilities of chaos taint coming to Orin Rakatha by the corrupted members of house Valdurim. After our assurance that such members would not be allowed through and would in fact be slain and having checked several of our party for chaos taint they agreed to resurrect our fallen.
The last guest we had was Abbadon Dreamweaver, 4th Sorcerer of House Drannath who conversed briefly with Lady Soulfire about house Valdurim’s activities so far.
2nd Day
We woke to breakfast and an attack from the labyrinth of xenos. Having successfully dealt with both we went out to ensure that the surrounding area was secure for the forces of House Valdurim to begin travelling through. During the sweep we encountered more labyrinth creatures followed by a group of melnobanians looking for items of chaos. Having helpfully loudly declared which of them were immune to magic and power they were rapidly killed without problems.
We then encountered a large group of Halmadonians who were adamant that no members of house Valdurim, chaos tainted or otherwise were to pass to Orin Rakatha. Despite Sorcerer Quicksilver trying to talk them around the inevitable happened and a fight started. After a stiff fight during which their healer resurrected several of them and captive Jack was beguiled (which the other Corsairs said counted as being captured) and proceeded to slit the throats of several of the party.
On the way back to the way station we encountered two drow from House Morcaeralin (10th in line) who asked us what our intentions were with regard to the various members of House Valdurim. Having told them that we intended to keep to our agreement we went back to the station for lunch.
After lunch the 9th high priest of House Valdurim turned up to be escorted to where he considered safe. We were surprised to meet only one member of the house and even more surprised when he insisted that he was to be escorted to the very doors of Annach Morrananil itself. We agreed and decided this was probably a test of our capabilities to fulfil our duty. Lord Giles started to cast a teleportation spell just as another force of Halmadonians turned up. They were seeking the member of house Valdurim and despite Quicksilver’s efforts yet again they could not be talked down.
Despite trying to run the high priest past them they attacked and we were forced into a very tough fight while waiting for Lord Giles to finish. The fight was bravely watched by the low status group who decided cheers were the safest contribution. They may have been better advised than some and after the party formed a certain infamous formation and the halmadonian’s mage released a spell that made us all slow I was caught and killed.
After being resurrected I was filled in that we had successfully teleported and were now close of Annach Morrananil. Apparently there had also been a fight against members of House Morcaeralin due to them demanding something of the Valdurim High Priest. We met another group of melnobanaians who were able to cast psionics. Finally we arrived at the gates of Annach Morrananil to be stopped by guards from house Morfaeglin. After having confirmed with our charge that we had safely completed our task we made to leave. The Morfeaglin guards had searched the High Priest and found he was carrying a box. When they forced him to open the box it summoned a number of chaos creatures and by the time we had finished killing them the guards had slain the High Priest for attempting to bring chaos tainted items within Annach Morrananil.
We returned to the teleportation site and Lord Giles cast another spell to return us the way station. Upon completion we arrived to be attacked by yet more creatures from the Labyrinth of Xenos..
After dinner a pathfinder arrived who told us that Morthac Storm and Lensal Blackbone had been permanently slain though this was later shown to be a rumour. He also said that House Valdurim were being harassed by forces from the shrouded eye.
We were sent to a small shrine on a nearby hill to await members of house Valdurim with who would have further instructions regarding their transport to Annach Morrananil. We arrived there and waited. Our first guests were a group of shades who were not initially attacked in case they were sent by House Valdurim. However when they started attacking party members they were rapidly dealt with.
We were then met by Fer’ezz Nightwing 6th sorcerer of house Valdurim. While we waited with him for more to turn up a group of the shrouded eye turned up and were sent the same way as the shades. After this Kairne Nighthawk 2nd Warrior of house Valdurim turned up to provide us with the information we needed. When told of the events with their 9th High Priest they were amused and confirmed that it was a test of our abilities with the added bonus of removing an unwanted member of their house.
They wished to speak to the king’s representatives from the 3 respective towers. Lady Soulfire and Lord Giles spoke for Wolfhold and the Valley Alliance Tower, but they refused to accept Leitha fey as a White Retreat representative and no-one else in our party was capable of filling the role required.
This annoyed the 2nd warrior and in return for two thirds of the representative he said he would give us two thirds of the information. After stern words from Lord Giles who said he would then happily cast two thirds of a teleport, they agreed to give us enough information. Whether this was everything we cannot know and will have to hope the king is more careful in choosing his representatives in the future.
He said there were two parts to the information required. The first part had already been completed and had involved passing a set of components on to a kingsman. We correctly assumed this had been completed by the low status group present. The second half of the information was held by their soon to be 2nd sorcerer, who would need to be safely escorted to King Paulandis. We were told to return to this place tomorrow to meet with the Patriarch and escort him to Annach Morrananil as desired.
We returned to the halfway house and were joined by Abbadon Dreamweaver again accompanied by a low ranking priest of house Drannath who offered to heal us. This time Abbadon asked us if we had any questions about the next day and offered us his aid in harrying the melnobanians. He told us that the Patriarch was likely to arrive with Several Nobles but was unlikely to be hostile towards the valley.
3rd Day
We rose early and departed to the shrine to wait for the patriarch and his nobles. We were told that the Patriarch would not be travelling via the Astral Bridge but would be going through the plane of dreams with his entire house and assisted by Sorcerer Dreamweaver. We were assailed by more xenos creatures with predictable results.
Eventually we met the Patriarch of House Valdurim who looked to have aged considerably since our last meeting, accompanied by his 6th sorcerer and Abbadon Dreamweaver. They started a ritual to open a portal to the plane of dreams and we set about defending them. The shrouded eye turned up and utterly failed in their objective of killing all drow present. After that the patriarch went throught he portal instructing us to remain behind and ensure the rest of his house passed through safely.
Before they arrived we were attacked by elemental creatures and more Xenos. Eventually the rest of house Valdurim travelled through the portal. Between them numbering about a hundered and we were free to return to the Ken Valley
Khandis Greykoil
30th Wizard of house Drannath 13th In line to the Throne of Annach Morrananil
|
