Storm on the Horizon – by Maggot PDF Print E-mail

Party members


Kevralyn Soulfire (leader), Shard Farsight, Maggot (me), John Barleycorn, Tarquin

Part timers


Gutrot, Randolphin, Caradac

Guide


Martin “from Wolfhold”

First Evening


We headed to the Open Gauntlet waystation to oversee the trial of Number 10/Simian and to smooth relations with the other towers regarding trade relations  because of us being seen as having caused the grief with the whole North Wind thing. On the way we were attacked by various groups of cold/evil spirits, which would become the replacement for Hordelings during our stay, and undead. At the waystation we meet some Reader and also find Caradac who joins our party. He seems a bit strange and initially I thought ‘e was possessed or something but that is apparently just ‘ow ‘e is. Odd bunch these White Retreat bods. After a while a Dymwan bint arrived with some undead in tow. One of them (an embodied vampiric essence) is wearing Blood Wind colours (red with white cross) what I remember from the last mission. It got loose and murdered her but luckily I had done a crafty invoke so we managed to put it down without too much suffering. She ‘ad a scroll on ‘er sayin’ about then ‘avin’ released the blood wind herald (the vampire beastie) which would lead them to the oracle. Some Wolfholders arrive and talk to Kevralyn about when we can expect delivery of No 10.

First day


We are effected by the cold which makes us sleepy whereupon we are attacked by more of the cold/evil spirits. Some time later Randy teleported in sporting an outrageous purple robe. Flashy entrance with a high degree of difficulty earning a solid 7.6 from the Brethren judge. Sloe the Pathfinder mentions there are a couple of groups in the area what need a kicking so we go off to deal with some Garamites. We find several groups of them and deal with them and their mushrooms. The last lot apparently had some Garamite Duke and an elemental type thing with them but I didn’t see much of that lot as they made me a bit paranoid so I went and invoked in a bush. I believe the elemental thing had a scroll on it talkin’ about them joining a tower or some such.

On the way back to the base we killed a couple of angry beasts with purple fur and enormous teeth.

That afternoon a knife man for Philip de Beaugarde, a knight of Our Dark Lady, turned up sayin’ his boss was about.

A bit later we went off to deal with the second group in the area. We deal to some Bloodwind nasties then a bunch of Dymwan archaeologists and later another lot of Dymwan at a camp who say their master is away. They ‘ave some bloke casting white magic and freely using evil power. After we kicked ‘is mate’s ‘eads in he fled into a tent behind a power ward. Unfortunately for him Kevralyn wandered straight in and blew his face off with a load of magic. After the fight I think all the magic in Randy’s head tried to escape so he had to return to the towers feeling poorly. We recover a box from the camp and head back to base.

Later that evening the Wolfhold contingent, led by Sir Thoran, arrived to deliver Simian. Among the group is Gutrot who decides to hang around with us providing welcome front line fighting power to our warrior-less group. After dinner the Wolfhold group left leaving us in possession of Simian. He tells us of a box what will show us memories that will clear him. Shard and Gutrot are very sceptical and say that e’s just tryin’ to stich us up.

Some time later we were attacked by a group of well equipped assassins who try to kill Simian but we managed to fight them off. Gutrot ‘ad a theory that they was trying to rescue ‘im but I don’t think so. A Murdraal came to collect Simian.

Delegates from the various towers invited to the trial began arriving:

    * Sorcerer Rufus Ash  Wizard’s Concillium
    * High Priest Vendar   Halmaddon’s Heights
    * Win Tsu  Ministry of the Heavens, Celestial Bureaucracy
    * Velmir Hollyhock  Master Craftsmen representative, Reader
    * Geomancer Septimus  Labyrinth of Xenos
    * Ullab Achim Lecham  Lord of the Swords, Dai Fah Dyne

After talkin’ with the delegates Kevralyn selects the CB, LoX an HH delegates to be on the tribunal. And they all leave.

Later that evening we learn of a ritual bein’ performed at a shrine nearby so we headed there to bust some heads. We encountered a group of Dymwan that seemed to be gettin’ ready to attack the shrine and we defeat them after a stiff fight. Kevralyn had blinded their Necromancer at the start of the fight (ho ho) so we drained her of power and then dealt with the embodied undead when she stood back up again. We press on to the shrine and find it guarded by some strange, slow creatures that drain blood. Mixed in amongst them are a couple of poisonous, snake-like creatures. We defeated these and moved into the shrine finding a stone guardian with a crystal in its head blocking a stairway. It proves resistant to power and magic so we have to defeat it manually while weathering it’s powerful blows. Many broken arms, legs and weapons later we get into the tower room to find a skeleton dressed in a black tabard with yellow lining, like a Knight of our Dark Lady without the big start symbol in the middle. We take the body back to base with us.

Second day


We are once again attacked by spirits.

A LoX drone appears. It is High Enchanter Geomidas, an ambassador and facilitation unit. It tells us that the LoX “delegate” we met last night is defective since a visit to the Gilden Hills several years ago. In order to avoid embarrassment to LoX it asks us to recover the components of Geomancer Septimus who is in the area “with ordnance”, i.e LoX troops. In return it says it will be the LoX delegate and tell us what it knows about the four winds. Sloe leads us to the area and we fight our way through a group of Minotaurs backed by artillery drones. Further on we find Septimus plus some drones with a group of Garamites. After a long, tough fight we defeat them, collect the components and return to base. Not long after Geomidas turns up for the components and spills the beans about the winds:

    * Their original state was all of them unleashed and they are part of the nature of OR
    * They originally fluctuated with the seasons
    * The Ark of Fire was made by the LoX and is not on OR any more
    * Each wind ‘as twenty points of power on OR and one major point of power not on OR with shrines at the locations
    * The Dark Wind is the same as the Dark Wind what the Dymwan used in the past and its major point on the Shadow plane was disabled (dunno anythin’ ‘bout that, before me time)
    * The knowledge for unleashing winds is out there if you know where to look
    * Blood Wind in the east wind, Dark Wind was the west wind
    * The Sirocco were the first to bind their wind
    * The Boreas (north wind) was bound into the earth
    * Both the north wind and the Manitou have been bound into flesh
    * The north wind ceased to be the north wind and was cleansed and released on the day of the black sands
    * The master point of power could be destroyed and the north wind would no longer be bound onto OR
    * The Blood Wind bound the wind into their Heirarchs (like tower leaders)


That afternoon a Reaper arrived saying he was part of the group what was deliverin’ the box to Simian. He said some Kalid took it off them and they should still be nearby so he ‘urry out to ‘ave a chat wiv ‘em. We wade our way through a few groups of Stone Panthers. The last bunch ‘ave the body of Ludwig von Heisenburg and the box which we retrieve and return to base.

We set up the waystation for the trial, during which a couple of memories appear and have a game of chess. Apparently this is normal for this place…

The delegates start to arrive for the trial. Among the visitors are the two Shadowsfall bods what I met in the Tower of the Four Winds on the last mission; Jerric and Ursus. Kevralyn gets Shard to commune with the memory box and all hell breaks loose as the expected stitch up happens and fear and paranoia prevail. During the chaos Simian makes a break for it but Kevralyn and a member of Wolfhold chase ‘im down and drag ‘im back. Shard enjoys an “I told you so” moment regarding the trapped box. The Wolfhold representative requests a bit of private time with Simian for a “chat”. Apparently blood is difficult to get out of silk shirts…

The Shadowsfall seem intent on stickin’ their noses into our business so I told ‘em to butt out, a suggestion what doesn’t go down well. Ursus ends up as the judge for the trial. I didn’t pay all that much attention to the trial but John Barleycorn seemed to do a good job for a bloke what is pretty new out of the towers. The upshot was that No 10 was convicted of breaking valley law but found innocent of doing bad things relating to OR so Ursus gave ‘im over to Shard to deal with an sentence. Expectin’ trouble I went outside into the nice darkness to meditate. I was right to be wary ‘cause apparently while I was out meditatin’ an ancient Wendigo appeared, teleported No 10 away then disappeared itself.

At that point we learned of another ritual taking place (it’s all go at this shrine!) so we ‘ad to decide between dealing with the ritual and going to get Simian and we elected to deal with the ritual which might potentially release another wind onto OR which would be bad.

So we proceeded to the shrine, fighting our way through blood draining creatures that stood back up periodically and Dymwan until we cornered a mage in the tower room. Kevralyn put him down and I diseased him so we could take him back with us. Shard communed with him and we questioned him and he turned out to be Archaeologist Tomas who was mentioned in a scroll we’d found. When we killed him something odd happened and he leapt up (despite having his throat cut and being diseased and webbed; embodied elemental of some kind maybe?), did a hand of darkness on Kevralyn and legged it. We searched for ‘im but ‘e was like a rat out of a drain pipe.

Third day


Attacked yet again by spirits but with Stone Panthers mixed in as well. Sloe reports that No 10 is heading towards us so we move to a defensible spot to await his arrival. The now possessed No 10 arrives with Kalid cronies and after some banter and ‘ead kickin’ he is defeated.  

The Aftermath


It turns out we did a good job and the other towers ain’t gonna inflict the trade sanctions on us for 9 months to give us a chance to sort out the mess with the North Wind. Job done.
Last Updated on Friday, 12 March 2010 14:46
 
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