DoctorGlock
2012-02-16, 06:29 AM
Out of the Silence, a [Legend] Campaign Log
So, I have never done a campaign journal before and was wondering where to start. Here seems good as any.
The Premise: This was originally going to be an epic level 3.5 game, but I was in the planning stages when legend came out and immediately fell in love with the new system. My players did as well and we decided it was better to use a balanced game where no one had to stop to determine how many turns they got this round and whether or not 17 contingencies just fired. And because someone wanted to be a monk.
I wanted big damn heroes, myths, legends and gods, so I told the players to bring that, some backstory and a reason to start in the land of the dead. I told them the game would be part exalted and part plane hopping space opera
We play fast and loose with the rules at time, but heck, no one cares if their track combinations are strictly legal. We play even looser with mythology, so please don’t bite my head off if Odin doesn’t have his ravens or something.
We threw in some house rules to represent pure awesome/divinity/whatever. Each scene, each player gets a point of grit/quintessence/mana/liquid awesome. This can be expended to essentially freeform, altering reality and calling forth utterly insane effects. I used 3.5’s 9th level spells as a guideline when describing them to my players. “Just don’t go overboard”
They start at 20th, and as far as advancement goes I think I’ll use the E6 version of doing things and give extra feats, legendary abilities, more grit points and the occasional item slot. Shouldn’t mess the math up too badly. Without further ado, here are our players:
The PCs
Ace: Resident giant mech pilot and Big Damn Hero, Ace hails from a dying world rife with civil war. Comes off as very shonen protagonist: loud, hammy, and always the center of action, piloting a vast machine wrought of worked bone and rune etched stone that may or may not feast on the souls of the dead. Still uncertain if he is a hero or villain, or even alive or dead. Functions as party tank and primary offense. Thinks he’s Kamina.
Paladin: Heroica/Virtue/Knight, artifact mount
Zosimos: Dashing swordsman by reputation, he does very little actual dashing. He often comes off as the only sane man in a world of madness. Has no idea why he follows obvious sociopaths around. At current has not written much backstory, should change shortly.
Rogue: Swashbuckler/Fortune’s Friend/Esoterica Radica/Tactical Insights
Lihad: Archmage immortal and scholar of the trans-mundane, Lihad has forsaken his world when he uncovered its last secrets and now wanders the planes in search of something new to analyze and add to his collective knowledge. Personality wise, he is very… unbecoming of an archmage. While his excuse for planeswalking is exploration, anyone who speaks to him for more than five minutes will understand it is simple boredom, the pitfall of any immortal. He seeks, as far as anyone can tell, to have one last grand voyage of discovery before he passes on into myth. A master craftsman, he can often be seen at the fore of the battle wielding artifacts of legend, riding at the prow of Naglfar and wielding Excalibur.
Shaman: Invocation/Spell Circle/True Mage
Brother Davril Freedsoul: Absolute nihilist (of sorts), Davril has spent ages honing his mind and spirit into a weapon with which to wage war on the gods and their tyranny. Based partly off of Spanos’ philosophy, he sees mortalkind as meaningless; their very souls imperialized by the gods and used like so much currency, lacking any intrinsic value. It is a state that they have had imposed upon them and embraced with open arms. Ultimately, Davril seeks to free them all and bring judgment upon the gods by unmaking existence so that a new and more worthy universe may take its place.
Monk: Serpent/Crane/Ten Ninjas/Runesong Scholar
Scene 1: The Silent Planet
They have been walking for days, to stop is to be swallowed by the hungry sands, dragged down into the burning deep and interred with the legions of the dead standing in tight ranks, rank upon rank. The howling wind is constant, bearing the razor edged sands of bone a lot in a shredding sandstorm. The dunes are ever shifting, revealing the dead beneath and occasionally their treasures. There is no true night here, nothing to bring respite from the blazing red sun above, far too huge in the sky, a spiteful searing orb of hate that at its zenith blasts the flesh from one’s very bones. It is then that they must seek shelter, to either lay beneath the sand or find some other way…
Or ruin the drama with Lihad’s safekeeper magus shelter. But I digress.
An archmage who wishes to understand this place, a monk who desires the secrets of death and dissolution, a robed wanderer who does not know why he is here, and a man in sleek armor sporting a gaping chest wound and lacking most of his internal organs, who vehemently denies that he has any place in the land of the dead. These, for lack of a better term, are our protagonists.
They have been looking for something half seen on the horizon when they dare sun’s zenith, the barest speck, a black citadel in the distance. It is never in the same place twice, making progress slow at best.
To add to this, they had been feeling a presence following them for days, unseen eyes and a ponderous vastness, and were starting to get a bit nervous. Lihad whipped out his Map of the Master Strategist to reveal… a large and unmappable something beneath the sand. They decide to move away from the unknown something to set up camp before the sun begins its murderous track across the sky.
The find shelter in the shadow of a massive stone carving; an inscribed head that tells of a man named Izanagi and his journey to the underworld to rescue one he loved from the clutches of death itself. This is one of many, the whole with a pervading theme and ominous warning: the folly of such an endeavor.
Meh, it isn’t like legends fear folly. Well, these ones don't.
When camped, Lihad pulls out the map again, reavealing the same massive something. The party, aside from chest-wound-Ace goes into panic mode, trying to determine what is following them. Ace simply starts digging. Davril decides to make fine use of ethereal and explore alone, finding a vast machine buried in the land of the dead. As this is happening, Lihad is trying to mine downwards with Zosimos.
Ace however reached the access port on the machine's back, and pilots his mech to the surface utterly terrifying the rest of the party
Hey, he likes a good entrance.
Scene 2: The Halls of the Dead
After messing around with the mech, they do some more scouting, revealing the citadel once more, as well as four figures moving towards them at high speed, no doubt attracted by the macross missile massacre that took place mere moments before (the monk tried to pilot it). Four figures riding on steeds of lightning.
Anyway, four imperious figures ride up dressed in the finest of oriental robes and armor. The players assessed that these are Shinto divinities, the children of the mikoto line. Both parties immediately go into full conflict mode, the shinigami (yes, I am aware that I am butchering mythology here) demanding that the party return to beneath the sands (after all, they must be dead to be here, right?). Following that train of logic, the shinigami determine that the most convenient act would be to re-bury them and let inevitability sort out the rest.
Zosimos was able to convince the shinigami that no, the party is not dead. The shinigami still seemed to prefer the convenient solution, but having been lured into conversation, Susano-O-Mikoto, the apparent leader could not resist talking.
“if living you are, what are you doing as guests in the land of the dead?”
Zosimos immediately pounced on the word “guests” in the above, binding the gods to honor the role of hosts to guests, meaning they could offer no violence so long as no one in the party did anything to violate the laws of hospitality. An offer of transport to the citadel was given, and because it would now be most un-gracious to refuse, the party found themselves invited to Izanami’s stronghold. Susano called up some more lightning steeds and they set off towards the horizon as the sun began its upward climb.
There, where the blazing sky met the shifting sands was a great black skeletal tortoise with a massive obsidian citadel carried on the back of its shell. This was the fortress, prison and private hell of Izanami, goddess of death. They are accompanied by Susano-O-Mikoto, god of storms, Hachiman, kami of war and bloodshed (who had been verbally jousting at ace to the point where they were both ready to kill each other), Amaterasu, god of the rising sun, and finally Sarutahiko, a guardian kami who presides over honorable combat
They were led to a room to prepare themselves, given an hour before they would dine with the gods and exchange pleasantries. On the morrow they would hunt and then go their separate ways, the rituals of hospitality observed. Well, this doesn’t seem so bad, at least no one is being assaulted with swords.
Scene 3: Conspiracy in the Celestial Courts
So, they did the unthinkable. They split the party. So, the monk is getting jumpy with all the gods around and decides to go exploring. And by exploring we mean looting. More on that later.
Presently there came a rapping at the chamber door. It was no raven, but Sarutahiko. He was nervous, as his actions went against his very nature; the honor-bound had come to betray his siblings.
“Madness has sunk into this court, and bound as I am my hand cannot be seen to meddle in these affairs lest it bring dishonor upon me. We retain tradition, but our realm is crumbling. You are not part of this court and thus able to act freely. You must escape this land if there is to be any salvation for us”
So, he tells them that the dinner party is just a sham and that the other shinigami are looking for an excuse to find dishonor in their guests so that they may murder them in duels and whatnot. If they do not find openings, they will provoke them. And Sarutahiko needs these people alive to act as intermediaries for him.
“The dead has been shifting and dreaming in their eternal sleep, beset by dreams not their own, buffeted by memories of places that never were, and the dreams are funneled directly to our dread mother Izanami. They overwhelm her and drive her to madness, tormenter her with the visions of what should not be and usurping her mastery of her realm. She will become insane and break her ancient compact. To Izanagi she swore to kill 1000 each day, and he would birth 1500 more. If she is taken by madness this compact will not stand and the dead shall outnumber the living in your world. I beseech you, for your sake as well as that of my court, end this madness! You must live!”
He gives them a map to the earth-wound, the gateway between the worlds, and grants to the party a single word of true speech that will open the path for them.
Scene 4: The Best Laid Plans
So, while the rest of the party is making plans to escape during the dinner, Davril is running amok in the citadel, turning ethereal and ghosting through walls. Flitting through armories and barracks he scouts for Lihad, linked by a world mind spell. Lihad is referencing his map, getting a clear picture of most of the citadel (OOC/OOG notes: He had a greater slot open and asked if he could use the map as a greater item with much larger range, I said ‘why not’)
So, he makes a beeline for the throne room. In the throne room stand Susano-O and Hachiman, discussing something and throngs of kimono clad handmaidens, their faces all hidden by veils and splayed fans held in their left hands. They set the table and bear incense and candles in their right. There he sees a great table, set for well over a hundred figures at ground level, and at the head of the table… a great alcove, ringed by votive candles and incense burners, yet still filled with darkest shadows. Barely seen amongst the shadows is a huge statue, crudely carved, a woman of onyx with obsidian eyes.
He drops out of ethereal… and promptly botches his stealth check. Immediately three divine wills focus on him and with a grinding sound the statue turns towards him, sharks of onyx cracking off…
Davril: Oh ****.
Susano-O simply smirks while Hachiman smugly draws his huge sword, the sword he boasted can slay anything in but one blow, the sword that bears seven names, and says
“I’m going to enjoy this”
Davril ran for it, porting back through the citadel to warn the others.
Scene 5: Oft Go Astray
They brought down the citadel.
While davril was scouting, Lihad had been mapping out the citadel and had found something called “receptacles of faith” in the very deepest bowels of the fortress. So literally moments Davril was running back to warn the others he decides to go exploring himself, broadcasting this over the world mind. I can only assume that the monk forgot about this because instead of warning his comrades he changes course towards this location, reasoning that “his character would most certainly try to exploit the weakness of a god”
Yeah, that’s right, they really, very much, and most certainly, have just split the party.
So, the two of them port down to this area, and find themselves before a vast set of stone doors without handle, lock, or bar. Under Lihad’s arcane sight the doors positively glow like the sun, crawling with wards laid down in divine miracle.
So, what’s the rational response to a dimension locked vault crawling with every ward conceivable and signed in triplicate? Well, to Lihad, it’s always a simple answer
“I burn my quintessence to Disjoin the gates”
Jaws drop around the table and a collective “let’s get out of here” is muttered by Zosimos and Ace.
Lihad draws his power about him, sketches a circle and signs a glyph in the air, then strikes the gates with the force of unmaking. The whole fortress shudders and obsidian cracks and with a deep chime, the gates split open.
Well, the castle shuddering and splitting was more than enough reason for Ace so he lets out a whistle and a massive malachite fist comes crashing through the fortress walls. Braving the sun he and Zosimos race up to the mech’s cockpit and begin to dive beneath the sand and the quake reverberates through the castle.
The relics temporarily disrupted, the structure begins to collapse. Lihad and Davril are frantically running about the room looting as many of the shiny divine relics as possible. The floor buckles and the ceiling caves as splintering cracks echo throughout the citadel. The walls begin to fall out and the searing light lances in. Lihad looks about and hops into his safekeeper dimension (player had to leave).
“I think we can say that the hospitality of this house has been thoroughly violated. It pains me to say such but our honor has been impinged and we demand satisfaction”
Susano-O, Amaterasu, and Hachiman stand in the doorway, Davril in the vault, odds looking bad… when the floor gives way as Ace’s mech tears into the breach. Davril leaps down clinging to the shadowed parts of the mech as the fortress collapses around them. Ace, turns about and dives, dragging himself under the safety of the sand towards the earth wound. Davril is forced to expend the last of his etherealness to keep up most of the way. In the skies above three steeds of lightning shoot towards the gate with the speed of the thunderbolts they were wrought of.
They surface at the earth wound and behind them they see nothing but advancing night. A wall of blackness and wailing slowly approaching in a land where the sun never sets. It’s Izanami. Again, from my players
“Oh ****”
Susano-O, Amaterasu, and Hachiman are waiting for them. Susano starts calling down the storms into his brothers’ weapons, Amaterasu just directs the sun (between him and the sun the party is loosing 20 max HP per round) and Hachiman just charges. They fight, a flurry of flashing blades and steel against stone, punctuated by the constant burst of lightning and the searing sun amplified by Amaterasu’s wrath. The fight ends with Davril running up a lightning bolt to ram his fists through Hachiman’s skull and Ace splattering Amaterasu against the side of a mountain and crushing Susano-O as he tried to run. Davril’s player Had to leave, so Ace and Zosimos flee through the gate mere moments before it is overwhelmed by the advancing wall of night.
End session one.
Sessions two and on:
Chapter 2: Respite, Eternal Night, The Land of Ice (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12795040&postcount=18)
I have a lot more from the first session that I’ll post later today, got class soon. Soon-ish. Ok, wow, the first session has taken far longer than expected, mostly done with it, but we still have not gotten to the action scenes
Chuck a bunch of feedback around, anything to improve DMing and suchlike.
So, I have never done a campaign journal before and was wondering where to start. Here seems good as any.
The Premise: This was originally going to be an epic level 3.5 game, but I was in the planning stages when legend came out and immediately fell in love with the new system. My players did as well and we decided it was better to use a balanced game where no one had to stop to determine how many turns they got this round and whether or not 17 contingencies just fired. And because someone wanted to be a monk.
I wanted big damn heroes, myths, legends and gods, so I told the players to bring that, some backstory and a reason to start in the land of the dead. I told them the game would be part exalted and part plane hopping space opera
We play fast and loose with the rules at time, but heck, no one cares if their track combinations are strictly legal. We play even looser with mythology, so please don’t bite my head off if Odin doesn’t have his ravens or something.
We threw in some house rules to represent pure awesome/divinity/whatever. Each scene, each player gets a point of grit/quintessence/mana/liquid awesome. This can be expended to essentially freeform, altering reality and calling forth utterly insane effects. I used 3.5’s 9th level spells as a guideline when describing them to my players. “Just don’t go overboard”
They start at 20th, and as far as advancement goes I think I’ll use the E6 version of doing things and give extra feats, legendary abilities, more grit points and the occasional item slot. Shouldn’t mess the math up too badly. Without further ado, here are our players:
The PCs
Ace: Resident giant mech pilot and Big Damn Hero, Ace hails from a dying world rife with civil war. Comes off as very shonen protagonist: loud, hammy, and always the center of action, piloting a vast machine wrought of worked bone and rune etched stone that may or may not feast on the souls of the dead. Still uncertain if he is a hero or villain, or even alive or dead. Functions as party tank and primary offense. Thinks he’s Kamina.
Paladin: Heroica/Virtue/Knight, artifact mount
Zosimos: Dashing swordsman by reputation, he does very little actual dashing. He often comes off as the only sane man in a world of madness. Has no idea why he follows obvious sociopaths around. At current has not written much backstory, should change shortly.
Rogue: Swashbuckler/Fortune’s Friend/Esoterica Radica/Tactical Insights
Lihad: Archmage immortal and scholar of the trans-mundane, Lihad has forsaken his world when he uncovered its last secrets and now wanders the planes in search of something new to analyze and add to his collective knowledge. Personality wise, he is very… unbecoming of an archmage. While his excuse for planeswalking is exploration, anyone who speaks to him for more than five minutes will understand it is simple boredom, the pitfall of any immortal. He seeks, as far as anyone can tell, to have one last grand voyage of discovery before he passes on into myth. A master craftsman, he can often be seen at the fore of the battle wielding artifacts of legend, riding at the prow of Naglfar and wielding Excalibur.
Shaman: Invocation/Spell Circle/True Mage
Brother Davril Freedsoul: Absolute nihilist (of sorts), Davril has spent ages honing his mind and spirit into a weapon with which to wage war on the gods and their tyranny. Based partly off of Spanos’ philosophy, he sees mortalkind as meaningless; their very souls imperialized by the gods and used like so much currency, lacking any intrinsic value. It is a state that they have had imposed upon them and embraced with open arms. Ultimately, Davril seeks to free them all and bring judgment upon the gods by unmaking existence so that a new and more worthy universe may take its place.
Monk: Serpent/Crane/Ten Ninjas/Runesong Scholar
Scene 1: The Silent Planet
They have been walking for days, to stop is to be swallowed by the hungry sands, dragged down into the burning deep and interred with the legions of the dead standing in tight ranks, rank upon rank. The howling wind is constant, bearing the razor edged sands of bone a lot in a shredding sandstorm. The dunes are ever shifting, revealing the dead beneath and occasionally their treasures. There is no true night here, nothing to bring respite from the blazing red sun above, far too huge in the sky, a spiteful searing orb of hate that at its zenith blasts the flesh from one’s very bones. It is then that they must seek shelter, to either lay beneath the sand or find some other way…
Or ruin the drama with Lihad’s safekeeper magus shelter. But I digress.
An archmage who wishes to understand this place, a monk who desires the secrets of death and dissolution, a robed wanderer who does not know why he is here, and a man in sleek armor sporting a gaping chest wound and lacking most of his internal organs, who vehemently denies that he has any place in the land of the dead. These, for lack of a better term, are our protagonists.
They have been looking for something half seen on the horizon when they dare sun’s zenith, the barest speck, a black citadel in the distance. It is never in the same place twice, making progress slow at best.
To add to this, they had been feeling a presence following them for days, unseen eyes and a ponderous vastness, and were starting to get a bit nervous. Lihad whipped out his Map of the Master Strategist to reveal… a large and unmappable something beneath the sand. They decide to move away from the unknown something to set up camp before the sun begins its murderous track across the sky.
The find shelter in the shadow of a massive stone carving; an inscribed head that tells of a man named Izanagi and his journey to the underworld to rescue one he loved from the clutches of death itself. This is one of many, the whole with a pervading theme and ominous warning: the folly of such an endeavor.
Meh, it isn’t like legends fear folly. Well, these ones don't.
When camped, Lihad pulls out the map again, reavealing the same massive something. The party, aside from chest-wound-Ace goes into panic mode, trying to determine what is following them. Ace simply starts digging. Davril decides to make fine use of ethereal and explore alone, finding a vast machine buried in the land of the dead. As this is happening, Lihad is trying to mine downwards with Zosimos.
Ace however reached the access port on the machine's back, and pilots his mech to the surface utterly terrifying the rest of the party
Hey, he likes a good entrance.
Scene 2: The Halls of the Dead
After messing around with the mech, they do some more scouting, revealing the citadel once more, as well as four figures moving towards them at high speed, no doubt attracted by the macross missile massacre that took place mere moments before (the monk tried to pilot it). Four figures riding on steeds of lightning.
Anyway, four imperious figures ride up dressed in the finest of oriental robes and armor. The players assessed that these are Shinto divinities, the children of the mikoto line. Both parties immediately go into full conflict mode, the shinigami (yes, I am aware that I am butchering mythology here) demanding that the party return to beneath the sands (after all, they must be dead to be here, right?). Following that train of logic, the shinigami determine that the most convenient act would be to re-bury them and let inevitability sort out the rest.
Zosimos was able to convince the shinigami that no, the party is not dead. The shinigami still seemed to prefer the convenient solution, but having been lured into conversation, Susano-O-Mikoto, the apparent leader could not resist talking.
“if living you are, what are you doing as guests in the land of the dead?”
Zosimos immediately pounced on the word “guests” in the above, binding the gods to honor the role of hosts to guests, meaning they could offer no violence so long as no one in the party did anything to violate the laws of hospitality. An offer of transport to the citadel was given, and because it would now be most un-gracious to refuse, the party found themselves invited to Izanami’s stronghold. Susano called up some more lightning steeds and they set off towards the horizon as the sun began its upward climb.
There, where the blazing sky met the shifting sands was a great black skeletal tortoise with a massive obsidian citadel carried on the back of its shell. This was the fortress, prison and private hell of Izanami, goddess of death. They are accompanied by Susano-O-Mikoto, god of storms, Hachiman, kami of war and bloodshed (who had been verbally jousting at ace to the point where they were both ready to kill each other), Amaterasu, god of the rising sun, and finally Sarutahiko, a guardian kami who presides over honorable combat
They were led to a room to prepare themselves, given an hour before they would dine with the gods and exchange pleasantries. On the morrow they would hunt and then go their separate ways, the rituals of hospitality observed. Well, this doesn’t seem so bad, at least no one is being assaulted with swords.
Scene 3: Conspiracy in the Celestial Courts
So, they did the unthinkable. They split the party. So, the monk is getting jumpy with all the gods around and decides to go exploring. And by exploring we mean looting. More on that later.
Presently there came a rapping at the chamber door. It was no raven, but Sarutahiko. He was nervous, as his actions went against his very nature; the honor-bound had come to betray his siblings.
“Madness has sunk into this court, and bound as I am my hand cannot be seen to meddle in these affairs lest it bring dishonor upon me. We retain tradition, but our realm is crumbling. You are not part of this court and thus able to act freely. You must escape this land if there is to be any salvation for us”
So, he tells them that the dinner party is just a sham and that the other shinigami are looking for an excuse to find dishonor in their guests so that they may murder them in duels and whatnot. If they do not find openings, they will provoke them. And Sarutahiko needs these people alive to act as intermediaries for him.
“The dead has been shifting and dreaming in their eternal sleep, beset by dreams not their own, buffeted by memories of places that never were, and the dreams are funneled directly to our dread mother Izanami. They overwhelm her and drive her to madness, tormenter her with the visions of what should not be and usurping her mastery of her realm. She will become insane and break her ancient compact. To Izanagi she swore to kill 1000 each day, and he would birth 1500 more. If she is taken by madness this compact will not stand and the dead shall outnumber the living in your world. I beseech you, for your sake as well as that of my court, end this madness! You must live!”
He gives them a map to the earth-wound, the gateway between the worlds, and grants to the party a single word of true speech that will open the path for them.
Scene 4: The Best Laid Plans
So, while the rest of the party is making plans to escape during the dinner, Davril is running amok in the citadel, turning ethereal and ghosting through walls. Flitting through armories and barracks he scouts for Lihad, linked by a world mind spell. Lihad is referencing his map, getting a clear picture of most of the citadel (OOC/OOG notes: He had a greater slot open and asked if he could use the map as a greater item with much larger range, I said ‘why not’)
So, he makes a beeline for the throne room. In the throne room stand Susano-O and Hachiman, discussing something and throngs of kimono clad handmaidens, their faces all hidden by veils and splayed fans held in their left hands. They set the table and bear incense and candles in their right. There he sees a great table, set for well over a hundred figures at ground level, and at the head of the table… a great alcove, ringed by votive candles and incense burners, yet still filled with darkest shadows. Barely seen amongst the shadows is a huge statue, crudely carved, a woman of onyx with obsidian eyes.
He drops out of ethereal… and promptly botches his stealth check. Immediately three divine wills focus on him and with a grinding sound the statue turns towards him, sharks of onyx cracking off…
Davril: Oh ****.
Susano-O simply smirks while Hachiman smugly draws his huge sword, the sword he boasted can slay anything in but one blow, the sword that bears seven names, and says
“I’m going to enjoy this”
Davril ran for it, porting back through the citadel to warn the others.
Scene 5: Oft Go Astray
They brought down the citadel.
While davril was scouting, Lihad had been mapping out the citadel and had found something called “receptacles of faith” in the very deepest bowels of the fortress. So literally moments Davril was running back to warn the others he decides to go exploring himself, broadcasting this over the world mind. I can only assume that the monk forgot about this because instead of warning his comrades he changes course towards this location, reasoning that “his character would most certainly try to exploit the weakness of a god”
Yeah, that’s right, they really, very much, and most certainly, have just split the party.
So, the two of them port down to this area, and find themselves before a vast set of stone doors without handle, lock, or bar. Under Lihad’s arcane sight the doors positively glow like the sun, crawling with wards laid down in divine miracle.
So, what’s the rational response to a dimension locked vault crawling with every ward conceivable and signed in triplicate? Well, to Lihad, it’s always a simple answer
“I burn my quintessence to Disjoin the gates”
Jaws drop around the table and a collective “let’s get out of here” is muttered by Zosimos and Ace.
Lihad draws his power about him, sketches a circle and signs a glyph in the air, then strikes the gates with the force of unmaking. The whole fortress shudders and obsidian cracks and with a deep chime, the gates split open.
Well, the castle shuddering and splitting was more than enough reason for Ace so he lets out a whistle and a massive malachite fist comes crashing through the fortress walls. Braving the sun he and Zosimos race up to the mech’s cockpit and begin to dive beneath the sand and the quake reverberates through the castle.
The relics temporarily disrupted, the structure begins to collapse. Lihad and Davril are frantically running about the room looting as many of the shiny divine relics as possible. The floor buckles and the ceiling caves as splintering cracks echo throughout the citadel. The walls begin to fall out and the searing light lances in. Lihad looks about and hops into his safekeeper dimension (player had to leave).
“I think we can say that the hospitality of this house has been thoroughly violated. It pains me to say such but our honor has been impinged and we demand satisfaction”
Susano-O, Amaterasu, and Hachiman stand in the doorway, Davril in the vault, odds looking bad… when the floor gives way as Ace’s mech tears into the breach. Davril leaps down clinging to the shadowed parts of the mech as the fortress collapses around them. Ace, turns about and dives, dragging himself under the safety of the sand towards the earth wound. Davril is forced to expend the last of his etherealness to keep up most of the way. In the skies above three steeds of lightning shoot towards the gate with the speed of the thunderbolts they were wrought of.
They surface at the earth wound and behind them they see nothing but advancing night. A wall of blackness and wailing slowly approaching in a land where the sun never sets. It’s Izanami. Again, from my players
“Oh ****”
Susano-O, Amaterasu, and Hachiman are waiting for them. Susano starts calling down the storms into his brothers’ weapons, Amaterasu just directs the sun (between him and the sun the party is loosing 20 max HP per round) and Hachiman just charges. They fight, a flurry of flashing blades and steel against stone, punctuated by the constant burst of lightning and the searing sun amplified by Amaterasu’s wrath. The fight ends with Davril running up a lightning bolt to ram his fists through Hachiman’s skull and Ace splattering Amaterasu against the side of a mountain and crushing Susano-O as he tried to run. Davril’s player Had to leave, so Ace and Zosimos flee through the gate mere moments before it is overwhelmed by the advancing wall of night.
End session one.
Sessions two and on:
Chapter 2: Respite, Eternal Night, The Land of Ice (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12795040&postcount=18)
I have a lot more from the first session that I’ll post later today, got class soon. Soon-ish. Ok, wow, the first session has taken far longer than expected, mostly done with it, but we still have not gotten to the action scenes
Chuck a bunch of feedback around, anything to improve DMing and suchlike.