Little Big One-Campagin Log-Part Two

[Kaveman26]

If you read my recap The Big One, this is the results of picking things back up this year. I would highly suggest reading the full events as listed in my signature before reading this.

After a long hiatus, several players relocating and even one player passing away we got the gang back together and resumed playing...so far we have four gaming sessions and sporadically we will continue on for at least the near conceivable future. I am in the process of recapping and typing everything up and while they may be semi sporadic for the next few weeks they are coming. I have what accounts to more of a prologue/summary and brief intro ready to post today.

A few notes:

*The No Fly Rule is Gone. Flying is now on the table

*No Res Rule is still in place.

For the Birds:

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Having a character sheet and a pile dice in front of me for the first time in what feels like ages is a good feeling. Even better is the knowledge that we have returned to a group of characters that feel nearly alive on their own. The group has changed to a certain extent. Marilius, Kemen, Paddock are all still present (Paddock via skype) but Silent One and Coe-Nan are “gone”. In game it is deemed they have moved on to other calling and while not deceased are not a part of current events. A new player (Indy) has arrived playing a Bard/archaeologist.

Character Sheets are presented for examination and some sourcebooks are consulted, but for the most part everything is cleared for approval and it’s all systems go. For story purposes we are picking up approximately one month after the frantic battle for Cinhill Rue. The academy itself is gone, ascended to a different plane where the Asgardian Pantheon now reigns. It is that particular event that “explains” some of the drastic changes in character and ability. With the Asgardians running the show things have changed accordingly. Odin,Thor, Loki, Hel, Freyja, Lloth, Morradin, and a few other lesser deities are all that remain. Oh…and the Parrot. Many of the Planar refugees are still stuck on our Plane. Demons, Devils and Angels in much greater quantity than typically expected now roam the world.

The Parrot according to what is relayed to us is consolidating power. The capital nest is still in Flynt but he now has Solar captain’s maintaining roosts throughout the lands wherever a dragon abandoned it’s horde. These hordes have been converted to bird’s nests for the most devout Solars in his service. A good portion of the angels who flocked to him have fled and returned to their traditional roles. Despite that he still maintains a sizeable force of planetars and solars. Griffons, Harpies, and sphinxes a plenty are still bending to his will.

What rumours we sift through tell us that he indeed has an heir apparent. One that he is shaping to be a true tyrant. Any pretense of diplomacy or rationale seems wasted. You can’t reason with the bird unless it wants to be reasonable. Coupled with that is the core problem of what kicked off most of it’s hijinks. As far as we know…it has no weaknesses to speak of.

We know for certain there are at least six dragons of note recently deceased that could be serving as corrupted solar lairs. During the assault on the World Tree we killed six formidable dragons that presumably left hordes behind. From divinations and intelligence gathered by Androka and Wind we surmise that the Parrot is seeking an elusive horde to serve as a nest for his son. A horde that ages ago we were unable to locate. When the crew of the Titan’s Pride killed Emberbane his horde was never discovered. Now several years and levels later we have a lead on where the Parrot could be going next. If he is it seeking alone, or as part of a small honor guard it is our best chance to avoid a frontal assault against Flynt. We call it a coin flip as to whether he has bodyguards. To our knowledge he has never expressed any concern about his own well being aside from the times when it was done for comedic effect.

Basic Character Breakdowns:All Level 16

Kemen Sarn-Runesmith/Abjurer
Heavily armored and highly focused on abjuration spells and some blasting ability. Principally a craftsman and now one of the highest ranking Merchant Princes of the dwarven community. Blunt and Clever he our team leader in both execution and planning. In concert with Kemen is Beordie, a sentient and self functioning suit of armor imbued with the spirit of a dwarf wizard and craftsman.

Paddock Odinson-Cleric of Odin
A well equipped warrior cleric and wanderer. He is the high priest of Odin and in many ways his functioning representative on the Material Plane. Primarily a charger from the back of a flying silver bear. Feats are oriented towarding channeling and charging.

“Indy” (We ignored his character name from the moment he said he was an archaeologist)
A highly skilled trap disabler, and summon spammer who has an innate ability to rig just anything as a trap. He entered the story by meaning of being one of the last researchers kicked out Cinhill Rue before it went extraplanar.

Marilius-Bugbear Rogue (Scout/Sniper)
Face of the group and a UMD utility man plus archer. Was gifted by Odin with the abiliy to shapechange into any form in which I have had intimate contact with.

Our first return session is above all else a brainstorming marathon. As matters stand our group power level is at the highest it has ever been. The quality of our opposition is even greater…Solar’s on paper are just downright tough. All efforts at stopping the tidal wave of Parrot inspired destruction are going to involve clashing with his remaining Solar Captains.

Brainstorming Action Items:

*We have to discover some manner of weakness or vulnerability to the Parrot. So far the only thing we know is that he has never shown any harm from the result of physical or magical attack. He doesn’t like crackers but it’s not like they hurt him. Sadly we have never encountered anyone that knows anything about the damned thing. We endeavor to somehow track down the pirate that sold him to Coe-Nan in the first place. Our DM shrugs his shoulders “Figure it out”.

*If we can find Emberbane’s horde first we not only get a dragon’s wealth but we have a chance to prep territory to our best advantage and lay an ambush. We work best when we have a chance to set up and control circumstance.

*The offspring of the Parrot may not share his sire’s prodigious powers, could be a point of leverage. The Parrot has shown (in it’s own eccentric fashion) a sense of loyalty and duty to his son.

*If we can turn the remaining angels back to their natural origin and get them away from the Parrot’s influence that will undermine a great deal of his power.

*When in doubt we can make a full frontal assault against Flynt.

Marilius: So what’s the first step?
Paddock:Yeah…about that. We have been doing some thinking and the guys and I came up with a plan.
Marilius:K…the plan being?
Kemen:Well…hear us out. We thought this through and think it’s a good start
Paddock:We need intelligence on what is happening inside Flynt, ideally with the Parrot and his offspring. To do that we need infiltration of the nest.
Marilius:Yeah we established all that.
Kemen:…so we need an inside man, except Men are not really allowed. We need an inside bird.
Marilius:So we use invisibility, alter self, polymorph…
Paddock: We are assuming True Sight from the Angels and Magical Detection in general from the Parrot. Can’t risk those.
Marilius: I don’t follow what you are getting at.
Kemen: Your Odin gift is a supernatural ability. Whatever you shapechange into you become while changed. True Sight is non applicable.
Marilius: Still lost.

Indy: I will praise it a bit differently since they keep beating around the bush. We need you to ruffle the feathers of a harpy or sphinx and then bring her back to the love nest for some Barry White Action. The next morning you make her breakfast and we have our bird man…

Marilius: You guys really know how to ruin the fun things in life don’t you?

[Silverbit]

Yay, another one! Good to see you back Kaveman. I will be awaiting this with pleasure.

[Axinian]

I have only this to say

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OMG!!! KAVEMAN'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Nice to see another one of these!

[Deffers]

YESSS! Dude, I am a HUGE fan of all your campaign logs. Glad to see you back in the campaign journal saddle!

[J-H]

Hurray! It's back!

I have enjoyed all of these posts.

[Averis Vol]

Hay! nice to see this going again! theres been many other campaign recaps since you finished, but none have been nearly as entertaining. Looking forward to reading this.

[Brookshw]

Woohoo! Glad this is back.

[FlurriesRus]

This makes me very happy, I just finished rereading your other logs and now there's more.

[Kaveman26]

Birds of a Feather:

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The “Plan” is executed flawlessly. Marilius desperately needs an extended shower but he successfully acquired the ability to now Shapechange into a Harpy at will. The cost…was very high.

It is agreed that everyone owes me big time, but the immediate thought is for me to work my way from the fringes of Parrot territory and get to the central nest where I can be a spy. Kemen and company are going to be searching the Hullbreaker Island chain looking for leads on Emberbane’s true lair and location of his horde.

Flying in towards Flynt I remain unchallenged for some time, but the deeper I get the more scrutiny all sentient beings find. Planetars begin flanking me mid flight like F-14’s and the attention of their scrying and detecting is apparent to me. That is about when things go wrong.

Planetar to his wingman: Is it just me or is this the cleanest harpy you have ever seen?

Oh crap.

The second Planetar nods and they basically direct me to the ground.

Planetar 2: Where are you from little one?
Me: Hullbreaker Islands, made the long flight to pay homage to the OverParrot
When I shapechanged my gear changed size to fit my new appearance, but I couldn’t exactly go around with everything strapped up in harpy form. So as is, I have a very small bag of holding with my bow and several wands tucked under my feathers and fairly well hidden.
Planetar2: What took so long?
Me:Word was slow to reach the island?

They are leery but not outwardly hostile. They perform the magical equalivent to a strip search and greater dispel me in massive abundance…no result. They cease to detain me and as soon as they are out of sight I make it a point to dirty myself up something fierce.

Meanwhile…

Androka: Sorry Kemen…we can’t find a single pirate with a peg leg and an eye patch anywhere in the world.

Kemen: Argh.

The trio of Kemen, Paddock and Indy have been scouring the island chain near the hullbreakers for a few days. Paddock in the air for an overhead view and Beordie tramping beneath the waves on the ocean floor.

They are operating on a few assumptions. Emberbane being an ancient red dragon was not likely scared or worried about other dragons making a move on his turf, more likely his horde was hidden to prevent scavengers or blitzkrieg raids. So it was likely somewhere proximate to where he stayed most of the time, but difficult enough to access as to prevent pilfering.
Somewhat baffled they have Paddock re-prepare spells the next day and basically play 20 questions with Commune.

*Has Emberbane’s horde been discovered after his demise? No
*Is the person who owned the Parrot before Coe-Nan still alive? No
*Does the Parrot have a weakness? No answer
*Is Emberbane’s horde within a hundred miles of the Island Chain? No
Is it possible to find the horde? Yes
Is it north of our current location…No
South? No
West? No
East? No

WTF….

This prompts the most agonizing question and response
Is it on the Boat? Yes

That answer brings about a near mutiny at the table. Kemen, Paddock and Indy are functionally removed from the remaining gaming day as they go through an avalanche of investigative techniques to re-search the Revenge.
As they try to locate a dragon’s horde aboard our floating home I try to infiltrate deeper into Flynt when I hit a large snag. The second harpy I encounter wants to talk…and I don’t speak harpy. So much for a seamless spy campaign. I end up being chased from the heart of parrot territory being pursued by myriad winged pursuers.

My failed incursion tells us that security is tight. I end up joining back up with the group who have torn the ship apart from stem to stern. We eventually backtrack to emberbane’s abandoned lair and end up reminding ourselves that we found a flute from his lair that much later ended up being the key to the Revenge. We also track back the original Emberbane journal which alluded to warnings about turning the key.

Marilius: So the horde is somewhere on the ship?
Kemen: The flute is probably a key that opens up the location to the horde. Maybe even a separate plane. It just so happened to fit in our ship too.

Paddock: Odin has gone silent upon further attempts to communicate. We are on our own from here.

We settle in to exploring the flute and trying to discern any spell tunes or settings that made be the key for what we are trying to find. DM tells us that we can perform an exhaustive study of the flute but that it will take the better part of a week.

Flute investigation becomes a back burner “its happening off camera” type activity and we steer our efforts to tracking down the dead pirate that previously owned the Parrot.

Complicating any manner of grunt work back tracking is that the world is basically in rebuild mode and so many people were displaced it’s hard to find people that lived in the city where we bought the parrot. The harbormaster (who miraculously survived previous events) tells us that we won’t find any information in the city. Conspiratorially he tells us to meet him in a cove just outside the town at midnight.

The Harbormaster awaits our ship in the Cove on a calm and moonless night. With great care and a clear amount of trepidation he tells us the following.
“Not so long ago strange happenings were visited upon all those who once sailed the oceans and sought their fortune on the sea. What were once thought of as merely old sailor’s tales became much more ominous and foreboding. Any man that has served for a duration upon a vessel will tell tales of Davey Jone’s Locker, but those who serve long enough, know it to be a real place. If you want to find your missing “pirate” it is there you will need to venture. I won’t bother to warn you, because I can tell you are the kind of men who balk in the face of no danger, but I will inform you that the dangers and threats in the locker are real. “

Kemen: How do we find this “locker”

The Harbormaster takes out a net coated in seaweed and opens the net to reveal a will o wisp that seemed soaked and semi solid, like an aquatic wisp.

Harbormaster: It will lead the way.
Indy:You just happened to have an aquatic wisp?
Harbormaster:Strange times have led to strange finds.

We had already established the Revenge was capable of underwater excursions, but any new location sets our hairs on end. The four of us pilot the Revenge below the waves and follow the wisp towards the Locker.

[Brookshw]

Just going to toss this out Kaveman, the only reason I bothered to register on giantitp was to plug the first installment of this campaign to someone looking for good campaign journals. Great job and thanks for posting!

[Kaveman26]

I felt obligated to throw this out here. Mostly cause I was pretty stoked about it. It may be sometime away in terms of getting posted, but the Parrot has met it's final outcome.

I won't say anymore than that, just encourage people to throw up their ideas of what you think happened. I sent a private message to myself just to time stamp the actual outcome.

[Scow2]

The “Plan” is executed flawlessly. Marilius desperately needs an extended shower but he successfully acquired the ability to now Shapechange into a Harpy at will. The cost…was very high.

He should have chased the Sphinx instead

[Averis Vol]

I can't imagine that Parrot going down as anything less than 100% epic, as such I'm even more stoked for your next update as it gets us closer to that goal. Nice job man.

[Garaygos]

I just have to reply, to say that "enthusiast" is not enough to describe the joy of seeing you posting another of your campaign logs.

Also, I blame you cuz I had to re-re-read the overgnome and chaotic goodfellows, and I'm starting over the big one again ;)

Thanks, and congratulations, your logs are a pleasure to read. They almost make me feel like wanting to play D&D again :p

[Axinian]

I felt obligated to throw this out here. Mostly cause I was pretty stoked about it. It may be sometime away in terms of getting posted, but the Parrot has met it's final outcome.

I won't say anymore than that, just encourage people to throw up their ideas of what you think happened. I sent a private message to myself just to time stamp the actual outcome.

Was he Pazuzu? Would not be surprised if he was Pazuzu.

[Joe the Rat]

I've been waiting for this one. Whatever happened to mini-meatshield?

Thanks, and congratulations, your logs are a pleasure to read. They almost make me feel like wanting to play D&D again :p

Indeed. OotS and DMotR piqued my blood, but it's these writeups that got me actively looking again. I just wish my current groups were a little more Homeric and a little less Homer Simpson.

[Kaveman26]

Was he Pazuzu? Would not be surprised if he was Pazuzu.

Nope Pazuzu has a 100,000 year waiting list filled by legions of kobolds psions with candles all waiting in line.

I've been waiting for this one. Whatever happened to mini-meatshield?

The guy that was going to play "Tink" the tiny armor master dropped out from playing as did Chulainn "The Silent One". Too many other obligations to commit to a regular schedule (or an irregular schedule for that matter)

[Averis Vol]

Was he Pazuzu? Would not be surprised if he was Pazuzu.

The birds a little too tame to be Pazuzu. I want to guess that he's some kind of shapeshifted Alaex seeing as it can't be killed. I can't think of any other kind of effectively immortal creature.

[Kaveman26]

The Davey Jones Hurt Locker:

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The Wisp takes us deep below the ocean floor and wanders for many miles. It eventually comes to a stop at a small corral formation and a spectral whale of pure ivory festooned with harpoons rises from the ocean floor. The wisp vanishes and a telepathic voice beckons us to abandon all worldly items before proceeding. The Whale’s mouth opens and the water around us disappears while still being there.

We haggle for clarification but the jist of the whale’s instructions is that we must leave all equipment, armor, weapons and items behind except for the clothes on our back. The casters grumble but acquiesce, my rogue quibbles a tad bit longer but caves in and strips down. We walk the ocean floor surrounded by water that doesn’t touch us and enter the whale’s mouth. The darkness of the whale’s maw gives way to a ghostly graveyard that runs on for what seems an eternity. In place of tombstones are ships, all lashed together with rope bridges and gantries. The place is coated in an eternal dusk and the air is chilly and stale. There is no real ground, just a rolling void of shapeless not quite black that looks like it should make the boats sway, but doesn’t.

Worth Noting for Later:

Kemen’s Spells:
1st:7+1:Shield Magic Missilex7
2nd:7+1:Resist Energy,Webx2,Flaming Spherex3,Magic Missilex2 (shared)
3rd:6+1:Protection from Energyx3,Fireballx2 Hastex2
4th:6+1 Stoneskinx4,Wall of Fire,Stone Shapex2
5th:6+1Break Enchantmentx2,Dismissal,Major Creation,Wall of Stonex2,Wall of Force
6th:5+1GDMx2,Wall of Ironx2, Chain Light,Mass Bear Strength
7th:4+1Banishment,DBF,Forcecage,SM7x2
8th:3+1Prismatic Wall,SM8,Mind Blank,Incendiary Cloud

Paddock’s Spells: Domain are all in Travel Domain
1st:7+1Divine Favorx3,SM1x4
2nd:6+1Spiritual Weaponx4,CMwx2
3rd:6+1searing light,dispel magicx2,cswx2,speak with dead
4th:6+1restorationx3,sm5x3
5th:6+1Flamestrikex3,RMx3
6th:4+1Blade Barrier,Healx2,Greater Glyph Of warding
7th:4+1Holy Wordx2,Greater resto,SM7
8th:3+1Mass CCW,GreaterPlanarAlly,SM8

Indy Known Spells
1st:(6)Cure Light,Grease,Unseen Servant, Silent Image, SMI,Expeditious Retreat
2nd(6)Cat’s Grace, Cure Moderate,Eagle Splendor,Glitterdust,Invisibility,SMII
3rd:(5)Cure Serious Wounds,Haste,Displacement,Charm Monster,Remove Curse
4th:(5+2)Break Enchantment,Cure Critical,Freedom of Movement,Greater Invisibility,SMIV,Bestow Curse, Wall of Fire
5th:(4)Greater Dispel Magic,Mind Fog,SM:V,Greater Heroism
6th:(2)Mass Cure Mod, SM:VI

Beordie Spells
1st:6+1Ray of Enfeeblementx7
2nd:6+1Webx6 Command Undead
3rd:5+1Ray of Exhaustionx3,Dispel Magicx3
4th:5+1Enervationx6
5th:5+1Waves of Fatigue,Mind Fogx2,Cloudkillx3
6th:4+1Symbol of Fear,Acid Fog, Wall of Ironx3
7th:2+1Finger of Death, Greater Arcane Sightx2
8th:1+1Horrid Wilting, Incendiary Cloud


Kemen approaches the first sailor in sight and bluntly asks if he knows where we could find The Parrot’s past owners?
No sooner are the words are out his mouth than a crack of red lightning arcs across the sky and the whole world blacks out for a moment. We are all instructed to roll a d6, and the corresponding roll results in a point of ability damage.

1 str
2 dex
3 con
4 Int
5 Wis
6 Cha

Paddock: Don’t think we are supposed to speak about you know who.
Indy: Anyone track where the lightning struck.

Perception checks yield that Kemen caught the general proximity of the lightning strike (as close as you could expect from something so random) and we head in that direction. The Locker is from our perspective a purgatory or repository off all deceased seafaring peoples and races. We spot races and cultural styling of multiple ages and civilizations. After an hour of travelling across juryrigged planking and bridges we find a segment of ships that seem altered. We also are all forced to roll and additional d6 and take more stat damage.

Seated at a table and still smoldering is a spectral….lawyer? Immaculately tailored, well groomed and as far from a one legged pirate as is humanly/ghostly possible. He has a massive stack of documents to his left and he seems to be filling them out and handing them to random ghosts in a never ending stream. He barely even pauses and speaks without looking up.

Lawyer: I am the one you are looking for, but I fear you will be disappointed.
Marilius: You are the previous owner of the avian fellow we spoke of?
Lawyer: Time vanishes in this place…I once owned it. How long ago I don’t know. Too much of my memory has been removed to be certain. All memory after I acquired it is gone, I can only remember that which came before.

“I worked for a prominent law firm. We settled any number of maritime inheritance and salvage issues. I had a strong income and stalwart reputation. Then it happened. A case went far past the probates for inheritance and no claimants stepped forth to bid on the property. It was a coastal lighthouse with six vessels, all seaworthy. Greed took my senses for a minutes and I placed a 1 gold piece claim on the property. When the legally required amount of time passed I took procession of the lighthouse and the vessels. I found IT in the hold of a ship, congratulating me on my new pet. That is the last thing I remember”

Paddock: What is the paperwork you are filling out?
Lawyer: I am paying off debts…I don’t exactly recall which debts, but I know they are important.

We are absorbed enough in the conversation and focused enough on determining further questions for the amnesiac ghost that we don’t notice the line of ghosts waiting on their debts getting antsy. Indy is in the back of the group and a ghost taps him on the shoulder…draining 1d4 Wisdom. It shudders like a smoker lighting up the first cigarette of the day and suddenly are quartet is no longer an oddity, but now being looked at as a snack.
Note the prepared spell lists above…

Note my lack of any equipment…

Guess what role I am pushed into after my selfless harpy swooning?

Kemen: Mar…get up front and be our literal meat shield, Paddock will heal ability damage as it gets low.

I get turned into a bugbear joy buzzer as we backpedal towards open areas. Paddock and Kemen start up a barrage of spiritual weapons, channeled healing and magic missiles. Indy starts spamming celestial summons in front of me to stall time and we try to organize a path back to the entrance of the locker.

I feel completely useless other than being jolted with ability damage while backpedaling. The more and more I get hit the more substantial the ghosts are becoming.

Kemen: Hey Mar…go cloud giant to make yourself a bigger target, I got an idea.
Mar: Why would I become a shape that makes it easier for them to hit me?
Kemen: Trust me.

Time has taught us to trust the dwarf and I shapechange to Cloud Giant form and continue to get zapped.

As we get further and further back and the restoration spells run out, Kemen throws up a wall of force then a wall of stone behind it.

Kemen: I made the wall thinner at bottom, should be able to break it off.
Marilius: What good will that do?
Kemen: I think they are substantial enough to be hit. Try hitting them with the wall.
My giant self tears off a hunk of the stone wall and I proceed to use it like a butter churn over the wall of force. It does manage to make contact and strike some of the ghosts…

Marilius: Sweet.

The ghosts are moving around the force wall and still coming for us, but at least I can swing like some demented baseball player and feel moderately useful now.

We are drained pretty nastily across the board by the time we get back to the entrance, but everyone is alive and mobile. We exit the locker without incident and the Revenge is waiting for us right where we left it.

The position of the moon tells us that at least five to eight days passed while we were in the locker. So time flows differently there.

I practically skip down the stairs of our ship to the Vault to recover my equipment and a sense of security…and open the door to find it empty. Well almost empty.

There is a serving dish in the middle of the room. It has a small note written by an excited hand.

Enjoy the Caviar and Champagne fellas. Your friend Snickle.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Yes! You're back!

And dammit, Snickle!

[Axinian]

Ok, please tell me snickle dies? Theres no way an npc steals a party's loot TWICE and lives!

[Kaveman26]

An Invitation for Assassination: (Partial)

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To describe the fury over our stuff being filched a second time transcends my abilities to convey. Our DM was forced to make a very hasty real life diplomacy check to avoid getting his tires slashed.

Before too many objects are hurled at him he practically begs us to flip over the note and read the remaining message.

"Had to help myself to some collateral for an investment you might be interested in. Meet me at the Castle Alucard when the moon is full."

Plans are assembled on the fly and we strive to identify Castle Alucard (which is Dracula spelled backwards and blatantly obvious to us from the instant we read it, along with full moon most likely being tied to werewolves) and pin down it's location.

The Revenge is put into high gear towards our stronghold in the Weald where we plan on a hasty re-equip from our merchant-ing endeavors. The end result is being under equipped but no longer naked, and through our maps, and lich contacts (Androka and Wind) we locate Castle Alucard with time to spare.

Marilius:Just so we are all clear, no one cares if this is a trap right? We are going to mop the floor with the twit even if means a TPK right?

All: Oh most definately.

Amidst our fury some details bear attention.

Castle Alucard is nestled deep in a mountain range littered with gypsy nomadic peoples (not much surprise there) the castle itself is the ancestral home to a noblemen of ancient repute and it is said strange things occur in the castle (no surprise there). What is surprising is the complete lack of parrot presence. If you were to color code a map with areas in which the parrot has influence the majority of the world is covered, but there is a hundred mile blank spot surrounding the castle, like a circular parrot repellent field. That intrigues us.

We eventually reach an impasse where the Revenge simply will not go forward anymore, and we are forced to leave behind our ship (we take the key and music box that operate the ship. They are inside a bag of holding INSIDE the dwarf's armor on a belt that is sovereign glued right to his skin. We are reaching the apex of paranoia.

Awaiting us is a black carriage with black horses and a creepy gypsy-ish driver. He escorts us to the castle proper where a small figure in a tuxedo with a moderate hump greets us.

Indy: Why am I not surprised there is an Igor...

"Igor": Actually guys it's me Snickle...I'm in disguise.

All as one: Roll for Initiative....

Snickle-Igor: Wait hear me out!

The real "meat" of this sequence kicks off from here.

[Axinian]

So, evil birds, pirates, and gothic horror? Cant wait to see how all those thngs pull together

[Kaveman26]

Invitation to An Assassination Continued:

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Snickle: I know you guys probably have the wrong idea about recent events, and I can imagine there might be some lingering resentment.

Kemen:Lingering Resentment? Son you are one initiative roll away from a fireball shaped enema.

Snickle: Well that is a bit harsh...but I think if you hear me out you will realize my actions are entirely justified.

Marilius: Nope...I would rather make you suffer

Snickle: Is killing me more important than stopping the Parrot?

*a long arguement follows and eventually we concur*

All:Alright we are listening...

Snickle:Ok...so after you guys dropped me off at the island I went looking for the diamond igloo, and what I found was even better. An absolute trove of divination material and apparatus. The wizard that got offed had a set up where he could scry and observe just about everything on the Plane, and even some other Planes too. Heck he had a wall sized crystal ball that just tracked the actions of Succubus on this Plane...I saw this one Nymph actually...well I digress. The point is I had millions of gold worth of irreplacable magical artifacts and plenty of free time.

So I tried to figure out a way to stop the bird and I found this place. Turns out the guy running this castle has kept the Parrot at bay for some time, but the sphere of influence he keeps clean is diminishing. So i dug a bit deeper and found out the guy is cursed. The only way to break the curse is for everyone in the castle to go one night without being killed. If any person named guest in the Castle dies, then the curse squeezes tighter, if you can help him go one night without killing anyone the curse will be broken and he can tell you the secret to the Parrot! It's foolproof!

Paddock: I don't see how robbing us of all our wordly posessions, the very items we use to defend ourselves aids us in our current endeavor. Nor do I see a reason in which you stole our effects.

Snickle (and our DM absolutely dead pans the most sincere and perplexed face ever): Well I couldn't leave all that cool stuff unprotected, so I used your equipment as collateral to hire out about 4 million gold worth of planar allies...made sure they were good and trustworthy too...hired all devils.

*whimper*

We have a little pow-wow on our own to the side...

Mar: I am all for still killing him. We have other leads on how to take down the bird.

Kemen: You mean the amnesiac ghost that couldn't remember his own name?

Paddock:The faster we succeed here the sooner we can recovery our armaments.

Mar:Ack...we are going to do it aren't we?

So a few ideas are tossed around?

1st: Can we simply have everyone vacate the castle for a night? No one is a guest and no one dies.

A:Nope, the Count is a bit of a madman and his guests are equally so.

2nd:How many people in the Castle and what are they?

A:

Count Dracula-A vampire fighter/sorcerer with all the traditional black suit, cape, widow's peak and Bela Lugosi accent.

3 Wives:All vampire/witches with white evening nightgowns.

Snickle-Igor:

There is a trogloydte type creature living in the dungeons and moat (Creature from Black Lagoon)

A Wolf Man Barbarian that functions as stablemaster.

A voodoo woman cook with the thickest New Orleans accent imagineable.

A wandering Professor and Cleric named...you guessed it Van Helsing

Newlywed aristocrats Jon and Mina Harker...

An Alchemist butler named Jeckyll...*sigh*

Kemen: Does it strike anyone else as exceedingly odd for this many "coincidences" I mean it's like the handbook on a cliche Dracula's castle.

Being gamers and adventurers we are used to strange, but this is over the top in a narrowly specific way extra strange.

We figure that the newlyweds are the most vulnerable and figure them top priority to be targeted.

Van Helsing if he can at all live up to his name should last long enough against any attackers to give us a chance to assist.

The worst complication is that we can't kill anything, even in defense...so it's not like we can just go on full blown offense and clean house, but we can't let the wolfman eat the professor, or the butler poison the newlyweds...etc etc etc. We also can't let the Professor stake the Count etc.

Marilius: It's already night, so we better move quick.

Snickle: It's actually about noon, it's just always dark here. From what the cook tells me, things only get crazy at night. So we got a few hours.

We spend the afternoon getting acquainted with building lay out and the guests. The Castle proper is not as large as we feared and movement from one end of the "inhabited" section to the other end can be accomplished in a few rounds.

Indy assigns himself to following the Butler and tracking the main floor/dungeon. If we can keep Wolf Man and Troggie Guy downstairs they have least ability to move in strange ways.

Kemen sets up his room across the hall from the newlyweds.

Paddock more or less appoints himself to Count duty. As a full fledged Cleric he gives us the best chance to cause the Count to be repelled.

Once again I get the short end of the stick.

Indy: Marilius you should stay with the Professor, make sure he stays in his room.

Marilius:What makes you think he is going to allow a strange bugbear to stay the night in his room?

Kemen: Because we are going to make you shapechange into a human woman?

Marilius: No...no way am I going to...

Kemen: Keep him in his room...you dont need to keep him in bed. Be charming...

Not being able to type this up faster is painful. A lot of fun to follow.

[Brookshw]

Nice Halloween fold in. Looking forward to the next installment

[Kaveman26]

Mansion:

Spoiler

Show

So we prepare some unusual spell lists, lots of Forcecage, Wall of Force, Wall of Stone, Wind Wall, Holy Aura, alarms, circles against evil etc. Very defensive and control oriented. Everyone gets a Wand of Web.

Paddock is basically the Count’s shadow and Drac’s at first does nothing out of the ordinary. I infiltrate the Professor’s room and set about engaging him in conversation while Indy patrols the main floor.

The first action takes place in Van Helsing’s room. I make a diplomacy/bluff check to engage his attention and he seems reasonably accommodating, he offers me a glass of wine which I accept and as I put the goblet down…it’s saving throw time.

Van Helsing: Ze Drow are fascinating people…zey haf sum of the most vonderful sleeping potions.
Marilius: Oh crap…

Well that didn’t take long. With the first die cast I am asleep in Van Helsing’s room and have no clue where he may be going or what he may be doing.

Kemen has created the illusion of a door in place of his actual door and he is patiently watching the newlyweds room. Soon in the night the three wives approach the room and are stopped dead in their tracks. The second they tripped his silent alarm he slapped a Forcecage around their room.

The Wive’s are initially perplexed, but in short order they turn for the next closest target…the dwarf.

They immediately try to hit him with a wave of Mass Suggestions…with the simple and reasonable command to “Love Us”

Kemen: No.

Him making the saves seem to irk them and they begin to attempt using their Hex Charms.

Kemen: You apparently are rather narrow minded…this is your castle and it seems that you neglected to notice the suit of armor against the wall next to you.

*the trio turns in confusion*

Kemen: Meet my suit of armor.

Kemen and Beordie put together a Wall of Stone with an Incendiary Cloud inside of it. For good measure Kemen Wins iniative the next round and puts a Wall of Force around the Wall of Stone.

Kemen: When they turn to gas I will dismiss everything and then we will follow them back to their coffins.

Paddock is rather bored just following the Count as he does virtually nothing. Then a screaming madmen in Van Helsing comes charging down the hall brandishing an axe and a wooden stake…he has a bandolier of holy water grenades and cloves of garlic like a necklace. Paddock puts a Wall of Stone directly in front of him and he somehow against all physics manages to skid to a stop.

Paddock: What did you do to the girl.
Van Helsing: She is sound asleep in her room, and will stay that vay unless you stop me from my target, in which case the next wine she drinks vill be fatal.

Dracula: That is why I never drink wine.

Paddock urges the Count to tactically retreat as Van Helsing tries to circumvent the wall, The Count wants to drink him some “german” sounding professor and insists he will stand his ground. Paddock uses his holy symbol to basically hold Drac’s at bay, as Van Helsing smashes at the wall with his axe.

Meanwhile…

Indy is patrolling the ground floor when Snickle comes sprinting up from the dungeon levels…howling werewolf trailing him.

Snickle: It’s trying to eat me!

Indy summons up wave after wave of conjured creatures to harry the werewolf and notices something very troubling in the process. He mostly summons elementals, but as soon as a round or two passes, their forms seem to alter.

The Earth Elementals are resembling frankenstein’s monsters, the Air Elementals look like phantoms, and the Water Elementals take on a certain Siren/Banshee texture.

Indy: Snickle, just how long have you been here?
Snickle: A little over a week.
Indy: When did you get the hump?
Snickle: What hump?
Indy ooc: Guys we are in real trouble here.

Real trouble on my end is waking up while being carried by a trogolyte turned creature from the Black Lagoon. My equipment is MIA and I am somehow out of my normal attire and wearing a white nightgown. We are somewhere deep below the dungeon level in a place largely resembling a cavern. It has me bound and gagged. I try to shapechange into a cloud giant and there is no effect. Crap.

Indy manages to subdue the wolf man with non lethal damage from a swarm of elementals and he and Snickle cocoon him in strong rope. He then comes upstairs to find Kemen who is chasing the gaseous form vampires.

Indy to DM: I am focused exclusively on Kemen’s appearance, anything different?
DM: Yes his beard is shorter and he is now wearing a monocle.
Indy: Just like Van Helsing?
DM: Yep.
Indy: I think we are being pulled into a curse. Becoming part of the story.
Kemen: So vhat, I mean what do ve…we do.

Indy: I don’t know yet. I think we need to find Mar and Paddock.

They hear the commotion from Paddock’s area and arrive to find Van Helsing proper smashing through his third wall while Paddock continues to hold Dracula at bay.

They Forcecage V.H. and then deal enough damage from ranged spells to knock him unconscious. The rope cocoon is repeated on the professor and they join Paddock. In short order Dracula is reduced to gas form and locked inside a wall igloo. They are not by any means “strong” and we are more concerned with over doing it than being outclassed. A strange procession of bound horror icons is dragged down to the butler who is unsurprisingly transformed into Mr. Hyde and he too gets bludgeoned and tied up.

They eventually assemble everyone in the hall and then realize I am missing.
Beordie and Snickle are left to watch the captives while Paddock, Kemen and Indy go searching for me. They find me without too much difficulty and subdue Troggie. Once he is subdued my restraints vanish and my equipment is returned to me. I can’t shift to Bugbear fast enough.

Marilius: What the heck is going on?

Indy: I think there is a curse that is designed to self support itself. The curse is to sustain the “story” anyone that comes into contact with the story of this place is then molded to fit it. Belief is a strong thing. The casket taught you that. Dracula is supposed to wear a cape, the maiden is supposed to helpless and in an evening gown. The Igor is supposed to have a hump.

Marilius: And a parrot is supposed to like crackers, but that ain’t the case.
Kemen: He didn’t just dislike them, they were repulsive.

Paddock: So I’m confused, are we supposed to feed the vampires crackers? Can we kill them, are we still supposed to save them?

Kemen: Don’t think it actually matters. The story will sustain itself no matter what if Indy is right. We could execute everything perfectly and the newlyweds would just murder one another, or the cook would poison the Igor. The question is why did he make a curse like this?

Marilius: Repulsion…there is a wide net of Parrot free territory around this place. That is the trick. I’ll bet you that the Count created this curse specifically, I’ll go even further to say he is the previous owner of the Parrot before that sop we found in the Locker. I’ll go even further…the Count had a lawyer that was in charge of property, and instead of having his lawyer buy property for him, he tricked the guy into buying the property he already owned. Anyone notice who is missing from “the story”
Kemen:Invisible man?
Paddock: Mummy?
Marilius: Renfield.
Count Dracula: Renfield used to be my lawyer.

Kemen: I think I know how to beat the Parrot. But it ain’t going to be easy.
Marilius: Well, what do we do with all of these people?
Kemen: Leave em, take Snickle though. He is getting our stuff back.

[Averis Vol]

ARGH! the suspense is killing me; can't wait to see that parrot be done with.

And please tell me you actually finished off snickle, I worry about the physical harm brewing towards your DM.

[Kaveman26]

Hard at Work:

Spoiler

Show

We go over some very elaborate pre-planning and reach a semblance of a working plan. I am going to completely vague on those details at the time being for the sake of the dramatic, but just know it was something we spent far more time on then probably needed, and far less time than what was eventually required.

We take the long trip back to the frozen continent and seek to free the legion of devil’s from their service. Our group is forced to barter back some of our equipment and only the most important items end up being recovered. Things like Paddock’s spear and eyepatch, my bow, the inifinite folio of scrolls, Kemen’s personal non-sentient armor etc.

Worth noting for later, the devil’s have turned the entire island into one massive and fortified stronghold. Even after dismissing them from service they all hang around the area just outside of Snickle’s super scrying workshop. The long and short of it, the island is now Devil occupied territory and if you want into the heart you need to go through them.

With a lot of balls in the air being juggled we take stock and confirm several points.

*The “lawyer”
in the locker is named Renfield and he got duped into buying the Parrot from the Count. He sold it Coe-Nan afterwords.

*All reports indicate that the Parrot is still seeking Emberbane’s horde.

*We are very close to breaking the code to finding the lair.

It is that point that are our masterplan hinges upon. We are more or less taking a massive gamble on Emberbane stashing his horde in a demi-plane that we will be able to access first.

Cracking the code for the flute takes far longer than expected, but between the travel time to the Count, the travel time to the frozen island and the return trip we succeed in unraveling the mystery. So here it goes:

Emberbane hid his horde on a demi-plane of his own design. Being so proximate to Cinhill Rue and being familiar with it’s purpose he assisted the creator of the Revenge in exchange for an unknown favor. To create himself a backdoor to the demi plane he retrofitted the ship with the music box and flute. Which used in the proper fashion it enables the ship to cross Planes. With practice and discipline we will eventually be able to maneuver the ship across the multi-verse, but it’s specific immediate application is that we can reach the Dragon’s Plane. Once we do so, it may very well raise a red flag and function as a beacon for other denizens.

We load up the ship to the gills with everything we foresee ourselves requiring and then we take an enormous gamble on actually crossing into the dragon’s lair.

The actual crossing is uneventful, but the arrival…

The way our DM describes it to us, the lair is much akin to Moria, wide open halls with enormous vaulted ceilings. Everything is polished marble or granite. Spires and support pillars reach high into the air, laced with precious coins and gems to create intaglios and reliefs. All of the walls are murals like a master artist whose only medium is precious gems and coins. Standing at attention in the center of the room are hundreds of mannequins all fully arrayed at battle attention, adorned with the regalia of a thousand fallen adventurers. It’s like a terra cotta army of deceased PC’s. There are entire hallways off the main chamber that are just like museum displays of weapons and items. A wing for swords, a display room dedicated to rings, one for Staves.

On stands made from silver are enormous brass bound tomes, with pages hammered out from beaten platinum that are the dragon’s memoirs. To the rear of the chamber are mounds of coins, gems, artwork and several unfinished hallways partially ornamented. Deep in the recesses of the lair is trophy room. Displayed are legions of fallen dragons, their forms gilded or encrusted with appropriate riches. A green dragon skeleton is covered in emeralds, a white dragon encrusted with pearl and samite and so on and so forth. Giants, krakens, demons, devils, are all trophies of past conquest.
The sheer volume of riches is overwhelming, but is underwhelmed by the scope of it’s presentation.

Indy: It would take twenty years just to package and transport all of this.

Kemen: It would be a great twenty years though.

Marilius:How do we even start addressing this? We are likely to have company any day or any hour and we this lay out is all wrong for what we need.

Kemen:We summon every elemental possible, earths for heavy moving, airs for the stuff way up off the ground and fires to dislodge the walls. We pile up everything in the vacant sections. I will detect magic as they come past and sift for the strongest items that we can siphon off for own use, while You and Indy start prepping for the party. Once the Parrot is done we can sort properly and figure out what we are going to do. Something tells me we are going to have to earn this.

The next update is going to be a big time update, akin to the forty/fifty pager that was the climax battle against Tiraxis. For the sake of relaying how it went down it will have to be put as one big update, probably a week or two from being ready to post.

Side Note:

Coolest Dragon Horde Ever. Never felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck like when he described Emberbane's horde.

[Kaveman26]

And please tell me you actually finished off snickle, I worry about the physical harm brewing towards your DM.

No comment.

[Kaveman26]

I'm looking for feedback on an actual full length novel that I'm writing, anyone want to provide a critique? I would email or pm the chapters as they become available.