Rise of the Lich-King [IC]

[RFLS]

Rise of the Lich-King

You stand in a great hall, with hundreds of people surrounding you. Stone pillars loft the ceiling above you, and light pours through the stained glass windows that depict the pantheon of this world. In front of you is the Council of Nine - the wisest, most powerful rulers in the world.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

A gavel slams down; King Torin has called the Enclave to order. "Friends, citizens - it is with great regret that I have called this enclave. A grave threat has risen against this land. Our allies, the elves" with a nod to Queen Mithras "tell us that the Scepter of Air has been taken by an unknown force Their guards were overwhelmed, and the stench of death fills their temple."

He pauses, and a troubled look comes over his face. He gestures at Mortimer. "This....young man has come before us in these troubled times with a most disturbing tale. I ask that you share it now, with the council and all those assembled here."

Spoiler: Everyone

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Feel free to make any Knowledge, Sense Motive, or any other checks you might like. Also, remember that you can use Speak Authoritatively.

[AngryCyc]

Soosan

Soosan think real hard about how this affect fire, and what fire do to help.

Spoiler

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Knowledge(Arcana) to know of anything fire-related (1d20+4)[24]

[Afool]

A young human rises from the gathered crowd and turns to face the Counsel as well as the various representatives that are present.
He takes a breath and begins to speak.

"I would wish with you all a good evening, but if it was a good eve then we would not be here, or most of us at least. I have reason to believe that a Lich was behind, or at least related to the theft of the Scepter of Air. I am a...representative of a group who has spent the entirety of its existence trying to prevent what is happening now."

Mortimer winces and continues,"We've failed, which is why I'm here now."

"This Lich has under taken the goal of extinguishing all life and turning the world to Undeath under its domain. It plans to accomplish this by gathering together the Regalia of Elements and using their power to conquer this world."

"I have a small amount of knowledge of the Lich that I am able to provide and answer questions about, but time is of the essence."

[iTookUrNick]

As the 'senior' member of the organization, Helios acts as liason between the Council of Nine and the Church of Pelor. He has an advisory role and no right of vote, meaning he gets to sit and listen unless directly questioned on a particular subject; add the fact that he is largely uninterested in world politics and trade regulations that tend to fill these meetings on normal occasions, that nightmares of shadows long past regularly trouble his sleep, and it becomes easier to understand why he always chooses the least prominent spot to sit and doze off until the end of the proceedings.

This time is different though. The mention of an attack shakes him out of his incipient slumber: it means he might be called upon with requests of a few extra healers as disaster relief, and it would not do to be woken by the priest of Obad-hai with a kick in the shins and no idea of what he was being asked. It get worse, as the details on the attack send a chill down his spine: undead, powerful enough to attack the Air temple in the Elven lands and get away with it. But when the young man speaks of the mind behind the theft, Helios cannot help but think about the enemy of old. That can't be! Unable to contain himself, he rises from his bench in the back and addresses the assembly.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" he screams vehemently, his voice booming in the hall and rattling the glasses in the windows "I recognize the man you are talking about: the necromancer of the North, the self-proclaimed Prophet of Nerull. Both the ultimate goal and the means to achieve it coincide perfectly. That man was vanquished centuries ago. I know it, I was THERE when it happened! Janus Steelheart, mightiest among the Lightbringers, sacrificed his own life within the spires of Shard'Honnais in order to bring him down, while the rest of us kept the armies of the dead at bay to give him a chance to duel unperturbed. We all witnessed their mutual destruction, and for all his talks of eternity, the necromancer had not made himself immortal at the time. Are you saying that it is not so? Or are you saying that someone ELSE, someone even darker and deadlier is enacting an IDENTICAL plan? Either hypothesis defies belief."

Spoiler: Rolls

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I want to try and speak authoritatively here, about the history, but I am unsure on how to proceed. I guess Lore - (1d20+7)[18] (similar to bardic knowledge), or possibly Religion - (1d20+10)[15]? What happens if I do not pass the check?

*Edit: considering my rolls, my tale is probably inaccurate (at best) tending toward complete BS (at worst)...

[LuckyStrike]

Leaning against a stone pillar Remi observes the gathering. He had wandered into town meaning to meet Helios, of which he had heard good stories through old man Smith. When he was told where to find him Remi was surprised at the sheer amount of people but moved in anyway, hooded and respectful hoping to find the cleric. The gavel made him stand and listen.
Recognizing Mortimer when he speaks Remi takes a bite of his beef jerky and muses to himself.
No wonder he sees the act of that which he has devoted his life to in this crime. It could be, or it couldn't. Still..
When the councilman's emotional outburst rings in the air his thought process changes a bit.
He speaks from his heart, this much is clear. A darker, greater threat? Shudder the thought.

His interests peaked, he decides to follow the proceedings.

[Vorpal_Bunny]

Draegon shifts uncomfortably at the mention of sacked elven stronghold; remembering the devastation he found upon returning home.

If they were after the Scepter of Air in the Elven stronghold, they MUST have been after something when they sacked the Cabal’s fortress.

In the corner of his mind, he hears a familiar voice, “Draegon, pay attention, someone who actually KNOWS something is speaking,” again interrupting distracting thoughts, Baurshur, his psicrystal, forces his attention to the task at hand.


Draegon refocuses his attention
Apparently the destruction that befell my home is more widely spread than I first believed.

[Vorpal_Bunny]

Knowledge: history (Scepter of Air): (1d20+5)[17]
Knowledge: Arcane (Scepter of Air): (1d20+4)[14]
Knowledge: History or Religion (Prophet of Nerull): (1d20+4)[5] (plus one if History)

[RFLS]

Council of Nine

King Torin regards Helios warily. The old priest has garnered much respect for his actions, but many people feel that his time is past and he's busy reliving the glory days. "Helios....Please...Be seated, and let this young man finish he story. He is the only lead we have so far on what has happened to the Scepter of Air. It can do no harm to hear him out."

Soosan

Soosan know that Air Scepter is one of four...things. Flame Sword one other of four things. Lich have Flame Sword, much bad for fire.

[13_CBS]

Phajrah Hardesh

The Scepter of Air, lost? Hmph. Trust the Off-Pathers to fail at safeguarding something so important. No doubt their guards were asleep, or too busy shoveling down their disgusting food and drink while it happened.

Phajrah Hardesh, the most-honored student of Hanupadi Shrantha, home of the students of the Rtra, stands with his arms crossed in the back of the hall. His face is one of boredom mixed with disgust and disdain.

He idly wonders why he is even here, and remembers the letter he received from his masters a fortnight ago.

Our beloved student Phajrah, it had begun, news reaches us that there is trouble in the Outer Lands; they say that one of the Four has been stolen...and the old fools needed someone to represent them, a pair of eyes and ears to have a better idea of what was going on. How convenient for them that he was already in the Outer Lands, wandering about in exile--

No, not exile. Pilgrimage. An honor bestowed on no other student, for only I am capable of handling the dangers and temptations of the Outer Lands.

Silently chanting a liturgy of focus to hone his concentration, Phajrah turns his attention again to the proceedings.

[iTookUrNick]

Helios sits grudgingly, heeding the order of the King; he is accustomed to letting this kind of dismissal go unchallenged. Yet his demeanor is far removed from his usual self: his mouth is drawn in a thin line and holy fire burns behind his glacial stare, as he awaits the revelations this young man is supposed to offer to the council.

[Vorpal_Bunny]

Draegon perks up at the name of Helios, wracking his memory for the name, and it suddenly comes to him; Resonance levels in necromantically charged particles...that's it. That was some interesting research, and well written; this man is not to be dismissed...

Again, Baurshur chimes in Draegon's mind, You know...you could just listen attentively. You don't need to engage in hero worship.

Hush, this could be important..., Dragon scolds his psicrystal.

Spoiler

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Manifesting Missive (-1 PP: 40/41 remaining)

[Telepathically, in Helios' mind You wrote "Resonance Levels in Necromantically Charged Particles? Nod Please..." ]

[Afool]

Mortimer starts at Helios's...forceful reply and the revelation of his name.

"Helios? Of- of the Lightbringers?"

Mortimer approaches Helios's chair and offers his hand.

"S-sir, to have fought against the waking dead for as long as you have, and for you to be here now. It's- it is an honor, sir."

After steadying himself, he attempts to share what he knows of the Lich.

"The exact origins of the Lich were lost to us some time ago, but the Lich has been seen wearing the garments of one of the priesthood of Nerull. I know some of the Lich's abilities, and while it possesses the common abilities that most Necromancers are capable of, perhaps if I described some of the Lich's more...specific abilities, you could confirm if this is in fact the same man who fought Janus."

Mortimer's voice becomes more somber as he begins.

"The Lich has drained the strength of dozens with a wave of its arm and summoned undead within its midst with the same motion. It has grasped the soul from the body of one who sought to slay it with blade and bound that soul to a gem."

"I've seen it create cysts within the bodies of allies, of friends and make them explode, spewing their guts all around, spreading an infection that we did not learn to cure until it was far too late for those who were infected, for those who perished."

"The Lich brought down hell upon us, upon everyone. And while it still exists it will be a blight upon everything because it will not stop, it has not stopped, until it has killed everything and turned it into a Undead creature in Nerull's image!"


Mortimer stops, suddenly hearing how loud he has become.

".... So if that describes the man with whom Janus Steelheart fought within those spires of Shard'Honnais, then I hope that nothing worse exists on this plane. For I doubt we would be able to stop it."

[AngryCyc]

Soosan

Soosan raise mighty torc high in air. Wait patiently for called on, recognized by floor. Torc is hot and burns.

[iTookUrNick]

No one had been taken more by surprise than Helios himself at the young man's sincere admiration and respect. He return the man's polite greeting and listen to his exposition without interrupting, noting that while the Enemy had not possessed such abilities, he had held the potential to achieve them. When a voice inside Helios' head ask for confirmation of authorship of an obscure work he wrote a hundred years past, his surprise doubles; he nods, looking around to see if he can spot the sender. It's only when he sees a burly orc raising a torch in the air as to politely demand audience that he starts suspecting he might have finally lost it.

[RFLS]

Council of Nine

The Council patiently listens to Mortimer's description of the Lich-King. As comes to a pause, the Council speaks quietly among themselves, ignoring the patiently raised torch. At last, King Toril speaks.

"That does indeed sound like the powers possessed by the infamous Prophet of Nerull. Helios, is there any possibility that he has somehow survived? Some black, necromantic magics that not even...Janus....was able....yes? What is it?"

King Toril's patience finally breaks a little as he points at Soosan, her torch still held patiently in the air.

Soosan

Men talk long time, but no fire. Lots of talk for no fire. Other, grumpy old man start talking, say stuff about dead guy. Or not dead guy. Then get mad. Point at Soosan to talk instead so he don't have to.

[AngryCyc]

Soosan


"Why no talk of other threats?? Dead man take Air, but Fire be worse. Fire burn hot. Sword also sharp. Fire Sword in deadman hand be hot and sharp and much damage to all. All four together all bad for all."

"No good worry bout who, but why. Prevent, not blame. LET US GO PROTECT THREE REMAINING, First Fire! More time talking is less time protecting sacred."


"LEAVE NOW, SOON. GET READY. SOOSAN GO GATHER SUPPLIES, LEAVE IN HOUR. COME WITH ALL WHO PROTECT FIRE!"

Soosan yell last, run out gathering plowing through many to reach door soon. Hurries home, grabs supplies. Soosan come back, torc burn bright, ready leave for all who come protect Fire Sword. ... all took 5 minutes. 55 minutes left. Fire still burn.

[13_CBS]

Phajrah

Phajrah watches Soosan's display. His furred face is a mix of shock, dismay, and utter confusion.

Was...was that a torch? Indoors? Why? How?

...but more importantly; that...creature demands that we defend the Sword of Fire, the Brand Everburning. Madness. Once again, can't leave things to the Out-Pathers.

He raises his own fur-covered hand. The temptation to just speak out of turn and steer these fools from the path of madness is overwhelming, but decorum must be observed.

[iTookUrNick]

As the rest of the assembly witness in disbelief the orc's unintelligible speech, Helios focuses inward in recollection. it's not hard: he's replayed that scene a thousandfold in his mind. As soon as the orc leaves the room, he open his eyes and answers the king at the best of his ability.

"I agree that the enemy was crafty indeed, seemingly always a step ahead of our hunt at every turn. In his many laboratories we found all kind of monstruosities, from orderly rows of caged rats with necrotic cysts inside their bellies to undead abomination hapazardly pieced together from many corpses. Yet, from what we could glean from the notes we found in such places, we were confident he was not close to achieving immortality, much less invulnerability.

The latter is important, as the way of his demise is known, and it was not simply Janus's blade doing the deed. That duel had been raging for some time within the tower, as the rest of us held the fell armies at bay just outside the entrance. Suddenly, a bright light pierced the gloom as a column of holy fire and radiance desended from the heavens to strike the top of the spire. That alone might have been enough to finish many an enemy, but it did not end there: the beams supporting the tower, apparently made of ice, cracked and snapped, toppling the top of the structure down into the adjacent chasm. On its way down, the tower top crashed on the side of the chasm, provoking an avalance that covered it in a layer of ice and snow as thick as hill. As the tower fell, his army ranks broke, and the vile creatures started to flee or fight among themselves, free of their master's control.

That was over two hundred years ago. Whether my tale makes it more or less likely that the necromancer survived to this day to plague us once again, I leave it to the collective wisdom of the council to decide".

[RFLS]

The Council of Nine

King Toril's face as Soosan runs out of the hall is priceless. Never before has he been spoken to in such a manner, much less in this ancient and long-revered court. He slowly regains some composure as Helios speaks, listening to the ancient priest's words.

"Perhaps some pupil of his, then... The rout of his armies makes it seem sure that he was truly killed by Janus. Regardless, Mortimer here tells a compelling tale. Our priests have determined him to be sane and honest - he has spent many hours being examined for enchantments of any kind before being brought before us.

Mortimer, how did this Lich rise to power? What did he do after stealing the Scepter of Air?"

[Afool]

Spoiler: OOC

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Short context from the OOC, at this point I'm presuming that the information that Mortimer is from the future has been shared and accepted, as that was indicated in the previous post and I have very little idea how to share that without holding up the adventure. If there's issue with this then I can edit to free up opportunity for reactions from people.

Mortimer takes a moment to recover himself after Soosan's...directness.
(Presuming five minutes have not passed)

"Our records ar-were, were dreadfully incomplete when it came to the Lich's origins, but we do know it spent a small amount of time gathering together its forces before attacking Kazad A Grungron* for the Armour of Earth. I do not know that orc's name, but I believe she has the correct idea."

"We need to determine what we can do and what forces we can gather to combat the Lich either before or during its attack on Kazad A Grungron, because if we do not act swiftly enough, the fortress is nearly guaranteed to fall and the Lich will be that much more difficult to defeat."

Spoiler: *For those who speak Dwarven or are interested in sudden world adding

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Roughly translates to 'The Fortress of the Forge'. If anyone knows better Tolkienian Dwarven, then please correct me.

[LuckyStrike]

Growing more concerned by the minute as the implications of the events discussed here sink in, Remi tries to hold back a shiver when the Lich's rising to power is mentioned.
He nods agreeable when Mortimer supports the rather loud orc, which departed post-haste without seeming to even considering the danger to herself.

Clarity and decisive action is not something he expected to hear when the gathering started but he would be a fool to dismiss wise words, especially from a source so obviously unburdened by convention and procedure.

And fools we would all be, not to heed signs so obvious and threatening.

He mumbles quietly while stuffing his pipe with brown leaf tobacco.

[Vorpal_Bunny]

Draegon considers the words of the council, and of the very well informed man, raising his hand to gain the attention of the council.

Ahem...

"Excuse me....Forgive my impertince, My lords, and correct me if I'm wrong...Sir... Mortimer, but if you're suggesting we gather a group to try and thwart this litchs' plans, I would offer myself as a..." Draegon chuckles "...perhaps second volunteer. The Litch is apparently responsible for the destruction of my home, and the death of almost everyone I know and love, so; needless to say, he and I have unfinished business."

"I have devoted myself to the study of swordplay, and to the arts of meditation and the mind, but I cannot go on this quest alone, or...at least not alone with that Orc" Draegon laughs halfheartedly again.

Draegon lets his hand fall, and stands quietly once more, grim determination on his face.

[Afool]

Mortimer nods to the illumian- Draegon I think he said his name was?

"My condolences for your sorrows. Your abilities would be well appreciated upon this quest, and the party shall be of three, at least, as I fully intend on actively working against the Lich."

[13_CBS]

Phajrah

Hmph. I will not be outdone by these Out-Pathers.

As Mortimer finishes speaking, Phajrah steps forward.

"I have no personal connection to the Four, but their loss, and this...Lich, affects us all." Puffing out his chestnut-furred chest, he calls out, "I, Phajrah Hardesh, First Disciple of the Hanupadi Shrantha Temple, also volunteer to take action against this defiler."

[Afool]

Mortimer nods to Phajrah Hardesh.

"Thank you, First Disciple, for showing the support of the Hanupadi Shrantha Temple."

Mortimer faces the rest of the assembly.

"Are there any others who would join in this quest to fight the Lich? I know that not every being is a warrior, but every hand and mind can do something against this menace. I ask all of you to take a moment and consider what you and the nations that you represent can do to combat this blight of undead, even if only to prepare yourselves to potentially help affected neighbors. If anyone would wish to request advice on potential safeguards, please feel free to pose any questions."

[LuckyStrike]

After a short spell of uncomfortable silence in the great hall a small flame crackles when Remi lights his pipe. He does so quite unhandy and almost lights his beard on fire.

Theres a bit of smoke, and some coughing and it is only moments later he realizes more than a few eyes are on him.

"Yes well.. Aghem. Good sir, Counsilmen and women.. I aint much of the fighting type so I don't know if Ill be much use to you in the skull cracking department."

*Cough*

"But I know me the ways of nature and the out-doors better then most. Even believe I guided you through me own neck o' the woods once."
He says looking at Mortimer.
"I could accompany you to make sure you'll get where yer going fast enough. If thats of help."

"Could do with stretching my legs a bit, you see."

[iTookUrNick]

"It goes without saying, but I my services are at your disposal for this endeavor." says Helios to Mortimer in a somewhat low voice "Your band of youngster will find ther's still one good fight in these old bones, and there's nothing than annhiliating undead to feel alive once angain"

[RFLS]

Council of Nine

King Toril listens to the proceedings gravely, watching every speaker with sharp eyes. At last, he speaks. "Then it is settled: A group of our finest heroes will journey to the distant dwarven kingdom to warn them of the danger and to guard the Armor of Earth against this Lich's grasping, withered hands. He will need its balance to hold the Scepter's chaotic power in check, I think.

Do we have any more volunteers for this perilous journey?"

[13_CBS]

Phrajrah

Phrajrah mulls over the king's words.

Defend the Armor of the Earth? A fool's errand. Better that we attack the Lich swiftly, before he can gather much power. Whichever Out-Pathers are my companions, I should persuade a different course of action...

[AngryCyc]

Great time pass for Soosan. Feel many hours burning waiting for puny helpers. Maybe 10, 20 minutes. Soosan poke head back in, see stronger punies raising hands, grabbing gear. Finally, old men speak fizzles to end. Meeting seems to wrap up.

Soosan, gear packed ready, stands ready for march outsude entrance. Soosan wait for punies to walk outside.

Minutes more pass. Soosan grow bored so Soosan draw picture in dirt with torc. Picture have big volcano shooting lightening at sun. Little dots. Very good picture. Soosan proud of picture. Soosan make picture in dirt in front of entrance so punies come out see picture first, be much impressed, be inspired. Soosan inspire courage for many punies.

Soosan think Soosan good leader, inspire followers.