The Cabal of Eight II Pt.27: A Reunion Amidst the Winds of War

The 1st of Ranat (approx. 18 days since last we joined our heroes) – The grand city-state of Ezmer is at war with a pair of far Western townships rebelling against Ezmerian rule. There has yet to be an armed confrontation, but the townsfolk of the two large towns of Denelton and Fenumton have driven out and even murdered several Ezmerian officials. Fenumton is on the main trade road and the other, Denelton, is just north of that on the coast.

It is common knowledge that the Hyvalian Theocracy has been agitating the rebels from afar. The rebels are led by the descendants of a long-dead imperial colonial Regent named Xanjin Doulin, who still hold high positions in the coastal town of Denelton gaining assistance from a small group of Ivoran templars (the Knights of the Rose). The leader of this rebellion is known to be one self-anointed King Han-Morro of the Doulin Dynasty (Anoro to the Ezmerians) and is based in Denelton. Denelton was a failed Creschan colony later dominated by the Doulin family and Hyvalian crusaders but still boasts the highest Creschan ancestry in Ezmeria as does Fenumton due to refugees from that conquest though they mixed more easily with the native Westlander population but adopted the Hyvalian Theocracy as a bid to maintain peace.

This town is still the first stop by any Creschan vessels on this side of the world even before the Ezmerian port, a historical point of contention. Denelton has a small fleet of Creschan War Traders (this was also probably the destination of the Creschan Fire fiasco a while back; see Cabal of Eight II: Introduction). At Han-Morro’s side is Zavan the Red, the famous Westlander bandit.

In addition, a ramshackle group of peasant highwaymen has been attacking a large portion of the caravan traffic headed to Ezmer along the trade route and Ezmerian officials believe that the always rebellious peasant farmers of the Mezrin valley and Snaketeeth Mountains may be lending them aid. In Ezmer, political tensions are at an all-time high. Criers ring their bells and deliver the news every morning and evening, crowds were never so dense at the billboards every day.

Szoo slid down the creaky stairs to the ground floor aimlessly. He had won his duel some weeks ago very easily (see last episode). Szoo’s magic shields had taken care of the water mage’s spells while the naga cracked him repeatedly about the head with his new magic staff. The naga had left him purple-faced and unconscious in a pool of his own blood. The fire elementalist had not heard a peep from the water elementalist nor his allies, the Grey Serpent pirates, since.

The other two adventuring mages, Excor and Fauna, were still setting up their rooms in their new digs. Fauna had rented a four-story building owned by Vor Jetl. The ground floor had a split level, one side had a large, shuddered picture window having once been a shop of some kind. Fauna had paid her White Star Guild contact, Kosapio Belahgastro, to exorcise the place the previous day. Spirits had haunted it and none of the adventurer-mages were equipped to deal with anything of the kind. The place had operated as a mafia abattoir under the previous owner’s auspices. After that, all three spent the rest of the day cleaning and debating whether or not to open up a shop of some kind, they had plenty of loot.

In the following days, Szoo picked up his pouch belt and a coin purse made from the blue dragon’s hide. He also had a naga bed (a giant wood bowl with pillows) custom made for himself and another simpler one for his brand new protégé. The naga also purchased a bronze brazier, a desk, and an armoire for his room.  Excor developed the Iron Grip and Doomscythe (Acid) spells, recharged his copper spike, and spent 200gp purchasing furniture and “amenities” for his rooms. Fauna bought and stocked a full alchemy lab and a “comfy” silk pillowed bed.

Soon enough, a cabal meeting commenced. Again, Belrae dominated the meeting and again the details of the planned expedition for the golden lotus were hammered out. Later, night fell, the meeting adjourned, and the trio wearily plunked down the rear stairs of the newly repaired Red Helm with heavy footsteps determined to get their fill of ale and wine. As they drearily passed the bar making their way to the theater section Excor suddenly perked up and went right to the table under the (brand new) front window where two cloaked figures were sitting. One was in black, the other in white but Excor had recognized the image of the salt lotus on the back of the white cloak.

Excor: “Ah! My friend Gornix where have you been!”

Immediately Gornix threw back his hood and shook Excor’s extended hand vigorously. Gornix was trying to signal him with his eyes, but very badly.

Cris: “Yeah, I already know man.”

Gil: “You do?”

Cris: “Yeah! I rolled a nat-twenty on it!”

The other figure was the Black Knight sans his trademark white swan heraldry. He was in disguise. Consequently, he threw back his hood with a disgusted sigh to the utter shock of Fauna and Szoo.

Fauna: “Oh no!”

Szoo: “What!? It’s him again!?”

Jenn: “I guess we’re gonna have to kill this guy huh?”

Isis: “What Jenn!? Why do you want to kill everybody!? He’s a cop we can’t kill him… in the city.”

Cris: *Shhhh* “Let’s just let this play out right now.”

Gil: “Oh boy. Let’s just calm down.”

Jenn (to Gil): “Really?”

Excor (formally addressing the Black Knight): “So, do we surrender to you, Marshal?”

Sir Illin (standing up, he was in a chainmail suit with a blank steel carapace): “Well, all of you are under arrest for the assault against my brother. I have filed the warrant for each of you with the city.”

Gornix: “Oh yeah. I forgot about that…”

Szoo: “Really!? You’re the one who almost killed him!”

Gornix: “I thought it was for the rat fighting thing…”

Excor (interrupting Gornix): “Shut up!”

Sir Illin: *clears his throat* “Anyway,” He eyeballed Gornix, “All four of you are officially under arrest. However, as Marshal, I do have certain privileges.”

Fauna: “Oh yeah! Well, what privileges?”

Excor: “Let the man talk!”

Fauna: “I’m not going back to court dammit.”

Szoo: “Woah there, Fauna, c’mon let the swan talk.”

Sir Illin (a little exasperated): “As I was saying, I have an offer for you guys. As you know there’s a small rebellion to the West.”

Szoo: “There is?”

Fauna: “I didn’t know this.”

The GM (me): “Didn’t you listen to the info dump at the beginning of the game?”

Jenn (Fauna’s player): “No. I think I was busy.”

Isis: “Sis! You were sitting right there when he told us this!”

Jenn shrugged.

Excor: “Yeah, I know about it.”

Sir Illin (giving Fauna a thousand-yard stare): “Well, there is a rebellion to the West…”

Szoo: “Wait! Are we going to war!?”

Sir Illin (through his teeth this time): “No. Now, as I was saying, because there is a rebellion over there, there have been raids on all the eastbound caravan and trade traffic going through the Mezrin Valley portion of the trade road. I know the value of mages and know what you bunch have accomplished against the blue dragon queen.”

Jenn: “He knows about that?”

Excor (rolling his eyes): “Of course he does.”

Sir Illin: *sigh* “I’ll deputize you under my authority and you will come with me to investigate it. Otherwise, I’ll take you to your cells.”

The adventurers exchanged glances then shrugged with a communal, “Meh, okay.”

As they walked back to Fauna’s new rental, Sir Illin spelled it all out for them. The true mission was to clear a path or at least get some valuable intel about the enemy forces in the Mezrin Valley so that the city could move forward with its plan to send a sizable force along the Trade Road to take up a strong position in the Serpent’s Back Ridge presumably after a battle to take it from the rebels.

However, several scouting parties and a small military unit had been nearly wiped out by what survivors had described as a group of warriors and maybe a mage possibly led by a knight on the back of a black unicorn with a blood-red alicorn. Their commanders had also been turned to stone. Consequently, this tidbit seemed to turn a light on in Fauna’s and Szoo’s minds for a brief second. So, Sir Illin volunteered himself and some “specialists” to go and deal with this enemy-occupied ambush point. As a result, the mages only shrugged, the sole thing that had sunk in was the full pardon for all past crimes that the marshal was holding over their heads.

Meanwhile, Excor was quietly chatting with Gornix about his absence. To sum up, Gornix had the heads-up on the warrant for his arrest and the personal vendetta that the Black Knight had against him. So, he went on the run splitting time between random rented rooms in the worst of the city dives and the rooms of his Ratter’s Guild contact, Doubab. He had occasionally been back to feed the fighting rats and had hired someone to tend them in his absence.

He was doing fine until a messenger from the Salt Lotus Guild came to town to collect guild dues and information from him. The White Swan had finally caught up to Gornix by accompanying the guild messenger shortly after he had disembarked. Consequently, the guildsman already had an appointment set up with the Salt Lotus Mage. The only reason the other three had not been arrested first was that the White Swan wanted to get Gornix into custody first.

Eventually, the ragtag group reached the house. Immediately after entering the place, Szoo and Fauna went right to the detailed satyr statue at the foot of the stairs. This statue, which was out of place for the general décor of the place, had fascinated the pair from the start. The Black Knight set up a sleeping bag by the door determined to watch the wily mages though he hoped that a looming pardon would keep them honest.

Sir Illin: “Where’s the wine!”

Excor: “Well, there’s plenty of mead.”

Szoo carefully inspected the statue oblivious to all other goings on. His imagination peeked by the Black Knight’s unrelated exposition.

Szoo (after a Nat 20 detection): “It’s a person! The statue, it’s a person! They’re petrified!”

Fauna sent a servant, the mages had already surrounded themselves with a handful of hirelings, to go fetch a potion of Stone to Flesh. She was determined to “de-petrify” the statue, but the servant returned empty-handed, no alchemist shops were open at this time of evening. The petrified faun would have to wait.

The following Dawn – The mages were alighting the mounts already packed and requisitioned by Sir Illin from the city stables, a teamster driving a two-buffalo wagon packed with camping supplies followed them. The morning was cloudy and grey, at least it would be cool for their trip south. Soon they were trotting in line out of the city gates past the burning pits and the wayman’s and nomad camps outside of the city walls. After a few hours, the city was far behind. The afternoon sun was beating down on their heads and shoulders, the horses were spread out loosely across the road, and the Black Knight was leading somewhat further ahead than the rest of the party, clouds of yellow road dust puffing up around his mount’s haunches.

Excor (riding up next to Gornix): “Y’know we can take this guy really easy now.”

Gornix: “I don’t know about that.”

They both stared at the Black Knight’s back as he continued to lead unaware of their scheming.

Excor: “Well, we can.” He implicated himself, Fauna, and Szoo.

Cris (turning to me, the GM): “You know that right? He’s no problem now. We can kill Sir Illin just like that.”

The GM (me, with a wry smile): “Yup.”

Gornix: “What about the pardon?”

Excor: “Yeah, I know that’s why I’m thinking about it.”

Cris (suddenly): “Damn! Damn! Dammit!” He stared at his character sheet for a few seconds. “My guy wouldn’t do it. Hey,” pointing at Jenn, “can you guys take him, and would your characters kill him?”

Jenn: “Nope, I like him. He’s Sir Illin! He’s jes chillin’!”

There was a collective groan around the dining room table.

Isis: “Yeah, I wouldn’t stab this guy in the back, plus he’s the marshal so my guy would be too paranoid if we did.”

Cris: “Hey, you’re not paranoid if everyone’s out to get you!”

Isis: “Yes! Exactly!”

Cris: *sigh* “Dammit. Okay, I guess we’ll just follow him then.”

Soon, the sun was sinking fast under the Western horizon painting a sliver of sky blazing gold while dark storm clouds moved in from the blackened East. They had taken the road spur that went East into the Necropolis. The Black Knight reasoned that it was the “safest” place to camp to preserve the secrecy of the mission. Excor spent several minutes mocking him.

Excor: “I hate this f#$*ing graveyard… necropolis. Especially coming off a Dragon Summer! Sheesh, we’re getting attacked. No! We’re getting attacked. I already know it. I just know it.”

The Black Knight found a place just inside the boundaries of the Necropolis, a sunken portion of open dirt between several large mausoleums and fringed with tall standing stones. The teamster was not too far away, he and the wagon were tucked behind a half-fallen mausoleum camouflaged under a painted tarpaulin.

Sir Illin: “We should be safe enough camping here…”

This elicited an exasperated gasp from Excor.

Excor (in a mocking tone): “Yeah, right, okay, sure!”

Cris (pointing at me, the GM): “I know, I already know!”

Well, on second-watch he was proven right (it was a random encounter I swear!). Szoo and Fauna were on watch when the creature thundered into camp both heads roaring waking up those sleeping with a shock. It killed a horse.

Fauna: “Oh no! The horses again! They always go for our horses!”

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Sir Illin leaped up with his sword in one hand and his mace in the other but then turned and fled behind a mausoleum (a Natural 1 versus Horror Factor). The beast was a Dagorro, a blue-scaled wingless dragon with two whip-like tails and two heads each at the end of a long neck. The battle was brief, a few tombstones were shattered by the dragon’s fiery breath. The mages, on the other hand, were unharmed. The dragon lay dead and before the dawn came, Szoo had taken an eye, and Gornix a claw. By morning they were already on their way with a slightly less proud White Swan still in the lead.

It was night by the time they had finally arrived at their destination, the horses were exhausted, and the expected fresh mounts and a hot meal promised by the Black Knight were nowhere to be seen. They moved east off the road into a grassy depression dismounting and leading the horses into the tall grass to both let them eat and at least partially conceal themselves, leaving the wagon on the road with a very nervous teamster. All could see the foothills of the southernmost tip of the Snaketeeth Mountains rising a few miles away. Sir Illin tried to figure something out while noticeably disturbed. The group noticed several small ribbons of smoke rising in the distance all around them some as close as within a mile.

Sir Illin (trying to assuage the mages’ concerns, although badly): “Just the hovels of farmers and petty ranchers.” He was about to say something else, but the words caught in his throat and his eyes widened.

Naked steel sang as the Black Knight yanked his sword from its scabbard just in time for the horses to panic and gallop back towards the road. The group gathered back-to-back at the center of the clearing made in the tall grasses by the fleeing horses. They could take no real action until they could see their enemy. However, they could hear them from all around running towards them through the grass. They were surrounded. Dirty, unarmored wild-eyed men armed with pitchforks, iron spades, and scythes emerged first.

Excor: “Farmers.”

Sir Illin: *sigh* “Farmers.”

Another man emerged clad in studded leather armor a longsword in his hand.

The stranger in studded leather: “Get in there! Get them! The mages first!”

The Black Knight immediately disarmed one then shield bashed the other of the two farmers closest to him. Fauna stepped up with a sneer on her dirty face and began to cast a spell. There was a loud pop, some sparks, and a puff of acrid grey smoke. The spell had failed. Gornix then wasted no time casting a spell. He cast Fear and as soon as he finished, the farmers dropped their implements and fled back and away from the tightly formed core of adventurers. Alone stood the man in studded leather.

 As a result, he immediately surrendered.

It only took a few minutes for the Black Knight to scare the information from the rebel thug. There was a farmhouse and barn not far from here to the West of the road tucked in between some low foothills that served as a hideout as the family there were true believers in the cause. There were no crests or marks to look out for, they were just simple farmers.

The Black Knight satisfied that the rebel had been telling the truth pronounced, “With the powers of law and order as marshal invested in me by the Ezmerian High Council, I condemn you to death for treason!”

The White Swan struck his head from his shoulders before he could even turn to look over in shock.

Szoo: “Whoa!”

The other mages just shrugged.

Sir Illin wiped off the blade of his sword before slipping it back into the scabbard. He dismissed the teamster who was ready to bolt judging by the expression on his face. They left the body of the executed man still with his wrists bound behind his back.

They were breaking through the high grass onto the jagged uneven but open ground when Gornix said, “Wait! Did anybody check that guy, I forgot to loot him!”

The marshal had already frisked the man when he had tied him up. There was nothing on him of note but a dagger, a longsword, and the studded leather armor, and a red waist sash.

After about an hour they found a narrow bright yellow dirt road headed behind a hill and followed it to an isolated farmhouse and barn. It was a dark moonless night by this time and the place seemed deserted. At first, the mages worried that somehow one of the fleeing farmers had made it back here before them, but their worries disappeared when they saw firelight shining through the small square windows of the squat adobe farmhouse.

All they find there is the farmer’s wife and her three small children. She immediately answered all the Black Knight’s questions. After a quick search of the place, the mages found a small hidden basement filled with weaponry, though of low and poor quality. So, Fauna torched the barn.

Szoo: “No! What’re you doing!?”

Isis: “Jenn, c’mon, No! I won’t put up with this!”

Fauna: “Oh yeah! Watch this!”

Consequently, she pointed her finger of fire at the squat farmhouse setting its thatch roofing alight. The farmhouse burned to the ground very quickly and the farmer’s wife and her children hung their heads and wept into their hands.

Szoo: “Aw man.”

Fauna: “Now what cha gonna do?”

Szoo just shrugs and lets out a disappointed sigh.

Fauna: “Well, that’s what those traitors get!” She stumbled off after the rest of the group, obviously under the influence. Szoo stood there for a few moments and watched the buildings burn. He sighed, and shaking his head, turned and followed the group. The farmer’s wife and her three children watched them go.

Sir Illin: “We have em now! The woman tells me that the highwaymen have gathered with their leader. They’re camping out in a small canyon a few minutes to the southeast amongst some ruined adobes and an old temple. The fane is what she called it. Let’s double-time it!”

He turned and scowled at the druidess.

Fauna: “What?”

Excor: “They know we’re coming now.”

Szoo (rather flatly): “They can see the fires.”

Fauna (with more than a little attitude): “Oh well.”

So, the intrepid mages were led to the mouth of the box canyon. There was an obvious trail through the high grass that into the tumbleweeds that choked the narrow rocky entrance. Cliff faces rose high and sheer on either side. They could see nothing. The Black Knight took point and crept between the towering cliffs; the others followed trying to stay low as they moved. Szoo simply crashed through the grasses into the canyon and three arrows zipped from the cliffs above at him.

The naga fire elementalist was unperturbed as he expected his shield from his magic necklace would neutralize the surprise attack. However, the large gleaming ruby flashed red, and the arrows struck the naga wounding him, the shield spell popped into existence immediately after then disappeared just as instantly.

Isis: “Awww man! It’s cursed!”

Cris: “Of course it is! We all knew it! But you had to put it on!”

Isis: “Well, yeah it was shiny! Really shiny! My guy couldn’t resist! He likes big shiny things!”

To be honest dear reader, I, the GM, had completely forgotten about the cursed gold necklace with the large ruby (see the Cabal of Eight II Pt 9: Fungus Force Five). So, I guess the fungus curse begins here.

Cris: “Damn! You gonna be okay?”

Isis: “Yeah, I’m hurt but not that bad.”

Gil: “Well, let’s do this.”

The interior of the small box canyon was completely clear of all overgrowth and there was a visible path winding up the canyon walls connecting a series of ever-higher ledges. Flattened tents and a few extinguished fire pits dotted the canyon floor. It appeared that the rebels had been breaking camp. A large temple-like adobe structure stood at the far end of the box and several smaller buildings, many completely collapsed into simple piles of disintegrating adobe brick, dotted the upper ledges.

Six shortbow-wielding scouts were running around on those ledges sighting the invading adventurers while trying to find some kind of cover led by a gorgon wearing a red turban and silver mask with polished sapphire eyes. All had red waist sashes. Directly in front of the old temple was a fully armored knight bearing no heraldry mounted on a black unicorn with a blood-red alicorn sprouting from its head. In between the adventurers and the unicorn were six spear-wielding men-at-arms in horsetail-tasseled helmets, red waist sashes, chain mail armor, and steel longshields with maces at their sides. Taken aback were the mages when they could see the unicorn shout orders to the spears and archers.

The gorgon unleashed three poison-tipped arrows at Szoo, whose shield spell worked this time. The spearmen quickly surrounded the mages. Szoo cast Fearsome Form I and prepared to fly at the scouts and the gorgon. Excor cast Mass Paralyze I freezing all six of the spear-bearing men-at-arms in place. Gornix cast Cone of Fire mercilessly immolating them. The rebel knight leaped from his saddle to the ground and charged Sir Illin with his battle axe. A ratling swerved from behind the unicorn and drew paired superior-quality magic bowie knives, his image immediately split into six and each blurred as he charged towards Szoo. The black unicorn charged Excor hitting his shield. Fauna stepped up and sprayed the cliffs with her Throw Fire spell, immolating the scouts and horribly wounding the gorgon archer as she took them unawares (they rolled natural 1 saves).

After the first round of battle, the mages were unharmed, and the rebels were already on the ropes. By the second round, all the rebels were down, the gorgon falling first to Szoo’s Cone of Fire, the ratling paralyzed by Excor then coup de graced by Szoo, the Knight was eventually cut down by Sir Illin, and it took three lighting bolts from Fauna, an Alchemist’s Fire from Szoo, and two Force Ram spells from Gornix to kill the black unicorn. None of our heroes were even scratched in the fight.

The battle won, far too easily, the White Swan spoke up rather dourly: “When we get back to the city, I’ll file your pardons.”

Excor (jumping onto the body of the black unicorn with his knife in hand): “Mine! The alicorn is mine! I don’t want anything else; this is mine!”

Gornix: “What about the rest of the loot? There might be some good stuff on the Knight and that unicorn?”

Excor: “I don’t want anything else! This is mine!”

Isis: “Geeze!”

The rest of the mages loot the corpses but find very little other than a small horde of coins stamped with the Hyvalian character from the heraldry of Denelton and a chalice; possibly illegally recoined from proper legal tender. They also had taken the superior quality paired magic bowie knives, and a gold necklace with a large sapphire (shield spell 3 x day). Everything else was cinders. After an hour, the bodies were all searched and Excor was cradling the red alicorn in his arms. The group left the burning canyon behind them.

Excor (gazing madly at the still-bleeding horn): “Man, the things I can do with this!”

Upon their return to the city of Ezmer, Excor locked himself in his rooms, the White Swan filed their pardons, and Gornix set up a room for himself in Fauna’s new rental. Fauna noticed one day that Szoo’s scales looked strange, some appeared loose and covered in a whitish powder, but Szoo was more interested in the Faun statue near the stairs to care.

Szoo (to Fauna): “So, when were we going to de-petrify this guy?”

The End

Campaign Played 6/1/18-1/26/19, 6/22/19.

The Cabal of Eight II – Pt.26: Duel for the Cabal

The 2nd of Low Harvest – It was high noon at the White Prong and Excor and Fauna were sitting around a table enjoying a lunch of honey-drenched vittles, greasy squab with roasted onions, and plenty of cool, foaming ale. Both were solemnly awaiting the imminent wizard duel. They were halfway through their meal when Xanto the Wasp burst in through the door setting the spring-bell into a cacophonous fit of ear-battering ringing.

Xanto the Wasp (gliding over to Excor): “My friend! Oh, my friend! I have heard the dreadful news of your impending duel!”

He emphatically drew up his striped cape as a flourish.

Excor: “Here it comes.”

Xanto: “Oh! My dear friend! I will be your second, trust me! I have had plenty of experience in duels both as second and as duelist! And a fine duelist I am.”

Fauna: “How many duels have you been in!?”

Xanto: “A duel? A few in my time.”

He whipped his cape from his shoulder, “I have yet to lose an honest duel!”

Excor: “So where’s your apprentice Bumble?”

Fauna: “Oh yeah I was lookin’ for her.”

Xanto (waving away the question): “She’s off with her family somewhere, I don’t know family duties or whatnot. Anyway, I will be proud to back you as cabal leader and will stand by your side in the guild house! They cannot prevent me this …”

His words sort of fade into a mumbling mess.

Cris (Excor’s player): “I sense motive. … Nat-Twenty!”

Excor got the sense that Xanto was just using him to gain access to the Star Sapphire Confraternity’s guild house for whatever reason. Additionally, he probably also knows exactly where his apprentice is, he just isn’t saying.

Cris: “Screw it! I accept him as my second, might as well have this guy in my corner.”

Jenn (Fauna’s player): “Yeah you don’t want the Wasp in the other guy’s corner!”

Xanto (throwing his arm in the air to signal a waitress): “Ah, my friend it pays to have Xanto in your corner.”

Excor (his finger in the Wasp’s face): “No cheating.” With that, he drained his jack of the last swallow of ale.

            The odd trio sits and drinks on the Wasp’s tab (mostly grog) until evening. They conducted various conversations and fragments of just killing time until the common room of the Prong was noticeably darker, and the golden sky of approaching dusk shone through the windows, the great purple moon and its rings dominating the sky. The Wasp proposed a final cheer before the three got up from their table, quiet and sullen (save the Wasp). They started on their way through the dusky streets to the Star Sapphire Confraternity’s Guild House.

Later, in the Star Sapphire Confraternity Guild House basement – The entirety of the cabal was there in the large dark dirt-floored chamber. They were somewhere underneath the main guild house in one of its many cellars. The air was heavy with must and the candles and lanterns that lit it caused the moist air to become heavy and sweltering. Around the perimeter awkwardly stood Szoosha, Fauna, and Excor who occasionally tried to say something inspirational but failed each time. Across from them in a far corner were Bumble and Rhiam huddled around Belrae next to who stood a middle-aged guild wizard none of the others had yet seen. At the center of the chamber carefully scribing a circle in the dirt were three mages in silken blue robes overseen by the old wizard that had taken the unicorn wand from Excor. Jirek was there sweating bullets alone in another corner.

Cris: “Yup. There it is. Bumble’s in Belrae’s corner. … Hey wait a minute! Where’s the Wasp!?”

After the circle was complete the old wizard stepped into the center of the circle, “I am the honorable Xendo Zhaivo! I am a high-ranking member of the confraternity in high-standing and will serve as the official arbiter to this duel! If there are no objections or protestations from any present we will continue, and the dueling process shall commence! … No one? Good. Attention seconds! It is time to set the terms of this duel! We must confer with the participants’ seconds! To the circle, now!”

Xanto (appearing from nowhere eagerly stomped off from behind the trio towards the circle): “Ha! Time for me to shine!”

Minutes passed as the three mages and the seconds announced and negotiated terms running them back and forth. Finally, terms for the duel were reached, recorded, and signed. Excor had tried to include that the winner would take control of the cabal. However, he learned that the winner of a duel over the leadership was automatically the leader of the Cabal of Eight. It was already written in the charter.

Cris: “Aw man! I should’ve got a copy of that damn charter!”

The GM (me): “Or read it.”

The terms were these: no magic items, no physical binding of your opponent (Belrae’s stipulation which caused some contention), no weapons only spell magic, no total immobilization (Excor added in response to Belrae’s previous stipulation), and the duelists would enter the arena with 3 active spells to be prepared directly before the fight (as was traditional).

After this stage in the duel ritual, Xendo advised all witnesses to stand away from the circle. Then he and Xanto, as well as the three other mages in guild garb, began chanting casting a chain spell (led by Xendo) on the small circle of open ground within the scribed dirt circle. A crackling, mostly transparent dome of pure magical energy faded into existence and enclosed the area within the circle. Those who could see directly into the area of effect found that the ground contained within seemed to be a much larger area than what could possibly be contained within the circle’s circumference. The magic caused a strange lensing effect while looking through the field. Most observers had to turn away as the effect hurt their eyes. The actual diameter of the duel area was about 10 ft, within it was 50 ft.

Meanwhile, Excor cast the Mage Armor, Breath Without Air, and Shield spells on himself. Unbeknownst to team Excor, Belrae cast Death Armor, False Image II, and Invisibility II on himself. As soon as the dueling arena, as it was referred to, was up and functioning, both duelists were asked to enter from opposite but facing sides. With no further ceremony, the duel commenced.

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Belrae got the jump on Excor and began casting flamboyantly but the spell fizzled. Excor cast Slow on his opponent however the spell did not take effect for whatever reason. He watched carefully as Belrae tried to cast the same spell but again failed. Excor then took the time to size up his opponent and tried to guess what the spell was that he was trying to cast. A quick Spellcraft check revealed that Belrae was trying to get a Bolt of Stunning off. Belrae then cast Daggerfall instead on Excor destroying his shield. Excor hit Belrae with a cone of fire (Cone of Energy: Fire) visibly scorching his purple robes.

Excor moved away and cast See the Invisible. He rolled a Natural 1 on a general detection check of his surroundings which cost him a move equivalent action. Belrae immediately cast a fireball (Energy Ball: Fire) catching Excor in the blast reducing his mage armor by half. Excor shot a Lightning Bolt at Belrae but it fell short. Belrae appeared to flinch as if hit anyway. Visible scorch marks appeared on his robes. Then Belrae began a spell which quickly got out of his control and went wild. He twitched when a poisonous green bolt of energy blasted from his hands and struck Excor’s mage armor, destroying it. Excor charged forward and let loose a Force Ram spell, Belrae amazingly dodged with a natural 20.

The opponents circled each other like dogs in a fighting pit, each looking for an opening that would end this contest. Belrae seeing his chance, tried to cast a spell, but it fizzled out. Excor let loose a Bolt of Stunning striking Belrae but to no effect.

Excor: “What!? Hmm. Dammit!”

Belrae went to cast another spell and again it went wild in his clumsy hands. The skulls of both opponents flashed with a blast of purplish-white energy causing each of them to shudder with pain. Both had suffered temporary wisdom (WIS) damage from the wild magic. Fortunately, not enough to render either completely insane. Excor shot Belrae again with another Bolt of Stunning. Again, it was to no effect.

Excor: “Damn!”

Belrae began approaching and carefully sidestepping, motioning as if casting a spell. Excor fell for the ruse and prepared to take a hit, but nothing came. Excor then unleashed a Paralyze II spell trying to cripple one of his foe’s arms thereby preventing his spellcasting. However, nothing happened again.

Isis: “Aw man!”

Jenn: “Oh no!”

Cris: “Sh*t. What the hell? … I’m missing something.”

Suddenly, Excor was smashed from behind by a Force Ram spell strong enough to put him out of action. The dome of energy faded away and all wounds suffered during the match likewise disappeared. Excor got up dusting himself off. Xanto was already congratulating Belrae on his “flawless” victory.

Cris: “Shit! Good one.” (Directed at me) “Damn!”

Then he realized something and groaned loudly before face-palming.

Isis: “What? What’s going on?”

Cris: “The spells he used to get me in the duel. False Image II, Invisibility, and Force Ram?”

Me (the GM): “Hey, you guessed it!”

Isis: “Yeah.”

Cris: “He got those from my and Gornix’s grimoires! When we traded spells way back when! He learned that from us!” (I don’t think the actual moment is recorded dear reader, but they traded spells at the end of almost every cabal meeting while Gil (Gornix’s player) was still playing, so I probably truncated the actual occurrence in the blog).

With the match over and leadership of the cabal settled Excor limped back to his room in Fauna’s new rental and went to sleep. The others, however, had their own plans, and as all were shuffling from the guild house Szoo and Fauna decided to invite Bumble along for a drink at the Red Helm. They had intended to ply her for information over drinks. They were convinced the Wasp was planning something. However, Bumble collapsed after the first tip of the mug. Fauna had dosed her ale with yellow lotus.

Szoo: “Ugh! Why did you do that!”

Fauna: “I dunno, we were trying to get her f*&%ed up right?”

Szoo: “Not that messed up!”

Fauna then left Szoo there to take care of the Wasp’s apprentice. She went to see the grove tender in Central Park, Anishi, and after a brief discussion, while Anishi was busy leading a chant around the central tree with his pupils, she found he was a member of the Southern Order of Druids. After that brief and mostly fruitless adventure, the druidess shuffled back to the new rental and did some yellow lotus.

The following day, the 3rd of Low Harvest, the three adventurers plus Jirek and Bumble found themselves around the old round table in the club room. Belrae lorded over all of them and most of the time it was him making speeches and plans that would eventually require the assistance of the rest. They all pretty much just tuned him out. All save for Excor as Belrae couldn’t help but send a verbal jab his way every now and then. Szoo, as usual, was gazing out of the window most of the time but looked over at Belrae just after he had finished his last vainglorious speech and loudly uttered, “Ugh!” Before the meeting was dismissed it was declared that Xanto the Wasp would be donating his “consultation services’ to the cabal. Belrae prevented Excor from talking when he piped up with his objections.

Over the following eight days, Excor brewed mead and Fauna brewed several potions. She had gone to the bank to make a withdrawal realizing that the banker, Xander (see Cabal of Eight II pt.3: Blue Cloaks & Bankers), was a member of the cult she was leading. The next meeting was dominated by the superstar team of Belrae and the Wasp who ultimately decided, with the input of Fauna, to begin planning an expedition to find the Golden Bee. Apparently, the Wasp had “come upon some valuable information concerning” it.

12th of Low Harvest – Szoo had just put the finishing touches on his brand-new staff and had exited the “bone sculptor’s” hole in the wall into the narrow maze of narrow back alleys that hid him. The naga was strutting his way to the nearest main street with his new staff in hand. It was made of dragonbone with a starmetal inlay that wound up along the length of it to a single large moonstone embedded at its head. It was a staff of elemental blast (fire) and could deal +1D6 fire damage on a strike. Suddenly, Szoosha’s shield spell was triggered by a blast of concentrated water. He spun around and prepared for battle.

Before him stood a slight, fair-skinned human, a Fuglotian mage, wearing soft leather armor with a grey serpent sown on the breast, and a wolf skin mantle on his shoulders. It was the water elementalist who had accompanied the Grey Serpent Pirates (The Cabal of Eight II Pt.15: Something on the Table).

The Grey Serpent Mage (pointing accusingly at Szoo): “You’re too close to the sea fire tosser!”

Szoosha could feel his hatred. It was instinctive between the two of them. They were each harnessing opposing elements by instinct. So, it only followed logically that casters of opposing forces would instinctively hate each other. Apparently, the water elementalist had taken his lack of facing down Szoosha in battle as a personal insult.

Szoo (hissing angrily): “Alright! Let’s do this!”

To be Concluded…

The Cabal of Eight II – Pt.25: Calm in the Dragon’s Wake

It was late morning; some carpenters were measuring the warehouse. Vor Jetl was overseeing a crew with a winch and chain by the large hole in the dock floor. He was going to recover the dragon’s corpse; it was simply too much money to just leave it to rot. He promised each of the trio that they could claim a share at the safehouse sometime tomorrow evening. Jirek had taken his leave and Fauna and Szoo had left together to breakfast at the safehouse. Excor, still mourning the unicorn wand, decided to breakfast at the White Prong. From there, he would head to the Red Helm hoping to smooth over the situation with Draega.

It was nearing afternoon by the time he reached the Red Helm tavern. Draega was out front overseeing some workers. They were constructing a new framework and facade over the gaping hole in the front of the place.

Draega (taking time from setting up a sandwich board with a red helmet next to a frothing mug of ale painted on it): “oh… it’s you.”

Excor (handing Draega a large sapphire and emerald): “This should cover everything.”

Draega: “Ha! I knew you wouldn’t leave our friendship in the dirt to die! I suppose you and your friends might still come around for your meetings and whatnot. But this does not cover the clubroom rent. And no more complementary drinks!”

His aims met, Excor was about to walk away and head to his apartment far to the south. However, as he turned, Belrae and his right-hand man Riahm were in his face—the de facto leaders of the Cabal. Belrae was a fresh-faced young Ezmerian, his purple robes fluttering in the breeze with a prominent green frog on his chest. Riahm was a young Ivoran man with a sun-kissed face his half brown half green cloak testified to the fact that he was a graduate of the Ezermian Bardic College.

Belrae: “There you are! You interfered with a very important deal we had with the dragon queen! You screwed up a prime bit of cabal business!”

Excor: “Whoa! Whoa! That dragon business was going to go bad no matter what! Even Draega warned you.”

Belrae: “Shut up!”

Cris: “Oh? Well, that’s it I’m through with this guy!”

Belrae: “Now I hear you’re telling everyone that you’re the leader of the cabal!”

Excor: “What!?”

Cris: “Sh*t! It’s that damned Wasp, he’s been workin’ Belrae while we were dealing with that dragon sh#t.”

He was not wrong although he had no real reason for believing so other than being familiar with Xanto the Wasp’s modus operandi.

Belrae: “Y’know what! Y’know what!?”

Excor: “Well…”

Belrae: “I challenge you to a duel for leadership of the cabal, a wizard’s duel! Anytime you want it!”

Excor: “Fine. Let’s duel. You pick the time.”

Belrae (after consulting with Riahm): “In two days’ time at dusk in the Star Sapphire guild house.”

The pair stomped off. Excor just shrugged.

Isis: “Oh! It’s those two connected to the Sapphire guild!” (see The Cabal of Eight II Pt.24 – Wrath of the Dragon Queen)

Morning of the 28th of Monsoon – The trio of Excor, Fauna, and Szoo sit around a table in a bustling and already smoke-fogged common room of the White Prong the board brimming with steaming meat, fresh fruit, and foaming tankards of dark ale, morning conversations sizzled through the greasy air.

Fauna (lifting an overfilled tankard to her mouth): “Aaah! Breakfast ale!”

Szoo and Fauna had slept at the safehouse and Excor had taken a room for the night at the Shield & Helm Inn. They discussed the battle with the Ocean of the Desert, mentioned how none of them wanted to deal with the Wasp (Szoo still had his key) for a while and ran through the list of loot. Excor had spent an hour before sunrise identifying all four pieces of the dragon queen’s jewelry.

There was the silver and diamond necklace with five silver acorn charms, a silver bracelet, a gold bracelet, and a diamond-encrusted silver diadem/tiara. All were insanely valuable and somewhat magically powerful. The gold bracelet had the constant ability of Death Armor (1D4 + 5), and the silver bracelet had Heal Self (10D4) three times a day. The silver diadem on the other hand, had the abilities of Track Enemy (98%) once per day, Scry twice a day, Soul Armor at will once per day, and the central sapphire held the ability to cast Negate Magic I at will three times per day. However, the necklace was something else altogether.

The necklace was a legacy item, and each acorn charm was able to control the mind of a slave. Clairvoyance had revealed to Excor earlier that it was an item of legacy and only fire intense enough to shatter the diamonds can destroy it. Unanimously they decided to destroy the necklace as legacy items are not only useless but also can be dangerous to those who are not part of that legacy. For that they would reconvene at Fauna’s rental, or in what was left of it anyway.

A little more than an hour later the group was back in the old rental in the north quarter. The trio voted three to one that the fire elementalist would be charged with the necklace’s destruction. After all, if the fire elementalist couldn’t create flames hot enough to destroy it, who could? Szoo lit the hearth with his fire magic and the other two backed off, trying to find cover as Szoo prepared to throw the necklace into the roaring flames.

Szoo (the necklace dangling off the end of his naginata): “Oh boy! Okay! I’m doing it!”

The other two ducked behind what cover they found and the naga tossed the diamond necklace into the flames. A blinding flash of magical light caused him to jump backward and shield his eyes in the crook of his arm. When he looked again the flames of the roaring fire had been frozen and turned to solid ice. Szoo used his fire touch ability to recover the necklace from the ice and then took it into the alley to try to use his Encase in Element (fire) spell.

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Eventually, after building what amounted to a bonfire in the alleyway, Szoo, through superior concentration (N20), encased the necklace the flames shattering the gems and melting the rest. The trio sighed in relief Szoo had successfully destroyed the necklace without much incident. They finally settled down to split the loot; Szoo kept the tiara, Excor took the gold bracelet, and Fauna the silver bracelet. A few moments later, they went their separate ways.

Szoo hoofed it down to the seafront looking for Paej (see The Cabal of Eight Pt.20: Rats, Rowdies, and Imps) as a favor to Excor. He was to inquire about “any important info about the brewers and distillers in the city”. Whatever that meant. The naga eventually found Paej at the bar in a scuzzy pirate-infested dive. She had a crew and a boat and was just looking for a job. As it turned out, there was only a single brewer within the city, the Red Scorpion Barrel. Otherwise, there was no other information.

Szoo: “Oh hey, you know a bone carver that can enchant stuff?”

Paej: “Yeah, yeah I know a guy, but he can be a little paranoid.”

Paej gave Szoo the location of the bone-carver, it was a rickety staircase deep in an alley in the West Quarter just off the Shop District. Szoo shrugged and thanked Paej then went off to check to see if the dragonhide and bone was ready at the safehouse. A few hours later, and to his delight, he found that his share was ready and waiting. After packing up his wealth of dragon bone & hide, he went to find the bone-carver.

Another couple of hours later, Szoo easily found the rickety staircase on the alley side of a low-end apartment building. After he took a few minutes to remember the specific knock that would get the door opened, he was face-to-face with a wild-eyed, skinny, pale, man with a heavy Hyvalian accent and a bush of wild, gray hair dressed in a dirty, tattered robe. After convincing the twitchy nervous guy that he wasn’t any kind of authority, Szoo revealed his purpose to the “bone-sculptor” as the guy insisted that he was though he was likely some sort of bone-specialized necromancer.

Szoo wanted help in creating a magic staff with a star metal inlay and a large moonstone at its top out of the dragonbone with the Elemental Blast (fire) spell on it. After showing the bone-sculptor he had the means to pay, they embarked on creating the magic staff that would take 13 days to complete.

Meanwhile, Fauna was heading out unsure as to what to do as a messenger reached her while departing the old rental with two messages for her, Draega wanted them out of the rental as did Vor Jetl from the safehouse. So, she went apartment-hunting. She was talking to barkeeps and paying criers 1 bit to read board posts for her. Eventually, she found herself somewhere in the South Market District near the Main City Gate chasing down a lead when she ran into a familiar face. A longtime contact, Kosapio Belahgastro (see The Cabal of Eight Pt.24: Plate of Scorpions), the Creschan woman was wearing a white robe and blue apron with a white star on the chest. They talked for a few minutes and Fauna lamented that she did not keep in contact like she should. Then they parted ways again.

Cris: “Wait!”

Jenn: “What?”

Cris: “You had a contact in the White Star guild this whole TIME!?”

Isis: “What!? Really!?”

Cris: “Yeah! She was wearing the White Star, they’re the biggest healers’ guild in the city!”

Jenn: “So what?”

Cris: “So what!?” He went into fits of incomprehensible sputtering.

Isis: “JENNY!”

Cris (his outrage finally subsided after several minutes): “Ya know, having a contact in the world’s largest healers’ guild could’ve been helpful.”

Jenn just shrugged.

Fauna finally found a place she liked and put down a deposit.

At the same time, Excor had walked to Baba’s Apothecary to “smoke and chill” with the naga apothecary. They were calmly discussing various herbs, especially lotus. She mentioned she had a new supplier for lotus. He wears a gold mask with a gold bee and flower blossom on it. She did have a backup supplier, a smaller-time guy in the city. Excor knew who that was (Anishi the Grove Tender, Fauna’s friend and co-cultist). After a few hours of smoking, Excor decided to go to the safehouse to collect his share of the spoils. From there, he went back to his room at the Shield & Helm. The duel with Belrae was ever-present in his mind.

Morning of the 1st of Low Harvest – Excor sent a whisper to Jirek and Fauna inviting them to breakfast at the White Prong. There he asked Jirek to be his second in the duel at morrow’s dusk. He would also need access to Jirek’s warehouse. The scribe also agreed to this. Excor then departed to a tailor. He wanted a purse, cowl, gloves, and potion bandolier made from the blue dragon hide. With a 10gp deposit, it would take 10 days to be ready for pickup.

Then he went to a cooper near the docks purchasing two empty hogsheads. He had them delivered to Jirek’s warehouse where he had hoped to fill them with his magic goblet. (Cabal of Eight Pt.38: The Black Tombs Pt.2 for the chalice, Cabal of Eight II Pt.2: A Letter and a Map for the birth of his scheme). However, he realized too late that it would take forever to fill them that way. Seriously, we ran through the (approximate) math for about half an hour.

Later, as the sky darkened and the sun was nearing dusk, Fauna went to find Vor Jetl. However, she couldn’t find the Dragonfly anywhere. In his stead, she sought out Anishi. But he was busy directing initiates of the Southern Order in maintaining and landscaping Central Park. Both with druidic magic and standard gardening tools. So, as she wanted a magic cloak made from her share of the dragonhide, Anishi suggested a member in the Old Market District. She got there close to dusk and put in an order for a Cloak of Many Pockets. It would take 10 days for the seamster to complete. He guaranteed his work would be of high quality and gave her a great price with a wink (he was a member of the cult she was head priestess of as well).

Cris: “Geesh, must be nice to have a cult! Y’know, we need to think about how to use them in the future.”

Isis: “Yes! We really need to.”

Jenn: “Hey, that’s my cult!”

Cris: “Well! You need to start using ‘em!”

Jenn: “That’s what I just did!”

Both Cris and Isis sighed with disgust.

Fauna eventually found her way back to the safehouse where the servant still let her in. The first thing she did was plop down on the sofa and dose herself with some yellow lotus powder. She passed out immediately and was tormented by a disturbing dream about Vor Jetl. She dreamed that he was nude laying on grey silk pillows with the general feeling of undefined dread.

Elsewhere, Excor spent 5 hours filling the hogsheads in the warehouse then quit and retired to the Shield & Helm. When in his room, he laid back onto the feather pillow and bed after a hot meal and bottle of wine. The duel was now only a matter of hours away.

To Be Continued…

The Cabal of Eight II – Pt.24: Wrath of the Dragon Queen

It had taken an entire day and night to talk Vor Jetl out of “confiscating” the wand. He wanted to cash it in with the blue dragon. Fauna had even pulled rank on him. His soldiers were apparently cult members themselves, they relented to her before he did. So, he spent an entire day and night “conversing” with them about possession of the wand. Eventually, however, the trio finally talked him into letting them keep the wand. They could keep it safe. Then they formulated a plan which they needed Vor Jetl’s resources for. He cheerfully endorsed the idea since now, they would “owe” him “two” now.

Excor: “What?”, turning to Fauna, “What did he say?”

Fauna: “Oh, don’t worry about that right now.”

Excor (pointing at Fauna): “You and me, we really need to have a long talk when this is all over.”

Fauna waved his concerns away, of course, they would tell each other everything afterward. Note dear reader, Jenn (Fauna’s player) winked at me.

Meanwhile, Excor had formulated a plan. Vor Jetl would lend them the use of an empty warehouse on the docks, and he would send a messenger who would deliver the trio’s location to the dragon: the warehouse tomorrow at sunup. The trio would use what remains of the day to hire members of the dragonslayers’ guild to assist them in “ending this”. All adventurers were nervous and taking deep breaths (as were their players).

Vor Jetl: “Um…”

Szoo: “Aw crap, what!?”

Vor Jetl: “The Roaring Skull – dragonslayers’ guild? Um…”

Fauna: “Spit it out!”

Vor Jetl: “During that nasty storm a few nights ago…”

Fauna shrugged her shoulders; she had been the guest of the Wasp the night that summer storm struck. Szoo and Excor had passed out completely exhausted (and drunk) before it had even started to thunder (see The Cabal of Eight II Pt.19 – The Dragon & the Wasp).

Vor Jetl: “…lightning struck the guild house and most of the slayers were killed when it burned down… to the ground.”

Szoo: “In the rain!”

Vor Jetl (he shrugged): “Well…”

Excor: *sigh* “We all know what happened, that damned dragon queen – Ocean of the Desert or whatever her name is.”

So, they decided to find any survivors and hire them, they should be raring for some vengeance. All went about their roles for the rest of the day.

Morning of the 27th of Monsoon – the first bleeding rays of sun were starting to pierce the slit windows of the massive barn-like warehouse. The floor was the moist wood of the pier onto which the place was built. Above on a central heavy support post and along the ceiling supports was a hook and tackle. The mages spread out at the far end and the three survivors of the dragonslayers’ guild massacre, for that’s what it had been, were hiding in the rafters. Jirek was to wait by the huge pair of sliding doors; when the dragon entered, he was to slam the doors shut trapping her inside with them. At least that was the hope.

They had figured at just past dawn that their message had reached the dragon queen – the Ocean of the Desert. It read:

The Cabal of Eight awaits the presence of the oh-so-powerful Puddle of the Pisspot if she does not fear the true power of the mages of the Cabal of Eight. We have your wand here in the red warehouse between the first and second piers on the waterfront. Come alone or we will disintegrate the wand before your very eyes.

Signed,

The Cabal of Eight.

The sun had just fully peeked over the dark blue horizon of the Silverset Sea, and the mages were stretching tired of waiting. The dragonslayers were silent and waiting like eager cats in their perches.

Jenn: “So. We’re going to destroy the wand if she doesn’t show?”

Cris: “Hell no! I mean, we don’t have the magic to destroy it, it was a bluff but she don’t know that.”

Dark clouds moved over the horizon causing the warehouse to become shrouded in a muggy, grey gloom.

Szoo: “Well maybe she won’t show.”

Excor: “Oh, she’ll…”

The warehouse doors crashed as they were thrown open, standing between them was the silhouetted human form clad all in blue and silver of the Ocean of the Desert, the dragon queen. She seemed angry.

Excor: “Well, here we go! Jirek! Jirek?”

Szoo: “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.”

Fauna: “Alright! Let’s kill this b*#@h!”

The queenly form of the Ocean of the Desert instantly swelled into that of a giant blue dragon as she strode angrily toward the young mages. Her true dragon form still wearing the silver diadem on her head, a silver and diamond necklace with five silver acorn charms dangling on her neck, and the gold and silver bracelets on her left and right wrists. Still very much a dragon queen. The trio of adventurers sucked in air but held their ground, as did the dragonslayers in the rafters, Jirek, however, shrieked in terror and backed into a corner failing to shut the doors.

Fauna immediately moved to the side towards Excor while throwing fire at the dragon. Her flames hit a shield spell, but she maintained them as they jetted from her hand. The dragon queen’s throat swelled and the mages and dragonslayers braced themselves as the entire place vibrated with the dragon’s inhalation. Then with a deafening roar, she let loose a blast of lightning from her mouth catching Excor and a dragonslayer. Fortunately, a shield spell protected both from the thundering energy. Some rafters blasted through the hole made in the roof of the warehouse and flaming splinters rained down on the mages sizzling out on the damp planks as they fell. Excor summoned a giant earth-elemental that erupted into existence from thin air. The planks under its feet creaked.

Szoo activated his ring of Fearsome Form II and flew up into the rafters, a hideous insect-like version of himself with leathery dragonfly wings. The head dragonslayer leaped from the splintered rafters and landed a tremendous leaping blow with his sword but the blade hit another shield spell. The second dragonslayer also dropped from the rafters with a single tremendous axe blow, her axe hitting a third shield spell.

Excor: “It’s okay! It’s okay! Her shields are down! Her shields are down!”

The third dragonslayer shot his bow launching a dragonbone arrow right at the heart of the beast, however, she instantly knocked the fragile projectile to the side with a claw. It hit the wall shattering. Jirek tried to flee but was too afraid to run past the dragon and just dove behind a heavy wood stud. Fauna ran across the warehouse floor to the side opposite Excor as she maintained her flames dealing very little damage. The great blue dragon queen clawed the elemental tearing a significant chunk out of its solid stone chest.

Excor cast Mage Armor on himself as he drew his Wand of Spell Penetration. Szoo flew to the apex of the warehouse ceiling, near the hole should he need to escape, and shot a ray of fire at the dragon dealing no damage. The head dragonslayer slashed the dragon with his sword dealing some damage followed by his fellow who landed a blow with her axe, but it bounced off the steel-hard scales. The slayer in the rafters took aim with his bow and hit with a magic arrow but it shattered harmlessly against the monster’s scales. Fauna continued to blast fire at the dragon dealing very little damage. The dragon snapped her massive jaws at the axe-wielding dragonslayer who dodged instant death by a hair’s breadth. Excor channeled the Slow spell through his wand at the blue dragon and penetrated the dragon queen’s impressive magic resistance.

Szoo & Fauna (both at once): “Yeah!”

Emboldened, Szoo flew down using his naginata to strike at one of the dragon’s eyes, but the blow glanced harmlessly off the beast’s cheek. The lead dragonslayer lashed out with his sword again but the dragon easily parried with a claw. The archer in the rafter drew his bow again and this time hit, nailing the dragon with a magic arrow which did a little damage. The blue dragon’s massive tail whipped at Fauna, fortunately, hitting a shield spell. Excor cast Verminous Might on himself gaining a pair of insect wings, he buzzed up to the apex of the roof. The dragonslayer leader slashed again but his blade bounced harmlessly off the monster’s hide. The axe-wielding dragonslayer swung as well but her axe also bounced harmlessly off the dragon. The archer shot and hit but did very little damage this time.

Szoo, still hovering about the dragon’s face, tried to shoot a ray of fire into the dragon’s eye but missed and dealt no damage. The axe-wielding slayer put all her might behind her next blow in a power attack and dealt some damage. The archer used his last magic arrow, he dealt a little damage. Fauna maintained her throw fire spell dealing some damage as her flames continued to increase in intensity. The dragon touched a claw to the central sapphire set in her diamond-encrusted silver diadem. A flash of magic light and Excor instantly knew that his slow spell had ended. The lead dragonslayer attacked with his sword and not only missed but dropped it. The earth elemental stomped forward and slammed both its fists against the dragon queen’s ribs but did no damage while Excor cast slow again but the dragon successfully resisted this time.

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Szoo tried to grab and pull off the dragon’s diadem but failed to even touch it. The axe-wielding slayer swung again in a power-attack hacking at the dragon, dealing minimal damage. The archer shot a highest-quality arrow at the dragon, but the projectile shattered on a deflecting wing. Fauna maintained her flames the intensity of which all in the warehouse could now feel but the dragon took no damage. The dragon belched another bolt of lightning right at Excor, but it hit his mage armor instead, sparing the structure of the warehouse. The lead dragonslayer backed off and retrieved his sword. Excor cast shadow ribbons on the dragon, but the black straps of shadow stuff melted away as soon as they touched the creature. Jirek was juking left and right as he ran about aimlessly panic-stricken trying to escape the massive dragon.

Szoo again tried to pull the tiara-like diadem off the dragon queen but again failed. The archer loosed another highest-quality arrow that splintered on the dragon’s deep blue scales. Fauna maintained her flames dealing a decent amount of damage this time. The dragon surged forward and tried to stomp on the axe-wielding slayer knocking her prone and wounding her badly. The archer shot his last highest-quality arrow, and again it broke on the dragon’s scales. Excor cast shadow ribbons again but again his magic failed to penetrate the dragon’s defenses.

The dragon twisted its body and swept one side of the warehouse with its massive tree-trunk tail. All the axe-wielding slayer could do was scream until her fearless leader leaped in its way and miraculously parried the blow with his sword. One of the heavy wood supports was smashed and as a result, a small part of the roof caved in. However, the archer was able to stay on his perch as the rafters quaked from the blow. The lead slayer again struck the dragon with his sword dealing some damage. Excor moved to the corner farthest from the dragon queen.

The battle raged on for another round where Szoo was able to snatch away the dragon’s diadem and was surprised when it shrank in his hands to a wearable size. The archer tried for the dragon queen’s eyes but repeatedly failed, and Fauna maintained her fire dealing increasing amounts of damage. The dragonslayer leader continued to slash away, Excor began using his force ram spell as his chosen weapon, and the dragon unleashed its breath on the archer nearly killing him and blasting away a portion of the roof. Jirek was barely able to dodge a portion of the falling roof.

They continued to fight on. Excor shot a storm of force ram and shadow ribbon spells at the dragon queen including a quickened slow spell, all ineffectual. He had to renew his mage armor as the first instance was almost gone by the end of the round. Fauna was dealing the most damage with her long-running throw fire spell. Szoo hacked away at the dragon’s face with his naginata while wearing the dragon’s diadem.

Jirek found a space under some debris to hide and cower. The three dragonslayers were barely able to hang on using recovery checks and dodging along with power attacks and attempted eye shots as their main strategies. The dragon snapped repeatedly at Fauna and Szoo fortunately hitting their shields. However, it blasted the two dragonslayers that were on the ground horribly wounding them. Fauna, caught in the blast, lost her last shield but mage armor activated from one of her items.

The fight ground on. All three dragonslayers were dead by the first minute thirty seconds of battle. Jirek finally overcame his horror and began using a magic dagger that flew at the dragon on command, however, it never landed a blow. The dragon eventually smashed Fauna with a tail swipe causing her to lose her carefully maintained flames and she could not overcome the dragon’s spell resistance with subsequent instances of the spell. Szoo resorted to hand-to-hand combat and the elemental remained unable to damage the dragon queen with anything but a lucky blow though it was devastating.

The battle continued for another grueling thirty seconds.  Fauna nearly died save for a very lucky recovery check and a healing potion. Szoo nearly died, save for a decent recovery check before performing a suicidal power attack driving his naginata blade into the dragon’s neck. The dragon queen continued to blast the mages and the warehouse with her lightning bolt breath and snapping her steel-trap jaws at them eventually putting a sizeable hole in the floor planks exposing the seawater below. Jirek was unconscious and bleeding on the ground. Excor exhausted his repertoire of force ram spells, dealing severe damage to the warehouse but ultimately scoring the death blow on the dragon with the last spell possible for him to cast (he had 1 KO pt. left).

The dragon queen was finally dead, her massive corpse slid through the gigantic hole in the dock planks into the ocean. The last three standing began to giggle. They had won and survived by the skin of their teeth. Then they heard the grinding of wheels and the clopping of the horses of a coach pulling up to the doors. Excor and Szoo went and looked through the ruined opening. There was a black coach with a large seal painted on its door. The mark of the Ezmer branch of the Star-Sapphire Confraternity. A man of advanced age in black and blue silk robes opened the door and slowly disembarked the coach.

The Old Wizard (at Excor): “Ah-hem. I think you have something that belongs to me.”

Excor: “Oh, of course, of course, sir!”

Excor immediately fetched the wand from his robes.

Fauna: “What!? You’re just handing it over! After all that!?”

 Cris: “Hell yes! That guy could probably take us at our best, right now we’re done. I don’t have spells left, do you?”

Jenn: “Damn. Okay, you’re right.”

The Old Wizard: “Yes. I remember you all.” He gingerly took the wand from Excor’s hands. “We’ve been tracking this baby since it arrived in the bay aboard ship.” His eyes washed over it hungrily.

Excor introduced himself with his full noble name (sorry dear reader, I lost the notes though only the old wizard heard it anyway) finishing with a flourish of his still-smoking hat.

The Old Wizard: “Indeed. Well, I am grateful. You and your companions speak well of your little cabal just as your other two friends have proven themselves. This cabal of yours has been noticed. Though this does not mean you four have earned an audience with the guild as the other two have.”

The four young and rather haggard mages were puzzled.

The Old Wizard: “Well, I might entertain a favor from any of you, maybe. I am Xendo Zhaivo, arbiter for the confraternity.” With that, he turned and leaped back into the carriage. It almost immediately trotted off.

Szoo: “What did he mean by that?”

Excor: “I have no idea. … Oh well, we’ll probably find out soon. We have a cabal meeting in two days.”

The remains of the warehouse creaked dangerously. The splintered floor with its gaping hole was now treacherous. Small dusty bits of wood and roof tiles were occasionally falling down from above the survivors’ heads. Excor walked over to Jirek and poured a healing potion down his throat. After that, he looted the dragonslayers’ corpses. He kept the bearded axe, the two-handed longsword, and the bowie knife. Not long after, the trio and Jirek limped to the road where they collectively collapsed to their duffs. Suddenly, a carriage clomped up to them. None other than Vor Jetl leaped out of it roaring with anger at the three victors. His warehouse was “ruined”! Fauna gave him three large sapphires. He went back to smiling immediately and told his footman to arrange for carpenters as soon as possible.

Cris: “Hey! That old bastard didn’t give me his name!”

To Be Continued…

The Cabal of Eight II – Pt.23: Home Sweet Safehouse

The group was rushing through the streets with Fauna in the lead. They wound south taking alleys and turning whenever there was a corner trying to keep from making too straight a line through the city. They soon passed beneath the shadow of the great southwestern guard tower, a castle in and of itself, as they ran deeper into the Southwest District. Fauna came to a halt before a tall three-story apartment building with three small shuttered slit windows per floor. The street was narrow, and the only traffic was street beggars and a leper ringing a bell as they limped past. Fauna walked up to the mildewed wooden double doors and fitted a key, given to her by one of Vor Jetl’s servants before she met up with her fellows at the White Prong. Excor observed the terra cotta tile roof, it appeared in ill repair. She opened the doors, and they went inside.

They found themselves in a small rundown foyer with an open roof and a shallow rain-catching pool of murky green water in the center of the floor. Everything was water damaged and the plaster was falling off in great patches on the walls exposing bricks. Fauna walked to the bronze double door. They could see patches of corrosion all over it. She reached up to the bell pull and rang the bell.

Excor: “Yup, just like I thought it would be.”

A small square hatch in the upper portion of the right-side door opened and they could see a rheumy eye look them over and without a word the doors swung open on unexpectedly oiled hinges. An old man welcomed them in. He was completely bald with a brass hoop earring in one drooping earlobe, a pair of brass bracelets on his wrists, leather sandals on his feet, and wrapped in an off-white toga fastened with a dull bronze brooch at the shoulder bearing the insignia of a dragonfly.

The Servant: “Ah! My mistress I’ve prepared for your return. There is food and drink on the table, I will return shortly with the meats.”

Excor & Szoo (together): “Whoa! What. The. Hell!”

They had wandered into a large room of white marble pillars and floors and smooth, white-washed walls. Censors hung from the ceiling of the square mezzanine that bounded the room opening into both floors above allowing the light from the skylight in the roof to bathe the room in bright warm light. Other censors stood around the perimeter by the walls, all smoking with a sweet mild scent. The center of the room was depressed and lined with embroidered silk pillows and three couches bounded the dropped floor. At the center of the dropped floor and mess of pillows was a glass top table set with trays of fresh fruit, three loaves of bread, a pot of butter, and two clay decanters of strong brown ale. They could see the top of a fully loaded hookah next to the table and the grand staircase beyond. Fauna’s three companions stood agape while she rushed over to the table and plopped down.

Excor: “Hey! Wait a minute! You need to answer some questions!”

Szoo: “Yeah, I think you need to explain some stuff.”

Fauna: “Like what?”

Szoo & Excor (together, both motioning to their surroundings): “Well. All of THIS!”

Fauna remained cheeky, so Excor and Szoo began to grill her about how she had these kinds of resources. Eventually, the druidess came clean as she realized trust was wearing thin within the group. She confessed to them that she was the head priestess of a secretive druidic cult that meets within the subterranean labyrinths under the city. They’re called the Brotherhood of the Rope. The groundskeeper of the Grove, Anishi (see The Cabal of Eight Pt.2: Wagon Ho!), was a high-ranking member and had brought her in, Virtra Wefa, the woman who had hired them in a failed scheme was at the time, the high priestess of the cult (see The Cabal of Eight Pt.24: Plate of Scorpions). This “safehouse” was owned by the merchant, Vor Jetl, “The Dragonfly”, another high-ranking cult member. Excor asked how long this had been going on.

Fauna: “I dunno, I became high priestess a few days ago…”

Both Szoo and Excor nodded in acceptance.

Fauna: “…but I guess I’ve been a member for like, uh, a month I think.”

Excor: “WHAT!? We could’ve used your cult to our advantage this whole TIME!

Cris, went ballistic going on a diatribe at the table that lasted for about 10 minutes. When he finished Fauna replied with a snide, “Well, we’ve got this place for now. Vor Jetl said we got it for as long as we need it. Wow, I’m really stressed.”

Fauna rolled out a line of yellow lotus on the glass table.

Szoo & Excor (together): “NO.”

Fauna: “Aww.” She put it away, pouted for a bit, then poured herself an ale in one of the gold-leafed red-clay wine cups as a salve.

After eating and drinking the group was settled in and Szoo and Fauna took turns pulling on the hookah. Excor kept the wrapped wand next to him, Jirek stayed close by babysitting a cup of dark wine that the old servant had brought out after supper. Excor reached into a pocket and pulled out the letter and sheet of aged sheepskin that had accompanied the wand’s case (see The Cabal of Eight II – Pt.20: Hideaway). He took it upon himself to cast clairvoyance on the letter, twice, to try to glean some answers.

Excor sat on a pillow in a meditative pose aside from the lounging group save for Jirek who remained his constant companion. After a few minutes…

Excor: “Sh*t!”

Szoo: “Wha? What’d you, see?”

Excor: “The ‘distinguished blue steward’ from the note.”

Fauna: “Yeah?”

Excor: “He was the arbiter at our trial.” (see The Cabal of Eight Pt.23: Trial of the Cabal).

Szoo: “Crap.”

Fauna just shrugged. She got up from the pillows and dropped herself onto a couch. Then as she stretched herself out, she realized something. She had spilled the beans about her cult to not only her dear companions Szoo and Excor but also to Jirek.

Jenn: “Guys, Jirek knows about the cult, I think I’m going to have to kill him.”

Isis: “What!? Nooo, why are you obsessed with killing Jirek!?”

For the past several sessions Jenn had been suggesting that they needed to kill Jirek for some reason.

Cris: “Naw, don’t kill a member of the cabal. We’ll figure it out later.”

They went back and forth between the three of them about what to do about the wand. Excor was vague but everyone figured out he wanted to keep it which caused Szoo to give him the side eye. Fauna talked about possibly destroying it, Excor agreed, but only if the Ocean of the Desert was about to get it. Szoo seconded that motion. Otherwise, they could not really figure out what to do with it as everyone after it wanted to cash-it-in to the dragon and they were loath to deal with a higher-up in the Sapphire guild. So, delivering the wand to him was out. Essentially, they did not reach a solid decision other than the Ocean of the Desert could not get her blue claws on it.

As night approached and the old servant went around lighting candles as well as the chandelier which hung from the ceiling two floors up from the center of the skylight as well as those in sconces in each of the bed chambers. They decided they needed to have two watches. Jirek and Fauna would be on the first watch, Szoo and Excor would be on the second. The reason was that they could not trust Jirek and though they didn’t say it out loud, they didn’t really trust each other at this point either.

The first watch commenced as the other two lay down amongst the pillows in the main room rather than the bedrooms prepared for them on the upper floors. An hour or so passed as the vast place became dead quiet then the servant passed the pair of watchers apparently on his way outside. He explained to Fauna that he had to run some errands for his master and would be right back. He asked her if there was anything he could get her, and when she said no, he left.

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Fauna: “Sooo, Jirek… What’s up?”

Jirek: “Um, not, nothing really. Hey, you got some lotus on you?”

Fauna: “Hell yea…wait. So, you wanna do some?”

Jirek: “Well, ladies first…”

Fauna (suspicious but successfully playing it off): “You go ahead we’re on watch, it’s alright, I got this.”

She passed a small leather pouch to him. He denied it with an upturned hand, “That’s okay, it’s no fun alone.”

Jenn: “Yup, I really don’t trust this guy!”

Isis: “Oh, Jirek, man…”

Cris (mockingly): “Pfft! Oh yeah, I don’t trust him – No sh*t! He wants the wand, we all want the wand, it’s bad*ss!”

The first watch passed quietly, “too quietly” for Fauna, and the second began as Jirek and Fauna took their places amongst the silk pillows. After about an hour, Fauna was snoring, but Jirek was laying as if waiting for something pretending to be asleep as noted by Excor. He managed to whisper this info to Szoo without Jirek catching it. Another hour passed and the black night as observed through the skylight above had lightened to a deep star-specked purple.

Both Szoo and Excor were drowsing their heavy-lidded eyes rhythmically shutting and then opening when suddenly the lights dimmed throughout the room. Both mages shot to their feet.

Szoo: “Oh boy, here we go!”

Excor: “EVERYBODY UP! WAKE UP!”

A mass of black shadows coalesced into a large black cloud opposite the two watchers and on the other side of the sleepers. The cloud hardened into a blob that split into three human-like silhouettes with long wormy tentacles in place of arms.

Jirek leaped up and jumped behind Excor. Szoo charged forward and struck with his naginata, a rubbery whip-like tentacle parried the blade. Excor cast a shield spell on himself in time for a tentacle to stretch from the second shadow as it moved forward trying to entangle him. Fauna was still snoring as the third shadow’s tentacles oozed toward her sleeping form. Szoo’s shriek finally caused her to shoot up from a dead sleep. Jirek appeared to ready himself but did nothing. Szoo struck again but again was parried. The first shadow struck at Szoo, he dodged, and the tentacle cracked like a bullwhip. Excor backed away but tried to keep within reach of the wrapped wand. The second shadow advanced on him. Fauna dodged a tentacle and ran up the grand staircase. Jirek again readied himself, however, he did nothing save stepping closer to the wand. Excor cast a stun bolt at the creature on him, but it had no effect. Jirek looked around and seemed to root himself to the spot.

Excor: “Wait a minute. I think my spell hit a higher level of magic. Hm.”

Excor turned and cast paralyze II on Jirek who froze in place next to the wand. Szoo, in turn, struck home with his polearm, but it passed harmlessly through the monster.

Excor: “They’re shadow creatures! Watch out!”

Szoo: “I think these guys are illusions!”

Szoo reached out with confidence and his hand passed right through it as the illusion faded. Excor kicked Jirek and told him to dispel them. They disappeared.

Szoo: “Is Jirek even that powerful?”

Jirek (after the paralysis was lifted): “It was a scroll.”

Fauna: “WHO’RE WORKING FOR!?”

Jirek: “Myself! Myself! I just wanted the wand.”

Fauna: “Oh yeah! WHY!?”

Jirek & Excor (both at once): “Because it’s awesome!”

They decided not to kill Jirek after a two-to-one vote, but he was now on outs with the trio although they made it clear that he was now to consider himself a prisoner, at least until this wand debacle was over. If he gained the wand, he would then easily lose it to the Ocean of the Desert or the pirates and thus the dragon would get it anyway. That was not even taking Xanto the Wasp into account.

Excor (under his breath): “Gawd-dammit.”

Szoo: “what?”

Excor: “We need to finish this! We need a plan.”

Fauna: “Seconded!”

The three adventurer-mages were just about to huddle when the bronze double door burst open. Several armed guards poured into the room. Behind them followed the corpulent Vor Jetl, the old servant who stood just behind him.

Vor Jetl: “Ah, my dear priestess,” he bowed, “I see you found a great prize for the brotherhood. Our coffers will be overflowing!”

To Be Continued…

The Cabal of Eight II – Pt.22: The Wasp’s Nest

They easily made it through the mirror into the Wasp’s strange extra-dimensional hideout guided back to the mirror in the library closet by Fauna.

Szoo (mesmerized by the vaulted ceilings more than 20 ft. above him): “Whoa.”

The trio had the previous instant just been in a tiny closet and walked through an out-of-place mirror as if it were a thin veil of shimmering mercury and found themselves here. The walls were nearly featureless vast swaths of smooth cold beige. The magic sconces, large dragonflies of colored glass mosaic far up the walls lit by flickering golden magic flames. They lit the hall before them well enough though they were all made nervous by the fact the magic light also seemed to deepen the numerous shadows.

The trio looked down each side of the cross-hall, it seemed to continue both left and right into unlit sections which prevented them from seeing how far the cross-hall went. Jirek, the cabal scribe, was close but apart from the group.

Cris (Excor’s Player): “Crap, that’s right. Jirek’s still with us.”

Before them was a set of winding ivory stairs that rose to a spacious mezzanine, all the floors were a polished marble tile mosaic. In a niche under the stairs were stacked books and piles of scrolls, several of which were strewn about the floor along with several open books next to an oblong case.

Excor (to Fauna): “That it?” He pointed to the case.

Fauna: “I dunno, probably is.”

Excor looked at the green lacquered double door under the mezzanine ledge.

Fauna: “That leads to a library… I think.”

They turned around. Behind them was a large built-in mirror rimmed in gold with a sapphire and emerald dragonfly at the top edge. This main hall area was of considerable size.

Excor, not wanting to appear over-eager to get the case in his hands, starts questioning Fauna about what’s here – bedrooms up there and a bath, a kitchen somewhere (she had no idea), the library there beyond those doors, and that’s all she knew.

Szoo: “Should we start exploring this place?”

Excor: “Yeah, yeah… pick a hallway, there’s three ways to go. We kind of know what’s up there.” He pointed at the mezzanine and the main hall. He turned around to face one of the side hallways.

Szoo: “Um, the right one?”

Then as a group with Excor in the lead, they started to go down the dim hallway, the lights began to light up as they moved down. They continued for several minutes only noticing after they had made a long distance that the lights were progressively dimmer than the previous. They pushed on eventually stopping about a dozen feet or so from a virtual wall of darkness.

Excor: “Holdup.”

The trio each in turn tried to penetrate the impenetrable shadows with their eyes. Neither the druidess nor the naga could see a thing. Excor, however, thought he saw “something moving in there”. It was shapeless.

As a result, They began lighting torches and lamps, casting light spells, and trying to penetrate the supernatural darkness. It was as if they had come face to face with a brick wall but of solidified shadow instead of masonry. Fauna was prodded to “poke” her torch into it. When the flame submerged into its depths, its light was completely obscured. It came back out extinguished.

Excor: “Great. It probably has energy drain on it or some sh*t like that.”

Fauna: “What do you think it is?”

Excor: “A wall of shadows or something…”

The four mages, the trio of adventurers with Jirek following far behind, went in the opposite direction to the same result.

Excor: “Man! There’s gotta be something good back there. Ah! Do we wanna die trying to get it?”

Cris looked over at me with an accusing glare. I could only shrug and signal a “who me!?”, then wave my hands helplessly in the air.

Cris: “Yeah, yeah, I thought so.”

Excor (aiming his question at his companions): “So, do we try to get through this thing?”

Szoo & Fauna (in unison): “Screw that!”

Excor: “Cool, cool. We’re getting sidetracked, let’s get that f@*#’in wand!”

 They retreated to the box.

Cris: “Yeah, I don’t want to mess up my royal clothes!”

Excor was still in his royal duds; an embroidered silk robe with a black silk sash at the waist over a buttoned undershirt, black silk shoes on his feet, a black felt pork-pie hat with a peacock feather on his head, and the magic blue cape on his back.

Cris (to me, the GM): “Yeah, I need to get back into my adventuring gear, I need to keep my noble clothes clean.”

Isis (Szoo’s Player): “What!?”

Jenn (Fauna’s Player): “Oh! He’s a fancy lad!”

That’s when they noticed that Jirek, who was with them when they entered the Wasp’s strange extra-dimensional hideout, was already on the case trying to suss out how to open it.

Excor: “Hey! You get back from there!”

Szoo: “Don’t make me burn you, man!”

Fauna: “Yeah!”

Jirek backed off with his hands up, “Just curious, this is it though!”

Excor: “No kidding!”

Then Excor sidled up next to the case and began carefully inspecting it. Shortly after a concerted effort, they spotted a white outline of a keyhole under a seal. Excor had the other three stand back while he used his magic platinum key (see Cabal of Eight – Pt.17: Fight for Sleep) to temporarily open the magically sealed case. They were all stunned for a moment standing transfixed as he gazed upon the treasure within.

There, sitting within the small but long black case, was the wand that every power player in Ezmer was desperate to get their hands on. The scepter was almost as long as a short spear with a shining pearlescent twisted alicorn consisting most of its length.  The horn was set in a polished platinum horse-head guard with a polished jet grip and large polished azurite pommel stone.

Both Jirek and Excor grabbed the wand. They stared each other down for a moment, then Jirek reluctantly let go after Szoo threatened him.

Excor: “Okay. We need something to wrap this in.”

The case snapped back closed. They could all hear the locking mechanism reengage.

Fauna: “Got it!” She darted up the stairs and then after a few brief minutes ran back down the flight of stairs with a delicate silk blanket pilfered from an upper bedroom bunched in her arms. Then as they wrapped the glorious object in silk, they noticed that Jirek followed every movement of the wand with his eyes.

Isis: “Aw man, the wand’s got Jirek!”

Jenn: “Oh no, do we have to kill him?”

Cris: “Naw, we just have to keep an eye on him, don’t let him be alone with it… Damn.”

Jenn: “What?”

Cris: “We’re all wizards.”

Isis: “So.”

Cris: “None of us can really outrun him, if we were faster, we could lose Jirek on the way.”

Szoo: “Wait. Where are we going?”

Fauna: “Duh, the safehouse man!”

Isis (to Cris): “Wait. Why did you invite Jirek anyway?”

Cris: “…”

Jenn: “Well.”

Cris: “I forgot.”

Without analyzing anything further they fled back through the mirror leaving the empty case behind. They were going to run all the way to the safehouse set up for Fauna by Vor Jetl hoping that they could avoid the Blue Dragon’s servants, the two pirate crews, and the Wasp.

To Be Continued…

Corpse World: Apocalypse at Zombie Lake

zombie moon

It was a warm evening for January, the horizon viewable through the glass doors at the end of the great room was still golden orange and cloud streaked. Hunched over the table in the open-plan dining room I was sketching a map on the freshly unrolled battle map spread across the dinner table with dry-erase markers. It was a map of the south end of the lakeshore of Lake Ponchateaux. This included the gravel beach, the concrete flood control outlet next to the Old County Highway, along with a small boat launch with a rowboat and a few boathouses visible from the road at the far eastern end of the lake with two-story houses built at the tree line all the way around.

Jenn was cleaning up in the kitchen a few feet from me. We were waiting for Gil to show up with Isis and Cris, he would scoop them up on his way down from Glendale. We were already aware that the Carlos’ would not be attending as they had a family emergency a few days prior. It was not long after that I started drawing the map on the battle mat than the doorbell rang. Gil, Cris, and Isis walked in, Jenn greeting them. It took me a while longer to finish the map and by then everyone had already settled in and were ready to play.

Cris (to me): “So I guess we’re getting’ nuked today! Haw! Haw!”

Gil (suddenly looking up and over from his tablet device): “Whhat!?”

Cris: “During the first test play for Zombie Horror, the game ended with the city being nuked. We got caught in the shockwave, crashed our helicopter, and all died.”

Me (the GM): “Oh yeah. Hee, hee. I forgot about that.”

Cyber-Zombie Showdown

The adventurers’ caravan was at a dead stop. The walking dead were choking the east and west ends of the Old County Highway. They were trapped. At the head of both hordes were the large 10 ft. tall monster zombies complete with tank-like armor over their torsos, faces, and legs. The ominous red lights in their faces clicked in time to the zombie hordes’ march.

Kenny Logan the young soldier and William Fodder the survivalist were standing in the middle of the road as the others broke for the ditches at one side of the road and hopefully into the trees beyond. Though the landscape seemed to drop just after the tree line into a steep hillside. The group had positioned the tow truck and the other two cars to provide at least some barrier to the onslaught when they thought they were going to fight it out. Meanwhile, the remaining pair were going to “hold off and distract” the converging hordes armed with a flamethrower, M-16, and RPG-7.

Neither was going to get very far even if they tried to run with the others. Both were still badly wounded; William’s gut wound had begun to bleed again. He was going to bleed out without proper medical attention soon anyway. Kenny’s slash wounds from the grizzly had not yet healed and Lilith’s improvised brace still supported his bullet-crippled leg. He would not be able to traverse the sharp decline from the road.

As they ran through the trees and stumbled down a steep hillside, the others could hear gunfire, exploding grenades, and two rockets explode. Lilith (played by Isis), Wesley (played by Jenn), El Guapo (played by Gil), and Steve McCullen (played by Cris) ran blindly down the wooded slope trying to find their way to the lake.

The group battles commandoes

Onto the Bloody Shore

The four survivors stumbled through the bush into a tight clearing where they could see a paved road that they assumed, rightly, turned towards the lakeshore from the Old County Highway ahead of them. They followed it taking concealment from the roadside foliage until it turned off sharply north. The group stumbled onto the gravel of the beach strewn with broken glass and old beer cans. They were next to a hummock, coming out of its face was a concrete slope and flood channel opening that drained runoff into the lake. There was a steady stream of foamy water flowing down the center of the concrete slope forming a bank of dirty white suds at the edge of the water.

They would have to either walk across the sudsy concrete or climb over and around the top of the rocky tree-strewn hummock to get to the beach proper. The group thought the flood control slab was too much of a risk and thus they began to climb the steep slope of the hummock.

They moved slowly up the steep hillside, El Guapo had to catch Lilith by the hand to keep her from taking a tumble back down towards the soapy drainage. Ahead of them all was Steve McCullen. He had climbed farther than the others by pulling himself along grasping at tree branches and the stave-like stems of shrubs. He stopped suddenly as he caught sight of an inflatable zodiac dinghy.

It was poorly camouflaged with freshly snapped branches and clumps of leaves thrown haphazardly over it. He climbed up to the dinghy and saw there was a satchel explosive device in it along with a remote detonator which had a red blinking light. The light caused Steve to recall the red blinking lights on the faces of the armored titan zombies. He bent down to examine the contents of the raft throwing aside the crude attempt at camouflage. There were fresh boot prints all around it, he could smell the freshly turned soil. Suddenly, he noticed a red laser dot dancing on his chest.

Steve: “DOWN!”

The bush erupted with automatic gunfire bursting from the crown of the hummock. Shredded leaves, pine needles, and shattered wood exploded all around the group as they hit the ground. Steve peaked above the raft and could see three commandoes crouching behind a low bush and another off to the right on his belly behind a mostly buried boulder.

Lilith pulled her 9mm pistol spasmodically shooting the ground right next to her in her panic. Steve looked back and sure no one was hit pulled the 30-06 rifle from his back and shot at the closest commando, the one behind the rock. A good portion of the boulder shattered spraying shards of decimated rock over the area forcing the soldier’s head down. A soldier at the top of the hill fired and winged Steve with an aimed shot. Another missed Lilith by a mile and a third hit Wesley causing a flesh wound and a bullet fired by the fourth soldier (behind the shattered boulder) whizzed by El Guapo’s head. Wesley shot back with her Desert Eagle blasting a chunk out of a tree near soldier number 3. El Guapo threw a headshot at the fourth soldier, the bullet skimmed off his helmet.

Lilith shot at the first soldier at the top of the hill correctly assuming he was the commanding officer, her shot shaved the bark off a tree just behind him. Steve steeled himself and readied his rifle. All heard the distinct sound of a safety lever popping off a grenade, the commander tossed a grenade at Lilith, it landed in the bushes and exploded blasting the area with choking clouds of dirt and disintegrated leaves.

Lilith had leaped to safety behind a rocky ridge and Steve had dropped to the ground playing dead. El Guapo was on his back wounded badly by the explosion he tried to recover his senses. The second soldier shot at Wesley hitting her in the side. The third peaked his head above cover with a spotter’s scope. He appeared to be counting. Wesley pulled her second Desert Eagle and took shots at both the third and fourth soldiers striking and killing the fourth but missing the third.

Steve fired from the ground missing the third soldier and still on the ground reloaded his rifle hoping the still inflated raft would serve as sufficient cover. The commander tossed another grenade perfectly landing it next to the zodiac forcing Steve from cover before it exploded destroying the raft but leaving its contents intact. Following his lead, the second soldier pulled a grenade and threw it hard nailing the tree directly in front of him. The grenade bounced back and landed in the box of grenades within all the remaining soldiers’ reach. All three screamed in horror under their gas masks a second before it exploded. Seconds later, the air was still foggy with flying leaves, pine needles, splinters, and smoke, the survivors could hear some of the trees creaking as they fell in slow motion. Most of the hummock was now clear of bush and tree.

Isis: “Well, somebody had to hear that!”

They dusted themselves off, assessed their wounds, and rushed to ascend the hilltop. Steve followed as he had taken time to pilfer the blinking device and several plastic explosive devices plus the remote that had been hidden in the dinghy.

Lake House of Bloated Horrors

They stumbled down the shallow incline into a clearing about 20 feet from a large two-story L-shaped lake house. Their ears were still ringing, and they were clearing dirt from their tearing eyes. Only Lilith saw the horde gathering, some very rotten, at the other end of the lake oozing out of the various other large lake houses.

Lilith: “Oh! Here they come!”

They finished clearing their eyes, pulled their guns, and started moving carefully around the L-shaped house. A small group of slow-moving zombies was milling around the open door of the house. They easily wiped those out when they realized the others from the next house over were already beginning to reach and surround them. Just as they were starting to pick those off a large, bloated greasy thing with a tentacle-like tongue dangling like a purple-black snake from its swollen blackened lips squeezed and slid through the open door.

Gunfire ensued. Collectively the group missed only a handful of shots though it still took a short while to put the zombies down. The bloated mutant, however, took several headshots before its head split like a rotten cantaloupe. Wesley and Steve had to dodge to avoid the thing’s tentacle-like tongue which had a razor-sharp tip. In the fight, Steve’s rifle jammed and he resorted to his bow. After the bloated horror dropped, he took the time to unjam the rifle as they beat it towards the rowboat.

However, admiring a large motorboat in the distance, El Guapo contemplated out loud about trying to get to a boathouse to try to get a motorboat, but the rowboat was the closest, a corpse and some spilled gas cans were on the beach near where the rowboat was tied to a short pier.

El Guapo: “Come on we can make it!”

Steve: “Are you sure? Man, look where they’re at and those big things! We’ll never make it!”

El Guapo: “They’re slow, especially the really rotten ones!”

Steve pointed out the large single horde that had formed and amongst them, several bloated horrors at the far end of the lake. It would be a race just to the rowboat. El Guapo convinced they took turns moving and shooting their way there. However, as soon as El Guapo reached the boat he saw that it had only a single oar. Steve took the time to turn the nearby corpse over when he reached it, its head mostly gone already. There he found the missing oar as Wesley and Lilith started to catch up to him. Wesley shot two zombies that were too close for comfort. Steve leaped into the boat and started to cut the rope with his knife.

Two bloated types were already getting close to the little pier as the last of the group, Lilith, jumped into the boat. Steve and El Guapo rowed furiously as a tentacle-like tongue shot over the water at them. Wesley plugged its owner right in the head with a double shot from her paired desert eagles. The horde began to gather and crowd the beach.

Steve: “Damn! Those yellow things are fast!”

El Guapo glanced over the side of the boat and spotted a blackened, slimy corpse just under the clear lake water. Steve spotted another on his side of the boat. Before they could say anything the creature on El Guapo’s side leaped up out of the water and gripped the side of the boat. Lilith missed it with her gun. Steve smashed it with an oar, but it kept its grip on the boat and began to pull back with its body weight almost capsizing the small rowboat. The other thing leaped onto the other side with a splash of water. Steve desperately tried to use his knowledge of boating to counterweight the first zombie to try to keep the boat from turning over.

Meanwhile, the second zombie lifted itself into the boat and snatched up Lilith’s arm after her gun misfired and sank its rotten teeth into the flesh of her arm. El Guapo smashed its brain out with his oar and Wesley splattered the other’s head with a bullet. They briefly contemplated just putting Lilith “out of her misery” right there and then but she convinced them otherwise. Steve worried that this decision would “bite” them “in the @ss later” (pun intended).

The group paddles away from the lake shore

Smoke on the Water

The water was calm, and their wooded surroundings were strangely quiet, the sloshing of the oars and the water against the sides of the boat had a slight calming effect on all of them. After bandaging her arm with a generously donated rag torn from Steve’s shirt, she picked up and started to rig the satchel charge Steve had taken from the zodiac. Shortly, she handed Wesley her cell phone. She had wired it to be the remote for the bomb as she had disabled the blinking detonator “just in case”.

The exhausted group took turns rowing while letting Lilith alone to finish her work. They noticed what at first, they thought was a fog forming over the surface of the water until they saw the fires in the distance. The forest was burning. Far off in the sky, they heard several sonic booms before Steve spotted multiple jet streams far above them.

Steve: “Aw great! We’re gonna get nuked!”

Suddenly, a roaring jet screamed into view over the woods in the distance and a trail of fire exploded behind it as it lifted away. The military was firebombing the forest around the lake. Eventually, as the group neared the platform at the center of the lake, they briefly contemplated what the commandoes’ mission could possibly have been.

They bobbed towards the floating launches all around the base of the elevated platform. They could see a large freight-type elevator on some a stable concrete platform and two large apparently empty water taxis floating aimlessly next to the launches. When they got closer, they could see the visible interior of those boats were smeared with blood. They tied their boat off and approached the elevator. Steve inspected the doors. He could not put his finger on it, but something was bugging him about the elevator.

Lilith assessed it and found that it was functional. So, she got ready to press the button to open the doors while Wesley and El Guapo readied themselves on either side of the elevator doors. Steve stood a short distance away by the boat. After nodding and getting identical responses from El Guapo and Wesley, Lilith pushed the button. The doors squealed noisily and slowly open. Immediately the reek of rotten meat and the coppery stench of coagulated blood assaulted their nostrils. As the doors screeched to a stop, they revealed a solid wall of quivering gelatinous gore and shredded flesh from which some scraps of clothing hung like rags.

The wall of gore fell forward just missing Lilith as she jumped to the side. It began to slither its way towards Steve like an inchworm. Wesley, after realizing that it was too late to close the elevator doors, backed away from the awful biomass. El Guapo tossed a frag grenade into the creature, and everyone crumpled tightly to whatever structure was nearest. The thing blew apart in a black spray of foulness coating everything and everyone in a thick chunky layer of pungent grue.

After they made sure there were no more immediate threats, they entered the reeking blackened elevator and rode it up to the platform.

Belly of the Beast

As they entered the front door of what appeared to be the main building atop the platform El Guapo adjusted his new tactical vest taken from the sole zombie they encountered upon exiting the elevator. The dark blue vest had SECURITY emblazoned across the shoulders in bold white letters. They walked into the small waiting room; a receptionist/security desk was next to a long hallway. The fluorescent lights were still mostly working, about half were off and a few were blinking on and off and buzzing loudly. The entire place was as quiet as the grave. About halfway down that hallway, they could see swinging double doors which they guessed probably opened into a cafeteria.

Wesley was in the lead with El Guapo following. Lilith and Steve were taking up the rear as they moved carefully down the hall. The other end turned a blind corner, but they figured the elevators or stairs were there granting access to the other levels of the place. Wesley approached the cafeteria doors her back against the opposite wall. She could see bloody handprints all over the doors. In addition, she could hear faint scratching noises from behind the door.

She signaled behind her for the others to be quiet. She slid along the wall and El Guapo followed. Steve crept slowly and was a few feet away from the door when Lilith let out a loud groan as she doubled over in pain. The very second that they all let out a sigh the doors burst open as a group of zombies charged through the door. The group was split with zombies in between the two leading and the other two following.

Both parts of the group opened fire and kept shooting every zombie that began filtering through the doors. As the bodies began to pile high crowding the narrow corridor El Guapo tossed a grenade into the cafeteria. They finished off the surviving zombies one at a time. After all the zombies were taken care of, Steve and Lilith crawled over the pile of zombie bodies clogging the hallway. They finally made it around the corner and to their relief found an elevator and the door to the stairwell.

However, the elevator had no power. They noticed the elevator had a sublevel button in addition to the buttons for this floor, the one underneath, and the one above. As a result of the inoperable elevator, the group decided to take the stairs up and found the door that opened into an office choked with cubicles. However, the door was jammed with zombies trying to open the door by forcing it outward. Fortunately for the group, it opened inward. They tried the door anyway and found it was impossible to open while the zombies were piled and pushing up against it. They tried going downstairs. There they found a very solid security door that could only be opened via a keycard.

Steve: “Well, I think what we’re lookin’ for is downstairs.”

They spent the better part of an hour ransacking offices and closets and periodically checking the upstairs office door and the lower security door. Lilith even tried to open the electronic lock downstairs but triggered its failsafe effectively permanently locking it. Eventually, Steve walked all the way to the back of the hallway around the corner from the elevator finding a second security desk and small office. He found a power switch to the elevator behind the desktop and switched it on.

Apocalypto

After a comparatively long elevator ride the doors opened up revealing a half-lit area of utility tunnels; bare concrete walls and pipes, conduits, and cables completely obscuring the ceiling from which the occasional light hung. It was El Guapo that first heard something following them via the ceiling hidden by the tangle of pipes and wires as they began to move down the tunnels.

After a few shots that ricocheted off the pipes, the thing dropped to the floor from the ceiling before charging Steve. It had long fangs, razor-sharp claws, and no skin; The creature was all raw slimy muscle and exposed bone. It wounded him savagely with a claw and was able to dodge a few bullets before Wesley got the brain shot.

Wesley: “I’m almost out of ammo.”

Steve: “Same here.”

El Guapo: “Yup.”

Lilith: “Yeah.”

They continued on and Lilith got the idea to follow the power conduits to a large generator room. Inside was a large highly advanced generator that was covered in radiation warnings and nuclear material stickers. Next to that was a control booth with large observation windows. Through these, they could see a zombie security guard wandering aimlessly in circles that is until it saw them. The control booth door burst open, and the zombie shot at them with the 9mm pistol hanging loosely in its bone-white hand. Lilith took it out with a single well-placed shot.

Lilith (wiping the cold sweat from her forehead): “This is it! I’m gonna rig up the bomb to this thing and set this to overload. It’ll be a big boom!”

The group agreed to leave her here and proceed down another hallway that terminated in a single steel door. What Lilith did not tell them was that the wound on her arm had turned black and was weeping puss.

Wesley, Steve, and El Guapo had found their target was another keycard activated security door and it was locked. It took several minutes of ransacking the few offices down here to find the keycard they needed. They opened the door and found an empty room behind with another electronically locked door with a number pad and a small screen that had a warning in red letters running across it: REMEMBER 10 SECONDS TO INPUT SEC CODE AFTER CARD READ!!!!

They ignored it and used the card to open the door which had a 10-second countdown before the lock opened. As soon as the lock snapped open, a laser turret in the corner of the room shot and horribly wounded Steve. They ran from the room to take cover on either side of the outer door. El Guapo tossed a grenade in the room and hoped for the best. Surprisingly, he took out the turret without damaging the security door control pad. They continued on into what consisted of two crossing hallways and a series of small labs and some airtight chambers. The trio desperately combed the area for anything that would tell them what to do and, in their desperation, they split up.

El Guapo was walking past several large glass liquid-filled tubes each containing a muscular skinless corpse save one. He stopped when he realized he was walking in a large puddle of foul-smelling liquid and the last tube appeared broken and empty. His call to his companions was cut short as it was crushed out of him. A large skinless creature had snatched him up in its powerful arms from behind. He could not break its grip and it sank its teeth into his shoulder but could not bite through his tactical vest. A single shot rang out, one of the creature’s eyes exploded, and a gush of liquefied brains splattered right into El Guapo’s face. Wesley had saved him from the far end of the hallway with a carefully placed shot.

Steve hurried over shouting that he had found something. They followed him to a vault door that was already partially open. Peaking inside they realized it was an airlock with another such door on the opposite stainless-steel wall. They entered and pushed the button to open the door and seal the other behind them. When they entered the room, it was lined with shelves holding an unimaginable number of labeled vials and bottles.

Wesley: “Ha! Ha! This is it!”

El Guapo: “Okay. So, what are we looking for in here?”

Steve: “Wait!”

His rifle was pointed at the far end of the irregularly shaped room. At the opposite end was a large square pillar obscuring the far part of the chamber which was basically an alcove. They heard slow methodical metallic and heavy footsteps coming from behind the pillar. The thing that stepped from the alcove was covered in some kind of gleaming black composite armor and wearing a full helmet complete with face mask. Built into one of its arms was a mini-gatling gun.

El Guapo: “Aw, s#*t!”

The zombie super-trooper sprayed the room wounding them all badly. They nearly emptied their guns at it thanking fortune that the creature was very slow and robotic in its movements. In a last-ditch effort, El Guapo tossed a second grenade, his last, at it. It retaliated by blasting him into a bloody mist leaving a galaxy of craters on the blood-spattered wall behind him. Steve tossed his only grenade and managed to blast enough armor from it for Wesley to put a bullet in its pickled brain. They both let out an exhausted sigh of relief.

Wesley: “Phew! Good! I have like four shots left. Two in each gun.”

Steve: “Yeah, I got about five left for the rifle.”

Suddenly, fear paralyzed both as they heard familiar heavy footsteps coming once again from behind the square pillar. Wesley made for the airlock while Steve covered the alcove. She made it into the room as he was torn to pieces by a deafening spray of bullets. She hit the button and the airlock door closed just in time to block another spray aimed at her.

Wesley ran back to where she had left Lilith. Wesley found her on the ground sitting in a puddle of her own black vomit. Lilith told her to get on the rowboat and use the cell phone she gave her to blow the place sky-high. Unfortunately, she probably would not survive the blast either, so she wished her “good luck” as she resigned herself to her fate and collapsed against the mini reactor.

It was not long before Wesley was standing in the rowboat having paddled herself almost to shore. The smoke from the forest burning was almost intolerable, her eyes, nose, throat, and lungs were on fire. Still, she could see the shore crowded with legions of the walking dead, and several giant cyber-zombies towering above them their evil lights clicking away. Ash and glowing cinders rained like snow. She shrugged her shoulders and triggered the bomb. It seemed like ages until she noticed something in the water. She gazed down into the murky depths and realized the reactor had blown and watched as a giant glowing bubble, the explosion, raced up to her. The waters began to rise with the tiny boat atop. A violent blast of steam and nuclear fire smashed her into the sky. Then nothing.

Eulogy

Meanwhile, somewhere in the next mountain valley an old man, a small dog cradled in his arms caked with mud emerged from an open storm drain grating. He finished the bottle of booze in his other hand with one final swig and tossed it aside. It was Lilith’s father and the dog, they had gotten separated in the race to the lake, fortunately for them. They had taken refuge in a flood control tunnel and simply followed it to its end traveling along the line until they reached the next town over. The brown and white smoke from the forest fire was still thick as it swirled all around them but for the most part, they were safe…for the moment.

***

With that, the game and thus short campaign ended. I didn’t feel I had done a great job this session, the reason why it took a year to blog about it. I mentioned this sentiment at the time out loud as everyone was getting up from the table after packing their books. Gil said, “What!? Are you kidding that was awesome!”

Cris: “Yeah, it was good man.”

I took the compliments in stride and turned to my wife, Jenn.

“See I didn’t kill the dog.”

Jenn: “What dog?”

Cris laughed.

Jenn (suddenly giggling): “Oh yeah, Thanks honey!” She pecked me on the cheek.

A little while later, Cris, Isis, and Gil had just left, and Jenn had headed off to bed. I picked up the empty beer bottles (there were many), dropped them in the recycle bin, and started to wipe down the battle mat. Halfway through cleaning the marker off I realized that I never bothered to draw any maps for this campaign. I had them in my head and translated them directly to the mat. They had been based on the maps found in the Zombie Horror (RGS1010) book though except of course for the lakeshore. Meh. I had figured somebody had taken some pictures of the maps as we played, seemed like the last few sessions were well photographed. My bad.

The End (Session played 1/18/20)

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The Cabal of Eight II Pt.20: Hideaway

Dragonfly & Unicorn Wand

Fauna (played by Jenn) woke up in a large round silk bed. She luxuriated in the smooth, cool sheets. The druid had taken a long hot bath in the tiled bathing room a few rooms over and enjoyed a hot meal and tea before bed. She sighed. Her mind drifted to the previous night. After following the Wasp and his apprentice Bumble, she had found herself standing in a vast strange hall. The vaulted ceiling was at least 20 ft. high and the walls smooth beige lined with magic sconces whose light instead of banishing them seemed to multiply and deepen the dull shadows that populated the blank walls. The brightly colored sconces were of blue, green, and orange stained glass in the shape of dragonflies.

Isis (Szoo’s player): “Uh oh is that the merchant guy’s hideout?”

Jenn: *roll*roll* “Um…”

The GM (me): “The sconces don’t ring a bell, as far as you’re concerned they’re just part of the scenery.”

Fauna was shook from her reverie by the rattling of the silver tray that Bumble clumsily carried into the room. Ilna dropped onto the side of the large circular bed and lavender sheets setting the silver tray on the bed next to her. It was Fauna’s breakfast, fresh fruit, steaming meat, fresh baked bread, a bowl of broth, and a silver teapot filled with herbal tea at perfect temperature.

Fauna (“just trying to make conversation”): “Wow! Where did this come from?”

Bumble: “Oh just the larder in the kitchen. You just reach in and it gives you food.”

Cris (Excor’s player): “Yup, of course, magic, damn mages.”

Isis (Szoo’s player): “You’re a MAGE!”

Cris: “Yeah! Well it doesn’t mean I like OTHER mages!”

Bumble seemed thrilled that Fauna was there but was not very forthcoming with where they were. Consequently, Fauna was suspicious as to their actual location. There were no windows anywhere in the place and the main hall seemed endless. Apparently, Bumble had learned to deflect.

Cris: “Pocket dimension possibly?”

Isis: “That’s what I was thinkin’.”

Jenn: “Yeah, I think so too.”

Fauna: “So, where is the… your master?”

Bumble: “Oh he’s downstairs trying to open that box.”

With that, Fauna leapt to her feet, snatched up her robe, and donned her clothes as she ran down the sweeping ivory grand staircase into the main hall.

Cris: “You sleep naked!?”

Isis: “Really sis?”

Jenn: “Well, yeah my girl sleeps naked! Duh.”

She rushed across the polished marble mosaic floor towards a large niche under the ivory stairs. However, it was crowded with book stacks and piles of scrolls. There was a green lacquered double-door in the rear wall of the niche. This certainly led to a library.

Cris (to Jenn): “Aw man, you CAN’T read!”

In the niche amongst the clutter, was the Wasp frantically unrolling and scanning various scrolls before tossing them carelessly away, the long case on the floor not far from him. Fauna again initiated some small talk and maneuvered her way to the case.

Fauna: “So, hi there… Xanto!”

Xanto: “Oh Hi! Hope you slept well, Bumble says you enjoyed the bath!”

Fauna (pointing to some scorch and blast marks on the walls and floor): “Um, the damage?”

Xanto: “Oh. Ha, ha. The case cannot be broken open apparently. Very powerful magic sealing it up!”

Fauna (unsure of what to say next): “Well, that… shouldn’t be a problem for, um… the Great and Powerful Xanto! Now would it?”

He looked at her with narrowed eyes and his cocked to one side. Then he snapped back to his cheery self.

Xanto: “Well, I guess since you’re Draega’s friends, I’m, uh, I just want to make sure the goods are in there y’know?”

Fauna: “Um. Yes. Yes we are Draega’s associates… friends. We do business all the time.”

Xanto: “Yeah. Tell him he still owes me for delivery of the chest, well, I guess I didn’t deliver that, but it’s this that counts. He owes me a lot of money. That guy! He has his fingers in every Ezmerian pie!”

Fauna (blurting out her sudden realization): “So he’s selling it to the dragon!”

Xanto: “Uh, oh well yeah. I am cut in for a small percentage upon delivery. Boy that went up in smoke didn’t it! Ha, ha! He had you guys keeping tabs on me; you’re not very good at it. Now where’s Bumble? Oh, hey! Help me with this!”

She waited until the Wasp and Bumble were distracted by pulling out a heavy volume from an unstable stack of books then began running her hands over the case carefully and thoroughly inspecting it. The slight sound of a click, the other pair seemed not to notice, and the druidess opened a small hidden compartment out of sheer luck (Nat 20). She withdrew a tiny scroll of paper sealed with a wax seal and stuffed that in her robes before closing the compartment.

Xanto: “Did you find anything?”

Fauna: “Uh, what? No, nope nothing.”

This lasted about an hour or so Fauna reckoned before the Wasp stopped and stood perplexed rubbing his pointed beard between his thumb and forefinger. It seemed he had run out of ideas.

Xanto (his finger jutting into the air like a proclamation): “I need to pick up some… ahem… supplies! You!”, pointing at Fauna, “We will part ways after leaving here. Bumble!”

Bumble: “Yes?”

Xanto: “Don’t forget to blindfold your friend, oh, and, um, carry this, and this, this one, aaannd, this and that one.” He had stacked several books in her outstretched arms. “Okay! Let’s get on the move no time to waste! Come, come, come!”

            The trio walked a fair distance down the main hall until they came to a large mirror built into the wall. It was rimmed in gold with a sapphire and emerald dragonfly at the top edge. The Wasp reached into his robes and from what Fauna could see; he pulled out a gold key with the emblem of a dragonfly at one end. He stepped through the mirror as if the silvered glass were still water rippling and reflecting like quicksilver. Bumble quickly followed carrying the stack of books and Fauna jumped through last.

Before she could orientate her senses, everything was spinning, the Wasp and Bumble had left and the druidess found herself in a small dusty closet alone. It appeared to have not been used for quite some time. There was a small rectangular window high on the wall providing the only light. She turned and saw a large standing mirror behind her, the only thing in the large closet that was free of dust. She peeked out of the only door and found that she was somewhere near the back of the Bardic College’s library. All she could see were whitewashed walls lined with an unending reading table and case after case of books and scrolls dangling with so many chains and locks that she could barely see any of the actual reading material. Immediately, she thought to use the cabal medallion around her neck.

Elsewhere, Excor and Szoo met up outside of the Shield & Helm Inn. In contrast to Szoo, Excor was dressed in his “noble gear”. His outfit was a richly embroidered silk robe with a black silk sash at the waist and a buttoned undershirt. Additionally, he had on hard-soled black silk shoes with buttons up the side and pointed toes. On his head was a black felt pork-pie type hat rimmed with purple and a peacock feather. Finally, a new gold ring, a signet ring, was shining on his right hand. He still wore the magic blue cape.

Szoo: “Whaaat is this?”

Excor (feigning a regal attitude): “I am of noble blood.”

Szoo: “Okaay.”

Cris: “No. Seriously, I’m from a noble family check my background.”

Szoo: “Well, what good does that do us?”

Excor: “I don’t know about you but it’ll help me a whole lot! You just can’t kill a nobleman in the city! I have rights!”

            They went on their way to the White Prong to meet up with Fauna after receiving her Whisper message. Soon enough all three of the adventurers were sitting at a table discussing things over a pitcher of strong ale. It was not long before Fauna passed Excor the small scroll she had nicked from the long case.

He unrolled it after breaking the blank wax seal and found two sheets of paper, a letter and an ancient sheet of sheepskin documenting an item. After casting Comprehend Languages, Excor began reading the letter so the other two could hear.

Dear distinguished blue steward,

I hope the object has found its way to you with this letter with little difficulty. We had a slight complication with the hirelings who found it and some information may have passed from one of their number to persons unknown. There are others whom desire its power but we do not currently know who they may be. However, there is at least one based out of your city or thereabouts. We have hired a group of freebooters; they should be of sufficient strength and honesty to make this delivery. I am glad to hear my first letter has reached you and will follow a month after the cargo to make sure all is in order.

P.S. – The case is proof against dragons, one cannot be too careful, and not just magic will open it.

The letter bore no signatures. Excor set down the letter and picked up the documentation for the contents of the case. It described the item in the case as the Unicorn Scepter; it is a wand with a polished jet grip and a rounded azurite pommel stone. There is an alicorn mounted to it by a polished platinum horse head acting as a guard when the “battle-wand” is used as a weapon. Consequently, the wand was first found in an ancient tomb in Granfor and was created by an ancient Southlander Mage-lord. Further, the alicorn cut from a heroic unicorn warrior. Consequently, it possesses all of the powers of the alicorn and can cast the Control Weather, Summon Locust Storm, Chain Lightning, Summon & Control Rain, and Wind Step spells. There was a color illustration of the Unicorn Scepter alongside the text.

Excor: “Aw man, this thing is powerful. No wonder the dragon wants this thing.”

Szoo: “Yeah, we can’t let her get her hands on that.”

Fauna then told her companions about what the Wasp had said about Draega the publican of the Red Helm tavern, their favorite haunt.

Cris (throwing his pencil down): “Whoop! There it is! Aw, man! I knew it, I knew it! Never trust a f@#$*&g Tanglenite! Everyone from Poisonwood are damn crooks! You can’t trust ‘em! Just…I knew that guy was untrustworthy. Can’t trust ‘em!”

As a result, the trio decided they needed to split up and make preparations. They would use the medallions to meet up at evening when everything was ready.

Excor (leaning in): “We are gonna need some real fire power for this one.”

To Be Continued…

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The Cabal of Eight II Pt.19: The Dragon & the Wasp

blue dragon that faces the wasp

Excor (played by Cris) under the influence of the Ghost Form and Invisibility I spells trailed just behind the blue dragon-shaman as he in turn followed the blue lady into the caves from the dusty tunnel. The blue-lady was sniffing the air, apparently tracking the others via scent quite accurately.

Meanwhile, Fauna (played by Jenn), Szoo (played by Isis), Bumble, and Xanto the Wasp were picking themselves up from the wet gravel beach they had landed on after sliding through a slimy chute and over the edge of a 10 ft. cliff.

Szoo: “Hey! At least she can’t follow us through that chute!”

Jenn: “Yeah,” looking over to the GM (me), “right?”

The GM (me): “Um, you guys know she can transform back and forth from human form so…”

Isis: “Aww crap.”

The Wasp chanted a spell and giant wasps appeared under him and Bumble his apprentice. The pair rose above the heads of their former two companions and began flying over the reeking green body of water before them. It was at this moment that Szoo realized that the Wasp was cradling the case. Szoo had forgotten to pick it back up after sliding down the chute distracted by his concern over the dragon.

Cris: *disgusted sigh* “Damned Wasp.”

Suddenly a deafening roar shattered the quiet atmosphere of the cavern. The four mages could see the glowing eyes of the blue dragon in her full draconic form just 20 ft. southwest of them on another bank of gravel & sand.

Excor moved in range of the Dragon Shaman, both still in the passage coming out of the previous cavern (R5 on the map) into the water chamber (R8 on the map). He began to cast Force Ram but fumbled the casting. His invisibility spell dispersed. Fauna rushed to the water’s edge and shouted for Szoo. The Wasp and his apprentice flew their steeds further north turning just in time to avoid hitting the cavern wall.

The blue dragon’s throat swelled and glowed intensely blue before she unleashed a massive blast of lightning at the two wasp-riders. Bumble easily dodged but the bolt hit the Wasp and his mount blasting it to smithereens causing him to drop splashing into the water below. Szoo transformed into a large black sea turtle and began to slide into the water. The Dragon-Shaman spat a lightning bolt at the ghostly form of Excor but it passed harmlessly through.

Excor cast Slow on the Dragon-Shaman but the shaman resisted the spell. Fauna leaped onto the back of the turtle as it slid under the water. The Wasp meanwhile was swimming to the beach immediately to his west his white knuckles still clutching the case. The Blue Dragon jumped into the water plowing through it like a giant shark heading straight for Xanto. She snapped her jaws at the turtle and his unfortunate passenger but the turtle dodged by the slightest margin (by 1 point). The Dragon-Shaman charged Excor and swung his quarterstaff at the adventurer, the blow passing straight through. The Dragon-Shaman looked up possibly re-thinking his combat strategy.

Excor backed up and cast Force Ram again targeting the Dragon-Shaman. The Dragon-Shaman dodged to the side taking a glancing blow. Fauna jumped off the turtle and clawed her way onto the beach near the Wasp (R7 on the map). The Wasp checked the case; it was intact and still sealed. The dragon swam up near the beach on which the Wasp and Fauna were standing rising like a titan from the water. The Dragon-Shaman began casting a spell but a stitch in his bruised side caused him to falter and the spell fizzled.

Excor cast paralyze II on the shaman paralyzing him.

The Wasp took a stance meant to increase agility and focused his light-starved eyes on the dragon before him. The Blue Dragon surged forward to stomp on him but he easily evaded the blow. Szoo as he was right next to the Wasp forced to dodge as well wound up on the opposite side of the monster from that of the Wasp. Bumble flew her giant-wasp-mount over the dragon’s head in an effort to get near her master. Grinning maliciously, Excor canceled Ghost Form and pulled out a magic dagger (+5) and stabbed the paralyzed Dragon-Shaman in the throat but failed to kill him in a single blow. Fauna moved around next to the Wasp.

The Wasp took the same stance and readied. The Blue Dragon blew its breath at both the Wasp and Fauna. Both managed to avoid the lightning bolt completely. Szoo transformed back into his true form and withdrew his Fire Fang (see The Cabal of Eight II Pt.1: The Checkered Eye). Excor again buried his dagger in the Shaman’s throat this time mercifully finishing the job with that final blow. Fauna dissipated into a cloud of mist as she cast Gaseous Form on herself.

The Wasp again took a defensive stance but was also able to quickdraw a scroll from his sleeve. The Dragon snapped her razor-studded jaws at the Wasp missing by a hair. Szoo moved further around to the opposite side of the dragon from his companions and blasted the dragon with a cone of fire from the tooth, to no effect. Bumble flew down next to her master.

Cris: “Man! They’re gonna run! Somebody get on ‘em!”

Jenn: “I’m on it! I’m going to stick to them no matter what!”

Excor looted the still-warm corpse of the dragon shaman. Fauna, in gaseous form, floated up to the dragon’s face, flew up her nostrils, and immediately canceled her spell.

The Wasp leaped onto Bumble’s wasp-mount and read the scroll. A golden glow surrounded him and his apprentice as they began to fade away. Reflexively the dragon sneezed shooting the druidess from one of her nostrils directly into the area of the teleportation spell. In a flash, the Wasp, Bumble, and Fauna were gone.

Immediately, the Dragon swiveled around and grabbed at Szoo who was barely able to avoid the massive claw. Meanwhile, Excor after packing away the loot in his portable hole twisted his silver ring activating the ghost form spell as he rushed towards the commotion. Szoo activated the Temporal Jump ability on his phoenix feather cloak and took a step into nothing completely disappearing. The dragon sniffed around then as she turned to leave, she spotted the faintly glowing ghost form of Excor standing on the opposite shore.

The dragon charged him and stomped around snarling and proclaiming herself “the ocean of the desert” and “the great queen of the mountains, pale yellow forests, and desert sands”. After a few minutes, she lowered her face to his ghostly visage and growled, “I’ll track down that lowly wasp and crush him slowly beneath my feet and then when I reclaim my property, I’ll find all of you!” Excor just shrugged and waved goodbye. The dragon stomped off.

Isis (to Cris): “Wow, dude.”

Cris: “Pfft! She can’t do anything! The Ghost Form on my silver ring lasts for over an hour!”

After waiting a few minutes, Excor started on his way back up unexpectedly joined by Szoo. Together they decided to rent a room for the night in a place called the Shield & Helm Inn near the new amphitheater on the corner of Arena Circle and Tourney Way. They paid the 10 gp for the night and an additional 20 gp for a security detail. Not soon enough did they both collapse exhausted, bellies full of wine and food, onto their soft feather beds.

*And yes dear reader, Fauna the Druid did transform into mist and then went up the dragon’s nose in the game. It worked to stall out one of the dragon’s turns although she did have a chance of falling back into the throat and getting swallowed. I did roll for that.😁 *

To Be Continued…

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The Cabal of Eight II Pt.18: Be Water

The Grey Serpent Captain stood in the entranceway to the Red Helm Tavern’s barroom. Next to him were Jirek the cabal’s scribe and just behind him, the Grey Serpents’ mage who was scowling at Szoo. Gathered against the wall near the bar and the Grey Serpents were the blue lady (aka the Blue Dragon) and her four sword-bearing mercs.

Just past the bar was the publican Draega. Leaning against the bar Fauna (played by Jenn) was staring at the disguised Bumble. Before the bar at a table was Xanto the Wasp and his apprentice and member of the cabal, Bumble, both under the influence of a disguise spell. At a second table in front of the window opposite the bar was Excor (played by Cris) his lit pipe drooping from his lips. Szoo (played by Isis) was just behind him next to the window. Between the Wasp’s table and the bar were Direnda and the Black Eagle Pirates.

The very air itself was still, all the dust and smoke in the room seemed suspended in air as if time had stopped. Even the normal racket from the rest of the place had stopped and those not gazing wide-eyed with anticipation from the other room were filtering out the back way.

Isis: “Aw man, this is TENSE!”

Cris: “Just stay calm, be ready.”

Jenn: “Ready to do what? What’s the plan?”

Cris: “I dunno whatever, just be ready to do something.”

The grey captain began to pull his blade but as soon as the slightest shimmer of blade shone, the room filled with the sound of singing steel as both the Black Eagles and the Mercs pulled their weapons in unison. With a click, the captain pushed his sword back into the scabbard.

Direnda (pointing her magic blade at the Wasp): “THAT is our client’s property thief!”

The Blue Lady (motioning as if the case would just be handed over): “Hmm, Looks like you’ve lost your commission Draega. THAT is mine.”

The Grey Serpent Captain put his hand on Jirek’s chest and began backing out of the tavern with his two companions.

Szoo (almost hyperventilating): “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!”

Cris: “Crap! I was hoping they’d do each other in. C’mon, fight!”

Draega, with a dumb grin pasted on his face, backed slowly out of the room before disappearing completely.

Suddenly, the Wasp stood up, his disguise spell shedding from his bright yellow and black striped form, and a black cloud of stinging-wasps poured from his sleeves flooding the room. The place was in chaos; the mercenaries and the pirates were screaming and flailing their swords wildly. Excor leapt up towards the window followed by Fauna. The shields of the druid and Excor shimmered as a charge was spent. Szoo suffered a few stings. The Blue Lady’s chest swelled immensely as her eyes began to crackle with electricity.

Cris (referring to the black cloud of wasps): “A death cloud huh? Damned Wasp!”

Jenn: “What? Death Cloud?”

Cris: “Yeah, he summoned a Death Cloud, it’s a wasp swarm gestalt.”

Jenn: “Oh yeah, I remember those.”

*I used the creature a few times in another campaign a long time ago.*

Excor (trying to signal to his companions): “Get by the window, cut him off!”

The Wasp and Bumble ran right into the three mages. Without warning, a thundering blast of blue-white electricity filled the room destroying the black cloud of wasps and shattering the lattice window. The three mages could see the blue lady right behind the Wasp and his apprentice. Xanto had just enough time to smile once at the trio and then unleashed a spell in desperation. However, the magic got out of his control and the last thing the Wasp, Bumble, and the three adventurers could remember was a flash of crimson light and the sensation of falling in complete silence for an interminable amount of time before they came crashing down.

As the dust settled the trio of mages, Xanto the Wasp, Bumble, and the Blue Lady gathered their senses. The Wasp had cast a teleportation spell that got out of his control the magic going wild. The Wasp had teleported away all those near him and the front part of the tavern including the floor, the lower part of the façade and the front door. They had landed wedged into the alleyway just in front of Fauna’s rented house.

Fauna and Szoo ran to the brand new front door of their home. Excor cast Invisible to Sight on himself. Bumble twisted a ring on her chubby fingers without hesitation teleporting away in an instant. The Blue Lady charged the druid and punched her hitting her shield with a powerful thud. Xanto spotted the lost case. It was almost 10 feet from where he was.

Fauna drew her dagger and stabbed the Blue Lady, a violet filed of energy emanated from her gold bracelet and zapped the druidess with negative energy. Fauna moved away from the house. Szoo opened the door and moved in. Excor cast Shadow Ribbons on the Blue Lady but she easily resisted its shadowy energies. The Blue Lady charged Fauna again, her small pale fist whistling by the druid’s head, missing the target by a hair. Xanto charged to the case and bent to pick it up.

Fauna grabbed a dose of yellow lotus from her cloak and readied to toss it into the eyes of the dragon. Szoo used his Ring of Fearsome Form to transform into a hideous winged shape and shot towards the case. Excor used his Silver Ring of Ghost Form. The Blue Lady moved swiftly next to Xanto. In a panic, Xanto cast a teleportation spell and disappeared leaving the case and its invaluable contents behind.

The Blue Lady blew a blast of her electrical dragon breath at Fauna dispelling her last shield for the day. The druid responded by deftly tossing the yellow lotus dust into the monster-lady’s eyes temporarily blinding her. It did not have any of the poisonous effects that Fauna had hoped for, however. Suddenly, a distant roar sounded.

Fauna cast Gaseous Form on herself and drifted towards the house. Excor hovered through the walls into the house and Szoo snatched up the case and then flew into the open doorway. They had the intention of hiding out in the secret tunnels below.

As they fled inside, Fauna saw the blue dragon retreat away around the corner still in her human form. Szoo the last in line to get into the house saw a gigantic shadow lift off from the top of the slavers’ castle and fly in their direction. They barred the door behind them and then stood there for a second listening. After a few minutes, they could hear a loud sniffing sound, as if two large nostrils were investigating the teleported tavern wreckage in the alley. Then they heard a loud blast, the air from the wings of a dragon taking off. It had been the resident dragon, Gristle-Talon. The mages let out a collective sigh and then Fauna and Szoo ran down into the cellar.

Excor canceled his ghost form spell and ran to his room to gather his stuff. He shut the door to his room and began gathering some “essential” items and spell components. After several minutes, he hears something like footsteps just on the other side of his bedroom door. He carefully moved to the door and cast Scry: Simple. The spell allowed him to see through the door. He saw the Blue Lady and her shaman walking away from his door and to the cellar door. A gem on her tiara was glowing stronger as she neared it. Suddenly, she reached down, wrenched the heavy wood trapdoor from it hinges, and tossed it across the room.

Meanwhile, Fauna and Szoo were moving as fast and quietly as they could down the long hallway and into the caves to try and “find a way out”. They both hear a pair of feet following them. Szoo turns and looks down the hall behind them, with his heat vision he could see the Wasp and Bumble following them. Fauna calls them out.

Xanto the Wasp: “Heh, heh. So, um, we find ourselves in a mutual rock-and-a-hard-place situation, eh, friends?”

The pair of adventurers debated only briefly about what to do about them. Szoo wanted to kill the Wasp but Fauna was dead against it.

Cris: “Pfft! Kill the Wasp!? Good luck. That guy is probably pretty powerful plus he’s higher level than all of us!”

Jenn: “Then why doesn’t he just fight the dragon?”

Cris: “Because she’s a DRAGON, she has high spell resistance. She shook off my spell like nothing.”

The companions in the mushroom caves moved into a chamber in the north (R6 on the map). The cavern was covered in mushrooms and there are uneven clumps of giant mushrooms that were glowing faintly blue and leaking a clear, slippery slime all over the cave floor. Foothold was precarious over the slimy uneven floor.  Fauna inspected a pit that she found at the far north of the chamber. The other three as they moved past her slipped almost in unison and slid as they fell into a smooth chute like passage (the slime chute on the map). Fauna maneuvered her way to the mouth of the chute and yelled to make sure everyone was okay. They were fine so she jumped down to them.

Meanwhile above in the cellar, Excor watched as the Blue Lady and her mage descended. He quickly cast Invisibility I on himself and followed as quietly as he could as the pair found the secret door that had been left open, and they moved into the tunnel.

To Be Continued…

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