Monday, January 30, 2012

Online Session 28 (1/30/12)

Here is a link to a .RAR bundle which includes all the .html transcripts for AIM online sessions 1-32.

PCs: Doorjamb

Friday, January 20, 2012

Session 28 (1/20/12)

The War for Floivin Province, Part III

Ivric, Malarous 19th, 838 ID


After a brief refreshment at the Cathedral of Blades, our surviving heroes regroup into three squads and press their way through the heart of Floivin Keep, where they engage the elite of the undead invasion force. Hulking corpses, ogre zombies, troll skeletons and a score doppelgangers serve as shock troops for the enemy leaders: First Mate Hungered, the ebon giant Volz Rhazeen and the ghost knight Balann Du'arr. Du'arr does not come into direct conflict with the PCs, instead pursuing some unknown, nefarious end above and below the city streets, but the rest of the combatants meet at the juncture of Hook Steet, Covet Court, Dreamer's Row and Duck Street in the central district of the Keep.

Private Teckle takes up a position in a guard turret, creating a crossfire with Lt. Langston while the rest of the group moves into melee. A squad including Slab, Darkahn, Anemone, Odd Jon, Ryit, John Blow, and Maj. Scott Morrow was pressed at the end of Duck Street, and lost more than half of its number. A second squad with Cmd. Vhelok, Cpt. Hoary, Bergothe the Boar, Mudgol and Apprentice Letoe entered the fray on the corner of High House Row, while the rest of the PCs and NPCs approached from the cathedral grounds. There were unfortunately no reinforcements, as the remainder of the Fourth and Last Eidolorn Guards were busy dealing with the undead foot soldiers...with one exception.

Eventually, the PCs and their allies were able to wear down the enemy elites, thanks to an impressive magic display via Mudgol. But not without losses: Anenome, John Blow, Bergothe the Boar, Captain Kennel (and his dogs), Private Lamontaine, Ryit Silverhand and the githyanki mercenary Skrel were all slain in the melee. The ebon giant also hurled some potent earth magic at our heroes, leveling buildings, opening fissures in the earth and transmuting both Mudgol and Mestos Davijnak, the latter an elderly local man who heroically entered the desperate battle. Conniff the cleric of Eleste proved critical to the heroes' success, heavily healing Captain Hoary and later able to return Mudgol to flesh, and remove him from the fountain he had so statuesquely inhabited.

In the end, Rhazeen was able to transport himself through the Earth, and the ghost was never found, but the PCs were able to route almost all the undead soldiers, First Mate Hungered and most of the doppelgangers, before turning elsewhere to help clean up the combat. Various promotions were given out, as the survivors had to establish a new military hierarchy. The Fourth Eidolorn survivors under Commander Vhelok moved into position to guard the freshly ruined Keep and its battered walls.

Casualties of War: Anenome, John Blow, Bergothe the Boar, Captain Kennel, Private Lamontaine, Ryit Silverhand, Skrel.

Heroes Left Standing: Cmd. Vhelok, Maj. Scott Morrow, Cpt. Hoary, Blake Bauerkroft, Mistlethroe, Conniff, Prelate Akstra, Pvt. Odd Jon Stuckle, Pvt. Teckle, Apprentice Letoe and most of the PCs.

Promotions:
Major Scott Morrow -> Commander Scott Morrow
Captain Hoary -> Major Hoary
Lt. Langston - > Captain Langston
Pvt. Grizzlebeard (not present) -> Lt. Grizzlebeard of both the Fourth and Last Eidolorn
Pvt. Teckle - > Lieutenant Teckle
Pvt. Luz - > Sergeant Luz
Pvt. Slab - > Sergeant Slab
Pvt. Odd Jon Stuckle - > Staff Sergeant Stuckle

PCs: Darkahn, Langston, Luz, Mudgol, Ryit, Slab, Teckle (guest PC)

NPCs

Mestos Davijnak (human male):
A former teamster working out of Floivin Keep, Mestos is now in his 80s with a shriveled shock of white hair and beard. He's known as one of the most ornery but respected civilians in the keep, the highest level commoner in all the realm and will still throw down a challenge to some young whipersnappers with his masterwork crutch and projectile bedpans. Unfortunately, he picked a fight with the ebon-skinned giant Volz Rhazeen, who promptly turned his flesh to stone. Conniff was only able to revert the petrification effect on the half-orc wizard Mudgol, so Mestos' statue now takes Mudgol's former position overlooking a fountain on Hook Street.

Volz Rhazeen (giant male):
An ebon-skinned giant of unknown origin, Volz has been encountered several times as a leader of the undead incursion in Floivin Province. He wears pale hides and huge chains of bones on his person, fights with a club torn from the spine of some fell northern beast, and has not been known to speak (his name learned only by the loose tongue of a zombie lord during the first segment of the war). More importantly are his magical abilities, including a vast knowledge of earth magic that nearly destroyed the PCs defending Floivin Keep, and an ability to shed digits (fingers and toes) which transform in doppelganger brutes. In the final moments of the War for Floivin Province, Rhazeen was the last enemy standing to not have fled, but once pressed by the dwarves Slab and Odd Jon, melded into the stone and earth of Duck Street and disappeared...