Fighting the Good Fight, No Matter the Cost

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Fighting the Good Fight, No Matter the Cost
GM: Paul S
Season: Summer 801 WK

Party

• Isil Eth, Mind Elf Female (Leader)
• Glynn, Air Elf Male (Mil Sci)
• Methos, Shadow Celestial?? Human Male
• Thorn, Non-mage Human Female
• Drum, Non-mage Giant Male
• Flamis,Fire Human Female
• Basalic, Earth Human Male (Scribe)

Time on adventure

1st Meadow 801 to 5th Breeze 801 WK

Employer

Baron Arrackstrech

Mission

Cleanse an old abbey of Heironeous

Plane

Greyhawk/Magrathea

Places visited

Greyhawk City

Magrathea City

Abandoned Abbey

Ruined city of Heliopolis

Tanelorn

Major NPCs encountered

Lorefakir - Mage in Greyhawk City

Jalif Arkan - Leader of the Arcane Order of Exposition (Magrathea Mages Guild)

Calidicie - Regent in charge of library

Ebert Gins - Head Priest of Magrathea’s Church of Heironeous

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsu0103.zip

Scribe Notes

I wasn’t expecting to go out again so soon after the last adventure but, when I was told that an outgoing party really required an earth mage, I volunteered. Flamis, my wife and a fire mage, also was going on this mission. We met our employer, a tall thin aesthetic gentleman who had obviously not been out in the sun very much however we had been assured that he wasn’t a vampire. He was Baron Arrackstrek, from a plane called Magrathea.. He had bought a map and title to a piece of land on which was a church, probably an abbey, and told us that it was infested and he wanted to tax the inhabitants, including back taxes. We ascertained, from his description, that the inhabitants were church knights from the Order of Heironeous, especially once he described their symbol, a silver lightning bolt. The party that I was a part of were: Glynn - elven air mage Isil Eth - tall female elven mind mage who had a noble background Methos - a beginning shadow celestial mage Killaramdram (Drum) - Nonmage warrior giant. Flamis - human female fire mage Thorn - human female nonmage warrior. Basalic (myself) - Earth mage and warrior. After some discussion, Isil Eth became the party leader, Glynn the military scientist, and I volunteered to be the party scribe as no one else wanted the job. ‘And if something goes wrong we blame it on the nob’ - Thorn We weren’t sure that interfering with a bunch of Heironeous paladins was something that would serve the cause of Good, especially since both Drum and I had encountered them before and admired their philosophy and code of honour. So, after the meeting concluded, I arranged for an astrology ready and obtained a rather reassuring answer. I guess we’ll see how it goes. I was also rather suspicious of our employer as I was very sure there were things that he was not telling us. I also did some shopping for supplies, including a Guild Lesser, a Guild Greater, a collection of Healing potions, Restoratives and even some Holy Water. I later discovered that I had been overcharged for the latter as the person who sold it to me was not the reputable seller he had claimed to be. I’ll know better next time. 2 nd Meadow 801WK Next morning, 10am, we assembled outside the Guild Hall. Isil Eth told us she had discovered a dead creature by her bed that morning. It had been identified as a Cerebral Parasite. They lived in the Ethereal Plane and fed on mental activity, preferring Mind Mages as a delicacy. Somehow they had come over from Greyhawk. We headed for Dead End Alley. Our employer had told us that he had received instructions from a local mage, Alkon, of what to do to get here and back. When we got there, jade bracelets appeared on our arms and we discovered that a large baton, a larger version of the ones retrieved from the drow, was standing there, courtesy of Sabrina. The instructions were to walk widdershins around it seven times but, when we tried to do that, the bracelets began to increasingly irritate our skin. Plus we found it difficult to get near the pillar. It flashed when we tried and there was an answering flash of light from the end of Dead End Alley where the Greyhawk portal was. From what we could tell, there was some sort of Forbiddance emanating from it. Flamis used her DA question in an attempt to determine what College it was a strange word leapt into her mind that she could not tell us. So we went to see the Guild Namers. They should have divinated it and have a better idea what was going on. From them, it was discovered that there was a drow curse on it to stop the elves from using it. Plus the Namer who knew what College it was had forgotten a short time ago. Apparently only one person could know the Word at the time. So we arranged for illusionary auras to be put on the elves in order to hide their elvish nature. Upon arrival it was decided to try the portal one at a time, leaving the elves to last. Drum was first. He went round it widdershins seven times and vanished in a flash of light. There was another simultaneous flash from the Greyhawk gate that I was watching. However, when the next person tried it, nothing happened. So it was back to the Namers and one came out to analyse the portal. The result was that it was completely drained and it would take a couple of centuries to recharge. It’s destination plane also seemed forbidden. Since the gate came from Greyhawk, the answers would probably be there and the one person that could tell us was Lorefakir. The other possibilities were the priests of Celestron or Fharlanghn. So we went through the Greyhawk portal and arrived at Lorefakir’s residence. He wanted us to keep an eye open for Scratch. So what had that ‘person’ been up to this time? If there were going to be any answers the most likely place was going to be in Lorefakir’s library. Several other party members decided to enter but, after what happened to me last time and also that I saw no logic in me going in there, I stayed with Lorefakir and partook of his hospitality, including tea and crumpets with strawberry jam. Glynn and Methos managed to discover that they could get to the plane we wanted through Dead End Alley - as long as the traveller wasn’t tainted by shadowdragon essence. Apparently Drum had been - somehow. The plane had been devastated by the Dragon of Shadows a very long time ago when it was summoned to deal with something much worse. Nothing in particular was required to get through. Methos then followed a very intelligent line of enquiry and discovered how to fix the portal itself so we could use it. Well done that person. He then found his way to an area dedicated to Thoth, the god of knowledge and found a cloak draped on an altar. A voice welcomed him as ‘the Son of Nutt’ so he tried the cloak on and discovered he now had an unnaturally long shadow. While this was going on Isil Eth discovered an ugly truth and returned with a maple leaf on her cloak while Flamis found an alchemical lab with various substances bubbling away in beakers. Not withstanding everything I had told her about what can happen in the library, she decided to play with it, using a spoon made of frozen fire. The stirring caused the spoon to sublimate and a whole lot of poisonous smoke filled the room. Flamis used a cleansing flame in an attempt to burn off the poison and turned herself into an ice statue. Glynn was looking for the knowledge of binding air and found her, bringing her back to where we were. He then went back in to fetch the healing maat. This was used to restore Flamis to her normal self. Of course I dragged her off for a good talking to. She then discovered that her spells no longer looked like fire, more like ice even though her College was still fire. .2. All the priests of Celestron could tell us that the plane had been devastated by the Dragon of Shadows but they weren’t sure on what exactly had happened. There was also a reference to something called Aleph. From the Priests of Heironeous we received one of their blessings, which would shake off the effects of the first Spec Grev. Flamis also obtained three of their vials of Holy Water, which were also effective against followers of Hextor. We then returned to Seagate. Methos estimated that it would take him two days to fix the portal. Flamis got herself divinated to see what her spells would now do. 5 th Meadow Finally the portal was ready. We circled it widdershins and found ourselves in a grove of yew trees. I checked that we had indeed reached the correct plane then went in search of Drum. It didn’t take us long to find him as he was camped near the grove. Nearby was a new road that had been built on the top of an old one. Drum told us that he had seen two caravans go by while he was here, both under heavily armed escort. Everyone travelled in groups and all of them were openly armed. There was an unusual amount of wildlife in the area. Glynn decided to talk to the local birdlife and discovered that the nearest city was 10 to 12 miles away. However we discovered that their idea of a mile was more like a league. We headed off in that direction and soon reached a small village of about 200 people. Every house was butted against another. Much of the land near the village was cultivated but there were a lot of overgrown areas where the land had gone back to the wild. When we approached the village, we were met by a few of the locals. We then stopped at the inn for breakfast before visiting the local wisewoman. She told us that the main city was about two days travel away while it was five days to the old capital. Four hours later we reached another village which held 500 people and had an earth moat around it. The gate was located in the wall and had two stone pillars each side of it. The guard there wanted to know where we were. We tried to explain but he then pointed us to the guardhouse. Inside was a fine detailed accurate map of the area. Isil Eth told him that we were from Seagate, located somewhere off the map along the coast. From what he was saying, this seemed to be a rather progressive society, trying to rapidly recover from the devastation and attempting to ensure it didn’t happen again. Everyone takes part, including compulsory military service. At the next village we spent the night, during which a couple of carrier pigeons were spotted heading towards the city. 6 th Meadow Upon reaching the next village we discovered that the gates were closed and two people were waiting for us. One was a blue robed E&E while the other was in dwarven made armour. The E&E gave us an invitation to visit the magicians guild, known as the Arcane Order of Exposition, in the city before vanishing - literally. We then continued on with the armoured person as an escort. Another village was reached before nightfall and we could see the city, surrounded by 30' walls, in the distance. During the trip we discovered that the road had a magical aura that was based on iron magic.. 7 th Meadow Finally reached the city and entered through the solid iron gates. The place was clean and there was little smell. All the citizens looked very healthy. Finally we reached the guild buildings and entered. There was a large statue of Immotin, goddess of magic and healing, in the hallway. Our guide told us that we were in the Hall of Revelation. Any question asked here had to be answered with the truth. Several of us wanted to ask our employer some very pointed questions. We were introduced to the head of the Guild, Jaliff Arkan, who was also one of the city regents. He was a 6'2" human with grey/blonde hair. He suggested we talk to Calidicier, who was another regent as well as being in charge of the cartography and library. So we started our research. The abandoned church was located some seventy miles north and east of the city. It was also revealed that our employer was actually a local gambler and drunkard, who had won the map and accompanying land claim off a group of adventurers. The claim was found to be legal and included a large abandoned abbey. The adventurer’s hadn’t physically checked it out but their E&E was convinced it was infested. The area around the abbey consisted of swamp. We suspected an undead infestation. Ebert Gins, the local head of the Church of Heironeous was contacted and they would check their records for more information.. Basically the adventurers had found the place a few years ago and registered a claim but had done nothing about it. For the claim to be maintained, the land would need to be occupied. We also discovered that the Forbiddance on this plane also had another desirable side effect i.e. that there were less demons around the place. All mages needed to be registered with the Guild and, after some discussion, we did so. There were a few renegades though. One was Drake, who was a tall gaunt gray-haired renegade who had been a secret necromancer. He had disappeared nearly six years ago and there was a 10.000gp price on his head. That brought up the subject of money. Silver was rather scarce here. One piece was worth 2gp and there was a large demand for silver, truesilver, and mithral. They needed as much as they could for rituals for controlling shapechangers. We were asked for what we had so I sold my mithral breastplate to Isil Eth for 25,000sp. I planned to donate some of the profit to the Church of Heironeous. There was also a curse on flying on the place. Any unnatural flying, such as spells, would get attacked by everything in the air. Airmages with aerial affinity was the only exception. Finally we headed out the North Gate in order to find the abbey. We met up with a guard patrol who told us that there were bears, boars, goblins and hobgoblins in the wilderness. There were no sign of undead. After a few hours the road petered out and was covered with grass. Occasionally we could detect it’s aura in the gaps so we marked where it went for future explorers. 8 th Meadow A day later we reached an old menhir. Nearby, to the east, was an old city called Noonei. Methos had been here before and told us that the city was full of magical darkness and was full of undead. We managed to scry it with Flamis’ crystal of vision. It was a large city that had been abandoned. There were heaps of debris in the streets and several buildings had been shattered. We even saw a short greenish scaly humanoid wielding a spear. A lizard man? We continued following the road and estimated that it would take about two days to reach the abbey. It was exhausting work making our way through the undergrowth so Flamis tried summoning an elemental. What she got was a black flaming elemental which I determined came from the Para-Elemental Plane of Ash. When it touched a tree the tree shattered, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. However, when it touched the road, it vanished. We discovered that the road had the property of banishing summoned creatures. Finally we stopped and camped in the forest. I was going to hunt rabbit for dinner but Isil Eth insisted that I summon them instead. So, against my better judgement and also against my belief that it is ‘unsporting’ I did so. That proved to be a mistake. What I got was not rabbit but a swarm of tiny lights. These tiny lights proved to be glowing tiny winged humanoid fey and they were attracted to metal like moth to a flame, especially my armour. There seemed no way to stop them committing suicide on my armour and I was fearful that I had done something to harm innocent beings, something that an honourable warrior should not do. In case it was me that they were being attracted to I hurriedly ditched my armour. Glynn had cast a flying spell on Thorn and was about to cast on the others when an angry boar dashed out of the forest. It missed me but spun around for another charge. Meanwhile a large raven flew in and attacked Thorn, injuring her badly. Flamis was casting her ‘ice-skating’ spell on people in case we decided to leave in a hurry. A skirmish followed with more and more of those fey immolating themselves on any exposed metal. Also the forest itself was reacting badly, as if it was angry. Methos was snagged by a tree root but Drum was able to get him out. Finally Isil Eth was able to pacify the forest using empathy. The forest was basically angry at both Thorn and myself for using unnatural means. The boar had been killed and the raven driven off. The area around the ground was littered with the barbequed corpses of those tiny fey which now looked like fried locusts. From their behaviour, Flamis concluded that they were not intelligent individuals but maybe part of a hive mind - like bees or ants. For some strange reason, Isil Eth decided to eat some. They must have been addictive as she was soon eating them one straight after the other while the rest of us gathered them up for burial. She then said she could see a dark moon in the sky, a moon that none of us could see. She also said something about detecting the heart of the forest somewhere to the east. It seemed to be calling her and it felt evil. Obviously eating fried fey is not good for anyone.