GM : Logan
System :
Max Player Count :
Level Range : 7-10
Client :
Current Players :
Location : Terrisea
Date : 18 Aug 2019 04:00
Start Time : 2 PM
Job Link : [[[]]]
Session Description :
Guildmaster Lao,
Leneruck is lost. Arl Sibo was killed in the destruction of Grefalls Keep, and Tyrna Eldis is trapped with the citizenry in Barad Ingnan. We're mobilizing to retake the city but, unsurprisingly, it's taking a long time. We have a plan to rescue the Tyrna and the citizens before the army gets there, but it's going to require set-up on the inside. Your people need to get in, set up your end of the Warp ritual, and get as many people out as you can.
I realize what I'm asking of your organization, but you're my best option. I need your best, and I need them now. Lives are at stake.
Empress Nailo Tesuka
Session Summary :
The Squad: Nay'ri, Ioha, Samson, Thom, and Torriku.
The Mission: Leneruck has fallen. Arl Sibo is dead. Arl Geno is missing. Tyrna Eldis is trapped in Barad Ingnan, her keep, with the citizens who escaped. Empress Nailo sends us out there to get into that keep and use some magic chalk to draw a portal back to Saigon's Bastion, the palace in Menande. We have two pieces. I assure you that's an important detail.
We were briefed directly by a somewhat dampened and dour Empress Tesuka. Upon arrival by air in the Rötwald, Nay'ri spotted two scouts observing us. We caught them, bound them to our griffons, and instructed said griffons to take them to the nearest keep, which presumably Nay'ri would know of. While the Merrish speakers were interrogating the scouts, Nay'ri noticed a young Merrish boy (sixteen or so) observing the exchange. Nay'ri charged him, but he turned invisible and teleported away.
Upon reaching Leneruck, the city was eerily quiet. The Merrish had posted heavy patrols, but there was not the chatter of an army. Torriku warped Thom a ways into the city, disguised as a Merrish non commissioned officer, and carrying a bound notebook with a teleport beacon. Torriku could pull him out at any time, and he could ask for extraction via the notebook. He was immediately detected, as his disguise (and then his other disguise as a rank and file soldier) was ineffective, because all the Merrish soldiers were in a collective mindlink, and he was not, though this took some time to discover. He managed to escape his immediate predicament, but did not request extraction.
Meanwhile, the rest of us began circling the city, trying to reach the northwest side where Barad Ingnan is. Alas, stealth is a mixed bag for us, and a small contingent of soldiers was sent to dispatch us. They were a non issue, Ioha melted them all with a single acid bomb.
Thom then encountered a Major, whose name I have forgotten. I cannot give a play by play of his bullshit, but for the moment he appeared to be successfully bluffing that the intruder had employed anti magic to sever Thom's link to the collective. The Major ordered Thom to accompany him, and gathered a number of other soldiers, intentionally selected it seemed. After we killed the patrol sent after us, they changed whatever plan they had, and the Major took Thom to Grefall's Keep, the former seat of the Arl, to re-establish his mind link. This mind link was being provided by Major General DeCroix, the same Red Chevalier whom we met at the "prison" in the Merril arc. Thom was there was in the Merril arc, Thom recognizes this man, and it quickly becomes clear that DeCroix recognizes Thom. It seemed, from my perspective, that DeCroix was trying to get Thom to admit that he was Thom, and would then propose some form of cooperation. But Thom did not break character. Not until DeCroix shot and intentionally missed. Thom did not give him a chance to reload. He drew his Merr-blessed sword and crit DeCroix, activating an ability that allowed him to steal an active spell effect for a minute. After a great deal of debate, we determined that he could not steal the Collective, though there were a number of other nice effects to steal. That blow did not take DeCroix down, and as of the end of the session, Thom is surrounded by three mid to high level Merrish officers.
The rest of us reached the edge of the woods closest to Barad Ingnan, and observed the siege forces erecting a statue near the walls. We didn't know what it was, but based on Thom's discoveries it projects DeCroix's Collective over a wider area. We then spent a long while worrying about teleport traps, only to finally discover that Barad Ingnan did not have one active (or that it didn’t extend very far over the castle walls), and Torriku teleported us in. We rushed to find Tyrna Eldis and got a briefing from her.
There are perhaps a hundred people in Barad Ingnan, but there are about 800 being held in the Proving Grounds, the paladins' arena. Eldis believes that the Merrish intend to ransom the citizenry for territory. She asked us directly if we believed the Empress would cede the city, or even the entire Rötwald, to save those people. It was silent for a while, and eventually Nay'ri answered "I don't know." Eldis said she believed that she would. We discussed what it would take to rescue the people in the arena, which is much more heavily guarded and fortified. Eldis seemed hesitant to commit to such a risky venture, so Nay'ri intervened and said "we can do it." We have maybe twenty able soldiers, the Tyrna herself, one paladin, and ourselves. A nighttime operation, we will have to reach the arena on foot. And we need to know what Thom knows. We don't even know if he's alive.
Ah crap, we didn't make a new posting for session two. I'll put the summary here.
Thom was able to escape. Or rather, he was able to get his message to Torriku, and Torriku pulled him out. But Torriku was attempting to place him within the bounds of the teleport trap. Thom ended up in a dark room with a swarm of bees, which, thankfully, didn't immediately sting him to death. This was Tyrna Eldis's animal companion. We got him out.
We planned a while, and a Merrish representative arrived to parlay with Eldis. We took this distraction to create the portal and pull out everyone in Barad Ingnan, and Nay’ri took advantage of the portal to contact the Empress. She explained the situation and suggested that perhaps the presence of an incredibly powerful sorceress would be very helpful. She agreed to come, but as a diplomat, which seemed a fair way for Logan to handle it. Nailo ordered us to keep looking into trying to rescue the people in the arena. When we returned, the Tyrna had gone with the Merrish to see the arena.
Nailo started the negotiations in giant dragon form, providing us an excellent distraction to get away. A paladin led us to an escape tunnel from the arena, but warned us that these tunnels were how the Merrish entered the city. We wanted to use them because that would less fortified than the surface, and a tunnel is more defensible by a small force than an arena with 16 entrances. Unfortunately, we did not get in undetected. This group isn't good at stealth as a whole, and that has caused us many problems this mission. And thanks to the mind links, one soldier spotting us puts everyone on alert. Ioha dispatched the patrol, but the damage was done.
A certain Major Robin, an unashamedly evil man (with an unchecked wit), met us at the exit with the Tyrna. After some negotiations, we were able to see the people, on the condition that it was timed and we must leave "the Warp mage". Thom used his Imbued Teleport to successfully bluff that he was the Warp Mage, and stayed behind. Nay'ri sought out Stargazer Aicolf, and between the two of them, they determined that yes, these Merrish would kill the civilians, even the children, and there was no way to get them out without a massacre. So we did nothing, except trade barbs with Major Robin.
Eventually, the Empress returned with Major General DeCroix, and told us what they had agreed to. In exchange for the people's lives, the Merrish now control Leneruck, and the Empress will open negotiations between the Merrish and the merfolk, to try and get the Merrish access to trade with Charante, because, as Robin put it "Merril could use a friend." Before DeCroix left, Nay'ri said to him "Next time you won't have children to shield you from me."
Lao spoke to us when we returned. He wanted to say he was proud of us, and that this sort of situation, with the lives of civilians on the line, not merely monsters, or bandits, or other folk who knew they signed up for violence, was the day to day of an A ranker. If you don't want that, don't apply.
Post preview:
Close previewCome now, did you really expect to do it without her?
My vote has been cast
But would you know it's really Thom?
Yee
I'm in. Samson shall lead the charge.
Unfortunately Nay'ri isn't a horse.