Session 55 Summary

September 11th, 2010

Heroes: Dashiell (+9 PLPs), Donner (+9 PLPs), Lysandros (+9 PLPs), Prometheus (+5.5 PLPs), Rhinox (+7 PLPs), Rufus (+9 PLPs), Staephon (+9 PLPs), and Thorgan (+9 PLPs).

Game Date: Farsdain, Newsky 1, AD1017

It is the first of Newsky; another year is coming to a close. A lot has happened to the Fate Seekers in the few months they have been working together, since before they were even known as the Fate Seekers and were simply a group of heroes thrown together in an unusual circumstance. Their first adventure together ended in a clash with the group known only as the Legion. Now miles away from the Fort that brought them together, they stumble upon that strange organization once again, and once again they are conflicted.

The Fate Seekers are now in the midst of a war they know nothing about. Where does the Legion come from? What land harbors the Warforged and the Destiny Forge? Where are the origins of the Empire for that matter? These are questions that have yet to be answered and the adventurers may have to face the facts they may not be answered any time soon. For these heroes, these questions don’t matter to them at this time. They are simply intervening on behalf of a city full of innocent people.

The adventurers know very little about the Warforged, or the Destiny Forge faction in the war. They do, however, have a bit of background on the Legion. If the Legion is in this city, secretly or otherwise, they are planning something detrimental to everyone around them. Yes they had to make a deal with the captain of the Juggernaut, which of course the Destiny Forge could turn out to be worse than the Legion, but they believe this captain will keep his word. If the Fate Seekers can complete their mission, both factions will depart from the city, for a time.

Secrets and Avatars

The group is still wrapping up things from their fight with the leaders of the Legion Hold. Lysandros finally catches up to the rest of the Fate Seekers as they are going through the ritual chamber for clues. It was suggested they try to get answers from the spellcaster they kept alive from the last skirmish. Rhinox aggressively wakes up the dark caster and begins questioning the evil retch.

It appeared the caster knew what the adventurers wanted and he knew he had to make a deal or he would be as dead as the rest of his comrades lying about the room. He bargains the location of the Avatars for his freedom. This was acceptable even though some of the heroes did not like the idea of letting him go. The Legion leader told them the Avatars could be located at 228 Bleak Street in the Merchant District. It was difficult for some, but the fanatic was set free.

After a brief discussion the Fate Seekers decided to continue their search of this underground complex before moving on to the masters of the operation. Continuing their exploration the group found an office for one of the leaders. The group found some letters in the office that revealed quite a bit to the heroes. There was mention of a secret weapon, but there was nothing about what it was. They continued their search of the complex.

An Unknown Supporter

The heroes continued on through the other door in the office and found a simple bedchamber. There was not much here, but there was evidence that this was one of the thunder leader’s quarters. A thorough search revealed 2 secret doors in the bedchamber. Thorgan immediately went for the door on the left and went through it.

After working their way through yet another locked iron door, another set of stairs leading up, and another secret door, the group found themselves in a storage room. Opening the door to the storage room the heroes found themselves in a different warehouse. This one was converted into a barracks for a unit of Legion soldiers. Two-thirds of the warehouse space was taken up by rows of bunks for the soldiers, along with a long table with benches for eating. The other third of the warehouse was converted into office space and meeting rooms. When the group arrived they stumbled upon an occupied barracks.

The soldiers didn’t seem to care who the intruders were, they were more inclined to ask questions after they spilled the blood of these newcomers. The door of the storage room opened right next to the dining table and the Legion soldiers were quick to respond and converge on the Fate Seekers, not letting them gain footage in the room. This tactic was sound but not entirely successful.

Lysandros quickly used his eladrin gift to feystep into the room. Over the months with the Fate Seekers he has learned more control over this power and he brought the two dwarves into the room with him. The heroes go their foothold in the room and it was down hill for the Legion from there. A few moments into the battle the unit commander joined the fight from the back rooms. Wielding two axes, he immediately let Lysandros know he was there by throwing an axe in his direction. He seemed to know the Fate Seekers by sight, “How the bloody hell did they find us here, how are they coming through there?” He was not happy about their arrival.

The commander tried to bolster the moral of the soldiers, but the adventurers were too much for them. Each second that went by the Legion soldiers were thinning out more and more. Even though Rhinox had trouble with the war hounds, he proved to be affective even from the floor. Dashiell, Donner, and Thorgan went to work on the axe-wielding commander and he went down in moments. Staephon immediately tried pleading with what little intelligence these Legion soldiers had and demanded they surrender. With their commander down, they complied.

Chest and Crowbars

Once the battle was over the group immediately started going through the barracks looking for clues, and valuables. Lysandros detected a bit of magic in the back room where the offices were so he headed in that direction. Quickly passing through several rooms, the eladrin came upon a back room with a couple of chests and some shelf units. He knew the magic was held in the chests and began his search there.

“Locked!” he quickly discovered, so he pulled out his trusty crowbar. Shoving the crowbar into the crack of the lid and giving it a hefty yank, the top of the chest popped open; but it wasn’t the only thing that popped. The eladrin warlord is not too perceptive; otherwise he would have noticed the extra mechanism around the lock. With a pop and a “twang” Lysandros felt something sting his neck. Poison immediately wracked his system threatening to do what legions of monsters could not.

Dashiell found Lysandros in the back offices and found him still poisoned. Dashiell knew the eladrin was overzealous and could not find a trap if it was marked on the chest with an arrow. The warlord was able to fight off the poison, but his little adventure wasn’t over. The rest of the group finally caught up with the two heroes and started rummaging through the first chest. Lysandros moved on to the second chest.

“Locked!” once again the eladrin donned his crowbar. “Twang” yet again. Lysandros wasn’t going to let some little ole’ poison get him down. You can’t be in the Fate Seekers group without being tough. It’s not because they have rules or regulations, but they seem to find the worst predicaments an adventurer can get into. Their business is dangerous and it has a way of weeding out the weak. The eladrin fought off the poison yet again and collected his spoils.

Back to the Hold

The group checked the double doors leading from the crude barracks and found themselves staring into another street in the Warehouse Ring. This barracks is actually another warehouse, but who owns it? Where are they in the district? That will have to be discovered later, there is more work to be done in the Legion complex. The group turns around and heads back through the secret door and into the secret stronghold once again.

Thorgan leads the group to yet another left, which is the other secret door in the leader’s bedchamber. They find a small storage room with a chest on the floor and a series of shelves hanging on the walls above the chest. The group found several scroll tubes and a long box on the shelves. Rhinox steps forward intent on checking for traps before the eladrin can rush in with his trusty crowbar, “huh, no traps on this one,” he tells himself. WHOOOSH as the half-orc breaks the lock a gas sprays out and when it comes in contact with the air it ignites into a blast of flames. The flames fill the secret storage room, burning most of the party.

The chest is checked over again and the triggers for the trap are found and they are reset and ready for another blast. “Alright, now that I know its there I can get rid of it,” Rhinox thinking to himself. WHOOOSH another blast of gas and flames fill the small room. Half the party tends to their 3rd degree burns and Rhinox goes at it one last time. “Alright, I know what I did wrong, I can do this,” Rhinox assures himself as he goes through everything he did before but fixing the mistakes. The trap is finally disabled. The heroes collect their treasures and continue their exploration.

2 Heads, How about 4 Heads?

The Fate Seekers finish in the leader’s quarters and office and head back to the Ritual Chamber with the water basin. The group takes the next left and heads deeper into the complex. They follow the hallway leading to a portcullis down blocking the way forward. The only way to go is following the hallway to the right. That, of course, is not an option. They can see the deep darkness beyond the bars. It calls to them. They must get through the portcullis; they have to check out this darkness first.

With a group effort they heroes are able to lift the portcullis only to find a short set of stairs going down to another set of bars. Beyond the second portcullis darkness prevails and the noise they are making echoes through the void. Dashiell pulls out a sunrod, lights it, and throws it threw the bars. It is a natural cave beyond the second portcullis.

The group sees a lever on the wall which makes getting through this portcullis much easier. The cave smells of stale air, dried blood, and death. Rufus notices something about the walls but he can’t quite put his finger on it, and the dirt is very loose on the floor of the cave. The Fate Seekers move in to check out the rest of the cave, they also find the sole occupant of the cave.

The ground explodes beneath the heroes’ feet, knocking a few of them to the ground. A large serpent-like beast immediately attacks the bewildered party. Four snake-like heads dart forward with blinding speed to bite down on any adventurer within reach of the creature, and it has a long reach. A couple of the Fate Seekers recognize the creature as a Hydra, but beyond its name they have no knowledge of the creature.

Could this be the secret weapon the Legion leaders were talking about? The thought ran through their minds but the heroes were fighting for their lives now, they couldn’t spend too much time thinking about it. The creature struck and struck and struck, each bite opening terrible bleeding wounds on the adventurers. They literally felt their lives spilling out onto the cave floor. They were finally gaining headway when they were able to cut off one of the hydra’s heads. “It can be killed! We just got to last long enough to cut off the other 3 heads,” every party member was thinking. Their achievement was short lived. Moments after the head was severed, two long, metallic, serpentine heads grew instantly from the stump of the previous head.

The metallic heads were even more deadly than the normal snake heads. Their fangs felt like blades tearing into the flesh of the heroes; every strike from the metallic heads making grievous wounds that bled profusely. Dashiell deftly maneuvered in closer to the beast and with two mighty swings from his massive sword another snake head was severed from the creature’s body. The group surrounded the creature and was able to sever yet another head shortly after Dashiell’s triumph. Two more heads had fallen from the creature, but were they getting closer to killing the beast or were they making things worse for themselves?

They knew it was going to happen, but their hearts still dropped when it finally did. Only seconds after the third head was severed, four more metallic snake heads sprouted from the stumps. They struck immediately gouging chunks of flesh from heroes. Lysandros was struck multiple times, he watched in horror as blooded flowed from his body. He fought frantically to stop it but it was like a river running down his skin, still warm to the touch. His great spear wavered as he was getting weaker from the massive blood loss. The warlord fell once, but he heard a familiar melody as he was slipping away from the battlefield. He woke to the same scene, he was still bleeding.

The battle against the hydra with the metallic heads continued. The Fate Seekers began focusing more on the body of the beast rather than the heads. It was dangerous to continue to let the heads attack but they had to try something. During the fight several party members tried to help Lysandros but the gaping wounds were life threatening. The eladrin warlord battled through the pain, as did the other Fate Seekers still nursing their own wounds. The creature proved to be defiant to the last. They stabbed, they slashed, and they bashed and it seemed the hydra was on its last leg. It was badly hurt, dying. It’s waling and hissing sounded like a death cry, victory was in their grasp. Suddenly the creature lashed out in all directions, with each of its snake-like heads, and attacked the party one last time. With a huge thud the creature fell, breathing its last breath.

The party was badly wounded but they survived yet another monstrous threat. They found runes on the creature, arcane runes that altered the beast from its original form. Among the runes the group found some markings they could not identify. They believe them to be of a specific target, but their purpose is still a mystery. Is the secret weapon? What about the “other engine” the Avatar was talking about? Their adventure is not yet over. There are still answers to be found.

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