Meeting Summary - November 2007
RQ Meeting summary.
The last session began with the party on the eastern border of the territory claimed by Khan Krum, Lord of the Bulgars and the Slavs. It was March, 810. A.D.
Our group consisted of:
Baclane - Mark's master of horses
Arre, Thad's Melnibonean alchemist archer
Aurelius, Rich O's graeco-egyptian sorceror charioteer
Grumfar, Rich F's minotaur, who is sworn to the service of the Morrigan
Theleos, Bob F's knight of Gondor who wears the Scales of Bairanax
Tony's Argan Argar troll arkati sorceror
Leon's Maat/Humakti arkati sorceror
Scott - Byzantine catacphract (disciplined, well armored horse archer)
Kelvin - Varangian skald mercenary (a Rus or viking who can use song to invoke the power of Bragi, one of the Norse deities)
Harry – Alais - Frankish knight from the court of Charlemagne.
Palanar? Is that Leon’s character? Or are you mixing campaigns, Mark. According to Leon, Palanar is his character's name
The party was travelling NW, to reach the rumored location of the stronghold of the red-robed magicians who aided the Khan of the Bulgars in breaking the Pecheneg alliance and driving them east and north in disorder. This area is in the mountains in what is now Moldavia and Transylvania. After traveling without incident for a week or more, the party was alerted to the proximity of the Lunar forces when they were attacked by a patrol of wyvern riders, which was repulsed, with only 1 wyvern escaping. During this battle, Leon’s character was struck by a lunar spell, screamed like a girl and fainted.
The party followed the wounded wyvern who fled the battle, and it flew in a straight line north by northwest. Following this line of flight the party met and crushed another lunar patrol; Leon’s character was struck by a lunar spell, screamed like a girl and fainted. Again. The group then began to climb the heavily-forested slopes of a series of mountains, and members of the party began to sense the presence of Darkness, Lunar magic, Chaos and the Undead. As they drew closer to the source of the Lunar and Chaos magic they sensed, they realized that the Darkness and Undead that they detected was NOT coming from the Lunar stronghold, it was coming from a source that moved, that was indeed, following the party. Members of the group were able to determine that the traces of darkness and Undead magic were everywhere, and were in many cases very old.
Que Mark
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With the plan to continue its search to find Krumm, Khan of the Bulgars, the group continued west, following the coast of the Black Sea, and were ambushed by a flight of wyvern riders. A short battle resulted in a lot of dead wyverns and lunars, and one rider less wyvern flew off to the northwest.
The group followed the wyvern's trail through the woods of Bulgaria into the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Some of the party sensed chaos and undead as we passed through a dark wood, and we saw signs of wolves and bats and an overwhelming presence of dread (we guess a vampire was near).. Noticing a break in the trees, we fled for the clearing, beyond which - up on a distant hill stood a castle. Ringing the hill some distance from the castle was set large stones. As the party passed beyond the perimeter of the circle, someone cast a spell, and the stones lit up the night. Realizing the stones were some sort of alarm system, we retreated back outside the circle again to investigate it with mystic vision.
It turned out that each stone was linked to the central hub (much like a bicycle wheel), so that anything crossing into the circumference of the wheel set off an alarm at the castle, and any movement into the wheel which passed a "spoke" also sent information back to the hub. Grumfar and Theleos proceeded to wrench several of the watchstones from their bed and rolled them down the hill, opening a large "pie-shaped" wedge in the alarm system.
While this was happening, the party realized that back down in the forest, hundreds of pairs of glowing eyes were visible and a lone figure stood quietly out away from the forest observing. The Argan Argar sorcerer attempted to communicate with the figure, but was met with stony silence.
Nervous, the party entered the wedge, and crossed several spokes until they found a road leading to the castle, leaving the open wedge to the creatures in the forest (if they decided to use it).
Proceeding up the roadway towards the castle, several party members sensed that the group from the forest was paralleling our advance within the open wedge.
And so, the two groups approached the castle, whereupon soldiers stood the walls, and the party sensed lunar magics being activated within. Six 10 cubic-meter salamanders stood before the gate.
Deciding this was going to be a big battle, Arre uncorked the flask containing the Seed of the Titan and performed a ceremony to feed the Titan various objects from his Bag-o'Alchemy (TM pending), with the rest of the party assisting by offering POW, MP and spells into the mix.
*** I cannot emphasize enough how lucky you all were that Arre didn’t fail any of his six die rolls. If he had, he would probably be dead, along with anyone within 10 meters of him; a fumble would have been bad for every living thing within 100 miles. And most of the undead things too. With that ceremony, Arre did an Impossible Thing: he pulled back into the world a creature that had not been seen in almost 2000 years, a Colchean Hydra, the same kind of hydra faced by Jason when he sought the Golden Fleece. Except this one is even bigger, stronger and more dangerous because of all the magical vitamins you fed it. And it likes you, sorta.***
While the ceremony was underway, the forces in the castle attempted to disrupt the proceedings. The six salamanders swept down the path towards the party (two of which were snuffed as they hit the line). Six wyvern riders rose into the air, two of which cast spells. A springal bolt flung from one of four war machines on the castle walls impaled the minotaur (through his shield) in the head. The minotaur, of course, went berserk, and after a lucky pluck, charged the fort.
The ceremony resulted in a SIZ 60 three-headed hydra, which imprinted the party as friends, and after Arre issued it a command (request?), began lumbering towards the castle to attack flanked by Theleos, Alais (Harry's Frankish knight), Palanar, Nick and the skald. While the damage-sponges made their way to the fort (with Lucky riding the Minotaur's back, shrieking the war chants of the Morrigan), the archers and spellcasters whittled away at the enemy forces on the walls. Big fight followed.
During the fight, Leon’s character was struck by a lunar spell; Kelvin gagged him before he could scream and then Scott’s character strategically placed a pillow for him to faint onto.
*** Your group managed to hit the Lunars right before they could start summoning salamanders again, having lost most of them and the Lunes to the arrows of the pechenegs. Also, the commander of the fort was off getting a new mount, having lost his in the war with the nomads. You would meet him later, however. A lucky shot from one of you managed to drop the lunar magician who was carrying the most important loot, when he was attempting to flee the fort: the magical saddle (see commander above) and the two fingers, from the Young Elementals Liege Light and Lady Land, and a hunk of moon rock. The finger tips were what the Lunars are using to summon salamanders and gnomes, and the fact that they were willing to temporarily maim 2 of their subordinate deities gives you an idea of just how important this mission is to the Lunar Empire.***
Back to Mark:
Picked up a bunch of loot, which included two boxes. Theleos opened one, which turned out to be a golden finger, which promptly started to summon a salamander. Theleos grabbed the finger from the box and was attacked in spirit combat by the finger's owner, one of the Young Elementals. Only a divine intervention saved the Gondorian knight (leaving him with 1 POW), sending the finger to [some god]. [I think this is where Tony's sorcerer lost his darkness spells]
***not lost, exchanged for other spells***
Realizing (amazingly, when you consider the usual thought process of the party as a collective) that to open the other box would be foolish, we performed another ceremony and sacrificed the other finger to [some other god]. ***this happens later***
Here's where my brain shut down
THANKS FOR THE HELP, MARK.
After the group loots the lunar fort, they leave it to the vampire and his minions to face the inevitable Lunar counter attack and head down that old roman road that leads off to the south and west, towards the heartlands of the Bulgar khanate. The hydra goes off on his own, having a size 60 appetite to go with his scaly body. The party then goes on a little campaign of disruption and disinformation; it enters the lands recently ruled by the Avars (who were beaten by Charlemagne and then wiped out by the Bulgars) and then enter the Bulgar lands proper, on the northern edge of the watershed of the Danube. The group attacks a number of Khan Krumm’s couriers, and gathers information about Bulgar troop movements and spread a little disinformation of their own. By now, weeks have passed since the battle at the old roman fort and they begin to hear rumors and read captured reports:
Rumors
The Sorcerers in Red have destroyed a hilltop fortress in the no man’s lands NE of the old Avar territory; they are rumored to have removed the top 3rd of the hill in their anger.
A monster is ravaging the northern lands who have sworn allegiance to Krumm; a gigantic dragon who cannot be killed or stopped is heading for the Baltic in a more or less straight line and is devastating everything in its path.
Troops are being sent north
Troops are being sent south
Troops are being sent west
The Franks have crossed the Elbe and are lead by a giant with a magical black sword who kills anyone who dares to challenge him.
The emperor is a horndog.
Lucky is gay.
And soon, everyone begins to sense that someone or something is following them. After smashing a few bulgar patrols, the alarm is sounded and the hunt for the party is up. Bulgar and Slav horsemen in of 50 or more troops begin combing the countryside, and in order to throw the pursuit off their tracks, the party decides to head due south, straight for the Danube and the heart of Krumm’s realm. After evading a group of the Khan’s best cavalry, the party realizes that what has been following them is about to catch them, and they turn to fight it.
It is the commander of that Lunar fort and the owner of the saddle the party looted. He had left the fort get a replacement mount and now he wants his saddle back. It is a member of the FullMoon Corp, a unit of Lunar Heroes who live on the Red Moon and who are the personal guards of the Red Empress herself. The party has a real fight on their hands, people get hacked left and right and there is at least one more divine intervention, but after Lucky manages to critical the Lunar in the head, the party drags him down and Lucky saws his head off. During the fight, Leon’s character is struck by a lunar spell; Kelvin and Scott’s characters jump on him and beat him senseless.
The party heads for the Danube but realizes that they are being surrounded by literally thousands of bulgars. Using magic the party dives into the Danube river and start looking for a likely way to get out without having to cut their way through a couple of armies. Lucky for them (I can’t believe I just typed that) Lucky happens to meet a couple of roanes that he knows, and the faerie of the Danube agree to transport the party out of danger. But they do not transport them east to the Black Sea, they take them up river to the headwaters of the Danube, into the heart of the Alps.
There, in a hidden valley that lies between the birthplace of the Rhine and the Danube, the party is able to take refuge and rest up. This valley is one of the last centers of power for the old Celtic deities; the party is able to gather power and sacrifice for spells and get spirits. Arre joins the followers of the old goddess of the hunt, and Tony’s sorcerer contacts Argan Argar in an attempt to do something with the finger of Lady Land that you captured. Tony’s character has explicitly stated his allegiance to the Valar of Middle Earth, who has nothing to do with darkness, and Argan Argar takes his darkness spells back from him. He also gets the finger.
You arrive in the Alps on the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, when you leave you encounter Roland, who has fought his way through the Bulgar frontier regions from north to south, he will join you. The party is heading for southern Italy, where Prince Michael is stationed.
And when dawn comes after your first night away from the valley, Tony’s character awakens to find a javelin of black glass veined with glowing green lines thrust into the ground next to his bedroll.
This is where we pick up; it is late summer, 810 A.D.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:52, Thu 11 Sept 2008.
