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What Has Gone Before.

Posted by HawkFor group 0
Hawk
GM, 12 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Fri 11 Feb 2011
at 18:15
  • msg #1

What Has Gone Before

Chapter Summaries
Hawk
GM, 54 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Sun 17 Apr 2011
at 15:40
  • msg #2

Chapter One: The First Stone Cast

Many meetings. A hat is wagered. A ship is stolen. Arrests are miraculously avoided.

Following a strange prophecy, the Inushani kobold samurai Pitafu Sukuden travels to Helmsgold. He seeks an escaped tenma, a demon, and his meditations lead him to a "woman of blackest skin, and soul as pure as her hair is white." He takes the words to indicate Sarilinesstra, drow priestess of Pelor.

Meanwhile, Eladrin Bale and Elec Mourngrym arrive in Helmsgold from sea and land, respectively. The old friends and troublemakers have been guarding ship and caravan, both arriving at the dwarves' great city for the Festival or Orielle. Eladrin points his nose toward the Boar's Head, an old haunt and home to his "uncle" Grieg.

At the Boar's Head, Reanna Staffslinger is preparing for her festival performances, and is quick to greet both the kobold and the drow with unfeigned friendliness.

Bronwyn del Surin, Paladin of the Crimson Blades (and old antagonist of young master Bale), polices the city as various merchants and riff-raff flow through its gates.

The six eventually end up in the common room of the Boar's Head. Introductions are made, suspicions allayed, and the companions agree to help Sukuden seek his demon. Elec asks for the little warrior's hat should they be successful. None of them realize the scope of the threat they face.

Elec and Eladrin get disturbing hints of its scope, though, when they go to "appropriate" a small ship in the harbor. The Wraith is as fine a craft as either have seen, built to be operated by a small crew and to travel quickly. It is, unfortunately, also home to a most peculiar vampire. Lans, or whatever his proper name may be, speaks vaguely of Fate and pawns and pieces beginning to move. The encounter ends with the unexpected gift of the Wraith to the companions.

The group finds further (and also unexpected) support from the Crimson Blades, and their cargo hold is full as they sail out of Helmsgold Harbor.
Hawk
GM, 55 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Sun 17 Apr 2011
at 15:46
  • msg #3

Chapter Two: Dark Tides

Sails are set. Pirates are slaughtered by the dozen. Arguments ensue.

The companions make for Gildenport, growing used to their new company. An unfortunate band of pirates decides to take the Wraith for a prize. This decision costs them their lives. Violently and in great numbers.

Eladrin Bale, in a fit of righteous anger, kills the last of the pirates in the midst of an attempt to surrender. Bronwyn disputes his actions. The intensity of their argument foreshadows things to come (good and bad). Elec tries and fails to get drunk. Reanna finds shiny things. Pirates are fed to the sharks. Their ship is looted and burned.

With some dread and acrimony, the companions sail on toward the hive of scum and villainy that is Gildenport.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:00, Sun 17 Apr 2011.
Hawk
GM, 56 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Sun 17 Apr 2011
at 16:29
  • msg #4

Chapter Three: The Divided City

Fortunes are gained and lost. Tongues are held (and bleed). Taxes are paid. Mysterious errands.

The companions drop anchor at Gildenport, a corrupt city where both Elec and Eladrin have some history. It is a place that paladins fear to tread, where slaves are taken and sold and slaughtered. It is also one of the few places on the route from Helmsgold to Najeeb to resupply.

The visit begins poorly, with corrupt guards demanding a particularly outrageous amount of taxes and fees. Eladrin and Bronwyn secure supplies while the others guard the ship. A mysterious shadow appears. The Wraith is redirected to Masadum.

Elec exchanges harsh words with guards demanding even more money for "protection." Sukuden and Sari back him up while Reanna slips off to explore.

Reanna falls in with some halflings "exploring" a place that doesn't belong to them.

After paying off the guards with a leaky bag of coin, Elec and Eladrin go back into the city to look for Reanna. They encounter an "old friend" and casually provoke a riot.

Eventually, the group reconvenes at the Wraith and escapes Gildenport with the evening tide.
Hawk
GM, 62 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Thu 21 Apr 2011
at 03:11
  • msg #5

Chapter Four: Fated Reunions

A homecoming. Old flames and old foes. Unexpected allies and expected enemies. A companion stolen.

The companions arrive at Masadum, city of Eladrin Bale's youth and home to the grand Caliph Usar. 'Drin is nervous about returning to the city for reasons he refuses to explain. After a much more pleasant docking experience than they had in Gildenport, the companions venture out into the city: Elec and Eladrin to the market and park, to stretch the ranger's sea-weary legs; Sari and Bronwyn to the cloisters of the Scarlet Sisterhood, to seek the wisdom of the oracles; and Reanna to the Great Library.

Their errands have numerous unexpected consequences.

First, Elec and Eladrin encounter an elven bladesinger who, with some deep surprise, greets Elec not as Elec Mourngrym, but as Elec Minayathallon. She is Alanha Sudahrah, the love of Elec's youth and a sudden reminder of a past he thought he'd left behind.

Sari and Bronwyn, escorting Reanna to the library, encounter there an avariel. After polite greetings, they leave the halfling to her studies and push on to the Scarlet Sisters' temple.

Touts scream that the Minstral himself will perform in Masadum. The legendary bard's presence is a pleasant surprise to all.

Eladrin and Elec, after a detour discuss the latter's romantic quandary, go to the museum to see the Minstral's violin. Eladrin gets a chance to play it. The Minstral reveals himself--as Lans. Standing in sunlight, it's increasingly clear the being is no ordinary vampire. He tells them to seek the Enambilis, along with his usual fatalistic warnings.

Bronwyn and Sari receive no immediate answers at the Sisterhood, but do receive a promise of aid. As they leave, an elder warns them that there is a great danger growing in Masadum, and that six balls of light would be threatened by three scimitars.

At the park, a small part of that danger makes itself known: Paffa, assassin to the crime lord Pasha Hadib, attacks Elec and Eladrin in the park. Magic irons holds the elf as Paffa effortlessly subdues Eladrin and vanishes with him, pausing only to taunt Elec.

What follows is a rush to collect allies and discover the whereabouts of this "Hadib." Elec goes to Alanha, who secures him and audience with Usar himself.

Lans puts in several appearances as Hadib and Paffa begin to torture Eladrin--their long-escaped slave and tool.

At length, the companions reconvene at the Wraith, and eventually set off into the city in search of clues. Lans reappears, briefly, to point them toward Rashad, a recently-arrived mage who may be able to help. While Reanna explores the Black District, Elec and Bronwyn seek out Alanha.

Eventually, their collective investigations reveal that Hadib has been hunting Eladrin for a very long time, and that he has also pushed around many people. They are too frightened of him to act on their own, but the companions begin the effort of rallying them and giving them hope of victory.
Hawk
GM, 80 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Sun 8 May 2011
at 16:53
  • msg #6

Chapter Five: Reckoning

Morning debate. Challenges made. Pain in the dark. Storming the castle. Death on the cliffs.

Dawn of the companions' second day in Masadum comes with held breath. The city is on edge, rumors waxing to a low rumble.

While Eladrin endures further torture, the companions again split up to seek information and allies. Reanna and Elec visit Stormrider, the half-giant harbormaster. Sari and Bronwyn repair to the temple of Pelor in search of a swordmaster named Belagris.

Stormrider is reluctant (to say the least) to share any information, convinced like so many others that to speak against Hadib is a sure death warrant. Elec and Reanna eventually convince him to let some information slip via a third party. Perhaps. After leaving his office through a newly-shattered door, Elec and Reanna stumble across a gnomish con man. With a little help from Luck, they catch him and begin an interrogation.

Belagris, blinded long ago by Hadib, is reluctant to believe Bronwyn's tale. He reveals that he was a close friend and shieldmate of Eladrin's father Heladiv, but did not know that Heladiv had sired any children. As Bronwyn and Sari prepare to depart, he stops them and explains more of the past before promising what aid he can give if they return his blades.

At the Iron Buckle Forge, they find not only Belagris's blades, but the hobgoblin smith Dandin. He returns the master's swords. After an impulsive plea for help from Bronwyn, Dandin also volunteers his mercenaries.

By afternoon, the companions are ready for their audience with the mage Rashad and Caliph Usar. The Caliph volunteers the services of his investigators, and Rashad agrees to provide magical support. The meeting with the investigator does not start on the right foot, but he soon agrees to assist the companions. What's more, he claims that he and his men have found an entrance to Hadib's compound. The attack is scheduled for midnight.

As the hour approaches, the companions gird themselves mentally and physically for war. Dandin and his mercenaries arrive, along with Belagris and unexpected aid in the form of Stormrider himself. The sizeable force launches a multi-pronged assault on Hadib's fortress, with the companions entering from underground. Armed with alchemical devices and their own not-inconsiderable skills, they make short work of those foolish enough to get in their way.

Unfortunately, the decisive victory is an empty one. Hadib's fortress lies in ruins, but he has escaped, along with Paffa and Eladrin. The companions take horses and give chase.

They catch up to them at Shazaran's Rock, but find that Hadib and Paffa are ready. Eladrin is hung from a post, and slain before their eyes. His body falls into the churning waters below. The fight that follows is bloody, with quarter neither asked nor given. Bronwyn charges the wizard Hadib, flanked by Sarilinesstra and Reanna. Sukuden engages Hadib's goons as Elec begins a deadly duck-and-shoot game with Paffa. Creatures are conjured from other planes and fight valiantly in their summoners' service.

Hadib is vanquished. Paffa is, at last, slain. But Eladrin is dead, too, and a strange green gas erupts across the battlefield, choking the companions into oblivion.
Hawk
GM, 234 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Sat 23 Jun 2012
at 01:09
  • msg #7

Chapter Six: Masquerade

Dreams and disguise. A wake and awakenings. A truer threat revealed.

The companions spend three months incapacitated by illness, part of a broader plague inflicted on Masadum in the wake of Hadib's death. The crime lord's hints of service to darker powers proved true; much of Masadum was wasted by fires and the sickness inflicted by the green smoke. Each of the companions deals with the tragedy--and the loss of Eladrin--in his or her own way:

Sarilinesstra sequesters herself in meditation and prayer. Bronwyn does the same, but with a deep mixture of grief and guilt.

Reanna finds refuge in her music, Sukuden in his martial discipline.

Elec retreats to the Caliph's towers, feeling the wind in a way he never has before, even as he deals with the complications of life as an elven lord.

That last becomes more acute when Bloodsworn, a member of Tirisel's secretive order of the Si Shydys, arrives in Masadum with news that Elec's father (as well as the great elven hero Tennlianis Sudahrah, Alanha's father) have gone missing and are presumed dead. Elec is now the acting head of his house. Alanha lingers after some mysterious tragedy in a coma. Furthermore, the Shydys explains that Eladrin Bale's body was taken to Tirisel and he was subjected to reincarnation. That reincarnation, according to the Shydys, failed, and Eladrin died a second time (though the Shydys never states this outright).

Gradually, the companions get back together. Elec speaks first to Bronwyn, cautioning her against hope and revealing his heritage and explaining that he must return to Tirisel. Sukuden and Reanna share lunch. Elec joins them as Bronwyn seeks out Sari. Soon, the five begin to plan a wake for Eladrin Bale. A statue of Eladrin is erected in Masadum.

At the wake, political and social jousting abound. Elec spars with his minders. The Shydys continues to speak in half-truths and ambiguities. Sarilinesstra exhibits the skills of Masadum's tailors to startling effect. Reanna sings a song. Many toasts are made. Lans puts an appearance and "converses" with the Shydys in the eaves. Sari follows close on his heels, suspecting the Bloodsworn's true identity.

As the party breaks up, the companions wander to various destinations around the Caliph's palace. Elec, more than a little drunk and trying to calm himself down with target practice, is approached by Sari. Their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of some possessed undead thing. So are the conversations of Reanna and the Shydys, and Bronwyn and Suku. Demonic undead have appeared around the palace, and the companions have a deadly fight on their hands. While the demons are not as fell as the bodies they wear, the fact that they explode when slain proves...problematic. The fight runs up and down the palace, each demon shouting threats as it dies.

In the wake of the battle, the companions prepare to depart for Tirisel. Elec and the Shydys engage in several heated exchanges about his identity, the false one that nearly all of the companions have seen through. They nearly come to blows. Later, Bronwyn confronts him in private and eventually earns an admission of his true identity: Eladrin Bale, reincarnated, somehow, as Tennlianis Sudahrah's doppelganger. He swears her to secrecy.

The companions depart Masadum aboard the Wraith, toward deeper knowledge of their enemy...and deadlier threats.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:09, Tue 26 June 2012.
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