The Return Part 2

May 12, 2011

The group has gathered to question the person they just killed.  They need answers and they need to know now.  The group can only watch as the area is prepared.  Candles are brought out and lit; the body is preserved and put on the altar.  Finally, the priest asks for those who are strong in body to stand at the east and west points and one who is strong in will to stand opposite him.  Brax and Paavu take the east and west and Ander goes to the opposite side of the priest. 

The priest starts calling upon the spirits of the dead, of the god of the dead and of the guardian of the way to the dead.  He invokes all of them to let the spirit come back so they might learn from it.  The spirit appears and soon tries to break free!  It assails them in body and mind but all of them manage to chain it down and keep it in place so they can question it. 

They learn that the Keeper of the Tomes was not involved and are sure of the veracity of the answer.  They learn that this is the beginning and there is an invasion coming from the Far Realms.  That a hive of beholders is behind it all and there are beholders in every city, coordinating the efforts.  However, he doesn’t know for sure how they breached the defenses of Candlekeep, or who Thessa is. 

With each question, the spirit tries to refuse to talk but the group forces their will and strength on it to force it to talk.  Eventually, the spirit answers, although it still tries to break free before it has to say anything, It even tries to answer falsely but the group manages to force it to only answer the truth. 

As they try and force one more thing, a beholder is able to use him as a gate somehow and manifest partially in our world.  The fight is on!  Just as the group is getting to the last of their powers, the beholder goes down.  A tough fight but they managed to defeat it. 

With that done, they turn to Candlekeep and see there is fighting!  They rush up and see that the defenses were breached, as the spirit said they wanted to leave people in ignorance by destroying Candlekeep, and they fight creatures that have been warped by the Far Realm.  It’s a long night as they go from fight to fight but prevail, defending Candlekeep against the onslaught!

And that’s when they find out, it wasn’t just here.  Baldur’s Gate and at least Eltural were also attacked.  Ander goes and checks on his father but then they decide they need to get home and find out what happened in Scornubel.  They teleport to the secret lab and then use the knob for their mansion.  However, when the door opens, it’s a blank wall behind it.  They don’t like this. 

They go upstairs to find the brothel quiet but sounds of fighting from outside.  The streets are filled with more warped creatures and it’s a fight to the manor house.  It takes them a while to get there, only to find the manor has been destroyed!  It looks like there was an explosion that blew out one side and then the place collapsed into itself.  They leave there find Lady Ambermantle.  She says that Teldryl is fine and that Teldryl got word to her that she was at the warehouse and to pass it along. 

Again, there is more fighting and it takes its toll.  The defenders eventually defeat the invaders but at a high price.  Over ten thousand citizens were killed and half the Red Cloaks as well!  Scornubel is definitely hurt and mourning now.  But there is too much to do. 

The group uses the lab and the door knobs to travel to Berdusk, where there was no fighting.  They realize that it’s a political mess there, as three factions vie for control of the city.  They work to play the groups off of each other to get support to Scornubel, in the form of more Red Cloaks and supplies.  It’s an uphill battle, and they aren’t sure how they did. 

Then they head over to Iriaebor and get some support there.  It was much easier, with many of the nobles in Iriaebor ready to help Scornubel.  It will take a month or so for the troops to arrive and the supplies will arrive after that but they do manage to at least start the talks with the other towns that weren’t hit and to do what they can for them. 

In the meantime, the party has found that there is a ritual that should help protect against Far Realm influence.  Now they are going to try and track it down and see if it will help them. 

X xp

GM Notes

• Very happy with the battles.  Well, the skill challenge battles.  We had a talk about how the beholder, an iconic DND monster, seemed too easy.  But with no “save or die” effects, like before, it seemed too easy to them.  This could be the design of 4E and perhaps there should have been minions or some other adversaries there.  However, I also don’t want to force things if it doesn’t work out, story wise, that there shouldn’t be other combatants. 
• The group did a good job, in that fight, of telling the Keeper to go protect Candlekeep.  Very well done and he had to be forced to run away and not help. 
• The player with the character who has the beholder crown wasn’t present.  They really wanted that character there! 
• Some good role playing in the ritual and the diplomacy items at the towns. 
• I really like the ritual.  I first did this after rereading the Odyssey and how the book handled their own speak with dead.  Ever since, I try not to let “mundane” rituals go by without trying to add to the flavor of it.  I don’t want some things as easy as, “I cast the spell, ask my six questions and then we think about the answers.”   

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