Fighting

July 31, 2014

The hum and feel of magic permeates the air.  Adrasteia's warning that the portals are opening soon is met with calls for spells and the casting of them.  A dozen portals open and orcs, goblins and even some ogres and giants are ready to come out!  Shar is able to cast a spell and use it to shut down a portal.  Fain also steps forward and closes a portal.  Dozens of invaders still pour out of the other portals but several are tricked by Shar's illusions that she previously cast.  The Thambeos' men use that to their advantage and a few even join among the illusion defenders to help it even more.  Volgash shifts into a giant form and while it is tiring, it's also much stronger, so he wades in with his axe.  Trogdor tells his dog to stay back as he rushes forward to meet the invaders as well.  

The battle doesn't last for very long, perhaps an hour with the aftermath.  Volgash was worried that the militia and noble's men wouldn't help much but they did take down their fair share.  Further, Pita and some others obviously helped where the other portals opened as there was no need to go help them.  Half of the noble's men went down but several were saved.  Wesh, Roga and Countess Thambeos helped cure any they could, including the group.  Ola, Albic, Luca and Rajko, the council of the town, lead the efforts to clean up the town.  Fain promises half of the treasure to Pita for helping.  The group agrees to come to a feast in their name tomorrow and then stumbles back to their room to sleep.  

The next day, the group is famous and most of them don't like it.  If they leave their rooms, people want to hear the story and thank them for what they did.  Eventually, they come back and go to the roof if they want to feel the air or the sun, because anyplace else leaves them having to tell the story again and again.  The tailor presents Adrasteia with new clothes to wear and while she takes them, she doesn't wear them to the feast.  The group is presented to the public to much cheering for what they have done before going to see the council.  The council are grateful and arrange to pay for their rooms and food whenever they are in town.  They are presented with a silver medallion on a silver chain of the town's crest.  At this, Adrasteia realizes that not accepting it and trying to beg in town, with how everyone knows her, would be an insult and she puts it on.  She also urges the others to put on theirs.  

They have a good feast and the whole town is there.  The Council of the town and the Count and Countess open their larders and share for a big feast, inviting many others and feeding as many as they can.  The celebration lasts into the night but the group heads back to their rooms long before it is over.  Fain suggests that he is uneasy and will take watch and Volgash and Trogdor offer to help as well.  Indeed, the portal open into their room during Trogdor's watch.  Adrasteia saw it happen in a dream and woke up, nudging Shar and then getting her things before rushing out into the common room.  

Trogdor watches as the portal opens and an elf is standing beyond it.  He remembers her from the battle, having jumped over an ogre to get to her but she used magic to get away.  She asks if he would speak to her as a guest and honor that.  Trogdor is trying to set it up when Adrasteia bursts out of her room, lightning crackling in her hands.  Trogdor tries to wave her off and yell at her but he can tell that Adrasteia won't be able to understand him.  The elf in the portal says, "obviously, we won't be able to speak" and closes the portal down.  They wake the others and Fain is quite upset that he didn't hear any of it.  The group talks for a bit about what happened and if they should worry but know that they can't do much.  

Visions are not over for Adrasteia, who sees portals and the same thing happening in Whistledown three days from now.  They pack up and go down to the docks, where they find Ola Zott is tending to her ship, the Sea Sprite.  When they explain what Adrasteia saw, she offers to take them herself, and within an hour they are heading to Whistledown on the ship.  It's a long trip but they do get there that night, or early the next morning.  However, they won't be able to speak to elder Josef, so get some rooms.  The next morning they go to speak to elder Josef and a Chelaxan servant opens the door.  The group isn't sure what to make of that.  The servant wonders off to tell Josef and when he returns, says that the elder and the count and countess are ready to see them.  They meet Count Markos Dimitris, his wife, the Countess Anna Dimitris and see Josef.  They warn Josef about the vision and the invasion and Josef says that he will take care of it.  Josef, though, several times says "we" instead of "I" and the group is already wondering why the Count and Countess are there but they say nothing.  In fact, they get the impression that Josef is not going to do much and leave, wondering how much gold was paid to Josef to hand the town over to the Count and Countess.  

They make plans to let others know, so as Fain wonders off to do his thing at the blacksmith's, Shar and Trogdor go let people know in the market area and the tavern, and Shar couldn't help but notice that there is a new fountain built near the city center, similar, although not exactly the same, as the one the Thambeos' built for the town of Ilsurian.  Meanwhile Adrasteia looks for where the portals will open, with Volgash trailing behind.  They do this well into late afternoon, with Adrasteia finding that the portals will open on a residential street and letting the people living there know.  Josef himself finds Volgash and asks them to stop telling people as they are only causing a panic.  Volgash is not amused by Josef's demeanor but passes on the message to the rest of the group.  The group heads back to Josef's house to ask him why they can't warn others in the town.  

Again, they are made to wait by the servant.  Fain is impatient to get in and see them and doesn't take kindly to the servant's rebuff that only two will be allowed back as the room was too crowded with the whole group in it.  Fain eventually walks around the house to see what he can see and watches from an outside window as Trogdor and Shar meet with Josef and the Count and Countess.  Shar is not happy with Josef.  She tells him that this is serious and they are trying to help the people.  Josef insists they, or rather he, is as well and all the group is doing is starting a panic among the people.  Food has already been hoarded, as have other supplies, and now they can't be used for the militia.  Further, other supplies that might have been used, says Josef, are also gone now.  It's becoming quite the mess.  Shar tries to argue how they are wanting to help and do what's right.  Josef says that he accepts their help but if they are going to do so, they have to do as is needed and he will let them know what that is.  At the moment, Josef explains, that what is needed is for them not to cause a panic.  Shar keeps pressing and is not surprised when Count Markos interrupts to say that they are handling it and if the group won't do as they are asked, they should leave.  Shar confronts Josef, ignoring the Count as best as she can in the small room, and asks if they are to be exiled.  Josef hems and haws but eventually backs up what the Count said, telling the group to stop telling others and ruin their plans for the town's defense, or consider themselves exiled.   Shar says they will do what they think is right but Josef insists, as well as he can, that they are just getting in the way of the plan.  Shar wants to know the plan but none will tell it, saying only that they will work them into the defense of the town.  Shar and Trogdor eventually leave.  

Fain has left long since then, having been listening to the discussion outside, and goes to the fountain.  He inspects as best as he can, remembering the altars they saw in the woods, but the fountain seems to be an ordinary fountain.  A pixie, introducing herself as , asks Fain what he is doing and not to mess with the fountain.  At first, Fain finds her amusing but when she keeps harassing him, and takes stuff from his belt, he gets angry and grabs her.  She stops but Fain notices more pixies behind him and decides not to keep looking at the fountain.  As soon as he is gone, the pixies seem happy and go back to frolicking in the fountain, which Fain does watch for a while until the group comes over to him.  

At this point, the group isn't sure what to do.  They sent Ola back to Ilsurian to get more troops already and can't contact her to say otherwise.  She should arrive about the time Adrasteia thinks the portal will open and they don't want to leave them in the harbor.  They stand by the fountain and discuss what they should do.  

GM Notes

• I took liberties with the battle for drama, especially with the length of it.  In game terms, it was only eleven rounds, or a minute, before we were done!  But I wanted it to seem longer, so that's why I said it was about an hour.  I originally liked the idea of the six second combat round back when 3E first came out but I'm thinking of going back to a minute as it makes more sense to me, at least for a fantasy game.  I can see a six second round if I was using d20 Modern or Future.
• Need to make crests of the towns.  I used to have a really cool program to help me do that but I can't get it to install on Win7, much less Win8.  :(  
• I think that Paizo/Pathfinder didn't do as good a job in defining the curse of what it means to be an Oracle, or at least the ones that Drew took.  We eventually decide that if Drew has Adrasteia take any actions that are combat related or cast any combat spells, Adrasteia is considered in combat, and therefore can only speak and understand Abyssal.  
• The players and I have disagreed on the Oracle's curse but I'm going to maintain it IS a curse and there needs to be a penalty along with it.  Fortunately, two players have had their characters learn Abyssal, the only language Adrasteia understands when the curse activates, so are able to coordinate some.   
• I suddenly got this vision of Josef speaking a bit like Bob Newhart, so did that.  A lot of pauses, breaks, and repeated words as he spoke to them.  I think it worked well!  
• I'm sure I also took liberties with the timeline of how they met with Josef and the Count and Countess but as I told the group, I don't remember every detail and go for the drama in my write ups.
• It's a fine line with some of the details.  Certainly the players were suspicious of Count and Countess Thambeos in Ilsurian but had no proof and the noble's men did help in the defense of the town.  Seeing the same thing happening in Whistledown, including the fountain, and the player's alarm bells are going off!  As I said to them, why have one meaning of Invasion when I can have two?   

BACK