We start the session describing a relationship we each have with one other member:
MONTAGE
| Nidalru |When she was working for the Prince of Shadows she was tasked to assassinate someone Idris knew but was indifferent to. It was another paladin but of The Crusader, and you were getting an item back, shaping up to be a rival of Idris, a thorn in his side, and one day, he just stopped showing up, and Nidalru said to Idris, “they won’t be coming back…” (mysterious)
| Legion |The first person he ‘met’ in this world was Puki; having revived him. the family that found Legion brought him to the inn where they themselves were staying. Not long after, Puki arrived in the inn, and his healing magicks being made known of, someone said: “Maybe you can look at a strange being that was brought in earlier.”
- Aegus – Aegus had a dream from the Great Gold Wyrm, and brought Milo back and has been keeping an eye on him that way.
- Milo – thinks Nidalru is really good looking… saw her from the rooftops and was immediately enthralled by her
| Puki |Puki – Aegus likes coming to Puki for healing magicks, he also feels like a bit of an outcast, and despite not talking about it, he appreciates the unspoken aspect that both he and Puki are outcasts
| Idris |While stationed at the hidden gold wyrm temple, Aegus arrived with orders to look for Legion and the head priestess of the temple ordered Idris to accompany Aegus in search of Legion
It’s been days… since Legion‘s ‘arrival’ in the Dragon Empire.
The postmaster of Hildebrand hands Idris a sealed envelope with the names of both Idris and Aegeus. Opening it, it appears to be a letter from Therilsa Stormhand a female half-elf that maintains some of the Archamage’s controls on the weather in the Dragon Empire. She hails from Eldolan. She’s familiar with those that run the magical wards, etc. The letter asks Idris and Aegeus to bring the two extradimensional beings to Eldolan; the Great Gold Wyrm has communicated to her in a dream that those two are to be ‘a part of’ something momentous. Asking politely to escort them to Eldolan, she would meet us there.
- Eldolan is three days travel from Hildebrand
- Aegus agrees; if there are in fact weaknesses in the extra-dimensional wards, then, of course, they should follow their superior’s orders
- They go back to the Freighter Pub, run by Condan, his wife Afe and their 3 kids. Specializing in dwarven cuisine to up his business, dwarves have made him an unofficial dwarf, and it’s a good place to negotiate business between the city and the undercity below
- The freighter is almost empty, legion surveys the place, but sees one of Condan’s kids and displays a little dexterity with a coin trick and gives the hard-working young lad a little smile
- After a brief conversation, the party elects to go to Eldolan, Legion expressing curiosity at what Arcane expertise he might prevail upon in Eldolan
Legion flips the coin to the kid as he leaves.
Travelling to Eldolan montage:
- Puki – Difficulty: poor weather (rain & high winds) that makes it difficult to navigate some of the paths
- Milo – Resolution: we decide to set camp and stay warm and dry
- Milo – Difficulty: come across difficult terrain; a massive river we have to cross but storm washed out the bridge
- Idris – Resolution: take the strongest swimmer starts, we tie each other with ropes and are able to walk across the shallow river
- Idris – Difficulty: We come across a dead adventurer… presumably having travelled from Gorgon’s maw
- Nidalru – Resolution: Inspecting the body, it didn’t seem to suffer violent death; quite mysteriously. Undeterminate that we can’t tell what profession the corpse boasted. out of respect, we do a burial for the corpse
- Nidalru – Difficulty: cold, wet, and hungry… rations are running out!
- Legion – Resolution: With no expertise of his own, had Puki show him how… a generous offer to capitalize on his own expertise
- Legion – Difficulty: after discovering the dead body, Legion was in a foul mood afterwards… even quietly cursing while he helped bury the body. The heroes were set upon by a band of brigands on the road, claiming to be tax collectors, another came up behind him and whispered, “look at the eyes” pointing at Idris, backing away and choosing to flee before we had a chance to do anything
- Milo – Difficulty: stumble across ‘a wild pack of teenagers’! who were drinking and carousing
- Puki – Resolution: most of us walked by but Milo stopped and started critiquing their sex acts, causing them to get angry at us and flee
Arriving at the city of Eldolan
- 20m NE of Horizon (Archmage city)
- shaped like saddle
- north is port (docks)
- south is temple district (east), craftsmen and labour district (west)
- schools of magic few hundred feet above sea level, separated by a high wall
- the governs (mages council and most of the business of ruling Eldolan)
- the saddle (merchant shops & industries) is in the middle
- a river goes through the city
- most nobles are also wizards and most craftsfolk
- mage council of 5 wizards make all major decisions & strong connections to archmage
- lesser ‘government’ seldom gets anything done, petty squabbling and jockeying for position
There is also a ‘mayor’ appointed there, named alanis arvanette; little power compared to mage council
- little ‘law’ is practised in Eldolan because of the limits of Silver Shields
- some magical duels are carried out where 1 or both die and is considered ‘legal’
- Silver Shields will be more common in richer districts during the day, but almost nonexisting in poorer districts at night
- the population has to deal with 3 distinct magic schools, each has a different way of doing magic, each regards the others as lesser
- different groups exist but they all share schools and other common areas
- conflicts go to a ‘headmaster’ but they’re usually biased because they’re from one fo the school
- eldritch masters (high elves and half-elves, big rituals and flashy spells
- wizards of mithril (mostly humans but some half-elves and dwarves) create implements
- arcanists of the hidden veil (mixed, gnomes, halflings, drow, few others) practice stealth and illusion with magic and trickery
- mostly humans but mixed races
- lots of strange goods come through the city (high impact mercantile base)
As per the letter, the heroes know their first contact here in Eldolan should be Therilsa Stormhand
- Therilsa says to meet in Hawker’s square in The Commons so that’s where the heroes go
- gates, houses, archways, all protected by obvious, glowing wards
- street magical performances, magic sprites (messengers) going through the streets, magical fireworks; it’s everywhere
- Legion recognizes warded building with strange architecture connected to The Archmage‘s weather control system
- people walking around with wizard robes…
No one particularly looking at you… other than Legion we’re not spellcasters, so ‘you can’t be important’… even Legion only gets a few cursory looks with his hood back
- Just as they reach the square, a large cart of pumpkins tips back and a woman screams
- two figures wrestling looks innocent enough until one tries to bite the other
- more figures emerge from a grate in the center but they’re not just people… they’re undead!
- Therilsa surrounded by a magical whirlwind of dark vapours and protection
- People panic and try to flee as the attacks continue
ENGAGE!
- during the fight; the zombies are able to kill 3 innocent civilians despite Bong‘s efforts
The heroes survey the battlefield as the screams fade and an eerie silence settles over Hawker’s Square.
