Success on the second attempt

We returned to the catacombs, to the place from which we had been forced to retreat the day prior, this time determined to be victorious. This time we were better prepared, with the potions we had bought from Derrick's shop and a new set of magic items surreptitiously provided to us by Agathor and Balthazar of the Silver Flame. Those two agreed to come with us as well, to reinforce our ranks, and this time we were ready; as soon as we entered, Elaira bolstered my defenses and I drew upon the power of winter.

Our foes again put forth a good showing, but this time they would not drive us back. The wight summoned some archer skeletons and we also found ourselves fighting a runespiral demon, two wererats, and two evistros, as well as the bone shard skeleton and some of the blazing skeletons from last time. Not only did I find myself immobilized for part of the battle, but I had the most difficult time making my hits connect as I thought they should. Fortunately the others were up to the task, and I was still useful tactically speaking. Perhaps I was somewhat unrattled by the wight's horrific visage, or perhaps I lost my resolve somewhat when I found myself struggling to stay in the fray after taking a bunch of hits. Either way, I think the turning point in this battle for me was when Elaira encouraged me to attack one of the guys and I heard my flail connect with a resounding "whack." One last thing worth mentioning: a gnome appeared during the battle and shot some pot-shots at us before running away before we could stop him. After this we went deeper into the temple to try to rescue Adronsias.

XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #11

Each player gained 800 experience for the final session.

Total XP: 9550 (level 7 at 10000xp)

Thorn returns

So Aurora's hidin' on the barge, and I'm crackin' the whip an' shoutin' at the slaves, when we all see the airship appear on the far opposite side of the courtyard. There were too many enemies between me an' them, so there wasn't much we could do for 'em, and Aurora and I decided to hold our cover. I could see that our guys on the airship disembarked and were met with somethin' of a welcoming committee, as a whipmaster, a zombie, and a ghoul greeted them. A skirmish ensued and they managed to not die, which was about all I was hopin' for.

After, they freed 35 of the slaves as they ran around the cathedral. When they were upon us, chaos ensued at our camp. Brogar took 35 slaves they freed on the way (now armed, thanks to the armaments we'd hidden on the ship) and another five from our loggers, and headed to the east to liberate more slaves. Aurora came out from hiding, and some of our slaves armed themselves too, and we found ourselves setting upon a whipmaster, a cultist, and two zombies. As the battle was underway, a ghoul came from behind and began eating the slaves. It was a scuffle, that's for sure, as I shot at the ghoul before running up onto the scaffolding so he couldn't charge at me. The slaves fought bravely although several of them lost their lives. After we had taken care of the foes in our immediate mist, Colvin pointed out that we could shoot at the death priests guarding the doors of the inner sanctum of the cathedral. He must've shouted it out loud or something, because as soon as he said so, they shot at us instead. Colvin maneuvered forward so he could attack 'em both, and when the double doors burst open, he found himself uncomfortably close to a newly-undead Thorn, who immediately started swinging at him. Colvin barely managed to stay standing, being the only one of us close enough to take the full brunt of Thorn's rage. So we found ourselves set upon by Thorn and two death priests.

The death priests in particular tried to curse us in an attempt to make Colvin & me fall from the scaffolding, but in this they were unsuccessful. Thorn, having lost Colvin as a target, raced into melee combat with Aurora. Morangan managed to inflict a very devastating blow on one of the death priests, while Treble in the end was the one who finished Thorn off (and kill-thiefed the death priest that Colvin, Morangan, and I had been attacking).

In the end, from this we had gained the following: mundane hide armor, a greataxe, Thorn's Ring of Orkus, some magical Gauntlets of the Ram (which Colvin snatched up and put on before hardly anyone'd gotten a chance to look at 'em), a set of Iron Armbands of Power (likewise which Aurora quickly claimed) and two amulets from the death priests: an Amulet of Mental Resolve and an Amulet of Physical Resolve, which Aurora volunteered to hold in the meantime in case they may come in handy. Brogar rejoined us, along with the slaves, saying they had cleared out the remainder of the enemies from the courtyard. Several of the slaves seemed to recognize Morangan, but I don't know the whole story there.

Now we're tryin' ta decide whether or not to rest up before confronting Alhunder. I have plenty of resources left, myself, but some of the others don't, as they used some against Thorn. Either way, I'd quite enjoy Alhunder believing he was betrayed by Leshna, and this might be my last chance to pose as her, so I might see if Phelaia still has that dress handy........

XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #10

Each player gained 700 experience for the session.

Total XP: 8750 (level 7 at 10000xp)

Ghouls, ghouls everywhere

We had a few moments to retreat and prepare for the onslaught of ghouls that we saw advancing on us. About fifteen it was, and we all did various preparations to be sure that we wouldn't be caught unawares by 'em. In the distance we could see another group of slaves taking on a whipmaster and a cultist, and as our own battle waged on, we could see them winning the fight. Fortunately for us, the ghouls didn't all arrive at once, and rather were spread out in four waves. The ones that did arrive, we did our best to hit swiftly and hard to increase our chances of success. A bunch of ours in the front line were caught immobilized by 'em, but that didn't hinder 'em from holdin' the line so that those of us in the back could keep doin' our jobs. Somehow Aurora seemed to take on most of the attacks, but she didn't do too bad for herself.

After the battle was over, a quick search of the battlefield yielded some nonmagical weapons. Some of the slaves agreed to come with us and help free those who were being held at the cathedral. The group told us that we should expect to find some whipmasters at the cathedral and some undead as guards of the approximately 100 slaves remaining; as well as some death priests ad zombies. Like the others, they suggested that Alhunder could be found in the inner chamber. They told us that the town contains about 200 citizens, mostly farmers and hunters, who are forced to worship Orkus under the looming threat of the undead. After a bunch of discussion, a plan started to form: I would pose as a whipmaster, with Aurora hiding aboard my ship. The slaves were willing to spend the day loading one boat full of lumber so that we could all get down there safely. I would take about ten of them aboard my ship, and another ten or so would go with the others, followin' behind in the airship. Three on our ship were willing to man the ballista, at Brogar's suggestion. They would arrive a bit behind, and then Aurora, myself, and the slaves would be in position to flank from the other side. Let's hope it works out for us.

Before we rested, we finished analyzing the journal we had found on the death priest at the excavation camp. The journal contained a bunch of prayers, death poetry, and much expounding on his personal beliefs and convictions about his commitment to Orkus. It only mentioned Alhunder briefly, and we didn't find anything of tactical use. We did find three rituals in the book: one ritual for desecrating ground, and two ways to raise the undead (one to be used on helpless living people to turn them into ghouls like those we faced earlier, and one to be used on ancient skeletons to turn them into a weaker zombie-like version). Upon reading the rituals, Colvin became somewhat agitated and enraged, and insisted vehemently that the book be immediately burned. He was probably even too fired up to hear Phelaia's faint protestations, for before we knew it, he had set it aflame in a trash can aboard the ship, with him muttering about "unholy rituals" and "vile, evil magics." I had no use for the rituals myself, and don't sell things of the sort in the shop, so I had no objections.

Anyhow, we all slept through the night, in shifts, and the next day started implementing the rudiments of our plan after dawn approached. We had plenty of time during the journey down for me to ask the slaves to give me clear detail about the best way to fit in, so I've been updated on the usual routine, schedule, mannerisms of the whipmasters, and so on. Wearing the chainmail and clothing of the deceased, and brandishing a whip, I feel prepared to do the part. As we sailed down toward the dock, I could see about 20 slaves and 1 whipmaster near the docks; and another 35 slaves, a whipmaster, and a couple of zombies towards the back of the cathedral. As we docked, I could see two death priests standing guard outside the inner sanctum where Alhunder more than likely is (for if he was not there, why would it be guarded?). I hailed those on shore and shouted at my slaves, every once in awhile covertly looking skyward for signs of an airship. My guess is that we have another couple of hours before Aurora's hiding place will be revealed to the others on land, so hopefully we can find a good tactical time to get this party started before we find ourselves in trouble.

XP for Slaves of the Old Empire Session #9

Each player gained 450 experience for the session.

Total XP: 8050 (level 7 at 10000xp)

Taking out the slave camps

We tied Charles and George together and left them near the river. Then we flew up and scouted the area around the town. We found the church on the outskirts of town, and after a bit more searching, we found a grave site northwest of town where about 40 slaves were digging out mass graves from the great Battle of Dragonwood Forest in the Hundred Years' War about 40 years back. A great pile of skeletal bodies were piled up near the excavation pit... poor souls, so much for "rest in peace."

The slaves and their masters spotted us as we flew over, so we had to engage them. I leaned over the railing and hailed them, telling them that we'd brought more cargo. After we disembarked, Treble stuck a dagger into one and battle ensued: us against three human cultists, two dragonborn whipmasters, one dragonborn death priest wielding a sceptre, and four zombies. The whipmasters were skilled in wrapping their whips around our ankles, grabbing us and knocking us prone. The death priest shot bolts of black ice at us, and the zombies were weaker, though still they charged at us and protected the others. It was a skirmish, for sure--especially for Aurora, who took a lot o' heat.

Afterwards, we searched the tents and the bodies of the fallen, finding a False Blood Amulet (which will help with my disguises) and Luckbender Gloves, which Treble put on. We found a journal that the death priest was keeping, whose code we have already made good progress in deciphering (I think we're a little more than half done with it). We also found 200 gold worth of gold, gems, and so on. We freed the slaves and talked to them, advising them not to return to the town. We found that there wasn't much else in the way of viable alternatives, so they agreed to wait at the camp until we cleanse the town of the slavery operation when we plan to return and tell them that it's safe. Many of them, however, had worked around the facilities, and they had a lot of useful information about the various operations. We learned that there are two kinds of undead that the slavers are using: zombies, raised from the ages-old skeletons and relatively mindless; and ghouls, turned from misbehaving slaves as a threat to keep the other ones in line (these have some level of intelligence and use their claws to immobilize a target before biting).

The others all agreed it would be best for the bodies at the mass graves here to be burned, which the slaves agreed to do after nightfall so as not to attract attention from the church. They said that the slavers go in rotation, and they weren't expecting a shift change until another day or so, so we had some time. We also learned that this is the only mass grave that was currently being excavated; others having been excavated in the past.

Some of 'em drew us a most useful map of the cathedral itself and the surrounding area. I found it interesting that they are shipping slaves from the mass graves while the graveyard right in front of the church had not yet been emptied, though the slaves said that they were already excavating slaves beyond their capabilities to raise them so far. On the map, they pointed out the inner structure of the old church and the new inner chamber constructed where Alhunder spends most of his time. They pointed out the two docks where slaves bring lumber from upriver on the barges (giving us a rough heading so we could pursue this remote camp as well), and a bunch of sleeping tents on the opposite sides for the slaves who are working on the cathedral itself.

The slaves told us we should expect to encounter scores of undead, a couple of whipmasters in the logging operation and a couple in the cathedral, three more death priests, and another six or so cultists. They also told us something new about Alhunder: that he is human, but one of his arms and hands is skeletal. It sounds like he has had the necrotic skin grafted onto his body, which we suspect should grant him some of the abilities of the undead.

We went along the river up to the logging camp, which was easy to find thanks to the trees felling in plain sight. We saw two whipmasters and about 70 slaves, as well as a couple of barges onto which the slaves were loading the lumber. We also saw three cultists, as well as some ghouls and zombies. The slaves had told us to be prepared for more undead at the logging camp because the slaves were armed with axes, so the ghouls would be used to help keep them in line. We landed near the smaller group, consisting of one whipmaster, one cultist, two ghouls, and three zombies. I told 'em we were bringing more cargo and should be unloading, and after we disembarked, Aurora attacked the whipmaster, stirring up a battle. We did a little better this time, though again somehow Aurora ended up in the thick of things. It was really tense for her there for a few moments before she regained her composure and helped to defeat the foes flanking her on all sides. One exciting turn in the battle happened once we had most of the enemies under control: while many of the slaves understandably ran for their lives, five brave ones came and fought against their captors alongside us! We cheered them on, and they seemed to have regained some vigor! Although once their immediate masters were dispatched, they thanked us and ran as well before the second wind of foes was upon us.

Aye, a huge ruckus arose and the rest of the enemies rushed across the battlefield towards us. We're ready to finish them!