5/31/2010 - Against the Demon Horde

Game Notes

• Amok, Studying at Society of Magic:  Discovers the Red Gate is connected to each of the tents, the Abyss, and some sort of dimensional doorway into somewhere "else".  Seems to be one way into that “other place” and the opening of that portal feels as if it is “imminent, momentous, and terrible.”

• Dertel's apprentice completes teleport circle from Correl into Redgate.  40 troops per day capacity.

• House Karven has about 110 mobile troops they could move to Redgate.  1 reinforced platoon of 55 troops will do so.

• 50 retainers (the Forsaken all DarkBlade Elves) of Milen's family (House Griffin’s Claw) show up and power themselves through the circle (with pearls) to Redgate for vengeance.

  • The Forsaken are formally grateful to you for allowing them the use of the Circle, but eager to get to the job of finding Shelana’s assassins. They are a grim bunch.

• Cansion’s family (House Broken Bow) has also requested transport.  Her nephew is missing and they want to seek him around Farport.  Approved.

• We're allowing reasonable use of the Teleport Circle and keeping track of favors owed.

• Seneschal promoted to Lord-Seneschal (Name is Travis, he formally disassociated himself from his noble family (House Gorval) and we allow him to "appoint" two assistants.

• Codo returned to Redgate and built a stone "pool" around the Red Gate.

• Sold 50 horses (light combat trained, high quality) (out of ~300) to Milen's family for 25,000 sp (corrected price).

Amok Awakens the Red Gate

• it says:

  • “Those who must come, must enter the Lands.”

  • “When those who must come, enter the Lands. The statue will appear. “

  • “When those who must come, enter the Lands. The Keep will reveal its self.”

  • “The Chosen will know how to open the my door.”

• It is clear the Red Gate has a purpose related to the "door" and that purpose is drawing close.

• It does not help us port into the tent to which we feel it's connected.  It appears pre-occupied with its impending purpose.

We choose to assault the tent in which Aleria is sometimes present, which also happens to be the tent Kylios and the Open Sky Raiders has under observation.  We fly in invisibly, buff up, and then order Kylios' forces to attack in order to create a diversion.  It only partially succeeds as numerous of the troops fall back to protect the tent.

We bull in behind Cratus' blade, a chain lightning, and a localized hurricane courtesy of Codo.  The isosceles triangular tent turns out to be bigger inside than out, with a stream and 3 "platforms" which appear to be tied to the Abyss.  One seems to be a “gate” (reviewing things after the fact Alaron, Amock, and Cylla are certain that is not a real Gate, but is related to a Gate__ requires further study) directly to the Abyss, another turns out to be a Force Cage in which Aleria is held invisibly, and the last appears to be some sort of "home base" for another Demon of Disease (name unknown.)  There is an aura in the tent which strips us of invisibility and which makes the demons stronger (Invisibility Purge & Unhallow).

Inside are 8 Demon Broo and a Demon of Disease.

• Pre-Battle Buffs cast

  • Haste (1 spell) - Cansion

  • Resist Energy: Acid & Fire, Cold on Howling Wind and Cylla (19 charges from Amok's wand.)

  • Globe of Invulnerability (Amok)

  • True Displacement (Codo, Amok)

  • Overland Fly, Mass (9 charges from Amok's wand)

  • True Invisibility, 10' (1 charge from Amok's wand)

  • Prot Energy (60) on each from Alaron (Lightning for Amok)

  • +4 INT on Amok from Alaron

  • Free Save reroll each (woot!  From Scylla?)

  • Prayer (+1 on all) from Sister Triani

  • Amok takes the Form of the Dragon (Bronze; Electricity) +4 ST, +2 CO, +4 Natural AC, Fly 60 (poor), Darkvision (60'),

  • Cansion songs grant everyone +3 to hit, damage, and to Fear saves.

• Round 0

  • Eye of the Hurricane (Codo) - Failed to tear away the tent.

  • Chain Lightning (Amok) - Killed 11 Hobs, badly damaged 2 Ogres (80 points)

  • Cratus cuts through the rest.

• Round 1 (Into the tent)

  • Cratus and Amok get inside quickly enough to act. Amok casts Heightened Resilient Sphere on the Demon of Disease and fails.

  • Cratus crits and fumbles against one of the Broo (a sign of things to come.), his sword loudly critics his lack of proper footing.

  • Everyone else moves in.

• Round 2

  • Cylla hits two of the Broo (out of 8) with Channel Energy, which seems to hurt them.

  • Wyldun hits a Broo twice with his Luger.

  • Amok hits the demon with one of Sister Trianni's Dimensional Anchors and succeeds.

  • Cratus criticals one Broo.

  • Sister Triani attempts to banish the Broo (22 HD worth), It sends them to the gate to the Abyss within the tent.

  • Codo casts Binding Winds on the Demon of Disease (DoD), which fails.

• Round 3

  • Cratus Crits and fumbles (again) vs. a Broo, damaging his armor (-4). His sword castigates him for his continued inattention to proper footwork

  • Amok flies over and uses Analyze Dweomer to determine that there is a Magic Jar/Dimensional Prison effect going in the short corner of the tent.

  • Codo controls the water in the stream to begin to flood the tent.

  • Cansion summons a Hippogriff, which engages a Broo.

• Round 4

  • Amok wastes Chain Lightning on the Broo (who are immune) and Camryn successfully hits the lone Bro near the "prison" with Hold Monster.

  • Cansion successfully damages some Broo with Shout.

  • Alaron hits the demon with sonic lance for 63.

  • Codo is hit by the Demon of Disease and saves.  He is now IMMUNE to Demon Fever.

  • Cratus and Wyldun are nauseated for 1 round by a scream from a Broo.

  • Cylla begins using her anti-demon whistle to good effect on the Broo.

• Round 5

  • Amok uses Greater Dispel and fails to dispel the Force Cage but makes Aleria visible.  He also dispels all of Codo's buffs except Haste.

  • Alaron hits for 46 vs. the demon (sonic), than shoots him for 5 (does no damage.)

  • Cratus drops the screamer Broo with a target of opportunity crit as it tries to charge Wyldun.

  • Cratus hits #8 TWICE! 50-some points.

  • Wyldun coup-de-graces the held Broo.

  • Cylla whistles the hurt onto 3 Broo, especially that pesky #5.

• Round 6

  • Amok drops the Force Cage with Disintegrate.

  • Wyldun, Cylla, and Cratus drop 3 more Broo, all of whom have been badly weakened by Cansion’s continued Shout spells.

  • Alaron hits the DoD again and nearly slays it, forcing it into fleeing in swarm form, dropping some sort of cloak on the platform it occupied.  It barely fails to exit the tent this round.

  • Codo uses Downdraft and drops the swarm into the water which he earlier caused to flood over the stream banks, stopping the DoD dead and submerging it.

• Round 7

  • Amok finishes the downed DoD with Cone of Cold (80 some points, missed save), but it would have died anyway from the ongoing effect of Alaron's demon hunter ability.  Cylla and Cratus drop the last Broo, which explodes.

• Round 8

  • We exit the tent victorious and the death of the DoD causes it to begin collapsing back into the Abyss.  Someone picked up the DoD's cloak (I presume.)

  • Kylios has inflicted damage on the camp and wiped out its supplies, but they drive his force off.

  • Alaron dumps the remainder of his DD spells and thrashes the camp soundly.

  • The Chosen return to Redgate via Teleport.

Back in Redgate, the group rests over night.  We inform Ashumenta of her sister's rescue. Cylla performs spiritual healing on Aleria, by entering her dreams and reframes Aleria’s ordeal with the demons into a strengthening experience akin to case hardening steel.

• The next afternoon the first of the Bestial Hordes enters the physical demesne of House Chosen.

• That evening, the village of RedGate is thrown into chaos as an apparition of a statue appears in the center of the old market square, just as the RedGate prophesied.

  • The statue 30 ft high on a plain 7ft pedestal of some kind of stone. The statue is of High Elf accoutered as a battlemage in full armor with a sword in one hand and a wand in the other. He appears ready for battle as he gazes to the horizon. People in the village rush to organize for what might be attack from in their very midst. Runners rush to the Manor to summon the Chosen. Even as the runners dash to the Manor lights eerie lights float through the village, as if hundreds of torches are being carried by a mob. Suddenly the statue begins to topple, as it hits the ground seemingly to shatter—it disappears.

• As the Chosen arrive to hurried explanations of what has transpired shouts begin to arise, “The castle!” Turning to gaze at the Manor you see the ghostly glowing outline of a castle superimposed on the current Manor.

  • In places ghostly walls and crenellations surmount the existing walls in other places the glowing structure interpenetrate the stone of the Manor.

  • On entering the Manor one can see ghostly walls slicing through floors and walls, transparent stairs heading up, and doors appear to float in mid-air.

• Codo drains the water from the “pool” surrounding the RedGate. Amok finds that the RedGate is still awakened and he speaks to it once again. A new female voice (not that of the gate) states, “Thank you for braving the challenges required to finally reach this moment. Opening it shall provide us with the means to access our final rest. Will you open it?”

  • All agree and Amok does so.  When the door opens, a stairway becomes visible ascending to a keep, which appears to be the ghostly keep we see behind us.  

  • The spirits are released and rush out into the night to dissipate in the darkness.

  • Cylla, Alaron, and Amok are able to discern in successive stages something of what has occurred. The knowledge comes in stages or in conclusions that are successively revised because the meaning of the event was hidden in a dark deception that their collective magical insight was able to penetrate.

• The spirits were trapped here, and are now free.

• In addition to freeing the spirits, something on a massive scale has been conjured.

• In fact, the spirits were not freed. They did not pass into their proper afterlife. Their essence was used to do something else.

• It is possible to restore and indeed actually free the spirits, but it can't be accomplished here.

• Something massive has been conjured and it portends another conjuration. The land is pregnant with magical energy on the point of release.

• Whatever the nature of this immanent conjuration it feels profoundly wrong to all of the Chosen.

• We stand on the threshold, uncertain of our next move.