Sessions 89 to 93 (June-August 2020)

Note to readers: This is a session re-cap of an ongoing D&D 5th edition campaign set in a loosely adapted version of N. Robin Crossby's Hârn. Previous session re-caps can be found on this blog, and an early journal of sessions 1 through 54, beginning in February 2015, is archived here


In-world dates: 22-24 Ilvin 720 TR [winter]
Moon: waning crescent

War approaches: the attack on Cherafir seems imminent. The city's defenders are brave but few. 

You decide to sent word to your allies. Cade awakens a dolphin and sends it in search of water genasi; ravens are deputed to make contact with Reidoth the druid, Juan the thief, Galindo the spy, Izdrel the Quick-Thinking, and other adventurers.

Learning from Countess Curo that the royal army of Kaldor is marching to the aid of Cherafir, you realize that unless something is done this relief will come too late. You propose a daring plan: you will seize control of Telumar, the Earthmaster site in the Anadel Mountains, and use its teleportation dais to bring the army of Kaldor directly to Cherafir. Curo agrees to divert 200 cavalry to Telumar immediately, trusting that you will succeed. Having made your plans, you use Wind Walk to swiftly cover the miles to your destination. As you go, you see the signs of war everywhere: devastated farmlands, roving bands of gargun, desperate refugees fleeing hither and thither... even the dread black-sailed airships of the Lengese. As tempted as you are to intervene, you keep your eyes on the greater mission and continue to Telumar.

Four Frost Giants guard the entrance, but through the use of invisible and shape-changing magic you sneak inside. The Nadralix, a sentient energy snake imprisoned within a conduit running throughout the complex, welcomes you and begins its familiar, creepy telepathic solicitation, alternating between pleas and threats. You ignore it. For the next several hours you prowl through the mysterious complex, methodically eliminating its defenders, gargun and giant alike. Drow appear and are similarly dispatched, including a priestess bearing a magical cat-of-nine-tails. At one point, in desperation, your enemies deliberately free the Nadralix: it immediately begins careening madly through the corridors, attacking and blinding every creature it meets, hungry for the "sight" its victims lose. Several Fire Giants, blinded by the Nadralix, fall quickly before you. And when the energy snake catches up to you, Cleric uses Banishment to send it to its home plane.

The teleportation dais is now yours (once you deal with the Gelatinous Cube that your enemies had imprisoned atop it to prevent your access). But other challenges await: some powerful foe sends an Invisible Stalker to kill Dracul, while in a remote section of the complex you find two Lengese and their robo-servants protecting themselves behind a force field. Grox and Iblix (their full names are too complex for you to pronounce) agree to negotiate with you: you set a meeting five days hence. Before departing peacefully, they tell you about Malevix's obsession with Gedan, an Earthmaster site in the far north that may contain the secret of how Malevix was able to travel into the future. 

Now the masters of Telumar, you have but to await the arrival of the Kaldorean cavalry. Scouts soon arrive, and soon after the main body led by Marshal Sabeth, a grizzled woman of many campaigns. You begin the tedious process of ferrying them through the portal to Cherafir. When at last they are all through, you go yourselves and begin planning your next move. Mada is sent to infiltrate the local Thieves Guild, while you consult with Cherafir's leaders. One of the generals reveals that bounty notices offering a hefty reward for your deaths have been found circulating in the city: your foes are getting desperate. You decide to spend the night in Telumar, its ancient chambers now so many tombs for the many giants, drow, and gargun that you have slain. Each of you dreams strange dreams, but in many there is the suggestion that the goddess Peoni holds you in favour.

On the morrow, you receive word that the enemy is approaching Cherafir. You immediately teleport there and find that Galindo is already on hand, as is Izdrel, who had accompanied the Kaldorean forces incognito. From the city walls you can see the forces arrayed against you: thousands of gargun and several scores of giants well-supplied with boulders, walking siege engines that will batter down the walls. They begin their advance, shadowed by three airships. As they approach striking distance from the walls, a shout goes up from the seaside defenses: the ocean is roiling as a massive creatures emerges from the depths. A kraken appears, its mighty tentacles tearing at the walls near the Erebir Gate. Realizing that the city's curtain walls are the only thing keeping a multitude of gargun from flooding into the city, you are determined to prevent any breach. Racing to the scene, you engage the leviathan with blade and spell. Izdrel is swallowed but through enchantment you convince the monster to cease its aggression and release the hapless thief. You have gained some time, but now another crisis looms: the airships have begun dropping incendiary bombs on the guard towers! You turn back to deal with this new threat, even as, at the edge of your vision, you see a new deviltry emerging from the battlefield...



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