fredag den 30. maj 2014

Hell

You want a map of Hell? A map will do you no good down there. Hell is infinite, and only those of strong will can find their way to their goal. Weak-minded mortals will wander until they run into more demons that they can handle. Those of strong mind might make it further, but make no mistake. They die too, sooner rather than later.
Since Hell is infinite, speaking of direction, size and shape does not make much sense, but if we imagined that Hell had the same overall circular shape as Gemnos, then Bane's Castle of Bone stands in the middle. This is where Bane resides along with Asmodeus and Mephistopheles, with Bane in the central part of the immense castle, while the two Lords of Hell each ruling over one of the two wings.

All the other Lords of Hell have their own distinct area, and the peculiar thing about Hell is, that no matter how you enter Hell, you always end up in Baphomet's Maze first, and then you will have to pass through all the areas before you arrive at the Castle of Bone. Each area has it's one unique exit, and those are some of the most closely guarded secrets on Gemnos.

As noted earlier, the first area you arrive in, is Baphomet's Maze of Despair. The maze is built by 400' walls towering towards a blood-red sky, all indestructible by mortal means. Devils and demons roam the hallways, some alone, some in bands. Blood and gore is everywhere to be found on the red bricks below your feet. At the end of the Maze is Baphomet himself, guarding the gates to Hell. If you want to get further access, you need to pass by or through him.

In the Dungeon of Screams, you will have to fight your way through infinite narrow hallways and torture rooms filled with souls being tortured. If the constant screaming doesn't get to you, maybe one of Yeenoghu's many demons will. Of course, if you are truly unlucky, you might inadvertently stumble into Yeenoghu himself, while he is taking care of a soul.

The Graveyard of Dread is what Orcus calls home, and it is not a pleasant place either. Ruined temples and mausoleums litter the landscape, along with a faint stench of death and a dark, malevolent fog that never seems to go away. Here the devils and demons hide and ambush you, tearing you apart while dragging you down below ground to eat you. Somewhere is the Temple of Orcus, where the Horned Lord plots. Unless you are summoned, best stay far away from that place.

The Jungle of Darkness is where Demogorgon rules. A vast tropical jungle filled with a cacophony of animals, that you will never find, because they do not exists. The only thing, aside from death, that you will find in the Jungle of Darkness, are the devils and demons that answer to Demogorgon. Somewhere deep in the Jungle, in the middle of a huge lake, lies the twin towers of Demogorgon.

The next area that you might enter is the Harem of Lust, which belongs to Grazz't. To be fair, it is more than a harem, although that is where you will usually find Grazz't. Instead it is a gigantic building that holds thousands and thousands of rooms where pleasures of all kinds are explored, although with a very sick twist.

Bel resides in the Caves of Greed, enormous caves filled with gold, gems and hordes of other mortal temptations. Of course, those that take anything will never make it out alive.

Last but not the least, we have the Queen's Wasteland, a desolate, harsh environment full of sharp rocks and hidden crevasses, all covered in eternal dusk, a place where any visitor soon becomes the hunted by Lolth's quads of assassin spiders.

onsdag den 21. maj 2014

Session 27

Day 113 (1st cycle of summer, 35th day)
After parting with Petyr, the Sons continued on their way, following the gem towards Elron. After having a bit of trouble crossing a ravine, they finally found Elron in a ruin. Elron turned out to be a human ghost of what looked like a priest of some sort. As they tried to capture him, others undead attacked, but after a quick fight, the Sons were on their way back towards the portal, or at least where they hoped it was.

After making the trip, killing all undeads encountered on their way, the Sons of the Phoenix arrived back and the portal appeared as they approached the correct spot. 

Day 114 (1st cycle of summer, 36th day)
They passed through, back to Ironville in the mortal world, and handed the gems over to Morninglord Henry, who actually looked as if part of him had hoped Arath and the Sons had failed.

After a good night's rest, the Sons went to see Warlord Sophie Ran, who explained the plan. Nevron was to use Passwall on the tunnel to flood it, while the rest of the Sons would sneak into the camp disguised as orcs. Once the tunnel had been flooded, the soldiers of Ironville would charge out and attack the orcs. The Sons were supposed to get close to Xuk and either detain him or kill him, thus crippling the leadership of the orcs.

Everything actually (for once) went according to plan. The tunnel was flooded and the Sons managed to kill Xuk after a long and hard fight. But all around them the battle is still raging, as the orcs have yet to notice their leader is gone. And the humans of Ironville are looking as if they are losing ground to the orcs who outnumber them by a great deal.

onsdag den 14. maj 2014

Session 26

Day 111 (1st cycle of summer, 33rd day)
Arath and Nevron are awoken by a knock on the door. Morninglord Henry, high priest of the Temple of Lathander in Ironville, wishes to see Arath.

Arath goes to talk to Morninglord, who explains to him that Lathander is not pleased with his lies. Arath doesn't understand this and tries to be glib about it, which seems to infuriate Henry further. Arath is told that as soon as Henry knows the wishes of Lathander he will call on Arath.

Later that day, Xuk steps up on a dias the orcs have constructed and with a magical enhanced voice, makes his wishes known to all of Ironville.
I am Xuk, the prophezised. Open your gates and kneel before me. Kneeling is after all your natural state? It's the unspoken truth about humans, that you crave to be ruled. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel. So open the gates and kneel for me, for I am Xuk. And if you do not, we will bring down the walls, sack the town and rape your women.

I AM XUK! 
Obviously, this was followed by a huge 50.000-orc-cheer, while the inhabitants of Ironville were a little gloom about it.

Day 112 (1st cycle of summer, 34th day)
Once again, they are awoken by a knock on the door. This time, it is a page, telling Nevron that Warlord Sophie Ran wants his presence at the castle.

Once at the castle, Sophie asks Nevron to scout the huge command tent. She thinks something is up and needs more intel.

Nevron takes along Arath. Nevron cloaks them in illusion, so they look like orcs, and they head out to the orc camp.

There they find out that a huge tunnel is being dug by two Bulettes and two Umber-hulks which are magically controlled by some Shadar-kai. They also find out where the tunnel is supposed to enter the city and how the attackers will deploy during the attack.

They return to Ironville and inform Sophie of this. A plan involving Passwall underwater is discussed and then they are told to be ready, when called upon. They should still have 3-4 days, before the orcs are ready to attack.

They are also promised to be named Iron Defenders of Ironville and get a place in the House of Nobles, should they win the war. Also Nevron is promised a tower of his own.

Later during the day, Arath is once again asked to come to the Temple. Morninglord Henry orders him to show up the next morning, ready to do penance.

Day 113 (1st cycle of summer, 35th day)
The next morning at dawn, the Sons show up at the Temple of Lathander. Morninglord Henry is there, along with 6 priests, who are already making a ritual.

Morninglord Henry tells Arath:
You will take these two gems. They are both magical. The blue one will lead you to Elron and the red gem will imprison him, so that you can bring him back. Hurry, the portal will only be open for 24 hours. Fail and you fail Lathander.
After a bit of hesitation, the Sons leap through the portal and find themselves in the Underworld.

For hours, they walk the Underworld, a huge, dim pine forest which seems to be clad in a perpetual fog. They constantly run into incorporeal undeads such as wraiths, ghosts, shadows and dread warriors. 

The only live thing they meet is a raven who keeps saying:
Um Ye Tum Wyl Karak
Sadly no-one understands it, and it leaves again. They also find an altar to Shar and desecrate it.

After about 4-5 hours of trekking through the desolate landscape, they meet yet another ghost. This one they know, however. It is Petyr. 

He tells them what he remembers happening while he was possessed:
After possessing me, it went north and destroyed some villages, looking for someone called Acidbreath. Once it found the dragon, it tried to make a deal with it, it wanted support from evil dragons or something, but Acidbreath refused. The demon was angry, and considered killing Acidbreath, but something held it back, it say: You are lucky that you are who you are… Or maybe it was "what you do" - I am not quite sure anymore. It's very hazy.
After dealing with the dragon, it retreated to a cave in the mountains, and there, it summoned another big demon. It ordered it to go east to make an army of one-eyed giants.
It then spent some time watching a lot of orcs and also you guys and a number of human leaders, I didn’t know, in a pool of blood.

When it was done with that, it flew to a village near the mountains where we met - or at least I think so - where it left my body and killed me.

I ask of you to find my body and give it a proper burial. Also, remember the hammer we found in the temple? The demon really didn’t like it and quickly threw it away in a ravine near where it took over my body.

onsdag den 7. maj 2014

Session 25

Day 108 (1st cycle of summer, 30th day)
Urnyx collapses due to the poison, and Arath, Nevron and Chavron jump into the fray and kill the assassins. Arath awakes Urnyx, but he is too weak to continue and stays behind, while the other 3 Sons follow the assassins into the darkness of the sewers.

Using Arath's divine sense, they quickly figure that there must be a secret door hidden nearby, and they find it without a hitch. They enter a dusty area filled with prison cells, and run into a crossfire set up by four assassins. The assassins are skilled and very mobile, and the fight is tough, but naturally, the Sons come out on top.

Just as the Sons finish off the assassins, another one comes back. This one is a mage, and soon, spells fill the dusty air of the (obviously) abandoned prison. Between spells like Blur, Stoneskin and Mage Armor, the mage manages to stand up to the Sons for a while, but unfortunately for him, they manage to resist his most powerful spells, such as Edward's Black Tentacles and Domination. The mage dies, and with the knowledge that there are only two assassins and Silas left, the Sons press on.

As they move up some stairs, Arath's divine connection to Silas is cut - he must have been killed. The hallway is a dead end, but they quickly find the secret door which leads them inside a huge barrel.  They exit the barrel, and find themselves in a wine cellar. There they catch up with the two remaining assassins. One dies quickly (double-crit!) at the hands of Chavron, but the leader proves to be a hard nut to crack. The fight drags on, and the Sons are dangerously close to losing the fight, but in the end, they pull through and he dies.

Aside from a few vials of poison and the money they had paid Silas, the assassins had nothing of interest of them. They did however sport a tattoo, a snake entwining a dagger, which was familiar to Chavron, although he couldn't quite remember where he had seen it.

After killing the Blackhawks, the Sons immediately went to inform Warlord Sophie Ran that they had complete the task, she had set before them. She was very happy, and suggested they swear fealty to Ironville, since they no longer had any affiliations after Ashfield had been sacked. Chavron and Arath weren't interested, but Nevron decided to do so.

Day 109 (1st cycle of summer, 31st day)
Arath gets his plate, at long last. The Sons spent the start of the day at Mostrat's, talking about the man in the coffin. He tells them the following:
  • The Enochian symbols are special, and can only be mastered by celestials and other immortals, so if they want to know more, they need one of those to decipher them. 
Then the Sons go visit the big library, and they find out the following:
  • The demon they saw matches the description of a Balor.
  • Balor are top dogs of the infernal food chain.
  • Balors have many immunities and resistances.
  • Balors typically a well versed in ritual casting of magic, but do not cast spells in combat.
  • A Balor named Ter-Zoth (black and white horns) was left behind when the portal to Hell was closed, finishing the Second Demon War.
Day 110 (1st cycle of summer, 32nd day)
The Sons are awoken by a buzzing in the city. The orcs have come, and taken place about 200 yards south of the city's bridges.

mandag den 5. maj 2014

The Faerie

Be careful when entering the Faerie. Time and space do not operate as it does on Gemnos. Things are where they want to be, so maps are useless, and time does not really exist. At least not until you get back to Gemnos. 
The Faerie is the wild twin of Gemnos. Here, in the mirror of the mortal world, you will find perfect blue sky, thousands upon thousands of towering forests, mountains that seem to extend into the clouds, and wild seas that crash incessantly against the desolate shores.

This is were the Eladrins live, along with hags, dryads, formorians, and faerie goblins. Just like the plane which they inhabit, these creatures are infused with magic, it permeates and shapes - or twists them.

While the Faerie might be the most beautiful and breathtaking place in the multiverse, it is also an extremely dangerous place. While some, maybe even most Eladrins tend towards good, their almost alien way of thinking make them hard to predict and deal with. Their good might not be what most mortals consider good. And aside from the Eladrins, there is far between other races that can call themselves good.

As noted, the Faerie is magic and so is it's inhabitants. They do not age, they do not die, but are instead reborn as something else.

The wild landscape is littered with palaces holding the many courts: There are literally hundreds or perhaps thousands of Seelie (good fey creatures) and Unseelie (evil fey creatures) kings and queens who each control their little part of the Faerie. While they are by no means equal, it has been more than a thousand of years since one stood head and shoulders above the rest.

While the many Eladrin kings and queens, the formorian iron kings and the fey goblin kings rule the most bodies by far, there are some other creatures who call the Faerie home who wield far more power by far. They are called the Elders. Ancient enigmatic beings, powerful beyond most mortals and perhaps even so powerful that they can manipulate and shape the Faerie realm around them, who wander the wilds and the courts, influencing and guiding, sometimes providing advice, sometimes causing death and doom.

The 8 elders are: The Green Mother (beautiful green-haired cross between a dryad and an eladrin), The Lantern King (large will o'wisp), Baba Yaga (Hag who travels in her walking hut), Magdag the Prophet (female with three faces), Ouroboros the World Serpent (a rainbow-colored, wingless flying serpent), Magrar the Bear (great white bear), Quorlinn the Raven (3-eyed raven) and Amark the wolf (large jet-black direwolf)

At the center of all roads stands the Eternal Twin Palace, once the home and court of the Summer Queen, until she vanished more than a thousand years ago. The kings and queens of the courts still meets there every summer, scheming to see if someone will emerge powerful enough to grab the power, but so far, not one king or queen has succeeded in gathering enough support in the chaotic politics of the Faerie to do so.
 
Last but not least, somewhere in the Faerie you can also find the infinite Tower of Sorcery, where Mystra resides along with her followers. The Tower is said to to look like a normal, although big wizard tower, but obviously, it is much bigger on the inside. The Tower of Sorcery is known to move around, never to be found twice in the same spot, making it hard to find for those that Mystra does not wish to visit her.

lørdag den 3. maj 2014

Day of Mating

If you think that the nobility shies away from Day of Mating, you better think again. While it officially is a day for us common folks, I have heard and read many stories of men and women of noble birth who hide behind a mask and join us commoners in celebration of life. Then again, I have also heard stories of how some nobles hold their own celebrations, in their mansions, behind closed doors. But they seem to do it a bit differently, them nobles. I once heard a tale of a duchess in Ironville, whose name does not bear repeating, being passed around at court, from the Warlord to the lowest of the 100 nobles.
Day of Mating is one of five nation-wide holy days observed and celebrated by most civilized races on Gemnos.

On the 37th day of summer, cities, towns and villages of Gemnos launch themselves into debauchery.

The tradition is thousands of years old, and probably started as a sort of worship of the Twins, but if it was religion, it has long changed into something more primal, something more primitive. It has become a celebration of life, a tribute to being alive and preserving the race.

On the Day of Mating, all shops are closed, no one works the fields. The streets and markets are filled with tables, booths and fires. Musicians fill the streets with music and the entire day is spent preparing the feast, which is never less than 16 courses.

Everybody who participates are solely clad in half-masks and loin-cloths. As the sun sets, the feasting begins. The eating, drinking and dancing continues all the way until midnight, when the choosing begins. This is usually marked by ringing all bell-towers in town. The rules are simple. Man may not lay with wife. Names are forbidden and women always choose the men.

Quickly the town turns into an orgy of enormous proportions. Everywhere you look, people are coupling with each other, regaining strength for the next coupling or waiting to be chosen. This goes on all night, and at dawn, everybody goes home. Needless to say, the 1st day of the second cycle of summer is usually a slow day.

The Short Brothers

The Short Brothers' are more like a cult than like a guild. I once interrogated one of their low-level operatives for more than a week. I did unspeakable things to the half-man, and yet, he wouldn't give up anything about the guild or the other members. Zealots!
The Short Brothers, commonly called the Brothers, is a nation-wide halfling-only thieves guild, run by Jack, the King in the Shadows.

Although membership of the guild is for halflings only, they are frequently employing big and strong members of other races as muscle, when that is needed. It is not uncommon for leading men of the guild to have 7' foot tall bodyguards.

The Short Brothers primarily deal in information, ladies and boys of the night, fencing and gambling, but as many other shady operations, not much is known. Of course, rumors abound about them. Many of those rumors center around the Brothers having much more power than they appear to have. Some even go as far as claim and they from behind the scenes run most thieves' guilds in the Seven Army Nation, all while keeping their hands clean with the authorities. One thing is for sure, the Short Brothers always seem to know a lot about just about everything, and often before others. Some say that all halflings are secretly working for the guild and that the many traveling halflings help pass on messages and information, while others say that Jack uses devils to communicate with the other cities. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

What is known, is that Jack runs the guild from Laketower and that every single member seems to be utterly and completely loyal to him, even though most could never have never met him. Is it fear, is it devotion? Hard to say for sure.