Well, after a bit of a RL hiatus, we’re back baby!l Let’s get started:
The heroes finally got to Winterhaven! But… it’s way too quiet. Our rather …rash… heroes decide it is a good idea to attempt to BURN THE CITY DOWN out of fear of undead (cowards). A dagger is thrown through a thrown torch, and a familiar voice sreeches out “KILL HIM! He’s the one who defiled me!” This is followed by a green blast hitting Thorn and knocking him back several feet, burning him, and makes him unresponsive. Green chains at the same time grab the rest of the group by their hands and feet. Thiera (the Drow assassin from last week) shows up, emanating evil energy, stronger than before. She immedietly runs up to Moralios, running her dagger up against his throat. Moralios retorts with assorted insults that anger her greatly, she starts to drag her dagger against his throat. She then looks into Moralios’ eyes and they are pure black, with a green cats/dragons slit in them. Thiera is then knocked aside by Thorn, who is then stopped in mid air.
The group finds themselves surrounded in a green aura/mist, and a eerie mysterious voice speaks to them all. “She speaks and works on her own, but I work for my master. You are extremely powerful, and if you survive his task, you’ll be able to meet him.” Green bolts hit Nadiia, Temonicas, and Thorn, making them evaporate. Our warrior (who again is nameless, stupid retcons) and Moralios are still trapped there, they begin to feel like they are being stretched to the point of breaking in half, and their midsections begin to evaporate, then they feel like they are slammed together with an incredible force, and everything goes black, but the pain persists…
They wake up, with a scorching heat on their backs, which is hot even to the Dragonborn, but not anything evil. They stand up to gather their bearings, to see if their party is there, as they have not heard anything from them. Nadia, temonicas, and Thorn are all missing, but there is a tall, pale female humanoid laying there, with a glowing blue marking on her back. After getting poked over and over again, she wakes up. After some discussion, it is found out that this warrior is Nadiia!
From in the distance, horses and wheels come up to them. A human and a dim-witted elf hop off of there, after some banter, they say they want the heroes as slaves, surrounds the group with elves and dwarfs.
The Leader, Kaldren ( I think, I forgot his name as of this posting, I’ll retcon it later.) a must more rational elf then shows himself, calls down the others down, introducing himself as a mere trader, but he does have one slave to present to the Sorcerer-King.
The heroes stop him, explaining what happened, he then explains to them they are on a plane called Athas, and a few days drive from a large city named Tyr. It is mentioned that there are no Gods anymore, and Arcane users ruined the planet and are now persecuted without prejudice. Any “defilers” (arcane users) are either meant to be killed on site or brought to a Sorcerer-King and you will be rewarded. He reveals a Drow in the back of his caravan with arcane seals on his hands and mouth, but he is looking pleadingly to the group. Kaldren then explains that he got the name “Malakai” from him, and wondered if the others had known him. Moralios explains that 2 of their members are missing, and considering the radical change of Nadiia (who Kaldren tells them is really a Changeling, just brought up as a Dwarf, until the spell broke her Spellscar) this drow could be one of them. They decide to figure that out after they get to Tyr, because the first sun is going down, and “may the Fallen Gods have mercy on your soul if you are out after the Dark Sun rises”.
On the road the group’s first SKIIIIIIILL CHALLLLLLLENGE comes up, which they have no problem succeeding in. The second skill challenge proves to be a little more problematic, as there was a storm brewing and their horses were getting scared a lot, but they succeeded.
After they get to Tyr, they hop off of their horses and stretch their legs, but the group senses something is going wrong, and head back to the caravan, but an elf with superhuman speed has unlocked Malakai and he is now standing up. He explains to them that he is not evil (as he is put to a very sharp swordsedge courtesy of Kaldren) and he can prove it, he has never used his arcane spells to defile anything.
Just then, screams erupt from the trade quarter, Kaldren pushes the group including Malakai away from them. “My first priority is to my goods, I will catch up! GO!” Suddenly balded objects are flying from the sky from a group of elven snipers as they are transversing the large town (Malakai knows the way) to the market quarter.
When they get there, there are several multi-legged horse/demon/camel like beasts (kanks) and the elven assassins destroying innocents. It is up to our heroes to stop them! (battle ensues)
During the battle, the main thing of note is when the elf comes out of his tent, there is the sound of a screaming beast before he shows up. He is promptly and without mercy filled with arrows from Moralios, without a chance to even act. This does anger the Kanks enough for them to spit acid (literally). There are a couple of close deaths, until Nadiia discovers that instead of her divine powers, she still has the power to heal, but with her words, she now speaks with a natural melody, and an increased charisma naturally (yes, dwarf priest to changeling bard). Malakai is also found that when he uses his Sorcerer abilities, he focuses very closely, bringing his arcane abilities from himself, as opposed to the planet around him. When he uses his power, nothing around him is changed or drained.
The battle is won, but Kaldren shows up telling them they have to move quickly or else…
PHEW one hell of a week, so much happened…. tune in next week!
D&D 4th edition blog 