Being heroes
Previously...
The party joined the local guilds in an assault on The Sly Flourish, Anita’s well-timed bomb the signal for an all-out street war against the united gangs under the command of crime lord Osenth ‘The Duke’ Shydeln and Crematia, associates of the diabolical Deloth DeWitt.
Artisans clashed with ruffians by the hundreds, choking the piers and dockside with shouting, screaming, dying Edmarkians.
Fighting their way onto the boat and into the lower holds, the party hoped to uncover the high priestess or one of their intended targets, but instead found a damaged squid-spider machine of tremendous proportions, a reconstructed engine from the God War which had bested even the Savior Finduilas.
Its priority appeared to be ‘strong essences’ and ‘unique genetic material’, marking such in the group, but when it analyzed Narra it really went berserk, bending all its efforts against her...
“Identifying... Narra of Generation 2... Facility Alpha. IMPERIAL OVERRIDE! PRIORITY TARGET! PRIORITY TARGET! PRIORITY TARGET!”
The massive collection of steel plates and tentacles, prongs, feelers and gears, bulbous red eyes and hissing, steaming and oil-sputtering joints leaped for Narra!
Tyvis activated the Worldwalkers given him by Ygdrassil and pulled Kaylan out of the machine's reach in a flourish of vines, even as Narra drew the creature away, retreating out of the cargo hold and down a side hall. Tentacles lashed and ripped at her skirts, but she threw herself against the flimsy wood and scrambled over snapping planks to keep from being snared.
The machine was not so easily deterred, ripping up flooring and crashing through walls, breaching the very hull in efforts to cut the Norswoman off. She skidded to a halt as the menacing head with all its whirring, chattering parts exploded into view. Its lamp-like eyes flickered blue then white, emitting shrieking beams that left Narra disoriented and paralyzed in a thick casing of ice.
"Status: Acquiring target..."
Water blasted inward from the breach, pouring into the lower holds, threatening to fill the entire ship and sink it before long. Kaylan feared the high priestess could be down there, helpless, drowning, but no one was readily free to investigate as the flailing tentacles killed the last surviving thug and ripped Anita into their coils. Tyvis moved to help, but another punched through the wall in a spray of splinters and tore him back into the cargo hold. Gens tried to dodge a third tentacle, but it wrapped around his leg and slammed him hard into the ceiling.
Kaylan clenched the phoenix around her neck, healing Narra's wounds in a pulse of golden light, then summoning a much harsher sunspot on top of two of the tentacles, melting away they outer casings to reveal naked gears and pistons. The bard and rogue slipped free, a little tanner than before.
Wild Annie rolled as she fell, removing her guns and firing on the nearest tentacle. She managed to sever its 'spine' with a rapid barrage, but was yanked back into the air for her efforts. The appendage shuddered then fell still.
Tyvis furrowed his brow, still wrapped in a tentacle all his own, but instead aimed for the head of the monstrosity, launching a skewer of sharpened oak in efforts to expunge the engine from the ship. Instead the wood was chewed up by the gnashing nest of tentacles and machinery, a small victory for artificial life which left the Archdruid a tad demoralized.
He shifted into the form of a water snake and slipped free, flopping onto the slick and shattered deck. That's when he spotted them in the flooding lower hold, glimpses between worming tentacles, Crematia throttling a Norsman. Someone was slumped over her shoulder, a woman with wings, the high priestess!
Narra shattered the ice encasing her with an angry thought and focused her fury into a quivering blast that sent loose debris flying against the walls as it shot for the engine. However the machine's steely hide dispersed the force harmlessly.
"Target displays advanced psionic abilities. Transmitting battle data."
Advanced psionic abilities indeed, the farm girl gathered the errant kinetic energy of a vessel being torn to pieces and hurled it with a grated cry. The resulting collision peeled the plating off the machine's head, revealing gears and wheels that ground momentarily to a halt. Cranial hoses burst and oily blood splattered everywhere before its pieces finally resumed functions, albeit more shakily. The massive squid fell backward, groping wildly for purchase after the sudden force, ripping more of the hull away in the process. River water surged doubly inside the lowest holds and Narra disappeared...
Doubly panicked, Kaylan shouted above the roaring water to check the bottom of the boat, though Tyvis assured her there was no need. Crematia had Finduilas, he was certain, spurring the impulsive bard to take a running leap off the edge of gaping hole the machine left in its wake and down into said underbelly with a splash. He perhaps forgot to consider the raging currents whilst the compartment flooded, but managed to keep his head above water and even gain ground toward a set of double doors standing between him and the high priestess. The water was crowded with face-down corpses of thugs not quite so good of swimmers.
Inspired to save her mentor, Kaylan took a running leap after him, and by the will of the goddess managed to best the current. Anita, not to be outdone, viciously cut a looming tentacle in half with a sweep of her blade and dove in too. If there were three things that Artigan girls did well, they were climb onto rooftops, pick prison locks, and swim.
No sooner did that thin, silky, white blouse of hers get wet, the already leaning boat fell completely onto its side. Everyone went flying into walls hard, cargo came loose and crashed open everywhere, river began flooding two decks instead of one and all was whitewater and chaos. Most of the lanterns in the compartments went out and it was nearly impossible to hear over the rush, creating a dim, deafening and extremely deadly scenario.
Anita could barely manage a gasp before she was ripped under and nearly into the black void of the river. She somehow managed to grab onto the edge of the breach, barely keeping herself from being sucked under the boat as it rolled.
Gens called for Tyvis and his water serpent, spurring the Archdruid to slither his fastest and plunge into the swirling chaos. Reverting to human form, he kicked and thrashed and burst open the doors into the engine room. Three more tentacles dangled from above, helping support the rest of the machine chasing an elusive Narra. Beyond them a panicked Norsman clung to a broken beam for dear life and Crematia pressed against the ceiling, hovering with the high priestess in her arms. She barely appeared human in her aggitated state, blazing red eyes, crimson bat wings, patches of blood-colored skin and a face twisted into something chiropteran.
"Crematia! You foul creature!" Kaylan shouts, fighting her way into the engine room with an accusing finger raised.
Her response is an impossibly deep and disturbing grunt that resounds across the chamber despite the carnage, echoing in the hollows of your minds, "Kaylan. I should have known."
"RIP HER FUCKING FACE OFF!" Tyvis screams, throwing up his green-glowing staff.
"And all her eloquent friends. How wonderful!" She snarls as Curck falls onto her back, ripping at the spines sprouting from the back of her neck.
The trio crash into the churl and disappear.
Narra teleported topside, only to witness the godengine's damaged visage surface through another deck like it were merely carefully-laid toothpicks. Before she could send another mind bolt, so many feelers leaped from the machine's jaws and caught each of her limbs with the careful firmness of chopsticks catching flies. They slowly drew her inside its widening mouth, which formed cage bars.
"You will find that I am not so easily captured..." Narra spat, teleporting back below, only for the engine to give follow, in the process obliterating the entire starboard side of the riverboat and almost instantly flooding the bottom holds.
Just as Anita managed her way back inside, the rush of flood water flung Kaylan to the bottom and nearly out of the boat. She threw out her arms and grasped a sturdy edge of hull, legs kicking out into the dark, swallowing emptiness of the river. And she wasn't the only one, as Tyvis watched Crematia and Finduilas slip right out of the breach and into the Edema. In another impetuous move, the bard gave chase, allowing himself to slide right out of the ship. With a little luck and determination, he managed to break free of the lethal rip current that nearly sucked him under the rolling ship.
He reached the surface with a gasp and a sputter, spotting Crematia darting through the water using her wings like a manta ray might, the high priestess in her clutches. He whistled over Neverba, the jade serpent slithering quickly under the bard and bearing him to within arm's reach of the fleeing devil. In a powerful arcane utterance, Finduilas was swept up into his arms and Crematia sent plummeting down into the deeps. Howling with joy, he turned Neverba around, just as bubbles and steam began to rise from the surrounding waters. Red, molten chains lashed from below, quickly wrapping the snake and the priestess. Gens refused to let go, dragged below with the pair. Thus began a desperate tug of war between Crematia in her true form, a beastly bat fiend nearly ten feet tall, and the relentless changeling.
Tyvis let the currents take him, going after Gens, and after beating the deadly suction surfaced to find no one in immediate sight. Kaylan and Anita though to join him, but the snaking tentacles entangled them both, holding them under as the last bit of air fled the compartments. The two fought to hold their breaths, but slowly the tentacles squeezed it out of them mouthful by torturous mouthful...
On the other end of the godengine, Narra lashed out with a last, hurried psionic blast, but the relentless machine with its stabbing feelers consumed her at last, trapping her in its caged mouth and ripping away from the boat entirely. It was, perhaps, what saved the girls below, both tentacles unfurling and slipping upward with the rest of the mechanical monstrosity. Kaylan and Anita quickly made for the surface, the latter giving a last look at the drowning Norsman she knew to be Osenth Shydeln and, with a moment's pause, offered her hand and took him with her. Curck popped up last of all, certainly not designed for swimming.
Slithering quickly through the waters via hundreds of propulsion devices, the godengine might have escaped then if not for Tyvis's opportunistic attack, shifting into wolf form and yanking out a vital coolant hose. Green fluids spilled into the river as the entire engine jerked and whined, barely managing forward. That wasn't all that polluted the waters, the godengine bleeding black oils from numerous wounds.
But still, even with Anita safe, Narra is still in trouble, and Gens and the High Priestess are still missing. He growls, half at the machine, and half at himself. "I should have known one man couldn't protect everyone. How is someone like me supposed to protect the whole Heartland? How?"
The oil filling the water flows downstream quickly. It leaves Tyvis' fur stained black, but just as rapidly leaving him surrounded by fresher water. The river can protect itself better than he ever could.
The river...
You idiot, Tyvis. You're not supposed to protect the Heartland. You're supposed to help the Heartland protect itself.
As the machine and the ship looms above them all, as everything goes to shit around them, Tyvis focuses his eyes on the river, still flowing despite all the chaos.
"Sashelas!" he howls. "Deep One! Old Man River! These machines, these abominations of nature, threaten not just the serenity and purity of your waters, but the lives of your children!"
"I am Tyvis Waylan, Archdruid of the Heartland, and I call upon your aid! To help not just us, but yourself. To fight not just our enemies, but yours. Help us destroy this abomination, save your ally, and bring peace and safety back to this river again."
"Please, Deep Sashelas. For the Heartland."
The Edema halted its flow with a violent jerk of waves, then reversed, leaving the party desperate to tread the disturbed water. Worse, the river sunk into itself, forming a great vortex which tossed and turned piers and scattered debris of the bombed vessel. The hulking godengine frantically scanned the waters, even as a massive geyser exploded skyward. A colossal grey-green octopus surfaced with so much whitewater and fury, Deep Sashelas, the primal ancient over a hundred feet high, lifted by tentacles gargantuan enough to flatten city blocks, screeching with a beak capable of snapping the ravaged riverboat in two.
Easily the superior of the godengine, even the machine's most fearsome eye beams could not penetrate the ancient's thick hide. The group, and both armies with them, could only gape at the titanic summons as it wrapped the machine in its coils and squeezed.
The ancient's appearance was exactly the godsend Gens needed, still struggling with the devil woman and her multitude of searing chains for control of the priestess. One look at Deep Sashelas and every chain loosened and peeled away as Crematia retreated in full, defeated again. Gens shouted after her in triumph, hugging Finduilas near, and urged the weary Neverba toward the buckling godengine.
Its exoskeleton fractured under the pressure of the titan's grip, gears and feelers snapping every which way, allowing Narra her chance to escape. She leaped into the water and to freedom. The engine sparked and spurted oily blood, calculating a lost cause, and initiated a "sel... dest..." sequence as it was torn in half and cast into the water.
Deep Sashelas turned its single, crystalline eye upon Tyvis, but the Archdruid had very little time to thank the spirit before a concussive series of explosions from the detonating godengine shocked the river into a violent surge, creating a crashing rapids that tore the party away. The ancient screeched and reverted to river water, raining back down into the Edema even as the explosions continued, blasting huge sections of dock and street, even consuming nearby warehouses. What remained of the armies fled screaming.
A critically wounded Neverba used her last reserves to round up the swept party and deposit them in a small, sheltering cove far downriver, near the head of the island. In the distance, fires raged and before long the horns and bells of the fire brigades rose in the red-orange night. Tyvis was exceedingly thankful for all the serpent had done for them and granted her a deserved rest in figurine form.
As everyone crawled onto the muddy shore, Osenth alive and in shambles over the loss of his empire, the party noticed the high priestess slumped, pale and breathless. Kaylan swooped to her aid, seeming to glow near her mentor, administering healing auras and good, old-fashioned resuscitation until at last she came around. Student and teacher, adopted daughter and surrogate mother, were reunited in a warm embrace.
Narra lit a fire and everyone warmed themselves around it, though the woman herself wandered off a bit to ponder the heavy implications of the night's chaos. Tyvis looked out over the water, lost in his own thoughts. Gens checked the status of his instruments, finding them thankfully intact, if a little waterlogged. Anita consoled the former boss of bosses, amused by her current power over him, but quickly began to feel sorry for the guy and looked for a way to spare him. After all, she wasn't a cold-blooded killer, just a thief, and a damned good markswoman.
Kaylan and Finduilas spoke awhile of Gens' daring and Giers' efforts to mount a rescue back in Etheria, of her appointment to prophet and the honor and hardship that came with it. Kaylan asked her mentor to take Christina under her wing, so to speak, explaining she had her own path to follow, one a child could not join her on. The high priestess understood and agreed, wishing her dear one well, even as the prophet, lost in thoughts of what she'd do next, stood up and went to retrieve her ward without so much as a goodbye.
As the Archdruid stared over the waters, half-expecting something mystical to happen, it did, in the form of an emerging nixie. Stunning to behold, three feet of lithe and sumptuous blue scales, webbed appendages, elegant and shimmering wings, flowing green hair framing an angular and enchanting face: she was the pinnacle of fey. Her name was far too long to pronounce, but she settled on Dewdrop, a daughter of Deep Sashelas come to offer thanks for waking the titan after a century of sleep and to discuss payment for his intervention. However before she could get into the nitty gritty, Gens began to play his violin, drawing the nixie's gaze and captivating her all in one sweetly-played moment. She circled the bard, mesmerized by his skill, and more so by the sweet accompaniment of Narra's clarion voice, pure as deep springs. Dewdrop was compelled by her very nature to dance, performing a graceful and alluring ballet over water and air.
When at last Gens, mesmerized himself by the flowing movements of the fey (to say nothing of Tyvis), ended his tune, Dewdrop insisted on abandoning the prior payment and instead sought apprenticeship under Gens and Narra so that she might learn the secrets of their music. Tyvis gave his blessing, somehow feeling he dodged a bullet, despite Narra's uncertainty what she could really teach the nixie.
Before Dewdrop left to inform her father of the new arrangement, Gens revealed his true nature, which got a good, long laugh from the nixie, who then suspected Narra might be some nymph or siren. She assured the fey she was a hundred percent Nors, born and raised. However the high priestess was much more shocked than amused, prompting Gens to explain the strange journey that led to his discovering his true nature. In the end, the old bird hugged him and assured him there was nothing to explain, that she judged Gens on the merit of his actions. So long as he upheld Kalinda's tenants and treated Kaylan right, she had no beef. And, having had quite a long day, she folded her wings very hen-like and went to sleep.
Even after haunting music and dancing fey, Osenth was barely inspired to lift his head. Over and over he recounted his failure and his betrayal, Anita gently guiding him into the notion of a new life. Tyvis joined her, a little less coddling, and the Duke found himself with few options other than bartering for his well-being. He was willing to spill what he knew of DeWitt's operations, which was substantial, as well as the location of a personal stash of gold, magic and inn deeds. Before any of that, though, Tyvis wanted to know about the Imperial Gulag. As it so happened, Osenth knew a little something about that as well...
The Imperial Gulag was in actuality a plane-sailing ship that changed worlds every few months. Only the highest ranking officials in the empire had means to track it, high ranking as in, perhaps, the Grand Inquisitor scheduled to meet with DeWitt on the morrow. There was to be an exchange of unique prisoners, kidnapped to be made test subjects for something called 'The Distillery'. The Distillery was located in a secret Inquisition laboratory under the old lighthouse, incidentally also where Osenth's stash was hidden (under the stairs and behind a particularly large stone). While the party had spared the sleepers and the high priestess from such a fate, there were a few poor souls down there destined to die in the impending experiments. In fact, they were all DeWitt had left to offer his powerful benefactors, not only the Grand Inquisitor but also an infernal emissary from Malbolge, the fourth ring of Hell itself!
Satisfied with the information, and after a deadly warning by Tyvis, Anita escorted Osenth out of the city, and had a flash of religion as the two waded out into the river and for the streets. She was convinced he was being cleansed of his old life, spared the loss of his immortal soul for dealing with the likes of fiends and Noran. Osenth weakly agreed, the sting of losing all his power still too near.
Gens took Tyvis aside then, about alone as they'd ever be, and sheepishly admitted that the Norsman had become his best friend, more so his brother. He drew his blade, much to Tyvis's worry, cut open his hand and offered it in blood bond. The Archdruid opted for a more appropriate means of slicing his own palm, summoned thorns over his length of his staff, and together Changeling and Norsman shook, promising to see this and all other hardships through together.
And so sleep and watches were had by all, exhaustion heavy upon them after the night's harrowing ordeals. There was a pervading sense of triumph, though, given the high priestess snoring nearby, Osenth moving off defeated, DeWitt's docks burning in the background, and the bulk of the godengine's parts and riverboat's salvage spit unceremoniously onto shore. There were treasure chests mixed in there, too...
Experience: 3840 each (52,520 total)
Battle on the Sly, 8000
Finding Finduilas, 8000
Second Chance for Osenth, 2400
RP Bonus, 800
Magic: Eye of the Fiery Depths, Eye of Brutal Cacophony, Eye of Merciless Cold, Godengine Brain, Godengine Scrap
Eye of the Fiery DepthsBoon: Kalinda's Blessing (Anita, Gens, Kaylan, Narra, Tyvis)
This flickering red sphere of crystal and steel, about the size of a grapefruit, is hot to the touch.
Level: 12
Price: 13,000 gp
Implement (Power Augment)
Property: So long as you possess this item, you gain a +3 bonus to damage rolls with fire attacks.
Eye of Brutal Cacophony
This pale sphere of crystal and steel, about the size of a grapefruit, crackles with blue light and constantly trembles.
Level: 12
Price: 13,000 gp
Implement (Power Augment)
Property: So long as you possess this item, you gain a +3 bonus to damage rolls with thunder attacks.
Eye of Merciless Cold
This flickering white sphere of crystal and steel, about the size of a grapefruit, is cold to the touch.
Level: 12
Price: 13,000 gp
Implement (Power Augment)
Property: So long as you possess this item, you gain a +3 bonus to damage rolls with cold attacks.
Godengine Brain
The CPU of the ancient machine contains data on a number of magic rituals used in locating quarry. Several are potentially salvageable with proper Arcana checks (to be rolled next session). Success means the ritual is retrieved, failure that it is irrevocably lost.
Rituals include: Last Sight Vision (2), Object Reading (5), Inquisitive's Eye (8), Magic Map (9), History Revealed (11), View Location (14), Farsight (16), View Object (18) and Observe Creature (24).
Godengine Scrap
Price: 45,000 gp (15,000 per suit's worth)
Weight: 600 lb. (200 per suit's worth)
The salvaged exoskeleton of the godengine could be made into 3 suits of medium-sized armor by a skilled blacksmith, either chain, scale or plate. There seems to be latent magical qualities to the metal.
Kalinda’s Blessing
The undimmed light of Kalinda shines from individuals who champion her cause.
Level: 13
Price: 17,000 gp
Divine Boon
Property: If you deal damage to a target that has vulnerability to radiant damage, you deal extra damage equal to your Wisdom or Constitution modifier, whichever is higher.
Power (At-Will): Minor Action. You emit bright light in a 5-square radius. As a minor action, you can stop emitting light.
Power (Daily * Healing): Minor Action. An ally within 5 squares of you can spend a healing surge, regaining 1d6 additional hit points, and that ally gains a +2 item bonus to saving throws until the end of the encounter.
Coin: 10 chests of casino loot totaling 20,000 gp and 100 pp (50 coins = 1 lb.)
New Familiars
Dewdrop (Gens): Nixie daughter of Deep Sashelas and a lover of music and song. She is three feet tall, with shimmering dragonfly wings, lightly-scaled blue skin and deep green hair. She is lithe and fluid of gait, with a mystifying gaze, altogether stunning. Her apprenticeship under Gens and Narra is considered payment for her father's intervention during the battle on the Sly.
New NPCs
Deep Sashelas: Known by many names, including Old Man River, he is one of the Primal Spirits embodying water and rejuvenation, a healer and defender who makes the rivers, oceans, lakes, springs and falls his home. He manifested at Tyvis's call as a colossal octopus with a single aquamarine eye, many barbed tentacles and a beak large enough to snap a riverboat in two. His daughter, Dewdrop, now apprentices under Gens and Narra.
Osenth 'Newman' Shydeln: Once the Duke of Edmark, boss of bosses, his gangs have been decimated, his political ties severed and his fortune all but spent. Anita saved him from drowning, left for dead by Crematia, and he bartered for his life with all the information he knew about DeWitt's operations and the location of a small stash. Anita saw him out of town where he looks to make a new life... probably.
Grand Inquisitor Huron (mentioned): The infamous 'Man from Noran' with a vested interest in the 'uniques' acquired by DeWitt and the experiments beneath the old lighthouse. He is second only to Grand Exorcist Volker, Lord of the Inquisition. He awaits the sleepers and the high priestess, both parties DeWitt no longer has to give.
The Malbolgean (mentioned): DeWitt's infernal contact interested in the 'uniques' and the experiments involving 'The Distillery' beneath the old lighthouse. There's no doubt he's a devil of some power affiliated with The Fourth Ring of Hell, The Endless Feast, Plane of Gluttony.
Returning NPCs
Crematia Golgora: DeWitt's right hand woman, she's truly a devilish mix between a bat and a crimson giantess, riddled with black spines and wrapped in molten chains under her control. Three times now she's crossed Kaylan and one incarnation of the group or another, and each time has failed to retain her quarry (the original kidnapped royals, the sleepers, and now the high priestess). She goes now to DeWitt empty-handed, leaving the tiefling in a very precarious situation...
Deloth DeWitt (mentioned): To the public a wealthy and dashing Nors rake, his true identity is that of a blue-skinned tiefling who profits from the vices of imperials: casinos, cruises, brothels, even carnivals. Purportedly the son of Archduke Belizeez, Lord of Malbolge, he's been acquiring uniques over the passed year for the experiments involving distilling. His employers are now revealed to be the Grand Inquisitor and a Malbolgean. He returns to find his captives missing, his allies defeated, and his riverboat holdings destroyed.
New Hooks
The Distillery: Osenth mentioned other 'uniques' captured in a secret lab beneath the old lighthouse, intended to be used as subjects of 'The Distillery'. Indeed they're all DeWitt has left to offer his shadowy benefactors, one revealed to be the Grand Inquisitor and the other a fiendish representative of Malbolge, better known as The Fourth Ring. Save these poor souls from their fate and discover why so many 'unique genes' and 'strong essences' have been collected since the onset of the campaign.
Next Session
83a: The party sends Finduilas and Tina on their way, then infiltrates the secret Inquisition laboratory beneath the old lighthouse to rescue the last of the 'uniques' kidnapped by DeWitt and foil the gross distillation experiments.
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