93a: 'neath the Wolf Moon

Biosh 1st
summoning the stalker

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Experience: 1167 xp ( 73,180 total)
summoning the stalker, 4200
RP bonus, 2800

Treasure: Gicha's Winter Shawl (Raina), Gicha's Old Sweeper (Raina)

Gicha’s Winter Shawl
This wild woolen shawl, spun of winter colors, guards its wearer from cold and wracks others.

Level: 18

Price: 85,000 gp

Item Slot: Head

Property: You gain Resist 10 cold.

Power (Daily) Cold: Immediate Reaction. You can use this power when an enemy within 5 squares of you makes a melee or a ranged attack against you. That enemy is immobilized (save ends).

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Gicha's Old Sweeper
The gnarly broom is made of rough blackwood and marsh reeds, the unassuming guise of a powerful means of travel.

Level: 14
Price: 21,000 gp

Wondrous Item

Property: You know the Plane Shift ritual and may cast it as if you had the Ritual Caster feat.

Power (Weekly): Standard. You can cast the ritual Plane Shift without paying its component cost and with a casting time of one standard action. The broom is considered the vehicle, and whoever is touching it part of the ritual. An Arcana check is still required.

Coin: n/a

Loot: n/a

New NPCs
Verbeeg Chieftain (unnamed): A fourteen-foot tall forest giant with greenish skin and long, brown braids, tattooed in lupine patterns, leader of the moon-wolf clan, worshiper of Kharrush the Stalker. He followed Narra's singing back to camp and implored the party to continue their song and summon forth the Wolf Moon. He formed an alliance with Arinew, promising the support of his and other Verbeeg tribes.

Kharrush the Stalker: Primal spirit of the hunt, wolves and moons, Nature's ultimate predator manifesting as a massive set of ghostly wolf jaws and a full, white moon. He stalks between stars hunting Yith (aberrations) and protecting Creation from the dangers of alien technology and psionics. His chosen are the Archwardens, all of which are now dead, their regalia stolen. He charged the group with retrieving the Wild's shield and standing for more than just one world or one people, rather all Creation.

Lorfelad: One of the rare and sacred unicorns, purest white, with braided mane and tail, black barding and a silvery face plate, alicorn of dazzling gold (which blinds non-virgins). He speaks through thoughts and emotions and possesses miraculous powers of speed and healing. He was a great friend to Arinew's mother before her demise.

Developing NPCs
Ser Gliadim Starkenblum: The sidhe knight was revealed by Lorfelad to be none other than Arinew's cousin, on his mother's side, the son of the bard's aunt. He was somewhat reluctant to get into details about it, but it hardly mattered once Arinew realized he had a blood relative still living.

New Hooks
Shield of the Archwarden: Kharrush charged the group with recovering the shield of his Wild protector, inspiring Arinew, Kiri-Auro and Rogar to take the challenge personally... perhaps to see who is the most deserving?

Developing Hooks
The Doomsday Countdown: The Devourer approaches, intent on swallowing all Creation, and Its brood, the Yith (aberrations), are paving the way, having already infiltrated the worlds across space and time using their fell technologies and subverting psionics. Kharrush fears their meddling has drawn too much attention away from the stars, forced the worlds to squabble and war with one another instead of preparing for the last war, one the gods and spirits will not be able to fight, in which Creation's champions must do battle with the Voidborn. Such evidence can be found throughout the party's histories, whether with the emperor and his abuse of Anubian technology, the warforged's prophecy in Spelltower, the conflicts on every plane, the subversion of the New Gods' faiths, the systematic removal of Nature's champions, even Narra's very existence! Truly all the party's goals, the defeat of tyrants and false gods, the restoration of the new faiths and natural guardians, the unification or redefining of splintered factions, serves the need for a unified front against total annihilation.

Next Session
94a: The party reaches the blossoming paradise of Eglantine, last bastion of the Summer Court. Amidst the frivolity and vivaciousness of green fey, the bustle of vast markets and otherworldly wonders, Arinew must somehow gain the confidence of Steward Hjokenstalf and the fealty of his people. His father's sword must be retrieved. The Queen of Fallen Leaves and her armies must be stopped. Alliances must be upheld. And what of Chernobog's crimes against the goddess of nature, Tez, to say nothing of the Imperial Gulag's impending arrival?

91b: Ribcage

Patarm 1st
entering purgatory

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Experience: 1000 xp (77, 406 total)
The Malbolgian, 1600
RP Bonus, 1400

Treasure: n/a

Coin: -30gp (Renato, rooms)

Loot: Osyluth skull (Megaera), Osyluth stinger (Megaera)

New NPCs
Nibbler: Tiefling pickpocket of Ribcage with toothy spurts across his head and joints; stole Diana's dagger and some pocket change, but returned them and took a bribe from Megaera to uncover Mara's location.

Old Slinker (unnamed): An old human whose escaped the Furnace by hiding out in Ribcage, one of many 'Slinkers' hiding from the hellhounds intent on dragging them kicking and screaming to their proper torment. Boldy drank at the bar without fear given Asmodeus' Decree, which prevents any fiend whose entered the city from leaving.

The Malbolgian (dead): An obese bone devil from the Fourth Ring, Malbolge, hiding out from Asmodeus' cultists at The Black and Gold. He picked a fight with the party over a pack of smokes, one he didn't win.

The Avernian (unnamed): A golden devil-woman of exquisite body but over-sized, cumbersome head, native to the First Ring, Avernus, hiding out from Asmodeus' cultists at The Black and Gold. She informed the party that the Asmodeans were capturing fiends and killing half-bloods in attempts to usurp Hecate's church in the city.

The Baron (mentioned): The tiefling ruler of Ribcage, he's been placed under house arrest at Citadella de Barone by the Asmodeans, paralyzing the city's blackguards and ensuring the senate takes no actions against the religious coup.

Calypso Garadin: A nightshade-colored tiefling with long, curling copper horns, of marked beauty, she is a mid-level noblewoman of the influential Garadin merchant family and rival of the Baron. Her great uncles maintained a centuries-long feud with the Baron, but have very recently been swayed by the Asmodeans enough to place a devastating embargo on Ribcage, one that is now starving the populace. She has no real love for the people in their own right, but she sees no benefit in creating a city of emaciated corpses- not after all the work spanning generations, the subtle and delicate political maneuvering and coy deceptions she's so much more fond of. She enlisted the party's aid in assassinating the Asmodean leadership at The Temple of Darkest Secrets in hopes of restoring the status quo (a move that would allow her to gain much power, perhaps even leadership of the family).

Asmodeus (mentioned): Little is known of the Lord of the Nine, beyond the fact he lurks in Gehenna (the Helldark, to say the Underdark of Hell), a nexus of fiery caverns haunted by things even devils fear and which surrounds the Black Sun Nessus, the core of Hell where-in Hecate slumbers. For years it was thought this mysterious being was Hecate's protector, but very recently he has garnered a following and begun usurping Hecate's worship, overtaking her temples and assuming her worshipers, converting her very devils to his whim.

Regret: An erinyes of Megaera's flock guarding the Ivory Towers at behest of the Asmodean cult. She was once a devote follower of Hecate, but claims to have been shown the great lie- that Hecate is not real- and seen the truth behind things, that Asmodeus is the one and only lord of Hell.

Remorse: An erinyes of Megaera's flock guarding the Ivory Towers at behest of the Asmodean cult. She was once a devote follower of Hecate, but claims to have been shown the great lie- that Hecate is not real- and seen the truth behind things, that Asmodeus is the one and only lord of Hell.

Returning NPCs
Mara D'Amoria: The infamous and out-of-favor succubus witch, first thought to be seeking passage back to the Fourth Ring, may in fact be working against Asmodeus' cabal, one last task to prove her devotion and power to the sleeping goddess in search of an exarch.

New Hooks
Cabal of Asmodeus: The once-minor House Flamen has brought the word of Asmodeus to Ribcage, having orchestrated the religious-political coup of the entire city, manipulating the elders of House Garadin into a crazed embargo, usurping the Temple of Darkest Secrets as a home base and slaying all the half-blood clergy, placing the Baron under house arrest and stealing away fiends to be converted, not to mention casting a dire curse, Asmodeus' Decree, which prevents all fiends who have entered the city from leaving. Calypso explained the key to restoring order is in the death of the Flamen heretics, potentially with the help of a freed Baron.

Next Session
92b: The party must defeat two erinyes converts, then perhaps indulge a bit in the Ivory Towers before hunting down and killing the Asmodeus leadership- maybe free the Ribcagian Baron for his added support. And of course there is Mara, mixed up somewhere in this religious-political knot.

92a: Pruning

Raleth 30th
victory at the shrine

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Experience: 2017 xp (72,013 total)
Shrine Battle, 9300
RP Bonus, 2800

Treasure: Serpent's Kiss Bow (vermillion and emeralds like a two-headed snake, level 18), Cloak of Resistance (rainbow colors, level 17: Kiri-Raina), Tattoo of the Wolverine (level 17: Tyvis)

Coin: 10,000 gp in gold, silver and copper; 2,000 gp minor gems (ruby, emerald, jacinth)

Loot: medicine bag (components enough for 1 free ritual) x 3, hag's wart (consumable, +4 to Arcana checks for rituals, 2000gp each) x 3, owlbear feathers (and other parts)

New NPCs
Hjokenstalf (mentioned): The treant steward of Eglantine, part of a rare and ancient race that once covered all the primeval world.

Gicha Gwyillion: The witch of the cold marshes, somewhere far-flung from Annwn and in the realm of the Winter Court. She proved surprisingly courteous and took kindly to Raina's innocence. Appeared a motherly-looking human woman, but possessed of ogreish feet.

Developing NPCs
Ser Gliadim Starkenblum: The handsome, moon-haired sidhe is in fact a faerie knight of the second petal, sworn protector of the Elder Trees and resident of Eglantine.

Next Session
93a: The party must find Raina and make their way to Eglantine.

90b: Vengeance for Lust

Talsil 30th

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Experience: 1667 xp (76,406 total)
An Appeal to the Succubi Queen, 3600
RP Bonus 1400

New PC
Megaera, erinyes soldier in Malcanthet's employ and the party's escort into Ribcage.

New NPCs
Malcanthet (manifestation): Queen of the Succubi, she manifested through Belesana by inverting the vampiric beauty, breaking her legs at the knees to form an 'M' and twistingher head 180 degrees, having nearly strangled her to death with her long, red curls. Malcanthet made a deal with Renato and Diana, providing Mara's location and agreeing to resurrect Isabella (free from Mara's control) in exchange for Mara's strange, soul-stealing bauble. It's quite obvious there is no love lost between Malcanthet and Mara, and in fact the queen implied she was partially responsible for Mara's banishment from Hell some millennium prior.

Returning NPCs
Belesana: The precentor of Lust, having tasted the pleasures of Isabella, felt compelled to retrieve the girl from her self-inflicted damnation by calling forth her lady and owner Malcanthet for Renato and Diana. She also provided the bony portal to the Outlands nearest Hell. Despite her gruesome usage, her loyalty is forever Malcanthet's.

New Quests
Her Precious Bauble: Recover Mara's clear gem, the soul repository for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of souls- Isabella's included. Use it as the bargaining chip to hold Malcanthet to her deal of freeing Izzy from the chains of soul bondage.

Next Session
91b: The party enters Ribcage, intent on rooting Mara from her hiding place and taking from her the bauble which contains Isabella's soul. And if they foil whatever she's up to in the gate town, all the better.