On the last episode of this adventure, our heroes infiltrated Fort Rather, and fell into a trap! They defeated their adversaries, and then slew some potential allies, on suspicion of subterfuge and paranoia! We pick up in the hallways of the slaughter.
We decompose corpse both Salami and Porkshank, and stuff their bones into Gad’af Sree’s Handy Haversack. We shove the remaining bodies into the broom closet in the hallway. We all go invisible, and begin to make our way towards the main keep, and Skylan. We navigate through the walls, and eventually make our way on to the wall proper. Through our actions, we alert some guards, and begin some of the enemy forces to look for us with magical assistance. We dimension door on to the keep towers, and quickly and silently subdue the crossbow men. We make our way into the keep further, down the tower stairs, and to the second floor. After some exploration, we decide to check a door, and reveal an office with several soldiers and other fort members – COMBAT!! - OJ moves in and stabs one, then Wondermitch icy fireballs the room, killing the remaining troops.
We lock the door we cam in through, and begin investigating the room. There are two remaining doors out of this room; we discover they’re locked with an arcane lock. Checking the paperwork on one desk, we find they are reports about supplies that have gone missing, and their likely location. Evidently, there are renegade forces in the mountains. We check through a few more things, and then investigate the remaining rooms on this floor. One appears to be a barracks, and the other is an infirmiry; we leave both alone and head downstairs. As we move forward, our group gets blasted from behind, downing OJ instantly. COMBAT!! - Our group, severely hampered, dimension doors out of there.
We escape, and make our way back to the safe house. We heal up and consider our next actions. Wondermitch sends a message to Kaldur, who instructs us to abandon this mission, and head to Tornach’s Bridge, for the next mission. We leave Fort Rather, and make our way East.
Last time, we met with Private Mayonayse and enacted a plan to infiltrate Fort Rather: we bribed the guards of a grain shipment, and assumed their place. We travel for a bit, and prepare to enact our plan. We give ourselves various mundane disguises, we have uniforms, we have falsified papers, and we have a cart of horse feed with a donkey. Boss Dukes will be our face, with OJ and Twistfuck as our backups.
We get to the town outside the fort, and get to the inner gate without trouble. We cross a drawbridge and porticulus, and approach 4 guards. Boss Dukes hands over our papers. One of the guards calls out a sergeant, who is obviously some kind of corrupted figure, with massive devilish horns. He questions us a bit, calls over some other troops to handle the grain, and then directs us to the officer of the watch for a debriefing. We follow his directions to a small office.
We meet a Lieutenant Flapjack, who is obviously corrupted with various daemonic parts on him. He asks Boss and Twistfuck to go get him some ink, and grab some drinks, as he wants to debrief the remaining three of us. He asks us some preliminary questions, and betrays his intentions plainly enough to OJ: he wants to murder us and bring our bodies to the pool of Al’Jazeer to be resurrected as daemonic forces. He strikes at OJ – COMBAT!! - Flapjack lunges at OJ with his arm full of snakes, biting him a bunch. OJ retaliates. As the rest of the group catches up, Wondermitch unleashes a devestating icy fireball, slaying Flapjack and a soldier. As Gad’af Sree is preparing to enter the fray, a cloaked figure kicks open the door, and shoots the remaining soldier. - Meanwhile, down the hall, Boss and Twistfuck get to the supply closet, opening it to find a large angry daemonic snake monster – COMBAT!! - Boss gets rekt by the snake monster, while Twistfuck fucks with some archers in the hallway. - Combat catches up, and the entire group is now in initiative. After a challenging fight, we escape without fatalities!
After the combat, we briefly discuss with our inside supporters: Sergeant Salami and soldier Porkshank. Salami is frustrated at this attack, and has forces inside the fort which are primed to help Syrup take the fort. The party is rather adamant to continue their mission. Wondermitch sends a message to Kaldur, who urges us to kill and burn Salami and Porkshank. We follow-through with that decision; Salami and Porkshank are no more.
We call it here for the evening. Take note: we need to dispose completely of the bodies we slay, or they will be brought back in the pool!
We traveled to a tower and found some mean dudes. COMBAT!! After a grueling combat, we succeed! We rest for the evening.
Kaldur lays out the plan. He gives us some supplies, and we prepare for our journey.
We travel to a tower. We find some dudes, at least one of whom is a kyton. We engage in COMBAT!
Harvey successfully escorted all the hobgoblins and orcs to shore. His heroic actions inspired a new paladin follower.
Mummrah stayed behind to help out the wounded on the boats.
The rest of the party teleported back to Rime. Gartug went home to rest (and get some important alone time). Taliah returned to her lab. Sheila G and Chuck get ready for an exciting slumber party at her temple.
Withatwist was hanging out in the collective hotel room, and is attacked by a dark tapestry-corrupted deep badger. He manages to defeat it, and drags its corpse around town showing it off.
Taliah got some mail from the Guild of Alchemists, inquiring about her selling alchemical items while not in the guild.
Harvey teleports back to Rime.
Our struggle against the giant squid wolf tentacle lady continues! After some more punches and lightning bolts, we win!
Stackor, Harvey, and Oliver teleport back to Rime, to aid the merfolk with the Cthulu cults!
Stackor sends with Sheila G, about the boat plans.
The next day, SG teleports to the flagship. We discuss the plan of action with the captain: there are 3 boats, modified whalers with harpoons and armed sailors. They will drop chains into the water, each of which will have dwarves with underwater crossbows and an excessive number of daggers. Additionally, there are merfolk forces hiding in a school of dolphins, with water elementals. The plan is for us to focus on any of the big scary things, and let the merfolk and dwarves handle the standard cultists. All boats will approach, and we will assault.
We have an EPIC MYTHIC COMBAT! We win!
Gadafthree wanders back to the Order of Barred Doors to catch-up.
Kaldur and Oliver step to Kaldur’s office, where Kaldur informs him that, due to the previous actions of Oliver, their patron obtained the Deck of Many Things. In thanks, Oliver is being given a Shadow Deck of Many Things. Kaldur also informs Oliver of one of Calcifer’s weaknesses: his soul is embedded within his daemonic body. There are a handful of weapons that target souls; doing this to Calcifer will end him.