Fanaxia: The Rescue and the Airship

 We’re leveling up. Also, we’re kind of resetting where the group treasure is. We need some 1,500 gp each doses of ruby dust. We also need 25,000 of diamond dust for True Resurrection. We also need a bunch more silversheen, and probably some extra Death Ward wands.

At the end of the day we get a message from Brom Crewe, the leader of the West Styre Archons, requesting to meet again for revised terms. 

Ruin, Martini, and Azrael are summoned by a knock on the door. Martini puts a dagger in the door and scares the hell out of the messenger, but… the Queen has received a message and requests our presence in the throne room. We arrive to find the queen on her throne, in a formal gown with her crown on. The room is formally decorated, and the queen finally looks very serious and proper. There are two women in black in the back of room; Fenrir is on his knees with his arms bound behind him and armed guards all around. 

Queen: “We may begin. Why do you come before me?”

Woman: “You hold my father hostage, and my brothers. We’ve come to surrender and swear our allegiance.”

The Queen looks to Martini. Martini: “I don’t think we should trust her until she’s proved her sincerity. She can tell us about their army and we can verify her information.”

Elizabeth: “Begging your pardon, my queen, but it’s split to two armies.” So apparently Draughan has taken two thirds of the army and split off; he’s a “nutcase” and can’t be stopped. 

After a bit of negotiation, Milicent and Ginger have evidently decided to surrender and pledge to the queen; but Draughan is enough of a fanatic that even with his adopted son "imprisoned" (actually dead but with his body being preserved for possible resurrection) he’s camped in the hills with as much of the army as he could manage to command.

Azrael: “Could we starve them out?” 

Queen: “I must take a moment to consult my advisors.”

We follow. Count Fayette and Count Collard, plus the elven bard and Favian the older chief advisor. “Well, can we trust them?” 

Azrael: “Our friends have been successful in defending Lord Crowe; the navy of Styre and the fleet of Bulbeck are effectively off the board.”

The two Counts are in favor of executing the traitors on the spot. Favian suggests that the insurrection demands some executions, but Fenrir alone might be sufficient so long as we keep hostages. Note that the wolves have not sent Milicent (Fenrir’s Wife) or Boris (the leader of the barbarian werewolf clan).

The Wallingtons and the Glamorgans keep their lands, but Draughan’s lands are forfeit; Fenrir will be executed and his body destroyed, but the children will be resurrected and allowed to stay with the Queen until she decides otherwise. The queen returns to make the announcement, and the execution is scheduled for this afternoon. 

Martini performs the execution, and Azrael disintegrates the body. 

Meanwhile, in Styre (at about noon), the other half of the party moves to get Leira resurrected and buy diamond dust; Geddy goes to visit Crewe. 

Crewe greets him with his assistant Brumilda. “I see you’ve come to talk new terms.”

Geddy: “Well, yeah, it seems like you needed new terms.”

Crewe calls for wine, and Brumilda goes to fetch some. “Have you reconsidered my deal?” 

Geddy: “We’re just not sure it’s really going to work out.” 

Crewe: “I agree, and I really do need to revise the terms. Because now I have another ally who needs to be paid off as well.” The door opens and Lady Green walks in, fresh from the battle where we annihilated her army. Geddy looks around, spotting several doors. 

Crewe: “Here are the new terms: the same as last time, but with a barony in Vrist for lady Green, 50,000 gold, and the rights to run the Shadow Dragons in Vrist.”

Geddy checks out the escape routes before he considers this. He doesn’t know whether the queen would be amenable to establishing this thieves guild officially (or even semi-officially). Geddy: “All right. I hear your terms. You know that the way this works, I’ll have to go back to consult the queen. I’d like to hang out for a bit, though; could we take a meal together so I can get a better feel for your intentions?” 

Crewe: “It turns out that Cardinal Richlieu would very much like to have you, so I do have an alternate offer on the table. He would have preferred to obtain more of your group, but you will do.” 

Geddy: “Cardinal Richlieu would be an interesting one to trust, but if you’ve got the stones for that.” 

Crewe: “You have five minutes, Geddy. Explain to me why I shouldn’t trust the cardinal.” 

Well… Cardinal Richlieu has a demon problem, and that’s why he hasn’t really moved against us yet. His only real loyalty is to the church of Vecna, and he’ll sacrifice anyone or anything for its ascendancy. Geddy: “Here’s the thing: demons notwithstanding, Richelieu’s approaching a level of desperation where I think he’s willing to promise anything to get the help he needs. They’re playing all sides to advance themselves, and whether they’ll keep those promises is another question. And I think taking this route could carry its own dangers. Remember that you can also stay out of it; if you take care of your own people and don’t take a side, the queen would likely view you kindly.”

Lady Green: “But I am desperate too. If I don’t take this deal from Richlieu, I’m dead.” 

Crewe: “Geddy, I’d like to help you, but you’re not giving me what I need. Unless you can give me a deal that’s binding with the queen, I can’t let you walk out of here.”

Geddy: “Tell you what. I’ll make this easy for you. No games, no funny business. I’ll stay here, and write up a message to send back to the queen with your terms and my recommendations, and we can wait and see how she responds. You don’t lose your leverage, and I don’t have to deal with Richlieu yet. I do expect three meals a day, though. Gotta maintain my figure.”

The side doors open and his archons come out and stand around as Geddy writes out the letter. They’ve definitely thought this through, but they’re sending the letter directly to the queen and it should arrive this evening.

 

Back in Vrist, the execution happens this afternoon; the letter from Geddy arrives that evening and the queen calls the elves in. “What is this?” Ruin takes one look at the letter and says, “Geddy’s been captured.”

The queen is displeased, and dismisses us. 

Meanwhile, more stuff is pouring out of the swamp; the magiknights lose one of their number. (Not Cristobol, though.) Meanwhile, down south the centaurs and the Bacunawa have besieged Kuldas Keep. Unsurprisingly, Kuldas Keep allies with Richlieu and Cimarron as the Fanax army moves down to reinforce the keep. There were rumors of Kuldas still having an airship, and apparently they actually do; the centaurs are intensely demoralized by this. The lizard-folk are migrating east as the swamp-monsters drive them out. 

Geddy, meanwhile, is learning some things about Crewe. The two parties have reunited in Styre; and at the moment we can’t seem to scry on Crewe or Geddy. We consider our resources, but Azrael is a battle-bunny and Leira’s options are fairly limited; Marshall announces that he could ask for a Miracle to deliver some or all of us to Geddy’s location. 

After a bit more discussion, we decide that the Solari party (Tavros the paladin, Leira the sorceress, Alexej the fighter, and Marshall the cleric) will go to rescue Geddy, while the three elves (Ruin the Horizon Walker, Martini the assassin, and Azrael the goth wizard) will head south and try to take over the airship. Azrael has some doubts about teleporting directly into the airship, but there are ways around that. 

So… Marshall and company Miracle their way to Geddy. Marshall will be temporarily weakened by this, but he doesn't care. He prays: “Artemis, you know I don’t ask for much. I’m a simple man of simple means, and the only person I care about more than you is this little gnome.” A voice tells Marshall that he needs to help the Bakunawa, and Marshall replies: “Right after this.” The voice: “Granted”

Suddenly we’re flying through space on the back of a giant snake. Ahead in the distance is this little building, a small castle in this space, and the snake drops us into this interdimensional castle. 

The room is full of Geddy and a bunch of guards; the guards all look up aghast, and Marshall says: “We got your letter.” 

Meanwhile, Azrael teleports the team of elves above the airship, which is in the middle of a battle. The centaurs and the bakunawa are back by the forest, and the airship is above the keep. There’s a fleet out at sea, too. The airship is dropping magic missiles and acid blasts on the centaurs and bakunawa. We’re attempting to fall onto the ship, but it’s wrapped in a Wind Wall that blows us off-track. There are formorian weapons on this ship, and a bunch of people on deck. 

Ruin tries to Dimension Door onto the ship, but fails; he plummets and hits the ground hard. 

Back in the extra-dimensional fort where Geddy is being held, Tavros opens the fight by stepping forward and slicing into an armored dwarf who is one of the Archons and about to be a dead Archon. Marshall drops Mass Inflict Critical Wounds and does just horrible things to our enemies: the dwarf goes down. Alexej eases back from a Vecna cleric and trips him, then finishes him off on the floor. Leira drops a Freezing Sphere and wipes out the remaining rogue and damages Brom Crewe and the Archon Christiana. 

Brom runs and throws open the door. Tavros breathes ice across the room, hitting all three remaining foes; the rogue dies, but Christiana and Brom survive. Christiana attacks Tavros, doing some damage with her daggers. Lady Green, two of her rogues, and a couple of her giants are in the far room. One of the rogues moves in and Alexej attempts to trip him but fails. Lady Green’s party moves into the room. The giants attack Tavros and Alexej, doing some reasonable damage. 

Marshall moves up and lays a hand on one of the giants, then casts Slay Living. It doesn’t kill the thing outright, but it damages it. Alexej attacks the other giant, damaging it. Leira casts Baleful Polymorph on Brom Crewe, who fails to resist and becomes a snail. He’s still running away, just… not very fast. Tavros cuts down Christiana, then one of the rogues. The other rogue tries to attack Alexej and just… misses. Completely. 

Marshall casts Holy Word, blinding and deafening the snail, and lady Green, and the remaining rogue. Alexej slices up the nearer giant and kills him. Tavros steps over to Lady Green and beheads her. Tavros steps towards the giant: “You should really run now.”

Leira translates. 

Giant: “Um… me not hurt?” 

Leira: “You don’t fuck with us, you live.” She's... taken a somewhat darker turn since her last resurrection; being killed has not been good for her sense of mercy.

It puts its hands up and steps back. The deaf, blind Shadow Dragon Rogue starts feeling his way along the wall in search of the exit. Geddy picks up the snail, then puts it in a pouch. 

The giant is very apologetic and very interested in being friends. Leira makes him promise to be good, and he bounds out the portal. 

We’ve won.

Ruin, meanwhile, is climbing out of the crater where he landed; the fall from the airship didn't kill him. Martini has used Dimension Door to get down to the ground intact. Azrael is still flying around the boat, and casts Meteor Swarm and drops two meteors on each end of the flying ship. The golems are immune, the two wizards and the beholder survive, and they immediately turn the boat and take it back inside the keep because everybody else has died. 

Kuldas Keep is extremely well-defended, but chasing off the airship and showing up has rallied our allies. We introduce ourselves to the Bakunawa and the Centaurs and announce that we’re here on behalf of Marshall. Our first priority will be to take the airship for ourselves, or else take it out entirely.

We come up to the stone door where the flying ship went inside, and Ruin hears them calling up a second crew to re-staff the boat. They’re clearing the bodies off and putting new troops on. Martini is able to look in through an arrow slit; Azrael floats up beside her, peers in through the arrow slit, and casts Horrid Wilting on the back half of the ship. (This is our attempt to draw them out, since we don't have any good way past the giant stone doors and the castle is proof against us teleporting inside.)

They send the boat back out in a hurry, before we can hit it again. Ruin is waiting on the ledge; he grabs the front of the boat and starts climbing up. Martini runs and jumps onto the boat, passing safely through the wind-wall this time. 

Ruin finishes climbing up onto the foredeck and cuts down a couple of people, then attacks an iron golem and misses. It turns to look at him since he’s visible now. Azrael invisibly descends onto the boat, while a Wizard uses Dominate Person on Ruin and commands him to protect him… but Ruin is resistant to magic and isn’t dominated. Martini, still invisible, dimension doors down to the aft deck and arrives between the beholder and the wizard. 

The beholder, meanwhile, unloads its eye-beams on Ruin. Between misses and spell resistance, most of them miss… but a finger of death slips through (but fails to kill him outright). Then the iron golem turns around and attacks him, hitting once. Another iron golem starts moving up from the aft deck. The guys with the magic missile weapons miss, as do the acid bolt attacks. The guys with the obsidian crystals pull them out and activate flaming blades from them; one of them steps in and tags him with a flame sword. 

Ruin cuts down a couple of the guys with the flames swords and takes a shot at the iron golem again, but misses. 

Azrael drops a couple of fireballs on the foredeck and clears it off, leaving Ruin and the golem untouched. Ruin brushes a bit of ash off his shoulder. 

Martini starts stabbing things. The beholder and the wizard both go down. She’s now visible, and the iron golem – the last thing on the aft deck – turns to attack her. The guys with the magic missile guns do a little damage to Ruin, and the acid arrow guys attack Martini, also doing a little damage. The iron golem attacks Ruin, damaging him some more; he’s starting to really feel it, so he Dimension Doors his way up to a crow’s nest. Martini joins him up there as the three iron golems rage around on the deck. The golems are the only things left, and the boat is free-flying out into the sky. Unfortunately, we're not well-equipped to deal with iron golems. (We had plans, but we haven't been in any position to purchase that sort of equipment.)

Azrael sends a message to the other party, then conjures his mansion and the elves all go in to eat and trance. The other party will join us in the morning. 

Crowe has come down to assault his father’s navy. We’re drifting northwest in the flying boat. The swamp is still trying to expand, and fairly horrible things are now emerging from it. A force of hydras, small dragons, and harpies emerges to attack the magiknights. They fend it off, but take more casualties in the process. They keep the townsfolk from being overrun, but they’re hurting. Jorrin (a higher-level magiknight) and Cristobol are both slain. Lady Merrowin is also losing troops, but she too is still holding the line on the north side of the swamp. Still… it does not look good.

The next morning, Azrael makes himself invisible and drops a ladder, and the other party (who has teleported underneath the ship) climbs up under the shelter of Geddy’s Invisibility Sphere. 

We start looking to finish the golems. Ruin positions himself, Alexej attacks hard but misses, Geddy starts singing, Azrael casts Haste, Martini moves into position to flank. One of the golems hits Alexej. Leira summons an animated magic sword, which starts attacking golems. Marshall turns into a snake and attacks a golem, damaging it. Tavros, Ruin, and Alexej beat one of them down; Azrael drops Grease under another one. 

Marshall, as a giant snake, grapples one of the golems. Tavros moves up to help Ruin, who’s busy beating on a golem; Alexej follows. The grappled golem tries to escape but fails; the other golem attacks Ruin, hitting him twice and doing noticeable damage. Leira drops a new Mage’s Blade beside the golem that attacked Ruin; Marshall throws the other one off. It survives the fall but it’s pretty badly damaged. Ruin and Tavros finish the golem. 

The airship is officially ours. Belowdecks is pretty cramped. It’s set up so that they have two crews, one topside and one waiting to replace anyone who falls. The engine room is a crystal that seems to have grown tentacles into the ship; it’s one of Vecna’s creations from back when she was mortal. It seems possible that if we were to rip this crystal out, it could be installed on a new ship. 

We get the boat turned around and head back. Unfortunately, Zis'laer the Black Wyrm -- a black dragon -- has emerged from the swamp and appeared on the battlefield to protect Kuldas Keep... and he may actually be more formidable than the ancient white dragon we fought a while back.

 

We'll see.