Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lyinginbedmon 06-24-07, 06:51 AM	This is going to be something of a blog about what happens in my present prison campaign, a continuation to my religious campaign, In Thy Name. Main Characters Ayane Oki-Ona - Human Monk/Cleric/Sacred Fist - Inigo Montoya-style Cleric of Kick-Butt, works alongside F4-17 in the quest to find Dark Shadow and tear him a new one after he killed her father. Replacement character of Arthur Binkatsu F4-17 - Warforged Ninja - A non-Dead-Nick like Majus, who was originally made for the great war just like every other Warforged, but was then stolen by a Ninja clan and used as a plant, before the clan was arrested and he escaped Sieghard Le'Morde - Human Dread Necromancer - Dead-Nick White Squad member, he can produce undead children hermaphroditically, an ability he gained in the Mizu Omi Barrier. Blue Jester - Incarnate Human Effigy Commoner 1/Expert 4/Chameleon 10 - A strange fun-loving young boy with odd abilities that are as yet undefined. He seems capable of taking on the traits of any class, and his motives are unknown. He was imprisoned for at least a century for war crimes during the Little Machine War, though he personally touts that he only has 26 years left. Agrona Wymond - Elf Ranger - Dead-Nick Black Squad member Alinas Eletrica - Human Bard - Dead-Nick head of Red Squad Artillery Anastrianna Holimion - Elf Druid - Dead-Nick head of Blue Squad Public relations Arthur Binkatsu - Human Ranger/Sorcerer/Cleric - Dead-Nick head of Black Squad Archery ex-righteous criminal for killing his military commanding officer Aust Liadon - Elf Monk 12 - Dead-Nick head of White Squad STAR with apocalyptic dreams #Deceased# C3-1 - Warforged Charger Barbarian - Dead-Nick Yellow Squad member with some childlike personality traits, as in human traits Dench - Half-Orc Monk - Dead-Nick Green Squad member who seems to be capable of duplicating Matrix-esque stunts F7-76 - Warforged Cleric - Dead-Nick Red Squad member with very maternal instincts Hector Marduk - Elf Wizard - Dead-Nick Green Squad member Henriette Vova - Yuan-Ti Pureblood Expert with Doomwatcher - Dead-Nick Blue Squad member and the resident psychiatrist Leonid Nikolai - Dracotaur Archivist - Dead-Nick White Squad member who refuses to wear any form of trousers, and who has depression problems Morganth Stormcrow - Fanelian Wizard68 [Being rebuilt] - Dead-Nick owner with connections and abilities beyond virtually any other spellcaster on the Material plane. Out-of-game, he's known to have an expected lifespan of about 2500 years (He should therefore be dead by Einderseod year 3960). Morina Stormcrow - Half-Phoenix Rogue32 [Being rebuilt] - Dead-Nick second with an extremely flirtatious personality (But no capability to go beyond flirting thanks to Morganth) and Morganth's only daughter. "Prince Majus" - Half Dragon Fighter - Non-Dead-Nick amnesiac Ra'Ezma Barrow - Changeling Dread Necromancer - Dead-Nick Green Squad member, recently acquired an adopted daughter Rebecca [Slaymate] Raphael Jethro - Half-Celestial Paladin - Dead-Nick Blue Squad member Shadow Kami - Half-Elf Gorotsuki (Homebrew, Naruto mimic+Rogue) - Dead-Nick head of Green Squad SpecOps missing a tongue Simone Anatolius - Human Cleric with Aberrant Arms - Dead-Nick Green Squad member, the lover of Ra'Ezma with a personality of almost polar opposite. Thamior Meliamne - Elf Sorcerer - Dead-Nick head of Yellow Squad Melee As most of these characters are outside of the prison, most will not be participating in the events of the campaign The Bad Guys Well, they're in Larkhill Prison, filled to the brim with the worst criminals imaginable...who isn't a bad guy? However, unlike most of the other prisoners they weren't actually responsible for the crime(s) that put them here, but to frame someone you need to keep a low profile, and as such I won't be giving a background and expose on the villain(s) this time around ;)
Lyinginbedmon 07-02-07, 03:42 PM	A fortnight and no update, geez I'm getting sloppy here... 23/06/1955 - Wired for Life A messenger arrived at the headquarters with a messege for Sieghard and F4-17. Apparently, a family of farmers just outside the city limits were under attack by Zakian worshippers who had fled the temple before being captured (See In Thy Name). Answering the call, the pair grabbed their weapons and headed out to the indicated farm immediately. Arriving there, they found total silence, not a thing moving. The farmhouse was pristine, as if it hadn't been used in years, and the only sign of any inhabitation was a blood-smeared handprint on the front door. Stepping inside, they found the bodies of over two dozen Zakian worshippers, either dead or dying, with their skulls pierced and their deaths visibly agonisingly painful. Sieghard found one yet alive and healed him into consciousness, upon which time they reacted in abject fear and began screaming that Sieghard had come back to torture him. Consequently, he was rapidly bound and gagged, when the city guard arrived on horseback, responding to a call that Sieghard and F4-17 had found a cell of the worshippers and were slaughtering them. Having been found at the scene, with weapons matching the wounds, apparent wounds to cover up magical divination (Destroyed skulls means that speak with dead won't work, a spell Sieghard is famous for using), and a witness testifying vehemently that he saw the pair killing them all (Magical divinations such as probe thoughts discerned that the worshipper had indeed seen F4-17 and Sieghard le'Morde killing them all violently and viciously), the pair had little in the way of defence, and Sieghard's plea of insanity with the appropriate acting didn't help (F4 plead not guilty by reason of coercion on Sieghard's part). Consequently, they were sentenced each to 20 years in Larkhill Prison, eligible for parole in 10, for mass murder and torture. Tactical Notes: Well, that's the set-up isn't it? 21 victims, quite the head count for a single sitting. The prosecution theorised that Sieghard and/or F4-17 had arranged for the messenger beforehand, and probes into the messenger's memories revealed facts accounting to this. Obviously, we're dealing with a murderer who can duplicate their appearances. However, in Larkhill Prison, with few rights to the outside world, the two are going to have to spend at least some time here whilst the Dead-Nick Squad tries to sort things out.
Lyinginbedmon 07-05-07, 02:00 PM	30/06/1955 - Meet the Boys Having been woken by the claxon sounding across the prison, Sieghard made his way to the mess hall for breakfast. Deciding to take the gruel with a cooked rat (The alternatives were worse), he sat down at an empty table and started nibbling. He was quickly met by two goons and their ringleader Harry O'Gilly, a half-orc transmuter, who began pestering the phish and stealing his food. Sieghard bluffed him into pestering someone else (A shrimpy evoker a few tables across), and hastily left the room. In the recreation yard, he wandered about checking everything out, until O'Gilly caught up with him and tried to beat the heck out of him. He evaded their grasp, but their friends decided to join in. Since most of the necromancers were still eating (Being the kind of guys with all the time in the world), he was largely on his own. He backed up all the way to a guard tower, and began praying for divine intervention from Tala. He was met then with the discovery that a fairly strong chain lightning had just re-arranged the atomic charges of the vicious inmates, most of which collapsed unconscious and the rest of which fled. But it wasn't Tala he had to thank, but Blue Jester, who appeared in a puff of smoke infront of him. The pair caught up, and Jester informed Sieghard that the key he used in the previous campaign was most likely his, and expressed the want to have it returned to him from the vault when possible. Apparently, Blue is a Maximum Security inmate, but the measures for keeping him there have been having little effect, so he was given very much the run of the prison with his model behaviour. In particular, this allowed him visitation to the Gold level, which he took Sieghard to in due course to see one Ms. Ebony Bronislav, daughter of Alabaster Bronislav. She was apparently imprisoned for the assault of two dozen Pelor clergymen, whilst attempting to steal a scroll of remove curse. Allegedly she was cursed to feel pain equivalent to childbirth every time Alabaster commits an evil act (A vain attempt to deter him). Because of the extenuating circumstances, she received Gold level accomodation for her sentence. Talking with her for the first time, Sieghard learned that she was the only survivor of 1,717 people in now-deserted small town, Greyholme, by virtue of not having been born from her mother at the time. She expressed her deap-seated loathing of Liches, though Sieghard was advised not to mention her father for his own health. After leaving Ebony, the pair went onward to the nightly prayer session, under Su Liav, the new Bishop. They sat at the back, although Blue's seat was noticeably upright as he sat on the ceiling. O'Gilly was sat not too far infront of Sieghard, but didn't make any trouble. During the sermon, Sieghard noted that the inmates sat at the front of the pews were speaking to themselves/thin air completely out of context. Blue explained that it had been happeneing lately, but he didn't blame them considering the religious nature of the sermons. With the sermon over, it was time for lights out, and Sieghard and the other inmates were returned to their cells. Tactical Notes: Well, plot-hook ahoy I guess. And of course, the fan-favourite Blue Jester is back! A couple of months ago, the warden was replaced with Brae Atlas, who also turned over some of the staff too, replacing a number of guards and the Bishop. He has been giving harsher punishments and generally the prison's internal affairs have gotten much better in light of the alterations made to the complex during the brief rule of Alabaster Bronislav.
Lyinginbedmon 07-14-07, 09:57 AM	07/07/1955 - Canteen Today saw a new prisoner for the spellcaster wing, Tanas Kerrigan, in for a few months for illegally using pheonix alchemy components within city limits, among other minor felonies. While eating in the canteen, Inzaul caught sight of the middle-aged alchemist, eating alone as he had done only weeks before. He also caught sight of O'Gilly messing with a pair of female clerics under the Conjuration gang, apparently making forced sexual advances which would almost certainly become more literally forced if someone didn't intervene. Sieghard befriended Tanas first, before interrupting O'Gilly's conversation. He spouted a number of fairly acidic insults but managed to intimidate the half-orc successfully. O'Gilly was understandably ticked, so Sieghard took his opportunistic attack to slam him in the face with his lunch tray, three times. He then yelled "Food fight!" and the entire canteen erupted into a siege of slop. The clerics followed Sieghard, who grabbed Tanas on the way, and they made their exit. Sieghard stalled for a moment to hurl the now-battered lunch tray into the pursuing O'Gilly's face before fleeing under cover of flying gruel. The quartet ended up on the opposing side of the recreation yard beside the workout area. The clerics, Ixis and Aram, started working on their abs whilst Tanas started scritching out a very complex, cryptic, and verbose alchemical formula in the dirt surrounding the area. Sieghard talked to the identical sisters, learning of their crime, early life, and sentencing. He then moved on to Tanas, and after successfully translating part of the formula out of it's coded draconic, suggested refluxing the intermediate tonics, though Tanas discouraged the idea given the volatile nature of the ingredients, and didn't elaborate as to precisely what the resulting mixture would do. He did however inform Sieghard that he knew of his fame (An uncommon fact because most inmates have been inside for at least the past few months) but promised not to divulge the information at his request. Tactical Notes: Ixis and Aram worship Erythnul, god of chaos and the slaughter. They're in for 36 counts of murder, 18 bodies of which haven't been found, for a life sentence of 50 years. They were abused as children by their father, hence their general dislike for men, who was their first victim. Ixis would typically use her physical appeal (Which is identical to Aram's) to lure prospective victims from public establishments (Such as taverns) where Aram would then slit their throat and the pair would conceal them before moving on. They were eventually caught through the use of magical divination. Tanas, as stated, is in for 6 months for using pheonix components within city limits (The explosive nature of the articles is what forced the ban) and for trafficking illegal goods (Including eyes, brains, and other organs and body parts from sentient beings) for alchemical uses. He's 46 and married to Diana Kerrigan (Nee Dibra), who works as a researcher in the potions department of the Mystical Experimentation Complex (MEC), and is father to Kamar, Savitri, (Both of which assist him in the family alchemy store) and Elizabeth Kerrigan (Who went missing some time ago). I'm afraid there won't be a session today, one member is AWOL (F4-17) and the other (Sieghard) is climbing hills and mountains for his bronze Duke of Edinburgh award with scouts. The campaign should resume next week.
Lyinginbedmon 08-03-07, 02:55 PM	28/07/1955 - Missed Opportunities The main focus for the session was a breakout attempt by a group of inmates. The group included alchemist Tanas Kerrigan, one of Sieghard's "posse", who provided the acid for escaping cells and the explosive for breaking through the outer wall. The other inmates consisted of a crime boss who provided a carriage for the escape, a rich smuggler who provided the cash to lay low with, and a thief who provided the overall brains. Sieghard joined in by creating a distraction, which was done by releasing Ixis & Aram and another (As yet unnamed) inmate. Night fast arrived, and Inzaul burned through the bars, taking several of the removed pieces for use as improvised weapons. The group made for the Guard's room, but the fourth member slipped up on his sneaking and was detected. The resulting mess was a large-scale riot as over a hundred Guards poured into the section to secure all of the escapees as the explosive blew a clear hole through the wall. Sieghard snuck on his way to the Guard's room during the commotion. He managed to get to the corridor, where he hid his remaining bars and peeked underneath the doorway to see three Guards, all sitting at a table. He opened the door and walked in, proclaiming that his Guard's uniform had been stolen by an inmate to escape. However, whilst the three Guards at the table believed him, the fourth behind him didn't. He was stabbed twice with a poisoned blade, which promptly resulted in unconsciousness for him. He awoke several hours later, the wall and cell bars having been rapidly repaired. His side hurt from the wound, but it was largely healed thanks undoubtedly to Nurse Chaste in the Infirmary. At breakfast, he met up with the recaptured Tanas, but things weren't quite right. For one, he didn't have any sign of disappointment for being recaptured. He was actually pretty happy, especially that the Guards had caught him and brought him back to serve his sentence. Sieghard wasn't happy about this, and the other escapees seemed to show the same pattern, including Ixis & Aram, who believed they might be able to cut down their sentences by revealing the location of the remaining 18 bodies. Tactical Notes: Something is terribly wrong with this prison, to paraphrase V for Vendetta. I'm bringing back an old chestnut for this particular method, and next week (Ie. tomorrow) the PCs should meet face-to-face with the Warden himself, Brae Atlas.
Lyinginbedmon 08-19-07, 08:57 AM	Yeah, we've been missing a whole mess of sessions lately because of various family gatherings, holidays, and for me: two simultaneous surgeries. However, before my painkillers wear off, I can recount to you all what happened with the last session. 04/08/1955 - Good Evening Sieghard was called to see the Warden, Brae Atlas, regarding the escape attempt. Sieghard himself was very interested in meeting Atlas, because he still hadn't figured out why he wasn't sent to solitary or made loopy like everyone else involved. He sat in the reception for quite some time, and whilst the receptionist seemed extremely familiar for some reason, he couldn't figure out where he'd seen her. However, he was eventually called in to Brae's office, which had a lovely view of the rest of the compound. Near as he could tell, the office was above the antimagic region of the prison, because Sieghard was still in magebane manacles. Looking around, the office was rather well-decorated, there was an ornate longsword above a fireplace, which had two Small longswords embedded into its masonry. This immediately had Sieghard's player wondering if the BBEG for this campaign was Alabaster or...shudder...Meredith Nussulheim. Brae was a middle-aged man, obviously having worked in law enforcement for much of his life. He had black hair that was greying along the edges, and deep blue eyes. He questioned Sieghard regarding the whole prison break affair, and informed him that those involved that escaped had been psychologically "persuaded" not to try so again. In short, he'd had them brainwashed, brainrinsed, and braindryed. He quickly explained that this hadn't happened to Sieghard because he wanted him to really suffer, and stated openly "What I would have done upon you, shall never be a memory". Tactical Notes: It was a lot longer, but by definition mostly dialogue. This session was particularly noteworthy, because Atlas' statement echoes something said by Alabaster the first time Sieghard 'killed' him. Precisely, "I will never be a memory", was what he said after picking up the shattered remnants of his longsword (Later to be seen as a holy relic by the worshippers from the last campaign) and before dusting into the wind. Hmm...is Meredith mentioned in my threads? I don't think so, so I'll explain here: Meredith Nussulheim is a female Pixie spellcaster of epic level that works under Grimdolf Fanelia as the 1st High Maester. She first appeared in one of the very first campaigns (The Unfortunate Princess) as a bit of backup for an Elf duke trying to usurp a lost princess' position. She is well known for being extremely emotionally messed up, and for combining Telekinesis with ~50 Small longswords of Wounding to extremely dramatic effect. She also had a distinct attraction to Aust, Sieghard's player's first character who was assassinated in Deceitful Contemplation and is now a dark minion under Alabaster. Whilst Sieghard hasn't met her, Aust chronicled her in his diaries...in extreme horrifying detail. If there's anything I can pull out that will guarantee a terrified player, it's Meredith.
Lyinginbedmon 08-31-07, 02:41 PM	25/08/1955 - Midnight Mass Sieghard did some extensive consideration on what could be making the inmates loopy, he eventually boiled it down to the usage of Liquid Pain, a popular trade drug in the Nine Hells. Having read of Meredith, this was considerably disturbing. He passed around the issue to the Enchanters, who were very intrigued to learn of the method. A Midnight Mass was announced during lunch, which understandably made Sieghard curious. He asked Blue about the topic, but Blue hadn't heard of anything like it in the other prison sections. Midnight fast arrived, and the door to Sieghard's cell slid open mechanically with a clunk. Every inmate stepped calmly outside into the moonlight, so he complied to fit in (:P). The walked uniformly down a slightly rusted stairwell to the underground boiler level, one of the first parts of the prison ever constructed over 400 years ago. There, everyone got into columns and stood quietly as Bishop Su Liav stood atop the erected stage at the end of the main room. Inmates covered every level in the room, not one of them seemingly individual, like zombies. Fortunately, for Sieghard, they weren't, although that did give him a slight sigh... Liav carried a slightly bloodied holy book, but Sieghard couldn't make out the title or symbol, except for the Pelor's face holy symbol he was carrying. Liav announced "The founding principles?" To which every single inmate (Again including Sieghard and some of the Enchanters, voluntarily to avoid detection) robotically responded: "Loyalty, Order, and Devotion" Small red lights flooded the room at head-height as the steam cleared, allowing Sieghard to see on the necks of virtually all of the inmates, small gray maggots, with red runes on their backs. Sieghard immediately knew what was going on, and Liav pulling the cover off of a massive "BSC" symbol at the back of the stage made it all the clearer. Atlas then appeared above on a balcony (A remarkable amount of masonry for a centuries-old underground boiler room, I'll admit) and divided the columns up into different purposes; reproduction, infiltration, the like. Sieghard and the Twins were unlucky enough to be in the first grouping. They were lead into a ventilation room that branched off, Blue slipping in unnoticed. Once they were in the ventilation room, Sieghard gave up his ruse and confronted the guards, albeit comically, before mass inflicting them into unconsciousness or death. He and Blue removed the Cerebrixes from the necks of the other inmates and looted the guards for weapons. Most of the other inmates took crossbows, whilst Sieghard and Blue took three longswords (2 and 1). Sieghard closed the door to avoid suspicion, upon which time a hissing was heard from piping in the ceiling. Blue determined it was a gaseous element containing Death's Touch, a magical disease that gradually destroys the health (Constitution) of a victim in the time of a few days to revive them as undead. "Reproduction" obviously meant turning the inmates into undead wombs for White Soldiers and such. Tactical Notes: This turned out much differently than I intended, as I was planning to Cerebrix Sieghard but he didn't reveal himself nearly as much as I expected. However, either way means that next session is the penultimate. Stay tuned for the final session too: We get to see an old, old, old, old friend ;)
Lyinginbedmon 09-01-07, 02:33 PM	01/09/1955 - Initiation This session began where the last left off, with Sieghard & Blue in the ventilation room of the Boiler level, along with 15 new zombies and 200 other inmates, freshly bereft of the influence of Cerebrixes. Comfortable in the knowledge that he could cast spells this far down, he repeatedly cast Summon Undead to create a large number (About 28) human warrior skeletons. Essentially, a small army. He then noticed the sigil on the floor, that looked to be approximately 400 years old, making it just as old as the structure itself. A quick Knowledge (arcana) and Blue's Knowledge (the planes) revealed it to be an elemental binding, likely containing an Air Elemental. Sieghard promptly cracked it open, bound the elemental with Lesser Planar Binding, and made a deal to release it if it helped him beat down the bad guys outside. All preparations made, Sieghard opened the doors and unleashed his skeletons. He arranged them into 3 columns of 9 (The room being 45 ft. across) and set them to sweeping down the room knocking out the inmates with nonlethal damage. Since the inmates were unarmed, they couldn't get past the damage reduction. Meanwhile the 200 inmates on his side backed them up, catching any stragglers that managed to pierce their way through the skeletons. The remaining skeleton assisted Blue in taking down Liav, which wasn't too hard save the fact that he Cure'd it before Blue even got into Initiative. Sieghard took his point with his zombies going up the stairs to the balcony to tackle Atlas. Atlas managed to almost instantly sunder one of his longswords, but Sieghard taking the Lich approach here stood aside and let all 15 zombies, complete with corpsecrafter and undead mastery bonuses, take him themselves. He managed to destroy one and critically wound three others, but it didn't take long for them, surrounding the guy, to kill him and begin the process of feeding (Zombies as they were). Sieghard meanwhile conducted Ride of the Valkyries (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aKAH_t0aXA) (Poorly) from the balcony overlooking the massacre below. Blue meanwhile was doing well, the assassin-based Liav wasn't doing well without judicious application of Inflict and Death Attack, which Blue's attacks coupled with counterspelling were hampering. Eventually, he managed to daze Liav and crescent kicked him right through the stage, where he remained for most of the session thereafter. With the battle over, Sieghard decided to explore the Northwestern corridor. It ended in a door, leading straight into earth. Naturally, it was decided not to open it. Alternatively, there was another door a little further back down the corridor, which had two elemental sigils, one for the door and one for the wall. Blue fiddled with the sizeable lock and managed to jimmy the ancient thing open. The room was pitch black, so Sieghard had one of his skeletons pop over to take a look inside. What he could detect was a lot of earth, and 15 human skeletons dressed in prison attire. Unable to figure out what the room was for, and largely curious, Sieghard ventured in to get a closer look and try to figure out the cause of death. And then the door closed, leaving all three (Sieghard, Blue, and Bones McCoy :P) in the absolute darkness. An eloquent, gravelly voice shattered the silence, "You trespass into the tomb of Vex the Malign. For my gratitude, you must join me for dinner." Blue lit a candle, revealing fifteen human inmate skeletons, the presence of four apparently-diseased zombie-like creatures, plus one slightly-purplish skinned gaunt-faced humanoid stood not far infront of the closed door, the eponymous Vex the Malign. S: Greetings Vex, who are you? V: A prisoner long ago, and you would be mine S: For the time being. So…Vex, may I ask you something? V: As a last wish S: What are you? V: Someone who should not be dead as I S: So why are you dead then? V: For my heresy, I was locked here S: Heresy to whom? V: Heresy to mankind, heresy to nature, and, apparently, heresy to humans of all S: So why didn't you just escape? We broke in easy enough. V: From inside, escape was seen against S: How long have you been locked up here without any company, apart from the leprosy brothers? Vex held up his hand, and instinctively it burst into flame, illuminating the surrounding walls, where thousands of scratch marks served as a primitive calendar. B: Looks like…roughly four centuries. S: Nasty…what were you in prison for? V: "Unnatural arcane experimentation" A joke, in honesty. Sent to hang for the same tasks the kingdom employed me of. S: So you were in the Mystical Experimentation Complex then, and during the Great War? What were you experimenting? V: The bettering of lesser things, better than this…existence S: Would like to join me in creating adept experiments? V: A laughable concept, why should I ally myself with you? S: So what you're saying is- V: What I am saying is that I have been locked away, forcibly forgotten, in this dank crypt for four hundred years, with only the rotting corpses of my comrades to feast upon. I am hungry, prisoner. S: Darn, that must have been torture, pure torture. V: Yes, yes it was. Care to alleviate my pain? S: Before that, because these are my last words and I'd like to finish them, what were you experimenting on? V: Humans, for the most part S: To create what? V: To make them stronger, to make them more than the pitiable weaklings I now know them to be Blue then cast Obscuring Mist, and the pair rapidly exited the room as the group of ancient horrors grasped for their tender flesh. They closed the door and Blue hurriedly re-locked it, they could just barely hear his screams of rage and bloodlust behind. After that brief but poignant encounter, Blue melted the lock on the door whilst Sieghard explored the other rooms and his undead collected the unconscious (And de-Cerebrixe'd) inmates. They left post haste, Sieghard releasing the binding on the Air Elemental, and he took temporary Warden-ship of the prison as Blue called for replacements (Using Resounding Voice). Blue would make certain that Sieghard didn't make ill-use of his temporary omnipotence. However, fate is fickle and cruel. The new Warden, Julianne Moore (An ex-Judge), commended Sieghard's efforts but remanded him back into his sentence. Tactical Notes: I know I'm going to get heck for the lack of challenge presented by Atlas here, so I'll explain. Sieghard took him out of his element, which is to sunder weapons and force Concentration checks en mass to keep spellcasting restricted. He succeed the former, taking out one longsword, but Sieghard's 5 ft. step aside for the zombies meant he didn't provoke an attack of opportunity and didn't cast any spells. The Lich approach wasn't something I had entirely anticipated, I'll admit. If he didn't have the zombies, it would have been a pretty square battle. Hope everyone enjoyed Vex, he may show up again later. He was named in homage to Klaxx the Malign, the lich of some fame from "Dungeons & Dragons 2: Wrath of the Dragon God". He's a Gravetouched Ghoul Human Warlock/Sorcerer/Eldritch Theurge, and is easily capable of crippling Sieghard from a sizeable distance away. Oh, and that lock? The 400 year old, largely rusted one that miraculously survived opening? It's not exactly flame retardant...402 years ago, Larkhill Prison was a fairly recent institution, only 60 years old. Built to contain the worst inmates imaginable, and whilst it had it's fair share of breakouts, it did it's job well. However, war brings everyone to their knees. With funds to the prison instead going to help win the Great War, started 442 years ago, the prison suffered considerably. Maintenance started going undone, and eventually disease began to stirr in the population. Then, 20 inmates fell sick with a terrible plague. To contain the outbreak, the guards locked them away in a storage room in the underground boiler level. 19 of the inmates fell to their sickness, but the 20th survived. He banged desperately on the door to be let out, but the guards couldn't risk releasing the plague as well. As a result, he was locked away and forgotten in the storage room. To survive, he began feeding on the carcasses of the other inmates, until eventually he died of thirst. He awoke as a gravetouched ghoul, still hungering for living flesh, and the necromantic energies of his creation spurred 4 more inmates to awaken as plague blights. The ghoul sent the blights to beat at the stone walls of the room, hoping to gradually tear it down and wreak revenge on his imprisoners. The guards heard this, and rapidly sealed an earth elemental into the structure, reinforcing it beyond the ability of the blights to damage, entombing them forever. As a matter of government embarassment, the warden of the time erased the incident from the books with a fire that tore through the record library later that year. The ghoul and his plague blight minions stayed locked away for all 400 years, and Vex the Malign has hungered for all of them. Next Session: Unseen Assistance!
Lyinginbedmon 09-12-07, 01:18 PM	08/09/1955 - Unseen Assistance Having spent yet another week in his brief domain, Sieghard was starting to do something very disturbing: Getting used to life in Larkhill. Everyone was glad that he had led the charge and freed the prison from BroShaCho's influence, but Warden Moore was keeping him at inmate status, with extremely light benefits. The menu had been vastly improved, now including cakes and what could easily be considered 'normal' foods. The school clans had returned to their rivalries, but both the Enchanters and the Necromancers were both ticked at Sieghard (For destroying a source of limitless domination and a versatile undead, respectively). Amongst his crew, Sieghard hadn't stopped flirting with the twins, never going the full length (Which was certainly annoying them but a d20 roll for a Sense Motive check bred repeated successes on his end). He had been making devoted efforts in helping Tanas with his formulae, he was interested in the possible applications for an Aberration-based alchemical tonic (Which, given the chaotic nature of Aberrations, Tanas theorises, could take on effects beyond the normal scope of alchemy). Because things would be easier with the formulas with reading material, Sieghard gave a proposition of a prison library to Warden Moore. She considered it, but wasn't going to grant Sieghard his also-proposed release. However, fate smiles kindly on those with one of history's most powerful Archmages as their boss. Early the next morning, the alarm sounded. The entire prison started ringing as Guards ran all about trying to find the breach. This wasn't an escape attempt, this was someone trying to get in to the prison. And that someone was right behind Sieghard in his cell. A delicately beautiful young woman with shoulder-length black hair and light skin had managed to walk straight through the wall. She briefly noted that she was out on conditional parole to retrieve Blue Jester and Sieghard from the prison and convince Moore of their innocence (Moreso for Sieghard than Jester.). Sieghard grabbed his things and went to breakfast before leaving, grabbing as much food as he could conceivably carry, as 'Virginia Hilts' easily withstood massive volleys of crossbow fire while walking between the spellcasting section and the melee section, looking for Blue. In the period, Moore arrived to negotiate with the obviously well-defended woman. Within seconds, she had convinced Moore of the innocence of her charges and Moore rushed off to retrieve their belongings from the vaults. Sieghard finished his meal and met up with Virginia in the melee section, where he asked her to negotiate for the diminishing of the Ixis & Aram's and Tanas' sentences. When Moore returned with Sieghard's things and his remaining zombies (Stored in the basement), Virginia managed to get them down to a week. At this, Blue appeared, yelling that she shouldn't even be on the Material Plane, let alone freeing prisoners. She plead her case, but the argument reached such high volumes that Sieghard stopped listening and started playing catch with his zombies. The argument came to an abrupt end when Virginia announced "They're giving you the country!", which easily blank-faced Blue in an instant. With the argument over, Sieghard asked to be introduced to Virginia, and Blue eventually revealed her to be Tala, intermittently referred to as his girlfriend/fiancee (Sieghard believes he was trying to keep him from messing around with her, rather than actually be marrying her). The name was a big issue for Sieghard, but according to Tala she had never been to Barncoon, though she certainly knew the history. With Sense Motive, Sieghard believed she wasn't lying, she actually hadn't been to Barncoon. With that, the trio plus zombies left through the massive front gates. Tala and Blue said their goodbyes, as she left through a gate to parts unknown. Blue made his way to the apparent "country" and Sieghard was met by a drawn carriage that took him finally back home. Tactical Notes: Yup, it's taken 255 days, but we've finally met face-to-definite-face with a Tala. We're still unsure precisely who or what she is, but Sieghard is confident he doesn't want to know. And Blue gets a country! It's a small one, on the fringes of Beldor, but it stands to be the very first place on Einderseod to offer a homeland for Constructs where they can live and work in peace without oppression. He's got a lot of work to do. But of course, something still stirs in the Locked Room of Larkhill Prison... Tune in next week for the new campaign: Auspicious Affairs!