Sands of Sumalis

The Sands of Sumalis Session 3

July 22, 2018 Rinsland Barratores

Where Things Stood at the End of Session 2

The Bow of Murder is still missing.
The Acolytes of the Domain of Nature are almost all dead in the City of Glass. It’s only a matter of time before the water in the city stops flowing.
City Guilds and Groups were already on edge before the events of the assassination happened. Things were not likely to improve.
The Blue Fox Adventuring Group is still mourning the loss of their brethren, still have no idea what happened to them (the Party still has the insignia and haven’t returned them yet), and are deeply paranoid.
Thanks to Esynth, Zenaris knows his Anti-Armor sword is broken, but can be fixed with a little magic and some very expensive materials, and that when working can be activated to shift between corporeal and incorporeal depending on the type of foe.
Dren has the two Darkling daggers.
The Fey have it out for the Domain of Nature (or at least those of the Temple of Farrin in the City of Glass) and nobody knows exactly why.
Esynth is very weird, and the party doesn’t know what to make of her.
Two Fish is distraught over the murder of two customers in his own in. Given time he’ll likely recover.

Characters:
Kaderin – High Elf Bard and Official Leader, Colgrim – Mountain Dwarf Barbarian, Dren – Tiefling Rogue, Esriame – Scourge Aasimar Cleric, and Zenaris Wheelwright – Rock Gnome Wizard

Two of the characters are out this week (Dren and Zenaris) so I figured it was time for a little one-off adventure.

A Favor Called

The party survived the blast. Briefly blinded when their sight returned they saw that only they, a Dragonborn, a Kobold, and a Tiefling survived. Everyone else was dead. The Tiefling immediately bolted from the temple in a panic. Colgrim went to the doors of the temple and opened them up to the arrival of Paladins of Ustus, who’s temple was the closest. Kaderin and Esriame introduced themselves to the Dragonborn and Kobold. The two were a deep purple color with white frosted tips on their scales and golden eyes. The Dragonborn’s name was Wraciar Accun,

Wraciar is just past middle aged, his scales are a shimmery purple with a white edge near the tips. His head is strongly ridged and dragonlike, with golden eyes. He stands 6′ 1/2 feet tall, and around 250lbs. He wears a simple long black robe with a belt that holds what looks to be a component pouch. He is dusty, and always looks heavily traveled. His demeanor is serious and worn down, like the weight of the world is on his shoulders.

He wears a necklace with a small but deeply magical Amethyst Brooch attached to it. There are tiny sigils and Draconic text glowing from within. For those who read Draconic It says “deto dâun tâimâmân vo nuopâ” (Use in greatest of need).

the Kobold’s name was Kiv. His physical coloring was the same as that of Wraciar. However, even after the explosion, his well fitting attire of a simple black thobe and pants was spotless and impeccable. Wraciar and Kiv were just at the temple to gain a blessing before they set out on a dangerous excursion into the sands.

The Paladins of Ustus (easily identifiable by their heavy black armor and raven engraved on their shoulders) were appalled by the sight of all the death and destruction that greeted them as they stepped through the door. The Paladin Captain, a tall muscular elf named Corvin, gathered the survivors together and demanded to know what happened. Upon hearing the Party’s tale, he determined this was way beyond his pay grade and requested the survivors come with him to the Temple of Ustus, to tell their story to the Archpriest Aolis Urnelis. On the way, Wraciar asked a question, “Where are the Clerics and Paladins of the Gods of Nature? Why was a mere Acolyte becoming the Archpriest in the first place?” The party hadn’t noticed this before and hadn’t really given any thought as to why they had been hired to stand watch as opposed to a Nature Paladin Order. They don’t recall ever seeing an actual Cleric or Paladin of the Nature Domain in the city. When the question was posed to Corvin, he couldn’t think of any time earlier than a year and a half ago, mostly because he rarely gave any particular attention to the numerous other Religious Orders around the city, and they never really had need to go to any other temple or encroach on any other religious business but their own.

The Temple of Ustus is a simple, unassuming place made of a somber grey stone with a hint of gothic architecture. It handles all the funerary/mortuary needs of the city, and watches over the graves of the deceased to ensure the bodies of the dead remain undisturbed. Upon entering the Temple, the party stands in a large, comfortable hall/sanctuary. Simple chairs are ordered throughout the hall, designed for those who come to pay last respects. At the front is a simple grey alter for the Last Rite of the Dead. To the side of the alter is a large stairwell going down, presumably to the morgue. Branching off from the main hall are various offices, rooms, etc. necessary to running the Temple. Corvin sits the survivors down and goes and gets the Archpriest Aolis Urnelis.

Archpriest Aolis Urnelis is an elderly elf, with white hair and dark eyes. He wears a simple white robe and a black belt and the symbol of Ustus embroidered on the chest. He’s a somber quiet elf, and has a hard time believing the tale the party tells. So he tells Corvin to return to his duties, and then creates a zone of truth. After which he questions each of the party, the Dragonborn, and the Kobold about the event, why they are in town, whether they had seen or met any other Darklings, etc. It was during this questioning that the Wraciar tells the Archpriest that the reason they were in the city was to pay a debt to an old undead, and had come to the temple to seek a blessing before heading out into the desert, where they were going to clear out some cultists.

The mention of cultists immediately sparked the interest of the party, and Wraciar invited them to come along. Archpriest Aolis was satisfied everyone was telling the truth, and that they may leave. He mentioned he was going to have to alert Arkturis about what has transpired, and let the other Archpriests of the city know, in case they too were being targeted by the Fey.

The Party, sans Dren and Zenaris (who each went elsewhere), set out with Wraciar and Kiv to the house of the Undead named William Riles. William Riles was an old skeleton, one of the few remaining original human undead. He was a little eccentric, but lived in a nice house with white rock walls and red brick roof, and spent most of his time sitting on a rocking chair in his front porch. His eyes glowed blue, and he wore a simple, but thick grey robe that hid most of his skeleton and thick, well worn, leather boots. A few simple gem studded rings on skeletal fingers gave an air of understated wealth and power. After greeting everyone, and offering to pay Colgrim, Kaderin, and Esriame 5 gold each to come along, he explained his mission. Ages ago, when he was a young man, and not yet undead, he encountered one of the Instruments of Nethys (the Goddess of Music), a gigantic Pipe Organ of incredible wonder and complexity and heard it play. It was a life-changing event, one that drove him to become a bard and learn music. To adventure, in an attempt to find it again. He had been writing a piece of music specifically for it, should the opportunity arise, that he kept stored safely in his ribcage. And now, he has discovered it again, out in the desert not even a day’s journey away. However, when he approached it, he discovered Cultists had also discovered the place, and they drove him away. So he called in his old favor with the Deshen Clan, so together they might drive the cultists out, and he could play his music. And now that they were all here (or as many as could be sent), everyone would set out the next morning after an evening’s rest to recuperate from the previous days.

The next morning they went out to the edge of the city, where the rest of the Deshen group was waiting. They numbered 24, with 6 heavily armed steampowered spiderwalking machines. Each machine was armed with two ballista, and held a crew of four. Wraciar, it turns out, was the leader of this expedition, and invited the others and William to take places in the front walker. And everyone set out into the heat of the desert sands. Each walker had a Dragonborn in charge, and three kobolds manning the ballista and running the engineering/navigation of the vehicle.

Upon reaching the place William guided them to, they saw a cathedral, sitting alone in the sand. It was surrounded by cultists, who when they saw the approaching war party, formed up defensively. Wraciar’s walker led the charge into the group, trying to break through and get into the cathedral. However, it overheated and was not able to get all the way through. It remained stationary while the engineer tried to get it sorted out. The kobolds manned both ballista, and fired into the crowd of cultists, as the Party held off boarders. The other walkers engaged the cultists, drawing off fire from Wraciar’s walker, and providing distraction. William, seemingly impervious to the wild combat around him, and the spells flying through the air leaped from the walker and ran toward the entrance of the Cathedral. Wraciar leaped after him, casting spells to defend William and draw off the cultists who were turning their attention his way. The rest of the party worked at thinning out cultist ranks and repelling boarders from their walker, as the Kobolds fired the ballista as fast as they could.

William made it inside the cathedral, Wraciar some ways behind him. Colgrim, after suitably thinning out the ranks followed after, leaving the Kiv, Esriame, and Kaderin to guard the Walker and finish off the remaining cultists that were around it.

As William approached the Great Instrument, pipes of different sizes and metals filling the whole back wall of the building, his eyes changed from blue to white, the green of his spiritual muscles shimmering white instead of green. He laid skeleton fingers on the keys, and began to play. It was clear, loud, and beautiful. The music echoed throughout the building and outside. Radiant energy healed the wounds of the party as they fought. Colgrim stood guard at the door, Wraciar stood inside guarding William. Kiv, Kaderin, and Esriame remained outside, though Kiv also tried to get into the cathedral and was almost caught out by approaching cultist reinforcements. Cultists appeared over the dunes by the dozens, joining the fray in a frenzy, driven to stop the song being played. As William played his music, a shimmering form of a woman began to take shape above and behind him. She glowed with a soft white light. And as he played, she took more and more corporeal form, and stood behind him, placing her hands over his guiding him as a teacher might a student. His skull was a blaze of white fire, as were his fingers. White flame shot through the pipes of the organ. The longer he played, the more intense the radiant energy coursed through the room. Holy power was radiating from the being, from the instrument, and from the music. It coursed through the party, granting them incredible holy power (by the end of the song it was up to 1d4 extra radiant damage on hit, two attacks per round or two spells per round, and +5 to hit). In the midst of the chaos, as the music was nearing a crescendo, an Aboleth exploded out of the ground inside the Cathedral near the entrance, drawn either by cultist summoning or the presence of the deity. Wraciar hit it with the full force of a fireball and it barely flinched. The Kobold engineer was able to get the Walker moving again, and it crashed through the side of the cathedral, still carrying Kaderin and Esriame, and splatting a cultist in the process. They proceeded to engage the Aboleth.

Wraciar, sensing there was no greater need, ripped the brooch from his necklace, said a magic word, and threw the crystal up in the air. The crystal grew in size from a couple inches to 10+ feet when it hit the ceiling of the Cathedral. Where it exploded and reformed into a fully grown Amethyst Dragon. The Dragon slammed down into the Aboleth, exploding out the front entrance of the cathedral. Colgrim barely managed to dodge out of the way in time of the two mighty creatures. With them grappling on the ground he was able to put his axe to great work on the Aboleth, hacking away at it, as the party hit it for everything they had. When it was almost dead, the Dragon finished it off by ripping it in half, black blood flying everywhere and covering anything nearby. As it did so, the final notes on the Great Organ played, and stopped. A massive wave of radiance echoed out of the Cathedral, as holy power incinerated the remaining cultists in the area. Fountains on either side of the Great Instrument broke and exploded upward in great geysers of water.

William, bones shimmering white, eyes a white fire, turned and looked up at his god. Esriame could just barely hear and understand the question asked in Celestial,

“Do I still have a soul?”
“Yes.”
“May I leave with you?”
“Yes.” She reached down, and touched his chest. In a quick bright flash, they both disappeared.

The Cathedral began to implode, sinking into the ground almost as fast as the water was trying to rise out of it. The dragon, taking humanoid form (long purple hair that came to white pointed edges at the end, purple eyes, an almost draconic forhead, and unnaturally white skin, wearing purple scale mail and black cloth pants) teleported onto the Walker. Joined shortly by the rest of the party, they made it to a safe distance, where they watched the final remains of the Cathedral disappear, to be replaced by a large lake of water, and the formation of a small river making its way to the sea. The dragon went to the edge of the lake and formed a tall amethyst statue of William Riles, as he looked before undeath and wearing his loose bardic adventuring gear, marking down in Draconic, “William Riles. A favor returned.”

When asked about what favor the Deshen owed, the dragon responded that William Riles had, back in his adventuring days, found an amethyst dragon egg. When it hatched, he had raised her and protected her until she was able to begin her clan, and such a thing she would never forget, and every time they spoke she had always reminded him that she and her clan would always be there for him in time of need, should he ever request it. She requested the party to keep her a secret. As there were very few in the desert that knew her true form, and none of the clans of the Draconic Empire ever knew such a thing as Amethyst Dragons existed, she would like to keep it that way. She also gifts the party with 5 gold each, and an ‘Invisible Hide Armor’ (Hide Armor, once worn, this armor turns invisible but not to the wearer).

The Deshen group dropped the party off amicably at the entrance to the City of Glass before heading back into the desert on the long return trip to their home in Oasis.

~~~~~
Where Things Stand

The Bow of Murder is still missing.
The Acolytes of the Domain of Nature are almost all dead in the City of Glass. However, the water issue may have been solved before it became a serious problem, thanks to a new oasis and river within a day’s journey.
City Guilds and Groups are on edge, and either paranoid or attempting to take advantage of the paranoia.
The Blue Fox Adventuring Group is still mourning the loss of their brethren, still have no idea what happened to them (the Party still has the insignia and haven’t returned them yet), and are deeply paranoid.
Thanks to Esynth, Zenaris knows his Anti-Armor sword is broken, but can be fixed with a little magic and some very expensive materials, and that when working can be activated to shift between corporeal and incorporeal depending on the type of foe.
Dren has the two Darkling daggers.
The Fey have it out for the Domain of Nature (or at least those of the Temple of Farrin in the City of Glass) and nobody knows exactly why.
Esynth is very weird, and the party doesn’t know what to make of her.
Two Fish is distraught over the murder of two customers in his own in. Given time he’ll likely recover.
The Party has earned the friendship of the Deshen Clan, namely the Dragon, Wraciar Accun, and Kiv.
Archpriest Aolis Urnelis has taken charge of investigations into the Fey attacks, and has alerted Arkturis to the details of the matter.

The Sands of Sumalis Session 1

June 18, 2018 Rinsland Barratores

Yesterday was my first time ever as a Dungeon Master in D&D. Most of the players and I had created an entire fantasy world with some rather deep history using the Microscope System. When we finished, we met one more for Session 0, laying out the out of game ground rules like where in this beautiful crazy world they’d start their adventures, and setting up how everyone knew each other. The results of all this work was realized when the campaign began yesterday. I’ll be converting the pdf of player’s document of the world I made over to pages here on the site, and updating it with new stuff as they become known or fleshed out in the game. I figure it’ll help me remember the lore and NPCs met, as well as everyone else.

I really enjoyed it, but I was over prepared in some areas, under prepared in others, found things that work and some that didn’t, made a few mistakes here and there (I forgot the Barbarian in the party doesn’t wear armor at one point and caused some massive confusion involving a magic sword), so next time should be a definite improvement over this in terms of how organized and ready I am. Now, onto the story of a small group working for The Huntsman’s Emporium of Interesting Findings and Salvage, deep in the Sands of Sumalis.

Character Notes:
Kaderin – She hails from the Elven Kingdom of Lainoi, from the prestigious House Draven. With the goal of bringing great honor to her family, she set out into the world, and through a series of misfortunes, accidents, and not a little insubordination, she found herself transferred to the most dangerous region in the world and assigned four members of The Huntsman’s Emporium of Interesting Findings and Salvage (aka the Emporium) in an expansion of Emporium interests in the area around the City of Glass.

Colgrim – An orphan out of Red Rock, he was taken at a young age and trained to be a soldier in the Army of Red Rock. His predilection for fighting and drunkenness soon found him parting ways with the Army, and striking out alone. He spent some time with the Company of the Five Hands, but soon left, disgusted by the atrocities he saw them commit due to their willingness to do absolutely anything if the pay was right. He met Kaderin and was immediately smitten, and followed her everywhere, even going so far as joining The Emporium and following her down to the City of Glass.

Dren Dragonheart – She was a Tiefling born in lands on the wrong side of the ‘newly’ restarted Dragon-Tiefling war. She led an interesting but difficult life, and spent a long time as part of a City Watch, and became rather adept at investigation into criminal activities, and gained deep understanding how they work. Her journeys gave her a taste for strong alcohol which led to her missing her flight out of the City of Glass. She took a position as an Investigator for the City Guard, and soon found her skills were highly desired by The Emporium which led to her joining that guild as well.

Esriame – Esriame grew up in the City of Ura Clergy known as Lightgarden, and took naturally to Cleric training and teachings. She especially took interest in any and all Eldritch Cult activity, and grew fanatical about seeing it purged and utterly destroyed. Her obsession began to affect her normal expected activities and cause issues within the city. She was ordered to take a Sabbatical and join The Emporium (who had need of clerics at the time) and journey into the City of Glass to take the edge off her zealotry.

Zenaris Wheelwright – This Gnome is of the great Wheelright family, whose ancestors invented the airship. He led a privileged and sheltered life, and had his scholastic pursuits at the prestigious Academia Ourabest in the Crystal City paid for by his parents. Upon his graduation as a full fledged Wizard, he ventured south in hopes of gaining real world experiences and knowledge that he can use to make an invention the equal to that of the Airship. To that end, he joined The Emporium who were well known collectors of esoteric knowledge, magic, and artifacts.

You All Had One Job…

Dammuid Jadebane, the local leader of the of The Huntsman’s Emporium of Interesting Findings and Salvage came out to the Party’s ramshackle stone brick hut laughingly known as a secondary office, with an assignment.

Three-ish days journey into the desert, a half dozen members of the Blue Foxes (an up and coming Adventuring Group) had been seen getting wiped out by a single Gnoll and his pet Jackals. The Navigator who saw it happen described black birds flying around the area, and the Gnoll was wielding a bow as black as midnight with gold trim and very clearly magical. His further description of the bow matched that of one used by renowned Assassin Rathal, who disappeared into the desert a couple centuries ago. The Party’s job was to go out into the desert and retrieve this bow before it could fall into the hands of anyone more capable than a Gnoll. Also, chances were good other groups were going to be going after it, as that particular Navigator was well known for his loose tongue.

The party ventured into the desert after Dren spent some time spreading misinformation throughout the various bars, pubs, and taverns other guilds and groups frequented in an attempt to keep them confused and potentially away from the treasure. They traveled with Esriame keeping watch for enemies or anything unusual, Colgrim navigating with help from Dren, Zenaris mapping their journey, and Kaderin foraging for what little food or supplies may exist in the desert. It wasn’t long before they encountered a lost Merchant Caravan (seriously, it was like four hours out, the merchants would have been fine once they crested a dune or two), whom they helpfully pointed in the right direction and continued on their way. As it was getting on toward evening they discovered a pillar, half buried in the desert, but still standing about eight feet high from the sand. Surrounding it was a group of snakes that attacked them upon approach. They defeated the snakes and pulled the sword out of the pillar. Shenanigans happened and they discovered it was a sword that would pass harmlessly through anyone wearing armor, and otherwise would behave like a standard sword.

The party met the wizard Illarion who is described thus,

You come across a High Elf Wizard sitting on a floating disc. He’s writing in a book, with what looks to be an icy harpoon in his lap, and a floating spectral blue book near his head. He’s wearing a royal blue thobe, that is the same color as his eyes, his hair is white with a blue tint like a glacier. Frost is continually appearing and disappearing on his clothing and hair.

Turns out he is a herpetologist studying the formation of Kruthik Lairs, from initial migration to fully mature lair. The Party inadvertently aggravated the Kruthiks on approach though, and killed them all much to the Illarion’s dismay. Zenaris makes it up to him by being interested in his research and the party spends literal hours listening to Illarion’s animated talking about Kruthiks (well, the only one who listened was Zenaris, everyone else didn’t even pretend to listen or pay attention) but it was enough, and Illarion set off to the original Kruthik lair in hopes of finding another migration to study, after pointing the party in the right direction.

The Party bypassed a Giant Scorpion lair, and Kadarin had an encounter while on watch with a trio of Orcs from the Blue Foxes, and the Party thinks the Orcs left (they didn’t, the Orcs were following the Party at great distance, not really believing the lies Kadarin had told them). The party finds the unfortunate half dozen members who were killed by the Gnoll and Jackals. After investigating the area, collecting some of the black feathers, and removing the Blue Fox insignia in hopes of returning them to the Blue Foxes in the City of Glass, and then gave the dead a proper burial before they set out hot on the trail of the Gnoll, who it appeared may have been living in some old ruins a few hours travel away. The party was right, the Gnoll was what looked to be a long abandoned and ruined religious fort to the deity Farrin.

The Orcs that had been following and had almost caught up to the Party called out, accidentally alerting the Gnoll and Jackals, forcing the Party into a fight. As the Party is fighting for their lives, two things happen, a sandstorm rolls in, and the Orcs appear to get involved in a fight of their own, but the Party doesn’t know with whom. The Party dispatches the Gnoll and Jackals and acquire the Bow of Murder. They scramble inside the ruins of the fort to weather the storm as the fighting from where the Orcs were stops.

Shadowy figures appear outside, barely visible in the blowing sand, apparently unperturbed by the sandstorm and demand the Party turn over the Bow of Murder. After initial reluctance and an attempt to actually use the bow (which resulted in a flock of very confused crows), the figures shattered a wall of the fort, after which the Party threw them the bow in fear. The figures disappeared into the storm, and the party remained unharmed. After the sandstorm had passed, the party looked out upon a pristine desert wiped clean of any signs of fighting, bow, or shadowy figures.