Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 6

Game Master: Dave
Game Edition: D&D 3.5
Players: Andrew, Elijah, Jeff, Tom
Starting Level: 5 


Quote of the Evening
How can I fix the Leak...? Well, I have a nice hat!?”
How dare you waste a nice hat!”


Introduction

In our last adventure Dwannis (Andrew) had killed Ronah Val (Joel R) in a vicious duel to the death.

Raskavas (Jeff) and Bodie (Elijah) were still in Bellwick and hadn't learned of the battle yet. It was a sweet victory, but it left the party a man short.

For a while JADE had been joined by Tom over Skype, since at the time he was living British Columbia. It is a little strange having a single Skype Player at the table, but Tom has become a frequent guest and we have gotten used to being a little quieter so he can hear. 

So Tom as the Drow Barbarian Sayer. And we continued with our the beginnings of our quest for world domination!


Scene 1 The Aftermath.

The charred corpse of Ronah Val lay sprawled on the ground outside the Frunner's house, and The Duergar Necromancer Wizard Dwannis leaned heavily against the back wall. He was panting, covered in blood and soot; exhausted from his recent struggle with the Druid.

The battle had ended last game with Dwannis killing the traitorous Ronah Val with fireball. The sound of the blast echoed through the camp , and caused the followers at Frunner's to rush into the building with the hope of aiding the Wizard. Dwannis quickly and roughly explained to his followers that the druid had betrayed them, but little did he know, this was not the first time Ronah Val had done this.

A large Dark Elf Barbarian (Tom) who had been watching through from the woods, burst into the house and demanded to know where Ronah Val was. Dwannis pointed to the scorched remains in the corner of the house, and the Barbarian let out a cry of rage! He explained that the Druid had betrayed his people months earlier, killing most of them. He had made an oath that day that he would not rest until Ronah Val was dead. He was caught up in the want to kill, the Barbarian was mortified that he was not the one to deliver the killing blow. 


He introduced himself as Sayer Ironbark and asked if he could take Ronah's possessions: as a small penance for the crimes committed against his people. Dwannis agreed wanting nothing more of the druid, but he was feeling paranoid, and saw the Barbarian as someone who could provide him with further protection while he crafted his wicked schemes. 

Sayer agreed to work for Dwannis, and the two rested for the night, deciding that Sayer would go into town tomorrow and get more sulfur for Dwannis' spells. As an added precaution, before they went to sleep, Dwannis animated Ronah Val's corpse, asking it to guard the camp at night. He thought of it as a final punishment for his betray.


Scene 2 Bodie and the Fancy Tavern.

Bodie had spent the night in a fancy tavern in town. He knew nothing of the fight with the druid, only that his mission was to gather information about Bellwick's municipal government and report it back to Dwannis.

He began by disguising himself as a dwarven merchant of some wealth and headed down into the tavern for a nice breakfast. He encountered two travelers from Raz who had some information about the country side, but did not know much about Bellwick, other then that the mayor was Doran Glendrick.

Spying around the rest of the fancy tavern, Bodie saw a funny man in the corner hurriedly scribbling on a pile of scrolls that were sprawled on the table in front of him. Bodie tried to ask what the man was doing, only to be told he was busy and that Bodie was interrupting him. Deciding to force the issue, Bodie pulled out his bagpipes and attempted to use Bardic Music to Suggest to the clerk that he was filthy and needed to wash. The Clerk passed his will save, saying that was ridiculous. Not to be deterred, Bodie played the song again and this time the clerk smelled his arm pits, and realized that he should take a bath and excused himself form the table.

Bodie quickly grabbed a handful of six papers off the table and stuffed them in his pockets. He then tried to change his disguise, but failed spectacularly! The whole tavern noticed him trying to change, so he simply ran out of the place into the street. He passed some elves outside, who thought he looked suspicious, but with another Disguise roll, he disappeared into the crowd and started patrolling around the area looking for a lead.



Scene 3 Raskavas and the Clerics. Dwannis and Sayer's Morning.

Raskavas awoke that morning, having spent the night sleeping outside the Clerics tent. The cold air woke him earlier then both Dwannis and Bodie, and with a stretch he was back on his feet again no worse for wear, though a little hungry.

He quickly searched for a scrap of food before the clerics arrived, seeing that once again pork had been provided to the poor Drow and Duergar of the slums. A week or so ago, Dwannis had discovered that the town was poisoning the dark folk with the tainted meat, they thought that it had been dealt with, apparently they were wrong.

Raskavas was so hungry that he almost ate some of the meat, but decided to hold on to the piece of poisoned pork... for whatever reason. As he was about to put the pork into his cloak, he saw three clerics coming towards him. He approached them, saying that he was here to show them around the camp at Frunner's. The clerics scoffed, saying that he was supposed to be here the day before to show them. Raskavas apologized explaining that he had been working for the cause and was needed elsewhere yesterday, but he was very willing to show them the camp today.

Two of the three Clerics scoffed again at the suggestion, saying that it was too late, but one of them agreed, though cautiously, to view the camp. Raskavas lead the Cleric to the row boat, and then began traveling back towards Frunner's.

While Raskavas was rowing, Dwannis and Sayer had just awoken from the night before. Hungry, the two made their way towards the cooking fire, where a dwindling supply of Smoked Fish was being consumed by the followers. Upon leaving the house, Dwannis noticed that a cart had been delivered where there was none before. He told Sayer to investigate it, who found it full of pork.Dwannis' eyes went wide, realizing this was the same poisoned pork he had encountered in the slums a week or so prior. 


Without hesitation, he commanded that the Pork be removed and incinerated, but the cart would be cleaned and kept. The Frunnerians quickly removed the pork, placing it in a large pile, at the bottom of the cart was the again dead corpse of Ronah Val. Apparently the Zombie sentry had been killed by whoever delivered the poisoned meat.

The pork went up in a blaze and one of the Frunner's named Goldstein, along with Sayer monitored the fire. Dwannis then directed the Frunnerians on their daily tasks, fishing, smoking fish, Cutting down Trees/constructing a wall, and the continued creation of spear shafts. With that Dwannis retired to the house to study his spells for the day.

Just as Dwannis opened his spellbook, Raskavas and the Cleric arrived. The flaming pile of pork glowed like a beacon just by the docks, and as Raskavas pulled the boat, he quickly tied it up and rain towards the fire, his hand on his sword.

Sayer saw the Drow warrior running towards him and recognized him as Raskavas, who Dwannis had described the night before. Raskavas did not believe him, and ran into the house to speak with Dwannis, with he Cleric in tow. Feeling unwanted, Sayer left Goldstein to tend fire, and took one of the boats, heading towards Bellwick, with the intention of getting Dwannis his sulfur.

When Raskavas burst into the house, Dwannis was deep in his studies, and was not pleased at being disturbed. He scolded the Drow for disturbing him, but quickly changed his tune when speaking to the cleric... or at least he tried to. Dwannis tried his best to communicate with the Cleric, but all he could manage were a series of grunts, and the Cleric was completely disgusted by him! Luckily, Raskavas quickly escorted her out to see the camp, while Dwannis returned to his studying.

Outside the Cleric saw the Drow and Duergar leading a simple and peaceful existence. In her view, things were actually going quiet well for her people here. Now Raskavas almost ruined this by throwing a fish at her to eat, but in the end, the productiveness of the dark folk shown through and she agreed to tell people in need to travel here.

While the Cleric explored a bit, Dwannis spoke to Raskavas about Ronah Val's betrayal, and the tainted meat that was delivered to Frunner's that morning. Raskavas commented that he had also seen some of this meat in the slums that morning. The two agreed that they needed to fortify Frunner's, and although having a cart was nice, they needed horses to aid with the construction. 


Raskavas swore he would bring horses upon his return, and with that, he left Dwannis to his studies, collected the Cleric and took the boat back to town.


Scene 4 The Beached Boat. Bodie and the blacksmith. A Prelude to Riot.

Though Sayer had left some time Earlier, his skills with the boat were severally lacking.He had beached it twice, and then finally managed to puncture the bottom causing a leak. Defeated, but not wanting to leave the boat unattended, Sayer sat himself in the sand, and slowly thought about what he was going to do.Luckily for him, Raskavas and the Cleric soon came sailing by in there boat and he was able to signal them for help. 

Raskavas looked at the damaged boat, trying to think of some way he could patch the hull, and this is where our quote of the evening comes from. Raskavas looked through his inventory, commenting that he had a fancy hat, and maybe he could use that to plug the hole. Dave then blurted out from behind his DM screen “How dare you waste a funny hat!” and thus the quote born!

Deciding in the end there was no way that the boat could be repaired, Sayer, Raskavas and the Cleric, all returned to the one good row boat and made their way back to town.

While all of this was happening, Bodie had been exploring around the town, and decided that he should wash up. Thinking it a good idea to head over to the blacksmiths, he also came up with a nefarious plan along the way. He figured that they no longer needed the blacksmith alive, and that even a blind man might be a liability. So he went over to the shop, locked the doors, shuttered the windows and quietly finished off the blacksmith with a dagger. He then scrawled a Note for Raskavas which read:

Ha ha!

I have killed the blacksmith.

We didn't need him anyways.

-B.

Feeling that was inconspicuous enough, he then left the Blacksmith to go explore around the market a bit.

Raskavas and Sayer parted ways with the Cleric and headed towards the market. As they arrived, an elven woman came running out of the Blacksmith screaming that he had been murdered. Sayer did not care about the murder and was more interested in finding some sulfur for Dwannis, so leaving the scene, he located some, but not having a good grasp of currency, he paid with a gold cup (which seems to be worth around 150gp) for a sack containing 50 spells worth of sulfur.

Raskavas on the other hand was curious about what happened to the blacksmith and went inside to investigate, he found the note pinned to the dead dwarf, and assumed that it was Bodie. But before he could leave, he heard the voices of guards gathering outside the only way in.

Bodie had been watching all of this transpire from the market place, and upon seeing Raskavas enter the building, decide to lend him a hand. He distracted a another party of approaching guards, just as Raskavas, seeing it was his only way out, ran screaming out of the smithy yelling about bloody murder! He ran towards the slums, with several guards chasing after him. Bodie used this momentum to convince another group of guards to follow him towards the slums, He hoped to start a conflict between the Guards and, the Duergar and Drow there.

Sayer, finished with his shopping, noticed the large party of guards heading towards the slums and decided to follow closely behind them.



Scene 5 Riots in the Slums.

Raskavas ran into the slums with the guards and Bodie trailing behind him. It seemed bad, but he had a plan. He started yelling to the people in the streets that the guards were coming to hurt them, and he actually amassed quite a following. He lead his posse of Drow and Duergar towards Bodie and the guards, and started yelling insults at them. It was then that Sayer walked up behind them the guards and began the attack. The Slums exploded into a riot with the Duergar and Drow civilians throwing themselves at the guards.

The battle last for some time, Sayer managed to take down two of the guards, while Bodie played some music, hoping to inspire courage in his fellow dark folk. Raskavas who had been injured some days prior, fled from the fight, using an Invisibility spell that Bodie cast on him. 


Raskavas hid on the side lines, shouting Frunner's slogans and trying to hype up the crowd, and The guards eventually retreated out of the slums. This was the first real victory for Frunnerians over the town guard.

Pleased with themselves, the party continued about with their business, and fled out of the slums. Sayer and Raskavas decided to secure some horses, while Bodie finally decided to return to Frunner's and report what he had learned to Dwannis.



Scene 6 Bodie Reports.

Bodie returned to Dwannis by boat, and told him of the papers he stole form the clerk. Dwannis Scryed them, seeing through the eyes of the clerk who was apparently rewriting his lost papers. The documents stated the need for immediate action against the Frunnerian movement, but other then that, they gave Dwannis no information about the Wizard or Doran Glendrick.

Angered, Dwannis threw the papers into the fire, telling Bodie that they needed to move quickly, as they were being watched. He also made it clear that it was still imperative that Bodie acquire something that belonged to either the either Doran or the Wizard. But, he also asked Bodie if he would wait here until the others returned. They needed to plan their next course of action.



Scene 7 Stolen Horses. The Plan.

Sayer and Raskavas headed out of town towards the stables. There were three horses there and a young stable master. The Master told them that the horses were worth 300gp each. Not having anywhere near that much money on them Raskavas and Sayer took the stable boy into the stables to discuss the “payment” where they proceeded to murder him. 

Knowing that Dwannis was always looking for fresh corpses, they tied the horses together along with the body of the stable master and rode back to Frunner's. 

When Sayer and Raskavas arrived at the camp, they tied up the horses and found Bodie and Dwannis making plans in the house. They all agreed that they needed the anvil to continue the production of spearheads, but continuing to produce them in town would be risky, what with the recent murder and riots. The plan was for Raskavas, Sayer and Dwannis to enter the town that night, and steal the anvil, killing anyone who stood in their way. All agreed and waited until night fall.

Scene 8 Stealing the Anvil.

The road to the Bellwick was calm and easy, and the travel went quickly. Upon reaching the town, something was a miss. The two guards who normally stood watch at the front gates where slumped on their spears. Sayer and Raskavas confirmed that they were dead, and Dwannis had them load the bodies into the cart. Sayer pushed open the front gate, and the party continued into the city.

There was not a guard in sight, and they easily made there way to the blacksmith's shop. They stopped the cart out front and took a moment to survey the area before entering. As they did this, several Dark folk ran out of the blacksmiths carrying arms full of weapons. They told Raskavas that they were heading towards Frunner's to join the movement. Raskavas wished them well, saying that they would join them shortly, and proceeded to load the anvil in the cart, making sure to grab some metal to work with as well as a smithing hammer.

As they were leaving the town, the local constabulary noticed that something was a miss, and guards started to swarm the streets. To aid their get away, and hopefully cripple the town's Wizard, Dwannis cast a fireball into one of the windows of the Alchemists shop, causing a great and fiery explosion. Using that panic caused by the eruption, the party was able to slip out through the gate. 


Along the road home, the group met up with a party of thirty dark folk with the intention of join the Frunnerian Movement. Raskavas invited them to travel with us back to camp, and they all rived as in one large group. Dwannis then raised the 3 corpses he had collected that day, and commanded them to guard the camp for the evening.

With Frunner's protected again, Bodie then departed into town, hoping to speak with the Wizard Malik Vloren once and for all.



Scene 9 Bodie Speaks with the Wizard.

Bodie took a row boat and went back to town. The place was in a uproar from the recent raid, despite the late hour, and Bodie found it easy to get slip in amid the confusion.

Deciding to skip any middlemen, he headed straight to the Town hall, disguising himself as he went. The front door was guarded, and Bodie knew he couldn't just walk in without a plan. So he pulled some blank papers from his pack, and ran to the guards yelling that he had important documents to show to the mayor. He was luckily able to get past the guards without them looking at the empty pages, and was directed to the Mayor's office

Doran Glendrick sat behind a large desk starring blankly towards the door. Bodie introduced himself, but Doran just sat there, starring and saying nothing. Bodie was just starting to feel uncomfortable with the situation when a door to the side open and the Wizard Malik Vloren stepped through, bidding Bodie enter with him.

The room was much larger then he expected and seemed to be a sort of study for Malik Vloren. The Wizard ignored the papers that Bodie supposedly brought, and asked him directly what he wanted. Bodie switched tunes, claiming to be a concerned citizen, and asked Malik about his plans to defend the city from the growing threat of the Drow and Duergar. Malik said that they were prepared, claiming that the people of Frunner's were not a threat. Malik proceeded to side step a few questions, when Bodie got frustrated and decide to take actions into his own hands.

Bodie claimed that soon, the Frunnerians would attack Bellwick, taking the roads along the shore, and that Malik should act soon. Bodie was hoping to draw the majority of Bellwick's armed forces out of the city, letting the Frunnerians take it over. Malik listened to Bodies suggestion, but did not indicate one what his next move was. He then thanked Bodie and gave him a small pouch with 15 gold pieces in it.

Bodie, finally having something that once belonged to the wizard, returned to Frunner's to tell Dwannis what he had seen.



Scene 10 Plans at Frunner's

After Bodie returned, and gave Dwannis the coin purse (of course keeping the money for himself) the four sat down and discussed what the next steps would be. The new refugees from the raid had almost tripled their numbers, bringing that camp's total from seventeen to forty three people. Dwannis felt that with the increased number, the time to act was now, and with the help of Sayer, Bodie and Raskavas devised three courses of action.

Bodie recommended that they attempt to draw the soldiers out of the city, rather the laying a siege. This was a great idea, and it was decided that Raskavas and party of four would take the horses and set fire to the fields surrounding the town.

Sayer thought it would be wise to attack any incoming caravans leading to Bellwick. It was bold plan, and  Sayer originally wanted fifteen men for the task. Dwannis refused at this time to commit a third of their forces to a single objective, granting him seven followers.

Dwannis felt that pressure should still be exerted within Bellwick itself, and recommended a small strike team attack key location in the settlement, including the Barracks, and Town Hall. Bodie volunteered for the assignment, and would continue to stir up the populace, as well as commit as many acts of terrorism as he deemed necessary.

With that, the group departed going their separate ways as Dwannis continued to manage the remaining people at Frunner's.



Scene 11 Raskavas' Raid.

Raskavas selected Mary, Tyler and Goldstein to ride with him, arming them each with one of the ten swords the refugees had brought with them earlier. Raskavas hoped to start developing an elite strike force with Goldstein as his personal lieutenant, and this mission would mark their first trial together.

The party took the horses through the woods towards the farms, cautiously traveling the outskirts to avoid the guards that stood around the farmland. Raskavas took one of the two torches he had and gave the other to Goldstein, instructing him to burn the far field while he burned the closer one. He also commanded Mary and Tyler to ride through the field and quickly investigate the farm house. It seemed strange to him that guards were there. 


As Mary and Tyler entered the field and Goldstein vanished from view, heading towards the other pasture, Raskavas lowered his torch and rode slowly beside the grass, setting it ablaze. Suddenly and inexplicably, the entire field erupted in flames, trapping Mary and Tyler in the center, Goldstein was nowhere to be seen. 

The flames grew around Mary and Tyler and Raskavas could see no way of reaching of them. He called out for Goldstein only to see his horse run from behind a puff of smoke. Raskavas chased after the horse, deciding to cut his losses and return to Frunner's. Along the way, he changed his mind, heading towards where Sayer had said he would make his raiding camp, hoping to check in and possibly lend some assistance.

While Raskavas rode on, Dwannis decided to Scry the purse that Bodie had given him. He managed to pierce the Wizard's defenses, only to see through a pair of eyes staring at the fields Raskavas had just ignited, from the woods. The a sleeve the same colour of the robe that Goldstein was wearing. Just before the vision faded, the normally grayish skin of a Drow was replaced with the pink colour of an elf.

Dwannis had discovered that Goldstein was not in fact one of his followers, but Malik Vloren in disguise. Disturbed by how simple it was for their ranks to be infiltrated, Dwannis began hatching plans to give all of his follower Necrotic Cysts.: a horrible Necromancy Spell where the subject is implanted with a Cyst of dead flesh, that is connecting to the Mother Cyst inside Dwannis. Any person implanted with the Cyst, can be effected by which would help him control his subjects, and punish those who defied him. Those infected with a Necrotic Cyst are vulnerable to a number of spells including Necrotic Domination, and Necrotic Burst. One spell controls a subject, the other kills them.


It seemed a dark, but necessary practice.


Scene 12 Sayer's Bandits.

Sayer had selected seven stout Duergar and armed them Battle Axes. Dwannis even gave him seven suits of chain mail, that the followers had brought, to ensure that they would have the upper hand over any caravan. With his supplies and troops, Sayer set out into the woods, and began cutting down trees to block road. Before he was able to finish his barricade, a horse drawn cart, attended by a single Duergar armed with a sword approached them. Sayer easily killed the man with a arrow from his bow, and took the sword from him. His raiding party then took the merchant's horse and cart off the road, finding it full of enough food to keep his party feed for two weeks.

After the conflict, Raskavas arrived, and Sayer gave him the horse and the sword he had taken to return to Frunner's with. 


And with that we left off for the evening, all agreeing that Bodie's task would be completed first thing next game.


Conclusion

It seems our plans progressed in spite of Ronah Val's treachery! We finally had the man power and the support of the people! Now we can start attacking Bellwick once and for all!
  
Despite this victory, it would seem that Malik Vloren had infiltrated our ranks quite effectively. Goldstein was a trusted and useful follower, who knew most of the plans. The reveal that he was Malik Vloren in disguiseWhether he was always Malik Vloren in disguise or there was a real Goldstein at one time, we will never know.

Either way, the group was getting rocked with betrayal after betrayal, and everyone was starting to grow suspicious of each other. We didn't play this game again for some time, but plot's grew and the party started to splinter.



                          
Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 6 Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 6 Reviewed by JADE Gaming on 3/27/2014 11:59:00 am Rating: 5

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