The Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 5

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


Quote of the Evening:
"The Frunnerian movement isn't small!"

"Bodie, the grown ups are talking."



Introduction

Last Game, Dwannis, Bodie and Ronah Val had managed to render the Blacksmith incapacitated, and kill his borther. They framed the tavern owner for it, and now both the Blacksmith's shop and the tavern were left unattended. 

Jeff was able to make it to this game, and Joel R joined us for his second run as Ronah Val. 

We left off with the party resting at Frunner's again. This was convenient as we needed to plan the next steps of our conquest. We needed followers, and we needed weapons to arm them with.

It seemed simple as long as we worked together, but Joel R had other things in mind.


Scene 1 Fireballs in Dark.

The game began with the Duergar Necromancer, Dwannis (Andrew), Raskavas the Drow Fighter (Jeff), Bodie the Duergar Bard (Elijah), and Ronah the Drow Druid (Joel R) resting around a camp fire at Frunner's. Night had fallen, and they had begun to discuss their plans.

First Bodie and Raskavas would go to town, apologize to the cleric Raskavas insulted way back in Conquest of Frey Game 2, and then procure access to the Blacksmith's shop. Ronah was to start thickening the forest around the camp to provide a better defensive position, and Dwannis would organize the people at Frunner's to gather food, create spear shafts, and generally run the camp. As they were about to go into more details, a loud explosion errupted outside! 

Running to the door, they looked to see that four of the twenty tents were on fire and many of their followers had been wounded! Bodie, Dwannis and Raskavas doused the flames and gathered survivors. But Ronah, thinking he could gain an upper hand, used the confusion to sneak off into the woods without anyone noticing. It almost worked, but Dwannis saw him leave, and from the there the suspicions grew.

Bodie managed to get the confused and scared survivors to explain what happened. They told him three fireballs had come from the forest.



Scene 2 Searching the Woods.

Ronah ran into the woods and changed himself into a toad.  There he waited, expecting the party to follow him. Dwannis and Raskavas went to investigate the woods while Bodie tended to the wounded.  

After Traveling about 300 or so feet, Dwannis and Raskavas came to a part of the forest that had been recently singed and charred black. Ronah had followed them in his toad form, spying on Dwannis and Raskavas from the tree line, but there was little evidence to be found, other then the fact that several Fireballs had been casted.

Dwannis, Raskavas and Ronah (still as a toad) returned to the camp to find that Bodie had learned of a wizard advisor that worked closely with Doran Glendrick, the leader of the town. He suspected that this man may be responsible for the fireballs. 


This concerned the group, but deciding there was nothing that could be done in the middle of the night, they separated the six corpses of the followers who had died in the attack, ensure everyone is fed, and then rested. Raskavas and Bodie agreed to enact their plan tomorrow morning, and with that everyone turned in for the night. Well, almost everyone. Before they slept, Dwannis, Raskavas and Bodie, noticed that that Ronah was no where to be found. 

Ronah had returned to the edge of the woods, and chaning himself into a hawk, he flew into town. His plan was to find the Wizard that had attacked our camp. His purpose was his own.


Scene 3 Ronah Val's Betrayal.

After Ronah took off, Dave -our DM- asked Elijah, Jeff and myself to leave the room.

Now I don't know exactly what happened here. So what follows is what I was able to piece together from in game events and a small discussion with Dave after the fact.

Ronah flew to Bellwick and sought out the wizard Bodie had learned of. When he found him, Ronah told the wizard about the Frunnerian Movement, and how he disagreed with its goals. So, in exchange for about 50 gold, and a spell scroll, Ronah arranged to become an informant for the Wizard Malik Vloren. Ronah also informed the Wizard that Raskavas and Bodie would be meeting with the Cleric in the slums the following day.
 

After this betrayal, Ronah returned to his hut in the slums of Bellwick and spent the evening there.
 

Jeff, Elijah and Myself, had assumed something along those lines had happened once we had left the room. But for the sake of role play, we didn't act on it right away.


Scene 4 Ronah's Return. The Mysterious Island. The Arrest of the Cleric.

The next morning Dwannis, Bodie, and Raskavas awoke and discussed their suspicions surrounding Ronah Val's disappearance. Both Dwannis and Raskavas thought he was not to be trusted, but Bodie felt that he hadn't done anything yet and that they should give him a chance. Dwannis and Raskavas slowly agreed, they did need any support they could get at the moment. 

With that, everyone went about their business for the day: Bodie and Raskavas left for Bellwick by boat, and Dwannis had the people start to replant trees and bushes around Frunner's to better conceal it from people passing by.

Shortly after Bodie and Raskavas left, Ronah returned to Frunner's and began poking around the camp for information.  He did not manage to learn much, other then a vague impression of Dwannis wanting power. But one of the things he did see was Dwannis raise one of the dead from the night before and order it to go to Bellwick and cause trouble.

Little did Ronah know, the zombie was to focus the Wizard's eyes else where while Raskavas and Bodie operated in town. Two can play the game of deception my friend.

Raskavas and Bodie made it into town with out too much trouble and tied up their boats. Thinking ahead, Bodie quickly disguised himself as a regular dwarf, and they made there way up the pier. As they stood overlooking the sea, they noticed a crowd had gathered and were shouting, looking and pointing at an object out to sea.

Raskavas and Bodie looked out to see an island fortress had appeared several miles out to sea, where none had been a day before. Bodie listened to the crowd and learned that sailors told stories of a mysterious fortress on an island that appears and then sinks beneath he waves. 


Not missing a beat, Bodie claimed that he would wager anyone, any amount of gold, that he and his party could reach the island by night fall. As the words left his mouth, the island quickly sunk beneath the waves, leaving the crowd in awe, and Bodie looking a little foolish. One of the onlookers accepted Bodie's bet after the island was gone, and the crowd laughed.
 

Bodie and Raskavas  made a swift exit from the laughing crowd and headed over to the slums so that Raskavas could apologize to the Cleric once and for all.  They found her in her tent, and Bodie waited out side, listening in case he was needed.

Raskavas apologized to the Cleric, and she forgave him, but he tried to move the relationship a little too fast, asking if she would spread the word about the Frunnerian Movement. She refused, saying that the movement was to little to be of much consequence, but she would agree to come and see the camp. It was then that Bodie popped in, hoping to improve the situation, and thus the quote of the evening was uttered as Bodie protested the cleric's claim that Frunner's was small, and Raskavas told him that the grown ups were talking.  Bodie slipped back outside and Raskavas arranged for the Cleric to accompany him to Frunner's the following Morning. As Raskavas left, several town guards pushed passed him entering to the cleric's tent. Intrigued by this, Raskavas and Bodie, listened through the tent's thin fabric walls and heard the guards arresting the Cleric! 


Both of them got into position and approached the guards as they left with the Cleric in chains.  The Guards looked strange. They stood slouched over and had glowing eyes, and dead grayish skin. Uninterrupted by Bodie and Raskavas, they seemed to care for nothing but their own task and pushed straight by them.

Not wanting the Cleric to be captured, Raskavas and Bodie tried to intervene. Raskavas reached for his blades, but Bodie stays his hand as and tried a couple of spells to convince the guards to let the cleric go. The guards seemed completely immune to his magic and seeing no other choice, Bodie gave a nod to Raskavas, telling him to let his blades fly. 


Despite dealing 14 damage, the guard seemed totally unphased by Raskavas' assault. Fearing for their lives now, Bodie and Raskavas started to stir up the crowd with the hopes of starting a riot. The attempt was somewhat successful, as many onlookers started to throw things at the guards, but in the end they were simply too strong, and they killed several of the dark folk before leaving with the cleric. She was never seen again. As the riot started to grow, more guards entered slums to try and pacify the protesters.

Ronah, in his bird form, had returned to town and had been watching this transpire from the roof tops. To help their escape (or that of the guards) he cast a Swarm of Locusts, and Bodie and Raskavas disappeared into the crowd yelling about the Frunnerian movement.

An hour or so later the commotion had died down, and Bodie and Raskavas headed back to the Cleric's tent to see what happened. They found two lesser clerics, who agreed to hold true to the recently imprisoned head cleric's word and come and see the camp the following morning, if Raskavas met them at their tent to take them.

With still plenty of day left, Bodie and Raskavas headed over to the blacksmith's to finish the plan started in The Conquest of Frey Game 4



Scene 5 The Blacksmith.

The blacksmith was blind, by Dwannis' hands, and so Bodie and Raskavas went to him and arranged for Raskavas to work the shop. 

Raskavas would do the daily tasks needed to run the smithy, but he would spend most of his time secretly creating spear heads for the Frunnerian movement. These would be passed out among the people and brought to Frunner's to arm the troops. With access to a forge, Raskavas used his Weapon Smithing skill and spent the next two days creating weapons.

Things were slowly coming together.



Scene 6 Ronah the Informant.

After Seeing Dwannis' zombie heading town, and witnessing riots in the slums, Ronah decided he had seen enough and went to speak with Malik Vloren, hoping to earn some more coin.

Again, Jeff Elijah and Myself were asked to leave the room.

After a time, we were called back in, and Ronah left Malik Vloren's tower returning to Frunner's. On his way, he passed by more of the strange guards with the glowing eyes and the dead gray skin. They were were attacking Dwannis' zombie as it crossed the forest. 


He let the guards be and returned to speak to Dwannis, intending on getting more insight into his plan.

Scene 7 Power Struggle at Frunner's

For the next couple of days, Ronah argued with Dwannis over whether or not he was trustworthy. Dwannis did not trust Ronah at all, and even went so far as to delve into his dreams; traveling through strange images and even catching a blurry glimpse of one of the meetings he had with Malik Vloren. There was however an image of another man in Ronah's dream. He looked very similar to Malik Vloren, and just before Dwannis left Ronah's dream, he realized the man was Aris Vloren the Apothecary!

Dwannis had killed Aris Vloren the apothecary in his shop about a week before hand in The Conquest of Frey Game 1. He didn't understand how Ronah could have seen him very much alive and standing with Malik Vloren, and immediately shook Ronah awake demanding to know what he knew of the Apothecary.

Ronah actually had no idea what Dwannis was talking about. He had never learned the identity of the second man who stood by Malik Vloren when they spoke. However he, was greatly offended by Dwannis' invasion, to which Dwannis responded that he didn't care what he thought. This angered Ronah, and he tried to kick Dwannis in the groin, but Dwannis was too fast and reduced Ronah to 1/8th of his usual size using a Reduce Person spell.


Not to be deterred, Ronah then summoned a Dire Weasel and ordered it to bite Dwannis. It latched on dealing 5 damage. Then Dwannis, through the shock and pain, managed to concentrate and literally sucked the life out the Weasel using a Vampiric Touch spell. Ronah began to run, but didn't make it for far, before Dwannis revived another of the dead followers and ordered it to attack Ronah.  Before the zombie could strike, Ronah again turned into a bird took off.


He hoped to find Raskavas and convince him that Dwannis was too dangerous to work with. It didn't work out exactly as planned.


Scene 8 Raskavas Forgot About the Clerics. Bodie the Spy.

In Town, Raskavas had been so busy making and distributing spears, that he forgot about his meeting with the Clerics and worked all through the day. Around noon, Ronah arrived and asked him if he trusted Dwannis. But Ronah was too late to make allies. Dwannis had already used Message spells to warn Bodie and Raskavas that Ronah was dangerous, insane and not to be trusted. 

Raskavas dismissed his fears, telling Ronah he could trust Dwannis, he just had to give him more time. Feeling defeated, Ronah hung around the smithy for a bit and then decided to make his way to the Clerics hut in the slums. Raskavas closed up shop not ten minutes later and decided to also go to the cleric's tent to see if the Clerics were still interested in seeing the Frunner's, despite his absence the day before.

Bodie had been lingering around the Blacksmith's Shop front growing bored. So he decided to gather more information about the town. He walked around a bit and witnessed the tavern owner's execution: the very one he and Dwannis had framed and then lied to about breaking him out of prison. Bodie gave him a little wave before the axe fell and continued on his way.

Bodie spent some time looking around the slums for information but no one knew anything. Deciding to go higher up the food chain, he infiltrated the guards ranks and gained access to the apothecary's shop. The place had been under close guard since Dwannis murdered the owner. But recently there had been a lot of activity in and around the shop, and the reveal that Aris may still be alive was disturbing. 


Much to Bodie's surprise, he entered the shop to find the apothecary Aris Vloren ready to sell him wares. Using a spell, Bodie determined that there was a disguise spell at work, but he was unable to learn any more. So knowing Dwannis needed sulfur, he purchased some from the shop and left.

Ronah and Raskavas were heading towards the slums from different angles, but Ronah saw Raskavas first, and decided to change into a moth, and hitch a ride on his back. But fearing he would get squished, he deiced against landing on Raskavas' back and began to slowly fly back to Frunner's. He would have arrived a lot sooner if he hadn't got distracted by the light from a torch for a while. The down side to being a moth

Raskavas arrived at the cleric's hut to find the place deserted. There were signs the clerics had been there earlier in the day, but no one was to be found at this hour. Not to be defeated, he decide to hunker down and wait for them to return in the morning.

Meanwhile, Bodie disguised himself as a rich business man and went to Bellwick's Town Hall. Posing as dealer in rare and magical items, he gained at least the beginnings of access to the upper tiers by chatting with another business man, and learned the importance of Malik Vloren and Doran Glendrick. Doran Glendrick was the mayor of Bellwick and a man of some wealth. Malik Vloren was his aid, though it was said that Malik actually held the power. If you wanted to do business in Bellwick, you would need to talk to Malik first.
 

Pleased with his discovery, Bodie found the most expensive inn and procured himself  the nicest room in the place for the night.


Scene 9 Dwannis Muck-Mug The Necromancer Versus Ronah the Mad Druid.

Ronah returned to Frunner's just as evening fell. He and Dwannis bickered some more before Ronah pushed  Dwannis down embarrassing him in front of his followers and greatly disrespecting him. Dwannis had had enough of the shifty druid and decided to make an example out of him. He prepared to use his Blind spell and followed him into the Frunner's House. 

Dwannis lept at Ronah from behind, but the druid noticed the Necromancer coming at him and stepped out of the way. Using the scroll that Malik Vloren had given him, Ronah cast a spell of Damage Protection that would last 5 rounds.  


Dwannis countered by petrifying Ronah with a Fear spell which lasted long enough to time out the Damage Protection spell.  He then tried to blind Ronah again and missed. Ronah was desperate now, and started to summon a dire wolf to fight by his side. It was a fatal mistake. the spell took to long to cast, Dwannis used the opportunity to hit Ronah with two Fireballs. Ronah's roasted body exploded out one of the windows at Frunner's landing in a heap. Just before Ronah died from his wounds, he shouted to Dwannis that he had told Malik Vloren everything and that he was a dead man no matter what happened to him. 

With the Mad Druid defeated, Dwannis let out a sigh of relief as the worried people of Frunner's came rushing in to see the what all the commotion was about.

And that was where Dave left off.


Conclusion

Joel R  sadly moved out to British Columbia after this game. But it was an amazing last run for him! The wizard duel between he and myself was amazing! Defiantly a highlight of the campaign so far!

With Ronah dead, it would be harder for the Wizard Malik Vloren to spy on us. That being said, the damage is done: again, the cleric's influence has been denied to us, and we have been set back by about a game's progress due to the treachery of Ronah.

Since Bodie and Raskavas don't know Ronah is dead yet, we will see their reactions next game! 


Despite these set backs, plans are still under way, though a little slower then was hoped. We would need to regroup and plan for next game.
 



                          
The Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 5 The Conquest of Frey: Chapter 1: Game 5 Reviewed by JADE Gaming on 3/22/2014 05:37:00 pm Rating: 5

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