I arrived at the horde camp too late to help, but thankfully I was not needed. They repelled an attack by the Brotherhood of Order. I know not their origins, but they seem to be comprised of many races. Their goal seems to be to stop the flow; and in a limited radius, they seem to be able to achieve it. Outside of that, a barrier of flow seems to exist. It's like they can corrupt a nexus to repel flow a certain distance. At that point, the flow seems to greatly affect anything that touches it or is near by. Also, fallen warriors have been know to wither and walk again within moments.
We don't need battle on yet another front, but at least this enemy is interesting. I want to know where they came from, who gathered them. Who discovered and taught them the geomancy to pervert a nexus in such a way? Vance is the only "person" who comes to mind, but why would he do this? I guess he doesn't make sense to me, so that's a question I cannot answer.
After the attack is repelled, the hordes learn of another attack on an Empire city. There will probably be more, but this is news we must act on. The Vanquisher wants the cult eliminated, and while they are dangerous, I still want to learn more than I want to eliminate.
Kith and I head off, but we disagree on what to do. He wants to find and slay the few who fled. Eventually we agree that the best way to fight this threat is to stop them from taking the next city.
After a few days of travel, we manage to reach Heimdall? in a few days. I don my dragonborn guise so as to not attract too much attention. Also, they will be much more willing to trust one of their own.
We gain entrance and head to the mayor's office. Before we get to speak, Arwel, Biger, and Ed enter. They carry the same grave news. I can't let them in on my identity quite yet, but once admitted to speak, I invite them in as well.
This city, like many others, is facing a difficult time, and fending off many attacks. No one wants to believe that a new threat exists, or that they need to adjust to fight it. They are worn thin, and worn out. At least we are taken about as seriously as to be expected. They double the guards on the Nexus, which is something. I also request that he communicate the threat with Tane'klenya.
Both in the office, and on our own, we contemplate ways to attack and defend the nexus. We know the Delphians can teleport through the ley lines into the nexus, as have corrupted hoard creatures. An attack could be made on all the guards at the same time. The guards are Norn, and extremely well trained, well equiped, and honored for their loyalty, but they have failed once before, somehow.
Once we leave the office, I reveal my identity to Arwel. She seems a little bit different than before. More battlehardened and wiser to the ways of the world. I like the change. She should be a great ally in the times ahead. Once we are hidden in a room at the inn, I let the others in on my true identity.
After much deliberation, study, resting, and a few trips back to the mayor's office, we start our preparations for the attack. The other attacks happened at night, and we antipated the same here. We take our places, and we wait.
Around midnight I detect something strange with the Nexus and approach the guards. They don't seem too happy to see me, and while they won't let me go in (understandably I guess. Why would a withered dragonborn want in an inverted nexus, especially if they are on high alert). When I ask him to check, he puts his hand on the door handle, and the next thing I know I'm waking up bleeding, and in a lot of pain.
The fight is on, and apparently, these "norn" are in on it. I turn myself invisible, leaving an image of my wounded body on the ground. I attack one of the norn, and while I got the jump on him, he did the same to me. I don't know if it was luck, or if he could see me, but as soon as I hit him, his blade tossed me back to the ground, bleeding more than ever.
Without me, they were able to get in and kill, capture, or scatter the geomancers inside. Typically, in a battle, I want to hide, strike from the shadows. I can't take a direct attack. Being invisible wasn't enough. I need to find a better way.
I'm glad we repelled the attack. We also learned about their tactics and capabilities. They are a fearsome opponent, but they can be stopped. I still wish I knew more about them.
Really, the concept of ordering the universe such that the flow has little or no sway, is not a terrible goal in of itself. Although I can tolerate the amount of chaos even a mild quake can cause, there is something to be said for actions having consequences that won’t be overturned by a seemingly random and arbitrary event. This statement, of course betrays my relative ignorance on the subject, but lacking any specific training on the subject, it will have to do. And although I can sympathize on some level with the overall goal of those behind the ordering, I feel compelled to murder them on sight, due in large part to their methods.
A few days ago, I witnessed what all commanders of men must inevitably witness. Good and brave soldiers fought a force, which they could not stand against. A form of corruption never before seen overwhelmed them. Their bodies withered and rose in a matter of moments, leaving only those with particular training behind to face their assailants and former comrades. I know that they did not flee, because they could not without all dying to a man. There were survivors, a fact I am grateful of. They did me proud, though I curse the force that snatched me from them in their hour of need.
Their enemy, a form of undead that passes on its curse with but a casual touch, was released unto the world by order imposed upon the unwilling, just one possible abomination to arise from the maelstrom surrounding an Ordered city. If these Brotherhood of Order idiots had ceased their course after this first failure, I could perhaps see my way to forgiving them. But even after witnessing this disorder they unleashed upon the world, they not only failed to amend their methods, they escalated them. Three cities now Ordered, where by rights there should have been none. These morons will pay.
We held the line here. We killed and captured the majority of their team, including those required for this foolish ritual. In two cities now they know they can bleed.
The Fall of the Marquis. The Marquis of The east place Nigfleheim is Dragontamer. Dragontamer mentioned to the party that the marquis of Elyria was deplying troops suspicioiusly.
The declaration of the emperor that he had died and was a withered undead and the priests are followers of Tiamat not Bahamut (And they shoudl destory the nexuses not invert them). Ultimately, the emperors ghost was destroyued adn the priests remained control. Rory Beardthicket has pledged his life to collapsing the inverted nexuses in the empire. The Actual emperer was chosen: it's the nephew... and he's a human age equivalent of 12, so they need a regent... Three party members form dark group show up at the marquis of Elyria sayign they also wanted to kill him. They gfound out there was a bunch of shady shit... He was a vampire, had necromantic walls, torture chambers, etc. They took him down. The dark memb ers had a plan. V'shir could change form, and he claimed to have experience acting in a noble ruling capacity, so dark team had planned to have him take his place... they all agreed on a temporary basis.
Temple of sigil
We went into the temple... it's a big spire... the group reached an arcane door. The ley lines all connect at this junction. The door didn't open until Cameron and Sahret together touched it. The of the writing, written above the doors: They are written in Primal, shared traits of celestial and infernal and abyssyl. On the door was "Only gods may enter here." Above the door was "Within this place lies the tomb of the betrayer."
A bunch of dieties altars were there, and on the end two that looked different... one was "The fey will all remember" and the other is "Love brings the worst betrayal of all" Down the stairs was the map room.
The gods were: Left hand: Boccob fharlanghen (One more... vecna?) heironeous hextor kord olidammara pelor vecna wee jas bane coreellon and sehanine erythnul gruumsh ioun, moradin obad hian yondalla bahamut/tiamat (Disk with a mark down it). And the figuere in the darkness was probably lloth... the wilderness scene mural who knows.
many other gods weren't represented by a shrine.
We heard a noise and ran up the stairs.. Vance appeared and claimed that Sahret would ruin the world. Sahret evil side was taken by him... and Danielles character made him swear 3 oaths to made sure he wouldn't do anything... and that Danielle could come and make sure everything was alright (To obad hai and hextor/heironeous)... Good sahret swore an oath to Vecna that he would do this. Vance then
Evil sahret has gone back to being a twinkle in his father's eye...
The hatch near the Lloth fortress opened and three from the dark group came.
Kord, erathis, erythnul corellon sehanine ehlonna gruumsh asmodeus some others didn't show up... Nerull appeared, surprising the others supported... 2 olidammaras showed up from the mural. One was in support and the other wasn't.
Asmodeus didn't have a mural but he showed up. They asked of the party that when we meet eachother in bnattle that we keep an open mind and remain watchers... Don't cross 'the line' and set aside differences as needed. THe other thing they said... "At some point in the future, they believe it will be necessary to eliminate the nexuses to make sure everyone is on even footing... and0 the temp[le must ultimately be destroyed. In the meantime, they ask that its existence be kept a secret. "
The flow is fragmented right now...s everal things seem to have poccured only a few times... arx and terminus inverted their nexuses... some of the time.
When terminus and Arx is inverted, its overrun by Demons... so people are wary of it.
The demons say their fighting for the Delphians whether they liek it or not, but it seems they kinda do... the ruling class is in rule...
The underdark exists... drown and tieflings are making skirmishes wherever they can, because they're worried that their inverted nexuses will be destroyed by Rori beardthicket.
The Vanquisher is known to be mounting an attack against terminus 'to fight the demons'... brought the blood war to the material plane.
Vshir stepped down once they found out that isaline had slain the evil necromancer... a lot og people thought it should be her. Isaline has been the Marquis... but a lot of the time, its not her. It's usually Van Wagrim...? Most of the time probably Vshir. Zahar is an outrider for the city, even when isaline isn't in control.
The fey are more reclusive then ever... they've retreated into the feywood and are hiding from the war, basically..
In the last few weeks soemthing worse has happened. Something happened to titenda recently... some strange cult launched an attack against it... it was an independent city on the border of the wastes. THey're kinda terrorists. No one knows what they were trying to do, really... it had something to do with preventing quakes form happening in civilized areas... they 'knew' that the nexus was related to the quakes... They did a crazy ritual that took hours... but it didn't cause quakes to stop... it stopped local quakes (Within about a mile and a half).. The closer you get to it the more little quakes appear. That smaller radius is blocked off by a wall of quakes, basically.
So some people thought that they had succeeded and maybe this was a one time thing... no...
The cult arranged a massive strike about a week after that. 3 targets were struck simultaneously on the same day by this cult called "The brotherhood of order". The three palces were 1 horde, 1 delphian and 1 empire city: Empire; trimsarran, in the souther region. Delphian was intempestous in the southwest... that's where the horde came from to attack Eloyes. The last horde settlement that was aattacked... (Where the vanquisher was at the time). This phenomenon is at the first two of these, but the attack on the horde was repelled.
The order of the common shield is fairly well known. Haruhn has been advising Isaline, with prophecy kinda.
beardthicket has been continuing to shut down nexuses... He's been raiding nexuses, specifically elyrian ones since those are what's lef.t THe people of the underdark are trying to capture the cities and protect the nexuses. That isn't a war, it's a group of people deciding 'we gotta safeguard these things' (They're militias but they act without the permission of their government). There's an open dialog with the people 'in charge' of the underdark...
Bearthicket has a bunch of fanatics workign with him... attacks they make are suspiciously well organized and well times. They are people who are loyal to the statements made by the withered emperor, who believe teh nexuses need to be destroyed.
About a year has passed.
(Recap end, session begin)
Arwel gets all muddled by leaving tatienda. refugees follow behind Arwel. Some kind of plague... something happened with the ordering. Some kind of withering effect... maybe people just lsot track of time... and refugees are fleeing into the empire or to arx.
Arwel meets Ed, Admatha and myself... and our paramilitary force.... Way more St. Cuthbert sigils on. her.
Ed and I have heard something bad happened in Tatenda... We have an information network to tell us when and where we're needed. Ed's map says Tatenda has a nexus, it is constantly changing... it looks unstable... inverted, not, big, small sizes.. rapid shifts.
We Ask Arwel what happened... off in the distance we see refugees... the people behind occasionally catch a refugee... and the people who fall get back up.
Admatha is unusually disturbed by this.
Their group attack us... and when they hit, it feels like a directed quake... not a normal everyday quake. Some of the hospitaliers get hit by the incoming enemies and immediately become withered undead, even before falling. Others remain uneffected. Ed is hit... nothing happens. Ed is fairly sure that for a moment, the organic material within him tryign to do something... The paladins Are immune to this... We didn't notiuce a single paladin falling.
Then a quake hits... the fire trap successfully triggered... When the quake ends, we are not where we were before... We three are somewhere else (Admatha and the hospitaliers are not with us). Somewhere near the wasteland we are somewhere along the northern edge of the empire.
Arwel tells us that the brotherhood of the order has an objective to stop all quakes... Arwel guesses that the plague thing is a side effect of it. The ordering is apparently heavy quake action. I'm casting scrying to detect what's going on where we just left.
The lieutanent I scry on is dead. (He was named Jackson). Several people I scry on are dead.... on my 9th attempt, I am able to get one of the paladins. They are liove with a small group of others. There are 5 of them, and they are -all- paladins, They are looking really roughed up and empotionally depleted. We have our forces split.
I tell these 5 to fall back toth e nearest town (Not tatenda) and instruct the townspeople to fortify up and spread the word as quickly as possible... every area within 10 days of Titenda) and don't approach tatenda. The one of them who has any rank whatsoever tells me that there were a few other groups that got seperated... everyone who had not taken sacred vows of purity was affected by this contagion.
Arwel was notably unaffected.
We get to Heimdall a couple hours after dawn. We ask to speak with the captain of the guard...
We see an old withered dragonborn in the reception hall.. There's a receptionist. we tell her we have news of a great threat. Ed tells us that two other locations have been hit. I scry and pass along this information to other wings of our sect.
(note, those withered were going fast, so our 5 little guys seem to have won... [and there are other people in other splinter groups.])
The brotherhood of order has some geomancers, and there are some zealots who are very anti-the flow, not all of whome are imperial... A very mixed group. They seemed to come out of nowhere.
Simone in disguise explains why she appears withered... She was quaked out of the world out of the empire. The receptionist returns and lets us all in at Disguised Simone's request. There is a dwarven man in reasonably nice clothes... making an environment that... he has several large two handed weapons on pegs along the walls... a full suit of armor on an armor rack... tall for a dwarf...
kashyyk Rell. We Introduce ourselves. Say we have grave news. There is a force... that has been attacking various settlements. Arwel explains the ordering and hte crazy go wild. And then about the undead. And Arwel warnes that upper ranks might have been infiltrated. He takes a moment to think about any suspicious activities... it seems this is what he's doing, anyway. He says..
'to the best of my knowledge, the Norns guarding the nexus are loyal.' They tried and failed at a horde settlement battle encampments. They are preparing an assault on terminus probably. I inform him of the other two cities that fell.
The dwarf says he'll double watches on the nexus, he seems to be taking us seriously.
Many thousands of people live here, many of whom are warriors. Norn have excepetional sense, are hard to catch off guard, and are hard to sway mentally, though the source of that mental stability is tough... they are picked from the best and are the cream of the cream of the crop. They protect the outside of the nexus but to not go into it but it can't be teleported into.
It would be difficult to get in to the nexus undetected. The Nexus building (It is a spherical building) is in plain view, it has only the city wall behind it... there is a 60ft radius of completely uncovered ground.
Getting into the nexus... Whoeever is in charge of the military goes in with 2 Norn to enter a Nexus place.
At the inn there are off duty guardsmen dwarves... there's a half orc drinking by himself... other than that, the dragonborn bartender.
The half orc is from the skullcrusher tribe (Which is under the vanquisher).
The Tiefling used geomantic teleportation. And Delphians can go through a nexus.
Kith reveals himself.n he suggests ways that would have been done.. a squad of assassins to kill all 4 of Norn at the same time, drop them all, while someone moves in from the inside already...
Teleklenia, an underdark city, uses this nexus. Nexuses are pillars. we could probably get to that city if we knew where an exit was. The closest underdark opening to the best of Simone's knowledge is at least 100 miles away. There are few and they're positioned intentiionally.
The underdark is in turmoil lately. Simone has dropped hints so we can figure out who she is.
"Sahret is only half the problem he used to be." (Ed to Kith).
Access to Nexus? Communication with underdark city (And warning them?) Wards to detect intruders and undead? Can Norn sense thigns in Nexus Building? Norns likely bait, in order to allow other norns to help... can some people (Norns maybe) get inside the nexus to guard it?
Kith speaks with a camel...
Arwel, Myself, Ed, and Simone go and talk to the mayor.
Simone is able to communicate that the she knows of theunderdark and the Mayor knows about the underdark and that they might try something is going down there... and they think about this a bit...
Simone asks what inspections are being done on the nexus. The dwarf is confident that the Norns would be well aware. He seems confident that any movement tpo the nexus through the ley lines would be detected.
There are a lot of norns here...
A battle could be a diversion, we mention this possibility.
Apparently the Norns were asassinated then immediately replaced... A minute at most.
Nothing in particular has shown up lately.
Ed's activation phrase is given to us by him.
I and Ed shut down for 4 hours.
Dusk happens.
I have darkvision courtesy of Kith.
Around midnight Simone can sense something strange going on at the nexus.
Simone convinces the Norn to check inside.
A halfling appears out of nowhere and completely takes down Simone with 30 wounds damage. I hear invisibility cast from inside the house that she runs into right away.
Ed slams the phantom steedinto the house wiht the halfling to launch himself through the window. There's a spectral hand in the hourse as well. He is attacked by someone with a readied attack. And attacks the person who attacked him (The halfling).... punches her hard.
An elf stabs Arwel from behind... but misses.
The guards seem to be ready to attack anyone who seems to be an enemy. They seem perfectly calm about what's going on out here.
Dispel magic probably got my glitterdust. The spectral hand remained in the house.
I reglitterdust the halfling... this time, she's blinded as well. Arwel rushes her into the wall, she cowers and surrenders while bluinded and crippled and almost staggered. The Norn are intentionally stonewalling us, and they are not under magical compulsion.
One of the Norn disappears as an illusion. I hear fly being cast.
Simone attacks the dwarf false norn, it counters with its readied action. It crits Simone to Wounds, Simone Falls.
The dwarf was using a vicious weapon, managed to hit Arwel. We take down teh dragonborn alive.
Kith pops open the door, despite the fact that it is magically locked. 3 people are around the nexus. all are attempting to do somethign,. One is attempting to cause a quake, one to empower the nexus and one to disrupt the nexus, an elf, eladrin and gnome.
Arwel and Ed each go in and drop someone. These three do not appear if they are pained or not by jthe ritual. I shank the last one with Wrin and myself via smite evil. We are almost certain that it will normalize.... but there's a huge quake... (note, we captured two of the false norns, the dragonborn, and the dwarf [who knocked himself unconscious with his vicious weapon). Ed loses the rope. The halfling and the spellcasting spotter got away.
The most (We take a bastard sword [vicious plus other thing, shield, and full plate [It looks like norn armor],
The elf has chainmail, ioun stone, magic shoes, amulet, brooch on nonmagical cloak, quiver, longbow, longsword, nonmagical arrows. Ed throws all this in the haversack.armor], put it in Ed's haversack) Kith and Simone were out.
Simone's Journal
I arrived at the horde camp too late to help, but thankfully I was not needed. They repelled an attack by the Brotherhood of Order. I know not their origins, but they seem to be comprised of many races. Their goal seems to be to stop the flow; and in a limited radius, they seem to be able to achieve it. Outside of that, a barrier of flow seems to exist. It's like they can corrupt a nexus to repel flow a certain distance. At that point, the flow seems to greatly affect anything that touches it or is near by. Also, fallen warriors have been know to wither and walk again within moments.
We don't need battle on yet another front, but at least this enemy is interesting. I want to know where they came from, who gathered them. Who discovered and taught them the geomancy to pervert a nexus in such a way? Vance is the only "person" who comes to mind, but why would he do this? I guess he doesn't make sense to me, so that's a question I cannot answer.
After the attack is repelled, the hordes learn of another attack on an Empire city. There will probably be more, but this is news we must act on. The Vanquisher wants the cult eliminated, and while they are dangerous, I still want to learn more than I want to eliminate.
Kith and I head off, but we disagree on what to do. He wants to find and slay the few who fled. Eventually we agree that the best way to fight this threat is to stop them from taking the next city.
After a few days of travel, we manage to reach Heimdall? in a few days. I don my dragonborn guise so as to not attract too much attention. Also, they will be much more willing to trust one of their own.
We gain entrance and head to the mayor's office. Before we get to speak, Arwel, Biger, and Ed enter. They carry the same grave news. I can't let them in on my identity quite yet, but once admitted to speak, I invite them in as well.
This city, like many others, is facing a difficult time, and fending off many attacks. No one wants to believe that a new threat exists, or that they need to adjust to fight it. They are worn thin, and worn out. At least we are taken about as seriously as to be expected. They double the guards on the Nexus, which is something. I also request that he communicate the threat with Tane'klenya.
Both in the office, and on our own, we contemplate ways to attack and defend the nexus. We know the Delphians can teleport through the ley lines into the nexus, as have corrupted hoard creatures. An attack could be made on all the guards at the same time. The guards are Norn, and extremely well trained, well equiped, and honored for their loyalty, but they have failed once before, somehow.
Once we leave the office, I reveal my identity to Arwel. She seems a little bit different than before. More battlehardened and wiser to the ways of the world. I like the change. She should be a great ally in the times ahead. Once we are hidden in a room at the inn, I let the others in on my true identity.
After much deliberation, study, resting, and a few trips back to the mayor's office, we start our preparations for the attack. The other attacks happened at night, and we antipated the same here. We take our places, and we wait.
Around midnight I detect something strange with the Nexus and approach the guards. They don't seem too happy to see me, and while they won't let me go in (understandably I guess. Why would a withered dragonborn want in an inverted nexus, especially if they are on high alert). When I ask him to check, he puts his hand on the door handle, and the next thing I know I'm waking up bleeding, and in a lot of pain.
The fight is on, and apparently, these "norn" are in on it. I turn myself invisible, leaving an image of my wounded body on the ground. I attack one of the norn, and while I got the jump on him, he did the same to me. I don't know if it was luck, or if he could see me, but as soon as I hit him, his blade tossed me back to the ground, bleeding more than ever.
Without me, they were able to get in and kill, capture, or scatter the geomancers inside. Typically, in a battle, I want to hide, strike from the shadows. I can't take a direct attack. Being invisible wasn't enough. I need to find a better way.
I'm glad we repelled the attack. We also learned about their tactics and capabilities. They are a fearsome opponent, but they can be stopped. I still wish I knew more about them.
Order and Duty
Really, the concept of ordering the universe such that the flow has little or no sway, is not a terrible goal in of itself. Although I can tolerate the amount of chaos even a mild quake can cause, there is something to be said for actions having consequences that won’t be overturned by a seemingly random and arbitrary event. This statement, of course betrays my relative ignorance on the subject, but lacking any specific training on the subject, it will have to do. And although I can sympathize on some level with the overall goal of those behind the ordering, I feel compelled to murder them on sight, due in large part to their methods.
A few days ago, I witnessed what all commanders of men must inevitably witness. Good and brave soldiers fought a force, which they could not stand against. A form of corruption never before seen overwhelmed them. Their bodies withered and rose in a matter of moments, leaving only those with particular training behind to face their assailants and former comrades. I know that they did not flee, because they could not without all dying to a man. There were survivors, a fact I am grateful of. They did me proud, though I curse the force that snatched me from them in their hour of need.
Their enemy, a form of undead that passes on its curse with but a casual touch, was released unto the world by order imposed upon the unwilling, just one possible abomination to arise from the maelstrom surrounding an Ordered city. If these Brotherhood of Order idiots had ceased their course after this first failure, I could perhaps see my way to forgiving them. But even after witnessing this disorder they unleashed upon the world, they not only failed to amend their methods, they escalated them. Three cities now Ordered, where by rights there should have been none. These morons will pay.
We held the line here. We killed and captured the majority of their team, including those required for this foolish ritual. In two cities now they know they can bleed.
Jeff's notes
The Fall of the Marquis.
The Marquis of The east place Nigfleheim is Dragontamer. Dragontamer mentioned to the party that the marquis of Elyria was deplying troops suspicioiusly.
The declaration of the emperor that he had died and was a withered undead and the priests are followers of Tiamat not Bahamut (And they shoudl destory the nexuses not invert them). Ultimately, the emperors ghost was destroyued adn the priests remained control. Rory Beardthicket has pledged his life to collapsing the inverted nexuses in the empire. The Actual emperer was chosen: it's the nephew... and he's a human age equivalent of 12, so they need a regent... Three party members form dark group show up at the marquis of Elyria sayign they also wanted to kill him. They gfound out there was a bunch of shady shit... He was a vampire, had necromantic walls, torture chambers, etc. They took him down. The dark memb ers had a plan. V'shir could change form, and he claimed to have experience acting in a noble ruling capacity, so dark team had planned to have him take his place... they all agreed on a temporary basis.
Temple of sigil
We went into the temple... it's a big spire... the group reached an arcane door. The ley lines all connect at this junction. The door didn't open until Cameron and Sahret together touched it. The of the writing, written above the doors: They are written in Primal, shared traits of celestial and infernal and abyssyl. On the door was "Only gods may enter here." Above the door was "Within this place lies the tomb of the betrayer."
A bunch of dieties altars were there, and on the end two that looked different... one was "The fey will all remember" and the other is "Love brings the worst betrayal of all" Down the stairs was the map room.
The gods were: Left hand: Boccob fharlanghen (One more... vecna?) heironeous hextor kord olidammara pelor vecna wee jas bane coreellon and sehanine erythnul gruumsh ioun, moradin obad hian yondalla bahamut/tiamat (Disk with a mark down it). And the figuere in the darkness was probably lloth... the wilderness scene mural who knows.
many other gods weren't represented by a shrine.
We heard a noise and ran up the stairs.. Vance appeared and claimed that Sahret would ruin the world. Sahret evil side was taken by him... and Danielles character made him swear 3 oaths to made sure he wouldn't do anything... and that Danielle could come and make sure everything was alright (To obad hai and hextor/heironeous)... Good sahret swore an oath to Vecna that he would do this. Vance then
Evil sahret has gone back to being a twinkle in his father's eye...
The hatch near the Lloth fortress opened and three from the dark group came.
Kord, erathis, erythnul corellon sehanine ehlonna gruumsh asmodeus some others didn't show up... Nerull appeared, surprising the others supported... 2 olidammaras showed up from the mural. One was in support and the other wasn't.
Asmodeus didn't have a mural but he showed up. They asked of the party that when we meet eachother in bnattle that we keep an open mind and remain watchers... Don't cross 'the line' and set aside differences as needed. THe other thing they said... "At some point in the future, they believe it will be necessary to eliminate the nexuses to make sure everyone is on even footing... and0 the temp[le must ultimately be destroyed. In the meantime, they ask that its existence be kept a secret. "
The flow is fragmented right now...s everal things seem to have poccured only a few times... arx and terminus inverted their nexuses... some of the time.
When terminus and Arx is inverted, its overrun by Demons... so people are wary of it.
The demons say their fighting for the Delphians whether they liek it or not, but it seems they kinda do... the ruling class is in rule...
The underdark exists... drown and tieflings are making skirmishes wherever they can, because they're worried that their inverted nexuses will be destroyed by Rori beardthicket.
The Vanquisher is known to be mounting an attack against terminus 'to fight the demons'... brought the blood war to the material plane.
Vshir stepped down once they found out that isaline had slain the evil necromancer... a lot og people thought it should be her. Isaline has been the Marquis... but a lot of the time, its not her. It's usually Van Wagrim...? Most of the time probably Vshir. Zahar is an outrider for the city, even when isaline isn't in control.
The fey are more reclusive then ever... they've retreated into the feywood and are hiding from the war, basically..
In the last few weeks soemthing worse has happened. Something happened to titenda recently... some strange cult launched an attack against it... it was an independent city on the border of the wastes. THey're kinda terrorists. No one knows what they were trying to do, really... it had something to do with preventing quakes form happening in civilized areas... they 'knew' that the nexus was related to the quakes... They did a crazy ritual that took hours... but it didn't cause quakes to stop... it stopped local quakes (Within about a mile and a half).. The closer you get to it the more little quakes appear. That smaller radius is blocked off by a wall of quakes, basically.
So some people thought that they had succeeded and maybe this was a one time thing... no...
The cult arranged a massive strike about a week after that. 3 targets were struck simultaneously on the same day by this cult called "The brotherhood of order". The three palces were 1 horde, 1 delphian and 1 empire city: Empire; trimsarran, in the souther region. Delphian was intempestous in the southwest... that's where the horde came from to attack Eloyes. The last horde settlement that was aattacked... (Where the vanquisher was at the time).
This phenomenon is at the first two of these, but the attack on the horde was repelled.
The order of the common shield is fairly well known. Haruhn has been advising Isaline, with prophecy kinda.
beardthicket has been continuing to shut down nexuses... He's been raiding nexuses, specifically elyrian ones since those are what's lef.t THe people of the underdark are trying to capture the cities and protect the nexuses. That isn't a war, it's a group of people deciding 'we gotta safeguard these things' (They're militias but they act without the permission of their government). There's an open dialog with the people 'in charge' of the underdark...
Bearthicket has a bunch of fanatics workign with him... attacks they make are suspiciously well organized and well times. They are people who are loyal to the statements made by the withered emperor, who believe teh nexuses need to be destroyed.
About a year has passed.
(Recap end, session begin)
Arwel gets all muddled by leaving tatienda. refugees follow behind Arwel. Some kind of plague... something happened with the ordering. Some kind of withering effect... maybe people just lsot track of time... and refugees are fleeing into the empire or to arx.
Arwel meets Ed, Admatha and myself... and our paramilitary force.... Way more St. Cuthbert sigils on. her.
Ed and I have heard something bad happened in Tatenda... We have an information network to tell us when and where we're needed. Ed's map says Tatenda has a nexus, it is constantly changing... it looks unstable... inverted, not, big, small sizes.. rapid shifts.
We Ask Arwel what happened... off in the distance we see refugees... the people behind occasionally catch a refugee... and the people who fall get back up.
Admatha is unusually disturbed by this.
Their group attack us... and when they hit, it feels like a directed quake... not a normal everyday quake. Some of the hospitaliers get hit by the incoming enemies and immediately become withered undead, even before falling. Others remain uneffected.
Ed is hit... nothing happens. Ed is fairly sure that for a moment, the organic material within him tryign to do something... The paladins Are immune to this... We didn't notiuce a single paladin falling.
Then a quake hits... the fire trap successfully triggered... When the quake ends, we are not where we were before... We three are somewhere else (Admatha and the hospitaliers are not with us). Somewhere near the wasteland we are somewhere along the northern edge of the empire.
Arwel tells us that the brotherhood of the order has an objective to stop all quakes... Arwel guesses that the plague thing is a side effect of it. The ordering is apparently heavy quake action. I'm casting scrying to detect what's going on where we just left.
The lieutanent I scry on is dead. (He was named Jackson). Several people I scry on are dead.... on my 9th attempt, I am able to get one of the paladins. They are liove with a small group of others. There are 5 of them, and they are -all- paladins, They are looking really roughed up and empotionally depleted. We have our forces split.
I tell these 5 to fall back toth e nearest town (Not tatenda) and instruct the townspeople to fortify up and spread the word as quickly as possible... every area within 10 days of Titenda) and don't approach tatenda. The one of them who has any rank whatsoever tells me that there were a few other groups that got seperated... everyone who had not taken sacred vows of purity was affected by this contagion.
Arwel was notably unaffected.
We get to Heimdall a couple hours after dawn. We ask to speak with the captain of the guard...
We see an old withered dragonborn in the reception hall.. There's a receptionist. we tell her we have news of a great threat. Ed tells us that two other locations have been hit. I scry and pass along this information to other wings of our sect.
(note, those withered were going fast, so our 5 little guys seem to have won... [and there are other people in other splinter groups.])
The brotherhood of order has some geomancers, and there are some zealots who are very anti-the flow, not all of whome are imperial... A very mixed group. They seemed to come out of nowhere.
Simone in disguise explains why she appears withered... She was quaked out of the world out of the empire. The receptionist returns and lets us all in at Disguised Simone's request. There is a dwarven man in reasonably nice clothes... making an environment that... he has several large two handed weapons on pegs along the walls... a full suit of armor on an armor rack... tall for a dwarf...
kashyyk Rell. We Introduce ourselves. Say we have grave news. There is a force... that has been attacking various settlements. Arwel explains the ordering and hte crazy go wild. And then about the undead. And Arwel warnes that upper ranks might have been infiltrated. He takes a moment to think about any suspicious activities... it seems this is what he's doing, anyway. He says..
'to the best of my knowledge, the Norns guarding the nexus are loyal.' They tried and failed at a horde settlement battle encampments. They are preparing an assault on terminus probably. I inform him of the other two cities that fell.
The dwarf says he'll double watches on the nexus, he seems to be taking us seriously.
Many thousands of people live here, many of whom are warriors. Norn have excepetional sense, are hard to catch off guard, and are hard to sway mentally, though the source of that mental stability is tough... they are picked from the best and are the cream of the cream of the crop. They protect the outside of the nexus but to not go into it but it can't be teleported into.
It would be difficult to get in to the nexus undetected. The Nexus building (It is a spherical building) is in plain view, it has only the city wall behind it... there is a 60ft radius of completely uncovered ground.
Getting into the nexus... Whoeever is in charge of the military goes in with 2 Norn to enter a Nexus place.
At the inn there are off duty guardsmen dwarves... there's a half orc drinking by himself... other than that, the dragonborn bartender.
The half orc is from the skullcrusher tribe (Which is under the vanquisher).
The Tiefling used geomantic teleportation. And Delphians can go through a nexus.
Kith reveals himself.n he suggests ways that would have been done.. a squad of assassins to kill all 4 of Norn at the same time, drop them all, while someone moves in from the inside already...
Teleklenia, an underdark city, uses this nexus. Nexuses are pillars. we could probably get to that city if we knew where an exit was. The closest underdark opening to the best of Simone's knowledge is at least 100 miles away. There are few and they're positioned intentiionally.
The underdark is in turmoil lately. Simone has dropped hints so we can figure out who she is.
"Sahret is only half the problem he used to be." (Ed to Kith).
Access to Nexus? Communication with underdark city (And warning them?) Wards to detect intruders and undead? Can Norn sense thigns in Nexus Building? Norns likely bait, in order to allow other norns to help... can some people (Norns maybe) get inside the nexus to guard it?
Kith speaks with a camel...
Arwel, Myself, Ed, and Simone go and talk to the mayor.
Simone is able to communicate that the she knows of theunderdark and the Mayor knows about the underdark and that they might try something is going down there... and they think about this a bit...
Simone asks what inspections are being done on the nexus. The dwarf is confident that the Norns would be well aware. He seems confident that any movement tpo the nexus through the ley lines would be detected.
There are a lot of norns here...
A battle could be a diversion, we mention this possibility.
Apparently the Norns were asassinated then immediately replaced... A minute at most.
Nothing in particular has shown up lately.
Ed's activation phrase is given to us by him.
I and Ed shut down for 4 hours.
Dusk happens.
I have darkvision courtesy of Kith.
Around midnight Simone can sense something strange going on at the nexus.
Simone convinces the Norn to check inside.
A halfling appears out of nowhere and completely takes down Simone with 30 wounds damage. I hear invisibility cast from inside the house that she runs into right away.
Ed slams the phantom steedinto the house wiht the halfling to launch himself through the window. There's a spectral hand in the hourse as well. He is attacked by someone with a readied attack. And attacks the person who attacked him (The halfling).... punches her hard.
An elf stabs Arwel from behind... but misses.
The guards seem to be ready to attack anyone who seems to be an enemy. They seem perfectly calm about what's going on out here.
Dispel magic probably got my glitterdust. The spectral hand remained in the house.
I reglitterdust the halfling... this time, she's blinded as well. Arwel rushes her into the wall, she cowers and surrenders while bluinded and crippled and almost staggered. The Norn are intentionally stonewalling us, and they are not under magical compulsion.
One of the Norn disappears as an illusion. I hear fly being cast.
Simone attacks the dwarf false norn, it counters with its readied action. It crits Simone to Wounds, Simone Falls.
The dwarf was using a vicious weapon, managed to hit Arwel. We take down teh dragonborn alive.
Kith pops open the door, despite the fact that it is magically locked. 3 people are around the nexus. all are attempting to do somethign,. One is attempting to cause a quake, one to empower the nexus and one to disrupt the nexus, an elf, eladrin and gnome.
Arwel and Ed each go in and drop someone. These three do not appear if they are pained or not by jthe ritual. I shank the last one with Wrin and myself via smite evil. We are almost certain that it will normalize.... but there's a huge quake... (note, we captured two of the false norns, the dragonborn, and the dwarf [who knocked himself unconscious with his vicious weapon). Ed loses the rope. The halfling and the spellcasting spotter got away.
The most
(We take a bastard sword [vicious plus other thing, shield, and full plate [It looks like norn armor],
The elf has chainmail, ioun stone, magic shoes, amulet, brooch on nonmagical cloak, quiver, longbow, longsword, nonmagical arrows. Ed throws all this in the haversack.armor], put it in Ed's haversack)
Kith and Simone were out.