Welcome back to the greatest blog on the internet at this very moment, maybe even for a few moments, Tales From The Plunderbund Consortium. Now, if you are anything like me, then you love a good army of the dead. I try to throw in a YouTube clip every week that somehow ties into something, and well, you should see where I am going with this if you know me at all personally.
Tales from the Plunderbund Consortium
Dark Sun Campaign – Chapter 13
Upon reaching the elven district of Celik, the party decided to regroup and discuss the proper course of action. Coraanu obviously wanted them to continue their journey to Balic in the hopes of turning in the Orb of Kalid-Ma they had obtained from Kalidnay so that the sorcerer king would fix his broken mind. Ilana, on the other hand, suggested that they make the two-day journey north back to the reservation so that they could ask Rez about the Orbs of Kalid-Ma. The group put the options to a vote, with Ilana’s plan winning out.
As usual, the group headed out at night. Soon after leaving Celik, the group heard a loud insect-like buzzing in the distance. Consulting their knowledge of nature, the party determined that it was likely the sound of Dune Locusts appointing a new hive master. Not wanting to fight a swarm of cow-sized insects, the party opted to take the long way around. Unfortunately, they were not careful enough, and a guard-locust guarding the perimeter noticed them. Thinking quickly, Ilana and Darkius combined their illusion magics to create the sound of a Mekillot, who love the taste of Dune Locust, coming up behind the insect. As the locust turned to look for the predator, the group immediately booked it out of there.
After an uneventful days rest, the next evening the group came upon a nearly naked half-elf running towards them. It was clear that the half-elf was gushing blood from his mouth. Once the half-elf came within range it became apparent that the half-elf’s tongue had been cut out. Darkius immediately cast a healing spell to prevent the half-elf from bleeding to death.
Upon saving the half-elf’s life, Pane-Pan used his telepathic powers to allow the half-elf to communicate with the group. The half-elf introduced himself as Hosfyr. He and his fiancée Iraviel had been captured by raiders. He had escaped during his last torture session, however, Iraviel remained a prisoner. He begged the party to rescue her.
The group decided that they had to choose between one of two options: 1) sell Hosfyr back to the raiders; or 2) kill all the raiders and then take their stuff. They decided to stake out the camp, evaluate the strength of the raiders, and then make their final decision.
Meanwhile, back in the realm of chaos, headless reanimated Hookeri, now going by the name Roc, decided that he wanted to return to Athas, as he had no interest in being reunited with Hookeri’s old pet. After two days of meditation, Roc was able to pinpoint the magic energy being radiated by the party’s Orb of Kalid-Ma. This once again resulted in a portal opening, which Roc then stepped entirely through. The party was surprised to see a headless Hookeri emerge from yet another portal, but Roc quickly explained the situation to them. Living in a world of magic and psionics, the group really did not question the explanation.
Arriving at the camp, recon indicated that the raiding group was made up of 10-20 individuals, with two groups of two currently walking the perimeter. Assuming they could take everyone, the adventurers decided to kill the raiders and take their stuff rather than sell Hosfyr back to the raiders.
In order to deal with the guards, the party decided to have Roc lay motionless in the ground. The theory being that the guards would come upon the “headless” body and begin looking for signs of danger. At that point Roc would stand up and kill them. This strategy proved exceptionally effective.
After taking out the guards, Ilana threw a fireball into the raider camp, killing everyone but their leader who took cover in the camp ruins. Ilana demanded unconditional surrender, all of the leader’s stuff, including anything he was wearing, and their female half-elf captive, Iraviel. The leader agreed to send out the captive with 10 silver. Ilana scoffed at the offer and the party attached.
While the leader was tough, things seemed to be going the party’s way when the leaders weapon broke soon into combat. Unfortunately, it was then that the party learned the leader had the ability to summon a necrotically powered Death Inix. Rather than continue to engage the party, the leader decided to cut and run. However, this was not good enough for Ilana, who cast slow on both the Inix and the leader. After a few rounds of being unable to escape, the leader turned his Inix around, and was then that the group learned the Inix had a deadly breath weapon, which rendered Ilana unconscious and dying.
Luckily, with Darkius’s healing powers, the group was able to pull through and kill the raider leader, which sent the Death Inix back to hell (or some other relevant evil plane of existence). The group then looted the caravan. Unfortunately there was not much to pick over as the leader’s journal explained how the group worked. They would wait on the road for adventurers and merchants heading to Celik, raid their caravan, and then sell the good in Celik before returning to their own camp. Is was how Hosfyr and Iraviel were captured.
The raiders defeated, the party turned their attention to more important matters, namely, shaking down Hosfyr. While Hosfyr did not have any material possession on him, he told the group that he had connections in Celik. He would ensure that any currently banished group members would receive a pardon and would be allowed back into town. Hosfyr would also provide the group members with free licenses to both dungeon run and set up a shop in Celik. The group approved of this offer. In a show of good faith, Darkius prayed to the spirits of the earth and was able to regrow Hosfyr’s tongue.
Having dealt with the raider situation, the group continued north to the reservation. As they arrived the following night, they heard the sound of battle off in the distance. Darkius was able to sense strong non-elemental divine magic in the air, which could only mean one thing, Templars. Ilana’s undead army was under attack!
The party ran as fast as they could, but were unable to reach the battle before three Templars from Balic had wiped out half of Ilana’s former kinsmen turned undead. The group arrived just Chief Steven was about to deal the finishing blow to the third Templar. Rather than stoping Chief Steven and pumping the Templar for info, Ilana decided to let justice be done, and the Templar was killed and subsequently devoured by the undead.
After chatting with the remains of her army, Ilana and the rest of the party headed to the stream to speak with Rez. During the walk, Darkius has an in-depth chat with Ilana about what the hell was going on, during which Ilana was surprisingly forthcoming.
Upon reaching Rez, the spirit of the stream noted that she could feel the power of the first Orb of Kalid-Ma, and she complimented Ilana on surviving the trials of the vault. Ilana asked how the orb would assist in turning into a dragon. Rez explained that as part of the long and painful transformation process, a mage is required to swallow a number of obsidian orbs during each metamorphosis. The Orbs of Kalid-Ma are rumored to be powerful artifacts that Kalid-Ma used to speed along the transformation process. Rumor and legend says that a mage who swallows all five orbs will drastically reduce the amount of time it would take to become a dragon, however, some believe that any mage foolish enough to do so risks being possessed by the spirits possessing the artifact orbs.
Ilana thanked Rez for her honestly, and the group departed, heading north to South Ledopolus.
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