Session 16, 2008-02-22: Not Assassins

Session 16: wherein a gazebo on a grassy knoll turns deadly twice

Players (Characters)
Scott (Filthy Ike)
Jeremy (Flynn Flamm)
Tony (Brother Jakob)
Rachel (Lotus)
Tom (Nathaniel Graythorne)
DM: Catherine

As the party stood at the gate, Johan asked Flynn if he was with the group, and warned him to stay with his friends. Flynn decided it would be a good time to share his history, explaining his exile.

As Flynn finished telling his tale, a bright flash showed a group of yuan-ti were teleporting in. Jakob moved into position to strike while Flynn began singing, Nate put some grease under the largest yuan-ti, and Lotus started up a vortex of teeth. Three arrows from Ike killed one of the smaller yuan-ti, and the largest dimension doored away from the grease. Another took a few feeble swings at Jakob. Nate tried to cast Sensory Deprivation on the largest enemy, but the effect was nullified by a Mind Blank. Jakob triggered a Searing Fist and tripped and punched each of the three next to him, and Lotus' vortex and arc lightning combined to kill a pair. The remaining nearby enemy cast Wrack on Jakob, who resisted. Flynn and Ike put five arrows into the largest yuan-ti, who triggered a temporal acceleration effect. He then reached out and telekinetically drew in Ike's bow, teleporting away with it. Ike started swearing in infernal while Jakob tried to interrogate the remaining enemy. The part-snake enemy spit poison at Jakob and said "we shall outlast you." Jakob responded "do you know where he went?" "Of course I do. Go to hell." Nate said "Ike, shoot him, his friend stole your bow." The captured yuan-ti cried out "OK, I'll tell you, he went back to our camp." Jakob decided to let the prisoner go -- right into the vortex of teeth.

Johan surmised another group must have known of the party's arrival. He had the group gather together and took them through the teleportation circle to Old Westlay before another strike force could come near. Flynn led the way to the throne room, where the party was to meet their new contact. Inside the room were Flynn's father Boyent Flamm; the former king Kelavin and his daughter, the newly appointed queen Joanna, who had been Flynn's childhood friend; Kerastrix, a gold dragon who had served as advisor to the throne of Westlay for many generations; Proudbeak the king of the eagles; Derex, the half silver dragon leader of the eastern kingsmen; and Enigma, the doppelganger. As the Ninja Mongoose Rockstars stepped inside, Derex called out "wonderful, the best assassins we have!" Joanna asked "are they... professional?" "Yes, yes, they're the best." Boyent expressed some surprise at Flynn's chosen career path, and Jakob again tried to clarify the Ninja/Assassin distinction.

Kerastrix reminded the group to focus on the task at hand. The yuan-ti had breached the wall to the southwest and encased White Fields in a stone wall with a teleportation blocking effect. Those inside were being slowly consumed by the Thirsting. The yuan-ti had set up a siege camp outside the city, and one of their most powerful leaders was inside. Westlay's goal was to systematically kill off Serpenti's spellcasters, leaving them with a small and ineffective military. To do so, we would try to draw out their high priest by killing the highest local priest within the siege camp. Once the high priest was nearby, Westlay's footmen would move as bait for Serpenti's army, and another group of assassins would take out the high priest. Enigma suggested taking the place of a group of Serpenti assassins, and sneaking into the camp to take out the lead priest. Joanna gave the party two scrolls of veil, the custom-crafted Rod of the Mongoose, and the promise that their first assault would be assisted by eagles. She also gave warning: the yuan-ti can redirect teleportation effects.

The party picked a yuan-ti scouting post near the siege camp as the best place to steal the identities of the enemy. A group of invisible eagles with archer-riders started shelling the outpost, a gazebo atop a grassy knoll, and the yuan-ti scouts took cover. The party teleported in on the sheltered side of the hill and placed the Rod of the Mongoose in anti-telepathy mode. Nathaniel created some illusory fog to block sight from the main siege camp, and the eagles stopped firing. The enemies climbed out of their holes, and NMR started the attack. Lotus grabbed one with a kelp strand, Nate confused three of them, and Flynn started singing. Ike took a single shot, and Jakob charged and made a Wolf Fang Strike, killing the unconfused enemy and making the others wet themselves. Ike took several more shots, killing a second yuan-ti. Jakob ran between the remaining pair and used Shadow Garotte to harm one, and Lotus dehydrated it to death (-9 CON). The final confused yuan-ti started running, but didn't make it far before Jakob and Ike took him down. Flynn marvelled at Ike: "he knows everything about bows and nothing about soap." Ike replied "I know what soap is. It's the stuff you put on the bow string. Why do y'all put string stuff on your bodies?"

Nate created a permanent image of the yuan-ti guards standing watch at the outpost, and the party hid behind some boxes. Nate made himself look like a yuan-ti who was telekinetically moving boxes around, and the eagles loitered invisibly overhead. As the target yuan-ti party walked past the outpost, Nate called them over, saying "someone left a message for you to take in to the camp." The enemies were somewhat surprised by this, but approached inside the Rod's telepathy-blocking barrier anyway. Flynn cast haste on the party, and then played a chord to signify the enemies doom. Lotus blinded one enemy with blinding spittle, Ike shot another, and Jakob used his quicksilver boots to wolf-fang strike and stun an enemy. Lotus put a sudden stalagmite into the stunned enemy, and Nate's great thunderclap knocked another down and shattered the eardrums of two more. Ike's arrows and a volley from the eagles left two of the enemies nearly dead, and a third with an antimagic arrow stuck through his body.

The yuan-ti caster tried to pull the antimagic arrow out of his arm, but this left him vulnerable to Jakob's leg sweep and stomp. The blinded yuan-ti tried to cast from inside the AMF and failed miserably, and one of the deaf ones stepped aside and tried to send for help, but his spell failed as well. Another stood and cast harm, holding the charge and hoping Jakob would come within reach. Jakob stunned the enemy who was still stuck to the stalagmite and killed the one Ike had shot, and then stepped into the AMF, daring the enemy cleric to attack. Flynn's Bow of Songs proved powerful enough to take down a second enemy. Lotus tried to extract a water elemental from the still stunned opponent, but failed. Nate sent the cleric with the harm spell sliding downhill with a bit of grease, and Ike sent the same cleric a pack of arrows, pointy-end first. The eagles sent a volley of arrows with a fireball onto the only unharmed enemy, who was killed instantly. The cleric cast Righteous Might and called out a taunt, trying to get Jakob to approach. Jakob grabbed the AMF arrow, and the guy it was attached to, and only then did he approach, landing a solid punch that dropped the cleric. Flynn fired one last arrow at the last living enemy, hitting him squarely in the throat. The party hid the bodies in boxes and then stored the boxes deep within the scouting post. Jakob bottled up the AMF arrow and handed it to Ike for later use.

Everyone but Jakob reached level 12.