Session 26, 2008-06-20: Desperate Alliances

Session 26: wherein the Ghern become allies, and Nate's bluff fails

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

After the meeting, Joanna offered the Ninja Mongoose Rockstars 10,000 platinum pieces to help in the evacuation of Old Westlay. Dwarven miners had been working for weeks to get into the city by turning sand to rock and then carving tunnels, but the tunnels kept collapsing and killing the miners. Lotus procured a scroll of Mass Burrow, and the party headed into the most recently created tunnel. Nate used Ghost Sound to create fake rock-mining sounds partway through the tunnel as dwarven miners worked somewhat more quietly at the end. Suddenly, Lotus heard some creatures outside the tunnel, swimming through the sound. The miners ran for the exit while Lotus cast mass burrow, Flynn cast haste, and Nate created an image of dwarven miners still at work. As Flynn began to sing an inspiring song, two large holes appeared in the tunnel roof, and sand and tentacles poured through.

Jakob leaped forward and, with powerful attacks from searing fists, pummelled a crawling apocalypse. Ike, remembering how unpleasant his last encounter with such a beast was, used two arrows to slay Jakob's foe and three more to wound the other. Nate cast unluck to disrupt the second crawling apocalypse's attacks. Suddenly, a group of small scorpions with metal claws broke through the tunnel roof and started clawing ineffectively at the party. Jakob smashed one while Lotus turned three more into salt. Jakob then made a pouncing charge at the second crawling apocalypse, breaking off one of its tentacles. A single arrow from Ike finished it off, and the rest of his arrows killed the remaining scorpions, leaving one with a nasty sucking chest wound and another buried deep in the sand.

After a few minutes, sand stopped pouring into the tunnel, and the dwarves were able to turn what had flowed into stone for easier tunneling. With the help of a disintegrate from Nate, the group continued inbound toward Old Westlay. Soon, the miners had carved out a room just outside the door of Old Westlay, and three wizards arrived to help create teleportation circles. Lotus complained about being in a cave, so Nate cast an illusion to make the walls look like trees. Lotus was soon snapped back to reality by a sound outside -- again, something was swimming through the sand nearby. Flynn cast haste and began singing, Nate used veil to make Jakob look like a feeble wizard, and Jakob positioned himself near the source of the sound.

Suddenly, a sandformed dragon crashed its head through the wall, and sand flowed in. Jakob stood unmoved in the sand as the dragon-like construct bit at him, its teeth bouncing off of his magical defenses. Ike landed five solid arrow shots, but Jakob's fists were unable to connect, and Nate's disintegrate and Lotus' red tide were completely ineffective. Nate recalled studying spells to create sandformed creatures once, and told Jakob that if he could land a well-placed blow he could completely destroy the creature's structure. Flynn inspired Jakob to further greatness, making the sandformed beast's attacks miss wildly. Ike's arrows and Jakob's fists continued to chip away at the beast, and Lotus drained a large amount of its strength. Nate's second attempt to disintegrate the creature hardly scratched it. Flynn continued to inspire Jakob and Ike. The dragon now breathed a cone of sand into the room, dealing substantial though not deadly wounds to the wizards. Ike and Jakob again chipped away at its defenses (down 466 hp) while Nate missed with a disintegrate ray and Lotus' flamestrike was absorbed. The dragon couldn't manage to get a claw on Jakob, and after a series of arrows from Ike, Jakob finally landed the critical strike he'd been trying for (double 20's), smashing the sandformed dragon to pieces.

One of the dwarven miners sealed up the gap in the wall, and the wizards finished casting their teleportation circles. The signal was sent, and the people of Old Westlay began pouring out of the keep doors and into the teleportation circles. Soon, the city was evacuated and the citizens were on their way to the Iron Door, the dwarven city underground. As the party followed behind, Nate and Kerastrix exchanged information about Abel. Abel had been planning to have White Fields secede and fight on the side of Mitzram, but his support evaporated after Flynn's brilliant debate performance. Being selfish above all, and knowing that at this point he had nothing to offer Mitzram, Abel focused his energy on helping White Fields prepare for war.

Minellin briefed the Ninja Mongoose Rockstars on another plan. He wanted all available armies to gather in the enchanted forest, in order to bring the maximum force to bear against Mitzram. He even wanted to get Ghern involved -- spellsinks would be a great resource against a heavily magical army. Since Ghern respected raw strength rather than magic, they had willingly followed the marruspawn abomination who killed their previous king. A strong champion from Tindell had been chosen to challenge their marruspawn abomination leader: Jinle'a Graythorne. The Ninja Mongoose Rockstars needed to locate the abomination and get his escort to hold still for long enough to allow Jinle'a to challenge for succession.

The party took up a position on William's Hill and, disguised as sheep, kept watch over the city. From there, they could see a new desert to the north (created when the wastelords flipped a lake) and burned forest to the east. Lots of hobgoblins passed through the valley below. Soon, Lotus spotted a svaklor -- something like a yuan-ti dragon -- patrolling to the north. As it got within Ike's range, Flynn cast haste and began inspiring the archer. Ike took a shot at the svaklor, easily hitting at a quarter-mile distance. The svaklor summoned a pair of marruspawn who wielded large flaming swords and rode on crocosphynxes. Nate decided to keep the new defenders distracted by creating an illusion of several archers a few hundred feet out. Ike continued putting arrows into the svaklor, killing it before the marruspawn materialized, and then seriously wounding one of their mounts.

The marruspawn used dimension door to position themselves to engage Nate's illusion, and one realized his mistake. Nate used telekinesis to push him off of his mount and onto the ground far below, and Ike finished off the other crocosphynx, leaving both marruspawn on foot. The pair used another dimension door to get closer to the party. Nate used telekinesis to disarm one of the enemies (natural 20, for a net 59 disarm check.) Lotus cast arc lightning, and Flynn sang "you guys are so boned, so boned, you don't even know how boned you are." Jakob charged at one of the enemies and used comet throw to toss him into his ally, leaving both prone. He used his quicksilver boots to position himself behind both prone enemies, and they started to realize that these "sheep" were not what they appeared. Ike drew a brilliant energy arrow and fired it from Fox's Bite, right through the enemy's armor and into his heart (146 damage). The remaining marruspawn tried to flee, but Jakob kept him on the ground and knocked him out. Ike finished off the clueless crocosphynx while Nate probed the captured marruspawn's thoughts, getting details on the enemy camp within the desert.

An hour later, the marruspawn abomination and his Ghern escorts approached the valley. Nate sent the signal to his mother, and the party waited to ambush the all-melee group. As they reached the narrowest part of the valley, Flynn played a loud riff on his lute. Lotus cast red tide to knock over and nauseate several of the escorts, and Nate's great thunderclap stunned a pair. Jakob jumped into the middle of the escorts and pushed the abomination, but couldn't get it off its feet. Ike rained arrows all around the escorts and yelled "stay right where you are!" Jakob stepped back and took up a defensive posture, conjuring a psionic shield, and the marruspawn abomination bashed against it. Jinle'a approached as Flynn inspired her to greatness, and Nate yelled out a taunt: "you're about to get destroyed by my MOM! You SUCK!" Jinle'a challenged the marruspawn according to the Ghern tradition, and with Flynn's inspiration, easily crushed him. The hobgoblin guards stood and declared her high leader.

Nate stepped forward and said "hi, mom." Jinle'a responded "are you still gambling?" "No", Nate bluffed (45). Jinle'a glared and said "don't you lie to me, boy." "Sorry, ma'am." Jinle'a and the hobgoblins led the way back to Nate's childhood city, and he had an ale at the Dancing Bear tavern. He also sent word to his old friend Thameor to collect on the bet they'd made a hundred and fifty-five years earlier.

The party reached level 16.