This session was attended in person by Trajan, Will, and Ave. We met at Ave’s house.

The War Council of the Second Alliance met in Phoenix to discuss the newest development of the now three year long war with Xoria. The Xorians succeeded in building a siege wall around the city of Phoenix. Phoenix is a city ruled by different guilds with the Thieves Guild in charge. The Thieves run a sort of protection racket that is awfully similar to a tax system. The other significant guilds are the Mercenaries Guild, the Adventurers Guild, the Clerics Guild, and the Mages Guild. The Thieves Guild has ceded control of the town to the Second Alliance War Council until the crisis has passed. The War Council is headed by Arendil, an old noble from one of the Allied cities, Jipangu. The main forces on the council are the Mercenaries Guild and the Adventurers Guild.

All of the PCs are also members of the War Council.
Trajan plays Amalius, a human telepath psion from Jipangu. His father was the founding force of the Second Alliance is a member because of his father’s influence.
Will plays Torin a dwarven cleric of Athena. He is a cousin of King Dainlin and represents the Hill Dwarves.
Ben plays Terroc a human conjurer wizard from Aractrash. He is on the War Council’s staff as a professional magician.
Ave plays Preta a wizard specialized in circle magic. He is an exiled Persian Prince, hoping to gain a following in Cimmeria to reclaim his homeland.
Jamie plays Logan a human hellfire warlock from Gazeara and a senior member of the Adventurers Guild.

NPCs on the War Council included:
Arendil, the aged human leader of the First Family of Jipangu. Arendil is also the leader of the War Council, having inherited the position from Amalganus.
Astyanax, a human paladin and noble from Bradel Fields. Astyanax is in charge of the military operations of Bradel Fields.
Gradorian, a hobgoblin weapon master and the guildmaster of Phoenix’s Mercenaries Guild.
Junai, a human sword master and Gradorian’s second-in-command.
Kig Yupington, a man of a mysterious unknown race and a powerful monk. Kig is from Restnor’s Point and has a powerful presence in Eastern Cimmerian politics due to his philanthropic work.
Titandra, a blind seer and the leader and representative of Restnor’s Point on the War Council.
Lamarr, the enigmatic guildmaster of Phoenix’s Adventurers Guild. He is also the main representative on the War Council for Phoenix at large.
Dralin, the general of the hill dwarf armies stationed at Phoenix.

War Council

Arendil started the council meeting off by asking for solutions to the city’s siege. Phoenix has enough food to last until April if nothing goes wrong. The city is at the meeting of two rivers, so water isn’t a problem. The Alliance also has access to about two million gold pieces that could be used for almost anything. The Xorians are encamped to the north of the city beyond the siege wall, to the west of the city across the Delain Tribute, and to the south of the city across the Curving Stream. The Xorian army size roughly outnumbers the Alliance’s armies within the city by three to one. “What do we do gentlemen?”
General Dralin spoke first, “My men are tunneling as we speak. We are attempting to reach beyond the Xorian battlelines. We can either evacuate the city or attack the Xorians from behind once the tunnel is complete.”
Amalius said, “How are you keeping the preparations secret? Surely, the Xorians have flying scouts who can see any large holes in the ground that you’d be digging.”
“We’re not digging outside. We have supplies being brought into the temple of Hephaestus and dirt going out. Hopefully it won’t look too suspicious due to the smiths that do their work in there.”
Arendil asked, “How far along is the tunnel at this time?”
“We’ve gotten about halfway to the perimeter of the city walls. We need to extend the tunnel to maybe ten times that length.”
“This is good news, but I’d like us to explore some other options until the tunnel is completed. What else does the council have for me?” Arendil said.
Gradorian, the hobgoblin mercenary stood up and spoke, “We should attack the siege wall again. We can take it this time. I’ve been with my men in tight spots before. Desperate men are good fighters.”
Astyanax said, “I agree. The undead beasts would hardly expect an attack. They think we are trapped and scared like rats. We should show them the courage the men of the East have.”
The Council members discussed the strengths of the different armies at length. Should an attack be during the day or the night? And what were the chances of success? Titandra and Kig were against assaulting the wall. The consensus landed on an attack being a good idea eventually, but not yet. Junai brought up the alternate possibility of surrendering, but she was booed for suggesting such a thing.
Eventually, Lamarr spoke up, “What we really need is more troops. We won’t find them in the city. We’ve already drafted every man we can spare. Instead, we should look outside of the Alliance. We need more of the city-states of the East to join our fight. I think we should get the people of Mars’ Oasis on our side.”
Preta asked, “Why Mars’ Oasis?”
“Because they are a town that constantly fights the undead and dragons of the desert. They have experience fighting exactly what we are fighting, draconic undead. They already have a standing army that would help greatly in the fight against the dragovinians.”
Arendil said, “But aren’t they busy fighting the undead and dragon threats of the desert? They won’t fight our enemies unless we agree to fight theirs first. I fear the people of Mars’ Oasis will not join our fight until the blue wyrm, Bavastatner, is dead along with the Bane, the lich of the desert.”
The Council discussed the difficulties in taking on additional enemies while in their current position. Could they spare the resources to fight the undead, dragons, and the third opponent that threatens Mars’ Oasis, Formians?
Terroc, who had remained silent for most of the meeting, finally decided to interupt, “Mars’ Oasis is not the answer my friends. We must look closer to find allies. The people of Shalerton would help us if only they had a trained army. I have found a ritual in some old books that will allow us to train the people of Shalerton quickly.”
Astyanax said, “Tell us how this ritual works, Terroc.”
“I did not find the ritual itself. Only a reference to it in another book. The ritual is contained within the Tome of Agamemnon, which is kept underneath your own city of Bradel Fields, brave Astyanax.”
“The Tome of Agamemnon? That thing is buried under the city for a reason! It is evil!”
“Yes, but some evils are necessary in war. The magics in the Tome of Agamemnon can quickly train the people of Shalerton into a force to be reckoned with, just as Agamemnon trained his Argives and conquered all of Greece. The reference spoke of combining the ritual with a sacred fountain of water. There is no such fountain in Shalerton, but I know of another to the northwest, the Geyser of Talos.”
Torin said, “But that still leaves the problem of the fountain being here,” Salzar pointed to the map we had out, “and Shalerton being all the way over here. How can they drink from the fountain?”
Terroc answered, “With ring gates. A ring gate is normally a small thing that allows for a few pounds to pass through it each day. I propose that we construct a huge one, perhaps six feet in diameter. The ring gate should be able to transport all the water of the Geyser of Talos to Shalerton. Then we can perform the ritual of Agamemnon in Shalerton and have a trained army in no time.”
Amalius said, “Great. Have you begun construction of the ring gates?”
“Unfortunately, no. I am missing a key alchemical component. Normally, ring gates are constructed with giants’ hearts which are easy enough to acquire. However, for a gate this large I need a correspondingly large giant heart. There are none available in Phoenix.”
The members of the War Council looked dejected.
“Don’t worry! I’ve heard word through the Mages Guild that a geriviar was spotted in Danar’s Swamp to the west just two weeks ago. Geriviars move on pretty quickly, so to catch this one we must act fast. I propose that a few members of the War Council teleport with me to Danar’s Swamp. From there we can track the giant, kill it, and take out its heart.”
Torin, Preta, and Amalius volunteered to be the members of the War Council to get the geriviar’s heart. Before leaving assault team read up on geriviars. They learned that it was immune to fire damage and hated buildings.

Giant Hunt

The next day the party teleported off to Danar’s Swamp. The party consisted of Torin and his squire, Erick, Preta and his assistant, Shez, Amalius and his companion, Aldarian, and Terroc. Aldarian quickly found the geriviar’s large tracks and followed them. They found that the tracks often doubled back on each other. It seemed that the giant was wandering in circles looking for something. After three days the party had gotten within a day of the geriviar, but were unable to bridge the gap.

Amalius decided he would create an illusionary tower on a hill above the swamp. Hopefully, the tower would attract the building hating geriviar. The tower did attract a monster, but it wasn’t the geriviar. A grey render showed up. Preta fireballed it and it ran off.

The party spent another three days tracking the giant, but didn’t get any closer. They were ambushed by a group of three medusas. Preta’s quick reflexes and a cone of cold turned the medusas into popsicles. Amalius got mad at Preta for killing the medusas so quickly. Amalius insisted that the medusas could have guided the party to the geriviar.
On the seventh day in the swamp the players finally realized that Terroc can cast phantom steed. When asked why he hadn’t cast it before his only response was, “You didn’t ask.”

The phantom steeds allowed the party to catch up to the geriviar very quickly. It ran from them upon seeing them, but they chased it down. Amalius tried to work his way into the giant’s mind, but failed. Preta shot a lightning bolt off at it, but did not succeed in killing it. The geriviar turned and threw two nodules plucked from its back. The nodules hit Preta and explored in gouts of fire, killing the wizard. Torin landed to do hand-to-hand battle with the geriviar. Amalius got into the geriviar’s head and convinced it that Torin was a renowned giant-slayer and that the geriviar had better watch itself. Amalius won. The geriviar was cowed and now willing to talk to the party.

The geriviar revealed that his name was Bill and that he was looking through the swamp for his lost dog, Scruffy. Bill lives in the mountains to the west of Danar’s Swamp, but Scruffy went missing about three weeks ago. Amalius used his magic to convince Bill that the Xorians had kidnapped Scruffy. Bill led the party to the Xorian town of Jevanicia to the south to get revenge.

While Bill and the rest headed south, Terroc teleported back to Phoenix with Preta’s body. A druid worked his magic to return Preta to life, but with a new body. The Persian magician came back as a Cervidal, a type of magical satyr. Blessed with the new form, Preta returned to Danar’s Swamp with Terroc.

At Jevanicia, Bill destroyed everything. No one there was powerful enough to threaten him. Not even the small dragovinian population party stood a chance, especially with the buffs the party gave Bill. Torin gave Bill a cold fire shield to protect him. This proved fortunate as they discovered that dragovinians are vulnerable to the divine cold damage of a fire shield spell. Bill didn’t kill everyone in the town, but he killed damn near everyone he could get his hands on. The civilians of the town fled to the south.

Scruffy was not in the town. Terroc scried for Scruffy and found him dead in the swamp. He teleported there with Amalius. Amalius used disguise to make Scruffy look like he’d been killed by a Xorian spear. They teleported back to Jevanicia and showed the body they’d “just found” to Bill. Bill flew into a rage and beat the stone buildings of the town into dust and the wood buildings into tiny splinters.

Amalius asked if Bill wanted to get more revenge on the Xorians. He said yes. They told him to wait three days at the ruins of the town. The party teleported back to Phoenix and called a War Council meeting. They proposed an attack on the siege wall in three days with Bill and an army backing Bill up.