GoCorral

This session was attended by Avery, Trajan, Jamie, and Will. The session was held using Roll20 for tabletop interactions and Skype for voice and video. This is another combo session. This session involved a lot of PvP but it should be known that it was all at the permission of the respective PCs. No one was upset at the end of the session. We started off with everyone playing their Alliance characters.

The Family Halkias

After welcoming Origenes into the party everyone decided to take a few days off for themselves. Destroying ancient artifacts can take a lot out of you. Eathirilu spent his time developing his base in Demeter’s Garden further. Danar, Tagenadi, and Origenes worked on some battle tactics they could use in future fights. Hektor had Alliance business to attend to along with beginning negotiations of Aractrash’s entrance into the war. Amalius did something a little different.

Amalius had been kidnapped by the Xorians before joining the Alliance and he was brainwashed into thinking he had a family. The Xorians used an actual family to aid the creation of these new memories. The memories of the family were also changed, so that they would think that Amalius was the father/husband of the family. The Xorians held Amalius’s family hostage and forced him to spy on the Alliance.

Amalius eventually freed his “family” and in doing so realized that they his memories and theirs were false (Xorian Wars 25/Alliance 17). Since then Amalius consulted with the Björn for advice and after doing so used psychic chirurgery to correct the errors of his memories and those of his “wife,” Denara. Denara and Amalius still kept their emotional connection and wished to stay together. The children were left in the dark about what happened and Amalius used a little bit of mental magic to smooth out any edges in their memories that might’ve made them realize that he was not their true father.

Denara and the three children, Valaria, Hallion, and Procine went to live with Amalius’s brother, Amalchus. Amalchus used to be a prosperous horse merchant in Jipangu, but after Amalius was exiled and subsequently declared a traitor to the Alliance, Amalchus’s property was confiscated and he was exiled from Jipangu as well. He’d used what he could to purchase an inn and was now running it to serve the thousands of soldiers training in the field outside of Jipangu. Also living with Amalchus were his wife, Helia; his son, Hiero; and his and Amalius’s mother, Hiroka. Additionally, Amalchus’s and Amalius’s sister, Amelia, had moved in with Amalchus. She was married prior to the family’s exile, but afterwards her husband divorced her, sending her back to her family.

The family had been close to destitute, unaware of how to manage an inn and live below their usual standard of living. Amalius used his psionic powers to give them some sound business advice and also gifted the family with thousands of gold pieces to invest in the business. Since then the inn, The Rising Sun, had grown in size and popularity. More staff were hired and the family threw themselves into work to keep up with all their customers.

With that being the current situation, Amalius realized something important, “I have a wife, but I never technically married her. Why don’t I have a wedding?” He asked her and she said yes. He began making the appropriate arrangements. Hiroka, Amalius’s mother, agreed to handle most of the small details as long as Amalius found a suitable groom for Amelia. Amalius thought of Tagenadi immediately, but discarded the idea soon afterward due to Tagenadi’s undead status. He thought of asking Hektor, but the appropriate time to broach the subject had not yet arrived.

Outmatched, Outgunned, Outplanned

Everything seems headed in a happy direction with marriage on the horizon, but there’s a darker side to these events as well. Stanton, the Xorian who altered Amalius’s memories AND dominated Tagenadi to kill his parents, still walked free, unpunished for his crimes. Amalius made plans with Tagenadi to get revenge and acted on them. They hired a mage to scry Stanton and then he teleported himself and Tagenadi there.

Amalius and Tagenadi arrived a hundred or so feet away from the Rebel party’s campfire up in the Dominarie Mountains. They’d just slain a roc and were enjoying reliving the experience, admiring the trophies they’d taken, and digesting some roasted bird. Tagenadi summoned his nightmare mount and activated his flying armor to float above the fiery steed. The Rebel party looked over and Amalius announced, “We come in peace! Me mean you no harm!”
Seeing a large skeleton man, floating over a flaming horse, the Rebel party didn’t believe a word of that crap. Korjak yelled out, “Like hell you do!” as he transformed into Baldr.

Tory began leading the goats as far away from the newcomers as possible. Sivirdm disappeared into the shadows and started circling around to flank. Gregor, Korjak, Demetrius, and Reggy all scrambled for their weapons. Stanton mentally rolled through his spell options as Tagenadi and Amalius approached.

Amalius sighed and enveloped the party in a suggestion spell saying, “Speak with me by the fire for the night is dark and full of terrors.” This only succeeded in overcoming Baldr’s will. Unfortunately, even on him it did not have the effect that Amalius had desired. Baldr’s eyes focused on the “terror” in front of him, Tagenadi. The skeleton knight dispelled his nightmare and moved towards the campfire, bringing his activated inherent fear aura with him. Gregor and Tory fled as the chilling emanation enveloped them. Stanton also up and fled. Tagenadi swung his kusari-gama and tripped Stanton, preventing his escape.

Demetrius summoned his horse, Alexis, and mounted, preparing to charge Tagenadi. Baldr ran at Tagenadi, but was tripped. Baldr attempted to hit Tagenadi as he fell, but only glanced off of his armor.

Amalius shouted, “Everyone stop! We only want to talk with one of you!” but was ignored.
Tagenadi continued to prevent movement of all within range of his kusari-gama. Baldr managed to stand and land a strong blow against Tagenadi. Reggy stayed out of range, trying to think of what to do.

Sivirdm moved to approach Amalius from behind but as he did so he heard a voice in his mind, “I would be more careful if I were you.” Amalius’s tuned mental senses picked the halfling up even as he hid in the shadows.
His patience running thin, Amalius wormed his way into the minds of Baldr, Stanton, and Demetrius, forcing them to obey his commands. He spoke to Baldr and Demetrius, “Sit by the fire and only take defensive actions if they are absolutely necessary.” They complied with the order. Reggy joined in as well. Sivirdm chose to stay in the shadows, still circling to get behind Amalius.

Interview with an Amnesiac

Amalius and Tagenadi gathered around Stanton as he lay on the ground away from the campfire. “Now tell me… Do you remember me?” asked Amalius.
Stanton nodded.
“Good.” Amalius withdrew Korm from his gloves of storing. “Then you’ll know that there’s no way you can resist what we’re about to do to you.”
Tagenadi’s eyes would’ve widened if he still had them. “Whoa man! Put that away! We’re not going to kill him!”
Korm whined, “But I can do other things. And don’t tell me you don’t find my sense of humor appealing.” A shiver went down Stanton’s spine as Korm said pealing.
Amalius locked his gaze on Tagenadi for a moment before submitting. “Fine. Hope you enjoyed your short time out.”
“Wait! Wait! I can hel-” Korm was cut off as he was forced back into the gloves of storing.
Amalius turned back to Stanton, “You remember me from the last time I was here. Then do you remember what you did to me and my family? And to his family!” Amalius pointed at Tagenadi.
“It has a family?”
Amalius glared at Stanton.
“I mean, no! I don’t remember anything from when I was a dragovinian.”
“I’ll make you remember.” Amalius cast false sensory input on Stanton. He altered Stanton’s sense so that the cool mountain air felt like a thousand fire ants crawling over him, biting into his skin. Stanton began squirming on the ground, “Do you remember now? HUH?! DO YOU?!”
Amalius relaxed the power and waited for an answer. Stanton took a few deep breaths before saying, “No.”
Amalius was about to ramp up the spell again when Tagenadi said, “Wait. Wait. I have an idea.”
Tagenadi donned his cap of disguise and used it to change his appearance. He shifted from a skeleton into the shape of an old balding man. “Do you remember this face?”
Stanton said, “It seems a little familiar… Maybe I’ve seen it in a dream?”
Tagenadi whispered, “He was my father.”
“Sorry still nothing.”
Amalius said, “Maybe he needs some more reinforcement.” Amalius made the sounds around them deafening in Stanton’s eardrums to accompany the imaginary fire ants on his skin.
As Amalius twisted the metaphorical knife, Sivirdm dashed forwards and attempted to peel Amalius’ glove off of his hands. Amalius recoiled before Sivirdm could take the glove. Tagenadi swept his kusari-gama around and tripped the halfling.
“Please! I want it! I want that dagger!”
“You don’t know what you want.”
“YES I DO!” Sivirdm jumped up and lunged for the glove again. Amalius amped up a sonic wave and blasted Sivirdm’s left hand as it reached for the glove. The left hand was destroyed. Sivirdm screamed and fell to the ground.
Amalius looked down on Sivirdm, “I warned you.” Speaking to those by the campfire, “Come get him and treat his wound.”
Baldr had reverted to Korjak at this point. He and Reggy brought Sivirdm to the fire. Korjak did what he could to heal Sivirdm’s injuries, but the hand was gone. By this time Gregor and Tory had returned as well. They took their seats by the fire, understanding that there was nothing they could do to help Stanton now.
Amalius said, “Well if you don’t remember then perhaps I can unlock those memories.”

Amalius began casting psychic chirurgery. His goal was to only restore Stanton’s memories and not the skills he had possessed as a dragovinian. A difficult task he leaned over Stanton’s body as he wormed his way deep into the halfling’s mind. Slowly he reached closer and closer to the core where the memories were stored.

At the center instead of a locked box as he had expected, Amalius found a white light as bright as the sun. He stepped towards the light and heard a loud voice, “TREAD NO FURTHER MORTAL! YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TERRORS YOU UNLEASH!” Amalius was sure he’d heard the voice somewhere before, but he couldn’t quite place it.
Amalius spoke to the voice, “I aim to only let out his memories so that he can be appropriately punished for his actions.”
“THAT WOULD NOT BE WISE. NOTHING WILL CONTAIN HIM ONCE HIS MEMORIES ARE FREE.”
Amalius pondered the situation before electing to retreat and leave the barrier around Stanton’s memories intact. He came out of the his trance.

Tagenadi asked, “Well? Did you do it?”
“No. There’s a barrier blocking his memories. A voice spoke to me and said not to let them out. I think it would be best if we let him stay the way he is.”
“But he still needs to be punished for what he did.”
“Aye. I agree, but it shouldn’t be death.”
“Imprisonment then,” said Tagenadi. “I’ve already thought of a place.”
“Oh?”
“Where we found the Bane’s phylactery in the Lich Shade.”
“I like it. We’ll need to bring him food and water occasionally until we decide to do something else with him.”
“We can manage that.”
“Let’s search him first though in case he has any means of escaping the Lich Shade.”

Amalius and Tagenadi stripped Stanton down and took all his possessions. They teleported to the Lich Shade and marooned him within the carved out cavern halfway up the thousand foot tall obelisk where the phylactery had once been. Amalius teleported to Aractrash and purchased a wall of stone scroll as well. This was used to seal up the entrance to the cavern, leaving only a small slit for light to enter. Stanton was given two weeks of provisions as the high level pair teleported away.