GoCorral

This session is actually two sessions rolled into one. There was an awful lot of planning and no real action in both sessions so I decided to combine them for the purposes of the campaign log.

Undead Blessing

First item on the docket, armies. The party discussed what to do with the undead armies that had fallen under their control. Tagenadi, as the Scion of Hades in the world of the living, had control over three different undead forces.

Force #1: The skeletons and zombies outside the Lich Shade in the Shacklack Desert.
These undead previously served the Bane as shock troops and as a deterrent for attacks on his home. There are roughly a quarter million of them. They are commanded via the Black Crystal of Horror, an evil artifact that Tagenadi took from the Bane. These are the weakest type of undead with no minds of their own, but they are quite numerous.

Force #2: The people and undead servants of Crux the undead city.
Tagenadi was given control of this army when the party ventured into the Silver Tower of Crux and spoke with the Antenator. There are 25,000 skeletons, zombies, and ghouls in the city that serve as servants for the 11,000 more intelligent and independent residents of the city. Crux is currently positioned between Shalerton and Phoenix. The skeletons, zombies, and ghouls of the city picked up each building and moved them south.

Force #3: The dwarven wights of the Western Underdark.
The wights were created in a cruel truce the Xorians made with the Dwarves. The Xorians vacated the Western Underdark as agreed, but the agreement had not mentioned the citizens of that region. The dragovinians slew all the dwarves with their energy drain attacks creating a massive number of wights meant to waste the dwarves’ strength as they reclaimed their lands in the Western Underdark. The Dwarves recently began their invasion into the Western Underdark to remove the roughly 350,000 dwarven wights. Tagenadi can command the wights by going where they are while wearing the Cap of Hades. Current problem, the living dwarf army was actively fighting the dwarven wights. Both of these forces would be better used directly fighting the Xorians.

Dwarven Purge

Knowing that Torin was near the top of the command structure the party set out to find him. They teleported to Highhold, the Dwarven capital, to find their estranged friend. Few dwarves remained at Highhold. Most had gone west with the army. Some dwarven servants were able to give the party rough directions to where the army was stationed. With a quick thank you the party headed into the Underdark and teleported once more (The Underdark is a different plane in my campaign requiring one to enter below the surface before teleporting).

Hektor, Eathirilu, Tagenadi, Danar, Zelus, and Barakah arrived in a cavern that had been converted into an infirmary. The smell of blood, pus, and alcohol reached the party’s noses and pained screams reached their ears. Lines of cots and bedrolls were filled with the injured. More wounded were limping in with support from their friends or worse, being brought in on stretchers. A cleric oversaw the healing, but most of the workers were apothecaries without access to instantaneous healing magic. Those gifted with such magic would likely be on the front lines to render immediate aid should it be required. Four guards stood at the entrance to the infirmary.

All activity stopped when the party appeared in the room. During the brief moment of silence only the groans of the dying could be heard. One of the apothecaries spoke first, “A giant! We’re under attack from both sides!”
Hektor tried to calm the dwarves that were scrambling for weapons, “No! No! No! He’s with us!”
“He’s brought friends! Form up! Defend the wounded!”
“STOP!” shouted Zelus, “I AM ZELUS, EMBODIMENT OF EVERLASTING ENTHUSIASM! I AM BROTHER TO KRATOS, GOD OF STRENGTH, AND NIKE, GOD OF VICTORY! THESE ARE MY COMPANIONS AND THIS IS NO ATTACK!”
The dwarven guards lowered their weapons and bowed before the god. Luckily, Tagenadi was using his hat of disguise to look like a normal human, otherwise the dwarves may never have stopped shouting.
Hektor cleared his throat, “Ahem. I am Hektor Rackgard, a member of the Alliance and friend to the Dwarves. King Barakah is my friend and so a friend of yours as well. We came to speak to Torin.”
One of the guards spoke, “Torin is busy on the frontlines. How can we assist you here, Lord Hektor?” The hustle and bustle of the infirmary slowly began once more as stretcher bearers brought in more injured for the apothecaries to treat.
“We really must speak with Torin directly. We have news that could make your entire battle with the wights unnecessary.”
“And I must apologize,” said the guard, “but Torin cannot be disturbed during the battle.”
“I don’t think you understand how important this is.”
“I have my orders, sir. No one is to disturb Torin.”
Hektor sighed at the guard’s stubbornness, “Will you give us a few moments to talk amongst ourselves?”
“Of course.”
The group talked and decided that halting the battle was obviously worth interrupting whatever Torin was doing. Zelus spoofed a sending spell using miracle.
“I am Zelus the god, working with Hektor. We need to speak with you about ending this battle.”
The reply came soon, “I am blessed to speak with a god. My magic keeps the wights at bay and I cannot be interrupted. Speak with you after battle.”

More discussion followed. Zelus moved to aid the injured dwarves and Hektor assisted by summoning a pair of celestials. Tagenadi thought on what the Antenator had told him, “To command the dwarven undead you need only go to their halls while wearing the Helm of Hades.” (Xorian Wars 32/Alliance 23) Tagenadi quickly replaced his cap of disguise with the Helm of Hades. He tried commanding the dwarven wights, but felt the connection wasn’t working. He swapped his hats once more (Tagenadi swaps hats so often that Jamie has actually talked to me about getting a magic item that can switch his hats as a free action).

Tagenadi said to the group, “I can’t command the wights from here. The Antenator said I had to be ‘in their halls.’ Maybe it’ll work if we go to the throne room of the Deep Dwarves that used to live here and…unlive here now.”
“That might work,” said Hektor. The party got a description of the throne room from one of the medics Zelus and Hektor had freed up. They gathered up and teleported away to the throne room.

Securing the Wights

They came to a large pillared room with a ornate, squat, stone chair on a dais. Wights milled about the room and they all turned towards the popping sound of the teleportation.

Tagenadi put on his Helm and spoke to the subjects of his dead kingdom, “I am Tagenadi, Hades’ power in Cimmeria.” The undead knight felt the power of the Helm of Hades radiated through him. Though he was invisible and silent, every wight in the room could hear him. The negative energy that fed them, connected them as well, feeding into a giant web. Tagenadi tapped into the web and made his will clear, “Fall back from the frontlines. Retreat. Take proper precautions to defend yourselves, but make no attempts to kill the living dwarves.” His command reverberated through the unholy force that sustained the wights. Fighting stopped in the tunnels and caverns of the Western Underdark and the wights pulled back.

Tagenadi spoke with one of the wights in the throne room. There were approximately 300,000 wights in the Western Underdark that were ready to do his bidding. Many were in the northeast, fighting the living dwarves. Most were spread throughout the Underdark, trying to pick up the pieces of the lives they’d had before their deaths. A few had formed bands that attacked other non-dwarf settlements in the Underdark, turning those people into wights or feeding upon their flesh.

Tagenadi’s companions listened in on this conversation. On it’s completion, the group returned to the infirmary. Within two hours, fighting had ceased and Torin met with them. He had been busy during the battle channeling a spell that infused every living dwarf with a minimal amount of positive energy. This was not enough to heal any of their wounds, but it did shield their bodies from the corrupting influence that would make their bodies rise again as wights.

The group informed Torin that they’d pulled the undead back using Tagenadi’s power. The dwarves would not need to fight their corrupted comrades. The wights would soon be leaving the Western Underdark to fight the Xorians, eliminating two problems at the same time. Torin felt uncomfortable about this plan, but he agreed that it was the most tactically sound idea. He would delay the dwarves for a few days and then move forward into the tunnels that the wights vacated.

Scouts and Plans

All three undead armies were secured, but what was to be done with them? Well, the Xorians recently lost control of Phoenix to Poseidon’s forces. The Xorian army surely wasn’t all wiped out in that attack. Perhaps a retreating army was going southwest from the city of guilds to Gazeara where the Amazons besieged the Rebels. A quick teleport scout trip while under the cloaking effects of a wind walk spell showed that the Xorian army was indeed marching southwest. They were on course to reach a ford of the Great Divide just north of Demeter’s Garden in a few days. The column was made up of ~75,000 infantry and ~10,000 cavalry defended the flanks.

The Xorians had a headstart on them, but an advantage of undead troops is that they can march all day and all night without tiring. Tagenadi ordered the wights to head east towards the ford. 20,000 could reach the ford in time to attack the Xorian army. Most of the skeletons, ghouls, and zombies of Crux, about 20,000 of them total, were ordered to head west. They could not reach the ford in time to fight the Xorians, but they should be able to attack from the rear before the Xorians got to Gazeara. If the wights waited to join up with the Crux army, then 40,000 wights would be in attendance instead of 20,000. The thousands of zombies and skeletons at the Lich Shade were too far away to bring to bear against the retreating Xorian army. Still, they had to get into the fight eventually. Tagenadi ordered them to march northwest and defend themselves if attacked. The party agreed to periodically check on the shambling army to redirect it and to warn anyone in its path.

Additionally, the party recruited a few of the more sentient citizens of Crux to help them in the war effort. Wraiths were sent to keep tabs on the retreating Xorians at night along with some wind walking ghouls. All these undead armies would need leadership of some kind as well and the numerous clerics of Hades in Crux made the perfect candidates. A hundred or so clerics were recruited to aid in the commanding of the army when the time came.

More preparations lay ahead, but the party had done all they could for the day. On the next day they would attend the Mysteries of Hephaestus.

Mysteries of Hephaestus

In the morning, after washing and eating breakfast, Hektor, Eathirilu, Barakah, Zelus, Danar, and Tagenadi got together and teleported back to Hephaistia on Lemnos. They found the old city filled with hundreds of people from all over the island. High Priest Falkus greeted the party and then announced, “Our saviors are here! Sent to us by Hephaestus to deliver us from the dragovinian scourge! Hear their names!” Falkus recited the names and titles of each member of the party, even Amalius who was not present. The party introduced him to Barakah, but the two said no more than pleasantries before Falkus addressed the crowd once more, “It is time! We will go south to the old mountain of Paradeisi!”

The crowd set out with the Kabiri in front followed by the island’s heroes and then its people. While walking south several girls approached Hektor, Danar, and Tagenadi to flirt with them. Tagenadi dismissed them politely. Hektor and Danar entertained them, but made it clear that there was no hope of anything more than flirting. One of the more courageous girls responded to Danar, “I don’t care about marrying you! Even here in Lemnos we’ve heard of the heroic deeds of Danar the Slayer of Beasts and Dragons. I don’t want your hand in marriage, I don’t deserve it. All I want is a child as strong and brave as you.”
“Oh.” The girl’s meaning dawned on Danar, “Oh! You mean…”
The girl blushed, looked down, and then back into Danar’s eye, “Yes. I mean…”
Danar interrupted her, “We cannot. My time of fathering children has passed.”
“Could you not be persuaded.”
Danar shook his head.
“Well you won’t blame a girl for trying!” The young woman grabbed Danar’s arm and walked with him the rest of the way to Mount Paradeisi.

At the ashy mountain Falkus spoke to the crowd, “Hear we gather the ash from our fiery protector’s first forge for it was here that he made the weapons that our ancestors defended our isle.” Falkus grabbed a handful of volcanic ash from the ground and gestured for everyone else to do the same. Soon the air was filled with rocky soot and the entire pilgrimage was covered in smokey dirt. Falkus shouted, “Now we go back north to the cave of Philoctetes!”

The whole procession turned around and headed north. The Kabiri’s path veered away from the tracks of their southward journey, towards the eastern sea. Soon the group approached the shallow salt Limni Aliki. The tide was low and no water washed over the eastern dirt mounds that separated the Limni from the sea. Falkus addressed the crowd once more, “We walk through the Limni. Let everyone take a few steps and then carry your young children if you must.” The crowd slowly surged forward into the salty water, continuing north towards the cave.

A short walk from the northern edge of Limni Aliki brought the group to the grotto where Philoctetes had been left by the Achaeans on their way to Troy. A gibbous circle of rock enclosed a pool of shallow water measuring a few dozen feet across. The sea’s water lapped up on the rocky shore that a stone overhang obscured. Falkus circled down into the grotto. Some of the Kabiri followed his circuitous route while others hopped down from the overhang to splash in the ankle-deep water below. The party went down and saw a dark opening at the back of the grotto.

“This is where Philoctetes waited for the Greeks return and this is where we enter the holy place of Hephaestus,” Falkus said to the people gathering above the grotto. “I shall lead our heroes into the sanctuary first to perform the Mysteries of Hephaestus. The others of the initiated,” Falkus indicated the other Kabiri, “will lead everyone else in to participate in the rites.” Without another word Falkus entered the dark cave at the back of the grotto. The party followed behind with Barakah having to crouch down to fit through the narrow opening.

Once within, Falkus pulled a torch from his robes and lit it. Light flared into the small space revealing a staircase headed downward into the earth. Falkus lead the party down.

And down.

And down.

They traveled deep into the bowels of the earth, below the soft waves of the sea and sulfurous gas of Lemnos’s volcanoes. At last the staircase terminated at an open stone portal.

Stepping through the portal the party saw a vast stone cavern so large that they could only barely make out the edges. An eight foot wide solid granite walkway rose up from the distant ground to walk upon. The pathway turned and twisted its way through the cavern, but always at right angles. Alongside the path, enormous stone platforms rose from the ground. Upon the platforms were grim statues of monstrous men. The statues stood forty or fifty feet tall each made of a different substance, iron, bronze, stone, or carved wood.

High Priest Falkus led the party through the maze-like pathway past the silent giants. The people of Lemnos came in behind with lit torches of their own. The procession moved through the stillness along the pathway. In dim light a stepped pyramid appeared up ahead, sitting upon a stone platform. The constructed levels of the pyramid were about ten feet high each and a functional staircase led up the center of the pyramid. The stone pathway terminated at the pyramid’s staircase.

Falkus led the group up to the top of the pyramid. At the apex there was a dark square hole in the stone. To the side was a bronze trough of water. Falkus tossed the ash he carried into the hole, “The ash is nothing!” He looked expectantly at the guests of honor until they too threw the ash in the hole.

“When Hephaestus fell from Olympus he landed upon our humble island, creating a crater lower than any other point on the island!” Falkus shouted to the assembling crowd. “That point was the Limni Aliki. Our god’s bones were broken and pieces broke off and dissolved, becoming the salt of the lake. It is from this salt that we become immortal.” Falkus produced a sacrificial knife from another pocket in his robes. “The salt of Hephaestus represents our toil to form our homes and cities!” Falkus scraped a layer of salt off his boots using his knife. “And through that toil we become immortal!” Falkus dipped the knife into the water of the bronze trough. He pulled the knife out and swiftly struck his hand into water. His arm raised up to the cavern’s ceiling and in his hand he clutched a red brick that had not been there before. “Come forward brothers and sisters of the initiated and receive your blessing!”

The party went forwards first, allowing Falkus to scrape salt from their clothes and shoes and handing them bricks in return. Hektor seemed a little disappointed in the revelation of the Mysteries. Barakah, on the other hand, was quite pleased. Once his brick was in his hand it made a short trip to his mouth where he crunched it and ate it.
Falkus stuttered, “Ahh… The bones of Hephaestus… They are not for… Uhmm…” Barakah looked quizzically at the High Priest. Falkus’s voice petered out. He took a breath and then called for the next petitioner from the crowd.

More and more people stepped onto the pyramid from the pathway, filling most of the steps as they waited to receive their bricks. Once the ceremonies were concluded the whole group filed out of the cavern with High Priest Falkus and the party of heroes in the lead. Another hike had the party back at Hephaistia as the sun was beginning to set.

Falkus addressed the crowd one last time, “We achieve immortality through what we make with our hands, just like Hephaestus. You may place your brick amongst any of the buildings here to expand their size or to improve their designs in your image. The brick will conform to what you see in your own mind. If you wish to start a new building you may do that as well. Your brick is yours to place where you wish.” Falkus directed the last sentence at the Exiles.
The crowd dispersed to place their bricks. The party stored each of their bricks in their respective portable holes and bags of holding. Hektor approached Falkus with a question, “High Priest, how is this immortality? It’s just a stone.”
“Aye. It’s just a stone. But the stone builds something that can last forever. Is that not the immortality that we all seek? Through our deeds we become immortal. Through how we change and mold the world around us. The stone is just another way. More permanent than other ways and more transient than other ways too. Do you see?”
Hektor looked at his brick. He opened his mouth to say something and then reconsidered. He looked up at Falkus, “I suppose I do. Thank you for your time Falkus.”
“Oh no, thank you. You and your brave friends freed the island from the dragovinians’ tyranny and have brought Hephaestus back into people’s lives. The Kabiri owe you a great debt.”
“I hope we never need call upon you to fulfill that debt.”
Falkus nodded and Hektor went to rejoin his companions.

A dinner and dance were scheduled for the evening. The party joined for the food, but left as soon as politeness permitted, returning to Lakatia.

Dragovinian Research

The next day Danar recalled that he had a few dragovinians stored away with stakes in their hearts. Perhaps the party could experiment on them to determine any unknown weaknesses. Danar, Tagenadi, Zelus, Eathirilu, Hektor, and Barakah all participated in the experiments. They discovered new things as well as confirmed previously known weaknesses.

Dragonvinians “die” when staked through the heart with wood. They live again when the stake is removed.
Dragovinians breathe fire and can fly with their wings
When struck with a blow that would kill a mortal man, dragovinians survive and attempt to flee.
Dragovinians are immune to fire damage.
Dragovinians can be permanently killed with damage from a holy source or cold damage once they are attempting to flee.
Dragovinians are damaged by positive energy and healed by negative energy.
Dragovinians are resistant to acid, electricity, and cold. The cold is strange as dragovinians also die from freezing. The party positively confirmed this though.
Dragovinian skin is difficult to break with any weapon. The one exception appears to be magic weapons made of silver.
Dragovinians possess spell resistance, but the strength of this resistance is dependent on the strength of the individual dragovinian. The spell resistance of the party’s captives was easily overwhelmed.
Dragovinians can be poisoned.
Dragovinians shy away from someone presenting garlic or a mirror and attempt to escape if the object is brought closer.

Barakah also performed an “experiment” of his own, eating one of the dragovinians. One might think the living flesh of the dragovinian would tear him apart from inside, but the act seemed to permanently destroy the undead.

By the end of these experiments the party only had two dragovinians left. They kept them with stakes through their hearts for future experiments. There was some talk of the ethics of torture like this. The group brushed it off quickly. These were monsters, not men, not even animals. Hurting them was no sin.

This is where the first session ended, but as I said, I’m lumping in another short session.

Mass Teleportation Access

The undead armies were on the move, but the party feared they might not have enough power to bear on their foes, especially if the Amazons rode out from their siege of Gazeara to escort the main Xorian force to their camp. How could they deploy more forces without breaking the covenant of war that prevented summoning magic?

The answer was simple enough, teleportation magic! With mass teleportation the party could move thousands from the Lich Shade or Crux to the site of the battle. Moving the wights through mass teleportation would be more difficult as they were spread throughout the Western Underdark, but it could increase their numbers by a few hundred or perhaps a thousand.

Where to get teleportation magic of this magnitude? The party had access to the normal teleport spell but this would require the more powerful teleportation circle. There were five places where one could get access to such magic.

The Teleportation Guild in Crafterton. Unfortunately Crafterton was under Xorian control and the party had killed Terroc, a prominent member of Guild.

Greshendale the magic city, but it was now a crushed ruin. There might be someone there who knows the spell or a scroll, but who would give such magic to the same group that destroyed the city?

The Alliance possessed a similar type of magic, a pair of six-foot diameter iron ring gates. No matter where the rings were, stepping through one would deliver you to the other. The issue with this method is that the party wasn’t on the best of terms with the Alliance at the moment. Amalius was on his way to becoming the leader of the Alliance and he was… not well disposed towards the party at the moment. Still, Amalius could see the value in this use of the ring gates.

Zelus could spoof a teleportation circle using miracle. This would work and the party already had access to the magic, but this use of Zelus’s power would seriously tax him. (Zelus is mechanically a high level Favored Soul so losing XP for spells does hurt him)

Hektor could take some time to research how to cast teleportation circle on his own. This would take weeks of study in a library though, time that the party did not have.

Option #3 was the party’s favorite. They decided to reach out to Amalius and see if he and the Alliance were willing to loan the ring gates to the party.