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[DnD AoS IC] Ce'leth fhtagn!!!
Aegeri
Tiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered User regular
Tiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered User regular
This is the In Character or IC thread for my campaign, Artist of Sharn. This thread is for talking with one another in character and for other interactions that don't really require my involvement. This can include working out treasure and that sort of thing as well. This thread also serves as a sort of journal. As you progress through the campaign, this thread will be updated with relevant story information so you can remind yourself on various things whenever you want. The other thread, the Out Of Character (OOC) one is more for questions about rules and other things.
I'm going to post information that you find in the second room of the cultist lair, where Mr. Ratters was running around in. This is so that you can read this at your own pace and so that I can present information that is difficult (or slow) to present in maptools. As I want to increase the amount of handouts, pictures and such of things you're seeing I decided to make this thread. You should also feel free to have any IC interaction you want in this thread.
I'll also convey a sense of your characters general sanity in here as well if I feel the requirement.
Buckets of blood and runes - seemingly freshly written with it - cover the walls of this re-purposed sewer maintenance tunnel. A strange airy substance seems to hover around the floor like a thick mist here and often gets up to two or three feet deep. Walking from the lower room with the massive blood coated circle of unknown magical or divine purpose, you find a neater room with scrolls, parchment and several maps of Xen'drik on an ornate old oak desk. Reading the notes, they appear to be notes and memoirs from a recent trip to the dark continent, undertaken by Jerule!
The first seems to be a discussion about... Ian Escelle?:
"My good friend Ian has been missing now for over two months and nobody here gives a damn. The man has done more for this backwater little shit hole than virtually anyone else - especially me - and they are all afraid to go looking for him. They've written him off as dead, said he was going to deep into Xen'drik and that he would be lost to the travelers curse by now. I'm not going to give up on him though, he's never given up on me even when his wife"
Further writing is scratched out after this point beyond any recognition.
"I have made preparations for my own trip into Xen'drik, following the same rough course that Ian took... thank the host I chose to steal a look at his preparations while he was asleep - I would never have been able to get a clue where he was going otherwise. I don't know if I am following him into hell or not, but if there is a chance he is alive - no... I KNOW he is alive and I am going to find him. I will be leaving immediately at first light tomorrow with a drow guide called Thasslia - unusually friendly to outsiders that one for a drow - and a good contingent of trustworthy men. I am certain once House Lyrandar finds out about my indiscretions with their resources they will be less than impressed, so nobody else will know about my trip and if I become lost... nobody will be looking for me.
Just be there for me Ian, like you have all those times before. I refuse to be doing all of this to find just a corpse."
On a map on the desk is a somewhat battered and perhaps even bloodstained map of Xen'drik. A chart on the map details the route that Jerule and her mercenaries took through Xen'drik, apparently following Ian Escelle's route. The map is below:
Examining the map, the red markers indicate important sites or landmarks that are used to navigate through Xen'drik. In her notes, Jerule takes quite a few pains to emphasize these points are essential for avoiding the effects of the "Traveler's Curse" on Xen'drik. Without hitting each point on the line in succession, it was possible to hit extremely dangerous terrain, creatures or even end up hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere. She comments to herself that she wonders how Ian figured out how to navigate through Xen'drik like this and who taught him how to do it originally.
Most of the notes are descriptions of places and landmarks across Xen'drik. They seem to have traveled by air over Xen'drik, but did so in a manner fairly close to the ground as high altitude winds and unusually severe lightning storms can destroy airships that try to go too high over the continent. Some of the last entries are particularly disturbing, as it seems they eventually had to ground their airship and go on foot for the remainder of the journey near to the temple:
"We barely survived the night after we got within about 300 miles of the temple that Ian was purported visiting. A large black spire rising from the barren and broken ground not unlike a massive wound in the continent itself. Large canyons seemed to streak out in every single direction, with bright red magma flows at their base firmly securing the image of this ... thing having injured the land itself. I've never seen any kind of structure like this before, seemingly draining the land around it of life and we saw absolutely nothing except for the corpses of an uncountable legion of dead creatures - like they had been drawn there to die.
When we approached, disaster struck as the bound elemental on the ship went berserk - howling and screaming against its magical bindings. So much so was the elemental's distress that it broke free of the ship and caused it to crash down! I did the best I could to keep the ship airborne but all I could do is crash it into the wasteland near the extremities of the destruction. The elemental did not stick around - more afraid it seems than enraged - and we were left shipwrecked on Xen'drik. Surprisingly, nearly all of us made it through except for the drow Thasslia - who is unaccounted for - but even so it was a minor miracle in itself but I can't shake the feeling it was not to our benefit...."
The entries continue:
"I had to slaughter every one of the pack animals and dogs we had bought with us. The creatures either went berserk, fleeing randomly or attacking myself or my men or just lying down refusing to move no matter what we did. I had to slaughter most of them as it didn't feel right to just leave them there to die of starvation or whatever madness had over taken them. Worryingly I have begun to see similar signs on my own crew, talk of suicide and odd behavior has gone up considerably.
I'm going to keep myself armed at all times now."
A description of the land follows:
"I don't know what this place is doing, but the bones of thousands of creatures litter this place. Giants, humanoids and even those clearly more recent - perhaps even Ian's men? - are everywhere for miles around. A giant boneyard hundreds of miles in diameter. Many of them show clear signs of dying violently - broken bones and such - but others I believe just lay down and died. Everyone is becoming increasingly on edge, especially as many of the mercs are now complaining about hearing voices or seeing things.
Oh Ian, why the hell did you ever want to come here?"
Several similar entries follow, many describing odd behaviour amongst the mercenaries and increasing discomfort. Jerule doesn't describe any negative effects on her though and you don't notice any oddities within her writings. The final two entries catch your eye:
"I don't know what happened, but they're all dead now as the same madness that afflicted the animals has now got to those who followed me here. I had to put many of them down .. those that didn't murder one another or jump to their doom while others lay down and let the sun claim them. I'm badly injured and I cannot carry much more... I fear this will be my last entry. I'm so close to the tower now, I can see it clearly... it's amazing... it truly is alive..."
Repeated hundreds of times filling up the remainder of the book is the following:
"I can hear her calling me... I shall not fear her embrace. I have been chosen..."
Nothing further from the diary can be extracted.
I'm going to post information that you find in the second room of the cultist lair, where Mr. Ratters was running around in. This is so that you can read this at your own pace and so that I can present information that is difficult (or slow) to present in maptools. As I want to increase the amount of handouts, pictures and such of things you're seeing I decided to make this thread. You should also feel free to have any IC interaction you want in this thread.
I'll also convey a sense of your characters general sanity in here as well if I feel the requirement.
The Lair of the Cult of Shoggoth
Buckets of blood and runes - seemingly freshly written with it - cover the walls of this re-purposed sewer maintenance tunnel. A strange airy substance seems to hover around the floor like a thick mist here and often gets up to two or three feet deep. Walking from the lower room with the massive blood coated circle of unknown magical or divine purpose, you find a neater room with scrolls, parchment and several maps of Xen'drik on an ornate old oak desk. Reading the notes, they appear to be notes and memoirs from a recent trip to the dark continent, undertaken by Jerule!
The first seems to be a discussion about... Ian Escelle?:
Diary of Jerule Cassadra, head Harbormaster of Stormreach port, Xen'drik for house Lyrandar.
"My good friend Ian has been missing now for over two months and nobody here gives a damn. The man has done more for this backwater little shit hole than virtually anyone else - especially me - and they are all afraid to go looking for him. They've written him off as dead, said he was going to deep into Xen'drik and that he would be lost to the travelers curse by now. I'm not going to give up on him though, he's never given up on me even when his wife"
Further writing is scratched out after this point beyond any recognition.
"I have made preparations for my own trip into Xen'drik, following the same rough course that Ian took... thank the host I chose to steal a look at his preparations while he was asleep - I would never have been able to get a clue where he was going otherwise. I don't know if I am following him into hell or not, but if there is a chance he is alive - no... I KNOW he is alive and I am going to find him. I will be leaving immediately at first light tomorrow with a drow guide called Thasslia - unusually friendly to outsiders that one for a drow - and a good contingent of trustworthy men. I am certain once House Lyrandar finds out about my indiscretions with their resources they will be less than impressed, so nobody else will know about my trip and if I become lost... nobody will be looking for me.
Just be there for me Ian, like you have all those times before. I refuse to be doing all of this to find just a corpse."
On a map on the desk is a somewhat battered and perhaps even bloodstained map of Xen'drik. A chart on the map details the route that Jerule and her mercenaries took through Xen'drik, apparently following Ian Escelle's route. The map is below:
Examining the map, the red markers indicate important sites or landmarks that are used to navigate through Xen'drik. In her notes, Jerule takes quite a few pains to emphasize these points are essential for avoiding the effects of the "Traveler's Curse" on Xen'drik. Without hitting each point on the line in succession, it was possible to hit extremely dangerous terrain, creatures or even end up hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere. She comments to herself that she wonders how Ian figured out how to navigate through Xen'drik like this and who taught him how to do it originally.
Most of the notes are descriptions of places and landmarks across Xen'drik. They seem to have traveled by air over Xen'drik, but did so in a manner fairly close to the ground as high altitude winds and unusually severe lightning storms can destroy airships that try to go too high over the continent. Some of the last entries are particularly disturbing, as it seems they eventually had to ground their airship and go on foot for the remainder of the journey near to the temple:
"We barely survived the night after we got within about 300 miles of the temple that Ian was purported visiting. A large black spire rising from the barren and broken ground not unlike a massive wound in the continent itself. Large canyons seemed to streak out in every single direction, with bright red magma flows at their base firmly securing the image of this ... thing having injured the land itself. I've never seen any kind of structure like this before, seemingly draining the land around it of life and we saw absolutely nothing except for the corpses of an uncountable legion of dead creatures - like they had been drawn there to die.
When we approached, disaster struck as the bound elemental on the ship went berserk - howling and screaming against its magical bindings. So much so was the elemental's distress that it broke free of the ship and caused it to crash down! I did the best I could to keep the ship airborne but all I could do is crash it into the wasteland near the extremities of the destruction. The elemental did not stick around - more afraid it seems than enraged - and we were left shipwrecked on Xen'drik. Surprisingly, nearly all of us made it through except for the drow Thasslia - who is unaccounted for - but even so it was a minor miracle in itself but I can't shake the feeling it was not to our benefit...."
The entries continue:
"I had to slaughter every one of the pack animals and dogs we had bought with us. The creatures either went berserk, fleeing randomly or attacking myself or my men or just lying down refusing to move no matter what we did. I had to slaughter most of them as it didn't feel right to just leave them there to die of starvation or whatever madness had over taken them. Worryingly I have begun to see similar signs on my own crew, talk of suicide and odd behavior has gone up considerably.
I'm going to keep myself armed at all times now."
A description of the land follows:
"I don't know what this place is doing, but the bones of thousands of creatures litter this place. Giants, humanoids and even those clearly more recent - perhaps even Ian's men? - are everywhere for miles around. A giant boneyard hundreds of miles in diameter. Many of them show clear signs of dying violently - broken bones and such - but others I believe just lay down and died. Everyone is becoming increasingly on edge, especially as many of the mercs are now complaining about hearing voices or seeing things.
Oh Ian, why the hell did you ever want to come here?"
Several similar entries follow, many describing odd behaviour amongst the mercenaries and increasing discomfort. Jerule doesn't describe any negative effects on her though and you don't notice any oddities within her writings. The final two entries catch your eye:
"I don't know what happened, but they're all dead now as the same madness that afflicted the animals has now got to those who followed me here. I had to put many of them down .. those that didn't murder one another or jump to their doom while others lay down and let the sun claim them. I'm badly injured and I cannot carry much more... I fear this will be my last entry. I'm so close to the tower now, I can see it clearly... it's amazing... it truly is alive..."
Repeated hundreds of times filling up the remainder of the book is the following:
"I can hear her calling me... I shall not fear her embrace. I have been chosen..."
Nothing further from the diary can be extracted.
Aegeri on
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If I had a mark I think I really COULD tank. But as it stands I don't think I could convince anyone to target me over anyone else.
Which is why, when you find an especially incriminating piece of data, it's all the more important to abandon your instincts. Your conscience or your heart might tell you it's time to start putting bodies in the ground, but it does more harm than good. Not only does it force the hands of your handlers (who, surprisingly enough, don't like having to explain corpses) you draw attention to yourself from local authorities and make it harder to ever get back in should a later mission require the re-use of old assets.
That's why we're all trained to be good little soldiers. Gather the information, send it back, wait for orders. The higher ups decide what to do, which works fine for me. I keep a clear conscience about anyone I have to kill, and they get exactly what they need. After all... as far as I'm concerned, it's nothing personal. It's just the business of the Silver Flame.
Tavar gave an accusatory glare at Lucien. He twirled his new staff around before strapping it to his back with his old one. A lick of electricity ran its way up the two staves until it reached the top and crackled into nothingness. "I've got a package to send, and I've got to do some work on the taxi." Then he turned and walked out.
"Vines. Who runs the teleportation circles in Sharn, and where can I find resources on the sigil codes?" Geepo scoffs. He'd rather not have to ask the watch a question like this, but, typical for a half-elf, Lucien has already skulked off. Still, as long as he doesn't have to deal with House Sivis, he'll manage. "If something comes up, it'd be important to get information back as fast as possible. I'm sure you can appreciate that."
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
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