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Reckless
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 305
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 Re: Reckless Pathfinder Wed Nights Next Chapter (Not Recruit The Story So Far:
The protagonists arrive in Bellis, a large town in northeastern Andoran, famous for its honey mead. Keleb, Lark, and Twee used to adventure with Elyin Ursage, a local ranger who is to marry Kailah Winmede, daughter of the local apothecary and long-time friend of Mira. Drake, a lost and wandering soul in search of a purpose, is in town having once shared an adventure with Elyin as well although he arrives the day of the wedding and not the night before like the rest.
Enjoying the festivities the night before the wedding, Elyin and his friends celebrate in a local tavern while the bridal party, Mira, and Twee meet in the gardens for their own celebration of dancing, song, story, and drink.
Keleb spots an old friend named Tenzekiel Baybrittle, a gnome who’s seen better days. Tenzekiel is a local beekeeper and a bit of a sourpuss, but something in him has changed. His once bright yellow hair has faded to white, and his healthy gnomish pallor has faded to nearly chalk white; Tenzekiel is suffering from the Bleaching. Keleb attempts to great “Old Zeke” as a friend, offering a bottle of wine and a seat at the groom’s table. Tenzekiel, remembering the relationship a bit differently from Keleb, regarded the offer with suspicion, saying “It won’t work, she’ll be mine” and eventually the mysterious argument drew attention from the rest of the tavern, causing Tenzekiel to leave in a mad huff. Keleb followed Tenzekiel into the street, learning that he had “lost his color due to the bleaching”, but would “get it back” when he “got her” whatever that meant.
The protagonists enjoy the pre-wedding festivities, including a “dessert and company” auction set up by the bridesmaids to raise money for the wedding couple. Each has baked a dessert and winning the bid on the dessert also gains the bridesmaid’s company for the afternoon. Lark and Drake set up a rivalry bidding on the dessert made by Kara Aldon, complicated by the fact that Keleb is secretly funding Drake’s bidding because he looks like he could use some good company. Lark finally sees Keleb giving Drake extra money and decides to withdraw from the bidding. Then Lumi Reasonknot’sBlackberry pie comes up to bid. Lumi is a gnomish lass Keleb once took to a local fair, and he decides it would be nice to spend some time with her again. Lark toys with the idea of bidding against Keleb as mock revenge for his funding of Drake’s venture, but drops the idea. Tenzekiel Baybrittle, it seems, is also interested in Lumi or her pie, and bids fiercely against Keleb. Keleb fails to notice the hateful looks Tenzekiel passes his way with each bid, or the pleading looks Lumi passes to Keleb each time Tenzekiel bids. Keleb outbids Tenzekiel by offering thirty gold for the pie, and Tenzekiel walks away without a word.
While Keleb and Drake spend some quality time getting (re)acquainted with the bridesmaids, Twee, Lark, and Mira join the local blacksmith in arranging a game of horseshoe. Mira’s exceptional diplomatic abilities, grace, and beauty, quickly draw a crowd to the game. Twee’s amazing skill in tossing unusual objects make the tournament a snap for her to win. On a whim, she throws a caltrop at the spike in celebration, and manages to get it to land exactly on the top of the spike and stick. The blacksmith offers her any weapon in his shop if she can do it again, and she fails to repeat the feat. As a consolation prize, the half-orc offers the tengu a dance, which she accepts.
The wedding begins in earnest, but is interrupted by –of all things- a huge swarm of bees coming from the north. Most of the group works on saving the wedding party while Lark and Mira attempt to deal with the swarm magically. Lark’s clever use of Wind Wall contains the swarm. Twee begins to run off to Tenzekiel’s home, as Keleb finally has an idea of what’s going on.
Then Tenzekiel shouts to the crowd from a hidden location, raving about Queen Rhoswen, the fellnight army, mists, thorns, and vengeance upon the town. A thicket of thorns grows over the gardens and several Fellnight Spriggans, gnomes twisted by a shadowy otherworld realm, come forth from the gardens and attack. The party defeats the spriggans, but cannot locate Tenzekiel. As they defeat the spriggans, a strange fog invades the town.
Once they assure the safety of the wedding party and guests, the protagonists decide to investigate Tenzekiel’s home. They find nothing there except some hidden poorly made carvings of Lumi, dusty furnishings, and empty beehouses.
They decide to do what they can to investigate the fog, heading for the Verduran Forest from which the fog came and seeking the advice of the Druid Devarre. The fog does not help, and they spend days lost in the fog, finally running into a dying dryad name Breena, who begs them to save her sisters. The party runs to do this, making it in time to save the dryad Fira and a unicorn name Palombier from some wicked spriggans. Fira is able to give them better directions for finding Devarre’s magically hidden shack.
The party reaches Devarre’s shack, only to find him possessed by a Fellnight will’o’wisp. Mira is able to help the Druid fight off the possession, although the will-o-wisp subsequently escapes. Devarre shares what he knows about the fellnight realm with the party, and communes with nature the next day to help locate the source of the fog.
They travel to dead man’s drop, a waterfall with a hidden cave where Tenzekiel has placed several of the wardstones that had once imprisoned Queen Rhoswen and the Fellnight creatures in the Fellnight realm. The fight past water elemental guardians only to be surrounded by a literal army of spriggans on the cliffsides surrounding the waterfall. Fighting their way past a few of the spriggans that approach them via the path by the waterfall, they are rescued by Palombier and other unicorns, who teleport them away to the relative safety of a conclave of forest dwellers.
The forest dwellers, ranging from centaurs and unicorns to wood elves, fey court representatives, and the drunken treant Vinroot, are discussing how to deal with the fellnight invasion. Some favor retreat and allowing the fellnight forces to invade Bellis, as the humans are generally no friends to the forest. Mira and Keleb take the leads in convincing these reluctant allies that the fellnight armies are a bigger threat to the forest than the humans ever will be, pointing out the destruction of Fira’s sisters’ trees, the attacks on Palombier, etc.
A plan is formulated; the forest creatures will attack the gathering fellnight armies, providing a distraction to allow the party to sneak into the fellnight realm itself with the wardstones, and repair the breach in the ward. After this they will sneak into Queen Rhoswen’s castle in order to secure the Crook of Cildhureen, a staff that will be needed to complete the ritual to seal the Fellnight Realm again and force the Fellnight Armies back into their realm.
The plan works, and the party travels through the fellnight realm with stealth, only running into a few patrols despite Drake’s desire to take on the entire army by himself. The Fellnight Realm is an unpleasant place, and Keleb and especially Mira feel its darkness like a stain on their souls as they travel. Mira becomes more assertive as she struggles against its effects.
They once again run into Tenzekiel at the breach in the wardwall. He fights them until his swarm and giant bee companion are defeated, at which point he gives up hope. The party convinces him there is still hope for him to turn away from evil, and that they will speak on his behalf. In return, he gives them a secret way into the castle.
The party sneaks into the castle basement, where they rescue a Bellis man from torture and death, and force the dungeonkeeper satyr to give them details of the castle’s defenses. From there, they make their way to the throne room and face off against Queen Rhoswen. The queen uses illusions, summonings, and trickery to defend against the party, managing to turn Lark into a bird in the process. She escapes the party, moving to her bedchambers to prepare a final defense.
Once the party fights past a few more spriggan guards, they once again challenge the Queen in her chambers. She manages to force Drake to leave with a suggestion that he return home, and Mira chases after Drake while Twee and Keleb fight the queen. Once they have her cornered, a few well-placed smites by Keleb finishes off the Queen.
Mira, who was paying attention when Lark was told the ritual, finishes the ritual and the party gets sucked back into Golarion while the fellnight armies are returned to the fellnight realm. Lark is nowhere to be found, and Drake, still under the suggestion, wanders off towards “home”.
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