The Necromancer's Legacy - part 50

Charon, Horacio and Thriatos finds themselves being led to three austere rooms within the wizard house of Kemdun where they are expected to spend the night. Horacio awakes during the night as his door is opened and when he investigates he is grappled and kept silent by someone claiming to be a friend. With as few words as possible the two open the doors to Charon and Thriatos as well and sneak out into the night. As they hurry through the city the man explains that he is sent by the merchant Bocco and that the caravan is waiting to accompany them at a small farm just outside the city. Attempting to retreive Jamal and Mergus is deemed too dangerous so after a short stop at the inn to get their camels and equipment they leave the city behind.

They bribe a guard of the gate to let them out but unfortunately this doesn't stop the guards patrolling the walls from noticing them. Pushing their camels to get as much distance to any pursuers as possible, Thriatos - never famous for his riding skills - take a small detour before managing to rejoin the others. Their guide takes them to a farm where several other camels and their handlers have camped. He asks them to talk to Boccos representative, a woman named Petra, who is inside the barn. The conversation with Petra soon sounds like an interrogation and Horacio is about to act preempively as he becomes suspiscious, but is stopped by Charon. As the conversation continues they stumble upon the subject of the black orb which the mages have in their possession. Petra seems to be very interested and also very knowledgeable on the subject, referring to the orb as an Orb of Unlife. The three refuse to answer any questions on the subject and the facade of Petra fades to reveal it is really consul Savvas herself whom the mages are addressing.

The mages battle each other for a while, but when Thriatos dispells the entire barn Savvas teleports away. Arrows start hailing from the hayloft of the barn and Horacio fights them with fire and doesn't realize until they are dead that the building is highly flameable and the doors out seem to have been barred. Charon solves that problem with a thunderbolt, but more warriors await them outside attacking with bows and swords. The battle pushes the mages to the brink as both Charon and Thriatos gets wounded but manage to stay upright. No clear winner can be seen as the fight rages on but then Horacio loose control over a powerful aeromantic spell. The winds unleashed levels the entire farm to the ground, sending men and camels alike into the air alongside the debris. Being in the epicenter of the storm, the mages are pushed to the ground and faint. When they finally awake little proof remains of the battle as the scene has been all but sweapt clean. Horacio undergoes a brief moment of hybris due to the destruction he created before they all lay down to recover their strength until morning.

The following morning they are greeted by more than daylight as an entourage is heading towards them form Kemdun. Too tired and wounded to run they await their arrival and it appears to be a group of mages and city guards lead by grandmaster Kabala himself. While taken back to the wizard house they are treated well and healed. After telling the story of how they ended up in Kemdun (well, most of it) and explained the events of the night, Kabala has no interest in detaining them and they hurry to meet with Bocco who has been worried.

They are met by bad news as Bocco's caravan is missing. Expecting they know where it has gone (and then again, not where it landed) they are relieved as Bocco promises to gather a second one from what people he can find in a few hours.

Thinking this has to be enough excitement for one day, the mages head back towards the inn. But Before they can reach it, a man jumps from a nearby roof - a mere 5 meters or so - stands up and draw a sword and block their way...

Generator update!

The character generator has just been updated with a slightly new design. The steps of generating family, talents and events for a character are now initiated by the user rather than just mashed together by the system.

Why is this good? Because it allows for a GM function to reroll the family, talents or events of a character. You have to be logged in as a GM to use this functionality (else each step may only be generated once) and you cannot regenerate one once the next has been performed. As for now it is also only possible to reroll all of the results for a particular step and not individual ones. Expect future a update to expand on this.

Perhaps this sounds great and all, but you don't have a GM login? Well, if you want one, use the info on the Contact page and we'll fix it in no time.

The Necromancer's Legacy - part 49

In Sunn the business enterprise of Azela, Kael and Zantana is taking shape but they are still pestered by low-lives from the city's underworld attempting to gather protection fees from them. They deal with the issue by hiring their own guards while pursuing their own agenda concerning the city's underworld.

Kael and Azela run into Gamaral who claims to have an urgent message. He tells that their associate known as Geb is in danger and that he has already prepared a ritual to teleport them back to the capital of Zhend. As the matter seems urgent both fetch their traditional garments and join Gamaral to complete the ritual.

They find themselves in a vast hall resembling a temple, covered in darkness. A black robe mage comes to meet them and informs them that Geb is being held in a cellar beneath the emperor's Palace where he is currently researching the orb they found in the mountain tomb. The black robe claims that when Geb has learned enough his usefullness will be at an end and he will be returned to the grave. To stop this they must rescue him from the location. As the cellar is controlled by the King's Guard and they work for Mingone it shouldn't be a trouble gaining entrance - it is getting out that is difficult. The black robe hands them a teleporting rod and suggests they destroy the anti-magic artifact protecting the cellar and then use it to escape. The rod has been prepared by Gamaral so will take them directly back to their warehouse in Pantoria.

Azela and Kael quickly head over to the palace where they use the truth to their advantage: they are working for Mingone and they are here to see Geb. Given entrance to the cellar their soon find the scholar deeply engaged in his research. He has discovered that the orb is a portal of sorts to the Realm of Unlife and through it he is able to see the faces of those who are both recently and long since dead. It is even possible to speak to them, but only if you know their names, although they appear to have little to no understanding concerning the fact that they are dead. As Azela and Kael interrupt him he is far from pleased - and even less so when learning their intention is to take him away from this most interesting artifact. As they debate the situation Azela and Kael realize they themselves are not totally clear on where they stand - do they trust Gamaral, who is ultimately serving the black robe Merga or should they let Geb continue his studies in service of the emperor?

In the end they decide that angering Merga would be more dangerous to their ultimate mission than to anger the emperor and as Geb grudgingly agree he shows the way to where the anti-magic artifact is which prevents their escape. A locked door doesn't stop Azela but behind it two bronze statues comes to life and attack them. Kael engage them while Azela proceed into the next room where she finds three staves hovering above the ground in a magic circle. After a split-second decision she tries to remove one of the staves while Kael continue to battle the living statues.

Standing watch in the corridor (and trying to avoid combat) Geb, suspisciously holding a packed satchel and a magic rob in his hands is spotted by the cellar guard who attack. As Geb tries to defend himself he also tries to convince the guard to let him go without further fighting. However as the guard learns Geb's motive he press his attack, nearly striking him down when Azela shows up to deliver a sneak attack. As Geb runs into the magical chamber (past Kael's ongoing battle) Azela uses the staff from the circle to block an incoming attack - which shatters it. With little defense she too is severely injured Before Kael manage to finish off his opponents and rush to her rescue. Proving to be the better fighter of the two he pushes the guardian back and Geb again tries to persuade him into letting them go. Firm to his mission, the guardian can only accept their surrender so Kael smash the remaining two staves which disables the artifact. Activating their teleportation rod they then vanish from the scene.

The Necromancer's Legacy - part 48

The mages are busy in the city of Kemdun as their newly found merchant ally Bocco informs them he as gathered the important people of the city's arms market for a meeting in two days time. As not to repeat their misstake of appearing somewhat unprepared, Horacio heads out into the jungle to speak to the natives about clearing a path towards the mountains for carts to pass through. He still hopes to be back for the meeting for which Thriatos and Charon prepare some details which they can all agree on.

For Horacio it becomes a very hectic day. He rents a boat to get him up river and starts to negotiate with the tribes he encounters on the way to see if they are interested to work with the clearing in return for gold. While quite successfull with the tribes living close to the civilized lands, to whom gold have a very real value, the location of the road do mean he has to succeed further upstreams as well. To further better his chances he pays one of the tribal elders he encounters to accompany him and aid him in the negotiations. The journey seems to be taking more time than anticipated and it is very unclear if he will get back in time for the meeting or not.

In Kemdun Charon has managed to investigate the local market to find a suitable price for the gremlin crossbows - a steep 200 gold each. Thriatos has less luck in his endeavors but at least manage to stay out of sight of the local mages, who they don't want to interfere. As the meeting draws near they meet up at Bocco near the headquarters of the City Guard as this is the place where the meeting will occur. Bocco, who is slightly nervous - no doubt for entrusting a large sum of money in the hands of the eccentric mages, describe the five delegates. Natala is the commander of the city guard, Samion is a representative of the city's mages (damn meddling mages!), Atilla is a representative from the dux and lords Jargalla and Harashman, both important land owners and political figures. The meeting starts with some casual conversation and after Learning Natala and lord Jargalla are those who appears to be most interested the mages put most of their effort towards them.

In the jungle further south Horacio has started his negotiations with the tribe claiming the land here they have planned to have their path and future road. The tribe offers to either sell the land or for them to earn a fee for every passing camel, ox and cart. They also want payment for a small docks to be constructed and they want their own men to be paid for much of the work and not contracted strangers. As all the required investments puts a Heavy toll on their budget Horacio decide to accept a fee for passing caravans rather than buy the land. As hiring the tribals as workers was his plan all along this pose no real hinderance, but with a 100 hired workers he cannot pay them for more than three days with his current funds. This is however enough for them to get started and Horacio begin hurry home to join with Thriatos and Charon.

At the business meeting the delegates have ventured out to the nearby archery range where Jamal, who did some practicing with the crossbows the night before, is proving to be a lousy demonstrator. Lord Harashman wants to try and is far more successful than the undead servant and Jargalla is quick to place an order followed by Natala. The mage Samion is mostly interested in acquiring the example used for the demonstration for which he pays full price and then leaves. What then follows is a somewhat lengthy discussion with Atilla, who isn't much interested as a buyer but very interested in defining some laws and tax regulations regarding this new commodity. They finally agree that those present are allowed to buy, but to further expand the market would require a explicit permission from the dux. After this is concluded Harashman makes a small order to further evaluate the weapon's performance.

The three mages join later in the evening and discuss their progress. Despite a few details they are very pleased with the outcome and they send a dinner invitation to Bocco to meet them the following day at the imperial embassy, which apparently has a fine cuisine.

Next day at the dinner they discuss business with Bocco who agrees that this have been going very well. He informs them he can have a caravan prepared in the following day which sounds excellent to the mages. After dinner they pay Bocco their share of the investment and await the following morning.

Before dawn Horacio awakes due to it being unusually hot. Opening a window he notices smoke coming up from the lower floor - the building is on fire! He immediately starts shouting and with everyone up they can only conclude that the stairs down are covered in flames. They wake up the other guests who are not already awake from Horacio's screaming and they proceed, along with Charon, Thriatos, Jamal and Mergus to exit the building through one of the windows. Horacio, who sees climbing as below his rank, uses a fire shield to pass through the burning stairs. With all their precious belongings saved they watch the building burn until a group of mages approach to stop the fire from spreading, at which Point they leave as discreetely as possible.

They fetch their camels from the backyard of the burning inn where the fire has thankfully yet to spread and head off to a second inn to try to get some sleep. They have barely arrived before the city guard comes knocking and grudgingly they agree to be taken to see commander Natala.

Natala holds a short inquiry with the three, accompanied by a mage which makes them all nervous. Horacio is unable to lie about the fact that he himself is a mage and it is revealed that the fire was arson and that the innkeeper had been murdered prior to the fire starting. Natala quickly dismiss the three as suspects but suggests they might have been the real target for the fire. Having no reason to hold them she is about to let them go, but the mage in her company asks that they come with him to speak to the city's grandmaster to which they are forced to agree. Jamal and Mergus is left behind as they don't want to bring two greater undead into a house full of wizards.

The nightly walk takes them to the local wizard house and grandmaster Kabala Shor. Kabala seems to be well informed and knows who the three really are and that their presence here would constitute a breaking of the imperial decree they've been given to locate consul Seneca. However, before such sensitive issues are discussed Thriatos points out the hour is late and Kabala agrees that their conversation can continue in the next morning.

The Necromancer's Legacy - part 47

As the night approaches Azela leads the way to the Blooded Squire.She and Kael, dressed in simple clothes, enter the establishment together and start mingling with the crowd. Zantana watches the place from a distance.

Looking around from the bar, Azela notices a section with tables and hushed conversations while Kael discovers an alcove where someone or someones can keep out of sight from the rest of the clientele. Nearby, he spots a discrete guard discreetly carrying a short sword and keeping an eye on the alcove. Except for the serving girls a few people drop by but doesn't stay for long.

Having felt that enough time has passed Zantana too enters the tavern, but find herself surrounded by courting men. Having pushed her way past them she finds a corner from which she can observe the alcove. A stout, bearded and short man is seated within an she decides to make contact. A passing flirt with the hidden guard and she finds herself in the alcove before anyone has time to react. Apparently not wanting a scene the man questions her in a friendly manner until she comes around talking about her frivolous past and casual relationships in an attempt to charm him. This causes him to cut their conversation short, saying he has a meeting and telling her to leave. She does get his name however - which is Rutkar.

Meanwhile Azela has tried to overhear some of the conversations going on at the tables, but a large fellow appears and tells her to get lost. She return to the bar where Kael has been keeping an eye on Zantana, who also return to the bar. The three share their experiences after which Zantana leaves to look for a back entrance.

After Zantana has left Kael and Azela spot a man heading for the alcove and Kael decides to try to get closer. Pretending to be drunk he is stopped by the guard who isn't fooled by his "don't we know each other?" ruse. It is however enough for Kael to get a glimpse at Rutkar and his hidden contact who covers his identity by wearing a large hood. As he try to get past the guard two strong men grip his arms and while he struggles they start dragging him towards the door. Azela realizes she'd better interfere and makes a scene about her purse being stolen by some innocent bystander. The commotion gives Kael a chance to break free and he throws the men aside - one into the wall, the second into the crowd surrounding Azela. A fighting quickly ensues.


Zantana finds two doors at the back of the building and dismissing one of them as leading to the kitchen she manage to unlock the second. A staircase leads to an upper floor which appears to have rooms for guests but is empty for the time being. She finds a stair leading down back towards the tavern itself and as she peek inside she sees the brawl which is now covering the entire floor. She quickly close the door and retreat back and head towards the front of the building.

Kael uses drunkards as throwing weapons to keep the guards away and get a swing at Rutkar's visitor as he is trying to sneak out from the place. Knocking him down he notices it is the same man who previously lead him to the home of Babuca. He carries the unconscious man towards the exit. Azela is trying her best to stay out of the fight but as she notices Rutkar charging against Kael she throws a throwing star which hits his wrist and allows Kael to carry his prisoner out of the place. She then try to get out herself and eventually manages to do so after suffering several injuries on the way. The two meet up to Zantana and retreat to an alley and watch as some of the customers start running from the brawl and out into the streets.

As things calm down they quickly question the man Kael has captured, after which Zantana slit his throat in cold blood. Surprised by this, Azela is upset as she had more questions to be asked, but they realize that it is not a discussion to be had next to a corpse in the street. They split up and head back towards their place. Kael happens to run into a patrol of city guards, which chase him for nearly an hour before he manage to shake them. As this has taken him to the far side of the city he decides to spend the night there to avoid running into more trouble before morning.

As dawn breaks it is business as usual. Their trading business is progressing and Azela has set up a neat operation to get the dirt dug out by their undead servants out of the city. Everything seems to be going smoothly until they learn that Gamaral has killed what he suspected to be a burglar. As they question him about it he gets upset that they do not agree with his cause of action and instead demand that they make contact to a mage within the city as he needs some councel. Greatly frustrated by his behavior they agree simply to shut him up but in return ask for several magical letters which Zantana intends to use to contact Merga directly. Gamaral agrees to this request without questions.

As the days pass the undead continue to learn more about the city. Of most interest, Azela manage to learn about a man named Javaar who is one of the city's crime lords. Apparently Rutkar Bloodaxe's boss the rumor says he is not to happy with what happened on the Blooded Squire some nights before.