Session 5, Part 3

By Heather Posted Thursday Oct 13, 2005

Filed under: D&D Campaign 19 comments

9th of Last Summer, 1501dy (Near Sunset)

At last, as the sun drops to the horizon and sunset approaches, Noreeno arrives. He and a force of ten soldiers arrive at the opposite side of the field. The soldiers stop and dismount. Noreeno and his cleric ride out alone to meet Eomer, Enoch, and Thu’fir.

As they feared, Galman the cleric casts Zone of Truth over the meeting place. None of them may speak any lies now. There is a pause as Noreeno looks to the east, towards the tomb. After a pause he seems satisfied, “Good, I can tell you have released Mordan. Well done.”


They pepper him with questions. How do you know Mordan is free? What are you doing this for? Why did you want him freed? Noreeno finally holds up a hand and answers, “I do not intend to reveal my true goal and nature to you, but I will tell you that this is the culmination of a plan begun by others, over a century ago. It wasn’t until now, with the confusion of the war, a populace that has mostly forgotten what was buried here, being in a place of power close to Mordan’s prison, and the right group of outsiders who were willing to do this. Many long years of careful planning have led to this moment.”

Eomer informs him they they will not give him the Orb. Noreeno laughs, “Oh! I don’t want it. All I wanted was for you to free Mordan. You can deal with the orb yourself.” He smiles. Eomer is boiling with rage.

The party is enraged and horrified as this. Noreeno is calm, and continues, “I realize you are upset. I want to warn you: At sundown Mordan will emerge from his prison. I assure you, you don’t want to be here when he does. He will be seeking you. Yes. He will be hunting for all of you now. I’m sorry for the way things turned out, but I do intend to keep my part of the bargain.”

He produces five sets of travel papers and holds them up, “Here are the papers, as promised. I will give you your papers, and what’s more, I’ll give you three horses to ride out of here. But only if you agree to leave quietly. If you want to make a scene or unpleasantness, then I warn you: The battle would simply delay you, keeping you here until Mordan emerges. You don’t want that.”

The players were delighted (at the plot twist) and enraged (at Noreeno). They couldn’t fight him and all of his soldiers, and even if they somehow won, it would just mean they would find themselves spent and injured when the Lich emerges. They realized they were more or less screwed at this point and couldn’t do anything but let Noreeno have his way.

-Shamus

They are silent for several moments. “What about Endo?”, Eomer demands at last.

Noreeno nods, “Your companion, as I said, was captured and taken south. However, my spies report that he was not sent to work in the mines, but instead was turned into on of the Queen’s special guard. You remember the soldiers with the faceless helmets, with no eye holes? Well, he is one of them now. He will probably notbe in the capital city of Fol Theron, but instead will be in on of the smaller towns between there and here. You’ll have to look for him. “

The party listens carefully as Noreeno explains, “Few know this, but the soldiers are controlled through the helmets. You can’t see it, but below the bottom edge of the helmet, just under the chin, is a leather strap holding the helmet in place. Cut it and pull off the helmet, and your friend will be freed.”

The sun is setting soon, but Eomer can’t resist one more question, “What about the travel papers? How do the soldiers always know they are fake?”

Noreeno smiles, “Because we ask them. Even if the forgery is a complete success and is good enough to fool the soldiers, we simply ask the person holding the papers. You know how fond I am of Zone of Truth. Those that have fakes are arrested and never get the chance to explain how they were caught. Up until now the forgers have always assumed they were doing something wrong, or missing some hidden detail. The truth is, the only way someone can use a fake is if they don’t know it’s a fake.”

All of them want to know what cause they just served, and who Noreeno is working for. He answers, “There are two powers you have seen. To the north are the now-defeated Lormanites. To the south are the Alidians. You have just aided a third power. A rising power. You may learn more soon, but now is not the time.”

Noreeno looks at the setting sun, “It’s time to go gentlemen. If you agree to leave quietly you can have the travel papers and the horses. What do you say?”

They cannot lie in the zone of truth. They cannot hope to beat Noreeno and his men. They cannot linger here or they will have to face the Lich. Angry and beaten, they agree to leave in peace. Before they go, Eomer makes Noreeno a promise, “Someday, I will kill you.”

“Fair enough”, Noreeno smiles, “But not today.”

They take the horses and flee. As they ride away from the crypt, Enoch can see a dark aura of evil engulfing the site. They head south, back to Crossway. As they ride they discuss their next move. They don’t want to to linger in Crossway. They have no idea what Mordan the Lich will do when he comes out, or what Noreeno is really doing. Eomer suggests that perhaps this third force is the cause of the mountain itself? Of Fiore? They have only just read the account of the conquest of the mountain the day before. The book warned that the tale was merely folklore, but they all suspect there is more to it than just a legend.

They want to ask help of Sagemaster, but they can’t reach him.

Eomer points out that Noreeno is obviously an enemy of Queen Alidia. They have heard that she is cold and ruthless, but she might still be an ally against the Lich. Eomer proposes they head to town and find one of her special guards and tell him what has happened. Since she seems to connect with them through magic, she ought to know quickly.

As they ride south, they decide they need to rescue Beck from the town. It is probably no longer safe in Crossway. During the ride, Skeeve studies the Orb some more. He learns:

This doesn’t help him very much, but he does gain some knowledge that will help him in future study attempts.

I won’t get into all of the rules of this little mini-game. This basically means all future study rolls get +1.

-Shamus

They arrive in Crossway. It is well past dark now. They ride to the south gate to find the special guards, but find only evidence of battle. The royal guards are gone. They have either fled the city or have been slain by men loyal to Noreeno. The Queen no longer has any royal guards here in Crossway. Could she know already? They are even more convinced that some sort of power struggle is going on, and they must get Beck out of the city as soon as possible.

Beck is not in the tavern as they suspected. Instead, they find him at the Inn. He answers the door in his skivvies, obviously already in bed. He squints in the torchlight as they try to explain that he needs to leave.

He shakes his head, “No more adventures, boys. I got myself a job hauling goods around for a shop and I start tomorrow, I need some sleep….”

Skeeve cuts him off and explains that he has to leave, and the city is no longer safe for him. They relate a few of the events that have happened. Convinced, Beck runs inside to get ready to travel.

The six of them get on their three horses and ride south out of town as if the devil himself pursued them. They are tired. They have had only a few hours of sleep over the last few days, but they want to put some distance between themselves and the city before they can consider rest.

End of Session 5
 


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19 thoughts on “Session 5, Part 3

  1. Ryan says:

    Wow, I’m reading through all o fthese today, and all I can say is “Amazing! Simply amazing!”

    Well done. This campaign is FANTASTIC!

  2. Nate says:

    I agree. I’ve been reading these over the past few days…bravo. You are a genius.

  3. Mike says:

    Ooookay, that’s NOT what the eyeless guards would be if I were DM. Your take is likely better, certainly in your current plot.

    1. dunereader says:

      What would you have made them? Grimlocks?

  4. Althanis says:

    I love what you have done here! I have DM’d for years and I can not tell you how pleased I am with your manipulation of the party! BRAVO!
    It’s one thing to manipulate a party for good or evil, but to do it while leaving them free to act and enjoy the flow of the story is genius! I do believe I am going to steal several aspects of this adventure for use in a high-level adventure I am planning for my party. =)

  5. DianWeiYan says:

    I love how the first thing they do once in town is go and get Beck, right after you’d given them a convenient out with him.

  6. Tango says:

    Like Dian said, it’s amusing how the first thing the group does is run to beck and tell him he’s in danger.

  7. Kiri Xaperion says:

    Level 57 epic cleric runs up and turns Mordan so many times he spontaneously combusts! A level 4 barbarian then comes and pulls out a laser rifle. Then Ms. Conley comes up and uses her
    Annoyance attack. Everyone takes 1d4 damage.Catalri pulls out from under some sacks a falchion with these words carved in Abyssal on the blade:
    Pi(e)
    Don’t ask me why. Jeremy’s the DM, not me.
    Pi to the function of e. Shadowscythe campaign!

  8. Papa says:

    I have never played D&D before, but after reading your DM of the Ring and getting this far into this campaign I am psyched to find somebody to play with. Is it worth playing with only a couple people (if the alternative is not playing)? Also, is it not recommendable to try my hand at DM for the 1st time I play?

  9. Myrto says:

    This is an awesome twist!
    I have started reading your D&D campaign and I have to say, it is a really interesting story! Wish I could have been a part of it.

  10. stoxx says:

    Maybe I cant read but I was left waiting on what happens to the guys hiding in the dungeon.. So I guess maybe they were magically recalled. In time.

    I, for one, don’t believe in such things as DM errors.

  11. warwick says:

    excellent work. Bravo!!!!!!!!!
    I really like the story.

  12. G32boy says:

    Woot Becks is Back. I’m surprise they didn’t just leave him.

  13. Hmott says:

    @papa

    It’s pretty pointless to answer you since it was a few years ago you commented, but did you mean a couple Other people or just you and someone else? Cuz I haven’t enjoyed playing one-on-one dnd very much, DMing or playing.

  14. Trae says:

    So, Mike. What did you expect the special guards to be?

  15. RvdH says:

    Very nice plot twist. I read through the campaign and never saw it coming. Brilliant!

  16. Rayen says:

    you sir are a good DM. Noreeno is way better than any of the NPCs we came up with.

    Also, awwww, they really did care about beck.

  17. thumper69 says:

    Gee, we won’t split loot with the NPC. We’ll pay him to go away. Then, after being tricked into endangering the entire city, we’ll save his butt. After all, we may need cannon fodder, later.

  18. Zak McKracken says:

    Hmm… they should at least have bargained for six horses instead of three.
    At least insist on getting five.
    They probably were to baffled to admit the other two guys were still with them …
    Extremely cool twist, though.

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