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| The Ghostlord |
RHoD Session 11 - by Matt/Egg
Players: Brother Bear the Druid, Caliyenna a Crinti Bard, Motter the Dwarf Champion Brewer & Egg Crinti Swashbuckler.Dear readers, I present you with another extract from the astonishing memoirs of Llardexter dal Hasifir or as he was known during the Invasion of Elsir Vale, Egg of the Brindol Irregulars. Printed by the Red Mage of Dennovar.
Alexander D.
2/8/1491 The Ghostlord's Lair
Alas, brave Thragny & Dagny are slain, bonedrinkers feast on their remains in the dastardly laboratory of the Ghostlord. Cali is cornered in the chamber of the black cube.
But she does not fear, for help is at hand. My brothers in arms and I charge to her aid. The brutish bonedrinkers are terrible foes they attack us with claw and vile tentacles, Motter gets the worst of it, his sturdy armour is pierced several times, his bones crushed and flesh torn. Cali cheers on from relative safety as the bonedrinkers are now occupied drinking Motters bones, no longer hers. We prevail, but not before poor Motter is quite blown, so we decided to rest.
The laboratory is fascinating. The energy generated from the dark floating cube is conveyed to and somehow powers the pool of rebirth. The rebirthing pool is a foul-smelling pond of yellow amniotic liquid that converts skeletal remains into the savage bonedrinkers. I make detailed notes and drawings of the fascinating necrotic apparatus. A great sad lion totem fills the far end of the chamber. Shaggy, rotten pieces of many lions have been assembled to represent a giant black lion, perhaps the focus of the insane apparatus and maybe a tool used in the creation of the ghost lions themselves. I wonder…
We comb the chamber, finding several secret doors, and agree to search them. Motter has regained his composure after a few soothing ales, and so we press on, Cali particularly keen to investigate the laboratory. It is as if she can smell the treasure. Behind one of the secret doors lies a spectacularly morbid chamber. A polished, mirrorlike floor is surrounded by a mural, depicting a nasty looking fellow killing a lion cub. We feel we might have hit the jackpot when non-other than the high lord of Ghosts himself sinisterly shimmies into view to ask us what we are doing on his premises. Cali immediate takes the lead and with a great deal of flattery, explains our mission to make a deal with him. The Ghostlord is quite taken by the Crinti's charm and gives her a tour of the facilities, even presenting her with a quite stunning amulet of health and one of his very own gift shop ghost lion figurines. In the discussion, it seems we were quite right in thinking the Ghostlord has been blackmailed by the Red Hand Wyrmlords to support the invasion of the Elsir Vale, and in fact, the Bonedrinkers are the very army he has agreed to supply the Red Hand Wyrmlords with. So, we propose a deal, the Ghost Lord will set Bonedrinkers on the Red Hand harassing supply lines and the enemy flanks of the Red Hand forces in the Vale. The irony is delicious to my Crinit soul. The very army the Red Hand blackmailed the Ghostlord to create is turned upon them. Following the defeat of the Red Hand invasion, I will return his precious phylactery. With Cali's skilful negotiations, the deal is done, the Ghost Lord agrees. I breathe a sigh of relief, I thought good brother Bear was going to blow the negotiations by attacking the Lich. But good brother Bear, despite his darkening mood from dealing with the perverse necromancer, held his discipline. But it seems the Lich is not finished with Cali yet, and proposes to her they leave us to view the glowering dusk of the Thornwaste from the viewing platform atop the roof. He tells Cali the Ghost Lions translucence is particularly charming at this time of day. She shows no sign of concern as she travels to the summit of his cathedral of death. Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, three Red Hand hobber monks ambush them on the viewing platform. The Ghostlord makes very short work of them destroying them with necrotic black fire. In the glow of the hobbers ashes, Cali makes her excuses and her escape.
Not wanting to press our luck with the Ghost Lord, we push our luck and travel through the Thornwaste at night and are attacked. Fortunately, Bear's survival skills have been honed to a fine edge fighting the Red Hand in the Witchwood, and he spots, would you believe, evil plants! The dastardly vegetation (probably another creation of the Ghostlord) was trying to surround us. Bear quickly uses a great wall of fire to see one of the bloodthirsty bushes off while the rest of us give the evil bush a proper pruning. Finally, we are out of the corrupt wasteland.
We encounter a patrol from Hammerfist in the foothills of the Wyvernwatch Mountains and they escort us to the Hold where we relay the sad news of Thragny & Dagny, then drink many of Motters soothing ales to their memory. We rest for several days with the dwarves. Excellent folk, but I fear somewhat overconfident of the chances of Brindol surviving the invasion. Legions of hobgoblins, goblins, and ogres supported by avian monsters, including dragons against the brave hundreds of Brindol. I keep these thoughts to myself. When we part company, the good dwarves give us more ponies to speed us on our journey, and good brother Bear scouts the way from above in the form of an eagle. I make notes of the hidden ravines and backwoods trails we use. If all goes badly, we can use this as an escape route south.
Pillars of smoke rise from the once peaceful farmlands of the Southern Vale. Large pyres, probably Dauth and Prosser billow across the summer crops. Bear guides us through the woods between the villages and coming across a small abandoned farm at dusk, bone-tired we decided to rest. The farmstead is modest and unmolested, and just as we have got the kettle on, we hear the unmistakable war-whoops of the damn hobbers, they must have picked up our tracks as we cross the Dauth-Prosser road. We know each other so well now, and measure each with just a gaze, though tired, we are ready. They come at us fast from several directions, Cali and I guard the back of the farmstead which has a small walled area probably for livestock, Motter and Bear take the front door. Furious beasts rush us, wolflike with strange goblin-like heads (barghest we would find out later) they bound over the wall and through the front door at the same time. I manage to get a shot off at one of the hobber veterans with them before they are on me. Very quickly, we were overrun. The barghests are in the cabin, both doors broken in. The fight takes a chaotic and desperate turn, thankfully Bear and Cali turn the tide with fire and confusion magic, and we gain the initiative, the fight wears on. These barghests are strange indeed, seemingly a goblin shape-changing devil immune to fire with the ability to dimension door and extremely tough. Hobber veterans are deadly when fighting together. The battle is hard, but we prevail, taking the commander captive. His unit, is one of many searching for 'Heroes from Brindol.' He tells us the elite 'Kill' teams have gone north following the misinformation Kythri, and I fed the Arachne shapeshifter spy Miha Serani in Dauth many days ago. The sergeant also confirms the chain of command and more details on the Red Hand invasion force. The interview takes a dark turn when Bears' anger finally gets the better of him. We leave the hobber sergeant in a shallow grave as the farmstead burns.
Red Hand of Doom leadership
The Prophet: Azzar Khul & Targaryen legendary blue dragon (Azzar Khul’s father) are at the Temple of Takhisis
Wyrmlords: Warmaster Khan, Invasion force leader
Dead Wyrmlords: Stormbringer (Ghostlord), Kolth (Vrath Keep), Saarvith (Rhest)
Red Hand Invasion Force
Ground troops: Goblins, Hobgoblins, Ogres, Hellhounds, Barghest,
Avian: Red Dragon- Abithriax, Black Dragon-Regiarix, Manticore, Chimera, Wyverns and Sphinx.
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