D&D 4e Game, Homebrew Setting, Houserules

[powerslave84]

I still planned on being there. but its cool if we postpone.

[powerslave84]

I guess I'll show up at 6 and find out?

[silarion]

I'll be there. I can work late tnt

[Iunnrais]

So, in this mini-session, the fragment of the party investigated a lead on the location of the Prince's underground excavations. It turned out to be guarded by a very significant fear aura. Stealing the potion and amulet that the workers use, analysis showed that the workers temporarily shunt their souls into amulets and leave their bodies to be mindless living zombies that do whatever someone tells them to do. This leaves them invulnerable to fear, being mindless.

The party caused one of their members (Ker'gosh) to follow this method, and were dragged kicking and screaming into the fear aura, where they utilized seelie candles to reveal the source of the aura: invisble shrieking ghostly figures, who managed to chase them off.

Looking for backup, the party contacted Devin, who gladly charged into the sewers, fighting some very serious undead wraiths. In the meantime, the party watched cloaked figures attempt to rally and retreat some more traditionally undead zombies-- an army's worth of zombies. They fought off about a hundred of these while Devin took on the wraiths.

NEXT TIME: Cultist hunting!

[Relmin]

Hey all,

Just wanted to send out a reminder that I will not be at the session tonight as I am currently in PA and wont be down in NC until very late.

[Iunnrais]

Gotcha.

[silarion]

may be a few late

[Iunnrais]

1x Necrotic Conspector (Undead Archer) -- 6000 xp
2x Spectral Cloaked Soulcasters -- 2800 xp
2x Zombie Mobs (100) -- 1600 xp

Not entering the pink candy door -- 0 xp
Discovering the Prince in the midst of plotting -- 500 xp
Entombing several legions-worth of zombies -- 5000 xp
Dwarven Diplomacy -- 100 xp
Definitively Starting a Civil War, On Purpose -- Uhhh..... you get civil war. Oh, alright, 1000 xp

Total: 17000 xp
Divided between 4 party members: 4250 xp

[silarion]

After the exciting instigation of the Civil War in the throne room, Garron has to make a quick exit for obvious reasons. However, in the evening of that day, you -- even if you weren't there -- receive a message through various means, either crow or thief or seeming beggar woman to meet in an abandoned part of the city.

When all of you arrive, Garron addresses the group. "I know what I did today was unexpected, but your reactions needed be genuine, so that it was less likely for you to be implicated in the eventual fallout that will occur because of this. I am a professional at getting out of trouble. Most of the rest of you are not. This situation is as follows: We bounce from situation to situation, reacting to whatever the world throws at us. We have insane Fey with inscrutable thoughts out to control the world. There are Gods, demons, nobles, principalities, and civilizations who all have their own competing goals, and we are stuck in the middle. Oh, I forgot there is now an alliance between a terrifying devil and the Necromancer aimed at somehow destroying the world.

It is clear that someone has been gearing towards a Civil War for years. Killing the royal family to place an incompetent king with an ambitious son on the throne, strengthening the high nobility, the tunneling towards the palace and the eruptions of undead, all of these things and many more we don't know about were all aimed at destabilizing the throne and creating strife at a time when the enemy is at its strongest. We are converging on a time of great darkness and we are but pieces in a great game. I decided it was time to make a move that no one had anticipated.

By preempting the enemy we gain tempo; instead of being on the defensive, we are now players in the game, and gods help us if we are not ready. From my perspective, we gain several advantages by this move. First, we restructure the royal court. The nobles hate Devon, and as much as I hate him, he is nearly the only competent person at court. While they will not listen to him now, he will gain influence at war. An annoying paladin trying to enforce your morality is one thing, a war hero is another. Second, we catch our enemies unaware. They were heading here, but by doing it before them, their plans are unhatched, giving us the advantage. Third, it makes room. War creates opportunities. As battles are won and lost, we can insinuate ourselves in the power structure. Most important, it will draw our enemies out. We are dealing with puppetmasters. Games like that are harder to play in war. Also, the prince will be drawn out. A jerk prince is one thing; a prince who doesn't defend the country is another. We can put our people there and learn what we need to know.

We need to guide this war to prevent mass destruction but begin to train a competent army to repel the eventual necromancer army. A party of adventurers can pool their skills and be a heck of a force in the world.

Here are my suggestions:

Garron and Zyrb: Rebuild slums using local labor. Use this as an opportunity to organize people into legion-like work units. From here we can begin to put together a private army. Lowki can help us by training officers.

Garron: Use thieves and informants to gain information on troop movement, supply lines, and political situations.

Lowki: Train troops, become a general. (My advice is pretend you already are one from somewhere far away)

Ancor and Notos: Weapons. Hire competent journeymen and start churning out weapons and armor. We don't need magic, just good steel. We will win through superior organization, not numbers.

Pendarric: (who is returning and will be invited to the meeting): Figure out a way to organize communication. Also, try to figure out how to keep all this secret. I have this room shielded from scrying, but it is difficult to do and not mobile.

Corvus (Crow Familiar): Watch and steal information from the Dwarven Embassy.


Party: First step is the Esterwall. We need to keep the Dwarves largely out of this. They are worried about the Necromancer, but they have their own goals. We have done them a solid and we need to go cement our position with them.


Suggestions?

[Zyrb]

If we need to keep the dwarves out in a rather large manner, why not see if Kergosh can rile up some Orcs on their borders and keep their eyes focused at home while we work on the trainning of the new private military.

As far as organizing and training officers I think that myself and Lowki can take care of that. While there is some downtime to collect groups to work on the new slums. I do like the idea of our own private army however.

I was thinking that I could go for a few major towns and collect what brawlers and fighters under one banner. A group of shock troopers as you were, mercenaries. I am sure that they would be willing to fight for us, for the right price.