Prelude in G Minor

Episode Seven: The Enemies of My Enemies

AK 594/1/27-2/1 (1736-1740 PK)

Plant Dude update

The morning after the party met the Red Mage, Silvana contacted Plant Dude to get an update on the killer tree. There's no timeframe, of course, but she did learn that Froot Loop plans to transport the tree all the way to Silverton and will provide birds to move the party into the ether, that PD seems downright lucid, and that Hajmola can escape from PD for at least a few seconds; she also convinced PD to part with an ice flower to protect the demon tree from Rakni's swarms of exploding spiders.

On the road again

Apparently the encounter table between C-Ra and the Nirduk base doesn't have much to offer. The party traveled uneventfully for two days; on day three they met a dozen goblins and four bugbears who yielded a small amount of cash (though 24 ep isn't bad for a bugbear), a partially eaten hybsil, a potion, and a magical javelin. On the fourth day, the party approached the base and encountered...

Chez Ganeth's maître d'

Now this was a karfu you could picture picking people up and eating them (and possibly decimating the local encounter table to boot). It had a 20-foot wingspan, a 96" move (at MC C), 16 HD, 95 hp (considerably above average), a 10d6 breath weapon (cold), an AC of 0, and a hefty claw/buffet/bite attack routine. Luckily, the party had two rounds to prep before the big black bird engaged, the critter was vulnerable to non-magical weapons, and Thorongil nailed one of its wings with the sword of sharpness, but even so, our heroes were pretty well pounded; Stealth got dropped to zero, which wiped the shelter for the coming night. Frankel and Beeel (who was "riding" Frankel to get two fighters aloft on one fly spell), after being reduced to 1 and 5 hp respectively, also suffered from some tactical disagreements...

Beeel:

"Frankel, I'll kill you myself if you fly towards that bird. For the good of the team, of course."

Frankel:

[throws him off]

Thorongil: [aside]

"Never ride a mount that's smarter than you are."

The critters in your neighborhood

The party withdrew toward a formerly cleared-out troll cave to camp for the night, stopping to kill a pair of trailing invisible ravens on the way. Unfortunately, the cave in question was already occupied; there were three horses out front, and on his scouting run into the cave, Stealth saw a classic Evil Eastern Priestess(tm) in a nondescript dark robe, a fighter in strange armor with a really big helmet that made his voice simultaneously muffled and booming, and a head mounted on a pyramid in the middle of a mat. Apart from speaking Eastern Common, Stealth thought the head's voice sounded just like Glurf's.

The party moved on to another cave half a mile away and found the burnt remains of two trolls inside. (We later learned that these had been killed by the party in the other cave.) Ganeth found a movable boulder toward the back of the cave; Thorongil found several tracks in the area, including those of two female trolls, two humans (one in soft shoes, one in metal boots), three or four jermalaine (one set ending with a splat near some troll tracks), and one high elf called G. There was a small lizard trapped beneath the boulder, alive but weekly. After the party freed it, Silvana spoke to it on speak with animals and basically found out it was in pain (which we'd already guessed), though after getting a free clw, it did say, "I will be giving rewards to you." The lizard looked rather whilglike, with two folded vestigial limbs curled up to its chest (in addition to the usual complement of four).

The boulder concealed a 4'-diameter passageway leading to a small quasi-shrine, complete with human and gnoll skulls and a slab of rock that may have been a crude altar. The assorted items were generally related to fire: a magical flaming knife, 6 flasks of greek fire, 8 flasks of lamp oil, 4 sets of flint, steel, and tinder, and a robe with a picture of a large orange flame on the back. There was also a half-used potion (untested, but fire breath would fit the theme), 150ep, and around 500cp scattered about.

That night, the party heard the dulcet tones of howling wolves. A bit later, they saw a horse (probably from the other camped party) run past the cave. And a while after that, they were attacked by a pair of yeth hounds, who weren't too much trouble (despite nearly everyone booting their fear saves). They heard a third hound howling off in the distance; it stopped rather suddenly.

In the morning, the lizard was no longer weekly. It was able to communicate telepathically with anyone who wasn't mild-shielded, though it didn't have much to say beyond the mildly Zathras-esque, "Feeling better now. Much thanking," before melding away into the rocks. (Generally whilglike, all in all -- but if it were an actual whilg youngun, why would it be looking for spells to suck in a troll cave?)

Dan:

"Every time you save a dorky little creature, it has to turn into something special..."

Rahul:

"Actually, there are no dorky little creatures. Everyone except for you is a powerful extraplanar entity."

Erich:

"Pretty much, yeah."

The ambush that wasn't

The party decided to try to capture the group in the other cave before the latter could come and attack them instead. They came up with a nice clean ambush plan but were stymied when everyone but the fighter, Fonzeel from Banzeel, was out when the party arrived. Before Fonzeel's associates got back, Beeel was able to learn that the other group had also been attacked by yeth hounds, that the priest followed a Death religion and didn't bestow healing, that the priest and the party assassin were sisters, and that the Glurf-head was Chaotic, had been bought from the Insanity Temple, and could give advice based on a knowledge source that had something to do with "Karfoo". Fonzeel had been beaten onto the weekly table and was resting unarmored, though he still wore his helmet. (Silvana relieved Fonzeel of his potion while he was speaking with Beeel; someday he might even notice.)

The priest and assassin returned eventually; after a not-quite-combat spanning eight or nine hundred yards and inflicting no actual damage on anyone, everyone gathered by the cave to chat.

(The assassin, btw, wore a hooded mask and brown combat suit, to blend in with the rocks, and wielded a dagger and a kris dagger. She looked worried and gave Beeel a good hard stare when Fonzeel told her Beeel was psionic, then dismissed the possibilty; could be she's psionic herself.)

The priest was aware of Ganeth's identity (though she asked his name anyway and got no useful reply) and knew that he was the nominal owner of the base; she also implied that she was aware his "feelings" toward the Nirduks (which makes me curious about what she thinks they are). She looked surprised to see him there, even after recognizing the Champion of Good.

Death priest:

"Rumor has it that you are the owner of the stronghold nearby."

Ganeth:

"That's what the will said...are you interested in renting?"

Death priest:

"The property is not in a desirable location."

She also maintained that the big black bird was immortal and was quite surprised when the party maintained that it most certainty was not. And she kept trying to interest the party in purchasing, or least looking at, Glurf's head (which she called "a head of wonder" that "always works better in desperate situations"); Silvana and Beeel convinced her to drop its bag and back away from it instead. Like her sister, there's a reasonable chance she's psionic; she also looked nervous when Fonzeel piped up about Beeel's alleged mental abilities, and she admitted that psionics tend to be useful against kenku. (I also wonder if working with two psionicists explains why Fonzeel wears such a thick helmet and never removes it.)

Internal conflicts

According to the priest, Karfu is a force associated with CE that is somehow allied with or spread by the kenku ("a race of spiritfolk in the East who have sought to undermine the Empire for a long time") and Eastern bird-worshippers. Recently they have been gaining "converts" by infecting people with some sort of insanity. The implike ravens are connected with them; the kenku summoners and kensai are also part of this and are thought to be partially extraplanar. This group is responsible for the various attempts to introduce insanity into the West since the Shadowing, and they're currently working on a plan to send Lord Rogtymark off the deep end. The Empire, at least as represented by the Death Temple, isn't terribly thrilled about all this, partly because of the resulting increased prominence of the Insanity Temple, partly because these Ravens have contacts in Banzeel and are likely to stir up trouble during the war, and partly because:

The War is as important for us as it is for you. We want to see Evil triumph over Good in a big battle. If Good were to be defeated by silly second-rate tricks, it would not be politically popular for us.

A faction of the adventuring Ravens has broken away from the traditional Empire and joined the kenku/karfu/insanity cohort. The Eastern party is in the area to kill the faction's leader, a former priest/mage of death named Kharnzeel. (Yes, this is the same name as Streck's contact in the revolution...)

Death priest:

"We don't want your base, we don't want your treasure, and we don't really want that much XP. And we don't really give a damn about your policies regarding the East. We are on a mission and are too short-sighted to care about the results of the War etc."

Silvana:

"Because you know that the Empire will win in the long run anyways?"

Death priest:

"Basically. So Good & Evil can work together. We just can't trust each other."

According to the priest, the base's current occupants are:

• The aforementioned Kharnzeel, a (roughly) 12th level priest/mage of Death who is unlikely to have priestly abilities.
• Subator, his twin-sai wielding psionic kensai bodyguard.
• A priest of insanity.
• A name-level elven fighter/mage from "Auramkeel" who is rumored to be the last of the Barshen; our money's on Lexar.
• Two mid-level wizard apprentices and a kensai apprentice.

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