Assault on Aldera Campaign

[smartalec]

Zau'lann looks far away, up at the sky, standing beside Tian'ith. His hand finds hers in an uncommon gesture of togetherness - but his words, though soft as if they come from far away, are all business. "Kill one of them, even the witch, and we throw the first knife... all then know that they are not safe, and we are prepared to kill them."

He tears his gaze from the stars, to look at her. "The kobold will turn against us; as much it might agree with the death of the witch, it knows it will be next. It'll seek allies. The fire-cleric, the new muscle. If we do this, it will only be a matter of time. Out here, on the surface, I don't know if we can afford it." He squeezes her hand, looking into her eyes. "They're no soldiers, mrimm."

[Ayram]

Vot stared at his journal. Well... a journal. He wasn't sure he wasn't just going to throw it away yet. But... what the hell, maybe it would pass the time.

He'd been drifting in an out of groups for most of his life, never quite finding whatever it was he wanted out of them. The goblin gang he ran with recently was about pure survival. No love lost there. Most of the groups before that had been the same. Being a sword arm for hire in between had kept him alive, but he wasn't sure about this group he'd been attached to.

Most of them he could barely tell apart. All hoods and cloaks to him. If they even told him their names, he didn't listen.

He had taken note of a feud though. The drow... he was pretty sure they were drow... well, they looked fairly set to stick their knives in the witch. The witch herself might have been a loose cannon once. He wasn't sure if she was even aware of the enmity.

Of course, he also couldn't help but notice the small one. Not a goblin. Guess it must be a kobold. It held itself up like it had something to prove. Well, maybe it did. It certainly didn't speak like any kobold he'd ever seen though. It was... almost refined.

There was a big one covered in armor. Seemed to have healing magics. Didn't speak much, if at all. He couldn't even hazard a guess if it was an orc or a hobgoblin or what.

There might have been another drow? A hob like him? He wasn't sure. All these cloaks and hoods. He swore, it's like they were going out of style.

[Lazybones]

Session 9

Everyone's at least L3 now, so the XP posting bonus goes up a bit.

+450xp to Ravillion, Rogha, Vot, Zau'lann, and Tian'ith
+675xp to Darson
+900xp to Miiq

[Vanya Mia]

((I am at work for our open day tomorrow and while I should be back have set the server up just in case I have an issue. Usual details.))

[Vanya Mia]

((A reminder that I am out next week and probably the week after. I will put the server up before we leave so it should be good for at least one week and possibly the two.))

[Mirgalen]

Up... and Down again.

Rogha did not have a chance to remain on the surface has she had planned to. After exploring a little in a rather chaotic way the team assaulted the mine killing everything near the entrance. The alarm was raised "Monsters!" some miners shouted and something like "Alert the others!". Soon the team retreated to the cavern where they had been hiding during the day and it became clear that it was time to go down under again to report. Rogha quickly considered her options. Staying topside alone and risking being discovered and killed by humans or dwarves or going deep down again but not as a slave but as a skilled mercenary hoping to get another chance to gaze at the moon and the stars some time soon. "Yeah let's do that she murmured to herself" before following the others into the Underdark...

[Karvon]

The scouting mission had ultimately been a failure in Darsin's view. The party had not remained undetected and had, in fact, been rather disruptive. It'd had started off OK on the first day; the scouts took an initial look around and located a Dwarven mining outpost and a human keep nearby and returned without any major incidents. At this point there was some discussion as to whether to return with this initial report, or to try to get more details about these places and perhaps areas further out. It was decided to go out one more night and try to collect a bit more. This second evening is when things started to go down hill. The group came upon Dwarven guards and were detected. Darsin wasn't clear on how this happened, but the group had been advancing rather carelessly, rather than with scouts out in front. In any case, a running battle led to the extermination of the guards and the group moving further on. Darsin and the new mercenary dragged and dumped the bodies and gear of the dead off the cliffs into the sea and tried to clean up the signs of the skirmish as best they could. The others didn't seem overly concerned about this. Moving on, they came to the mining outpost, again without any real order, and the guards spotted them and warnings were shouted. The group attacked and wiped out all the Dwarves in the lower part of the outpost, but there was a trail up into the mountains and signs of heavy traffic in that direction. Perhaps one or more of the Dwarves got away, Darsin wasn't clear on that, but the group began to retreat back to the caves. Given, the locals would certainly know something was up, Darsin chose to burn down the lower outpost as an offering to the Lords of Fire. Some of the others weren't pleased, but he didn't care at this point about their opinions.

[Vanya Mia]

Some things play upon the mind and with the way events were turning it was even harder to shake them. It was also hard to find time to be together in a place of complete privacy, but by virtue of stubborn persistence Tian'ith eventually managed it. It was after all something she wanted, and given her upbringing she was rarely prepared for anything less. As usual there was more than one motive and lying alone together later there was time to talk.

With a final kiss they parted. Tian'ith watched Zau'lann move through the settlement and return to their appointed lodgings. He didn't look back, she didn't have expect it of him but she watched anyway. When he had vanished from view she pulled her hood up over the pale hair and turned her eyes away to face the dark.


((Un-directed post to explain her absence, kind of, as I'm not sure what they'll be up to for a couple of sessions.

As a heads up DST finishes in the EU this weekend so don't forget to account for it. Catch you in a couple of weeks!))

[smartalec]

"I wonder," asks Zau'lann, thoughtful in the absence of his stealthy partner, speaking in the room as he sits down to a plate of fungus. "I wonder if there's a chance of finding some acord with the duergar." He pops a mushroom into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully before finishing his thought. "They have to be as aware of the poisoning as Alzari's people are... perhaps there's the opportunity for an alliance of convenience against the surfacers? You'd think they'd want their rocky little citadel frm being surrounded in poison, after all - and that seems like the way things will go before long, if we can but get them to see it."

[Klasa]

The plan to stealthily gain information was a failure, but Ravillion expected no less from the group she had been given. They admittingly had some talents to offer, but stealth was not even close to one of them. Rather, she was surprised that they had gone so long without giving away their position during that mission. The disobedience of that rlyd though, that was something that would need to be taken care of in the near future. . .

"Peace? Nau, Duergar will harbor nau peace. Usstan and dos all have killed many Duergar now. That still alive the Duergar will view as insult. Especially since are having their old ryld, bought with fake coin. Nau, they will accept nau peace."