Prelude 1102

We went on this mission to help destroy the tunnels used by the Greenskins to travel through the underdark. It made sense for us to go rather than pull Fir Cruthen troops out from the fight at Glasgi.

Unfortunately not everything went to plan. Well, actually, not much at all did.

We woke up in a small chamber, very dark. There was a small group of us with no memory of who we were, where we were or what we were doing there.

Someone lit a lantern and we found an exit on to a larger cavern where we met others equally lost. Joined them and we fought our way into a larger area with a tavern where a lot of people, all similarly confused, were gathered.

Round about this time most of us found we could remember our names and national allegiance though Rosalie & Kyle caused more confusion by being mercenaries wearing lion devices. Lord Velarkin, the boss of the Wolves had someone read a letter to us - seems we had been sent with a dozen or so potions to destroy the mountain and prevent the Greenskins from using the tunnels from the mountain to travel quickly around the world. Everyone was grouped by nation for the tasks to come, the Zen Genpo Kai were joined with the Lions and we were given the job of guarding the alchemists.

The cavern area around the tavern was rapidly turned into an armed camp. For the next few hours we were under almost continual attack from undead, some of which came perilously close to our charges, while teams went out searching for the missing potions and found quite a few of them.

The following day we found more of the missing potions then packed up the camp to trek to Freehold, a community deep in the mountain. While on the way to Freehold we were attacked from inside the column by Silver the vampire who had been masquerading as Lord Velarkin (which explains why he couldn't read what was supposedly his own note). The attack seemed to be due to meeting salamander(s) who exposed his plan.

Silver apparently wanted to create his own version of the Eternal Twilight. His plan was to blow up the mountain in such a way as to create lots of ash and dust, enough to fill the sky and prevent the sun shining through. Of course the information about his plan didn't sit overly well with those of us who had been through the hell of the Eternal Twilight once before.

Although Freehold is a fortified town the gates are left open so anyone may enter. At Freehold we each had to sign a declaration that we wouldn't fight in the bar on pain of death. Virtually constant attacks the whole time we were there, many of which broke through into the inner area and one attack even made it into the alchemists' lab area.

Gradually our memories returned, often causing more problems as people remembered they disliked those they'd been working and fighting alongside for hours.

Parties were sent out to collapse the tunnels the greenskins were using. Mining was the order of the day with forces protecting the miners. If the constant attacks and rockfalls weren't dangerous enough there were also spores that got into the miners' lungs.

 There was absolute chaos when the Liberati had a run in with some slavers, though they managed to use the bar's rules to advantage. There was even more fun and games when the freed slaves insisted on taking new masters.

Prince Dogsbreff had his fortune read by one of the Squantum's crew for 2gp. Unfortunately the prince paid 2cp by accident (confusion over coinage it turned out, you can tell he's rich he can't tell the difference between copper and gold) which lead to a rather loud altercation. This was solved by the prince writing out an IOU for 2gp.

The ghost of a dwarf king caused a lot of trouble for goblins who insisted on annoying him and the running away in fear every time he looked at them. He and some drow were looking for his crown, both offering aid if they got it.

There was a partial success on tunnel collapsing until a new plan evolved involving salamanders to destroy the mountain.

There was a huge running battle through the caverns on the way out. Culhan was assigned to guard the alchemists and other non-combatants in the centre of the column while Kyle fought with the rearguard which took the brunt of the attacks. One amusing interlude was the duel between Lord Velarkin and the Greenskin leader - honour went right out the window after the first few minutes. Kyle had an amusing shot - dropped an ogre who had just suggested everyone was scared of him. Kyle finally went down in the final seconds of the last fight trying to fight with a dagger against a polearm wielding ogre but was thankfully saved at the last moment by a drow medical team that appeared from nowhere.

As we made our way down from the mountain it started to rumble and then erupted into flame, we'd just made it out in time, but the greenskins wouldn't be using those tunnels for a while at least.

Apologies for the total lack of piccies - but there's some good ones on Firesong's Prelude page.

Lion Azure Roll - Prelude 1102

It's for real, not part of a game