Eberron Adventure: Twentieth Session

So there they were…

The party, consisting of Gnofulk the gnome barbarian, Turnin the human monk, Shadowale the halfling rogue, and Rhogar the dragonborn fighter, sat on the roof of a small building. Joining the party was Flappy, the dumb-looking familiar of a certain missing wizard was gesturing off into the distance at a dam holding back lava, and four goblins: three scared and one, named Zoop, hell-bent on defending his neighborhood and “soupin’ some guys!”

The party has a bad feeling about the dam. Gnofulk, having honed his skills enough to vastly improve his eyesight, could see the dam, but due to perspective, and the dam edge being way taller than the building, all he could discern was the gleaming of the occasional, very polished, metal helmet as it popped just into view. The party deduces that the Silver Flame must be trying to break the dam. They interrupt Zoop, who is still rambling about how much he wants to soup somebody for trying to kill his friends, with questions about the dam, but the simple soup peddler doesn’t know much. The goblin speculates that if the dam were to break, it would probably be bad? He cooks soup. He’s not an engineer.

Gnofulk is hoisted up in the air by Rhogar to survey the rest of the area. Several Silver Flame patrols are seen to the west – dead. Those are Daask neighborhoods, and while they appear to be in the process of leaving, they are still abundant in the area.

The party decides Zoop can’t stay; he is not on good terms with the Daask should they come this way, and his shop is not far from the ‘downriver’ lava flow, and if the dam were to break, the goblin would be undulated with lava. Unfortunately, the vats of hot soup are quite heavy, and the party insists that they must leave the soup behind if they are to make good time to the dam. Zoop relents, but insists that each goblin take a ladle of hot soup with them, you know, just in case.

The group descends from the group via a ladder, and mere steps into the trip, the three scared goblins immediately drop their ladles. On the ground Zoop sighs, and readies his improvised weapon.

The party determines that they will need to traverse the foundry to the north to reach the dam quickly, and set out, backtracking towards the bridge they “promised” to guard, and leaving the Daask in the neighborhoods to their immediate northwest unbothered.

As they approach the bridge, some of the Silver Flame soldiers, whom the party had originally duped into wandering off, returned. They did not look pleased, and spread themselves out over their entire side of the bridge, regarding the party coldly.

Turnin tries to bluff, asserting that the party has dutifully been guarding the bridge the whole time, but the zealots draw their blades, gesture to Zoop and the goblins, and accuse the party of lying and consorting with the evil the Silver Flame has pledged to destroy.

Zoop springs into action, sprinting out from the safety of the party, and hurtles his ladle of piping hot soup towards the accusative paladin, splattering him in the face. Souped! The paladins are too far to totally close with, Rhogar advances, stopping a little short of the line of battle, and flings a hand axe, striking the paladin wiping soup from is eyes. He then turns to face the two paladins on the flank, trying to draw them in. Shadowale, following behind Rhogar, is more fleet of foot, and as Rhogar’s thrown axe strikes, so does the halfling, his quick blades winding weak spots in the zealot’s armor.

The paladins find their footing and retort. The duo close on Rhogar, and through pure religious fervor, start raining critical blows and smites upon the dragonborn, though his tough hide and combat training manage seem to be blunting at least some of the damage, and allow him to keep his cool. The leader recovers enough to notice the halfling before him, and while he lands a blow, the rogue is able to uncannily position himself to mitigate some of the force of the strike. The final paladin advances, blade drawn, and readies himself for an attack from the monk closest to him.

Turnin obligies, skipping forward with his staff twirling in an attempt to distract the paladin, but the zealot sees through the feint. Blows are quickly traded, but with a powerful unarmed strike to the paladin’s chest, he is thrown to the edge of the bridge, where he slams into the rocky protective lip, and teeters, arms flailing. Gnofulk joins the fight, his small legs propelling him forward into the action. He gives the teetering paladin a shove, which pushes him over the edge into lava, and then moves to help Rhogar. Zoop shouts encouragement to the party, but is not a master tactician. Despite the distraction, in short order, the leader of the patrol is slain, and while bloodied himself, Rhogar, is able to accidentally skewer one of his two assailants while the other is merely knocked out by Turnin.

An unintelligible magical scroll is looted from the corpse of the patrol leader by Shadowale. The party prepares to move north, through the foundry, but want to update Blume, the turncoat with a conscious second-in-command of the crusade with their worries about the dam. The party gives Zoop and the goblin troop a long list of things to tell the elf paladin guarding an exit for the fleeing Cogsfolk, to which the goblins blink, their tiny jaws agape. Rhogar the poet gives them a rhyming couplet to convery instead: “Tell elf Blume; Dam go boom.” The goblins nod and grin, scampering and skipping towards the protected exit, singing the rhyme to themselves, the song interspersed with Zoop asking the others if they saw how well he souped that one guy.

The party enters the foundry, but find it abandoned; littered with work discarded carelessly by fleeing workers. They rapidly traverse the walkways and catwalks, and exit, arriving in the northern, more populated side of the Cogs here.

Gnofulk is familiar the most with the area, and outlines the quickest path towards the dam, keeping the lava stream relatively close to the left of the party. This section of the Cogs is in an uproar. The party advance as quickly as they can, hurrying all manner of orc and goblin civilians back towards Blume and safety.

As they pick their way through streets and crowds alike, they happen upon a Silver Flame patrol. This trio of paladins brandishing blades and menacing nearly two dozen Cogs folk in a back alley. Turnin extends his staff out horizontally to his side, and brings the party to a halt.

After the briefest of conferences, the party draws their ranged weapons, and swiftly swing into the alleyway, close to within 15 feet of the paladins and attack. The paladins, unaware of the new challengers behind them, are devastated, and fortunately the party doesn’t have any errant shots into the Cogsfolk behind them. The paladins stagger, and try to turn to face the party, but are quickly overwhelmed. One is slain by Shadowale, another incapacitated by Turnin, and the third is spared by Rhogar, who bellowed the foot soldier into submission. The soldier knows only his orders – to keep the foul beasts disorganized and down in the Cogs – and cannot enlighten the party any about the dam. Rhogar snarls in disgust, and the soldier begins tearing off his Silver Flame regalia as he tries to outpace the Cogsfolk, who are being urged out of the area by the party.

The party continues on, and as they near the last cluster of hovels that pass as houses down here in the cogs, they hear two familiar voices (one deep; one not) arguing.

They discover Rhaaal, the orc pit fighter, arguing with his manager, trainer and corner goblin, Zeki. Gnofulk approaches, and the party is able to learn that Rhaaal wants to fight the shiny intruders in the Cogs, and Zeki thinks it’s time to flee. Gnofulk tries to convince Rhaaal and Zeki to join the fight, and help the party reach the dam, but despite every possible advantage, fails to do so, and Zeki’s position of discretion holds more sway over the orc. The party then takes a different track, and suggests that the greenskin duo take a long, meandering way out, and that they try to bring any Cogsfolk they find down towards Blume and the safe exit. Should they find any Silver Flame patrols though, Rhaaal shouldn’t hold back. The duo agrees to the plan, and stealthily depart.

Peeking out from the safety of this last cluster of hovels, the party sees their path to the upper part of the dam, a switchback carved into the little cliff side, blocked. Two well armored paladins guard the footpath on the ground, and two Silver Flame crossbowmen and entrenching themselves at the top.

The party bursts from the hovels, overrunning the paladins on the ground and catching them off guard. Rhogar lands a brutal hack and offers his apologies while the rest of the party closes in. A vicious blow is lined up against Turnin, but Rhogar manages to intercept it, knocking the assailant out. His fellow guard is also quickly incapacitated. The crossbowmen have established themselves above, and begin to shoot down into the party. Rhogar and his magical shield negates the first volley, and then the gnome and dragonborn begin moving up the switchback, Rhogar pausing to raise his shield as the crossbows are readied and raised again.

Shadowale and Turnin, being the most agile of the party, attempt a more difficult but more direct route, and attempt to climb the cliff wall, though Turnin misses a toehold, and only Shadowale makes any progress to start. The murderous halfling is just shy of the top, and will soon be on the crossbowmen.

Turnin gives up the climbing idea, and sprints up the switchback, joining the rest of the party as they overwhelm the crossbowmen. One is again mercifully knocked out, but a second is pushed viciously off the cliff by Gnofulk. As they establish themselves on the high ground, the sharp-eyed gnome spies a showdown on the dam.

Asmund, the half giant paladin towers over  Steve von Carlsburg Jr, grumpy, de-facto leader of the Silver Flame in Sharn, and leader of this violent endeavor. Steve’s three Silver Flame attendants form a circle, and single combat is joined-

-then abruptly cancelled, and two paladin attendants cut down Asmund’s legs and strip him of his weapon.

The party quickly approaches close enough to hear Steve deride the disobedient half ogre. They advance onto the dam’s walkway together and Steve shouts at them, in an attempt to dissuade them from obstructing his holy work. The party tries to comprehend the fanatic’s course of action, and while Steve denies being behind the massacre of the clerics, promising that the true perpetrators will be dealt with once the Daask are cleansed from the city, the party cannot believe him.

With an exultation to the Silver Flame, Steve commands his paladins to intercept the newcomers, and swings his hammer, striking an enchanted looking spike that has been driven into the center of the dam, which shakes violently with the blow.

Gnofulk charges toward Steven in a blind rage, but is stopped by a paladin attendant. After a few failed attempts, Gnofulk manages to catch the paladin off balance, and push him off the edge. The attendant skids down the side of the dam, and sloshes into the lava below, too shocked to utter a sound.

Turnin runs up, and launches himself over the gnome to engage Steve with a few probing blows. Shadowale also wades into the thick of things, stabbing wildly at the commander of the Sharn’s Silver Flame. The two remaining paladins slash at the party, and attempt to protect their commander, while Rhogar rallies Asmund, who blesses the party, and then moves to flank the attendants.

Steve abandons the spike for now, and swings his large blessed hammer at Shadowale landing a telling blow. Gnofulk tries to manhandle Steve, but fails, and finds himself handing one handed from the ledge instead, though Turnin is able to stand his ground and still help Gnofulk get the arm clutching his precious battle-axe up onto the ledge as well. Shadowale disengages from Steve, only to appear behind the paladins, ready to strike again. The paladins and Steve reply, landing blows and magical smites upon their foes, which manage to frighten Turnin and Rhogar.

Succumbing to fear, Rhogar abandons his training and relies on reptilian instinct, squatting down and belching at Steve and one of his attendants, momentarily engulfing them in a cone of devastating flame. Gnofulk scrambles back onto the ledge, and “squirrel-hugs” the dwarf before shifting weight and pitching him over the edge of the dam in an unwise but successful suplex attack. A Wilhelm Scream bursts from Steve’s lips as he, his blessed hammer, his shiny armor, and all his glittering (and probably magical) talismans and trinkets land in the lava below with a resounding, onomatopoeic *ploop*.

Asmund has found his blade, and shouts “Orders?” at the party, who sheepishly shrug at the towering paladin, as they had declined to take any of Blume’s sealed “time to call off the crusade” orders from earlier. Without the orders, the zealots cannot be swayed to surrender or stand down, and set about avenging their commander against impossible odds. One quickly falls to sharp blades, and the other is knocked off the dam by Asmund with a hearty kick.

Turnin asks what should be done about the spike, but Asmund replies that is not the concern of the party. It will soon be removed and the dam repaired. Without Steve to strike and activate it, the danger has passed for now.

Eberron Adventure: Nineteenth Session

The party recovered for a few hours after their investigation and debriefing with Asmund the paladin. Asmund left to strategize with his mentor, Blume, an old elf. Kyllar suddenly realized that neither he nor Asmund has mentioned “Castro“ Kazgaroth and the note Kyllar sent, and left to find his scaled manservant.

As Sharn roused itself for the new day, rumors began to get louder; the threat of a crusade being launched was growing by the minute. The remaining members of the party, consisting of Turnin the human monk, Rhogar the dragonborn fighter, Gnofulk the gnome barbarian and Shadowale the halfling rogue, debated amongst themselves what they should do.

They reasoned that the reason for the crusade was the Daask attack, which they had determined to be a set-up. They (and Asmund and Blume) were the only ones to know this. Perhaps, if they met with the commanding officer of the Silver Flame, a typically stubborn dwarf named Steven Brighthammer von Carlsburg Jr., they could convince him in the error of launching such a violent endeavor. The only dissenting voice was Gnofulk, who wanted to travel to the Cogs, and warn his friends there. However, majority ruled, and the party set out towards the barracks of these warriors of the Silver Flame.

They traversed the city towards their goal, still hearing the fearful rumors of imminent crusade, and soon found themselves joined by Asmund, who greets the party as Friends, and states that he was also on his way to reason with Steve, though he didn’t they would be successful, though mentioned that he and his mentor, Blume, had formulated a back-up plan. Shadowale gleefully inquired what might happen if Steve should be introduced to a knife… but was eventually dissuaded by the rest of the party, who didn’t want to think up a way out of that hypothetical predicament. They walked through a tower, and arrived in a small room with a door open to the sky. Asmund signaled, and a drawbridge from another tower was lowered, and the party entered the barracks.

The party passed a few guards, took a quick turn, and found themselves in a tall, spacious training room. Steve Brighthammer von Carlsburg Jr. was waiting for them, flanked by nearly a dozen Silver Flame lackeys.

This Guy.

Steve gruffly greeted the party, and inquired whether Asmund was here to join in the endeavor to cleanse the evil undesirables from Sharn; Asmund replied no. Steve informed Asmund that was a fool’s choice, for Blume had joined on his Steve’s second-in-command. The party was confused, but couldn’t tell if this surprised Asmund or no, as Asmund was still clad head-to-toe in gleaming plate, and still wore an implacable mask. Asmund stated that he was here to try and talk Steve out of launching this crusade, that the Daask weren’t responsible for the massacre of the Silver Flame clerics, and quickly gave the floor to the party, as they had done the actual investigation work.

The party made their case, arguing that the Daask weren’t responsible; that there was another faction, probably affiliated with necromancy, manipulating things and this was playing into their hands; that there was bound to be accidental deaths as most of the population of the Cogs weren’t actually affiliated with the Daask criminal group.

Each point was stubbornly dismissed by Steve Brighthammer von Carlsburg Jr. It was his solemn duty to smith evil in all its forms. The Daask are evil, and he has a chance to cleanse them quickly from Sharn, so he must take it. The cleric massacre was coincidental – and if another faction is in the mix, they will be dealt with in turn. And even if there are a few unfortunate deaths in this endeavor, it will be worth it to smite the evil Daask. In any case, the orders have already been given; Many of the faithful have already departed for the Cogs.

Surrounded by this many Silver Flame lackeys, violence is out of the question, and the party has determined that like Asmund feared, this diplomatic attempt was in vain. They and Asmund turn to depart. Steve calls after Asmund to stay out of the way, and threatens that if Asmund returns, and it is not to join in this holy work, blood will be spilled.

Once back over the drawbridge and out of earshot, the party sets to planning scheming. After traversing several towers and descending several levels, the party remembers Asmund is still quietly traveling with them. Turnin inquires what Asmund will do, and the rest of the party asks if Asmund would accompany them. Asmund informs the party that he intends to kill Steve, and that he must face him. Alone.

The party is a little unnerved by the calm talk of paladin-on-paladin slaughter. And asks why that would make a difference. The Silver Flame soldiers have their orders, even killing their commander, what would stop them from sticking to their plan?

Asmund states that that is where the back-up plan formulated by him and his mentor, Blume comes into play. The party realizes that they’ve completely overlooked this information, and chide Asmund for keeping all this to himself on their planning stroll.

Blume was, prior to joining the Order of the Wayward Blades, a respected tactician and strategist. Steve is more of an unimaginative “company man,” and needs help to plan and conduct this crusade. Blume has joined on, and has established himself as Steve’s second-in-command. Should Steve meet his end… Blume is ready to step up and call the whole thing off.

Again, the party chides Asmund for keeping this to himself, and ask what they can do to help. Asmund assumed the party would be doing more noble work than he; traveling to the Cogs to save what innocents they could, just like they had been discussing doing. Asmund says he has some preparations to make, and stresses that the plan hinges on dealing with Steve and getting Blume into command. Should he fail (the party trades looks), it will fall to the party to deal with Steve Brighthammer von Carlsburg Jr. Asmund departs, and the party considers the best way to enter the Cogs…

They decide to enter the way they had previously exited; through a large tunnel near the foundry belonging to the society of Warforged, with which they had worked. Unfortunately, as they approached the Cogs, they found their path entirely blocked by a barricade of melted metal fused with the surrounding rock. Turnin politely knocks, but can hear nothing on the other side, nor can see any way to actually open the melted barricade. It would take too long to force their way through, and when they left it a few days ago with Wrench and Gofer, it was abandoned, so there’s a chance it still is, and all that work would be in vain and there would not be any warforged to warn.

So the party abandons this route. They know of two other ways into this area of the Cogs. One is in a Daask controlled neighborhood, which they choose to avoid, and instead enter the Cogs through a more traveled tunnel (the same way they arrived when they first visited), hoping to encounter and save some of the Cogsfolk they have met before, like the goblin Zoop, owner and operator of the occasionally noxious Zoops Soups.

Up ahead, the party sees an armed group of about a dozen humans and elves. They ready their weapons, approaching the group cautiously. They pause when they notice the soldiers aren’t dressing Silver Flame livery; they are members of the Sharn City Watch.

The group cautiously approach, and the presumed leader of the group of Watchmen, an old, stately-looking Elf, calls out to our approaching heroes, warning them away, as the Cogs is about to become a violent place. The party continues to cautiously approach, and soon the party realizes that this must be Blume, and Blue realizes that this must be Asmund’s friends and intrepid investigators.

Blume informs the party that he called in some favors, and taken this small cohort of Watchmen from their usual patrols on his trip down to the Cogs. They will hold this entrance and provide the inhabitants of the Cogs with a safe way out. Asmund will try and slay Steve. Once that happens, Blume has sealed orders in his name to be delivered to the Silver Flame soldiers, calling a ceasefire, which will be honored, as Blume is the rightful second-in-command of this expedition.

The party declines to take the orders, but asks what else they can do to help. The typical rumble of industry and gurgle of lava flowing is beginning to be overtaken by a chaotic, panicked din. Blume doesn’t know the extent of Steve Brighthammer von Carlsburg Jr.’s plans, but knows that small bands of paladins have been sent into the residential areas to seek out the Daask. Blume suggests intercepting these bloodthirsty patrols, and sending any innocents towards this tunnel to escape the Cogs.

The party grimly nods, and sets out.

They don’t wear the colors of the Siler Flame, and are able to convince some bystanders to flee towards the safety of the City Watch. They don’t make it far into the slums before they encounter a Silver Flame patrol, who have scared most of the local population away, but are assaulting a small two-story hut. A small group of goblins cowers on the rooftop, while a pair of Silver Flame crossbowmen take pot shots; a pair of greatsword-wielding paladins try and breach the rubble barricade on the first floor, and a final, fifth Silver Flame soldier barks orders.

The party opts for a more diplomatic approach, and asks what is going on. The commander tries to shoo the party away, and is unconcerned, choosing to focus on eliminating the “evil” looking creatures on the roof. The party points out that the goblins above are not armed, and this isn’t even a Daask neighborhood. The commander replies that the whole area is suspect, and to be treated as evil, and that the party should be on their way.

With a quick nod and a wink, Turnin and Shadowale pounce, and catches the patrol unaware. Turnin is a swift striker, and batters one crossbowman with a few well-placed strikes from his staff, while sweeping the leg of the second crossbowman with a kick, almost as an afterthought. Shadowale, apparently giddy with the thought of violence, lunges at the talker, landing many cuts against the unsuspecting zealot, though none of them particularly grievous. The rest of the party joins in before the Silver Flame patrol can react. Turnin and Shadowale continue their attack; Rhogar charges the pair assaulting the house; and Gnofulk makes an effort to coolly incapacitate the leader of the patrol with the butt of his magical axe.

Turnin likewise takes down a crossbowmen without killing him, and convinces the remaining shooter to try and get the patrol to stand down. The soldier is convinced, but is too terrified to do much, and whispers “guys, we should stop and surrender” a few times to himself before a merciful bump on the head renders him unconscious. Soon, all but one of the assailants at the door is rendered unconscious. Rhogar, who had weathered several blows from the assailants, and avoided being cowed by their zealous, frightening smites, replied in kind, roaring defiantly in the face of the last man standing, who promptly dropped his sword, soiled himself, blasphemed, and was allowed to run away unharmed.

The unconscious patrolmen are tied up and their weapons confiscated by Gnofulk. The goblins are helped down from the roof, and pointed them owards the safe exit held by the City Watch and Blume. The party marched deeper into the familiar areas of the Cogs, pointing people towards safety. They dumped the patrols weapons into the lave flow, when a familiar derpy screech assailed their eardrums.

“Stupid Dumbbird!” the party cheered, with widely varying degrees of enthusiasm. Kyllar’s familiar, tongue lolling out of the side of its beaked mouth had arrived. Unable to talk, the bird gesticulated towards the bridge, towards which the party had intended to go anyways. The party pressed on, Dumbbird circling above.

Taking cover in a nearby alley, the party surveyed the bridge. A larger Silver Flame patrol was entrenched there; swords guarding the sides and a few crossbows standing on the apex of the bridge being watchful, but obviously not doing a great job, as the party had avoided detection.

The party conferred. All but Shadowale were hesitant to lay waste to the Silver Flame paladins and soldiers. Led by Gnofulk, the party burst out from their hiding spot, running towards the blockade and pleading for help. The guards calmed the party down, and their commander ordered a few men to investigate. The party protested. They claimed to be running from the Daask and that a whole patrol was taken out just a few streets away. The commander hesitated, greedy for the glory of the kill, but wary of abandoning his post. The party flexes as a group, while Turnin masterfully spins his staff.

Not being Daask, or belonging to any of the targeted races, the party offers to guard the bridge for a few minutes. Most of the Cogsfolk have fled; no one is around. The commander can leave them in charge of the bridge for a few minutes, and he can go slay some wicked Daask and rescue his comrades. The commander agrees, persuaded by the party’s communal efforts, and his contingent departs. The party shouts encouragement until the last of the contingent rounds a corner, at which point the party abandons the bridge, traveling towards Zoop’s Soups, Kyllar’s familiar Dumbbird in tow.

The party creeps through the shantytowns alleyways, seeing some buildings abandoned, and some with their slain inhabitants, though they don’t recognize any of the Cogsfolk. They approach Zoops Soups, and believe it to be the former, until they hear frantic goblin pssssting from the room. The diminutive purveyor of occasionally intestine-crippling soups gestures to a partially obscured ladder nearby, and the party climbs up to find that Zoop has relocated to the roof of his building, and had brought a trio of cowardly-looking goblins as well as his soup-holding kitchen gear with him, and was preparing to “soup anyone that got too close!” Once he recovered from the shock of the experience, the train encounter seems to have awakened the warrior within the goblin…

The party quietly debates Zoop on the foolishness of four goblins trying to ambush paladins. The party briefly considers sending Zoop and his companions back towards the city guard, but realize that the Silver Flame patrol formerly guarding the bridge is in that area too, and Zoop could be caught. Before a decision about just what Zoop should do is reached, Kyllar’s familiar lands, squawking, and gesturing wildly to the north.

From their slightly increased vantage point on the roof, the party can see something they had not previously seen in their time in the Cogs; a large dam in the northern end of the cavern, regulating the lava flow as it flowed downstream towards the party. No one can discern exactly why the familiar is so excited, but nobody has a good feeling about it...