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Sarachim

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Posts posted by Sarachim

  1. I'd love to have Triumph and/or Nikki, of course, but if they don't work out I think four players is plenty. It gives us enough to cover all the skills a party needs, and it might actually be more fun since smaller parties = more DM attention to each player.

     

    I only see two possible downsides, really: one, we players might have to be a bit more flexible than usual with character design in order to cover everything, but I'm willing to take the lead on that if I have to. Two, if one or more players misses a session it's a bigger deal, but Lilith, Nioca, and myself all have track records of being extremely reliable for AIMHack, and my impression is that BM's not a flake.

  2. That wasn't the implication, nor was it meant or used as an insult. It was moreso an "are you serious?"

    That's not really what the expression means, so I'd be careful about using it the way you did.

     

    Anyway, whichever possible meaning you choose, Lilith is absolutely stuffed with quid. There are banks less full of quid than she is. If she ever visits the UK it will cause hyperinflation.

  3. You forgot about this, didn't you? Well, surprise! We have epilogues!

     

     

    Click to reveal.. (Wondering what the heck happened at the end? Keep reading!)

     

     

    Sarachim: More fighters follow Corporal Renfry and Theresa into the fort. Under their direction, they disarm the survivng Empire soldiers (including Lyle's troop), lock them in the barracks, and post guards. Renfry directs his people to search the fort for hidden enemies, supplies, and documents. Curiously, nobody finds Albert or his body. Meanwhile Theresa and a few ragtag Scimitar warriors quickly exchange their story with yours:

     

    Mrren snuck back toward Erika's tower after she left your group, correctly guessing that Erika would have some way of contacting the Scimitar. None of their cells in the Abyss answered her messages, but she did get ahold of one which had been sent to Fort Saffron immediately after the Empire invasion to negotiate a Scimitar-Avernum alliance. Theresa, their leader, convinced the commander of Fort Saffron that the situation merited checking out, and soon after a mixed force of Scimitar fighters and Avernite soldiers slipped through the Empire's front line. When they heard the fighting inside Fort Spire, they made a spur of the moment decision to launch a diversionary attack on its south wall, which succeeded because almost all of the fort's defenders were busy fighting you.

     

    As far as she knows, none of the Empire soldiers escaped to the south to warn the main Empire force there, but a battle of this magnitude can't stay secret for long. She and Renfry plan to loot the place, knock down its outer walls so the Empire can't use it for defense, then slip away to the south again.

     

    "Unless you've got a different plan," she adds. "But if you do, we'd better make up our minds quick."

     

     

     

    Click to reveal.. (Chadat)

     

     

    Lilith: Chadat surveyed the battlefield, their eyestalks scanning slowly, almost wistfully, over the fort. "This would make a fine territory for us... if circumstances were different. We cannot defend it alone from all who would wish to reclaim it, and we cannot demand our allies' assistance when we have no compensation to offer."

     

    The young gazer fell silent, throbbing and gyrating alarmingly for a few seconds before settling down and continuing to speak. "We feel the urge of our kind to claim land of our own, where we may grow in power and indulge in our own private contemplations, but we have also come to see the strength and security that can be gained by working with others. We cannot deny our nature, but we can use it to our and your mutual advantage. Therefore, we offer a bargain to anyone who would have our aid in fighting the Empire. Cede to us a pass or a tunnel of strategic importance, one that we can call our own and defend against intruders, and bring us gifts of food or magic whenever you need to pass through. In return, we will ward it against discovery by interlopers and destroy any agents of the Empire who penetrate its defences."

     

    When the Scimitar left Fort Spire, Chadat left with them. Both Chadat and the Scimitar stayed true to their word: Chadat claimed their territory, warded it against discovery by interlopers and reported on the movements of Empire soldiers in nearby areas, while the Scimitar kept Chadat well-fed and comfortable. A few Scimitar mages dared to travel to Chadat's lair to study, offering any scrounged-up magical items bizarre, useless or dangerous enough to be of little practical value to the resistance, in return for a chance to observe and learn from the gazer's unusual spellcasting techniques.

     

    Relaxing in their lair, content at last despite the war still raging on around them, Chadat mused:

     

    "We have heard the humans say, 'there is no Eye in team.' We have proven them wrong."

     

    Sarachim: After the battle, Chadat was confined in Fort Saffron for a while, as much to keep them safe from the Avernite soldiers there as vice-versa. After a top-secret debate among Avernum's leaders, Chadat was given a hidden base in the Waterfall Warren for their domain. Later in the war, a group of Avernite soldiers that retook the base from the Empire saw no sign of Chadat. We don't know if Chadat survived the Empire attack.

     

     

     

    Click to reveal.. (Arabella)

     

     

    Nikki:Arabella's desire to be safe in Avernum, away from the fighting, was somewhat difficult, considering she had already been exiled from Exile for her crimes. Heading back into the Abyss and continuing to fight the Empire wasn't an option either - she'd come a long way from the brashy, bolshy young woman who had found herself sharing a Gazer's cellar with several other undesirables.

     

    In the end, she tried to find a medium - she wanted to remain close to the people with whom she had travelled, people she felt she had actually grown close to, for the first time in her life, but she also wanted to not face constant death at the swords of an Imperial platoon. Eventually, her path became clear; she wandered the roads to the south of the Abyss, healing those she could, and only slightly fleecing those she couldn't, before she finally took up a home in Dharmon, where she used her talent for healing, as well as her streetsmart, to find a life that she was almost comfortable in. Almost.

     

    Sarachim: Presumably, Arabella didn't die in battle, since the Empire never attacked Dharmon. Still, knowing Arabella, she could easily have met her end in any number of other ways. . .

     

     

     

    Click to reveal.. (Marra)

     

     

    B.J. Earles: Marra stood amid the recent carnage of Fort Spire. Gazing upon the dead and wounded, she felt strangely distant. It was a kind of empty coldness she had felt once before. Then it had been after taking her first revenge against the Empire. Marra took another, long look at the pile of dead Empire soldiers. Here she had gained her vengeance again, and yet there was no release. Her ghosts still cried out for more, for her to do it again, and again, and again.

     

    Marra shook her head and tried to understand what she was feeling. Looking up, she caught the eye of one of the Empire soldiers as he was hauled away. The look on his face was one of hatred, a look Marra knew she had worn all too often. It wasn't a pretty sight.

     

    Marra spent the next few hours alone, trying to decide what to do next. She couldn't stay in the Abyss, that much was clear, and she didn't want to stay with the bandits. Revenge was all that had been driving her before, and she knew nothing else. It was time to find something else to live for.

     

    She said her goodbyes, making it a point to tell Yemirrr that she still thought he was a fool but that he should watch his back anyway, and then left for Avernum. She didn't stop until she was as far from the Empire as she could get. Then she turned around.

     

    A few months later, an Empire supply convoy was ambushed by a small, ragtag militia group. Marra lead the attack, but it wasn't about revenge this time. Now she was defending her home, Avernum, and she would keep on defending it for as long as she drew breath.

     

    Sarachim: Our informants disagree about what happened to Marra during the war. One says that she eventually joined the regular Avernite army and was killed in the battle of Cotra, but another says that after Cotra fell Marra was still alive and hunting Empire infiltrators around Fort Draco. The third says she and a few followers were last seen heading west through Fort Remote, possibly to look for Yemirrr. Whatever the truth is, we don't know where she is now.

     

     

     

    Click to reveal.. (Yemirrr)

     

     

    Nioca: A little ways north of Fort Saffron, as the light of moss dimmed into evening, a small group stood around an obelisk. One of their number, a female human, seemed to be shivering and shaking, as if from cold. The others stood perfectly still, taking in every detail of the obelisk.

     

    "C-c-can I go now?" Pepper asked, stammering from a combination of exhaustion, cold, and fear.

     

    "You may." Yemirrr growled, his eyes not leaving the obelisk. A series of fading footsteps behind him told him that Pepper didn't need to be told twice. As repayment for the damage she had done, Yemirrr had told Pepper in no uncertain terms that she would use her skills to fix some wagons for getting the (rather considerable) amount of loot to Fort Saffron, and assist in repairing their damaged equipment and making a proper burial for the fallen. When she protested at the drain on her energies after the repairs, Yemirrr had told her that she could either honor the dead or join them. He was rather unsurprised she wanted to leave, and, as he considered Pepper's numerous mishaps, he decided he preferred it that way.

     

    The group was silent after that, simply eyeing the obelisk. The stone was perfectly smooth, as if grown right out of the cave floor, with small flecks of quartz giving it an odd, ethereal sparkle. Each of its four faces held etchings; one side was marked simply with four symbols. A sun, a scimitar, and a rat skull formed a triangle around the fourth symbol, a broken crown. The other three sides had immaculate writing. In the dim light, Yemirrr's eyes focused on the south side, where large, flowing letters proclaimed:

     

    'ON FROST 22 816, THE RATBANE RAIDERS, BACKED BY SCIMITAR AND AVERNITE FORCES, LAUNCHED A DARING ATTACK AND SUCCESSFULLY SACKED THE THEN IMPERIAL-HELD SPIRE FORT, STRIKING DOWN ONE OF THE EMPIRE'S GENERALS AND WAR HEROES.

     

    THIS MONUMENT STANDS WATCH OVER THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES STRIKING A DEEP WOUND AGAINST A SEEMINGLY INVINCIBLE FOE, AS TRIBUTE TO THEIR INCREDIBLE BRAVERY.

     

    MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.'

     

    "It's no less then they deserrve." Sieberr said, one arm in a cast and the other around Yemirrr's waist. An avernite officer grumbled nearby, but was soundly ignored. Yemirr paced around to the west side of the obelisk. A rat skull sat atop a list of names, glimmering gently in the fading light. Names of both bandits and rebel soldiers adorned the obelisk, each name flanked by a short message about them from those who knew them best. Yemirrr's eyes found Lyle's name, lumped in with the brigands and rebel soldiers. Yemirrr had to suppress a smile when he read Lyle's inscription: "Without you, this would not have been possible."

     

    No doubt, Captain Lyle was rolling in his grave. No one had told the rebel imperials that had joined Yemirrr that Lyle had been enthralled when he had led them to rebel, and Yemirrr was making sure to keep it that way. The Ratbane Raiders (the name Yemirrr's bandits had finally settled on for his group) had already been whittled down to dangerously low numbers; they needed the two dozen or so soldiers that had rebelled against the Empire, regardless of how the Scimitar felt about it. Especially with what was to come...

     

    Yemirrr's eyes flicked up to Theresa and Renfry. They were busy reading the names on the other side of the obelisk, ones of fallen Scimitar and Avernite forces. It was a mark of how strange times were getting that humans, non-humans, surface dwellers, soldiers, and outlaws were all buried and honored side-by-side. He supposed he was going to be getting well-acquainted with Theresa; While Avernum's forces were going to be taking Imperial forces head-on, the Ratbane Raiders and Scimitar were going to act as strike forces against Imperial supply caches, caravans, and other targets of opportunity. It was a role Yemirrr was extremely content with, as were most of the remaining bandits.

     

    "Not that I want to interrupt," An Avernite commander stated brisquely as he approached the group, "but we need to talk about our next move." An Avernite commander approached the group.

     

    Yemirrr nodded. "Yes. This is a glorrrious opporrtunity for all of us," He said, turning to face the commander. "We must take advantage of it beforrre the Empirrre can recoverr; they will regrrret everrr setting foot in these caves."

     

    And so Yemirrr led the Ratbane Raiders back to Fort Saffron, thoughts of what would come tomorrow spinning through his head. But as they left, Yemirrr took one last look at the list of fallen Raiders. There was one name reminding him there was still a long and bloody road ahead; the only name that had Yemirrr's own words adorning it.

     

    'PORROM - It worked. You're legends.'

     

    Sarachim: A few weeks after the battle at Fort Saffron, Empire troops were spotted in the tunnels west of Fort Remote. Yemirrr, Sieberr, and the other Ratbane Raiders were sent into the maze of narrow, uninhabited tunnels to operate independently, disrupting the Empire's operations however they could. Their eventual fate is unknown. If any of them are still alive, I hope someone told them the war is over.

     

     

     

    Click to reveal.. (Pepper)

     

     

    Rowen: Pepper wanders aimlessly in the lands of the Great Cave for a few months before someone from the Castle takes pity on her (or just got annoyed with her, its hard to tell sometimes) and sends her to Patrick's Tower. There she is assigned a duty that she is told is of utmost importance to the safety of Exile: cataloging the different minerals formations of Exile's caves.

     

    Sarachim: Near the end of the war, Patrick and some of his colleagues attempted to create a spell that would make it easy to open and close new tunnels through the rock walls of Exile. Pepper reluctantly agreed to test the spell. She managed to open the tunnel successfully, walk in, and close it behind her, but that was it. Patrick assumed that she'd been trapped in the rock and died, and the project was cancelled. Personally, I suspect that Pepper emerged on the other side and decided not to come back.

     

     

     

    Click to reveal.. (Serssano)

     

     

    Sarachim: As for Serssano, we know he went to Fort Saffron with the others, but that's it. Members of the Saffron garrison we interviewed don't even agree about whether he left through the north gate or the south.

     

     

    Once again, thank you to everyone who played, followed along, or helped with the campaign. I had a great time, and as soon as my nerves are fully recovered I'm going to do another one.

  4. Belated level for Chantico:

     

    Click to reveal..
    Player: Sarachim

    Name: Chantico

    Race: Lacewing Female

    Occupation: Sage

    Alignment: Explosive

     

    Level: 4

    Strength: 4

    Dexterity: 2

    Intelligence: 8

     

    HP: ?/26

    STM: ?/10

    Speed: 5

     

    Magic (Evocation): 8

    Magic (Conjuration): 5

    First Aid: 3

    Nature: 2

    Artifice: 2

    History: 2+1 racial

    Religion: 2

    Perception: 1

    Thievery: 0+1 racial

    2 point banked

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