11 The Rescue
of King Hektor
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Background:
While the Party was losing time in Lemminkäinen's Lair, the
Orc War continues. On September 6, Khaliedon is beseiged and King
Hektor is captured on the battlefield. An elite unite from Khaldor,
the "Immortals", arrives and crushes the seige force;
but it in turn ends up trapped in the city when a new Orcish army
arrives. A temporary stalemate ensues, and the surviving population
of Khaliedon begins to flee to Amphithea. The alliance between the
Tzinna and Trechtotties begins to faulter, and they start to feud;
so the Trechtotties take the King for themselves to the island of
Mixene. With the confusion of streaming refugees and competing armies,
the Party volunteers for a rescue mission.
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| October
16 |
By
various routes, party members make their way to Priene and learn that
the King of Khaliedon has been captured. Osric
(NrC3/Mk3) joins. |
| October
18 |
Arrive at Amphitheia.
Pick up new members, and hire rowers so as to row to Khaliedon.
Pelops (Cv4),
Khalkos (F1) join
(Khalkos as a henchling to Arand). The plan is to pretend to be
mercenaries with a valuable captive destined for Mixene: Prince
Makhetes of Khaliedon. Hobbits in the party are given Cloaks of
Disguise, so as to resemble Dwarves. The prince is actually Pelops,
his the 2nd cousin, who bears a good likeness to the real prince.
Pelops has arranged for a battle to occur in the harbour in 9 days
as a distraction; in the confusion, the Party is to rescue the King
and take him to a waiting ship. (In reality, this plan was subverted
by Phaedra, who owned the "rescue ship"; she intends to
receive the rescued King and kill the Party, then give the King
to the Tzinna in exchange for rulership over Mixene.)
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| October
21 |
Arrive
at Khaliedon's river harbour, flying a Khaliedon flag. Not knowing
how to "act casual", they sail to the wrong spot and are
attacked by aquatic ghasts and ghouls, and then by catapults from
shore - most of the Party is paralysed, boat is heavily damaged; survivors
manage to get boat to far shore. |
| October
23 |
Ship
comes to Mixene, the largest island in the Praxetos Sea, and limps
into Egilsvik, a powerful Norse town that has been essentially neutral
in the war, but is about to side with the Tzinna against the Trechtotties
(for a hefty fee). Party is able to get ship repairs; local Oleg
(A3) joins, for some reason. |
| October
24 |
Walk
to the city of Mixene. Tension is high, as the ruling Trechtotties
are refusing to turn over the King to the Tzinna. Party members sneak
about, looking for clues; they rely heavily on disguises (especially
the Hobbits, as Trechtotties hate them). For the first time in ages,
Arlephone and Shawn make plans together as mages; but the cooperation
soon passes. |
| October
26 |
At
midnight, sneak via sewers into complex where they had learned the
King was being held captive. |
| October
27 |
Big
battle against guards and Trechtotties, nearly kills entire Party:
Arlephone, Arand, Osric, Pelops, and Oleg are killed; Heyokah
flees; as well, Oleg turned on the Party during the battle: Khalkos
killed;Taro, Shawn, and Darkmoon severely hurt. Retreat, during
which Darkmoon killed. |
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The
remains of the Party (Taro, Shawn, Pippin, Hamfast, and Claude) sneaks
back in, with one friendly local: Aithra (WrC4) joins. Stealthily,
they make their way back to the guardroom, and open the large, heavily
guarded door, which they had assumed was the prison ... and learn
that it is the merely front door of the complex. Turning around, they
finally find the prison cells, and battle 6 mercenary Dwarves (the
Trechtotties didn't trusted none of their regular grunts): Claude
killed. 14 prisoners are released, but the King is not found:
he had been moved the previous day, and the mercenaries brought in
to kill any would-be rescuers (presumed to be hired by the Tzinna).
Two guards are recruited, as one had readily surrendered and offered
to help, and the other had turned on his fellow Dwarves the moment
combat began: Sig the Lucky (F3) and Hrafnkel Hammerfist (F7/A5)
join. (Hrafnkel was spying on the Trechtotties, pretending to
be a mercenary; Sig is just willing to go with the flow.) |
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Meanwhile,
negotiations between the Tzinna and Trechtotties concerning the King
have broken down. A Norse fleet working for the Tzinna arrives, attacks
the Trechtottie fleet and begins to ransack the town. At the same
time, Queen Phaedra arrives on board her ghost ship, the "Chaos",
as does the "rescue ship". As the Tzinna had suspected complications,
they also secretly send a submersible ship (something never seen before
in these waters). A massive battle breaks out in the harbour (far
more of a distraction than Pelops had planned); the sub and the ghost
ship unleash horriffic weaponry upon each other; many ships are sunk,
including the "rescue ship"; and there is a massive explosion
leading to a vortex being created on the sea floor that begins a very
slow draining of the entire Praxetos Sea. |
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With
Tzinna troops invading, the "rescue ship" sunk, and with
no King found, the Party realises they have to leave the island quickly.
They make use of a Trechtottie teleportation device to go to where
they guess the King was taken. Some of the captives who are locals
agree to stay behind (as they can more likely blend in) and disable
the teleporter after the Party and the rest of the captives leaves.
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| October
28 |
The
Party arrives in Kairos, a Greek city inland of the south-west shore
of the Praxetos. The city is well behind enemy lines, and has only
a small garrison for the small remaining population. It hasn't seen
warfare in a few years, so the garrison is not particularly alert
and the Party is able to sneak about fairly safely. They find an abandoned
inn and move in. They meet a friendly local Finn: Vainamoinen (R3)
joins. Also, one of the captives, once cured up, proves to be
useful if rather unsavoury: Diomedes the Sadist (F0) joins. |
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Find
a complex with Orcs and Tzinna. Several battles. Hrafnkel killed.
Hamfast does some good sneaking and spying, and spots the King. Vainamoinen
rounds up some friends: Crazh (F2) and Elarwe (Cv2) join. Party
battles the remaining Orcs; Crazh killed. During looting, Party
overlooks a +4 ring on a dead Tzin because it's buried in the hand's
fur. |
| November
1 |
Rescue
the king: King Hektor (Cv11) joins. |
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For
some reason, end up with Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged
in his nexus castle. |
| November
3 |
Return
to Mixene. Diomedes leaves, as do the remaining 8 rescued captives.
All but Hamfast enter the complex again, and find the hard way that
Darkmoon and Arlephone have become undead commanders, with their mortal
abilities intact and leading a small army of Zombies. Pippin, Shawn,
Aithra, Sig, and King Hektor killed. (Hektor cuts down Darkmoon
simultaneously with Darkmoon slaying Hektor.) Taro, Elarwe are mortally
wounded, and Vainamoinen is put to sleep; with 4 more Zombies near
by. Taro frantically searches for a vital possession of Hektor that
he said was left behind: his armour, which includes a Ring of Wishes
incorporated in one of the gauntlets. She finds it, and at -9 HP wishes
those of her companions who died in this complex back to life: Arlephone,
Arand, Osric, Pelops, Darkmoon, Claude, Pippin, Shawn, Aithra, Sig,
and King Hektor are revied. Next round, Taro dies, 10 seconds
before Arand is able to use the last wish: Hrafnkel, Crazh,
and Taro are revived; Oleg and Khalkos are not revived (Oleg intentionally
avoided, while Khalkos failed to be revived). |
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See
more Trechtottie reinforcements arriving on the island; so again use
teleportation device to go to Kairos again. From there, they again
get to Wowbagger's castle. From there, they get to Reykfjord (at the
south end of the Praxetos Sea); except Crazh is convinced by Vainamoinen
to head west to his Finnish homeland: Crazh leaves. |
| November
4 |
Head
off along the east coast of Praxetos, through enemy-held territory;
pretending to be a band of mercenaries, they are able to pass by patrols
without too much difficulty. Meet some Giants and Gnolls: Arand,
Shawn, and Sig killed. Sig given a good Norse funeral pyre the
next day. |
| November
11 |
Finally
get to the Shel-Avdi ruins south of Khaliedon, the remains of an ancient
Hobgoblin city island (now a peninsula). It is a hidden safe haven,
occupied by some powerful refugees from the city and surrounding countryside
as well as Hrudi who is working for Perhenn, one of the greatest
living Smiths in the known world. King Hektor leaves the Party
and joins what troops he has here; as a reward for his rescue, many
members receive free training from the local community, while the
others are able to commission new magic weapons from Perhenn or at-cost
resurrections: Arand and Shawn are resurrected. Elarwe leaves
the Party and joins the rebel alliance. |
| November
13 |
Aelyina arrives at Shel-Avdi. She had recently discovered
that her psionic communications with various contacts in Priene and
other cities, which has been used extensively over the past months
to plan military activity, has been "bugged" - thus explaining
many of the surprisingly well-timed actions by the enemy. |
| November
17 |
Those
who can't train here are given transport to Priene via Planeshift.
Pelops leaves; goes to Amphithea to wrap up some business dealings
of Shawn, and to round up all Khaliedonian troops that retreated there. |
| December
15 |
all
training completed, and commissioned weaponry is completed. Claude
and Hrafnkel leave, and head for Priene. |
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Surviving
members:
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Arlephone
(F4/MU4), Darkmoon (F5),
Taro (T5/F4), Shawn
(MU4), Arand (R3), Pippin
(NtC4), Heyokah (NtC3/F1),
Hamfast (T4), Claude
(T2), Osric (NrC4/Mk3),
Pelops (Cv4), Aithra
(WrC4), Hrafnkel (F7/A5),
Vainamoinen (R3),
Diomedes (F0), Crazh
(F2), Elarwe (Cv3), King
Hektor (Cv11) |
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New
members:
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Osric,
Pelops ("The Prince"), Khalkos,
Oleg, Aithra, Sig,
Hrafnkel, Vainamoinen, Diomedes, Crazh, Elarwe, King Hektor |
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Casualties:
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Arlephone*,
Darkmoon*, Arand**-2, Osric*, Pelops*, Oleg, Khalkos; Claude*, Hrafnkel*,
Crazh*; Shawn**-2, Pippin*, Aithra*, Sig*-2, King Hektor*, Taro*
* - wished back to life by Taro
** - wished back by Taro; then raised after second death |
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Retirees:
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Heyokeh,
Claude, Pelops, Hrafnkel, Diomedes, Crazh, Elarwe, King Hektor |
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Continuing
party:
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Arlephone, Darkmoon, Taro, Shawn, Arand, Pippin, Hamfast, Osric,
Aithra, Vainamoinen
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