[Alliance] Chapter Five: Session Seven
Appearing Characters: Arthas Menethil, Celestine, Elissa Cross, Galadin Windrunner, Halford Ramsey, Hiram Creed, Liam Greymane, Liiraluma, Sazzmi Gentlehorn, Seria, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Vincent Godfrey
September 17th
Uther returned to Greymane Manor following his meeting with Koroth and the ettins, and Tol’vas also returned with Sazzmi Gentlehorn in tow, as he thought that her skills in deception might be useful. Vel gathered the party as well as Halford Ramsey and Galadin in the study of the conjured manor to discuss her and Ramsey’s findings and how to best approach Creed, and it was decided that they would follow up on the offer Creed had extended to subject himself to a zone of truth–even though Vel was quite certain he had a means to circumvent it, and that was why he had offered in the first place.
Vel expressed she had been unable to confirm whether or not Creed was capable of seeing through disguises, but it was decided that Seria would disguise herself as Vel, while Vel would disguise herself as her cousin. Galadin, in the meanwhile, had forgone his own disguise so that Creed couldn’t readily recognize him, and had been sticking to the manor for the most part.
Ramsey suggested that he could just say that he had found “the boy” as he was Gilneas’s lead detective for a reason, that way Vel, while disguised, would have reason to simply accompany them to Creed’s camp.
Uther went to inform Liam of the findings as well, so that the king would be kept aware of the situation, and his men could potentially ensure that any Blackhowl mercenaries within the wall didn’t flood out to reinforce their commander if things got volatile and Creed attempted to recall them.
Uther nodded and returned to get things started. Meanwhile, it had been suggested that Sazzmi try to lure some of the Blackhowl mercenaries away from the camp while using her disguise as an attractive Gilnean woman.
The disguised satyress looked at the group.
Sazzmi was able to get a handful of attractive young ladies and a dashing gentleman, and they did observe her leaving the camp with a few Blackhowl mercenaries. She reported back that the Blackhowl were a tough crowd
Like before, the group approached some of the mercenaries at the edge of camp. The mercenaries looked them over, but then settled on “Vel” and Ramsey.
The mercenary led them into the camp nearby and before too long, Creed appeared with one of his lieutenants.
Creed then looked at disguised Vel.
Creed then looked at Uther, who used [Zone of Truth].
Vel suggested over the telepathic bond to retread prior ground.
Creed nodded.
Vel picked up on the faintest flicker of surprise in Creed’s expression as she confirmed the information, just as Ramsey had suspected there would be.
Vel transmitted to Seria to ask Creed who his Authority was.
Creed nodded.
Creed looked over at Seria.
Ramsey pushed up his glasses.
Creed smirks.
He looked straight at the real Vel, seemingly unfazed by the disguise that she had been maintaining. A small smirk touched Vel’s lips as she allowed the disguise to drop, revealing her true form.
Creed smiled and then put his hands up to both sides.
Vel tilted her head.
Tol’vas snorts.
Creed snapped his fingers, and he started to take his true form. He transformed into a black drakonid and drew his axe.
All the Blackhowl mercenaries turn and look at the group and ready their weapons. Ramsey drew a sidearm and a combat knife, Elissa drew her sword, and Arthas drew his axes.
Arthas shot Tol’vas a look and then ran off to try and deal with some of the other individuals. Several of the snipers began to fire off their weapons. Creed started to cast [Mind Blast] but Vel countered it. However, he fired an eldritch blast at Vel and she was yanked towards him.
Luma tossed out four small crystals which started to generate a [Wind Wall]] to offer the group cover from behind. The kennelled hunting howls started to bark and yowl. A few of the snipers tried to shoot through the wall, but they were immediately blown away.
Seria looked at Creed and used [Dominate Person]. Her anger lashed out, and her eyes glowed as black and red vines appeared in her hand. She grabbed onto them, and they lashed out at Creed. However, right before she fully drove him into her command, a blazing presence burst through and destroyed the vines as he resisted the spell.
Creed looked at Seria.
Seria then shifted into the form of a giant spider and skittered over to Creed. Creed swung at her as the spider flickered, but the axe cleaved through nothing.
One of the soldiers darted into the wall and tried to force himself through. Another soldier flailed at Seria, but the attacks missed. Suddenly, three of the Blackhowl Company whip off a tarp and reveal a canon that was fired at Uther.
Creed swung around and slashed at Seria and Vel, who were able to deflect the attacks aside. Seria lashed out at Creed as he jumped away. His axe started to ripple with molten energy.
A wave of sheer, molten energy surged toward Uther, but fractal magic materialized that Luma pulled as they siphoned the magic away. Creed spun the magic into a [Fireball], however Uther drew upon his own magic and caught the ball of fire in his fist and closed it. The spell dissipated into smoke. Creed looked quite displeased.
Tol’vas took his worgen form and conjured the spirit of a lunar moth, which bathed the group in its protective aura.
He conjured a [Living Bomb] as as a draconic rune of molten armor appeared on Uther’s armor. However, Uther put his hand over the run and quenched it, preventing it from exploding.
Several mercenaries unloaded on Seria, and one of the snipers shot at Tol’vas’s totem. The shot passed directly through it. More and more soldiers charge forward and begin to surround the group. Bright magenta energy began to waft around Vel as she siphoned her own life force and used [Life Transference] to restore Uther before swinging around with her blade and knocking one soldier out before striking into another.
Uther came up behind her and cracked one soldier in the side of the head before he slammed his hammer into the gut of the Blackhowl lieutenant. The man went sailing backwards and slammed into the ground. He then ran up onto the scaffolding to harass the snipers. One of the snipers tried to move away and Uther clipped him with his hammer.
The soldiers in the camp tried to scramble into position, and the lieutenant got to his feet and slammed into Vel. Vel looked at Creed, ideas running at a hundred miles a minute, and then she began to run at the drakonid. She jumped over the lieutenant’s blade and brought her sword up into Creed's face as a distraction, which gave her an opening to rip the badge off his shirt.
She spun around to his back and disappeared into mist. Creed then realized his badge was missing.
Vel rematerialized on the wall around the city, and she looked down and saw Liam mounted on his horse in the courtyard taking charge of his people as the other Blackhowl mercenaries tried to pile out of the town.
She then hurled the badge at him as he looked up at her, and he caught it and after a moment to get his bearings, he started to call into it.
Suddenly, the Blackhowl company members froze and heeded the call, then started to race toward the edge of the cliff. Creed snarled as he rounded toward Vel and fired another eldritch blast. Without thinking, Vel spun around and severed the blast in half.
The packmasters started to call for the hounds to back off, and Seria raced at Creed and slammed into him. She grabbed onto his arm and started to pump venom into him.
Now that the rest of the company was leaving, Luma pulled out their turrets and threw them down. They started to climb up onto the scaffolding and prepared to fire. They then eyed up the cannon and debated if it would be worth it to load it and fire. One of the turrets fired at Creed while another started to generate a barrier.
Tol’vas also ran at Creed and cleaved his scythe into his side. Blood had started to seep from between the drakonid’s scales.
Creed nearly cleaved directly into Tol’vas with his burning axe, and he then opened his jaws and exhaled a surge of fire and shadow over the group. Fire erupted from around his feet, and Tol’vas and Seria started to hear a discordant after-sound of his voice, but it failed to weasel into their minds. He then teleported beyond the group and started to head toward the crowd of people. He made a ripping motion with his claws toward the sky.
The clouds up above were torn open, and bright glowing masses started to careen down toward the ground. One was heading toward the manor, one was heading toward the cliff, one was heading toward Vel and the wall around the town, and one was heading towards the camp itself.
The fractals of magic appeared against as Luma directed Uther’s magic, Seria intertwined her own magic into it, and Uther channeled magic into his shield which condensed into a beam of light and blasted upward, which reduced the meteors to harmless rubble and rain as he used [Counterspell].
Creed reached out a hand and harnessed what little magic was left, and hurled an explosion of fire at the group. It ignited the scaffolding and burned the grass to ash as the fires washed over them. Uther leaped out of the fire, hit the ground, rolled with the landing, and rushed at Creed with his hammer at the ready. He slammed into Creed with two devastating strikes.
Vel pulled out her wand of arcane missiles and launched herself off the side of the wall. She fired a barrage of arcane missiles and her eyes flashed a brilliant magenta.
The bolts slammed into him, and the last one pierced right through his heart, and he fell to the ground, dead. Vel landed with a crack as her ankle snapped, but it immediately mended itself and she got back to her feet and started to rejoin the group. The Blackhowl company were all pitching their badges into the water, and there was an air of confusion over all of them.
His last breath faded.
One of the Blackhowl approached.
Luma crouched down next to Creed’s body and moved his snout around.
Vel looked over at the wall.
Uther rolled his shoulder.
The rest of the party was all in one piece as well. Vel didn’t have a scratch on her, as any wounds she had sustained had been mended with her natural regeneration.
Luma laughed appreciatively.
One of the recovering mercenaries pointed at Seria in a panic.
He reached out to pat Seria just as she started to shift back into her elven disguise, and he proceeded to accidentally pat her on the head.
He turned back to the mercenaries.
He pointed at one of the lieutenants.
The lieutenant grunted in acknowledgement and nodded as Ramsey looked over to Vel.
He walked over to Creed’s body and shut his eyes.
He stood back up and clapped his hands.
Luma shrugs and turns to walk away.
Luma laughed but didn’t turn back as she went to examine something else.
Ramsey smiled and pushed up his glasses.
As they looked up, they could see the clouds were still broken and almost seemed to be scorched, but they were starting to close back into an overcast day. Vel had Uther help her move Creed’s body back to his tent while Tol’vas set about patching some people up with magic.
Liam wanted to take a closer look at Creed’s body and preserve it for a time, but he decided he wanted to bury Creed in the Gilnean graveyard that overlooked the ocean.
They searched Creed’s tent and found missives that were never sent. They were titled to “my lady”. Most of them were in draconic, and Vel was able to get a rough approximation of what he was doing there. They found mention of the party, but there was no reference to them being back from the dead. Another seemed to be written the day Vel and Ramsey had spoken to him, which referenced his belief that they were not going to be a problem and he hoped to have them and Alpha Prime destroy each other. It also referenced Vel as someone that had a concerning amount of information about dragons. It also referenced Galadin, though as a boy he did not know the identity of, and it seemed that he didn’t know who the informant was–so he didn’t know who Wrathion was, though he suspected there was a traitor amongst the black dragons.
It also seemed he was trying to play Alpha Prime and the Gilneans against each other, and he was attempting to bend or break Isiden Perenolde–or at least was attempting to get Isiden hanged as a traitor. However, Creed seemed frustrated that Isiden was never far from Liam or another noble, nor was he a fighter, so an accident couldn’t claim him.
Creed’s weapon was a great axe by the name of Blackburn. It was an awakened dragon’s wrath great axe that was attuned to the black dragonflight that did additional fire damage and could unleash a cone of fire. It also didn’t have any intrinsic curses. His half-plate had a shadow resistance enchantment, and Vel found a small, deep violet crystal ball. However, Vel sensed that the object was connected to similar orbs, though the connection was disrupted due to the disturbance.
September 18th - September 21st
After some recovery time, the Blackhowl Company elected a new leader and started to recover from the effects of the mental manipulation. They were going to fully commit their cause to Gilneas, and several of them still knew the passage into the city. It was still usable. Word of Hiram Creed’s betrayal passed through the Gilneans, and there was a bit of mistrust and paranoia that started to spread. Uther attempted to stemmy some of the paranoia and recited some old sermons to rekindle hope and brotherhood. On one occasion, Godfrey approached.
He tipped his hat at Uther and moved on his way. Slowly but surely, the fear started to wane. Luma also created some trinkets and artifice toys and such to distract people from the betrayal.
Luma finished their development on the ritual water dispenser, and it was incredibly successful. Production started to make them en masse, which ensured that everyone would have them during the fight.
Vel had met with Celestine and a number of other harvest witches to go and survey the countryside for any remains left at the abandoned farmsteads by the Wolf Cult worgen. As they fluttered around as a flock of ravens, they had managed to find one large farmstead that seemed to have also been a sort of horse farm or dairy ranch, as the corpses of larger beasts were littered around the area, as well as those of dogs and sheep, and similar farm life.
However, there were also shapes stalking about, and there seemed to be a number of Wolf Cult worgen infesting the place. Fortunately, they had brought along some of Luma’s devices just in case, and they used the opportunity to get an additional test run as they flew over and dropped the devices on the worgen, which left them incapacitated and dazed enough that they could also be taken back with them and rehabilitated.
Vel requested that the witches help her gather what bones they could find into a central area so that the ritual would be easier to enact, and they agreed and set about gathering as many as they could. The majority had been pecked clean by scavengers of many sorts, and the harvest witches traded some berries and other small meats with the carrion birds that flocked around so that the bones could be claimed in peace.
By the time they were done, there was just a massive mound of bones and remains at the center of the farmstead.
Vel approached the bone pile and withdrew a small dagger as she started to channel magic. Her eyes lit up with a haunting, blue light, and her tattoos flared with magic of a similar color.
She slid the dagger across her palm, and squeezed a stream of blood onto the ground before her regeneration could mend the wound. It disappeared into the earth.
A spectral, ghostly energy crept across the ground to the pile of bones and settled within it like a thick blanket of mist. After a moment, the energy was pulled into the eye holes of the various skulls, and the bones of the beasts claimed by the worgen began to shudder as they shifted and assembled themselves into the forms they had once attained in life. As each one completed, the energy enwrapped the skeleton and provided a spectral, flickering overlay of the beast on top of a form of cracked, gnawed bone.
Celestine approached and reached out her hand to one of the skeletal hounds. Her hand brushed against bone, and the skeleton seemed to move into her touch in the same way a living dog would. It was a strange facsimile of enjoying being pet.
Celestine smiled.
After Vel finished raising what skeletons she could, Celestine used [Transport via Plants] to open a passage in a nearby tree so that the horde of animated beasts could be shepherded to the muster point, in a sheltered grove where they would not disturb the more superstitious.
Seria spent a great deal of time in the mansion. During one night following Creed’s defeat, she fell into a dream. She didn’t remember it fully, but she remember red and anger, her claws tearing, and her jaws ripping sinew from bone. When she awoke, it was to a harsh, uncharacteristic laughter–a strange laughter in her own voice.
She felt a sharp pain in her hands, and she looked down. In her sleep, her fingers had grown into sharp claws and dug into her own hand. All of the plants around her had claw marks. She shook her hands and they went back to normal, as it had just been her natural shapeshifting ability.
She wished that she could remember the dream. She felt like she wanted to be afraid, but a different part of her wasn’t. However, the longer she stayed awake, the more distant the dream became. The next day, she slept without incident, and she did the following night as well. However, part of her was almost disappointed.
