c02s03e03 - The Storm Over Bodak Day 60 Back at Cragwood, Kiva Spelunker starts diplomacy with Dhraksis She was running from black tentacles that infest the tunnesl of Khyber (the name of the underdark) Her cave squid, Ziggy, poops little globs that shape and color themselves into whatever description the holder imagines of equal mass. This is what kiva's armor and clothes are made of.. doubles as optic camo and general utility suit reacting to her thoughs. Her drow society breeds the cave squids for their resources + they're great horses + they are super smart squids. The team thinks this is fantastic-- but Kiva's home is 3 weeks of travel through Khyber. Not a quick venture (but definitely worth looking into) She mentioned some landmarks worth knowing more about in time... Kiva came from her drow town-- through driderland, then the gargoyle cliffs and tar webs... then the heartglow forest and The Hive... chasm of tar... umberhulk tribes... tar webs ... this is where she found the old drow ruins... after she had finished her spelunking, she zigged when she should have zagged at a barrel of ooze that cropped up... ziggy could barely keep ahead of the mess... thanks to Dhraksis. 3 weeks to travel back home by squid = 500 ish miles. more resources are good. She's fascinated by the warmek and archons floating around. <3 Rogar puts his order in with the Marketplace Gun Runner for some high-end weaponry Tug also picks up the holy sword for Frank from Arcanix The team spends the rest of the day sorting the recruits and emptying the Crabship of inventory to free up space for more grain. Day 61 the team position the Crabship at old man wither's grain silos and spend the day emptying the grain into the ship. Larkin is already making arrangements for his cargo wagon to meet up with the team outside Bodak. By the time the team gets out into the Athasian terrain, the continuous rains of Thrane are clashing with a Haboob that sprouted up to the west of Bodak-- turning into a mud shower and covering everything in thick wet dirt. It's hard to see through and larkin's caravan again gets stuck in mud. Mekilots bellowing, the team has to hoist the wagon up and lift it to Stryfe road where they can get even keel again-- a Stryfe keep war wagon happens into the ship in the muck and opens fire on the outsiders-- breaking Larkin's wagon axle in the process. Frank Closes the Distance with the war wagon's crew already demoralized by the mud rain-- the team is able to disable the siege weapons before Frank began purging the common troops with Fury's fire... branding those willing to convbert-- killing the rest. 10 of 24 convert. The war wagon can only hold 1/2 the grain, so they start Larkin and crew on the war wagon towards Bodak while the team guns ahead on the the Crabship, dumping tons of grain into the market square of Bodak, shouting religious propaganda as they do. Doesn't take long for city defenses to start peppering the Crabship with ballista fire-- so they jet out Southeast to hook wide of crag mountains and refresh the riding seahorses. What they find is a growing spellstorm deep in the ether bubbling up along the southeast edge of Thrane/cyre territory. THX nat 20's a spark-inspired weather skill and ascertains a Geas Storm is coming on shore. Though not malicious in nature, the storm is going to saturate the terrain with Geas.... The team reckons if they can control the storm... they can control the geas message as well. THX hits ridiculously high skill arcana to work out the math and it works! Now the gotta wait to see how the storm moves once it breaks surface in 15 hours. During a long rest, the team has the new Marlan swap with the Crabship for better speed to stay on the storm easier. Day 62 dawn-- the storm surfaces and skirts south of Stryfe Keep right over Bodak-- 80 miles of storm moving 40 miles per hour. It'll take 4 hours from edge to Bodak. The team heads into the storm, burning the last Demon Wish that THX has to cast Control Weather... seizing a five mile piece of the storm as they roll over Bodak. After some debate, Here's the Geas the team is transmitting to Bodak's citizenry-- "With the truth of the Allspark, and Fury's Justice, I vow to purge Draegoth from Bodak" It'll take 2 hours for the storm to pass over Bodak on towards the Northwest.. 2 hours of 5 miles geas saturating Bodak witht he single vow pulsing through the community. THX controls the storm for 8 hours... 1st hour = ride the storm and prep the geas on the way into Bodak 2-3rd hour = hold the micro-storm over Bodak with the rest surges across. 4-7th hour = moving the microstorm to Stryfe Keep 8th hour = soak Stryfe Keep as well. In the middle of holding the storm on Bodak, Diva Beyonce appears on the deck of the Marlen with the team, a half dozen lantern archons flanking her. She immediately bounces over to the window to see the geas infesting the Athasian community, her wings fluttering inquisitively while the archons blip pulses of light back and forth excitedly. THX is stuck concentrating on the storm-- if he throws down he'll lose control. Dhraksis is awe-struck by the celestial. Aside from being literally radiant, she has an aura of truth around her, leaving the Ranger of Fury an open book to Beyonce's questions. As Dhraksis tells Beyonce everything they've been up to, the Deva starts tugging on control of the spell with her own magicks.. enough to make THX sweat his control and to put Frank into a rage-- allowing Dhraksis to provide all the juicy details while the rest of the team stand by seething at Beyonce's mental strength. Once Dhraksis finishes catching the Deva up on the teams' goals, she releases contest of the storm and agrees to help the team take on Kazarak when they are ready. She gifts the Houndsman archon to assist the team who is immediately on board with the plan to invade hell She grants the terracotta army to the team as assets in the effort She also assures Frank that his wife is alive as well as his uncle.. that they are under demonic possession and acting as sleeper cel agents for the remnants of Cyre's nation... last seen in New Cyre on darguun Rock Southeast of Thrane lands. Frank asked that they not be killed during exorcism or capture...Beyonce agrees. Rogar, however, makes no attempt to ask about his missing wife... but played a pivotal role in negotiating with Beyonce-- The cleric of All Spark sees the Silver Flame as filters of dogma instead of Pure Truth to the nation of Thrane. The Paladins of fury see the Silver Flame as ponderously burdened with bureaucracy, and unable to follow inspiration to Do Right for the world. At the same time; Beyonce has been fighting Kazarak and cyran warlocks for hundreds of years. She won't be questioned by mortals unaware of the history she's lived throgh and judge her efforts. Rogar nails a diplomacy skill, showing the points of agreement to push Beyonce over the edge of aligning with the team's efforts to finally take the battle to Kazarak's throne-- end him for good. After Beyonce exits, the team gun to Stryfe Keep for the last hour of storm to net some more allies. they fort converts in no time an performs a coup to hand the military forces over to the team, who direct them to mobilize against Bodak.. it'll take 2 days for the Army of Stryfe to march to Bodak--- plenty of time for the team to prep their grouwing mercenary band to take Draegoth down, and reclaim Bodak to the common citizens of Bodak. By the time the team gets back to Cragwood to regroup, it's dinner time and sleep stands between the heroes and further progress. That night their dreams are anchored in the spirit world, resonating from Beyonce's Aura of Truth. <<end session>> 2/3 to level 10 Dream time, night 62 Loot Acquired ` 6 - brands of fury ` red black balista for arv ` war wagons and athasian weaponry ` 1610 fort stryfe zealots ` service of the houndsman ` beyonce's assistance to scout the roads to hell ` 7 lantern archons ` bodak insurrectionists ` draw from th Deck of Many Things