Jaime’s Quest
They get on their way to the north. After only a few hours they decide it’s time to make camp. They follow their normal watch procedure and while Aran is on watch, the breeze kicks up a bit. Being fully rested and alert, Aran scans the area, ready for anything. But nothing comes.
Meanwhile, the others enter a deep hypnosis while they sleep. They each separately experience being sucked into a portal and end up on a street in a world that is wholly unfamiliar. Everyone seems to be pompously dressed and upon reaching out to anyone on the crowded street, they get no response. Upon touching one of the passersby, they are shrugged off.
ROLAN: Ok, so are we dead? They could definitely feel us, so we’re not completely ethereal.
Off in the distance, a strange glow beckons their attention. They abide.
QHOR: And no Aran…
A man catches their attention and waves them over. Just as they are about to ask what is going on here and how he can see them, the man begins talking about a prophecy of some strangers who would visit to save the land from peril.
MAN: My name is Jaime Dresden. We must hurry. The day of reckoning is upon us.
They try to get him to answer some questions about why they are here and where “here” is, but he just keeps walking.
JAIME: Look there really isn’t much time.
DORLECK: Can you not tell us where we are right now?
Jaime answers the question matter-of-factly, but the information means absolutely nothing to any of them. It’s as if the information is garbled upon entering their ears. They look at each other and as they are about to ask more questions, they happen upon a large park with a glowing horse statue in the center. He stops suddenly before crossing the threshold into the park.
JAIME: There is an evil that has infected our king. He is too proud and ignorant to see the puppet he has become. We must vanquish the source of the evil as well as the king himself, who can no longer be saved from the evil that has been kindled inside him. The maester is the real source of the evil magic. He has infected the king and the Hand of the King. They must be dealt with or our society will truly perish. Most people have no idea this evil magic has even taken hold. There is great power in that mirage. A power that can doom us all. Nothing of their reign of terror can be allowed to survive. I’ve gathered as much intel as possible to help you. It was not easy to come by…
Suddenly the stature dims and a moment later, the light is gone.
Jaime lowers his voice.
JAIME: We must hurry.
Suddenly several archers step out from around the statue. They can clearly see the entire party and are about to attack. Dorleck fires the first shots. The first two hit one of the archers extremely hard, but when he attempts the third, he hits is elbow on something, causing him to lose focus. Qarzdaq launches a Fireball at the group, killing a few.
The enemies barrage the party with arrows, causing only minor damage.
Qhortho goes into a Rage and charges towards the group.
While enroute, Rolan returns their attack with a Volley of his own that takes down a few of them.
Jaime sends arcs of lightning towards the few that remain. Dorleck nods his head with impressed satisfaction that this guy can actually wield magic, not just see through Invisibility.
Qhortho arrives at the group and slashes through two of them.
Suddenly, a bright flash opens a portal. Several more of these agents jump out and the portal closes behind them.
Dorleck looks around for who might have summoned the portal and notices 2 more archers, one at each far end of the park. He immediately sends out a sequence of Eldritch Blasts towards him. Qarzdaq follows up with a Fire Blast, taking him down.
Qarzdaq realizes that he’s a little too open for comfort, so he splits himself into Quadzaq.
Jaime notices this and calls out to the group, “save your best abilities for later! You’re going to need them!”
Just then, more men enter the area.
JAIME: Quickly!
He throws what looks to be an acorn to the ground, opening a portal.
JAIME: Go now, all of you!
The entire party reluctantly jumps through the portal except for Qarzdaq.
QARZ: What about you?
JAIME: I’ve seen my future. I need to hold them off. I wish I could’ve done more.
Jaime forces a bag into Qarzdaq’s hand.
JAIME: You’re going to need these, just be sure to keep one for your escape to the white tower or you will surely perish. There will be a portal at the top of the white tower to take you home.
QARZ: Where is…
JAIME: Quickly! You only have a few seconds remaining!
Qarzdaq doesn’t need to be told twice. He jumps through and sees Jaime fall from an arrow strike just as the portal closes.
Queen’s Writing Room
They are standing in an elaborately decorated hall of some sort. Guards are posted at each door, but they’ve clearly not seen the party yet. They must still be invisible.
Qarzdaq inspects the bag to find 3 small acorns and 4 maps.
Looking at their surroundings, they see an elegantly-dressed woman who could only be the queen of this strange realm. She does not appear to notice the party either. This looks to be a writing room of some sort.
Looking out the closest window, they realize they’re on the second floor. Outside, a manicured garden sprawls between this wing of the castle and the other wing. The other wing looks to be a mirror image of this one. That must be the King’s writing room.
In the distance, a white tower stands much taller than anything in the area.
She walks just past them and through a door without paying the party any attention. A few of the guards follow her out.
Only moments after she leaves, the guards around the room are suddenly aware of the party. However, they are startled, which buys them some precious time. Dorleck attempts to reason with one of them.
DORLECK: We are friends of Jaime Dresden. We mean no harm.
Qhortho shakes his head at the new guy’s approach. He charges the closest guard and slashes through his arm, leaving the man to bleed out.
One of the guards speaks into his arm, “Intruders in the Queen’s Writing Room!”
Rolan takes down two more. Qarzdaq takes down the last one.
DORLECK: Ok, let’s get these bodies. I can make us invisible again.
Dorleck was expecting everyone to take one, but Qhortho picked up all of them without hesitation.
Dorleck shrugs then quickly makes everyone in the party invisible, including the carried bodies. Six more guards enter the room, finding blood and smoldering singed drapery, but no bodies and no intruders. Dorleck senses that Qhortho is itching to break cover, so he uses his Telepathy to speak to Qarzdaq and Rolan: “you’ll be invisible for up to an hour. Make your way to the roof between the Queen’s Tower and the Main Castle.” He then immediately uses Dimension Door to teleport himself and Qhortho to the roof between the Queen’s Tower and the Main Castle.
DORLECK: Sorry I had to do that, but I sensed you were about to attract all of their armed forces.
QHOR: Not your call…
DORLECK: Fine.
A few minutes later, Qarzdaq and Rolan arrive. Looking around, there are a few sniping archers at the tallest parts of the castle, but they are clearly not expecting anyone on this section of the roof and are not paying any attention to this direction. They find an alcove and tucks the bodies against the wall so they can’t be seen. This is a perfect area to spend about an hour to devise a plan.
They decide to use one of the acorns and take it as it comes.
The Hand
Upon using one, a portal opens to a room that looks to be of the same caliber as the Queen’s Writing Room, but the walls are all blue here. As they step through, they realize it is the Hand of the King’s office. A tall man with short hair, presumably the Hand himself, sits behind a large hand-carved wooden desk. His hair is reminiscent of the white walkers they’d experienced just a week earlier, his eyes equally cold and distant.
Qhortho goes into a rage and attacks the Hand. Rolan quickly fires off arrows at a few of the guards around the room. Both Qhortho and Rolan become visible for a moment before Dorleck causes a Fog Cloud to obscure the area and prevent the party from being seen. They continue their attacks until the Hand and his guards are killed. One of the guards managed to get a message out to his allies so time is of the essence.
The party decides to use a second acorn, hoping that it leads them to the next location they need to go: the Maester’s office.
The Maester
They pop the acorn and see a man with slicked-back black hair and a thin red piece of fabric hanging from his neck down the center of his torso. He is sitting behind a desk talking to a few well-dressed men. These men are distinguishable from the guards in the room. Although the man with black hair is unassuming, his creepiness factor is through the roof. He notices the party before they even step through the portal.
One of the well-dressed men sees the creepy man looking into the center of the room, seemingly at nothing, and says, “what’s wrong Stephen?”
The party pours into the room, but Stephen the Maester and his guards are ready. Stephen waves his hand, dispensing of the well-dressed men in bursts of flames while his guards move in to attack the party.
STEPHEN: See what you made me do? And good help is so hard to find.
Rolan disregards the guards and fires the first shot at the maester. The arrow appears to be well-shot but doesn’t have the expected impact. Qhortho goes into a rage, rushes up to the maester and slashes him twice. His attacks appear to have cut deep, though the maester is unfazed.
The maester returns a few blows to Qhortho.
Dorleck attacks the maester with his pact weapon. Upon impact, bluish-green flames spread from the blade, igniting the target. Residual flames on the blade leap to one of his lackeys nearby. The flames dissipate quickly, but not before searing their flesh.
Qarzdaq quickly evades one of the guards near him and lines up his position to have a straight path through the maester and 2 other guards. He sends a radiant beam of sunlight through them causing extensive damage. The beam lasts but a second and Qarzdaq is left holding a bright ball of light in his palm.
Qhortho positions his blade against his shoulder and grabs the maester by the red fabric hanging from his neck. The sword slides into the maester’s flesh. The maester puts up his arm to prevent himself from being pulled in farther.
STEPHEN: You think some brownskin mother fucker is going to get ahold of me?!
He pushes off of Qhortho and steps backwards. He uses his index finger to wipe the leaking blood from the wound without a wince.
Dorleck slams his staff on the ground, forming a foot-thick wall of magical ice that traces through all of the enemies and blocking all of the entries to the room. The guards all get pushed to the party’s side of the wall while the maester is pushed away from the party.
Qarzdaq, who still has line-of-sight on the maester, sends another beam of intense sunlight through him.
The maester levitates from the ground and flies directly at Qarzdaq, pushing past him and through a passageway in the wall behind him. Qarzdaq attempts to smack him with his staff as he passes, barely missing him. However, this makes Stephen angry. He stings Qarzdaq with a poisoned barb, causing Qarzdaq to take a half-step back with debilitation.
They can hear the guards starting to break down the ice wall, but with the maester being their primary target, Rolan runs over to the secret passage. Qarzdaq’s ball of sunlight illuminates the entire visible section of the passage. Unfortunately, this is only 25 feet long before it turns and it is completely empty.
DORLECK: This has to go directly to the King’s Writing Room! We’ve got no choice!
Qhortho turns to the guard next to him and slashes him in half.
No one else runs down the passageway, so Dorleck runs as fast as he can into the tunnel. He rounds the first corner and sees no one in the dark tunnel. He runs another 20 feet and turns a second corner. He then can see into a well-lit room. The King’s Writing Room. Dorleck takes a pause, hoping his allies are just seconds away.
Qarzdaq feels the poison running through his veins and downs a potion. He regains his composure and follows Dorleck. Rolan follows him then forces another potion down Qarzdaq’s throat.
The guards break through a few segments of the ice wall. But as they pass through the chilled air, they die from the sheer cold. More men are not far behind and time is running out.
The King
Dorleck carefully looks into the King’s Writing Room and confirms what the maps showed: a room without corners. Only one guard is visible from his current vantage point. He seems to be on alert and ready to attack.
Dorleck uses his staff to cast Fog Cloud in the center of the oval office. He then peeks around the corner to see if anyone is along the walls ready to attack anyone leaving the passage.
He sees a guard on each side of the passage and they notice him. Dorleck chances it and runs into the center of the fog, changing direction as soon as he enters the thick cloud to throw them off. As quick as he is, the 2 guards still take swings at him, but both miss as he vanishes into the dense fog.
Qarzdaq attempts to blink, but another wave of poison hits him and he fails to leave the Material Plane. He quickly downs another potion.
Rolan knows Qhortho is still in the previous room, but he’s more concerned about the enemies. He summons a tangle of thorny vines from the ground to dissuade the guards from following them.
Qhortho continues battling one guard, killing him, then runs through the passageway and the vines, taking minor damage.
Eventually, they all push into the oval office and press the battle. The fog creates as much confusion amongst the party as it does for the enemies, neutralizing both sides somewhat.
The maester manages to find Dorleck immediately and attack him with his poisonous sting. The poison sends a burning sensation through his chest. Dorleck responds with a giant Cone of Cold, hitting the maester, 3 guards, and the Troll King himself.
Qhortho launches a Fireball, killing a few guards, badly damaging the maester and the king, as well as vaporizing about half of the fog cloud in the process.
The maester, blinded by the Fireball, stumbles towards the king and opens a portal. Both of them go through and the portal closes behind them.
They throw their last acorn and open a portal to the tall white tower’s grounds. They see the maester and the king rushing towards the tower. They all jump through and continue the chase.
The Tower
Rolan fires a perfect arrow directly into the maester’s carapace, but the two of them are still getting away. As the maester gets within 15 feet of the tower, he suddenly turns around, but Qhortho is in his face as he does. The maester claws at him instinctively. Qhortho retaliates and tears through his flesh.
Multiple guards are ready to take aim with some sort of advanced weaponry. As they do, Dorleck uses his staff to cast Ice Storm, pummeling all of them with large hail stones. Unfortunately, as he does, the staff suddenly shatters into a thousand shards of ice.
DORLECK: Fuck.
Qarzdaq focuses his ball of sunlight at the maester. The powerful beam of light covers his face until his eyeballs explode. His skin melts away revealing a bloody skull, which bleached before their eyes due to the focused ultraviolet radiation. The skull looks like it tries to scream but no flesh remains to effect that scream.
And of course, now that it is at its least useful, Qarzdaq blinks out of the Material Plane.
All eyes are now on King Troll, who is already somewhat injured.
Mechanical birds screech through the sky. In the distance, carriages with flashing colored lights create wails that fill the air. All of this is clearly the Party attempting to take the party down.
Rolan strikes the king with a few well-placed poisoned arrows, taking him down. The orange troll reaches out one last time before falling on his fat belly. As the party runs for the white tower, knowing their way home is at the very top, they realize the king’s body is deflating into a bubbling orange pool of filth.
The archers next to the tower spread out and shoot Dorleck and Rolan with powerful steel arrows, causing them both to pour blood from the wounds.
As the party continues to run to the doorway in the tower, two loud bangs come from the plains. No one is hurt, but everyone is strongly motivated to get inside the tower.
Qhortho is the first inside. He sees a metal door with a button to the side. Still raging, he doesn’t know what to make of this. He smashes the button and it lights up. Nothing else happens. He smashes the button repeatedly, but nothing happens. He turns around, breathing heavily, ready to strike any enemies that come in the doorway.
Another loud bang. Something strikes Dorleck hard. He falls unconscious.
Another loud bang. This one strikes Rolan. He stumbles for a few steps but manages to get just outside the tower entryway.
Qarzdaq blinks back into existence and already has a plan having seen everything play out in grayscale. He rushes towards Dorleck, delivers a forceful potion as an enema, picks him up and carries him as far as he can, almost making it into the tower.
Another loud bang. Rolan is hit again and is an inch from falling unconscious. Rolan pulls himself inside.
ROLAN: They shot me…
QHOR: This is the only way we can go, but I don’t know how these doors open!
As if on cue, the doors open behind him to a small room.
QHOR: Oh.
Qhortho pulls Rolan into the room and sets him against the wall.
Dorleck twists around while being held over Qarzdaq’s shoulder. Suddenly, a sphere of negative energy ripples out in a 60-foot-radius sphere, engulfing the archers around the tower. All but one fall to the ground after their life essence is sucked form their bodies.
Dorleck slaps Qarzdaq on the back repeatedly as if he were his steed.
DORLECK: Come on! Let’s go!
Qarzdaq pushes as hard as he can.
Another loud bang. Qarzdaq is hit, but not taken down. He manages to get inside the tower.
QHOR: You can make it! Just a bit farther!
Qarzdaq manages to get himself and Dorleck inside the small room.
Another loud bang. Qarzdaq happens to blink out of existence making the shot meant for him hit Rolan instead. Rolan immediately passes out and the door to the small room shuts.
As if the situation weren’t heavy enough metaphorically, a sensation of literal heaviness hits them as well. They all feel as if they are almost twice their normal weight.
Soon the additional weight fades and they feel like themselves again. The door opens to reveal a new room around them. They’ve been brought to the top of the tower and the portal home is just in front of them. A few soldiers are standing around the portal.
Qhortho tosses Rolan over his shoulder and rushes through the portal. Even before Qarzdaq or Dorleck get to their feet, everyone begins to black out.
Qarzdaq shoots up out of his slumber. It takes him a few moments to realize that he was not whisked away to that strange land. None of them had been injured. The threat of the silver-haired Hand, the flying Stephen Maester, and the orange Troll King was not real.
Aran is standing over him.
ARAN: Hey Qarzdaq, it’s your turn to take watch.
We end this session as Qarzdaq takes watch just before midnight of Day 644. Seemingly having gained experience in their sleep, everyone will be Level 13 when they next control their faculties.