The Text Ages 2: The Order Vs The Wall of Text

For this session I decided to try something experimental that ended up being a lot of fun. I started the session with a specific, brief event involving one of the characters (Magnus in this case) then flashed back to earlier in the same day to reveal what caused the event. It worked well in this case but I'd definitely recommend that techniques like this be used sparingly and only with PCs who don't have any trouble playing along. Also make sure that there are several different events that could potentially lead to the final event, lest things go completely off track. 

In this case I started the game describing most of the party (excepting Magnus) gathered together at an inn, examining the (blank again) Cannith book and the rune-key. While they were discussing their travel plans to reach Sharn there was a sudden shattering of glass as Magnus is flung head-first through the tavern's largest window and lands in the center of the party's table. 

Then, with no further explanation, I switched to the flashback. Magnus had just received a message from a blacksmith in town. He had recently rented the man's smithy to perform some repairs with the help of Glorin. The blacksmith had sent a boy to let him know that the two of them had left some tools from their warforged repair kit at the smithy.
 

So, not wanting to leave town without the missing items, Magnus heads over only to find the place apparently empty and dark. He comes in anyway and looks around for the missing items. Before he can get a good look around the room the door slams shut behind him and he sees a warforged standing in front of the doorway. This warforged appears to be of the "common" footsoldier type without any special plating or enhancements. However he does have one unusual feature: his right hand appears to have been replaced with a stone sculpture in the shape of a large fist with a Khyber dragonshard embedded in the back. Magnus (after a successful skill roll) recognizes the strange warforged as a Brelish war-hero known as Stonefist. 

Before Magnus can ask for an autograph Stonefist lets him know that he is here to finish his "brother's" mission and asks Magnus to give him a reason not to kill him where he stands. Magnus thinks fast and starts to spill any information he thinks Stonefist would be interested in, letting him know that the Order has the cannith book and the rune-key they're looking for and how they were given the mission to find them. Fortunately he leaves out the part where he sold the corpse of Stonefist's "brother" for spare change. 

All this cooperation is unfortunate, as Stonefist was very eager to pound some holes in Magnus but his strong sense of racial loyalty prevents him from killing a fellow warforged in cold blood. Magnus assures Stonefist that he is the leader of the Order and talks up his own skill and power, saying he'll easily be able to convince his companions to give up the book. Rather than taking Magnus on his word Stonefist decides that a show of strength will be the best way to ensure that the Order complies. 

Thus he gives Magnus a savage beating, calls on his henchmen (more of the oddly warped-looking warforged) and heads over to where the rest of the Order is hanging out. Thus we reach the beginning of the session as Magnus is hurled through the window and smashes the table to shambles. Thinking quickly Nolan grabs the book and the Order prepares themselves as Stonefist storms into the building and demands that they hand over the two items. 

While the rest of the Order does some fast talking to prevent combat breaking out (well, most of them. Jack was hanging out at the bar and pretends not to be associated with the others) Nolan stealthily slips over to the fireplace and calls out to get Stonefist's attention while dangling the book just out of the flames. Everyone goes still as Nolan holds the book hostage and utters the most dramatic cooking-related line I've ever heard. 

"Now you sheath your weapons and we talk, or I use this book to make breakfast. I could make such bacon with this." 

Although not thrilled that Nolan has the upper hand Stonefist is willing to talk. After a few tense moments Stonefist lets slip that the contents of the book are essential for the survival of the warforged race. Nolan takes him at his word and, in a noble gesture, tosses the book to Stonefist with a demand that if they meet again Stonefist will talk to them before simply trying to strongarm them. Also he demands Stonefist pay for the damage to the inn. Somewhat confused by the sudden generosity and unsure of how to proceed Stonefist decides to go along with it and plops a sackful of gold pieces on the bar and orders his men to head out, taking the book and the rune-key with them. 

Thus a session that was meant to be a major confrontation between the PCs and a reoccurring NPC protagonist ended without a single blow landed because of a rare display of reason on behalf of the Order. In fact, this exchange with Stonefist would drastically alter how certain events in the future will play out, unknown to the Order. 

Although Stonefist marches out of town he returns later that night to visit Magnus, hinting that he is serving the Lord of Blades and that a war between humans and warforged is not far away. He leaves Magnus with this warning and a copy of The Genesis of Steel, the manifesto of the Lord of Blades. 

 

The Order makes it's way to Sharn to join up with the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild (they successfully forge Elaydrin's signature to validate the letter of introduction), splurging on a steerage lightning rail ticket to get there faster. Nolan, Glorin and Magnus manage to get cheaper tickets by signing on as guards (they arranged for some food poisoning to create a shortage in qualified security). Jack decides he wants in on this so (using an impressive Intimidate skill) he manages to convince the head of security that he's a deadly fighter. 

This blows up in his face later when an extremely drunken passenger refuses to leave the rail at their next stop and pay his bar tab. Jack, being the closest security staff, was grabbed by a waiter in the dining car and asked to make the man leave. The guy is a bulky barbarian, even his thews have thews, and Jack is a slender little sorcerer (whose only offensive spells would have inflicted heavy collateral damage in the train). Fortunately he thinks fast, buys Thewgar the Barbarian a drink, lacing it with some painkilling herbs in his healer's kit to knock the man out flat and then drags him off the train. 

 

Another incident along the way involved an attempted murder of a young halfling man by a shifter assassin. The shifter was taken out by Nolan and Glorin but he had managed to knock out the train's official House Jorasco healer and stab the halfling with a poisoned dagger. Jack was summoned to tend him and with some decent healing rolls he figures out that the boy hasn't been poisoned...he's been hit with a rare Xendrik fungi that's infecting his body. Healing magic would simply make the fungi healthier and it grows at an incredible rate. Forced to think fast he chooses the safest option: amputation of the young man's arm. The operation is gruesome, but successful, and the spread of the fungi is halted. 

Shortly before their final arrival in Sharn an earthquake strikes, causing several of the conductor stones to burst, shooting columns of lightning into the air. One bursts right under the steerage car the Order is riding in, shredding the floor of the car which begins to cave in, threatening to dump everyone down into the fast-moving electrical maelstrom underneath the cart. The Order manages to get most of the passengers out of danger but the whole floor threatens to give way and they can't get out fast enough. It's at this point one of the passengers, a man in a heavy cloak who'd been lurking in a corner for most of the trip, reaches out and uses a massive dragonmark to repair the floor. After everyone recovers from the shock the man reveals himself: Merrix D'Cannith. He'd been riding in steerage hoping to keep his traveling plans secret but he thanks the Order for their help in keeping everyone alive before heading to the first class section of the train. 

The Order finally makes it to Sharn, finds a place to rent, and approaches the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild for membership. They leaders of the Guild (a Silver Flame paladin called Zovich and Rava Whitetooth a Shifter Sorcerer/Rogue) are quite impressed with the Order's obvious skills and gladly welcome them aboard. However the Guild has a traditional "test" for new members and they ask the Order complete one to be granted full membership. 

((The first adventure used the "hook" from the starting Eberron adventure the Hidden Forge, this is where I use the rest of it, although I increase the power level of the critters significantly))

The test chosen for the Order is to go down into a section of Sharn's extensive sewage system to search for a baton that had been hidden by one of Clifftop's members and bring it back as proof of their talent. Along the way to the sewers they pass through a goblin slum where they have a run in with a group of extremely unfriendly warforged, although it doesn't come to blows. They head into the sewers and start rummaging. They run into a few random threats. The first a few oozes. Then a yellow musk creeper and a collection of its "zombies", finding a Plant Bane Machette called "The Defoliator". It was the birthday of Magnus' player so he got a "present": an attack by a giant albino sewer alligator. After defeating the gator Magnus finds a magical Battlefist in its guts (which also serves as a ring of the ram, which can be combined with its slam attack) and decides to keep the thing's hide for a jacket. 

After dealing with the gator the players run across something odd. One of the players (a cleric with the Cannith Dragonmark, the player didn't stay around long enough to be worth mentioning otherwise) begins sensing something odd through their dragonmark. With some searching they find a hidden hatch which (when the dragonmarked player touches it) displays an ancient version of House Cannith's heraldry. They manage to get it open (triggering a trap that they manage to avoid) and decide to check things out. They find what appears to be a hidden section of the tower containing the ruined remains of several buildings as well as a single workshop that is still standing (for the most part). The doors are locked fast and far too strong for them to break but there's a hole in the roof. 

The Order climbs up to the roof and many of them jump down to investigate. They find that a chunk of masonry from the roof above has crashed through the workshop's roof and smashed what appears to be an dog-shaped construct forged of mithril. They're assaulted by the workshop's two surviving guardians: a gargoyle formed from cold iron and a metal serpent made from adamantine. There's a brief but intense fight and they discover that (when defeated) the constructs release metal keys. With a bit of searching they find a third key on the smashed dog and a secret compartment which they can open with these keys. Opening it up they find some valuables and an adamantine plate covered in runes (a schema). Making their way back out they find they're no longer alone.

The warforged they met in the goblin market have shown up. Their leader is a huge warforged covered in spikes and blades and with a distinctly crazed attitude. The rest are the odd, silent and deformed warforged they'd encountered before. The crazy warforged, Cleaver, accuses them of scheming against the warforged and lying to Stonefist. The Order doesn't realize but the book they gave to him contains the location of this very lab and the rune-key was meant to open it (Magnus managed a really impressive Use Magic Device check to "pick" the lock). To Cleaver it looked like they were trying to get there first and make off with the schema. 

Nolan tries to be the reasonable one again, actually tossing the schema down and basically telling Cleaver to take it and leave them alone. However, Nolan has a tendency, when making his speeches, to get self-righteous and bossy. Cleaver is a half-crazed, human-hating warforged who has vowed to never take orders from humans again. The combination does not work out and Cleaver orders his men to open fire, ignoring the chance to take the schema and leave. 

Fortunately the Order is more than a match for them and manages to take out most of the odd warforged who practically fall apart into rusty metal and odd fluids when killed. Cleaver, sensing defeat retreats by using a scroll to meld into stone (the Order's spellcasters don't identify it and assume he's simply retreated). The Order takes the schema and finds the baton they were looking for (lodged in a stirge nest) and make a beeline for the surface.

 

So the Order joins up with the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild but there weren't any current jobs lined up for them so the crew was in for some downtime. Things went south very quickly...

Glorin has the foresight to collect the destroyed constructs from the hidden Cannith workshop. He sold the adamantine scrap metal for some ready cash and decided he wanted to use this and the mithral from the other construct to create a suit of plate armor and pay Magnus (who had just picked up the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat) to enchant it. 

Now, even with the extra funds from the sale of the adamantine money was tight for this project so Glorin decides it'll be easiest to craft the mithral plate himself rather than paying someone to do the job. Looking over the crafting rules he figures he'll save enough cash that he can afford to make it platemail +2...but the downside is the project would take months even with Magnus using infusions to aid the crafting process. He's not interested in taking that much time so with some discussion (and math) he and Magnus work out the cheapest way to speed things up. They'll hire a large team of assistants who can cheaply use Aid Another to boost the pair's craft score through the roof. 

After some thought they realize that it would be a lot cheaper to hire a large team of warforged (about 10 or so) and pay them about a 3 gold pieces a day (about 10 times the normal price of a trained hireling) to work triple shifts led by Magnus. Even though they're paid more than human workers their ability to work nearly round the clock meant that the project sped by and should be done within a month or so. They rent out a large workspace in the Cogs and get to work.

 

However, a few days go by and word gets around that the pair are paying a team of warforged ten times the normal working wage to work for them rather than hiring good honest humans. It doesn't take long for picket lines to form outside. Protestors shout anti-warforged slogans and harass Magnus and Glorin's workers (they end up having to pay an extra 5 sp a day to keep them which doesn't help soothe the protestors). To deal with the issue Magnus and Glorin hire a small team of hobgoblin fighters and warriors to guard their forge as the project plows on. 

Meanwhile Jack gets called on by a wealthy lady for a medical consultation, something she's not comfortable going to House Jorasco to. He takes a sky-ferry to her home and meets with her. She turns out to be a halfling lady who is clearly deeply upset about something. She leads him into her home and to the room of her son. Jack approaches the young man's bed and realizes quite quickly that he's dead. It's about this time that he notices the two large bugbears looming in the doorway behind the halfling woman. Jack, confused, suddenly recognizes the dead halfling lad. He was the victim of the assassination attempt on the lightning rail who Jack saved by amputating his arm. The halfling woman, his mother, angrily reveals that the boy was a dedicated artist and the loss of his arm ruined his life and led to a suicide. She blames Jack and the bugbear thugs make it clear that she's not just looking for an apology. 

Desperate for an escape Jack thinks fast and uses one of his few direct offensive spells, Burning Hands...on the bed where the halfling lad's corpse is lying. The bed goes up in flames and the boy's mother shrieks in horror and screams at her thugs to try and put out the flames. Jack takes this distraction as an opportunity to leap out of the window and activate his feather fall talisman and a spider climb spell to float away and scramble under a bridge. He uses a disguise self spell to change to a different shape, slip onto the bridge and blend in with the crowd. However, he still doesn't feel secure so rather than returning back to the Order's rented home he heads to the Cogs to track down Glorin and Magnus, figuring he'll be safer with two of the Order's tougher members. 

So he slips past the protestors and meets up with his companions. Unfortunately it's at this point that the protests (which have been increasingly turbulent) come to a head. Some rocks fly through the forge's window followed by a pair of Molotov cocktails. Glorin, Magnus, Jack and the warforged workers desperately try to put out the flames. While they're trying to get things under control Glorin ducks his head out and screams to the hobgoblin guards to "take care of" the protestors to try and prevent more firebombs. 

This is where he learns that one must be more specific when issuing emergency orders to a group of stressed out, underpaid and grouchy hobgoblin warriors when faced with a mob of hostile but mostly unarmed human tradesmen. Shortly after he slams the door closed the screaming begins...

Needless to say things got quite tense for a while there. The protesters disperse, Glorin pays the hobgoblins what they're owed and orders them away while Jack uses his massive Diplomacy and Bluff skills to convince the guards that all the carnage outside is in no way the fault of the Order. It takes some lucky rolls, flimsy excuses and some bribes but they finally manage to make things "go away". 

A week or so later the platemail is completed and Glorin has his shiny new armor. It only cost several lives, the spread of bigotry and hatred against warforged and some economic upheaval.

 

I had decided at this point that the next adventure I'd be running will be Whispers of the Vampire's Blade which seemed to be one of the more interesting adventures available for the Eberron setting. The Order is contacted, through the leaders of the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild by one of top members of Breland's Black Lanterns. They want to hire the Order for an immediate job chasing down one of their top agents who has, quite suddenly, betrayed them and stolen a powerful magical blade and simply run off. The Black Lanterns want this agent caught, alive preferably, and returned to Sharn.

Before they are officially given the job however the man hiring them has a test. He has a dire ape trapped in a greenhouse garden and he wants the players to subdue the ape alive to prove their skills. Well, this being the Order of Magnitude they certainly got the job done...but in the most bizarre way possible. They decided to use the Bugs Bunny approach. Through a combination of Enlarge and Disguise Self Jack "dresses up" as a female dire-ape. Even penalized by the limitations of the spells involved Jack manages both an incredible disguise and bluff spell and manages to lure the ape down from the trees at which point he is immediately jumped by Nolan and Magnus who use a combination of Stunning Fists and Shocking Fists to quickly subdue the poor, amorous monkey before it can do anything unspeakable to Jack. 

 

Well, horrified by the Order's choice of strategies but desperate the Black Lanterns contact decides to give them the job. They're told the agent, a man by the name of Lucan, has left on a carriage heading east accompanied by a woman who they believe to be his sister, an accomplished sorceress. The Order is supplied with magebred horses and instructed to try and catch up with Lucan as swiftly as possible. Unknown to the Order Lucan is a vampire and was commanded by his vampiric master to steal the magical object, the Soul Blade. The Soul Blade is an intelligent magic item and it manages to overcome Lucan and forces him to take the blade back to Karnath. Lucan is traveling with his sister (who knows of his undead condition but believes they are heading to Karnath looking for a cure) trying and failing to fight the two competing magical compulsions.

The chase is fairly straightforward, Lucan has a significant head start but the player's steeds are much faster so they simply drive after him. However, it quickly becomes clear that they won't catch up to Lucan before he crosses the border to Zilargo. They ask occasional questions at towns they pass to try and make sure they are on the right path but they don't investigate much beyond that. However, it's not long before things take a turn and unsurprisingly this involves Magnus jumping down the proverbial hole again. 

After the party has stopped and is taking their rest while Magnus remains awake to keep watch. However, thoughts begin to bubble in his insane, warforged brain. He realizes that he doesn't need to sleep and in fact does not need to stop walking at all. After a bit of math he realizes that over the course of 24 hours of travel he's capable of covering far more ground than riding his horse for 8 hours. So, he writes out a note to the rest of the Order and simply sets off into the night. With his ability to travel without stopping he manages to catch up to Lucan's coach in a matter of a day and quickly leaves the rest of the Order in the dust. 

He manages to catch up to Lucan in the late evening as night is growing. He sees the carriage stopped while Lucan's sister, Grilsha, is watering the horses. Lucan is (unknown to Magnus) awake within the carriage but remains inside to avoid the fading sunlight. Magnus attempts to sneak closer to the carriage but, being a heavily armored magical robot, he's hardly very good at stealth. Grilsha doesn't notice but Lucan's enhanced senses allow him to hear the sound of Magnus crashing through underbrush. As Magnus is spying through the bushes and trying to come up with a plan (he had not thought this through at all) he hears a growl behind him. A large collection of wolves prowl out of the forests and set on the warforged. Fortunately Magnus manages to cast Stone Construct before the wolves are upon him and his damage reduction effectively protects him from being ripped apart. However the wolves easily bear him on the ground and prevent him from acting while Lucan and Grilsha drive off. Magnus manages to pound a couple of wolves with his metal fists and the rest quickly disperse when Lucan leaves. 

Still wanting to try and catch up to Lucan (and still completely lacking in a plan) Magnus heads off again. He catches up again that evening while Grilsha is sleeping and the horses are resting. He sneaks around their campsite for a while (more successfully this time). He uses a clairvoyance spell to spy on Lucan in the carriage (who is awake with the unsheathed soul blade on his knees, staring at the weapon) and eventually decides to leave a note. He puts a scrap of parchment where Grilsha will see it when she wakes up and writes the following: 

"I know your secrets and I want to help you. Meet with me five miles down the road at noon tomorrow."

Now, keep in mind that at this point Magnus does not know Lucan is a vampire...but his note sure makes it sound like he does and he asks a vampire to meet him at high noon. So Magnus takes his position down the road and waits. He sees the carriage approach and quickly pass him by without stopping....then another pack of wolves pours out of the forest to set upon him. 

Managing to fight off the wolves again (and still not making the connection) Magnus sets off down the road after Lucan again after resting for a bit to recover his infusions. It's not until the next evening that he manages to catch up again (the rest of the Order is still miles and miles away). He prepares a new note and while attempting to quietly nail it to a tree he is heard by Lucan who leaps from the carriage, Soul Blade in hand, and confronts Magnus. 

It's quickly clear that Lucan is a bit unstable and he demands to know why Magnus is pestering them. Magnus clumsily attempts to imply that he knows about Lucan's situation and wants to help. However all he manages to do is convince the sentient Soul Blade that he knows too much and must die. Lucan attempts to fight this compulsion briefly but quickly charges ahead anyway. Battle is joined and Magnus does not even know how overmatched he is. Lucan is higher level, armed with a powerful magic sword and on top of that is a vampire. However, sometimes it's sheer ignorance that wins the fight for you. 

You see, Magnus has the Shocking Fist feat which allows him to convert hit points into additional electrical damage on a slam attack. He's also managed (surprisingly) to win initiative. He charges at Lucan and invests all but one of his hit points into a massively charged (about 45d4) slam attack and on top of that uses his specialty battlefist to use a 3-charge ring of the ram effect (additional 3d6 damage plus knockback). He misses terribly but uses every single action point he has to add enough to his roll to actually strike Lucan. (we later learn that this isn't possible with the feat, but frankly it was too hilarious not to allow).

The sheer number of dice simply overwhelms Lucan's energy resistance and does about 100 damage (Lucan has about 50 hp) and practically disintegrates him. Magnus's player is crowing and dancing about at this point...when Lucan simply turns into mist and vanishes back into the carriage. His vampiric nature means that he simply can't be killed through raw damage. Magnus is standing in shock and trying to process what just happened. Unfortunately he also forgets that he has only a single hit point left and at this point Grilsha wakes up and shoots him in the back with a crossbow, taking him down to negative hit points and unconsciousness.

This is the condition the rest of the Order finds him in when they catch up a couple of days later. After some heated debate over whether they should bother repairing him they finally decide to bring him along and fix him up.

 

Now that Magnus is reunited with the rest of the Order the sharing begins. Fortunately the other player's general grouchiness about Magnus hogging a whole session to himself is eased by the fact that his session concluded with him investing everything in a single, powerful attack that did absolutely nothing and then getting knocked out by a young lady with a crossbow. 

And while Magnus completely failed in his gambit to defeat Lucan in a single mighty blow he did learn some things of great value, namely Lucan's vampiric nature. With this knowledge the party can prepare for their next confrontation and they set Magnus to work. While the rest of the party sleeps Magnus sharpens stakes and scribes scrolls of Halt Undead and Command Undead. Which just goes to show nothing can screw up a published adventure more than a warforged artificer. 

When they next catch up to Lucan they make sure to do so during the daytime. There's a tense chase scene with Grilsha in the carriage as the party bears down on them. She flings spells back at them but they're gaining and she's all by herself. A few quick blasts from one of Magnus' wands busts the wheels of her carriage and she's surrounded. Then Lucan leaps from the carriage, skin burning, and starts carving into the party. He clearly won't last long but the first thing Grilsha does is whip out a wand of Darkness which she uses to cloak her brother. She then uses an invisibility spell and a flight enchantment. Before the party can attempt to dispel Lucan's shroud of darkness he takes to the air in bat form. The two fly off over the woods and quickly out of sight. 

Frustrated by Lucan's escape (a theme that will continue throughout the published adventure) the party repairs the carriage, releases the exhausted horses and ties their own magebred mounts up to continue to Zilargo and the city of Trolanport. With Lucan off the roads the only lead they have is that he was headed to that city looking for something or someone called "Krell". They assume he'll try and complete his journey but without access to a to travel by day and slowed by his sister they assume he'll be greatly delayed. 

A few days later they arrive at the gnomish port city and immediately get down to some investigation while Magnus continues his work, this time producing some vials of Silversheen to allow them to effectively damage Lucan in a fight. They ask around and the only "krell" they find is the Aundarian ambassador, Neya ir' Krell. They also learn she'll be hosting a rather large ball in the next couple of days. Although the Order keeps an eye on the embassy during the night in case Lucan shows they can smell a plot point when it's right in front of them and they begin making plans to infiltrate the ball. Jack manages an incredible set of Bluff and Diplomacy rolls and manages to convince some drunk gnomish nobles that he's a human princling and they give him their tickets as a gift (he takes Shara, the party roguess as a guest). Nolan meanwhile manages to get a job in the cooking and waiting staff with his amazing culinary skills. He also manages to introduce the idea teppanyaki cooking to Eberron. Glorin and Magnus have a snowball's chance in hell and they decide to act as coachmen for Jack and Shara, waiting in the coach till something goes wrong. 

So, the night of the party arrives and of course it's a masquerade ball. Jack and Shara mingle about, trying to find Lucan or Grilsha. Shara finally spots him dancing with the ambassador who she sees pass him some things. She slips by and manages a pickpocket roll, snagging what appears to be a set of traveling papers for an airship flight in false names. Before she or Jack can confront Lucan he's picked up by another dance partner. This one attempts some kind of subtle spell on Lucan which fails completely. Lucan is clearly enraged and begins to use his vampiric influence to take control of the woman and it seems like he might actually try and kill her right on the dance floor. Fortunately Shara signals Nolan who immediately slips through the crowd with a tray full of appetizers and pops a large, heavily garlic-ed crab cake right into Lucan's mouth (he'd been using the tray earlier that night to try and find Lucan). 

Well, at this point any sort of diplomacy or peaceful resolution is right out the window. Lucan draws the Soul Blade from his Glove of Storing and at just that moment a crew of Aundarian ninjas dressed as waiters attack Lucan, trying to capture him. While Lucan carves through them with ease Grilsha gets ready to support her brother, unfortunately she's not nearby and Nolan sneaks up behind her and knocks her unconscious with a pair of swift jabs. He then picks her up and scampers out of the room just as the other guests are thrown into a complete panic. Jack and Shara attempt to gather their wits while Glorin and Magnus attempt to simply get into the building against the huge flow of people trying to escape. 

After defeating the martial arts waiters Lucan turns on the party. At this point it consists of Jack, Magnus, and Glorin. Nolan is securing the unconscious Grilsha and Shara has escaped (being unarmed and unarmored she concluded discretion was the better part of valor). First Lucan unleashes the power of the Soul Blade and hits Glorin with Confusion. He then tries to skewer Jack but for some reason the Soul Blade simply refuses to strike him. Lucan tries again before giving up in frustration and nearly knocking Magnus's block off. However it's at this point the guards at the embassy finally manage to spring into action and pour into the room. Lucan looks around for Grilsha and, not finding her, decides to escape. He leaps directly to the ceiling and runs out of a nearby window and off into the night. 

This is where things get confusing. The party is now in three groups. You've got Nolan who leaves first with the unconscious woman wrapped in a stolen rug. Not wanting to be seen or reported he heads immediately for the seediest place in town and buys a room, planning to wait here and keep watch on the girl to make sure she doesn't cause trouble. Shara meanwhile sneaks off during the fight and is wandering the city trying to figure out what to do next. Jack, Magnus and Glorin are in the embassy, surrounded by heavily armed and very angry gnomes. 

 

Now the adventure I was running basically assumed that Lucan and his sister would escape from the party and board an airship leaving conveniently very late at night. The PCs would of course give chase and either manage to get on board themselves or get another airship to follow Lucan's. This was not the case.

Back at the embassy several members of the Order are stuck without any real explanation for what the hell they were doing. They apparently decide that selective honesty is the best policy and make up a story on the spot about being professional vampire hunters who've been pursuing Lucan (almost true). However their Bluff and Knowledge rolls are completely screwed up and they come across as utterly incompetent and ignorant about their supposed quarry. Krell eventually takes pity on the group (mostly because she thinks Jack is cute) and dismisses the gnomish soldiers. She speaks with them for a while, managing to trick them into giving up most of their secrets (who hired them for instance) before letting them go. Of course now they don't know where there other party members are. They head back to their inn but they find no one waiting for them. They ask around and find no information on either of their two missing party members. 

Nolan has holed himself up in the harbor district with the unconscious Grilsha. He strips her of any magic items and keeps her unconscious with some sleeping draughts. We make fun of him for being creepy. 

Shara is wandering the city aimlessly. She manages some better info-gathering than the other PCs and gets a good idea of where Nolan is in the city, narrowing down the general neighborhood. So she starts going from inn-to-inn in the harbor district trying to find the one where he's staying. 

The largest group (Magnus, Jack, Glorin) is fed up with not knowing what's going on so they decide to buy some magical aid. They do some searching until they figure out the location of a diviner who would be willing to do some less-than-legal scrying. They show up at the hapless gnome's home (remember it's about midnight by this time). They use intimidation and lots of yelling to force him to do a scrying job for them at deeply discounted rates. He manages to find Nolan and points them in his direction. They head out for the harbor district themselves. 

Lucan has left on an airship hours ago. 

Now, the gnome is none-too-pleased with being bullied and pushed around and he knows (from his scrying) that they PCs just went looking for someone they described as a friend who is staying in a dive hotel in the harbor with a tied up woman. So he sends a quick message to the city watch about this. Even better the gnomish head of the city watch connects this group with the ones who crashed the Aundarian ball. I further decide that this gnome has serious history with Lucan and is looking for revenge (mostly on the assumption the PCs would be able to recruit him as a potential ally). 

Well, Shara finds Nolan and the two of them get up-to-date. She goes out to try and find the others only to find a large squad of gnomish soldiers heading towards the inn. She runs back in and lets Nolan know. He wraps up Grilsha in a rug again and the two sneak out the back. The gnomes arrive but both Nolan and Shara are good at sneaking. However for some reason Shara decides that things would be better if she serves as a distraction so she goes up and starts talking to the gnomes to try and send them in another direction. Unfortunately their leader recognizes her as one of the party-crashers (the was at the ball) and she is arrested. Nolan gets away and finds another place to stay, this time renting a cheap basement room in an art district. 

The rest of the Order arrives shortly after to find the inn filled with soldiers and no sign of either of their missing companions. So to recap...3 of the Order members are together, stumbling around the streets of Trolanport without any guidance, Shara is in jail and Nolan is in an undisclosed location with Grilsha. Lucan meanwhile continues to get further and further away. 

Jack, Glorin and Magnus decide to rest and handle things the next day. Shara is uncooperative and gets locked up in solitary confinement. Nolan sits in the dark and broods, unwilling to risk leaving the spellcasting woman unsupervised and thus unable to track down any of his companions. 

Frustrated by their inability to find their companions Magnus, Jack and Glorin head to the airship docking tower to try and figure out if Lucan actually left the city or if he stayed behind to look for his sister. Unfortunately before he left Lucan Dominated several gnomes and left them to try and kill the PCs if they show up. So while they're wandering through the docking tower they are suddenly ambushed by several wide-eyed gnomes. The result is a predictable slaughter with only some light wounds to the PCs...unfortunately it took them several rounds to realize that the gnomes were being magically controlled and they had already killed most of them. Now the fight took place in a fairly remote section of the tower so there were no immediate witnesses but someone could wander by at any moment...to see a group of heavily armed and armored adventurers with the mangled gnome corpses scattered around. These three are also the least stealthy of our group...there's no way they can get out, spattered in blood, without being discovered. So Jack comes up with a cunning plan. He uses a disguise spell to change his appearance to Lucan (followed by a spider climb and jump spell), he picks up a nearby sword and begins screaming in rage and fury. When other gnomes and tower personnel show up they see a crazed human with half a dozen dead gnomes at his feet attacking a hapless dwarf and warforged. When he's discovered "Lucan" leaps out of a window and uses spider climb to climb up to the next level where he uses the disguise spell again to switch to a perfectly normal gnomish form and blends in with the crowd. The Order members left behind report their stories to the guards and slip away before they can get embroiled in anything official but they aren't held in any suspicion.

So Jack and friends realize that the gnomish diviner must have sold them out. They show up at his place again. This time with more threats but also more gold. They manage to force him to cast yet another divination for them to find Nolan. They finally track him down and are reunited. Using a combination of diplomacy and an Elixir of Truth that Magnus happened to have they revive Grilsha and get more or less everything she knows out of her. Mostly they learn that Lucan is on his way to Karnath to find a cure for his condition (not true, but it's what she believes). They eventually convince her that they don't want to kill Lucan but that they have to bring him back to Breland. She's not pleased but she eventually is persuaded to come with them to help. Jack even tries to start courting her a bit. 

The only dangling thread is Shara lingering in a too-small prison cell. She completely refuses to cooperate with the gnomish watch-leader (thus preventing me from using him to help her in any way) so she's stuck. I eventually have a mysterious benefactor slip a set of lockpicks into her cell (honestly I don't remember who it was supposed to be, perhaps the Aundarians) and she manages to escape and find her way to her companions. 

 

This is why you don't !@$%ing split the party!!

 

Finally reunited and with Grilsha on their side the Order needs to find some way to chase down Lucan before he gets to Karnath. Fortunately it doesn't take long before someone finds them, a half-orc by the name of Rowrag who tells them that he's been hired by the Aundarian ambassador to help them catch Lucan. He's got an airship too! The party piles on board ASAP and they head out. It turns out the ship Lucan is on is taking a "grand tour" of the Five Nations so its route is scenic and meandering. By cutting across Zilargo in a straight line Rowrag's ship, The Jade Fury, should easily be able to catch Lucan's ride, Cloud's Destiny, in the skies over Thrane. Of course, to take this shortcut they'll need to fly over the borders of the Mournland. 

Fortunately the trip is mostly uneventful until they reach the Mournlands when the ship is invaded by a swarm of Will'o'Wisps which the Order manages to thankfully put down before total chaos takes over. While on the Jade Fury they start to notice a few suspicious signs...the crew are generally gruff and unsocial. Everyone but Rowrag seems to seethe will barely contained hostility. They also hear snatches of whispered conversations that lead them to believe that the crew might have some unsavory plans. However the Order figures so long as they're still on the correct course they'll deal with that problem after they snag Lucan. 

Well, they finally catch up to the Cloud's Destiny and they pile onto a flying skiff with some of the Fury's crew to fly over and sneak aboard. They manage to board stealthily until Glorin flubs a roll badly enough to attract some unwanted attention. The Order is uncertain what to do (keep in mind Destiny is a passenger ship and not an enemy ship) but Rowrag's men erupt with violence, killing several crew members before the shocked Order can react. The Order immediately jumps the Fury's crew and toss them overboard. Then they run for it, trying to lose themselves in the lower decks of Cloud's Destiny and find Lucan before a general alarm is sounded. 

That's when a second air skiff from the Fury shows up and starts pelting people on deck with crossbow bolts. Unable to condone this loss of innocent life Nolan, Glorin and Shara head back to the top deck to try and deal with the situation. Meanwhile Magnus, Jack and Grilsha head belowdecks to look for Lucan. Convincing Grilsha to call out for her brother they find him in the cargo hold, hiding in an extradimensional locker. He's shocked to see Grilsha helping Jack and Magnus but he can also hear the sounds of battle above and knows he's no longer safe hiding here. So he turns to mist and prepares to escape. 

This is where things take a turn...

Jack pulls out a scroll that Magnus had given him previously, a scroll of Command Undead. He casts it as Lucan is sifting through the boards in the ceiling and Lucan fails his save miserably...becoming instantly charmed by Jack. He suddenly reverses course and rematerializes next to his new friends...developing several new facial tics (he is now under 3 seperate mental compulsions: his vampiric master, the soul blade and now jack). It's at this moment Rowrag decides to take out the Cloud Destiny by ramming it full force with the Jade Fury. The two airships collide and their elementals break free and begin battling amid the wreckage, air vs fire. Both ships lose buoyancy and begin to fall. 

Lucan is desperate now, his new friend is in danger but so is his sister. I consider for a moment and decide that the magical compulsion is stronger than familial loyalty. Lucan tells Jack that they're in danger and if he trusts him he can save both of them. Jack agrees and Lucan throws him out of a window, turns into a giant bat and catches him...flying off into the night. Grilsha is shocked by this betrayal and she uses a Fly spell to follow the two of them. Magnus jumps out of the window and simply falls but he manages to activate his Feather Fall talisman before hitting the ground. 

Meanwhile, topside Shara uses a feather fall talisman as well to land safely. Nolan leaps from the deck of the airship to the air skiff they're fighting. He smacks into one of the ship's officers leading the other crew members and the two of them tumble off the skiff (the officer knocked unconscious). Fortunately the officer was wearing a ring of feather fall and Nolan simply clings on. 

Glorin tries to get ahold of the air skiff they arrived on (still tied to the railing of Cloud's Destiny). He makes a strength check to try and pull it in...rolls a 1. The airship pulls free but he refuses to let go and is instead yanked off the deck. He's now dangling by a rope that is dangling from a small boat floating in midair several hundred feet over the ground. Fortunately he manages to fumble through his pack for a potion of levitation without falling and makes his way down safely. 

Well the bulk of the Order meets up near the wreckage of the two airships and realizes that Jack and Grilsha are missing. They find a nearby border town (they're near the border of Thrane and Breland at this point) and rest there while they interrogate the man Noland captured (who he strips down and ties up of course). The man reveals that the Jade Fury's crew were members of the Emerald Claw who were looking to capture Lucan and using the Order for their own purposes. Of course now they have no idea where Lucan or Jack are, although Magnus lets them know what happened in the cargo hold. They figure Lucan is still trying to make it to Karnath so they do a bit of asking around and realize the only way to get there with any speed is a Lightning Rail and fortunately there's a rail station not too far over the Thranish border. They decide to go there and stake it out looking for Lucan. 

Meanwhile Jack finds himself in his own special hell. Lucan first took him to a forest clearing several miles from the crash (Grilsha unfortunately having no night vision simply got lost and flew out of the adventure at this point) and dropped him off so that he could seek a place to shelter from the sun. Jack falls asleep and when he wakes up it's night again and Lucan has arrived with a pair of completely bloodless rabbits for dinner. Lucan takes him to a nearby cave he's located that will shelter them for a while. Lucan is clearly going a bit mad at this point. Talking to inanimate objects and mumbling to himself. He also keeps watching Jack hungrily and leaning in to smell him...then being overcome with guilt and shame at the thought of hurting his "friend". The next night they head out for the closest city and Lucan purchases them a room (he sleeps under Jack's bed during the day). Fortunately Lucan's bizarre behaviour, disturbing hunger and general craziness creep Jack out so much that he completely forgets that he could simply stake Lucan while he sleeps or open up a few windows and kill him. 

Instead Jack manages to convince Lucan that they need to get back in touch with his friends (this is very important as the Command Undead spell has only a couple of days left to go before it expires) and that they will help Lucan get to Karnath. Fortunately the other Order members show up soon and they grudgingly accept Jack's proposal. They all purchase tickets for the lightning rail to Karnath. Lucan and Jack purchase a first class cabin which they share (much to Jack's dismay) and the rest of the Order stay in steerage. Magnus attempts desperately to complete a second Command Undead scroll. 

 

So what started as a tense chase turned into an even more tense alliance. Which puts me in quite the pickle. Due to my party's uncharacteristic (for adventurers at least) willingness to cooperate and talk things out they were dangerously close to riding the adventure straight into a quagmire. Lucan has them all convinced that he's going to Karnath to look for a cure to vampirism. This holds a bit of water considering Karnath is probably the most knowledgeable nation other than Arenal when it comes to the undead condition. This isn't true at all however, Lucan is being compelled by the sentient Soul Blade to return it to Karnath.

Unfortunately the Order is a gullible bunch and will staunchly believe in whatever they've been told most recently until slapped in the face with the tuna of truth. They've also got Lucan heavily charmed (the guy's Will save is terrible!) and the Soul Blade isn't fighting them since they're serving its purposes. Once the Soul Blade returns to Karnath it's going to force Lucan to reveal his secrets to the Karnathi military...and considering the Order is universally terrible at keeping secrets they'll probably be exposed as working for the Black Lanterns as well. Things could get...political. 

So I decide to modify the upcoming encounter. In the original adventure the lightning rail is going to be attacked by a warforged loyal to the Lord of Blades and some halfling mercenaries. This utterly random group is designed to cause trouble just when the PCs think they've caught up with Lucan and have him cornered. Unfortunately since the PCs and Lucan are working together that won't have nearly the intended effect. So instead I draw upon a plot hook I've already established. The gnome captain in Zilargo with the grudge against Lucan. He hires a crew of bandits called The Mourners (former Cyrans) to attack the steerage cabins (where most of the Order are) while he and a couple of bugbear bodyguards show up in First Class to try and capture Lucan and Jack.

The Order makes short work of the Mourners, forcing most of them to surrender. However things don't go as smoothly in first class. Jack takes care of the Bugbears but the gnome has learned about Lucan's condition and hits him with a spell...command undead. Lucan snaps. He's got 4 competing compulsions ripping his mind apart and for a brief moment they all cancel out. He screams in fury, whirls on Jack with the soul blade drawn but again it refuses to cut him. Howling in rage he leaps out of the window, transforming into a wolf and bounding off into the wilderness of Thrane towards a large stone ruin in the distance. The gnome and jack are shocked into silence when Magnus bursts into First Class and begins a roaring charge towards the gnome, smashing furniture out of his way (20 on Intimidate). The gnome captain panics and throws himself out of a nearby window to escape. 

After the Order has regrouped and shared information they disembark from the lightning rail and head towards the ruin to find Lucan. 

In the original adventure this was meant to be the final showdown, the culmination of an epic chase across the continent. Lucan has cast aside the Soul Blade and is briefly himself. He wants nothing more than to go down fighting and nothing can deter him. The Order is ill-prepared to deal with a vampire who has nothing left to lose but they come after him anyway, using their only two vials of silversheen to create weapons that might hurt him assuming they can get past his blazing speed and crushing strength. A deadly and conclusive battle...alas it was not to be.

They show up at the altar chamber where Lucan is holed up as the sun rises. They exchange words but he makes it clear he's not interested in being talked into anything anymore. So they get ready to fight. Lucan sweeps in, claws nearly ripping off a chunk of Glorin's plate mail and deftly avoiding Glorin and Nolan's counterattacks. Then Magnus pulls out a scroll of Halt Undead, Lucan's crappy will save crashes and burns and he's paralyzed while the Order sharpens stakes. It hasn't even been a full round.

!@#%ing artificers!!

Well, fortunately the entertainment for the evening wasn't over yet. After Lucan is safely staked the first thing Magnus does is make a beeline for the Soul Blade. He's been lusting over that the entire adventure and probably never intended to return it to Breland. So he snatches it up...and immediately gets his mind crushed by the Soul Blade's Ego. The blade has one immediate command...get it to Jack. So Magnus runs over and immediately starts demanding that Jack take the sword. Shockingly (Jack played Max in my previous Deadlands campaign) he turns down the artifact of evil and so instead the Blade commands Magnus to escape and get it to Karnath. Unfortunately by that time the rest of the party has figured out what's going on and tackles Magnus. They pound him a little and manage to disarm him after a round or two. Finally Magnus's mind is free from the evil influence. His response...

"JUST TWO MORE MINUTES! I WANT TO TRY THAT AGAIN!" and he snatches up the blade from the floor, gets taken over and then gets floored by a single blow from Glorin. 

So after they stuff Lucan's paralytic corpse in a bag of holding and the Soul Blade in a handy haversack far away from Magnus they begin the long trek back to civilization and then to Breland...quickly realizing that they left their magebred horses at some inn in Zilargo.