Hell Raising
General Summary
Tiff had approached Grud about raising some hell: plant a false flag by scaring some farmers in the Great Plains on the Fjordhaven side dressed as Sovereignty soldiers, and violate the Treaty of Peace, allowing the Kingdom of Fjordhaven to join the fight against Nihilus. Sensing an opportunity to raise some hell, Grud agreed and sought to reform his Hellraisers, an army that served him before he died. However, only a few showed up to the meeting place, so Grud decided to get to the bottom of the missing soldiers at Death Dells Tavern. Tiff, meanwhile, remained invisible and mind blanked nearby to keep an eye on things.
In Death Dells, Grud encountered Grog, a giant orc claiming to be seeking Gruumsh's favor. He challenged Grud's status as a prospective Chosen, mocked Grud's "brother" Sharhorn for losing a fight, mocked them both for running away from undead in the Nightshade Necropolis, and mocked Grud personally as a human-lover for ever serving Nihilus. Challenging Grud to a bare-knuckle fight with no magic items, he also bet his service and his amulet against Grud's weapon. Grud agreed to a three-round bout, but after knocking out the wrestler in the first round, Grud, at the shaman Wolfsbane's urging, ripped Grog's head off and took command of the remaining Hellraisers as well as several gnolls, too. The rest of the night was spent carousing and carrying on, celebrating the spoils that were to come.
While Tiff had been literally "sniffed out" by Grog, she only became visible in the form of one of Rico's old friends, using a token gained from a previous adventure. However, her involvement would eventually become known to all...
The next morning, Grud used a hat of greater disguise to order some uniforms from the barracks in West Haven while disguised as High Priestess Asher. He did not notice being scryed. Meanwhile, Tiff remained behind in the tavern and her sight allowed her to see a mysterious woman come out of the ethereal plane and cast sleep on the handful of sobering warriors, while detecting the thoughts of another and suggesting he take a nap as well. The woman was Taiella, Mistress of the Holy Domain, and she sat languidly atop the headless corpse of the giant left lying in the center of the tavern. When Grud arrive, she made no attempts to control him and told Grud that while she did not wish to oppose the former Warmaster directly, she would not allow him to endanger her pet Sovereign by taking uniforms for whatever he was planning. Grud threatened her, so she decidedly to leave, but not before mocking him to "cover his soldiers in elderberries" if they wanted to look like they were serving the Sovereignty so bad. So Grud did just that. Unfortunately, he did not notice the scrying sensor she left in the room as he called out to Tiff, but Tiff did notice and wisely did not answer.
The Hellraisers thus reformed, the army sacked a village after Tiff left to report to King Bombo that the Sovereignty was attacking. He immediately had her send for troops in Stag's Ballad, and although he saw through her lie, did not question her further as he trusted her. Tiff, returning to Grud, saw that he had gone far beyond scaring some farmers and had actually slaughtered the entire farmers and was now following some tracks of the survivors. Grud ignored her protests, but he did manage to halt his army as they approached what seemed to be a centaur camp. Tiff did not see a camp, however, but saw through the illusion revealing a colossal necrocraft maw swarming with flying undead centaurs like an insect hive. The Hellraisers braced for something, however, and were charged by centaur juju zombies out of the illusory image even as the maw descended beneath the earth. Tiff quickly cast undeath to death on the first wave, while the army trapped the second wave between themselves and a blade barrier, decimating them in seconds. A final wave came out at a right flank, and the army set themselves against the charge while Grud cut the sole survivor in half. However, several paces behind the front lines a colossal maw made up of horse hooves and braided arms engulved a portion of his army, while three pale blue lights mocked Grud and told him to come inside even as the necrocraft began its descent back into the ground. Grud never backed down from a challenge, for such is the way of the One-Eye, so he charged in with his cohort and Tiff.
Though the beast was only around 25' in diameter, the interior proved to be much larger and Tiff identified it as a demiplane, though masked as the internal structure of a grisly undead thing. The was pulsed as if with a heartbeat, and the floor was made of blood. The enemies inside, however, were untroubled, as flying undead cavalier centaurs charged and struck Grud with their lances, as winter wights led by Zabrask, a Chosen of Nihilus, repeatedly blasted the area with cones of cold. Grud's cohort Vezrah did her best to protect them with cold resistance, but it wasn't enough and the cleric fell first. Grud, though wounded, managed to destroy one of the cavaliers before Tiff cast banishment on her own party and they fled to Xiomara.
After resurrecting Vezra, Grud asked Tiff to locate Wolfsbane with sending and ask where he was. The old troll reported that there were heavy losses and wounded as a result of a battle with the dwarves who found them. Grud was unmoved and ordered them to return to Hunter's Glen. Unfortunately, when the few remaining troops reached the Glen, they reported that Wolfsbane had been captured by the Sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Tiff crafted a report to her friend the King of the Dwarves:
"Report to His Majesty King Bombo
Upon returning to the front with the intent of delaying the advancing enemy, I encountered what initially appeared to be a centaur encampment. However, this proved to be an illusion masking a horde of juju zombie centaurs, some of which exhibited the ability to fly. This encounter provides clear evidence that the necromancer Nihilus has been operating within your realm for a considerable duration.
I subsequently engaged in combat, against these undead entities, which were emerging from a burrowing necrocraft. Grud and his warriors turned against the undead as well. While we successfully repelled the initial wave of undead attackers, our pursuit of the necrocraft led to an unforeseen complication—it drew us into an extradimensional space, evidently a demiplane under its control. Within this realm, we encountered flying juju zombie centaur cavaliers and winter-wights, all under the command of a figure known as Zabrask, a thrall of Nihilus. He is also a winter wight.
Though we managed to escape with our lives, we were unable to eliminate Zabrask or destroy the necrocraft. Their continued presence poses a grave threat to the stability of your lands.
-Tiff"
Little did Tiff know that Mistress Taiella was crafting a letter to raise some hell of her own.
Rewards Granted
Loot:
[36,000 gp] Amulet of Mighty Fists +2 (Training: Improved Grapple) (appears to be a medal from some kind of competition. The back of it has "Grog" scratched into it.)
[0 gp] Fur Cloak crafted from centaur hide (20 lbs)
[0 gp] Giant orc head of Grog (20 lbs)
[25,000 gp] loot collected from farm and centaur battlefield (Grud and Tiff)
[25,000 gp] gear and loot collected by dwarves after defeating Hellraisers in Grud's absence (Bombo)
Experience:
Grud (16): 115,200 XP total = 51,200 (Grog) + 38,400 (undead centaur army) + 25,600 (a cavalier attitude)
Tiff (16): 115,200 XP total = 51,200 + 38,400 + 25,600
Bombo (14): 25,600 XP total (Battle of Two Armies)
Alignment:
Tiff shifts to:
Empire:
Stag's Ballad receives +1 Loyalty for their king acting quickly to defeat the Hellraisers, and -1 Economy for the loss of the raided farms.
Titles:
None.
[36,000 gp] Amulet of Mighty Fists +2 (Training: Improved Grapple) (appears to be a medal from some kind of competition. The back of it has "Grog" scratched into it.)
[0 gp] Fur Cloak crafted from centaur hide (20 lbs)
[0 gp] Giant orc head of Grog (20 lbs)
[25,000 gp] loot collected from farm and centaur battlefield (Grud and Tiff)
[25,000 gp] gear and loot collected by dwarves after defeating Hellraisers in Grud's absence (Bombo)
Experience:
Grud (16): 115,200 XP total = 51,200 (Grog) + 38,400 (undead centaur army) + 25,600 (a cavalier attitude)
Tiff (16): 115,200 XP total = 51,200 + 38,400 + 25,600
Bombo (14): 25,600 XP total (Battle of Two Armies)
Alignment:
Tiff shifts to:
Show spoiler
for a quite chaotic act of orchestrating a false flag effort and lying about it to the king, her friend.N5G2
Empire:
Stag's Ballad receives +1 Loyalty for their king acting quickly to defeat the Hellraisers, and -1 Economy for the loss of the raided farms.
Titles:
None.
Report Date
30 Apr 2025
Primary Location
Secondary Location
