Ashe C2 Episode 23 - Assault on Castaliogne Manor
Previously On...
Speaking with the strange organization of masked figures known as the Eyes of the Basilisk you learned that Ionn Castaliogne is really Lord Vedemire Darkhorse. One of the Fallen a group of immortals who serve the Dark One and are actively working to release him from his dread domain. You also learned from Kirana Castaliogne that Darkhorse had taken over the Manor of House Castaliogne and was using it as his new base of operations. Your next step was to put together a plan to break into the manor, find the arcane focus and kill Darkhorse.
As you all set out to recruit different factions to your cause Wes notices a strange blue bat flying around in the middle of a snowfall. Striking him as odd he placed his hunter's mark on it. After tracking it four Dire Ice Bats fell from the sky and attacked. The bats were sent by Kormirra Thela, one of the strange sisters who are attempting to use Wes for some purpose having to do with the Ashen Forest.
With the bats destroyed you met with different factions in the city to enlist their help. You gathered members of the Fighters Guild to assist you in your assault. You gained the assistance of the Maldrith Moth to help with the break in of the manor. You also enlisted two clerics of the Daughters of Light who are looking for one of their order who went missing near the manor the day before.
With Plans made you put it into action. Crashe led a team of fighters accompanied by the two clerics to sneak in through the forest tunnel and invade the grounds through the guards house. Wes, Mausim, and Finnix led a group of Maldrith Moth Rogues through the tunnel leading from the Thieves Guild into the warehouse.
Crashe and his fighters leapt into action drawing a large portion of the gaurds to their position and engaging in battle. Mausim Cast fog cloud to obscure your activities and Wes leapt up onto the roof of the nearby building to add cover fire for Crashe's team. As Finnix, Mausim, and the rogues crept into the building Wes quickly investigated the bell tower. Noticing a face looking out towards him that quickly disappeared he took a closer look. A strange feeling of fear gripped him as he drew closer to the third floor, and he retreated to fire arrows down upon the melee. Now we return to the action as team Rogue avoids some strange iron figures in the ballroom and enter the hallway of the first floor only to be confronted by two of Darkhorse's Mutants known as Krullocs. Team Fighter continues their fight against the gaurds with Wes' Support.
What suprises await you in Castaliogne Manor and where is Lord Vedemire?
Speaking with the strange organization of masked figures known as the Eyes of the Basilisk you learned that Ionn Castaliogne is really Lord Vedemire Darkhorse. One of the Fallen a group of immortals who serve the Dark One and are actively working to release him from his dread domain. You also learned from Kirana Castaliogne that Darkhorse had taken over the Manor of House Castaliogne and was using it as his new base of operations. Your next step was to put together a plan to break into the manor, find the arcane focus and kill Darkhorse.
As you all set out to recruit different factions to your cause Wes notices a strange blue bat flying around in the middle of a snowfall. Striking him as odd he placed his hunter's mark on it. After tracking it four Dire Ice Bats fell from the sky and attacked. The bats were sent by Kormirra Thela, one of the strange sisters who are attempting to use Wes for some purpose having to do with the Ashen Forest.
With the bats destroyed you met with different factions in the city to enlist their help. You gathered members of the Fighters Guild to assist you in your assault. You gained the assistance of the Maldrith Moth to help with the break in of the manor. You also enlisted two clerics of the Daughters of Light who are looking for one of their order who went missing near the manor the day before.
With Plans made you put it into action. Crashe led a team of fighters accompanied by the two clerics to sneak in through the forest tunnel and invade the grounds through the guards house. Wes, Mausim, and Finnix led a group of Maldrith Moth Rogues through the tunnel leading from the Thieves Guild into the warehouse.
Crashe and his fighters leapt into action drawing a large portion of the gaurds to their position and engaging in battle. Mausim Cast fog cloud to obscure your activities and Wes leapt up onto the roof of the nearby building to add cover fire for Crashe's team. As Finnix, Mausim, and the rogues crept into the building Wes quickly investigated the bell tower. Noticing a face looking out towards him that quickly disappeared he took a closer look. A strange feeling of fear gripped him as he drew closer to the third floor, and he retreated to fire arrows down upon the melee. Now we return to the action as team Rogue avoids some strange iron figures in the ballroom and enter the hallway of the first floor only to be confronted by two of Darkhorse's Mutants known as Krullocs. Team Fighter continues their fight against the gaurds with Wes' Support.
What suprises await you in Castaliogne Manor and where is Lord Vedemire?
Plot points/Scenes
As the team goes through the Manor to find Lord Darkhorse, he will eventually confront them in the basement level. First he will use his Iron Golem and then he will activate the Gorogol. There are also more Krulloc's if need be. When they face Lord Darkhorse use his Ionn Castaliogne Form. He has a second form for a later battle using his full on Lord Darkhorse stats. These stats include a crystal form similar to Emma Frost's and several more spells.
When he is defeated his body will be on the ground lootable. The body will disappear at some point, dimension doored away by a failsafe put in place by Lord Darkhorse. They will meet him again in the future. The Fallen have been around for centuries and have several tricks up their sleeves.
The main room in the basement -
Amidst all of the ancient torture devices and shelves covered in books and parchment, Lord Darkhorse has set up a laboratory of sorts. Finn you would recognize it as an elaborate artificer's work shop. Hundreds of tools and scientific equipment surround a couple of large black stone tables. The tables seem to be made of a material that would resist acid and many spell effects. On one of the tables is the Arcane focus. You see that Darkhorse has been trying to reassemble it using different gems and bits of shardrock. Whether he was successful or not remains to be seen. On the other table propped up on a stand is one of the seals. Where he acquired it from is a mystery but it looks almost identical to the one in your possession. You can see that the arcane focus is pointed towards the seal.
[DM Note: amidst the hundreds of pages and slate tablets of notes written and drawn on by Lord Dark Horse is a diagram of the two moons. Roll an intelligence check to interpret the equations and arcane symbols that wrap around the diagrams. DC 18. On a success the player realizes that Darkhorse had a secondary objective. He was going to use an upcoming conjunction to create his own Shatterfall with the arcane focus. By firing a powerful enough laser through the arcane focus to strike the smaller moon he could cause a large enough explosion to rain shardrock upon the land years before it would happen naturally.]
Roman Castaliogne
He is malnourished and spindly and seems to be on the verge of death. Roman Castaliogne, the eldest son of the former Lord and his lady. His father was Rachinald Castaliogne the V, many of the busts on the second floor illustrate this. His mother was the Lady Utreth Quail Castaliogne.
Roman tells the team that Kirana died over three years ago from a wasting disease. A thin fragile woman and his younger sister. She did indeed have black hair but much of it had fallen out by the time she was in her 20's.
Traps to use if need be -
When he is defeated his body will be on the ground lootable. The body will disappear at some point, dimension doored away by a failsafe put in place by Lord Darkhorse. They will meet him again in the future. The Fallen have been around for centuries and have several tricks up their sleeves.
The main room in the basement -
Amidst all of the ancient torture devices and shelves covered in books and parchment, Lord Darkhorse has set up a laboratory of sorts. Finn you would recognize it as an elaborate artificer's work shop. Hundreds of tools and scientific equipment surround a couple of large black stone tables. The tables seem to be made of a material that would resist acid and many spell effects. On one of the tables is the Arcane focus. You see that Darkhorse has been trying to reassemble it using different gems and bits of shardrock. Whether he was successful or not remains to be seen. On the other table propped up on a stand is one of the seals. Where he acquired it from is a mystery but it looks almost identical to the one in your possession. You can see that the arcane focus is pointed towards the seal.
[DM Note: amidst the hundreds of pages and slate tablets of notes written and drawn on by Lord Dark Horse is a diagram of the two moons. Roll an intelligence check to interpret the equations and arcane symbols that wrap around the diagrams. DC 18. On a success the player realizes that Darkhorse had a secondary objective. He was going to use an upcoming conjunction to create his own Shatterfall with the arcane focus. By firing a powerful enough laser through the arcane focus to strike the smaller moon he could cause a large enough explosion to rain shardrock upon the land years before it would happen naturally.]
Roman Castaliogne
He is malnourished and spindly and seems to be on the verge of death. Roman Castaliogne, the eldest son of the former Lord and his lady. His father was Rachinald Castaliogne the V, many of the busts on the second floor illustrate this. His mother was the Lady Utreth Quail Castaliogne.
Roman tells the team that Kirana died over three years ago from a wasting disease. A thin fragile woman and his younger sister. She did indeed have black hair but much of it had fallen out by the time she was in her 20's.
Traps to use if need be -
Themes
After the battle the team must finish their business in Westinox and Level Up to 5. Now they prepare for the journey east and on to the city of Warshaw. Let's lay down the general rumors and news that has come west from the city.
The Eyes of the Basilisk will ask for the Arcane Focus as their reward for all the help they've given the team. They say that they just want to keep it safe and will try to deconstruct it. It will be safe in Westinox under their watchful eye.
On the Road to Warshaw -
The team will encounter a prisoner train on it's way to Ulirre. There is a prisoner transfer as Penthos is trading some high profile eastern criminals for some spies captured by the city of Westinox. One of which will be a halfling man named Trick Redfern. He is an old friend of Mausim's and they both sailed and worked together in Copenhaus. He can relay news from Copenhaus that Mausim is wanted for stealing the griffon, Grand Theft Aerial, and that he should return home to clear his name. He pleads with Mausim to find a way to spring him from the prison train. He was working briefly as a ships captain for one of the men arrested. A high profile smuggler from Westinox named Cedalphus Ironeye. He is innocent and shouldn't be there.
Kirana/ Bella Caix has made her way to Warshaw and is trying to find the seal of the dark one. It is in the vault under the castle. She has been using Revetan the Reclaimer, the warforged created by Isringus, to weaken power in the city. She has disguised him as a human man named Rindell Yggvald a claimant to the throne. The Yggvalds are an old family that used to vie for power in the city but haven't put forth a claim in centuries. With the Queen old and weak Kirana will try to build Rindell a power base to challenge for the crown.
Sava Cogson is in the city to watch the proceedings and find Revetan the Reclaimer. He was given this task by Cog himself. Cog is researching the seals on the dark one's domain and is planning an expedition to enter the dark domain and kill Aer'Chabadzael once and for all. In the meantime he has sent his son to deal with Revetan.
The Eyes of the Basilisk will ask for the Arcane Focus as their reward for all the help they've given the team. They say that they just want to keep it safe and will try to deconstruct it. It will be safe in Westinox under their watchful eye.
On the Road to Warshaw -
The team will encounter a prisoner train on it's way to Ulirre. There is a prisoner transfer as Penthos is trading some high profile eastern criminals for some spies captured by the city of Westinox. One of which will be a halfling man named Trick Redfern. He is an old friend of Mausim's and they both sailed and worked together in Copenhaus. He can relay news from Copenhaus that Mausim is wanted for stealing the griffon, Grand Theft Aerial, and that he should return home to clear his name. He pleads with Mausim to find a way to spring him from the prison train. He was working briefly as a ships captain for one of the men arrested. A high profile smuggler from Westinox named Cedalphus Ironeye. He is innocent and shouldn't be there.
Kirana/ Bella Caix has made her way to Warshaw and is trying to find the seal of the dark one. It is in the vault under the castle. She has been using Revetan the Reclaimer, the warforged created by Isringus, to weaken power in the city. She has disguised him as a human man named Rindell Yggvald a claimant to the throne. The Yggvalds are an old family that used to vie for power in the city but haven't put forth a claim in centuries. With the Queen old and weak Kirana will try to build Rindell a power base to challenge for the crown.
Sava Cogson is in the city to watch the proceedings and find Revetan the Reclaimer. He was given this task by Cog himself. Cog is researching the seals on the dark one's domain and is planning an expedition to enter the dark domain and kill Aer'Chabadzael once and for all. In the meantime he has sent his son to deal with Revetan.
Structure
Exposition
Mausim Dream 04 -
You walk amongst a battlefield strewn with thousands of bodies. The sky overhead is dark with midday clouds. A light rain falls all around you and you pull your cloak tighter to ward off the chill. Your cloak is ripped and torn and darker in some areas. Is it wet or is that blood? As you walk you feel the clamminess of your undergarments as if you have just sweated for hours.
Roll an intelligence check [DM Note: DC 14, On a success Mausim can realize the battle is one of the great human elven battles of the great war of SF 2 3245 in the Inorh region of the Elves. Clearly a battle of armies number near 7000 soldiers each.]
As you walk the field with your lieutenant behind you, you assess the losses on the field. All of a sudden you smell the air ionize, a metallic tint to that hits your nostrils. A light forms in the clouds above, a sickly bright green. A face materializes and forms a grin. Difficult to make out features, but you see something that sends a chill down your spine. A dead human woman in an archers uniform twitches. Her left arm shifts and plants the palm down in the mud. The head lifts in a jerky motion and the eyes glow with a green color that mimics the one in the sky. Then another soldier moves, followed by a dead elven soldier only 30 meters from your position. Another, then another, you draw your sword as the battlefield now comes alive once more.
Roll initiative!
Crashe Dream 04 -
As you fall into the trance that refreshes your body and mind you go through the katas of Ista Imli. These phrases and thought images make up the strange religion or meditative state that has guided you along your journey. Halfway through your concentration jostles as something pushes on it.
A voice in the back of your head speaks. An elven man says "Yes, I must meet with him. Show him in." A vision forms of an elaborate elven tent interior, A table is set up with maps and scrolls. Do you try to push it away or do you allow it to happen?
[DM Note: Crashe must roll a wisdom saving throw DC 13.]
The voice rages "No! This is war, the people must be defended! The humans have made this war!" Then a melancholy seeps in as he says "It's all over, the dark one will rule if we don't do something." The feelings of rage and sorrow sweep over you quickly giving you a nauseous feeling and disturbing your Ista Imli. An elven warrior walks into the tent swiftly, The voice in the back of your head recognizes him. "General, it's Commander Calendias, he appears to be seriously wounded, come quick." As you walk out the tent you see the slumped over form of an armored elven man with dirty blonde hair. The center of his white tabard is stained red. He falls over as you approach. The dark sky above is overcast and a light rain falls upon you. As you rush forward to tend to the man a flash of green fills a section of the clouds. You don't feel a pulse in Calendias. As you think of any orders to give Calendias' eyes open and glow with the same green light, his gloved hand in a swift motion grips your throat and squeezes!
You walk amongst a battlefield strewn with thousands of bodies. The sky overhead is dark with midday clouds. A light rain falls all around you and you pull your cloak tighter to ward off the chill. Your cloak is ripped and torn and darker in some areas. Is it wet or is that blood? As you walk you feel the clamminess of your undergarments as if you have just sweated for hours.
Roll an intelligence check [DM Note: DC 14, On a success Mausim can realize the battle is one of the great human elven battles of the great war of SF 2 3245 in the Inorh region of the Elves. Clearly a battle of armies number near 7000 soldiers each.]
As you walk the field with your lieutenant behind you, you assess the losses on the field. All of a sudden you smell the air ionize, a metallic tint to that hits your nostrils. A light forms in the clouds above, a sickly bright green. A face materializes and forms a grin. Difficult to make out features, but you see something that sends a chill down your spine. A dead human woman in an archers uniform twitches. Her left arm shifts and plants the palm down in the mud. The head lifts in a jerky motion and the eyes glow with a green color that mimics the one in the sky. Then another soldier moves, followed by a dead elven soldier only 30 meters from your position. Another, then another, you draw your sword as the battlefield now comes alive once more.
Roll initiative!
Crashe Dream 04 -
As you fall into the trance that refreshes your body and mind you go through the katas of Ista Imli. These phrases and thought images make up the strange religion or meditative state that has guided you along your journey. Halfway through your concentration jostles as something pushes on it.
A voice in the back of your head speaks. An elven man says "Yes, I must meet with him. Show him in." A vision forms of an elaborate elven tent interior, A table is set up with maps and scrolls. Do you try to push it away or do you allow it to happen?
[DM Note: Crashe must roll a wisdom saving throw DC 13.]
The voice rages "No! This is war, the people must be defended! The humans have made this war!" Then a melancholy seeps in as he says "It's all over, the dark one will rule if we don't do something." The feelings of rage and sorrow sweep over you quickly giving you a nauseous feeling and disturbing your Ista Imli. An elven warrior walks into the tent swiftly, The voice in the back of your head recognizes him. "General, it's Commander Calendias, he appears to be seriously wounded, come quick." As you walk out the tent you see the slumped over form of an armored elven man with dirty blonde hair. The center of his white tabard is stained red. He falls over as you approach. The dark sky above is overcast and a light rain falls upon you. As you rush forward to tend to the man a flash of green fills a section of the clouds. You don't feel a pulse in Calendias. As you think of any orders to give Calendias' eyes open and glow with the same green light, his gloved hand in a swift motion grips your throat and squeezes!
Conflict
Where are the seals?
Write final battle with Castaliogne, how does he survive his death. When he reaches 0 hit points his body falls. Then disappears leaving behind his clothing like Obi Wan. With a good enough perception and arcana check a PC can see that he touched something in an inside pocket that created the effect. Though very wounded he was able to escape.
Exatron Saul follows Finnix to Warshaw. He brings along some spider drones that he has developed. Spider like golems that have web attacks, claw attacks, And a string of webbing they can shoot out. Need stats.
The prisoner caravan on the road to Warshaw is run by a man named Strahan. He is loyal to Vernabogge and accuses Mausim of Grand Theft Aerial and Sedition. Mausim has been entered into the book of treason, this will follow him until Vernabogge is defeated. Strahan will be a recurring villain for Mausim.
Need a foil for Crashe too.
Exaspider - specially designed automatons (probably stolen) designed by Exatron Saul. They are small constructs with the features of spiders. Eight metal legs and several glass orbs in their heads that take in visual information. These must be unobstructed to hunt and restrain their prey. They are designed to track and restrain targets. They have a web attack that they can use once per hour but they can shoot out a strand of very sticky flexible steel thread that can reduce a targets movement by half.
Write final battle with Castaliogne, how does he survive his death. When he reaches 0 hit points his body falls. Then disappears leaving behind his clothing like Obi Wan. With a good enough perception and arcana check a PC can see that he touched something in an inside pocket that created the effect. Though very wounded he was able to escape.
Exatron Saul follows Finnix to Warshaw. He brings along some spider drones that he has developed. Spider like golems that have web attacks, claw attacks, And a string of webbing they can shoot out. Need stats.
The prisoner caravan on the road to Warshaw is run by a man named Strahan. He is loyal to Vernabogge and accuses Mausim of Grand Theft Aerial and Sedition. Mausim has been entered into the book of treason, this will follow him until Vernabogge is defeated. Strahan will be a recurring villain for Mausim.
Need a foil for Crashe too.
Exaspider - specially designed automatons (probably stolen) designed by Exatron Saul. They are small constructs with the features of spiders. Eight metal legs and several glass orbs in their heads that take in visual information. These must be unobstructed to hunt and restrain their prey. They are designed to track and restrain targets. They have a web attack that they can use once per hour but they can shoot out a strand of very sticky flexible steel thread that can reduce a targets movement by half.
Plot type
Main Story
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