ATG Mission 10.1 - Anaxis Knows You...
Previously On Liters of Tomorrow...
The team spent a few days in the City known as The Points. You all foiled an assassination attempt on an Elven ambassador, then watched as he was killed anyway by the strange man known as Ijin. Karnac then resurrected him in a new body possibly gaining a new ally.
You also traveled under the city and obtained another section of the strange dimensional control rod that, when assembled, may help you defeat the Top Hat Man. You fought several different multi-versal versions of yourselves to obtain it. It is possible that an evil version of Mew, who escaped into the city, may still be out there somewhere. Despite this you returned to the Blue Cauldron Inn and assembled the staff only to find that one more piece is still missing and it seems to only exist in the future you have been hopping too.
After some rest you all decided to enjoy the last day of the festival and went out for drinks and gambling.
Plot points/Scenes
You look out over the street and the masses of people still celebrating the White Gold Festival. Revelers of all types move up and down the thoroughfare all dressed in white shirts, gold hats, and hold bottles or wine glasses full of alcohol. You hear laughter, loud drunk talking and constant movement from the people. The smell of beer, tobacco, and pipe weed assaults your senses and floating lanterns shine with magical light, some white and others casting a yellowish glow. Down the street in the distance you see a splash of purple slowly bobbing through the crowd. A tall purple top hat moves through the crowd several hundred feet away, as it does you see a change in the crowd. At first a wave of fear cascades over you like an ocean wave.
[DM Note: Roll wisdom Saving throws versus fear]
As you watch transfixed on the crowd you see the purple begin to multiply. A human man wearing a white tunic looks down as his shirt turns purple rapidly, a dwarven woman in a lacy white gown watches as her fabric turns bright purple. Then another and another as all the white clothing now turns purple, it pulses out from where you see the top hat slowly approaching. The center of the street now looks purple and gold instead of white and gold. The lanterns begin to change as well as the purple wave spreads out. As you look closer the crowd's eyes begin to change to purple glow as their iris' fills with purple light. The sound around you goes from a loud celebration of the days festivities to an eerie calm. As the purple spreads out all faces begin to turn towards you. Thousands of eyes now look in one direction and they see you. Suddenly the Top Hat man stands a little bit taller and you see his skull like white face with bright purple glowing eyes as he grins widely.
[DM Note: To counter flying utilize crossbows and long bows from rooftops. Also Anaxis will use the remaining members of the Crimson Vettel. There are 3 left and they will fly into action and attack, all of their eyes glowing a bright purple. If necessary Anaxis will combine them together in a body horror like merging. This will increase the size of the creature and their power.]
A Choice...
As the chaos threatens to engulf you things begin to slow. Thousands of angry purple eyed faces look in your direction a level of malice and rage on their faces unlike any you have ever seen. Now frozen as time begins to slow to a crawl. A wasp flees the area in front of you imperceptibly slow as it's wings splay out in haphazard fashion. The golden sunset in front of you takes on a purplish pink tinge as the top hat man approaches you at normal speed. He walks easily and a bit jauntily as he stands in an opening on the street and bows. "Greetings travelers, I thought it a good time to finally meet and perhaps chat about the future. Let me introduce myself, I go by many names. Anaxis, The wanderer, The Top Hat Man, The Bone White Devil, The Deadwrought, there are many more because I have visited many places."
He leans on his cane and tilts his head a bit as he studies you.
"Perhaps we have got off on the wrong foot? I fail to see any reason why we need to be set against one another. Our objectives and rewards seem to overlap more often than not. Watching you I have noticed that you value gold, do you not? You seem to enjoy power and the odd bit of violence. The study and usage of magical artifacts or weapons, You see we have many things that we see eye to eye on."
"Let us reevaluate our relationship! I can offer you all of the things that you value so dear, and so much more. It is a big world, bigger than you even realize. Perhaps you do not want to be involved in my business as my assets, I understand, Then wouldn't it be more lucrative to just avoid one another?"
[DM Note: If the players agree to this they are each presented with a coin. These coins will be difficult to shake once accepted. The coins always seem to show up in a pocket or pouch even after a person has given it away or thrown it out. "The deal is done! Let us drink to our newfound accord! To future prosperity and power!" A small skull tattoo will show up on their arms later that day. Enough of these tattoos will allow Anaxis to control a PC with a Will save fail.]
[DM Note: If the players try to attack Anaxis or just disagree verbally he takes the news congenially. Or deflects the attack with illusion. "Ah such is the way of the righteous and weak minded. I assumed as much." With a wave of his hand he opens small windows that depict different scenes.]
"Let me present you with three scenarios. All of which are ocurring at this moment and will continue to unfurl as I loosen my grip on time. " He motions to the first window.
It is surrounded by a thin crackle of purple energy and as you focus on the scene within you see several figures standing in a large chamber. Dim blue light surrounds these shadowy figures as they crouch down and touch the floor. You realize that the chamber is the one under the theater in the city of the Great Salt Steppe. Where you defeated the Abyssal Knife before they could summon the world shattering demon. A kaiju sized monstrosity to destroy civilization. The shadowy figures begin to complete the summoning circle.
"Do you recognize this place? It resides in the city where your mother lives does it not, Mew?"
He motions to the next window. An army of Adherents of Iron command over one hundred warforged automatons who look like Cog. They march on the Eastern Road and cross a Bridge. The Town of Morden's Bridge. They begin to grab residents of the town and torture them, peppering them with shouts and questions. The set fire to several buildings and you watch as the warforged seize a man who is clearly resisting and they tear his arms off as easily as snapping dry twigs.
"Oh, whoops they are a bit more zealous than I accounted for. They are marching on Tellenor next, looking for infidels. Looking for you."
The last window shows another siege. An army sets up camp outside of a mountain stronghold. You recognize the sigil on the flags. That of the Knights of Aventador. A tall figure in a golden helmet leads them as they make perparations to attack. Then the stronghold comes into view.
Agrimor's Stronghold.
The place where you have stashed a half dozen of the most powerful artifacts in existence and hundreds of pounds of magically infused Shard rock.
"And alas, This one I had nothing to do with! I swear just a happy coincidence! Now I bid you Adieu and when I make my leave all of these things will resume. It seems like you have some difficult choices ahead, which one will you choose I wonder? Maybe none and you all walk away and leave all of this nonsense behind."
With that he blinks out and time resumes. The thousands of angry citizens remain however and they descend on you with a bright purple rage!
[DM Note: Roll wisdom Saving throws versus fear]
As you watch transfixed on the crowd you see the purple begin to multiply. A human man wearing a white tunic looks down as his shirt turns purple rapidly, a dwarven woman in a lacy white gown watches as her fabric turns bright purple. Then another and another as all the white clothing now turns purple, it pulses out from where you see the top hat slowly approaching. The center of the street now looks purple and gold instead of white and gold. The lanterns begin to change as well as the purple wave spreads out. As you look closer the crowd's eyes begin to change to purple glow as their iris' fills with purple light. The sound around you goes from a loud celebration of the days festivities to an eerie calm. As the purple spreads out all faces begin to turn towards you. Thousands of eyes now look in one direction and they see you. Suddenly the Top Hat man stands a little bit taller and you see his skull like white face with bright purple glowing eyes as he grins widely.
[DM Note: To counter flying utilize crossbows and long bows from rooftops. Also Anaxis will use the remaining members of the Crimson Vettel. There are 3 left and they will fly into action and attack, all of their eyes glowing a bright purple. If necessary Anaxis will combine them together in a body horror like merging. This will increase the size of the creature and their power.]
A Choice...
As the chaos threatens to engulf you things begin to slow. Thousands of angry purple eyed faces look in your direction a level of malice and rage on their faces unlike any you have ever seen. Now frozen as time begins to slow to a crawl. A wasp flees the area in front of you imperceptibly slow as it's wings splay out in haphazard fashion. The golden sunset in front of you takes on a purplish pink tinge as the top hat man approaches you at normal speed. He walks easily and a bit jauntily as he stands in an opening on the street and bows. "Greetings travelers, I thought it a good time to finally meet and perhaps chat about the future. Let me introduce myself, I go by many names. Anaxis, The wanderer, The Top Hat Man, The Bone White Devil, The Deadwrought, there are many more because I have visited many places."
He leans on his cane and tilts his head a bit as he studies you.
"Perhaps we have got off on the wrong foot? I fail to see any reason why we need to be set against one another. Our objectives and rewards seem to overlap more often than not. Watching you I have noticed that you value gold, do you not? You seem to enjoy power and the odd bit of violence. The study and usage of magical artifacts or weapons, You see we have many things that we see eye to eye on."
"Let us reevaluate our relationship! I can offer you all of the things that you value so dear, and so much more. It is a big world, bigger than you even realize. Perhaps you do not want to be involved in my business as my assets, I understand, Then wouldn't it be more lucrative to just avoid one another?"
[DM Note: If the players agree to this they are each presented with a coin. These coins will be difficult to shake once accepted. The coins always seem to show up in a pocket or pouch even after a person has given it away or thrown it out. "The deal is done! Let us drink to our newfound accord! To future prosperity and power!" A small skull tattoo will show up on their arms later that day. Enough of these tattoos will allow Anaxis to control a PC with a Will save fail.]
[DM Note: If the players try to attack Anaxis or just disagree verbally he takes the news congenially. Or deflects the attack with illusion. "Ah such is the way of the righteous and weak minded. I assumed as much." With a wave of his hand he opens small windows that depict different scenes.]
"Let me present you with three scenarios. All of which are ocurring at this moment and will continue to unfurl as I loosen my grip on time. " He motions to the first window.
It is surrounded by a thin crackle of purple energy and as you focus on the scene within you see several figures standing in a large chamber. Dim blue light surrounds these shadowy figures as they crouch down and touch the floor. You realize that the chamber is the one under the theater in the city of the Great Salt Steppe. Where you defeated the Abyssal Knife before they could summon the world shattering demon. A kaiju sized monstrosity to destroy civilization. The shadowy figures begin to complete the summoning circle.
"Do you recognize this place? It resides in the city where your mother lives does it not, Mew?"
He motions to the next window. An army of Adherents of Iron command over one hundred warforged automatons who look like Cog. They march on the Eastern Road and cross a Bridge. The Town of Morden's Bridge. They begin to grab residents of the town and torture them, peppering them with shouts and questions. The set fire to several buildings and you watch as the warforged seize a man who is clearly resisting and they tear his arms off as easily as snapping dry twigs.
"Oh, whoops they are a bit more zealous than I accounted for. They are marching on Tellenor next, looking for infidels. Looking for you."
The last window shows another siege. An army sets up camp outside of a mountain stronghold. You recognize the sigil on the flags. That of the Knights of Aventador. A tall figure in a golden helmet leads them as they make perparations to attack. Then the stronghold comes into view.
Agrimor's Stronghold.
The place where you have stashed a half dozen of the most powerful artifacts in existence and hundreds of pounds of magically infused Shard rock.
"And alas, This one I had nothing to do with! I swear just a happy coincidence! Now I bid you Adieu and when I make my leave all of these things will resume. It seems like you have some difficult choices ahead, which one will you choose I wonder? Maybe none and you all walk away and leave all of this nonsense behind."
With that he blinks out and time resumes. The thousands of angry citizens remain however and they descend on you with a bright purple rage!
Themes
Beslin Delthorne
As the team flees or figures out their escape from The Points they are met by a couple members of the Verdant Sigil.
Brook Tallow - Halfling Man
Punty Redfang - Punty is a druid who is a member of the Verdant Sigil, a druidic order in Venteneheim and Oraheim. He is a reddish brown kobold and his familiar is an armadillo named Eightball due to his strange marking on his outer shell. Punty hails from the Deltis Mountain Clan of Kobolds. [Vom Fass is from the Helver Mountain Clans]
Gonkulu Brunkblug - Gonkulu is a member of the Verdant Sigil operating in Ventenheim. He hails from the swamp region outside of Lake Ventrus. He has a familar who is a large green dragonfly named Bibo.
Start Here: Three exotic birds all fly in formation as they approach you. A red and yellow Macaw, a small red falcon and a wide slightly large Kingfisher circle and they spot you. As they slowly descend, Karnac you immediately recognize them even in their wild shape. As they get close in the blink of eye they flip back into their true forms and you see a ruddy looking kobold, a Halfling man and a small frog man. They all wear brown leather and green fabric and wield staves. "Ho Master Karnac!" Brook Tallow rushes forward and clasps your arm in his. "It is good to see you, we bring news and possibly more problems.
lBeslin Delthorne is a half elven man who grew up in the Crossroads on the eastern side of Oraheim. From a broken family of a human woman and a high ranking elven official from Eduin his mother fled to the Crossroads after she discovered she was pregnant. The suspicion was that if elven leaders found out they would confiscate the child and send it to a heritage school to be raised as an elven orphan. Instead he grew up in a mixed community that relied on trade between the realms on the great Eastern road that traverses the continents.
After his mother passed away from consumption when he was 10 years old he was taken in by the local temple to Vellenox. From their he was raised as an acolyte and eventually achieved the rank of Cleric. On his 28th birthday he was sent abroad on a missionary trip to Penthaheim. He briefly traveled with a group of adventurers before landing in Penthos for a decade. It was here that he was visited by Vellenox herself and deemed an Arch Cleric of her order.
Personal Log entry: 2997, 21st of Zelos “I was there that day, in anti-magic handcuffs. I had run off into the woods to escape. They had just found me and tied me up when I heard them exclaim that the Adventure Team Grimm was approaching on the backs of giant war creatures. I saw the whole battle from the jungle, tied to a tree. It took me days to get through the ropes, by then they had all been defeated and the Team Grimm was gone.”
Lots of stuff in between, something useful for the group?
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