Session 3: I Don't Give Two Hoots if You Don't Like My Boots

Shadowport! In the perpetual shade of the cliffs that are all that remains of the Brittle Peak, this island port's people are as shadowy as the streets they walk on. All manner of activity is performed in Shadowport that would be criminal elsewhere in the Empire, and the only real rules are don't get caught, and don't cross the city's unofficial ruler, the Prince of Shadows.

Having long journeyed overland from Greenvale to perform a mysterious service for the Prince of Shadows, the party was relieved to find themselves in able to get a drink at the Dark Jester tavern. No sooner had they sat down, however, than they were approached by a purple-skinned woman with a row of tiny spikes across her brow. She introduced herself as Samara Dirrell, the Prince of Shadows' representative, and gave them their mission - to retrieve a mysterious owl statue, known as the Winter Seal, from the vaults of Morgan Navale, a local merchant prince and braggart. Lancaster attempted to mark her with his arcane power, but she rather casually brushed away the effect. Before leaving, she offered them the name of Lars Redfist, Petty King of Valegate, as a possible source for deeper information on Navale. The dead cleric, Valencia Harcourt, reacted oddly to the name, implying some connection.

Encouraged by this lead, the heroes quickly sought out Lars Redfist at his personal fort. Wooed by money, the chance to show up a rival merchant, and the tantalizing possibility of reunion with Harcourt, Redfist provided them with a summary of Navale's defenses and invitations to the gala he was throwing that very evening. There followed a shopping expedition to find suitably fancy clothes for the grand gala, before the unusually chatty session ended when a gang of toughs attempted to cut themselves in on the Winter Seal heist, and were left scattered across a back alley for their trouble.

Session 2: Seven Adventures' Bad Luck

And so our heroes, being heroes (and having their escape route cut off), drew their weapons and faced off against the horde of hideous creatures and their leader. Elena found herself suddenly (miraculously?) in possession of the mighty holy weapon Purifier, and resolutely began handing out the blessings of the gods to the unfortunate dead. Enthusiasm and a magic weapon turned out to be less than a perfect match for the weight of numbers and the dark priest's ability to confound their senses, and things looked grim until Lancaster hit upon simply sealing the crypt doors with a handy Wizard Lock. The shambling creatures locked outside... for now... Elena took the opportunity to strike at the priest with a mighty double-handed swing of Purifier. An inhuman screech emerged from the priest as it shattered into tiny, mirrored fragments. At the same moment, or near enough for dramatic recreation purposes, Lancaster loosed an Acid Arrow into the mass of human-headed spiders, disrupting their diabolical ritual, and opening the way for the rest of the party to kill them off.

... Whiiiile being scrabbled at by filthy-clawed ghouls, which seemed not at all perturbed by their leader being taken out of commission. Ren fell first, bouncing back with Elena's divine assistance only to be knocked senseless again moments later. Till'Ka, too, only narrowly avoided becoming a ghoul snack, and things looked dire even before they heard a loud, strange scratching beneath them, and were suddenly reminded of those mysteriously empty graves... Lancaster had time to propose taking refuge atop the fallen paladin's bier before the dead burst forth from the strangely fluid earth. One seized the already-battered Till'Ka, and dove back underground with her in its rigorous grip - others pounded Lancaster with their dead fists until he finally colapsed. But with the ritual stopped and the priest-thing defeated, the battle turned, Till'ka clawed her way back to the surface and placed the final arrow in the brain of the corpse that had attempted to suffocate her, and the party emerged from the crypt bloody but triumphant.

Mayor Bayliss thanked them profusely, and curiously refused Elena's attempts to return Purifier - The weapon she wielded, though it spoke in the self-same voice, had a different appearance from the holy mace, and the original, it seemed, rested in its place in the church. The merry-making that followed was only somewhat shadowed when Till'Ka found herself visited briefly by the spirit of the original Valencia Harcourt, trapped between the world of the living and the dead by the shattering of the mirror. The thanks of the people of Greenhill ringing in their ears and their coins jangling in their pockets, the party set off towards Axis, only to be distracted by a voice from above. The Prince of Shadows, standing on a branch that could not possibly support his weight, explained his swap of Purifier for another magically-disguised mace in his possession, and intimated that in return for this small favour, the party could help him to resolve a few small matters in Shadowport. They readily agreed, for varied personal reasons, and set off down the road that would lead them to the darkened streets and plentiful elbow-rests of Shadowport.

NEXT SESSION: May 14th, and check out the SRD for which of your class goodies you can get as your bump. You can get:

• any spell or power of 3rd level, though it will replace one of your known spells/powers: Till'ka, your Ranger Ex Cathedra talent means you can pick a 3rd-level Cleric spell, if you wish. Lancaster, note that low-level spells can be taken at higher levels for higher damage. Ren, you have your run of the 3rd-level Rogue powers, go nuts - Slick Feint and Thief's Strike seem to work well with your concept as I understand it. Elena, uh, Paladins don't get level-based powers. Check it out anyway? 
• +1 to all Skill checks. Nice and simple, and Shadowport seems like a skill-checky place.
• a feat, either boosting one of your talents, spells, or powers, or an unrelated one (strongly considering using these heritage feats, so consider those; For example, Lancaster, the Alien Mind feat there could represent your language reprogramming your brain).
• extra hit points: Ren 7, Lancaster 8, Till'Ka 8, Elena 10. Boring but, as we've seen, eminently practical.

Session 1: Backstory, Backstabbing, Back From The Dead

We opened on our heroes as they fend off a midnight orc raid. As the battle raged, they flashed back to their meetings with each other, budding relationships, good times and strong bonds, interspersed with good old-fashioned backstabbery and comically inept orcish pyromancy. The orcs were soon handily defeated, and the party resumed their journey to the generically-named village of Greenhill, the hometown and final resting place of the heroic paladin Gedrick Averness, to investigate reports of disappearing villagers.

Meeting with Mayor Bayliss and Harcourt, the local priest of the Unconquered Sun, they gathered what scant details were available. Tiil'ka encountered an ancient silver mirror hanging in the church, and saw a strange small thing flickering in its distant depths. She asked Lancaster if the mirror itself was magical, and upon his confirmation that it was - and evil magic at that - she drew her bow and put one in the accursed thing. The mirror flexed outward and exploded with a cry like a soul in torment.

The party, somewhat shaken by both the mysterious mirror and Harcourt's inability to explain it, then headed off to examine the site of the battle where Gedrick gave his life to stall the Lich King's advance, and where his tomb was built; they noted that the tomb was still sealed and guarded by a vicious-looking spike trap. Next, they split up to investigate the local graveyard (where the graves had clearly been hollowed out from within, and the bodies inside have vanished) and the bars and saloons, where they found that small mounds of earth had been left in the areas of the disappearances, containing shreds of the victim's clothing.

As the moon rose, the party looked for Harcourt, only to find that her conveniently vanished. Instructing Mayor Bayliss to barricade as many townsfolk as possible in the Gibbous Moon tavern, they unsealed Averness' tomb, only to find the missing priest leading masses of tiny human-headed chanting spiders in some kind of ritual over the body of the fallen paladin. Worse, a glance behind them revealed a line of walking corpses, flecked with gravedirt and their eyes shining red in the moonlight, closing in on them...

Next game: May 7th, 2014