| There are other contests than the ones heroes engage
in. One such is the Grand Thieves' Convocation, held every ten years. The
goal of the Convocation is the theft of a certain item, generally of high
value or significance, but no magical worth. For over three hundred years,
its existence has been a poorly kept secret, but the target has never been
known until the next day. This time things were different.
The curator of the Academy Royal, a museum of great importance to the king, had
been recently revealed to be a doppelganger illusionist. Under questioning, it had
been found that he was working on for one of the Convocation members, disarming the
Museum's defenses and setting up illusory ones in their place. It wasn't clear what
item in the Museum was the target, however.
Without any time to rebuild the defenses of the Museum, the changing of the museum
guard on the night of the Convocation provided the best opportunity to stop the
thieves. It wasn't the standard group of guards taking their place that night....
The characters learned the plight of the guardian as they sought to protect
the Academy Royal from various insidious thieves, including: a pair of brothers
skilled in the ways of acrobatics, an infernal halfling assassin, an ardent
follower of Olidamara, and a ghostly thief of phenomenal skill.
In the end, the priest came closest to his goal, animating the museum's disabled
defenses against the heroes. Much devastation was wrought, but the characters
defeated the Thieves' Convocation in the end, the first item it has been stopped
in living memory. Character not using the resurrection offered by the king
were rewarded with gold, all were granted a victory (success), and the horrible
damage wrought was undone with a few wish spells.... A Ring Key of the Spire
was awarded to the teams deemed worthy and successful (victory). |
- Ghost Wind
Player: Christopher J. Ford
Manning a post alone for part of the night, Illiri (Human Sorcerer 16) felt
the cold steel of an assassin's blade in the neck. Slain instantly, she was
luckily raised and able to perform the remainder of her duties, where magicks
were put to good use throughout the night.
Ghost Wind survives to adventure again. Wiser for the experience.
- Karr
Player: Daniel Boumann
Karr (Half-orc Cleric 10 / Contemplative 5), a cleric of uncertain allegiance,
still provided a very timely rebuke when the rest of the party was unable
to stop the ghost-possessed Tharivol. Combined with Illiri's force cage,
they enabled Death from Afar to make short work of the incorporeal
instigator.
Karr survives to adventure again.
- Basalt
Player: Andrew R. Proto
Passing through stone like a ghost through a wall, Sivol Unil (Earth Elemental
Wizard 5 / Elemental Savant 10) provided some elementary advice for the
watchers *rimshot*. MIS-teleporting away in his moment of victory, Sivol
was nonetheless successful.
Sivol Unil survives to adventure again.
- Death from Afar
Player: Jonathan Sternfeld
As always, Tharivol Liaden's (Elf Fighter 6 / Wizard 1 / Arcane Archer
10 / Deepwoods Sniper 2) mighty arrows mowed down foes with a precision
unmatched. His scalpel-like shafts were nearly the death of the party,
however, when he was possessed and began firing upon them. Incapacitated
by a force cage, the ghost turned Tharivol's weapons upon himself, thus
threatening the life of the acme of archers. Luckily a powerful turn of
fate saved him, in the form of a strong rebuke from Karr. In the end,
Tharivol destroyed the ghost alone in the cage, but who knows if the ghost
will return to haunt him again?
Sargen of Hornwood (Human Rogue 6) stood guard in the West Gallery and was
one of those to sot the illusionist's activities.
Death from Afar survives to adventure again.
- Lawn
Player: Jennifer Sternfeld
Roywyn's (Ruin) (Gnome Wizard 9 / Druid 6) gnomish sense of trickery, and
lupine friends, helped the team of watchers to get through the night with
fewer casualties then they might otherwise have suffered. And that toad
helped, too, we think....
Lawn survives to adventure again.
- Darkstrike
Player: Alain D. Ackerman
Laurena's (Elf Rogue 7 / Shadow-Dancer 8) shadowy presence was much appreciated
by the watchers, as he seemed to be in his element here. Although one
of his shady friends was killed, the other brought down the final threat
to the museum, ending the night successfully for the watchers.
Darkstrike survives to adventure again.
- The Hammer of Moradin
Player: Tom Leonard
This dwarven defender's greatest enemy of the night was not ghosts, clerics,
or demonic assassins, but his own stunty legs. Spending much of the night
in transit, rather then ensconced firmly in a defensible location, his
talents were perhaps not fully utilized this night.
Griff "Keg Belly" Warbeard (Dwarf [Ex]Barbarian 8 / Dwarven Defender 7)
debuted for
this one, gladly offering his services to his new King. Beer on his breath,
great sword in hand and war song on his lips, he didn't have to wait long
for trouble to arrive. After getting a feel for the place, he took up his
post at an area with three open doors, so he could easily watch three rooms
at once. Trouble came soon enough, in the form of two rogues dropping from a
skylight. When their feeble attacks did little to stop Griff, they danced
and tumbled backward behind some of the displays. Griff knew he could not
attack, as he might damage the displays and possibly lose the reward or
bonus pay for a job well done. He held his ground: "Come fight me like men,
ye cowards! Are you men or are you drunk lesbian kobolds?"
They teleported away. "I knew it." Griff mumbled with a laugh as he resumed
his post. "Drunk lesbian kobolds."
Returning to his post, all was quiet for an hour or so, until while he was
on patrol up and down his hallway, he heard a scream from the main chamber.
He knew he couldn't honorably leave his chosen post, but the screams of his
guard-allies got the better of him. He charged to the main chamber to see
Tharivol of Death From Afar holding his head and complaining of voices in
his head... then he started shooting his allies. Griff knew this was no
ordinary elf, so he leapt at him in a charge as fast as his stumpy little
legs could carry him attempting to knock him to the ground so he would not
hurt his friends.
It didn't work. Tharivol, under some influence, backed up to a statue. If
Griff leapt, he'd knock Tharivol backward, into the statue, possibly
destroying rare art. The dwarf checked his attack, waiting for the right
moment to move in... until someone from another team blocked him in with a
force field of some sort. Griff sighed as he walked back to his post and
prepared to defend. "I HATE magic." Other battles were raging outside, but
as he didn't hear any calls for help, he didn't see any need to desert his
appointed post.
"If those bastards want in, they'll have to get by me first." he thought.
That is, until the Blade Barrier appeared from out of nowhere and shredded
paintings on both sides.
"Damn you! Face me like a man!" he called, not leaving his post even though
he was right in the middle of the Blade Barrier (which was quickly dispelled
by Team Ghost Wind).
All was quiet for a time after that, until the general sounds of combat from
the opposite gallery made him race down as fast as he could to join the fun.
"Finally, a real battle!" he said, then he stopped short as a wall of
insects came flying at him. As he grit his teeth and prepared to charge
through (keeping an eye on Tharivol who had seemed to recover), he heard a
crash from behind him. He'd deserted his post again, and this time with dire
consequences. The de-activated iron golems had been animated by magic from
outside, and were now tearing the gallery he assigned himself to protect, to
pieces!
In due time the night was over, the cleric dealt with and the target item
not stolen. With a heavy sigh and his great sword over his shoulder, he
returned dejectedly to town to drown his sorrows in some of the finest
dwarven beer available. Next time, he mused, he WAS going to remain at his
post and restore his honor. While he and everyone else got a ring key for
his efforts, he couldn't help feeling like he had failed a king he'd only
recently sworn loyalty to.
The Hammer of Moradin survives to adventure again.
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