Avlis Campaign: Chapter 9

Post by **Orleron** » Sun Dec 30, 2001 6:25 am

Upon arriving in the border lands of Arvanos' holdings, the adventurers set out to the northwest to get to the shore. It dawned on them that they would need a method to breathe under water if they were going to the plane of water, but they didn't know how they would obtain the necessary means. Andrinor came up with the idea that he could polymorph them all into nixies which could breath water. So he started the process which took 3 days. Van and Ari were polymorphed into male nixies. Rynn was polymorphed into a voluptuous female nixie, while the others were polymorphed into average female specimens.... well, Tupaia was made slightly less than average. Alistrina the cougar was less than thrilled at the prospect of being polymorphed into a swordfish so she casually took her leave of Tupaia and headed for the forests.

On the road, they were joined by an elven bard named Rynn. He said that he was looking for some food and shelter and that he'd be willing to play for it. He was in the habit of wandering the lands far and wide and taking comfort when and where he could. Jade and the others allowed him to accompany them, although they warned him that they were going to no ordinary city and that they would be possibly encountering powerful foes. Nonetheless, Rynn said he would accompany them for as long as it was entertaining, if they would have him.

Shortly further down the road, they met some soldiers who were making camp for the night. They said that they served Sir Rajivik Roan, a vassal of Lord Arvanos. They were out on patrol and they were returning to the keep to be relieved by the next set of soldiers. Sir Roan only really has about 20 soldiers, they said. But it keeps the land safe enough. They told the heroes that their master is fond of guests and that he would love a chance to put them up for the next night if they accompanied the soldiers to the keep. The party agreed, since the keep was on their way.

The next day they found that the keep was actually a tower surrounded by a hexagonal wall. The soldiers brought them to the door and said farewell. The door was answered by what Van identified as a sadik (a neverdead version of the zombie). The sadik motioned them in and bid them to wait in the sitting room. Shortly after Rajivik came down. He was wearing a long white robe. His skin was nearly as white, almost glowing, and his features were fine like an elf's, yet he was human. He appeared almost to be cut out of marble. But he recieved them warmly and told them he would be glad to put them up for as long as they wanted. He gave them free reign of the kitchen, guest quarters, and library. The guests all settled down to some wine and a bath. Van went up to the libary to start researching.

For the rest of the day, Rajivik asked the party about their quest. He was very interested, and he gave them much information in turn. But as the sun went down, he pulled away and said he needed to retire upstairs.

The rest of the night, Van, and Andrinor spent time researching the basics of planar travel, and god avatars, as well as the monsters one could encounter on the planes.

The next morning, the guests awoke feeling very refreshed. They had all had much food and comfort. Breakfast was served. Rajivik then took everyone back up to the library to explain things.

He told them that he would start by explaining the vortex Khalik spoke of. He said that magic on Avlis emanated from one of two vortices. One was accessed only by the gods for God Magics. This vortex originated from the fabric of all the planes, and it permeated the world all through. The second unseen vortex was the source for all conventional magics. It emanated from one plane only. Currently, it was the plane of Arborea. But that was not always the case. Rajivik explained that since there was no god or goddess of arcane magic, the vortex was apt to shift its plane of origin, although uncommonly. When that happened, things in the world often changed. First off, mages would be rendered powerless until the figured out which plane the magic came from and made the necessary changes to their spells. This could take weeks. Second off, the magic sometimes partly took on the character of the plane it attached to. As an example, Rajivik told of the time of the Great War when the orcs attacked the fairies and were subsequently attacked by the other good races. At that time period, the vortex originated from Baator. Thus that age was characterized by large scale orderly war and bloodshed.
If a greater god had help from a mortal and maybe one or two other gods, it is conceivable that the vortex could be purposely shifted from one plane to another. This may be what Khalik intends.

Pertaining to Avatars, Rajivik said that a greater god could work with a servant to bring his avatar to the prime. That would be very unfortunate for the world if Valok came, he said.... whether he was helped by Baatezu armies or not.

To aid the party in their quest, he donated a magic ring which enables one to breath underwater by creating a bubble of inexhaustable air around their head. He said that polymorphing into nixies is not a good idea because the spell could be disrupted, dealling death to the victim. He suggested that they find alternate means. He knew a lady necromancer named Alanna who lives in a keep not far off. He told them that they should go there and ask her for what she has. He also requested that they deliver a letter to her for him.

This they did, after another refreshing night's sleep. Upon reaching Alanna's keep, which looked much like Rajivik's own, they were ushered inside this time by zombies. They waited in the parlor for about an hour and a half at which point they were greeted by Alanna. She wore black robes and had fairly pale skin and long dark hair. She had read the letter which the adventurers gave to one of the zombies to deliver to her. She said that she had two rings for waterbreathing, and that she was willing to trade for them. Van traded her two magical axes for the rings. She seemed happy with this, and said farewell. She told the heroes that they could stay the night in her tower if they wished. She knew of a group of nomads nearby called the Romini, who had a witch with much water magic. She warned them to treat the witch well, however, and to ask her if she could trade for any more useful water items.

That night the adventurers cautiously stayed in one room in the tower. They did some more research in the library there, and found more of the same information. Curiously, they found the letter which Rajivik had sent to Alanna. It turned out that they were lovers. The letter explained the heroes quest and that they were to be treated well. It also made reference to a curse that they were under. Van figured out that this curse was somehow related to the necromancers' strange behavior. Rajivik was never seen at night and was often seen healing people, as well as keeping neverdead servants. Alanna was obviously a vampire necromancer. That must make Rajivik a neverdead vampire, or Infusor. They thought it sad that the two of them could never meet again, for one is active in the day and the other at night.

The next morning, they went to the Romini camp.

Rynn got into an instrument duel with one of the locals, and he barely lost for best out of three. The people were in good spirits though, and as they relieved them of some of their belongings, they showed the heroes to where the witch was keeping a lean-to.

The witch was crotchety at best. She didn't want to deal with outsiders, but after much coaxing, and a special song written by Rynn, she was persuaded to trade. She traded to the heroes an amulet of waterbreathing, bracers of waterbreathing and free action, and a ring of water command. In the process she clarified the curse that she put on Alanna and Rajivik. It turned out that about 60 years ago they were involved in the death of her son.... something about accusing him and his friends of stealing... ridiculous. But he was dead nonetheless, so she cursed them. Only she could lift the curse, but once she died it would be eternal. She was happy about this. All she really wanted from the two was an apology..... and some monetary compensation. But the heroes let it all be and wandered towards their destination, Qwandovia.

The End: Chapter 9

Vanoviel · Post by **Vanoviel** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 12:15 pm

Damn vampire and witch bogarting all our magic items that we could sell later on for big cash.

Post by **Orleron** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 2:16 pm

You won't need your water items forever. They can be sold just as well.

Vanoviel · Post by **Vanoviel** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 4:08 pm

Fuck that my Bracers of Free Action ain't getting sold. NO holding me bee-otches.

Post by **Orleron** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 4:51 pm

Still that leaves 4 items that you can sell, assuming you don't sell emily's ring, cuz it rocks.

Vanoviel · Post by **Vanoviel** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 5:57 pm

I think it makes sense to keep items taht may be useful, such as water breathing and stuff like that, I was only going to sell of items that nobody could use axes, extra scimitar, etc.

Silk · Post by **Silk** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 6:47 pm

Emily's ring is worth 200,000 gold according to the DMG. That's one hell of a trade (The item traded was worth 8,000 gold).

I have no urge to hold onto this amulet of watersuckage after we're done with it.

[Edited on 12/31/01 by Silk]

Vanoviel · Post by **Vanoviel** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 6:58 pm

We should probably work on our marketing pitch. An amulet of watersuckage probably won't retail for that much.

Post by **Orleron** » Mon Dec 31, 2001 7:06 pm

hehe... I tend not to go by the prices in the DMG.... 200,000 gp on Avlis is like half the national debt of Ferrel (the halfling country).

Figure a family of 4 can live at a peasant level pretty easily on 4 gp per week. That's about 1 gp/ per person / per week. A gp is therefore nothing to sneeze at. Magic items, are of course, a lot of money, but I'm more or less gunning for about 1500-2000 gp per plus, and extraordinary abilities running about 1000 gp per spell level. Thus, a 240,000 gp wonderous item would need to have 240 1st level spells in it or about 26 9th level spells. But again, this is the Avlis going rate.... find yourself out on the planes (water for instance) and the prices will be more in line with the DMG. Plus, even on Avlis prices may vary when the person you're selling to is either trying to A) make a profit or B) cheat you.

Post by **Orleron** » Fri Mar 22, 2002 1:11 am