BOOK 3
THE RISE OF NIGHTSTONE
CHAPTER 9: The Assassination Part II
Open with the Party having regrouped in the Knight’s Rest
19th of Eleasis, afternoon
Start of Session 42
Party:
Harminil of House Finderwel, True Neutral Battle Master Fighter 7, High Elf, 121 years of age (played by gyrosmeister): Noble and former soldier WHO HAD residence in Waterdeep. Painter and wild card with deep-rooted sense of High Elven Supremacy and an insatiable desire for high elven women. Seeks to hone his skills in combat so that one day he may reclaim the Jeweled Crown of his ancestors that was stolen by a demonic entity and restore his house’s as well as his personal sense of superiority. Prior experience serving with the mercenary Varragh il Sunayn during his military service. Was glad to travel to Daggerford following the party’s Waterdhavian exploits in hopes of finding his brothers and continuing their personal quest. Interested in ousting the Lord Protector primarily because of the possibility of finding a cleric to restore Vahayon’s crippled body as well as the wealth to continue with the demon quest.
Alias: “Harm and ‘Ammer”, “The Hater”, “Speak up”
Varragh il Sunayn, Chaotic Neutral Mastermind Rogue 7, Fey Elf, 186 years of age (played by Kilo11): Descendant of a house of hunters turned traffickers who straddled the border between Toril and the Feywild. Rogue, Hunter and survivor with an imperative to retake and restore her family’s power, even if guilted by the means that acquired that power. Will keep the party on track and has a no-nonsense attitude when dealing with the commoners, or even potential enemies, who get in her way. Prior experience serving with the soldier Harminil through her time as a mercenary. Was mostly ambivalent towards the flight to Daggerford, primarily concerned with surviving and making gold doing so. Has begun to assert her authority over her new keep of Nightstone and is primarily concerned with ensuring its long-term defense and stability during the quest to eliminate Waterdeep’s Lord Protector.
Alias: “The woman who literally snapped a dude’s neck like Black Widow” “I fear no man, but that thing…. It scares me” “Feanor’s lost granddaughter”
Alaric Eversteel, Neutral Good Gloomstalker Ranger 5/Twilight Cleric 2, Human, 52 years of age (played by geg): Former Tethyrian ranger with a history of devotion to the god Ilmater. Spent some time retired from a career of adventure, hunting and defending the weak when he took up residence as a farmer a short distance from Nightstone. Lost his wife and children in the chaos of Goblin incursions following the fall of Nightstone to Giants. Convinced that the party has some importance to play in upholding the will of his gods and is preachy as
about it. Learned of the death of his mentor, Tesrik, at the hands of the Lord Protector and is seeking justice as well as the protection of his adopted home of Nightstone.
Alias: “Jehovah’s Witness”, “Servant of ‘Ilmater, Devourer of Worlds!!!!’”, “Ol’ Creaky Knees”
Varis Aloro, Chaotic Good Oathbreaker (formerly Vengeance) Paladin 5/Fiend Warlock 3, Half-Elf, 28 years of age (played by geg): Escaped slave and former Calimport Gladiator. Paladin with an oath of Vengeance on slavers and a desire to do good by the less fortunate, but whose pursuit of these goals are often harmed by bouts of depression and drunkenness over his past. Recent arrival to Waterdeep in search of his lost love, who he lost contact with when sold from Luskan to Calimport 12 years ago. Now sworn into servitude to Harminil, Varragh and the devil know as Mister Twardowski (The Thin Man) for their role in fulfilling his quest to save his lady following their flight to Daggerford. Killed by bugbears in the retaking of Nightstone, and now resurrected by the Thin Man as a zombified revenant to further his goals. Seeking vengeance on the Lord Protector by any means.
Alias: “Drunken Dip
” “12 Years a Slave” “Literally a corpse”
NPCS:
Tyavos and Vahayon: Harminil’s younger twin brothers. Scarred as
and only 1/10th as stupid/lacking in basic social graces as Harmy. On a quest to eradicate demons and restore the crown, even if its costs their own morals in the process. Vahayon has been left even further scarred and deformed following the Demonomicon’s attempt on his life. Have seemingly begun to remember their respect for their elder brother due to his combat prowess and dogged pursuit of restoring their family.
“The Thin Man”, Mister Twardovski: Still has an eating disorder. The only thing he’s willing to eat are souls and they’re way too low in calories. Mostly in the background now to torment Varragh, give Harminil a boon, and laugh at the fact he resurrected Varis into a smelly corpse. Looming in the shadows, and watching the party’s every move.
The Knights of Aloro: Group of Paladins in service to the party. Formed following the party’s initial flight from Waterdeep, in which Varis returned to the Endshift Tavern to give their ally Kukassy an absurd amount of gold as well as his scimitar, and had Andala and Aseir swear oaths to follow in his paladin footsteps, but this time in an oath of protection rather than being consumed by vengeance, which imbued them with the magical ability to smite evil. The Knights have attempted to maintain order and protect the people of the Field (now Free) Ward of Waterdeep following the coup that installed the villainous Lord Protector. Key members of the Knights of Aloro are as follows:
Pierre “Bucket Man” Kukassy: Drunken, friendly bar owner just wanting to make some coin turned leaders of the freedom fighters. Former establishment Endshift Tavern has closed due to the chaos in Waterdeep, but now concerned with housing and funding his allies, The Knights of Aloro, in their guerrilla war with the Lord Protector’s fascist regime.
Andala el Aloro (formerly yn Basha): 26 years old. One of the original Calishite slaves freed by the party at the Waterdeep docks in their first skirmish with Prodovac “Keanu Reeves” Devola. One of only two of “Varragh’s Jihadis” to survive the original plans to raid the Southern Ward Barracks, on account of having been sent with the party itself alongside Aseir. Proved himself in that initial combat and against tremendous odds quickly became incredibly competent with the blade. Now in a romantic relationship with Varis’ former lover, Lia. Has taken the family name Aloro in honor of his savior and ally Varis.
Aseir el Aloro (formerly yn Pashad): 17 years old. One of the original Calishite slaves freed by the party at the Waterdeep docks in their first skirmish with Prodovac “Keanu Reeves” Devola. One of only two of “Varragh’s Jihadis” to survive the original plans to raid the Southern Ward Barracks, on account of having been sent with the party itself alongside Andala. Unlike Andala, was grievously injured and healed in the original raid, and fled under Varis’ orders. Not as competent with the blade as Andala but utterly loyal to the cause. Has taken the family name Aloro in honor of his savior and ally Varis.
Lia: Varis’ former lover from their time as teenage slaves in Luskan, and the original reason he came to Waterdeep. Saved during the Southern Barracks raid and healed of her injuries by Varis’ pact with the Devil. Immediately helped form and aid the Knights with her skills as a rogue following the party’s flight to Daggerford.
Feyn Alstead: One of the only survivors of the original Southern Barrack raid and battle with the Rat King to claim the Sword in the
. A loyal and senior member of the Knights who was illegally imprisoned in the Southern Ward, potentially to be sold into slavery.
Ulder Cole: Former Valabar in service to Waterdeep who was suspicious of and investigating the activities of the Southern Ward barracks despite being sent to arrest the party. Was in pursuit of Varis when he was informed of the accusations in the “Rorschach letter” and soon came to believe them following the Lord Protector’s coup and rise to power. Defected to the Knights of Aloro and has devoted himself to the cause of removing the Lord Protector, on the one condition that Varragh, whose thirst for power unnerves him, not be given any power in the new and free Waterdeep. Joined the Knights alongside a small group of loyal and good-aligned former Valabars who have also sworn the oath and serve under him in protecting the Free Ward from the Lord Protector’s tyranny.
Additional Members of the Knights are the following individuals:
Bassa, Zashieda, Zahpa, Melil, Khadir, Jassid (all Calishite and freed at the docks, having taken the name “el Aloro”) as well as Ulder Cole’s crew of former Waterdhavian Guards: Eddie Pret, Leslie Staph, Simon Koray and Aster Poutine.
Knights who have fallen in Battle: Geidel al Aloro
Scouting The Sewers
The party continues through the sewers and Varis leads them to the access tunnels he traveled through previously, which led him to the second floor pool. Varragh begins to argue with the disembodied voice that directs their every move regarding how much time the (living) members of the group can hold their breathe in the event the sewers get flooded. The entirety of the actively militant members of the Knights of Aloro bar Kukassy, Lia and Andala (with the party adding up to 19 individuals) must now wait in the tunnel for the signal to continue onwards.
Varis begins to describe the path he previously climbed up the sewers to reach the second-floor pool, and Varragh suggests that with their extra time waiting for Kukassy to begin his diversionary armory raid in the North Ward, he should scout ahead and see if further upwards he can find an entrance to the higher floors. Thinking logically, the closer the party and their horde of terrorists can be to the Lord Protector when they break out of the sewers, the much higher their chances of success will be. A fifth floor sewer entrance will absolve the group of having to deal with three heavily guarded floors in the most militarized location in the entire metropolis.
Luckily, Varis can no longer smell and thus not be thwarted by the massive amount of toxic
he is climbing through during his exploration. Climibing higher and higher, Varis is met by a rush of warm water that he thankfully cannot taste until he meets a fork in the sewer. Despite his penchant for dumbassery, he decides to check the path that isn’t full of rushing water and eventually finds what looks like a pool within a cave-like structure, likely on the top floor where the Lord Protector resides. Scampering back like “an undead sewer rat”, Varis is satisfied with Varragh’s decision to scout ahead.
Harminil probably spends this entire period whispering to his brothers how disgusting these primitive human sewer systems are compared to the superior engineering found in Evermeet. This thought is fleeting though, and he feels a tinge of sadness at how he has ended up in yet another filthy human sewer. However, these thoughts also strengthen his resolve to complete the mission and continue onward with his demon-slaying quest, as well as defeat and embarrass the Thayan mercenary Lovac in single combat.
Alaric meanwhile is kneeling in prayer and getting his leather armor increasingly drenched in brown water as Varragh looks at him somewhat perplexed by how she can only get total lunatics for loyal followers.
Breaking Into the Palace
The group waits a few hours in the sewers, until 5:30pm when Harminil uses his recently acquired Ring of Messaging to ask Kukassy the status of his diversionary armory raid that was scheduled to start 30 minutes prior. Kukassy responds telepathically “Few casualties, all goes well, can buy you 15 more minutes.” Upon being told this Varragh informs Harminil that she thinks they should wait a few more minutes before bursting forth into the pool, led by Varis.
The party discovers they are in a heated pool room designed to look like a cavern system, located on the top floor. Alaric is conscripted to use as always “his elvish ears” to Harminil’s chagrin. Harminil tries to match Alaric’s hearing skills and cannot hear anyone on the other side of the doors while Alaric detects a few guards in the western room. The party decides to (somehow despite being 20 loud people in full armor) avoid being detected and take the doors on the other end of the room. The party desperately searches this room for anything to aid them while Varragh helps the rest of the knights pull themselves out of the pool. She laughs to herself how despite being 5x as many people this time, they’ve made their way onto the top floor and remained undetected.
The party finds the silver masks of the Masked Lords of Waterdeep, with Varragh giving them to Ulder and ordering him to make good use of them in the post-Lord Protector political landscape of Waterdeep. Varragh realizes that there are two gunmen-occupied archery towers connected to the room they are in after checking her map of the palace, and realizes they are currently in the royal chambers. Knowing that anything to stall their enemies in the event they are detected will help their escape, she cleverly uses her rope to tie the door handles to both towers together, creating a wedge that will make it impossible to open the doors from the inside without breaking the rope. She also gives Eddie Pret directions to scout the rooms ahead while continuously referring to him as “Chet Manly” which she has been doing since the prison break, much to his confusion (and even more mysteriously, arousal).
Varragh also checks the northern balcony and to her surprise immediately is spotted by the long guard on the balcony who replies with “WUHHH”. In a panic, Varragh tries to push the guard over the balcony he is leaning on and sadly fails due to her relative daintiness vs. a well-armored military man. After multiple failed attempts to push the guard over with the benefit of surprise, Brave Sir Varragh bravely tucks tail and runs away. She runs back into the attached room and whisper-yells at Varis and Ulder that the guard has to “learn how to fly, now!”, prompting Tyavos to quickly charge in and throw the guard, still off-balance from wrestling with Varragh’s attempts to push him, over the railing as he screams in terror and falls to his doom on the cliffs below the palace.
Afraid that the men in the western rooms will detect them, Varragh opens the door and the party helps her drag the lone guardsman into the pool room and then the pool itself. Alaric, empowered by his gloomstalker powers as well as his new holy sword, stands above the restrained and drowning manman and repeatedly swings his sword down at him while likely feeling incredibly self-righteous in his actions. Varragh, Eddie and Ulder swarm and restrain the man before Varragh stabs the man through the eyeslit on his helmet, as his corpse falls through the pool down into the open hatch at the bottom.
Meanwhile, the Finderwels and Varis simultaneously break into another previously unexplored room and do their best sneaky Seal Team 6 impression, gaining surprise on the lone guard in that room as well. Varis breaks down the door and knocks the man prone before swinging the Sword in the
upon his foe, who is quickly bloodied from the critical blows. Harminil quickly follows to also wound the man with a few precise blows of his elvish lhang, as Tyavos finishes their quarry off with a stab to the gut. Killing the man before he can even make a sound or raise an alarm is vital, as the group peers through the keyhole and sees that dining in the next room are three individuals: Calimshite diplomat Nar’ysr el Akkkhani yi Calimport Murabir al Claim Syl-Rafayam el Waterdeep (he of too many names), Zulkir Balorak, the undead Thayan diplomat, and the Lord Protector himself, Draven Rylstrea. The moment to strike, to finally kill he who has been behind the conspiracy that started it all, is now.
The Assassination
The trio quickly sneak back to Varragh and Alaric’s group by the pool and inform them of their findings. The group decides that the Lord Protector’s dining room, which they have flanked on both the north and east doors, will be broken into from both ends simultaneously, so that they can ensure the Lord Protector does not escape their grasp once more.
Before doing so, Varragh informs the party that when most of her group breaks into the Lord Protector’s room, Eddie “Chett Manly” Pret will go to this room’s north balcony and push the other, so far unaware guard there off the balcony so that they don’t have to worry about being flanked or him warning his fellow guards, which he successfully does. Thus, Varragh/Alaric/Ulder’s detachment break into the Lord Protector’s room from the north while the Calimshite/Varis/Finderwel detachment do so from the east, with Varis tasked with teleporting into the room to block its westernmost door and prevent an escape from Draven. Tonight, there will be no “Baked Neverwinter” escapes from the vile, slaving, tyrannical Lord Protector.
Harminil, equally bold and skilled as always, rushes in first and swings furiously at the surprised and Thayan sorcerer Balorak who he knocks prone with his strikes. Despite the ferocity of Harminil’s blows upon his people’s mortal enemy from the evil lands of Thay, the sorcerer quickly gains his bearings and commands the Lord Protector to flee. Balorak summons a bright ball of lighting that bounces from Harminil, who takes the brunt of the damage, to Tyavos, Vahayon, and Melil. The Thayan, clearly LARPing as Emperor Palpatine with that move, rushes to the western door. He takes yet another powerful blow during his attempt to back away from the resilient Harminil, angered by the harm done to his younger brothers.
Tyavos, despite his wounds, sprints into the room and attacks the vile Calimshite Nar’ysr who is bloodied by the flurry of attacks and quite clearly the lesser threat of the trio. Harminil is however, shocked by the willingness to put himself at risk and immediately yells at the disembodies voice in the sky that has followed them their entire adventure that he should, as the elder brother, have a tighter leash on his brothers’ actions. The disembodies voice responds with “Fine, I’ll give you the option if it’ll make you happy” and suddenly for the first time in their recent adventures, the twins remember their allegiance and respect of their brother and begin to follow his orders in combat exactly to the letter, as Harminil gestures in a very animated manner and commands them in elvish exactly where to go. Vahayon, now probably looking to their enemy like a literal mummy with his scarred face so heavily wrapped, follows up on Harminil’s commands with a swarm of magic missiles at the Thayan who yet still lives despite being pelted with magical damage.
Seeing the Thayan’s defenses opening from the onslaught and following the orders of his noble lady Varragh, Alaric charges in from the north and is empowered with Tyr’s holy fury against his abominable foe. The Greatsword of Tyr radiates with holy light as he cuts down the Thayan with a series of horizontal blows that slice him into thirds, a head, a torso, and legs that fall in three separate directions. Standing over his victim, he blocks the door and points his sword at Draven, exclaiming “Justice for Tesrik!” to which Harminil cries “AND WHERE IS EVANDER!!!???!!!”
Varragh dashes in behind her loyal elderly pageboy, happy that the biggest threat to her has been eliminated, and cries “Nar’ysr el Akkani….!!!!” Before realizing she does not remember the rest of his name for her intimidating speech, but it matters not because her crossbow bolt will penetrate his skull all the same. She lifts her crossbow to his head and executes the sneering man before jumping onto the table and crying at Draven that for all his claims of being a “Lord Protector” there “is no one to protect him now”.
Draven screams in terror, the first time he has shown any emotion outside of self-confidence and pompous arrogance. His voice cracking, he exclaims “Guards! Assassins! To me! To me!” but it is all for naught as the undead, hateful Varis is the next to enter and surround Draven. The Sword in the
is plunged directly into Draven’s chest as Varis slowly walks the sword deeper into Draven’s body and comes face to face with his enemy. “The Ghost of Nightstone shall be the last face you ever see.” Are the last words Draven ever hears as he falls dead back into his seat. Varis drops the slave whip he has held his entire free life on Draven’s corpse. His regime is over.
Escape from the Palace
The party however, now has a new issue to contend with as dozens of hostile elite guards begin filing in from the western end of the palace. The party is about to be heavily outnumbered once more, and although they have accomplished their goal, if they fall now it may all be for nothing as a new evil arises to fill the power vacuum
As the rest of the group begins to Harminil cuts off Draven’s head as proof of the Lord Protector’s fall to intimidate their enemies, while Alaric tries to bargain with them by proclaiming that the Lord Protector’s regime has fallen and they mustn’t soil themselves by continuing to work for an evil regime that will be persecuted in the coming days. Alaric, however, despite his efforts is not at all intimidating and the enemy is only emboldened by knowing their lord has fallen.
Ulder Cole, a former Valabar himself, is invoked by Varragh as proof of the validity of the Lord Protector’s crimes and assassination of the prior-ruling Masked Lords, but this last effort at negotiating is unsuccessful due to Ulder’s total lack of charisma. Thus, Varragh resolves that escape is really their only option. Thus, being the actually deceptive outside-the-box thinker of the group, she changes tactics and begins to stall the enemy by suggesting they plan to negotiate a surrender and terms while ordering the Knights to begin barring the doors with their pitons sneakily as well as sneaking back to the pool to escape. She isn’t willing to take the chance that they will actually be given a fair trial if they do in fact surrender, as even in death Draven may still control the courts of Waterdeep,
The guards, unfortunately, see through this ruse and begin making efforts to break down the door. As the rest of the Knights begin to escape alongside Varragh and Alaric, Harminil begins attempting to break into chests he has found for evidence that will aid them but is unsuccessful and forced to also flee. As the guards successfully break into the rooms they previously occupied, only Varis remains due to unsuccessful attempts to bar the doors while the rest of the group escaped into the sewers. Knowing that if he flees as his allies have, it will lead the enemy who can now see him directly to the sewers, Varis instead resolves to jump from the northern balcony, not knowing if he will survive the fall. Well, at least survive in a way an already-undead soulless revenant can.
Varis decides that he will have to aim for the bushes as he leaps to his certain doom with dozens of guards chasing right behind him, and jumps. As he falls to the cliff face to almost certain doom, he somehow as if guided by magic catches a ledge with which he successfully manages to catch his fall and avoid further damage. The rest of the party quickly moves through the sewer to safety undetected as Varis runs north back towards the troll gate.
The assassination was a success. Waterdeep is free once more. Or is it?
Points to Consider for next time:
HOW WILL THE PARTY HANDLE REBUILDING NIGHTSTONE?
WILL THE FINDERWEL BROTHERS RECLAIM THEIR CROWN?
WILL NICHOLAS REMAY ASSIST IN THE DEMON QUEST?
WILL THE PARTY SAVE WATERDEEP?
WILL THE THIN MAN ACT ON HIS THREATS?
WILL VARRAGH’S KEEP IN NIGHTSTONE BE DESTROYED?
WILL KUKASSY’S ASSAULT ON THE ARMORY SUCCEED?
WILL THE PARTY FINALLY KILL THE LORD PROTECTOR????
FIND OUT NEXT TIME
Monsieur Grec
Re: TWC Dungeons and Dragons
I am not a clever man
Reach for the Stars.
Akar is also tinkering with a Cyber series in the background. Will have to see what happens.
His Dudeness of TWC
Originally Posted by Narf
It's a great achievement.
hey it geg
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