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The Lisk Campaign.
Part one...
(NB: % is used when I can't remember names. ;-)
I met Lori in the Bleeding Sheep tavern in the township of 'The Plains'. After a brief exchange of histories and some classy rejections of the local talent, we settled in for a good nights rest. However, we were rudely awakened in the middle of the night by a lynch mob claiming we had murdered a couple of the local lads. So we get dragged to the local jail and tossed into the smallest cell you can imagine. Well, while Lori is coping with the whole claustrophobia issue, I had the misfortune to be standing under the window when a doppleganger attacks and drags me threw the window. NOT FUN! anyway, when I recover from passing out, I'm in a pitch black room and lying on what I'm soon to discover is the corpse of one of the dead men. While I'm still trying to get a grip on the situation, the lynch mob arrive - again- and drag me back towards the jail. On the way they change there minds and take me straight towards the hastily erected gallows.
Now here I will admit, that my recollection of what happened next is a bit fuzzy. i remember screaming, yelling and general panic by the townsfolk, i remember part of the town was on fire, and i remember finding Lori, locating some supplies and getting the hell out of there, but cant seem to remember what caused it all...
So Lori and i head for the hills and lay low. we decide to make our way to the larger town of Vlarden. along the way we see lots of soldiers passing and it looks like there looking for us. so we keep to the forests and slowly make our way towards Vlarden. when we get there,the town is not looking so good. let me rephrase that, whats left of the town is not looking so good. most of it has been destroyed by an army, the rest seems to be on fire. we sneek up to get a better look and see a couple of soldiers - officers judging by there dress - Lori decides to get a closer look, her being an elf and all, and finds out that our pictures are on wanted posters all around whats left of the town, and the officers are discussing our whereabouts and how to go about killing us. this was not welcome news to either of us. (G.M. - One of the 'officers' is actually Lisk Icyuth' shouting orders at the troops)
We manage to find a tavern that is not burning and decide to stop and replenish ourselves, sitting in the corner and trying not to draw attention to ourselves. we are in the process of consuming some very mediocre ale when an elf with half an ear missing prances up to our table, introduces himself as Artemus, and decides to join our little party. He clearly knows we are wanted women cause he has our wanted posters in his coat pocket, but he seems to be amused by us and plays along as if he doesn't know.
After some time, soldiers arrive in the tavern, a small melee errupts, and in the following confusion, Lori, Artemus & myself slip out the back way, find some horses, and steal away into the night. Again, my apologies if i seem to gloss over some events in a couple of sentences, but my memory just aint what it used to be.
GM: There were some scenes here concering the first Doppleganger and another town , Lori's crossdressing older brother (aire to throne) and his elvin guard who had come to retrieve Lori, hearing about her being a murder suspect's accomplice, before she embarrassed them further. (whom the doppleganger ate and disguised himself as but not before further incriminationg the group) ....Also the famous scene , Detective:"I believe they exited this window and are probably on the roof as we speak....", Lori :"Shit!!!", Scamper, scamper, scamper...Any way our hero's managed to slay the doppelganger before he returned to Iyanden in the body of the King.
We decide to head for Lori's home of Iyanden, one of the remaing Elven Stepps. Along the way we come across a old farmhouse and decide to check it out. let me just say that scary beyong belief does not justly decribe this place. after entering the house we discover we cant get out. we explore the ground floor a bit and decide to check out the upstairs. Now, one drawback to being a human amongst a couple of elves is that i dont have the same level of heightened awarness that they do so , of course, when they decide to open the door at the end of the hall, i'm the one standing directly in front of it. before i know whats hit me, i'm swarmed by a horde of small critters as they make there attempt at escape. Now these critters must like sourveniers, cause they decided to take my clothes with them. so here i am, standing in the middle of the hall wearing nothing but my boots, backpack, and a bewildered expression on my face. luckily Artemus has his cloak with him and graciously loans it to me untill i can find some attire more to my liking. we head back downstairs and find a trap door in the kitchen leading to a large basement full of old food, supplies and yes, thank god, clothes!!!. not the most becoming outfits i'll grant you, but sufficent for my needs at this time. upon returning to the kitchen, we discover a back door and decide to get the hell out of there.
The rest of our journey to the Steps is pretty much uneventfull, and we arrive tired and dirty and praying we can get a decent meal. Now i must point out at this time that my companion Lori, is actually the second youngest child of the Elven king (one of three left alive and sister to the current king). pretty good deal if you ask me, at least we won't have to stay in some second rate tavern. But, things never go as smoothly as one might expect. Upon our arrival, Lori is greeted with the news that her father and elder brother were both killed in a recent hunting accident, her younger brother Raetenon flounces around the palace goosestepping all the time, her eldest sister is locked up underground cause she went completly phsyco a while back after attempting some pretty heavy magic and that her other sister has commited suicide.
Now the Steps is an allright place, plenty of food, clean sheets and hot baths, but for some bizzare reason, everywhere you go, there is really bad elevator musak playing. its enough to drive you bonkers after a while.
Anyway, Lori & i pay a visit to her siter % and she is one crazy elf. doesn't even recognise her sister. we leave her, and pay a visit to the elven mage to tell him about Vlarden and to see if he can shed some light on what has been going on. the news of Vlardens destruction does not go down well. apparently, Vlarden has a ancient link to Iyanden as it is the keeper of a very powerfull elven magic book. this book will grant the possesor the true name of whoever it seeks. now, to have someones true name, gives you complete and total power over them. so you can see that this would not be a good thing if it fell into the wrong hands. now, the upside of this, is that it can only be done once every 80 years or so, and it will only give you 1 true name. the mage decides that we should head back to Vlarden and see if we can find out who's true name was given.
We decide to replenish our supplies and head back to Vlarden. i obtain some proper clothes and we head out. when we reach Vlarden, the town is under attack by orc's. now orc's only know how to do three things in life - rape, pillige & burn stuff - but not necesarily in that order. We make our way to the university and head for the lower levels, where the mage said the book would be kept. now the lower levels are a bit creepy. dark, damp and silent. the lowest level, where the book is kept, is a strange place. surrounding the room are darkened passages that not only lead to different places, but also lead to different times. we find the book and discover that it has given the true name of a dragon called Muit. Further exploration of the university lead to the discovery of 3 enchanted items: a ring that makes the wearer invisible, a dagger that can remain unseen on the holder (perfect for when youre captured and stripped of your weapons) & a short runic sword with the power to quell fires. Lori got the ring, Artemus the dagger - like he needed another weapon - and i got the sword.
We return to ground level and find that most of the population of Vlarden has been taken hostage by an army headed by a wizard of the first circle called Lisk Icyeth and his bodygaurd Sin. yes- you guessed it - the same soldiers Lori overheard discussing our deaths. Rumour has it, that they were taking the hostages into the demonlands.
Once again, we venture to the steps to relay the news to the elven mage. he then decides to send us to The Lakes to find out any info on Lisk. before we go, we find out that Lisk is marching the hostages towards the destroyed megacity of SIXTEEN. once there, he will offer the hostages to the demon that resides there in exchange for an army of darktrolls and then head for the dwarven enclaves. the dwarven ambassador at the steps takes this news quite calmly - NOT!. and decides to send two dwarves with us to the lakes. these two tag-alongs, Misq & Mark by name, are not what you'd call bright. i've seen rocks with higher intelligence. the elven mage graciously teleports us all to the lakes, where we have to take a number to see the people in charge. (they're currently serving #4, our number is 23455)
After a frustrating few days waiting to see people, we eventually talk to someone with a shred af intelligence and embark on a journey to SIXTEEN in order to stop Lisk. HA - like 5 of us against his army is good odds. Anyway, we get teleported yet again to a hillside area not to far from the old MC. its at this point in time that my mind decides to take a stroll down memory lane and rediscover the untill now forgotten fact that i have been inside SIXTEEN. infact, spent quite a few years there untill i managed to escape the city and the deamon grounds around it, which is just as dangerous! So i spend the next few hours cowering in the back of a cave quietly, and sometimes hysterically, having a nervous breakdown. this turn of events is met with puzzled reactions by Lori and Artemus. Ig & Oog seem oblivious to most of it, but decide that it is now there sworn duty to protect my person. flattering, yes, but not when its those two doing the bodyguard routine.
After a while night falls ( aarrgghh....splock) and through the darkened night we hear the sound of a large group of people moving along the road below our hilltop camp. upon closer inspection we can see torches lighting the way for the hostages to go. by the next morning, they are almost upon the city itself and after a few would-be escapees are killed by the monster in the shanty town, the former residents of Vlarden are marched by Lisk into the MC. when he emerges, accompaning him is an army of 2500 Darktrolls. its at this point in time that we decide to get a closer look, and yes, you guessed it, we were spotted. however, luck was on our side for once. we were able to hide from the darktrolls succesfully and after convincing ig & oog that they could easily attack and defeat the trolls, we left them for dead (or so we hoped) and followed Lisk and his army.
The army traipsed through the demon lands for a while and came across an old military stronghold. after ransacking it for weapons they left again. after they'd gone we decide to see if there is anything left worth looting. suprisingly enough there was. apart from an endless supply of green towels, we found a APC and some weapons. we packed up the APC and headed in the general direction of the darktrolls. Lori & I took turns driving as Artemus has no idea what hes doing behind the wheel other than cranking up the volume on the "Flight of the Valkeries" which was stuck in the 8-track.
Wouldn't you know it, we re just getting into the swing of things, when a very large and angry dragon decides it wants to attack our small moving fortress. never ones to panic in a highly stressful situation, we calmly decide on a plan to get us out of the current situation. we put the APC on auto pilot, blow out the back door, release a smoke bomb and with expert grace and dancer like moves (not!!!! - Lori), jump out of the moving vehicle, and seek cover. Unfortunately, the cover we chose, happened to be right outside an orcish cave, and before we could rally our forces, we were overpowered by the orcs and taken prisoner.
Our new accomodation consisted of a small cage suspended over a body of what i think was water, but I'm not sure. Lori and Artemes managed to free themselves and then kindly released me. we managed to locate some crude weapons and made our way back to the main cavern where the orcs were. when we arrived at the cavern, we discovered the orcs preparing an evening meal of frightened female hostages. Never ones to turn our backs on helpless people, we proceeded to attack the orcs, save the hostages and recover our possessions. a rousing time was had by all, i must say.
After fleeing into the surrounding hills (getting a bit monotenous) we make camp and try to reassure the frightened girls that we are not going to kill them. somewhere in the early hours of the morning, Lori, who was keeping watch, hears a unusual sound which is steadily getting louder. after waking Artames and myself we venture down to the road to discover the source. out of the dark, comes a car, a big, loud, and very fast car. it starts to slow down, but doesnt stop for us. it stops a few hundred yards down the road and the driver gets out, pops the hood and starts fiddlin around with the engine. we go up to the driver to offer any assistance and to ask for a lift to the nearest town. some fierce negotiation ensues and after some threats of physical violence, the driver agrees to take us to Gauntlets Gate.
Gauntlets Gate is a hodge podge of a town. its main business seems to be the guantlet runners, who take supplies back and forth between MC. We find ourselves a respectable tavern and arrange accomodation for the night. the next day, we explore our new surroundings and replenish some of our supplies. after a slight altercation with a couple a thugs in a back alley, we took our newly acquired money and exchanged it for various goods. Lori was particualy taken with a hair dryer and we also purchased some ammunition and a couple of guns to complete our arsenal.
Following the purchase of some horses, we returned yet again to the steps. somewhere along the way, we had the misfortune to meet up with ig & oog again. they had escaped the darktrolls by falling into a hole and waiting until they left to climb out. so our motley crew arrived back at the steps to the news that Lisk had invested the MC of FIVE with his army of darktrolls, and that nothing was getting in or out.
Before setting out for FIVE, we had to quash an attempted coup by one of the elven generals, and ended up bringing Lori's brother Raetenon along for the journey. By now I was feeling quite in the minority, being surrounded by three elves and two dwarves, but Rae proved his worthiness after we encounted a couple of giants and Rae was discovered to be a battle mage after he vanquished them with a spectacular fire ball. we detoured slightly back to The Plains, where Lori and i first met. and after surviving not being added to the ingredients of a highly addictive food known as Green Stew, we disguised ourselves as GS delivery people and set out to infiltrate FIVE. (by disguise, i mean that the others hid in barrells and i dressed like the supervisor) we were able to enter the MegCity via the GS supply line which had not been disrupted. we then found a fleabag of a hotel, cleaned off most of the GS from our clothes, and turned in for the night.
The next day we sought more statelier accomodations and ended up renting a old abandoned wharehouse who's only attribute seemed to be the possesion of a ten ton press. this kept the dwarves amused for hours. the next few days were given over to exploring our new surroundings and doing some serious retail therapy. while enjoying a quite cappuchino in a local cafe, one of the patrons decided to overdose on one of the local drugs, not usually a problem, except that this drug has the side effect of turning you into a very large demon with attitude when you O/d. once again we found ourselves the defenders of the innocent and proceeded to deal with the demon. it took some time but we managed to kill it. unfortunately, we are no longer welcome in that establishment due to the damage we caused.
To Be Continued in Part II
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