Participants in this adventure! Cero Azguard Bayara Icas Rex Adoncia/Yonida/??? Cullinarn Dragothien (and his subservient hitman) ***In the Village of Paws, Jupiter receives a diverse group of unexpected visitors. Lord Azgard of Lumaria, Cero, and Icas Rex.**** Setting down his spear, in a show of truce, Icas Rex entered the tower and hailed them in his nonchalant manner, "Salutations, good health, and whatever such fair greetings you offer Wizard. I come in peace, and I mean to not leave in pieces." Cero eyed the man, but stayed his blade in its sheath for the time being. He knew that now was not the time, and especially not in front of Lord Azguard of Lumaria who seemed to be a long honored guest of Paws. He simply nodded his head and tapped his hilt. "Welcome all, please sit, sit," Jupiter beckoned, "I'm glad you've all come. I've invited you all to examine this rather explosive concoction I have found. Look here, when I agitate this jar, and toss it," he covered his ears and the jar eruped with a blast when it hit the ground, "It generates a blast. I call it Wizard's Fire for the Magical Inept or WiZFim!" Icas looked at the blast spot, then back at the wizard, and lifted one of the extra jars "Did you piss in these jars?" Jupiter swooped the jar back, "Of course I did no such vulgar thing. I used dragon's urine mixed with a bit of sulferous ash. Now I am sure you are all thinking what I am thinking yes?" Icas nodded in emphatically, "Throw them at birds!?" "Ye.. NO! Exactly not that Master Rex," then Jupiter looked to Cero and Lord Azguard, "my'lords of more civilized minds, what would you think we could do with them?" "Perhaps some large sport?," Lord Azguard suggested. "I'd rather toss them at the riffraff across from me," Cero glared at Icas. "How about, a combination? You have heard of the Dark Harpies of Hythloth, yes?" They all shook their heads in unison, "NO!!!!!" - But it was too late, the adventure was already decided! Before they departed, Jupiter's company was joined by Yonina of somewhere south of Jhelom, Lacan of Depravity, and Bayara of the Ceceded Yew Regiment. Jupiter had Qamra write up some very elaborate contracts for Bayara and Icas to sign to ensure that they would adhere to the hired mercenary's code. Unfortnately, Qamra spent only a quarter year as a legal aid during her more inquisitive years, and she failed to clearly indicate the specific state of health in which Jupiter was to be guarded. Therefore, "tolerable" health would be the best he could hope for. ***Depths of Hythloth, the plan was going exactly according to plan.....**** The plan of course, involved mainly, not dying. Which for the most part the group was accomplishing. The Dark Harpies were quickly dispatched with the explosive potions, and then the group turned their attention to the Purveyor in the adjacent room. Their efforts were met at first with great peril, turned to slaughter, turned back to small success. It was not until Lord Cullinarn arrived, that they began to see some glint of hope. But what Jupiter had not taken into account, was the group of bounty hunters who were out on the prowl to bring Lacan the Depraved to justice and executed by their own hands. Dragothien along with his plague-ridden friend, carefully watched the group and waited for their moment to strike. The Purveyor's health was down nearly half and he broke free of the magical fields that held him bound, then Dragothien flung the door open and charged in the room. Mayhem ensued as Bayara and Icas strained to uphold the mercenary code, the battle slipped from manageable chaos into pure mayhem! Dragothien and the Plagueman darted in and out wreaking havoc until all attention was turned to them. With their focus lost, the Purveyor broke loose from the paralysis fields and unleashed his rage on any who came near him. The night ended with many a fallen fighter, perhaps a few bruised egos, but in the end it was an Explosive Cocktail Party, none shall soon forget. (At least not until after the morning hangover has passed).
Wow, just wow. Despite going on many many Paws adventures, this had to be my favorite. I was laughing maniacally out loud at the hilarity of us all in the hallway throwing purple pots at those succubus for almost the entirety, half of the potions missing hilariously and exploding on each other. Dead bodies ALL over the place as is the usual practice at any adventure in which the grey wizard finds himself the leader. I want to give a shout out to @Cero who displayed great bravery the entire night. There were MANY circumstances where we would all be huddled in a corner rezzing the multiple fallen and the Purveyour of Darkness would come over to attempt to lay havok on us as we attempted to regather ourselves. I noticed a pattern in this situations, 99% of the time @Cero would be the brave one who ran at the PoD waving his sword to get its attention, and lure it the other direction (90% of the time resulting in his own subsequent death).
Three cheers for Cero! I think he also began excessively drinking at the beginning so he would have some plausible deniability when asked if he was cooborating with brigands. Hopefully hiring Bayara and Icas as mercenaries was a sufficient twist of the laws to allow this temporary engagement. also haha at "Icas Rex: I was killed ny Jupiter!" so many fun quotes from this one.
As he sits around the table rubbing his head from the night before, Cero looks at his fellow guardsmen and takes a big swig of his ale. Let me tell you lads about last night...I still can not believe it myself, and telling you this tale will most likely end up with the General docking my months pay! I stopped by Paws to deliver the reward to the Grey Wizard Jupiter for all the work he has been doing, and man did I get roped into a shit storm. Upon delivery we sat around and had a few drinks...well I did at least, can you believe that wizard drinks goats milk? The first visitor was the honorable Lord Azguard of Lumaria, a place I must check out in the near future, but we sat around with small talk and tales of past. Then none other then the dastardly Icas Rex walk up outside and lay his spear on the ground... At this many of the guards near by pulled up a chair and listened intently, none taking a drink for a few moments. ...And in he walks, being it the free village of Paws and with the fine company I was with I did not draw my sword and run him through, but my free hand was on my hilt for a moment as I stared him down. He came in peace...hard to believe, I know...and the Grey Wizard gave him pass, even offered him some of the ale I had brought! Jupiter, with all of us sitting around, began to tell of this new concoction he was brewing up, some firewater of sorts, that when agitated and thrown, explodes! Someone in the crowd then said, "and you did not borrow some and dose ol' Rex with it!" Which brought a great laugh from the crowd. No, I did not. In fact things started to get crazy here. Plans started to unravel of traveling to that Abyss-ridden dungeon of Hythloth and testing it on the life sucking Succubus. Naturally I had to tag along, but joining a party with such filth as Icas Rex had me hesitant, and it only gets worse from here. As we made our way outside to prepare for our journey, we are joined by two more miscreants, the Dreaded Lacan and the Bloody Bayara herself!! A guard at the table spits out his ale in a large spray at the mention of the fiend. At least we were joined by a lovely maiden of Papuian decent, although she never gave me her real name... As I am looking left and right, sword and shield in hand, ready to do battle with the foes that stand within arms reach now, Jupiter the ever cleaver one, hires the three as mercenary body guards or some such, and has them sign a waiver! Now I am supposed to uphold this contract while I travel with these sorry excuses for humans! The crowd begins to grumble...stupid paperwork, always getting in the way. We travel to the depths of Hythloth and begin to do battle in this tiny ass hallway with some of the most wretched creatures I have seen in a long time. The plan was to use this firewater, or whatever Jupiter was calling it, to kill a succubus. Half the time we were hitting each other with the flames and glass of the bottles, no one was very accurate while running trying to dodge flaming bottles of explosives and creatures of the Abyss. Finally we clear the hallway, only for a blasted Purveyor of Darkness to stumble around the corner and find us licking our wounds. A waitress sets down another tray of ales and they quickly get filtered to the crowd. At the sudden appearance of this beast, all differences were put aside and we needed to work as a team. The group spread out into the larger chamber at the end of the tunnel. Heals were being thrown just as much as the blasted firewater Jupiter had convinced us would work. Quickly the lovely lady from Papua devised a plan to trap the daemon lord between energy fields while we bombarded it with explosives. Having thought we bested the creature we began to relax and toss bottle after bottle, only for the blasted creature to outsmart us and teleport out of his entrapment! Boy was that a shocker! The room erupted in new chaos as we had to think of another plan. Aid arrived in the form of Lord Cullinarn and a fellow who went by the name Clip. With more wizards about, they began to lay down fields of paralyze, that we worked into our strategy. But it gets worse. Cero takes a swig of his ale, refreshing he voice as he continues his tale. Just as the room started to fall into a rhythm, in charge to evil bounty hunters, murderers some would call them. They targeted the Dreaded Lacan, he being part of our party under contract, I was compelled to rush to his aid and join battle. They proved to be seasoned veterans and quickly scattered our group. Two deadly foes, a ravaging Balron Lord, daemons around in all hallways, the place quickly turned to utter chaos. Bodies lay everywhere from all forms of magic that was flying around. I am not sure how any of the wizards survived a single blow form the Purveyor himself, I was fulled armored and took devastating blows in the chaos from its mighty blade. Out of firewater, I gave chase to the two murderers with my blade, they must have used some enchantment because my sword was doing little damage. The room in chaos, people scattering to all corners and down hallways, I chased the two into a side chamber where I was quickly dispatched with flames erupting at my feet. The rest of the party, retreating down another hallway, regrouped and punched back once they were confronted again, eventually defeating the two murderers with the help from a few tamed dragons. The wizards went to work, using their powers to resurrect the fallen and we gathered our things and departed, making for Paws to regroup. At this point I was still wounded and made for my bed, calling it a night as I unraveled the chaos in my head. I am not sure if the party regrouped and headed back to defeat the bloody Purveyor of Darkness, something I will have to inquire about in the future. Cero looked around the room at the guards who stared with open mouths, suddenly the crowd broke, "pffft, you are full of it Sir. No way would you ever join forces with the bloody brigand Bayara and travel into a dark hole with out stabbing her in the chest. Good story though Sir, but that one Hamish told last week about the prostitutes was more believable!" The crowd began to break up at that. Cero sat there finishing his ale, thinking to himself. Hmm, maybe it was all a dream. Or was it... OOC: That was a blast!! Total chaos for a good hour! Thanks for everyone who came out and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. At the sight of the PKs I thought our fun was ruined, but it only just began! Can not wait for Jupiter's next crazy scheme, I am sure it will be full of death as always! Are you sure you do not want to start wearing black Jupiter and carry and sickle?
"In the face of death, men often live more fully than languishing a thousand days at the stairs of complacency." - Jupiter of Paws
