Episode: The Beastlands Become Ranais
From The Hub
May fast winds and faster ships carry you from this place.
- -Resistance Motto
Introduction
Many events led up to the events that became Episode: The Beastlands Become Ranais. In no particular order: Otto Tallfellow received word one of his fellow priests of Oghma (Reana, a priestess of Oghma in line for the high priest position) had gone missing while working with the Giordanni Family, as did the renown planar scholar Tripicus; both good friends of Otto. Unknown to the Azrai at the time, the reason for The Butcher's recent kidnapping of Fel was to use Fel's memory of Ranais (from a previous cycle) to create a manifestation of the world using a Dream Machine, in order to bring technology back from Ranais to Sigil- for the purposes of selling it, using it for their personal gain, etc.
Also, Edward had just returned from parts unknown with a mysterious 'key tattoo' on his arm.
Before the Azrai left for the Beastlands, Otto met briefly with Fel to learn more about Edward's new tattoo. Shortly thereafter, Atticus up and disappeared without any warning. (PC change foreshadowing)
| Episode: The Beastlands Become Ranais | |
 | |
| Episode: | The Beastlands Become Ranais |
| In-Game Dates | Month, HR |
| OOG Dates | 2001 |
| PCs | Edward, Gaibriel, Greylord, |
| Previous Episode | Episode: The Kidnapping of Fel |
| Following Episode | Episode: The Hunt for the Hound |
| Pre-game Planning | {{{pregame}}} |
Contents |
The Azrai realized they needed to take a trip to the Beastlands in order to find out about ________. This is when Otto puts two and two together and realizes Kaleb is from Aramel, a city from a previous cycle. Amarel was a neighboring city to Freeport, where Kaleb was a known (and extremely wanted) criminal. After discussing metaphysics ad nauseum; Atticus, Jason, Kaleb and Otto found a way into the Beastlands by helping the Giordanni Family (thanks Kaleb). After meeting with the head of the crime family, a man named Bruno. {Otto and Kaleb, at Jason's request (mediated by Atticus) bargained for funding. It was determined that in return for transporting the Azrai to Ranais and providing some funding}, Bruno asked that the Azrai intimidate his rivals, the Mezzio Family. It was agreed, that in return for access into the Beastlands, the Azrai would deliver a a death threat to Lydia Mezzio. Some of the Azrai had qualms with the terms, but agreed to do it as long as no one actually got hurt.
Missing Tripicus
Missing Reanna
Otto also met with an initiate in the priesthood of Oghma named Brother Lucius, who told him that Reana, a friend of Otto’s, was missing. She allegedly signed on into indentured servitude with the Giordanni clan.
Joining the Giordanni Caravan
In order to gain access to Ranais, the Azrai joined up with the Giordanni Family caravan, led by Falkirk Giordanni, as they had been making regular forays into Ranais for some time.
Introducing Thofalcon
Dressed as merchants, the Azrai made their trip into the Beastlands. Once making it through the portal, the Azrai realized the majority of the plane had already transformed into Ranais. This made their job of finding a transition point easy.
The Azrai got their bearings and then headed for Freeport. During the long but uneventful travel Otto’s time is spent translating Lhar’s journal entries from Old Tongue.
Kaleb and Otto did some scouting before the group entered Freeport. Apparently security was tight due to fears of a plague. Shortly after slipping into town to scout, Kaleb runs into a kid named Nigel who worships a power called Illier. Otto realizes Illier is an aspect of Aoskar.
Nigel helped get the Azrai into town. They would have had some real trouble what with a vampire, bestial half-orc, and wanted criminal (Kaleb) in the group.
Once in town the Azrai (broke the Cardinal Rule of DnD and) split up to find places to stay. At least Gaibe said he wasn't going to stay with the rest of the group at the temple to Illier. Otto began to peruse the library at the temple to Illier while others did their business.
Otto happened upon a meeting with Reana. She saw him too and ran off. Otto made a mental note to take care of that later. At the same time Jason was "talking" with Falkirk, the leader of the Giordanni caravan. Otto approached close to the end of the conversation and tried to smooth over Jason's gruffness. Apparently a meeting was set up to talk about what it is the Giordanni are doing in Freeport (and what they are doing with Tripicus). Thofalcon and Gaibe were out at the docks during this interaction.
At the meeting Gaibe and co. represented- they found out a lot of what Falkirk was allegedly doing in Ranais. Apparently Tripicus was “hired” as an adviser to make sure the Girodanni don’t bring back anything from Ranais that would prove harmful to the ‘time-space-continuum’. Otto felt that the Giordanni were probably using Tripicus to find our which items are worth stealing, and then not telling him about it.
Thankfully the group decided that Falkirk was full of shit. At some point someone saw the Vile Hunt leader Oberon’s hawk meet with Falkirk. Proof positive that he was a not to be trusted.
Later, Otto returned to the Temple to Illier to study while the others planned a way to get to the Vile Hunt. Otto did some more research on the language and asked Nigel to find out where Reana was staying and that Otto and Kaleb get a meeting with the High Priest, Father Lucien (not to be confused with Brother Lucius).
Gaibe and Thofalcon grab Otto and set a trap to see how The Vile Hunt operates. This is where things got tricky. Apparently a guy named Renaldo meets with Vile Hunt members every night to get orders or something. The Azrai learn of this and intend to spy on the interaction.
Jason, Otto, and Thofalcon watched Renaldo meet from across the street in a bar. Greylord, Gaibe, and Kaleb (all in disguise) were in the bar. During the altercation Otto watched with clairaudience and detect thoughts spells. Greylord, disguised as a mouse crawled onto one of their backs. As Renaldo was getting interrogated about the events earlier that day at the docks, Otto “heard” that someone else, probably hidden, was coming to the scene. Otto felt the party was in danger and acted as Kaleb and Gaibe walked up.
Otto cast Summon Monster and had a pack of dire rats fall on one man who attacked Kaleb, Renaldo split, Greylord changed shape into a spider because he was afraid Otto blew his cover. None of the Azrai were seriously hurt, but one of the Vile Hunt got his throat slit. The Azrai split when their cover was broken and the heard the city guard were on their way. As a last ditch effort, one of the Hunt attempted to throw a knife at Kaleb but was hit with a Hold Person spell by Otto before he could pull it off. When the Azrai were safely gone, Otto dropped the spell, but saw that the town guard were coming to arrest the Vile Hunt, since Greylord needed to be carried into their lair, Otto used his natural ability, Ghost Sound to have the guards hear: “Plague!”. It distracted them long enough to let the Hunt get away. The Azrai needed to find out where the Vile Hunt were based.
After Greylord told us where the Hunt were at we went in force to clean house. Only they saw us coming and a battle ensued. Otto spent a lot of time with Huntsmen and guards, he healed a few Azrai, thankfully he cast Divine Power and some other combative spells that made him a good adversary. Most of the glory went to Greylord, Thofalcon, and Gaibe though. Graylord found Oberon with Faerie Fire when he was hiding. Gaibe killed him, and whether we know it or not, Thofalcon single-handedly made 5-6 Vile Hunt reconsider their day job.
After the fight Otto and Kaleb went to meet with Father Lucien. Kaleb got bored with all of the talking and left. Otto got a lot of telling info from the priest, but more questions. Otto got a little greedy with the information and had to gloss over his mistake again. He didn’t do a bad job of it, but he almost wasted a good resource. Otto got some help from Kaleb and snuck back into the room. And found out a lot more info. Otto also snuck though the drawers of the High Priest and found out he payrolled some guards, had some documents from Fell and Lhar and had a problem with sleeping. Otto also found out one priest of Illier, Brother Aragorn was killed, probably at the hands of Father Lucius, or at least he knew about it. Also, Otto found out another slayer ship was in town and that who it was run by.
Later Otto got to talk to Reana, thanks to the overzealousness of Nigel. Otto found out she was tricked into working for the Vile Hunt/Giordanni and stealing books, etc. He also found out they were forced into doing so by getting reprimanded by dreams that were reminiscent of Lawshredder’s murders. Thus, Reana and Father Lucien's not sleeping.
After that, still the first day in Freeport, Otto helped gather more info by speaking with the dead spirit of Oberon and his hawk. This info helped in Gaibe and Greylord’s plan to impersonate the Vile Hunt bastard.
After that, Kaleb and Gaibe ran off to search for info on this new person in town named the Viper. After getting hurt pretty bad, Otto healed Kaleb to peak.
On yet another fact-finding mission, to help set a trap we went into Old Town, Otto and Kaleb tried to get info from the inhabitants. Otto healed some people or gave them matches….Kaleb gave them money and was more successful. Or so we thought. The characters got ambushed going to the Baron’s tower. Otto wonders if one of the bums sold us out.
Otto’s spells helped again, he saw the attackers before they made a move. He also helped facilitate the plan we came up with before we left off (making all invisible and jumping into the well) and lastly healing the blind kennel operator.
The last three game sessions were key. While the first two were small we got a LOT of knowledge (YAY! Oghma!) and in the last we kicked a lot of ass against the odds. Without rehashing details I'll include a brief overview of each game:
Game A: In this scene Edward and Otto went to try and find out where Thofalcon's amulet was. Otto's divination was a "poem/riddle". (See DnD board for details). Edward, Otto, and Thofalcon decided the riddle hints that it is in the Lighthouse. Deciding to prepare for that the three went to the Hall of Public Records where Edward and Otto (by way of deft roleplaying and enchantments) got some info from an apparent Resistance Member named Miriam, in the form of maps of mines. We also found out that Axiom's men forced the Library of All Knowledge to take the records of blueprints of the Lighthouse. Edward learned a lot about Axiom and the Viper/Victor from two buffoons. Thofalcon was tactical backup.
GameB: Using the info they got from Miriam and the guards Edward and Otto and Kaleb went to get Tanis (Tanis Half-Elven), one of Kaleb's friends out of jail. He could help us get into the Lighthouse, being the logic, as well as he is a friend of Kaleb's. Upon arriving at the barracks, Otto COMMANDED his way past a stubborn guard and into Capt. Rickert's office. Between Gaibe's help via the amulet and Otto's diplomacy we negotiated our way into see Tanis. Upon arriving, Otto healed and de-poisoned him. The three asked a lot questions. We got a lot of info
1. Most obviously to the Azrai (i.e. not Otto, Thofalcon, etc.) Tanis is really Tanis Half-elven from Krynn. (this comes in to play in #2) 2. Apparently the quote Otto learned from the Resistance about fast ships is meant to show that the Resistance is aware somehow of what is going to happen to Ranais. Tanis escaped what's left of Krynn and came to try and save Ranais from the same fate. (All this stemmed from Kaleb asking about what his tattoo meant). 3. Tanis told us how he tried to enter the Lighthouse with some friends and were stopped by Axiom's guards. (preposterous as Tanis was supposed to be a Lighthouse guard) 4. Axiom has bought the majority of the ships in the harbor. 5. Tanis asked to be let out, but we had to tum our backs on him.
Big highlights for Otto in OLD TOWN: Turning the undead. Rushing the Iron Golem while the players got thru the portculus.
Edward Discovered Info
- There are 3 Portals from Freeport to Arendur
- 1 Person from Sigil went to Past in History books
- Gates closely guarded by Empire
- If our enemies steal Lhar's version of the Sorrow Stone, then it will change where it is in the future.
Goals
Temporary Marker
-Impersonate Oberon/Trash Vile Hunt
-Find Temple of Oghma
-Find Tripicus
-Find Lhar
-Find & Protect Sorrow Stone
-Find Thofalcon's amulet
-Find Butcher
-Recapture Reana
-Rescue Tanis
Divination on the Location of Thofalcon's Amulet
It shines light to those who come and go. It will be quite the endeavor needing to prepare with cunning and guile.
Father Lucien stole records from the Records Office, mainly mine maps that show how to get to the Lighthouse. Axiom stole said records.
Tides aren't right many nights to allow access to caves at the base of the Lighthouse.
Rikert was Resistance.
Axiom bought all ships.
Dreams before Old Town
Valinore: uncomfortable in an inn Library: Night at the Temple, in shadows Victor painfully interrogating Tanis Lighthouse, Old Bear's ship.
The Duke's House
- Known by natives as the 'Dragon Tyrant'
- Large Stained Glass
Plaques underneath with verses from Deilores
- White Sword-
- Grey Sword -Man, cloaked, eyes poignagnt grey clothes
- Black Sword- pale pale pale, crouched
The Lighthouse
The climactic fight at the Lighthouse ended with the death of what the Azrai thought was The Butcher (at the hands of Otto- 1 attack!!!) and a black dragon which was killed from the inside by Gaibriel (with substantial help from Thofalcon).
The Chewbacca Defense
A.K.A. The Great Wookie Hunt is to be detailed by the official record-keeper, Zeke Holpzmann.
Leaving Ranais
Iron Shadow
The Vile Hunt is still very strong, both in Faunel and the actual plane itself They have also been spreading throughout the Outlands and have a fairly strong presence in Carceri (maybe even their base), the home of their patron god, Malar. The Butcher is still at large. His plan had been to use Fel's soul energy on the Beastlands (using the Dreamhearth Machine--a monstrous derivative of what used to exist in the cathedral at Faunel) to transcribe his memories to gain some sort of important information...hence the dreamworld...it was events that were recreated from his soul or his memories. They were definitely based upon past events but who knows if they were memories or impressions of the past made "real." Much of that energy still lingers in the Beastlands making it a very strange place to be.. .i.e. strange visions, half-real constructs-very similar to how it had been on your travels through the land.
What information the Butcher was trying to grab for the Eschaton using Fel is still a mystery. Luckily, he probably was not successful because Fel had managed to "hide" some of his energy in Jason's tattoo--the symbol meaning 'redemption'. Still there is no doubt that the Butcher learned some things that he did not know before masquerading as Veridis Mov (like Fel's past identity). Although Fel's soul was returned to him, unfortunately all is not well with him. Much of his energy was used or dissipated throughout the plane. He is "better", but still and maybe never again will Fel be himself Both the Signer outpost and the Library of all Knowledge (the god Deneir's home) have been destroyed and abandoned. What happened to the Signers that were supposed to be there is anybody's guess...same with Deneir's followers. There is no doubt, however, that the Vile Hunt have a strong gathering on the plane around that area--though they were not involved in the dream...the only outsiders were you the Butcher, and the prisoners. Faunel is still being held by the Harmonium and is slowly being drained. The evacuation of Faunel has made news, though the reasons are not public knowledge.
That should be it for the situation outside of Sigil...more on the current situation in Sigil in a bit.
Fall of the Library of All Knowledge
The Library of Deneir The Library ofAll Knowledge, the mirrored building at the top of the mountain in the beastlands, was also Denier's home and (sometime in the past--Edward the Keepers home). Currently it is destroyed and Deneir is missing. In the dream the Library was in pristine condition--in reality the glass is broken, hinges rusted, the books are shreds.
1) While Atticus and Gaibe were fighting the Butcher and Kalib, Jason, and Edward were on the airships, Otto spent the entire time gathering texts from the library to Deneir before it was destroyed. Information on breaking the code in the Memory stone may lie therein. 2) I think time is of the essence. We have not heard from Bel & co. for a while...Others may be on the trail and closer than we. While Gaibe and Atticus have made it clear that they don't want Darkwood to have the stone, I think we would all agree that we or Darkwood would be better off having it than say, Bel.
- As far as the Butcher's using of Fel's soul, would there be any other guess that this was
to learn how to "transcribe" his tattoo-code?
- While I do share Atticus' eagerness to explore the Beastlands (It's been decades since I've been their last) I don't think that too much time and effort can be directed to it at this time. Perhaps if we were to go speak to Oghma or Deneir we could pass through and slow our pace to take in information....
BASICALLY: We need to either start looking for the Sorrow stone directly, or find information on how to use the Memory stone and try to find out where the Sorrow stone is using it.
Oghmanytes on the Run
Beastlands Strike Force
Enter the Beastlands Strike Force.
See Also
Operation: The Great Wookie Hunt
