January 24 Game Notes

Gameplay begins with the party on horseback riding towards the capital city of Illrea and the pass. As they approach the Illrean capital, they see very few people, wagons, or carts on the road. Within a few hundred yards of the city, however, they are surprised to see a cart riding full speed out of town, only to have the driver of the cart felled by arrows. Virgil approaches the cart and sees the dead man, along with a cart full of swag. Guards from the city, wearing chain mail that has been painted black (in an effort, it would seem, to emulate the look of the Illrean Rangers), arrive, identify the man as a looter, and tell the party that none are allowed in the city by order of the King of Illrea. Although bearing the authority to do so, the party chooses not to enter the city.

The boys make their way to the Pass, only to find the soldiers in complete disarray (think of the Continental Army in New Brunswick during the early stages of the American Revolution). Alarmed at what they are seeing, the party makes its way to the command tent, finding Lt. Halverson, a mid-ranking officer stationed in the command tent. The intoxicated Halverson indicates that Dravick (the new leader of the Illrean Rangers and the man the party came to see to deliver the news that Vain is alive) is the ultimate authority at the pass, and that he can be found in his tent. The boys head to Dravick’s tent, where they find him unconcerned with the lack of discipline at the camp, stating that the pass has not been attacked, and he does not anticipate that it will be anytime soon. He is unrepentant towards what the party views as his poor supervision of the troops, and goes so far as to suggest that if the party does not leave him to his work as he sees fit, he will have the boys “disappeared” as is the (seldom-used) custom of the Illrean Rangers’ black ops division. This nearly incites a fight, but the party thinks the better of it as Dravick is a senior member of the War Council, and on an equal level of authority with Guy, Virgil, and General Braddock.

The party relieves Dravick of his command pending a vote from the council, and places Lt. Halverson in charge, promoting him to captain and charging him with the task of returning order and combat ready-ness to the troops stationed at the pass. Meanwhile, the boys find an Illrean Ranger scout and ask him to spread the message among the Rangers that Vain is alive and what his whereabouts are. The Ranger agrees, and rides off.

Later, Virgil surprises Dravick with a Charm Person spell which allows him to question Dravick at length about his attitudes and actions in the war effort. Dravick is more or less compliant with Virgil’s questions, though he will not reveal critical details in the presence of the other party members, which leads the others to wait outside and contact the other members of the War Council with Virgil’s communicators. While Virgil and Dravick are alone (although the party sees and hears all things Virgil does through the benefits of Abbott Teris’ spell circle), Virgil’s questioning leads him to suspect that Dravick is an agent for the other side. By intimating that he is eager to switch sides himself (he presents the attitude that the war is a lost cause for the allies), Virgil is able to obtain concrete proof that Dravick is a spy. Communicating this new information to the War Council, Dravick is removed from his command and from the War Council, and sentenced to die as a traitor.

However, seeing an opportunity, the Council suggests that Dravick die as a martyr to the war effort, compelling the troops to fight for their former fallen commander. Virgil and Floyd concoct a plan disguise themselves as goblins and kill Dravick after Virgil and Dravick walk through camp publicly as friends (this last part is important as the troops had witnessed the original falling out between Dravick and the party).

That night, however, before the party’s plan can be put into action, Dravick is visited in his tent by a group of elite Rangers (the black ops) who bring a horribly disfigured body on a stretcher, but alive. The figure greets Dravick, who reacts with terror, and the elite Rangers bring in a Sphere of Annihilation, into which they throw the unfortunate former commander. The figure identifies himself as Vain to the party, and intimates that he will be returning to Luthia to c0nvalesce, his wounds being so terrible that magical healing cannot fix them.

After observing Halverson’s efforts to whip the troops at the Pass into shape, the party, satisfied, leaves and accompanies Vain to Luthia. Upon arriving in Luthia, they are greeted by a young man who is the spitting image of Vain, who identifies himself as Appollonus, and is in actuality, the re-incarnated Gorom. As Vain wishes his return to be kept under wraps until such time as he is ready to assume command, he suggests that Apollonus take Dravick’s place on the war council, an appointment with which the party concurs.

The party pays a visit to Erronius, the primary Church liason in Luthia to the war effort. They ask Erronius for more details on the End of Days prophesy, which Erronius gives them in full, although translated and roughly paraphrased. Unfortunately, the prophesy does not point to any good news, even an “and then,” but merely speaks of the fall of the church based upon a massive invasion from the east which is led by the Warlord (Graxx). Erronius elaborates that due to this prophesy, Benedict has relocated to Dreia, as he believes that this will be where he is most needed when the prophesy comes to full fruition.

The party then visits Revan, where they speak to him about the deceased Seeker Merrill, who’s focus was Illithids, curious to know if any of Merrill’s notes on the subject had survived. Revan indicates that they had, but that the only person who would have access to them would be Garam, who is still in hiding from the Fist of Set. The party attempts to suss out where Garam would be hiding from the Fist of Set, and determine that the place he would consider them least likely to search for him would be the Temple of Set in Issa. The party calls Garam on his communicator, asking him to send a sign if he is there, which he does. The party then considers a plan to retrieve Garam by teleporting there to get him, but even with the help of other arcane spellcasters, the likelihood of a successful teleport into the temple without Virgil having ever seen it is too much. The boys then send Garam a message explaining their situation and asking for his assistance, although they do not expect him to respond, as he has been unresponsive for so long. They are therefore very surprised when he does arrive, electing to help the group find the answers to their questions.

The party considers the motivations that the goblins would have for the war, which leads Garam to reveal The Central Prophesy, or the key prophesy concerning the children born in the Year of the Ram, specifically, the year that the twelve (Floyd, Guy, Virgil, Zarin, Eric, Delphin, Brix, Graxx, Luth, Doogal, and the elf twins) were born. The Central Prophesy states that the birth of the twelve in the Year of the Ram points to a countdown in which a new god will ascend from the mortal realm, and the death of one born during the Year of the Ram (though not necessarily of the twelve, which brings several people back into play, notably Visgoth, Harves Raeth, the grandmother of the elf twins, and more). This concurs with what Garam knows about Illithids in that they believe that their chief deity, who is not fully vested with the powers of a god, is buried in a cavern somewhere below the Cracked Flagon. Furthermore, it corroborates the story of Visgoth, who seemed to be interested acquiring a full Existence Key (which he told the party were pieces of his soul) in order to enter the upper planes and challenge the gods directly – where, if victorious, he could take the place of the one he were to fell. This creates a situation in which the boys are forced to consider the many possibilities of those who might be aware of the Central Prophesy, and who might be vying for a spot at godhood (a selection of the party even considers candidacy for themselves).

Among the potential candidates would be Moloch, who is still quarantined in the capital of the Meliotic Empire along with his subjects. The scenario of Moloch ascending to godhood prompts Floyd to ask Scaramouche to go and petition his fellow good dragons in an effort to coerce them to join the fight. Scaramouche contends that the revelation of good dragons will certainly bring out the bad as well, but he will petition them nonetheless in an effort to see if the metallics will at least lend their knowledge and expertise to the party. Meanwhile, the party contacts Abbott Teris to ask him why he had not shared the Central Prophesy with them, though he explains that he did not out of fear that it would create a negative attitude in the boys - that they would either eschew their heroic responsibilities or possibly head down a path towards irrevocable evil.

In light of these many considerations, and the implications it has for the war and the future of the continent, the party contemplates its next move.