Post by Bruce on Jul 7, 2017 21:30:55 GMT
GM’s Observations
- This was the final session of the Bloodstone Arc, culminating with the mysterious Grandfather committing all of his remaining resources to the fight against Bloodstone village. In many ways it was a shorter session because of the build up, but we needed to finish it. One of the challenges with this sort of story is that the PCs have been immersed in it for some time and made numerous connections with NPCs, but this is not the whole of the campaign - it’s just one world in it. Hence the conclusion and wrap up needs to be something satisfying whilst still leaving the door open for future adventures.
- And yes, Grandfather’s identity is revealed. Read on …
Part 1 - Final Preparations (Day 31)
- At dawn, the bandit army can be clearly seen by the Bloodstone defenders on the wall. There are ogres, giants, two wyverns and a host of orcs and other creatures - Rook concludes that Grandfather has committed all of his remaining forces to this battle. Overnight, Griffin has been very busy. He has repaired the defences once more and healed the wounded. Given that this appears to be the final battle, Griffin uses Eidolon to empower the defenders’ food supplies, so that they will receive a boost when they eat their breakfast.
- Rook has scouted out the enemy army from a distance in raven form - with Umbral sight he can tell that there are at least two spell casters within their ranks, and one of them appears to be the Dark Priest from the previous night’s graveyard attack (Banak). He cannot see Baron Tranth, but his wayfinding senses tell him that he is held somewhere within the bandit army. Rook withdraws and uses Umbra at each one of the sites where the dead have been buried to ensure that the dead cannot be raised again by the Dark Priest.
- Lady Aelfwynn takes her new position very seriously. With her father gone, she is technically the Baroness of Bloodstone. She remains watchful overnight, talking with Rook about the coming battle. Rook asks Griffin whether he could fabricate a crude Icon to contact Aelfwynn’s father and retrieve him. Griffin says that he will try - he’s never done anything like that before. He asks Aelfwynn for something of her father that he could use to create a link to him. She orders one of her servants to retrieve some tokens of him and Griffin goes to work.
- Two hours after dawn, the defenders are on the wall, waiting. They are relaxed and positive, thanks to the Eidolon-enhanced food. Some are even joking about having to wait for the bandits to make up their mind. Meanwhile, Griffin has managed to locate Baron Tranth using scrying. He is unconscious, so an Icon contact won’t work - but Griffin still believes that he can use the Icon as a marker for a sorcerous teleport. He explains to Aelfwynn that it’s the best he can do, and she decides to convene the unit commanders to finalise the strategy for the final battle.
- The briefing is short and it is very clear that Lady Aelfwynn is in command. She seeks guidance from all of her commanders, and then makes a decision as to what the order of battle will be. Before dismissing them, she asks if there is anything further. Griffin then offers to ‘bless’ the commanders, to strengthen them. He explains that what he does is similar to what was done for Baron Tranth. He will give them strength and vigour to the pinnacle of what they are capable of. Rook politely excuses himself but the others accept. Concentrating, Griffin gently uses Eidolon to strengthen them. This takes a good fifteen minutes, but Griffin puts a considerable amount of effort in. The unit commanders marvel at this. The older men marvel that they have become more youthful and stronger than they were in their prime. Even their equipment has been enhanced, touched by Eidolon. Griffin explains that the ‘gloves are off’.
- Lady Aelfwynn dismisses the commanders back to their posts and directs Griffin to try to retrieve her father. He uses the crude Icon to establish a link, then uses sorcery to successfully retrieve him. Geoffrey Tranth is drugged and in a deep slumber, but he is alive. Lady Aelfwynn is visibly relieved - she orders four men to take her father to his quarters and watch over him, and then directs Rook and Griffin to commence the next part of the battle plan.
Part 2 - Final Battle (Day 31)
- Rook and Griffin grimly survey the enemy army. They can’t see any reason not to cut loose and end this, so Griffin changes the weather, generating dark storm-clouds overhead. Within minutes a terrible icy wind comes howling from the north, and lightning flashes from above. The storm quickly intensifies. While the defenders huddle behind the walls, Griffin directs the full fury of the storm against the enemy. They can see very little as to what is happening on the ground, but there are many lightning strikes and the winds are tornado force. When Griffin has done enough to generate a ‘perfect storm’, Rook decides to take control. Using Gorgorin (which is linked to Umbra) and his Umbra Mastery powers, he turns the storm into a devastating earth-shattering typhoon, tearing up huge sections of the earth in the vicinity of the enemy ranks and ripping them asunder.
- Griffin rests as Rook directs more and more power into the storm. This continues for a terrible hour, during which the sky is almost as dark as night. Suddenly there are fiery blooms lighting up the clouds directly above the Bloodstone village. Griffin has barely enough time to look up before a meteor swarm lands like an huge artillery barrage, killing many with the concussion wave and leaving huge moonscape-like craters across the village. The walls escape serious damage, but many of the homesteads are completely destroyed.
- With their concentration broken, the great storm quickly breaks apart. Great pieces of the hillside and fields simply fall to the ground like colossal bricks, shaking the ground. With the smoke clearing, the bandit army marches forward - they are much diminished, having lost many of their orcish troops but the ogres, giants and wyvern forces still seem to be largely intact, protected from the worst of the storm by unseen magics.
- As the enemy marches, Rook and Griffin continue to test the strength of the enemy spell casters. They deduce that there are two remaining - a powerful sorcerer (Knellict) and the Dark Priest (Banak) who escaped the previous night - and wait for the enemy to move closer. While they wait, an unexpected ally offers assistance. The Son of Saul has woken from his deep sleep (Griffin’s concentration has been focussed on other spells) and he offers to join the Bloodstone defenders if Rook or Griffin will take him elsewhere on the Stair. Rook and Griffin agree to this.
- The final battle takes a considerable length of time over the course of the day. The giants and ogres perform multiple attacks against the walls, often reinforced by sorcery and witchcraft, but each time the defenders throw them back. A fireball cast by Knellict sets the main gates on fire, but it takes considerable time for the Eidolon-enhanced wood to crumble and collapse, and the next group of ogres which attempt to rush the gates are met by a wall of dwarven soldiers, reinforced by Stephan’s spearmen. Knellict also opens sorcerous gates inside the Bloodstone perimeter, into which Grandfather sends some of his best warriors to slay, sabotage and demoralise. During one of these forays, Rook comes face to face with Grandfather himself, a man whose face and body is mostly covered in bandages, concealing his face and identity. Grandfather is very tricky, and despite Rook’s best efforts to finish the battle quickly, his quarry escapes through another portal before Rook can pursue.
- Saulat, the Son of Saul, keeps his word. He does battle against both of the wyverns and slays both, and he holds his section of the wall along with Lady Aelfwynn during multiple forays. The Dark Priest Banak summons up more demons to attempt to break the siege, but these efforts are also unsuccessful.
- Outside the walls, the orcish boar riders, now significantly diminished in number by the terrible storms, do battle against the Royal Dragoons and Valon’s centaurs, but they are quickly overpowered. Griffin tries to tip the tide of the battle by singling out the enemy sorcerer (Knellict) for a wizard’s duel. He thinks this potentially unwise, as any master sorcerer in the Legendary Realm is likely to be formidable, but he figures that if he cannot defeat him then at least he should be able to exhaust him. Rook also seeks Aelfwynn’s leave to tackle the Dark Priest directly, but Aelfwynn is firm with him that he should remain at his post until Griffin returns.
- The battle between Knellict and Griffin is flashy, to say the least. Knellict is an archmage with a powerful array of combat spells but direct assaults on Griffin prove ineffective as Griffin’s defensive spells (reinforced with Eidolon) are far more potent. Once Griffin has taken his measure, he uses Mental Invisibility (again one of his favourite spells) to hide himself amongst the defenders and then attack using his favourite Force Push (at Dominant Rank Psyche level) to crush Knellict’s defences and flatten him in one strike.
- It is then Rooks turn to strike at Banak. However, it is a trap. Grandfather expected Rook to attack the Dark Priest directly and has been lying in wait in the shielding formation. Grant is stabbed and poisoned, but it is hard to slow down an Umbra Master of Rook’s calibre. Fighting in the thick of the enemy ranks, he switches to pursue Grandfather, and despite Banak’s interference and the numerous bodies that interpose between him and his target, Rook manages to close the distance.
- Just when Rook is sure that he has Grandfather, the bastard ‘ports away again - but Rook is better prepared, having seen the trick once before. He instinctively shifts into raven form and makes a run for the teleportation shadow, ending up on the battlements on the right flank along with Saulat and Lady Aelfwynn.
- In the confusion that follows, Grandfather manages to blind Saulat with a strange powder and grab Aelfwynn, taking her hostage. (GM’s note - yes, cheesy, but we wanted a reasonable ‘last stand’ for Grandfather) With a poison-tipped dagger to her throat and the battle still raging around, Grant decides to be cautious and not make any sudden moves. Looking Grandfather directly in the eyes, Rook recognises who this is. The eyes are that of Bastiano!!! This is clearly not Bastiano the Lord of Gossamer, but the Legendary Realm’s version of him.
- Suddenly the Grandfather’s eyes glaze a little. Rook takes the opportunity and fires his wrist-crossbow, knocking Grandfather’s blade out of the way and then he is on him. (Griffin has used a Sleep spell on Grandfather, which caused him momentary distraction) Grandfather fights back with a thin-bladed short sword and dagger, but Rook fights with Gorgorin. Rook is the better warrior and he is many times stronger than Grandfather. Grandfather literally runs out of room to fight on the battlements and Rook finally slams him into the wall, knocking him out. In the meantime, Lady Aelfwynn has sustained the slightest of cuts to her neck but Griffin quickly cleanses the wound and purges the poison from her system, saving her life.
- With Grandfather captured, the Dark Priest assumes command of what is left of the bandit army. This new phase of the battle takes an even bloodier toll, with the fallen on both sides being quickly reanimated. The composition of the bandit army has changed as well - now the Bloodstone defenders face reanimated ogres, rock giants, undead orcs and summoned demons. Worse, as Bloodstone defenders are slain, they rise again on Banak’s side, forcing the defenders to dismember their own fallen before they can turn. The battle continues for some time - with Griffin, Rook, Saulat, Aelfwynn, Gailan and others fighting in the front lines. Griffin finds that using Eidolon to ‘restore the natural order’ does cause some of the undead to collapse or retreat temporarily, but he finds killing them more effective. Rook continues to look for a way to deal with Banak directly, and after many hours he is at last presented with an opportunity. He manages to shoot the Dark Priest with Gorgorin in bow-form. The Umbra-infused black arrow strikes the Dark Priest down and this proves the final ‘nail in the coffin’ for the bandit army. The undead collapse. The demons shriek and are pulled back into the nether realms where they came from. The few that remain attempt to flee and are quickly run down by the Royal Dragoons and Valon’s centaurs.
- The battle has taken all day, and the losses are heavier than any of the previous confrontations, but it is finally over. The bandits are no more. The Bloodstone forces are victorious.
Part 3 - Aftermath (Day 32-33)
- That night everyone is too tired to celebrate. People sleep. Next morning, the Bloodstone villagers bury their dead and give thanks to St Sollars for their deliverance.
- Saulat helps the villagers with some of their repairs. Rook thanks him for his help. Saulat wants to leave when possible, and Rook promises that they will take him with them.
- Baron Tranth recovers quickly and reasserts himself.
- Lady Aelfwynn has a private word with Ethan (Griffin). She thanks him, and asks him to stay. When Ethan says that he will leave but then return, she asks if she can accompany him. Ethan is rather astonished by this - she explains that he’s changed things in the valley. When Ethan (the other Ethan) once asked her to come with him, she couldn’t do so. Her father was an old man who had recently lost his son (who died at the Ford of Goliad against the Witch King) and she couldn’t simply desert him. But Ethan used his powers to restore her father’s vigour - he will now be an effective leader in the valley for another twenty years or more. Griffin thinks kindly of this and says that he will return. She accepts this and offers him a Bloodstone gemstone to remember the town that he helped save. He offers her an Icon, explains how to use it and says that if she needs him, he will be there.
- The centaurs decide to depart for their own village, but the dwarves and halflings offer to stay for a few more days.
- On the last night people openly say that the Lost Princes have returned. Several people ask if Rook is Prince Grant, and Griffin is Prince Ethan and neither deny it. Captain Olric of the Royal Dragoons offers them an escort to wherever they will travel next. Grant explains that he will leave from Bloodstone and there is no need. Ethan however chips in and says that he will pay them to stay in Bloodstone, and he promises to return with gold. This pleases Olric.
- Rook enjoys his last night in Bloodstone with Raquel and Carlotta. Ethan spends time with Olric, Gailan and Vikos (the centaur storyteller).
- The next morning, Rook leaves advice for Baron Tranth to hire a good sorcerer, as the town appears to need one. Then Rook uses his Mastery of the Grand Stair to create a new Door in the village of Bloodstone, connecting to a blank Door on the Home Landing that he is familiar with. Taking Saulat and Grandfather with them, they leave.
- Rook takes Saulat to a realm in which men are an oppressed and technologically inferior minority and they need someone strong and powerful to help them. Saulat considers their agreement upheld, and he proudly leaves them to face this new challenge. As for Grandfather, they consider it possible that this person is a servant of Lord Bastiano, so Ethan takes time to wipe his memories of what happened, and then they deposit him into a high tech low magic world.
- The two friends return to Realm 0. Back at Westgate, they shower and change into fresh, comfortable clothes, then head down to the Tipsy Elephant for a drink. Grant and Ethan agree that their adventure was fun. Grant says that he will return to Marindar for a bit, but he has some other ideas of things that he wants to do. He suggests that Ethan talk to Abbie, but if there is nothing happening there, maybe Ethan should head back to the Legendary Realm (he hints strongly). Putting down his beer, Ethan shows Grant the gemstone that Aelfwynn gave him. It is pretty but Ethan explains that he’s pretty sure that the gemstone could be used to store sorcerous energies, which means that the Bloodstone mines isn’t just useful for improving the Barony’s income. Rook is a little skeptical - he thinks that Ethan is looking for another reason to go back and see Aelfwynn. He asks Ethan what he would use these gemstones that can store sorcerous energy for. Ethan isn’t sure, but he is determined to give it some thought.
- At the end of their beer, Grant and Ethan return to Westgate. Grant says goodbye and then heads to Marindar. Ethan makes himself a cup of tea, and then takes out his Icon of Abbie to initiate a contact.
…. and that’s where we leave Session 114. This concludes the Bloodstone story arc.
- This was the final session of the Bloodstone Arc, culminating with the mysterious Grandfather committing all of his remaining resources to the fight against Bloodstone village. In many ways it was a shorter session because of the build up, but we needed to finish it. One of the challenges with this sort of story is that the PCs have been immersed in it for some time and made numerous connections with NPCs, but this is not the whole of the campaign - it’s just one world in it. Hence the conclusion and wrap up needs to be something satisfying whilst still leaving the door open for future adventures.
- And yes, Grandfather’s identity is revealed. Read on …
Part 1 - Final Preparations (Day 31)
- At dawn, the bandit army can be clearly seen by the Bloodstone defenders on the wall. There are ogres, giants, two wyverns and a host of orcs and other creatures - Rook concludes that Grandfather has committed all of his remaining forces to this battle. Overnight, Griffin has been very busy. He has repaired the defences once more and healed the wounded. Given that this appears to be the final battle, Griffin uses Eidolon to empower the defenders’ food supplies, so that they will receive a boost when they eat their breakfast.
- Rook has scouted out the enemy army from a distance in raven form - with Umbral sight he can tell that there are at least two spell casters within their ranks, and one of them appears to be the Dark Priest from the previous night’s graveyard attack (Banak). He cannot see Baron Tranth, but his wayfinding senses tell him that he is held somewhere within the bandit army. Rook withdraws and uses Umbra at each one of the sites where the dead have been buried to ensure that the dead cannot be raised again by the Dark Priest.
- Lady Aelfwynn takes her new position very seriously. With her father gone, she is technically the Baroness of Bloodstone. She remains watchful overnight, talking with Rook about the coming battle. Rook asks Griffin whether he could fabricate a crude Icon to contact Aelfwynn’s father and retrieve him. Griffin says that he will try - he’s never done anything like that before. He asks Aelfwynn for something of her father that he could use to create a link to him. She orders one of her servants to retrieve some tokens of him and Griffin goes to work.
- Two hours after dawn, the defenders are on the wall, waiting. They are relaxed and positive, thanks to the Eidolon-enhanced food. Some are even joking about having to wait for the bandits to make up their mind. Meanwhile, Griffin has managed to locate Baron Tranth using scrying. He is unconscious, so an Icon contact won’t work - but Griffin still believes that he can use the Icon as a marker for a sorcerous teleport. He explains to Aelfwynn that it’s the best he can do, and she decides to convene the unit commanders to finalise the strategy for the final battle.
- The briefing is short and it is very clear that Lady Aelfwynn is in command. She seeks guidance from all of her commanders, and then makes a decision as to what the order of battle will be. Before dismissing them, she asks if there is anything further. Griffin then offers to ‘bless’ the commanders, to strengthen them. He explains that what he does is similar to what was done for Baron Tranth. He will give them strength and vigour to the pinnacle of what they are capable of. Rook politely excuses himself but the others accept. Concentrating, Griffin gently uses Eidolon to strengthen them. This takes a good fifteen minutes, but Griffin puts a considerable amount of effort in. The unit commanders marvel at this. The older men marvel that they have become more youthful and stronger than they were in their prime. Even their equipment has been enhanced, touched by Eidolon. Griffin explains that the ‘gloves are off’.
- Lady Aelfwynn dismisses the commanders back to their posts and directs Griffin to try to retrieve her father. He uses the crude Icon to establish a link, then uses sorcery to successfully retrieve him. Geoffrey Tranth is drugged and in a deep slumber, but he is alive. Lady Aelfwynn is visibly relieved - she orders four men to take her father to his quarters and watch over him, and then directs Rook and Griffin to commence the next part of the battle plan.
Part 2 - Final Battle (Day 31)
- Rook and Griffin grimly survey the enemy army. They can’t see any reason not to cut loose and end this, so Griffin changes the weather, generating dark storm-clouds overhead. Within minutes a terrible icy wind comes howling from the north, and lightning flashes from above. The storm quickly intensifies. While the defenders huddle behind the walls, Griffin directs the full fury of the storm against the enemy. They can see very little as to what is happening on the ground, but there are many lightning strikes and the winds are tornado force. When Griffin has done enough to generate a ‘perfect storm’, Rook decides to take control. Using Gorgorin (which is linked to Umbra) and his Umbra Mastery powers, he turns the storm into a devastating earth-shattering typhoon, tearing up huge sections of the earth in the vicinity of the enemy ranks and ripping them asunder.
- Griffin rests as Rook directs more and more power into the storm. This continues for a terrible hour, during which the sky is almost as dark as night. Suddenly there are fiery blooms lighting up the clouds directly above the Bloodstone village. Griffin has barely enough time to look up before a meteor swarm lands like an huge artillery barrage, killing many with the concussion wave and leaving huge moonscape-like craters across the village. The walls escape serious damage, but many of the homesteads are completely destroyed.
- With their concentration broken, the great storm quickly breaks apart. Great pieces of the hillside and fields simply fall to the ground like colossal bricks, shaking the ground. With the smoke clearing, the bandit army marches forward - they are much diminished, having lost many of their orcish troops but the ogres, giants and wyvern forces still seem to be largely intact, protected from the worst of the storm by unseen magics.
- As the enemy marches, Rook and Griffin continue to test the strength of the enemy spell casters. They deduce that there are two remaining - a powerful sorcerer (Knellict) and the Dark Priest (Banak) who escaped the previous night - and wait for the enemy to move closer. While they wait, an unexpected ally offers assistance. The Son of Saul has woken from his deep sleep (Griffin’s concentration has been focussed on other spells) and he offers to join the Bloodstone defenders if Rook or Griffin will take him elsewhere on the Stair. Rook and Griffin agree to this.
- The final battle takes a considerable length of time over the course of the day. The giants and ogres perform multiple attacks against the walls, often reinforced by sorcery and witchcraft, but each time the defenders throw them back. A fireball cast by Knellict sets the main gates on fire, but it takes considerable time for the Eidolon-enhanced wood to crumble and collapse, and the next group of ogres which attempt to rush the gates are met by a wall of dwarven soldiers, reinforced by Stephan’s spearmen. Knellict also opens sorcerous gates inside the Bloodstone perimeter, into which Grandfather sends some of his best warriors to slay, sabotage and demoralise. During one of these forays, Rook comes face to face with Grandfather himself, a man whose face and body is mostly covered in bandages, concealing his face and identity. Grandfather is very tricky, and despite Rook’s best efforts to finish the battle quickly, his quarry escapes through another portal before Rook can pursue.
- Saulat, the Son of Saul, keeps his word. He does battle against both of the wyverns and slays both, and he holds his section of the wall along with Lady Aelfwynn during multiple forays. The Dark Priest Banak summons up more demons to attempt to break the siege, but these efforts are also unsuccessful.
- Outside the walls, the orcish boar riders, now significantly diminished in number by the terrible storms, do battle against the Royal Dragoons and Valon’s centaurs, but they are quickly overpowered. Griffin tries to tip the tide of the battle by singling out the enemy sorcerer (Knellict) for a wizard’s duel. He thinks this potentially unwise, as any master sorcerer in the Legendary Realm is likely to be formidable, but he figures that if he cannot defeat him then at least he should be able to exhaust him. Rook also seeks Aelfwynn’s leave to tackle the Dark Priest directly, but Aelfwynn is firm with him that he should remain at his post until Griffin returns.
- The battle between Knellict and Griffin is flashy, to say the least. Knellict is an archmage with a powerful array of combat spells but direct assaults on Griffin prove ineffective as Griffin’s defensive spells (reinforced with Eidolon) are far more potent. Once Griffin has taken his measure, he uses Mental Invisibility (again one of his favourite spells) to hide himself amongst the defenders and then attack using his favourite Force Push (at Dominant Rank Psyche level) to crush Knellict’s defences and flatten him in one strike.
- It is then Rooks turn to strike at Banak. However, it is a trap. Grandfather expected Rook to attack the Dark Priest directly and has been lying in wait in the shielding formation. Grant is stabbed and poisoned, but it is hard to slow down an Umbra Master of Rook’s calibre. Fighting in the thick of the enemy ranks, he switches to pursue Grandfather, and despite Banak’s interference and the numerous bodies that interpose between him and his target, Rook manages to close the distance.
- Just when Rook is sure that he has Grandfather, the bastard ‘ports away again - but Rook is better prepared, having seen the trick once before. He instinctively shifts into raven form and makes a run for the teleportation shadow, ending up on the battlements on the right flank along with Saulat and Lady Aelfwynn.
- In the confusion that follows, Grandfather manages to blind Saulat with a strange powder and grab Aelfwynn, taking her hostage. (GM’s note - yes, cheesy, but we wanted a reasonable ‘last stand’ for Grandfather) With a poison-tipped dagger to her throat and the battle still raging around, Grant decides to be cautious and not make any sudden moves. Looking Grandfather directly in the eyes, Rook recognises who this is. The eyes are that of Bastiano!!! This is clearly not Bastiano the Lord of Gossamer, but the Legendary Realm’s version of him.
- Suddenly the Grandfather’s eyes glaze a little. Rook takes the opportunity and fires his wrist-crossbow, knocking Grandfather’s blade out of the way and then he is on him. (Griffin has used a Sleep spell on Grandfather, which caused him momentary distraction) Grandfather fights back with a thin-bladed short sword and dagger, but Rook fights with Gorgorin. Rook is the better warrior and he is many times stronger than Grandfather. Grandfather literally runs out of room to fight on the battlements and Rook finally slams him into the wall, knocking him out. In the meantime, Lady Aelfwynn has sustained the slightest of cuts to her neck but Griffin quickly cleanses the wound and purges the poison from her system, saving her life.
- With Grandfather captured, the Dark Priest assumes command of what is left of the bandit army. This new phase of the battle takes an even bloodier toll, with the fallen on both sides being quickly reanimated. The composition of the bandit army has changed as well - now the Bloodstone defenders face reanimated ogres, rock giants, undead orcs and summoned demons. Worse, as Bloodstone defenders are slain, they rise again on Banak’s side, forcing the defenders to dismember their own fallen before they can turn. The battle continues for some time - with Griffin, Rook, Saulat, Aelfwynn, Gailan and others fighting in the front lines. Griffin finds that using Eidolon to ‘restore the natural order’ does cause some of the undead to collapse or retreat temporarily, but he finds killing them more effective. Rook continues to look for a way to deal with Banak directly, and after many hours he is at last presented with an opportunity. He manages to shoot the Dark Priest with Gorgorin in bow-form. The Umbra-infused black arrow strikes the Dark Priest down and this proves the final ‘nail in the coffin’ for the bandit army. The undead collapse. The demons shriek and are pulled back into the nether realms where they came from. The few that remain attempt to flee and are quickly run down by the Royal Dragoons and Valon’s centaurs.
- The battle has taken all day, and the losses are heavier than any of the previous confrontations, but it is finally over. The bandits are no more. The Bloodstone forces are victorious.
Part 3 - Aftermath (Day 32-33)
- That night everyone is too tired to celebrate. People sleep. Next morning, the Bloodstone villagers bury their dead and give thanks to St Sollars for their deliverance.
- Saulat helps the villagers with some of their repairs. Rook thanks him for his help. Saulat wants to leave when possible, and Rook promises that they will take him with them.
- Baron Tranth recovers quickly and reasserts himself.
- Lady Aelfwynn has a private word with Ethan (Griffin). She thanks him, and asks him to stay. When Ethan says that he will leave but then return, she asks if she can accompany him. Ethan is rather astonished by this - she explains that he’s changed things in the valley. When Ethan (the other Ethan) once asked her to come with him, she couldn’t do so. Her father was an old man who had recently lost his son (who died at the Ford of Goliad against the Witch King) and she couldn’t simply desert him. But Ethan used his powers to restore her father’s vigour - he will now be an effective leader in the valley for another twenty years or more. Griffin thinks kindly of this and says that he will return. She accepts this and offers him a Bloodstone gemstone to remember the town that he helped save. He offers her an Icon, explains how to use it and says that if she needs him, he will be there.
- The centaurs decide to depart for their own village, but the dwarves and halflings offer to stay for a few more days.
- On the last night people openly say that the Lost Princes have returned. Several people ask if Rook is Prince Grant, and Griffin is Prince Ethan and neither deny it. Captain Olric of the Royal Dragoons offers them an escort to wherever they will travel next. Grant explains that he will leave from Bloodstone and there is no need. Ethan however chips in and says that he will pay them to stay in Bloodstone, and he promises to return with gold. This pleases Olric.
- Rook enjoys his last night in Bloodstone with Raquel and Carlotta. Ethan spends time with Olric, Gailan and Vikos (the centaur storyteller).
- The next morning, Rook leaves advice for Baron Tranth to hire a good sorcerer, as the town appears to need one. Then Rook uses his Mastery of the Grand Stair to create a new Door in the village of Bloodstone, connecting to a blank Door on the Home Landing that he is familiar with. Taking Saulat and Grandfather with them, they leave.
- Rook takes Saulat to a realm in which men are an oppressed and technologically inferior minority and they need someone strong and powerful to help them. Saulat considers their agreement upheld, and he proudly leaves them to face this new challenge. As for Grandfather, they consider it possible that this person is a servant of Lord Bastiano, so Ethan takes time to wipe his memories of what happened, and then they deposit him into a high tech low magic world.
- The two friends return to Realm 0. Back at Westgate, they shower and change into fresh, comfortable clothes, then head down to the Tipsy Elephant for a drink. Grant and Ethan agree that their adventure was fun. Grant says that he will return to Marindar for a bit, but he has some other ideas of things that he wants to do. He suggests that Ethan talk to Abbie, but if there is nothing happening there, maybe Ethan should head back to the Legendary Realm (he hints strongly). Putting down his beer, Ethan shows Grant the gemstone that Aelfwynn gave him. It is pretty but Ethan explains that he’s pretty sure that the gemstone could be used to store sorcerous energies, which means that the Bloodstone mines isn’t just useful for improving the Barony’s income. Rook is a little skeptical - he thinks that Ethan is looking for another reason to go back and see Aelfwynn. He asks Ethan what he would use these gemstones that can store sorcerous energy for. Ethan isn’t sure, but he is determined to give it some thought.
- At the end of their beer, Grant and Ethan return to Westgate. Grant says goodbye and then heads to Marindar. Ethan makes himself a cup of tea, and then takes out his Icon of Abbie to initiate a contact.
…. and that’s where we leave Session 114. This concludes the Bloodstone story arc.