String Mountain Adventures season 2

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Session 8: Starting the Journey to Crazyrock (Spring 816)

• The group is tasked with accompanying their employer to Crazyrock to help deliver a load of metal to the far away Gnomish city. They have two weeks between their last fight before they leave and the group spends some time doing their own things before leaving.

• The trip will take several weeks and the group includes three wagons. During the trip, they come upon an old battlefield where they are attacked by undead. Later they are ambushed at night by bandits. In both cases they fend off the attacks without loss.

Session 9: Starting the Journey to Crazyrock (Spring 816)

• The group is tasked with accompanying their employer to Crazyrock to help deliver a load of metal to the far away Gnomish city. They have two weeks between their last fight before they leave and the group spends some

Session 10: Starting the Journey to Crazyrock (Spring 816)

• The group is tasked with accompanying their employer to Crazyrock to help deliver a load of metal to the far away Gnomish city. They have two weeks between their last fight before they leave and the group spends some

Session 11: Into the Bowels of Crazyrock (Spring 816)

• The group sat undecided on what to do next. With the President deciding against the Alumignome deal and the port jammed up with traffic, we all considered going back home.
• As we walked back to our hotel room with the Mayor, we passed the Nipeete restaurant under construction (The Full Monty) and heard a whisper from inside. Turns out it was a former associate of the Mayor's from the Plateau who works for law enforcement. He was previously in charge of the President's security detail, but was suddenly replaced by outsiders.
• This new contact (can’t remember his name) called us in to chat about the incident in the lower portion of the city. He confirmed our suspicion that the President of Crazyrock is under the control of another due to powerful magic and that something more sinister is afoot.
• We decided to investigate the underground work area, so our contact took us down an elevator. Oratio stayed behind because he was too big to fit. Once there, we found the accident site and, after searching vigorously, discovered the area and two of the workers were enchanted with illusion magic. These workers appeared as normal Gnomes in overalls loading waste materials into crates.
• Once Frederick tipped everyone off about the ruse, Shirtless Wonder decided the best course of action was to fly into a rage, bust into nonsensical song, then attack the nearest opponent with a hand axe. Needless to say we spent the next several rounds engaged in combat. Once engaged, we noticed that one of the Gnomes dropped a bag that released a smokescreen. We all attacked and Mugrin used a magic item to blow the smoke away. Once visible, one of the Gnomes ran away at lightning speed on all fours. It was about that time when Kai pursued the escapee and tripped him up. Rage boy knocked him out with his Axiomatic battle axe and we subdued him. The other escaped.
• Once unconscious, the fat, untalented, STD riddled Dwarf saw through the illusion to reveal a Gree. He stripped him of his items and tied him up. We took the Gree back to the surface and met with the mayor.
• Prior to all this unfolding, we were told by our contact that there's a room in Crazyrock used to house historical technology no longer used on the island. This room interferes with magic and disrupts it. We decided it would be best to have the mayor plan a meeting with the President to discuss a new business arrangement while on a tour of the museum room. Once isolated, we were hoping to disenchant the President and get the truth from him. If lucky, we were hoping to get some of the President's new security team isolated as well so we could disable them.
• By the end of the session, the Mayor had successfully arranged the meeting/tour and we extracted information from our prisoner. He told us that a powerful caster was responsible for all the illusion magic and had commissioned the Grean Navy to take materials from Crazyrock. He believes it to be the Governor of the Republic who is of Iottian descent. He also revealed that there is a fully armed Grean vessel in the port cloaked as a transport ship.
• Armed with this new info, we're faced with deciding our next move. The meeting with the Mayor and President is scheduled for two days from now, so do we wait or do we attempt to board the Grean vessel, do we alert Crazyrock security, or do we come up with something else?

Session 12: Rescuing the President (Spring 816)

• We interrogated the Gree a little longer before Ryder took him away to a holding cell within Crazyrock. We also found out that the other Gree managed to escape and make their way back to the cloaked ship. The group agreed to stay the course and wait until the next day to follow through with the plan to have the mayor meet with the president in the artifact room. We figured it would be too risky to pursue any action on the ship and we didn't want to lose the element of surprise by doing something rash. In other words, doing something impulsive and stupid like a certain ill-tempered, thoughtless, fat dwarf we know. While waiting, the bulk of us went shopping and upgraded some items and Beorn went off to sow his filthy oats.
• Ryder's team agreed to watch the crime scene and later reported that a new team of thieves had made their way down to the explosion site and were now pilfering hardware and machinery to smelt metals and ore. There was a total of six and all were heavily armed. We suggested that Ryder cut power to the elevators so they couldn't easily escape while we carried out our plan in the artifact tower.
• Once rested, we met for breakfast and concocted a plan to free the president's mind from the spell he is under. The meeting went off without a hitch and we walked the steps to the artifact room since everyone was wary of the elevator. Once we made it to the 20th floor, the elevator dinged and out walked the president accompanied by three security officers. One was the elf in the funky helmet, the other was a rogue type with a crossbow, and the third was a female jungle elf mage.
• We all piled into the artifact room where we were in awe of metal columns, giant copper conductors, and a colossal Tesla coil crackling with electricity. There was a Gnome in a full metal suit handling a conductor rod and channeling electricity into the metal grated floor. We were warned that the room is still powered and that it's used mainly as a memorial to past technological achievements, but is also back-up power for Crazyrock.
• The president's entourage remained outside and kept a close eye on us all through the glass observation windows. Immediately the president came out of his stupor and was able to regain his free will. He told us of a coalition of mages plotting to take over and confirmed the Iottian governor of the Grean Empire was behind the magic. We faked laughter and pretended to take a tour to throw the security goons off our scent, but too much time passed and the rogue pulled the door open and pointed a crossbow at us. The bow lit up with energy and a phantom bolt appeared locked and loaded. At that point, the fight was on.
• With magic being cut off and having no means of attack, Frederick pushed the worker Gnome behind cover and hid. The rest of the group engaged the security trio. The fight quickly escalated as psionic powers were ignited, black tentacles appeared to grapple us, bolts were flying, people were transforming into blood sucking bugs, and melee erupted into a battle royal. While this was unfolding, Frederick felt his spectacles overheat and then abruptly exploded in his hands. Blinded by shrapnel and distraught over losing his precious magic item, he ran out into the hallway to escape the madness. It didn't take long for the the warrior guard to over power him and put a glaive to his throat.
• A well-timed acid spittle attack and some solid hits took out the rogue in short order, but the mage was crafty and used Dimension Door to escape our melee specialists. She then turned her attention on the group and grappled everyone with the tentacles. Kai and Oratio managed to escape eventually and cause some more damage, but by then, things had gotten worse.
• While in the artifact room, those who remained managed to find an escape hatch and get the president out of there. The mayor's magic beard gem prevented the mind control from returning and they made their way out the door to the floor below. It was at that time that the mage gathered around the warrior and fallen rouge and used Dimension Door to flee the scene, but not before the warrior cut Frederick and nearly killed him with the glaive.
• The rest of the group dusted themselves off and pursed the mayor and president down the escape hatch. We all reached the door to the 19th floor when the session ended. We will pick up mid-conflict.

Session 13: Losing the President (Spring 816)

• We picked up with the group, minus Beorn, making their way out of the artifact room through a maintenance hatch in the grated floor and getting to the door on the 19th floor. We gathered our wits, drank some healing potions, and proceeded forward. Upon opening the door, we were met with the crackling of energy and the smell of ozone as a lightning bolt came streaking toward us. We scattered as best we could, but most were at least partially damaged in the blast. It was at that point that the security wizard and warrior demanded we bring the president out and release him to them. We refused and, shortly after, the mayor (Gavin) was stabbed in the back by the rogue who snuck up behind us through a window. After the blow, Gavin fell to the floor and tumbled out of harms way. By doing so, we no longer had the president within the confines of the anti-magic field.
• Meanwhile, back in the city district, Beorn was searching for a shrine to Drunbar and was led to the "multi-temple" where an assortment of faithful from many different deities rotate between shifts due to limited real estate in Crazyrock. He met with a follower of Lancin who was manning the shrine at the time. They hit it off and Beorn convinced him to join him in investigating the loud crackling energy noise they both heard nearby.
• Back at the 19th floor showdown, things weren't going well for the group. People were in the middle of another fight when we tried to get out of the same window the rogue snuck into. Using a ladder set by the rogue, (can't remember Hero's character name, sorry...) started to descend but was stopped by the warrior Elf. We were trapped with very few options. It was then Beorn and the cleric arrived. The warrior and Beorn engaged in a stand-off ending in Beorn challenging the warrior to single combat and flying in to a rage. The Elf laughed off the pathetic Dwarf's attempt at valor and face planted him to the floor. He then proceeded up the ladder. Seeing this, Hero brilliantly used his innate abilities to metamorph the ladder into a gelatinous cube which engulfed the warrior. The Elf, being trapped within the cube, was then unable to properly defend against Beorn's renewed attacks. He began whaling away with the flat end of the battle axe in an attempt to beat him into unconsciousness.
• Beorn's pitiful attacks weren't enough to subdue the Elf, so Hero jumped out the window and onto his pet cube that he used as a cushion. With spectacular flair, he bounced off the cube and onto his feet with the harpoon poised to attack. The Elf broke free of the cube's grasp and attempted to attack again, but lost grip of his glaive. Hero then skewered him with the harpoon and brought him down to one knee where he surrendered to us.
• Meanwhile, up one floor where the others were, the president's mind control overtook him now that Gavin was no longer protecting him with the anti-magic gem. The president declared he was leaving us and going with the security group back to his safehouse. While raising his hands in surrender, he dropped a piece of paper and backed out of the room. After he left, a wall of stone appeared in front of the door that blocked us off from Kai and the president. The security group managed to escape with the president and Kai, being outnumbered, returned the crossbow to the rogue before he left.
• After the melee ended, Ryder showed up with reinforcements and offered to take the Elf away for questioning. We asked a few questions first, stripped him of his magic items, then they took him away. Before doing so, Frederick handed Ryder the piece of paper the president dropped and he and Gavin deciphered it to be the security clearance code for the island's defenses. After that, Mugrin had the foresight to hire a runner and have the Elf's security badge, which was also magic, taken down to the docks and placed out of sight in case the others could use it as a tracking device.
• We then devised a plan to meet somewhere relatively safe and discuss a new plan since freeing the president's mind was no longer an option. Gavin said he wanted us to move on to something else, so he asked us to pinpoint the Illusionist who is posing as a generic Gnome and bring him to justice. We all agreed to the course correction and met with a shady broker who knew Gavin and arranged for us to receive an item capable of detecting the Gnome. We paid him 1000 GP for the device and took it back to our rendezvous point. After that, we went to the pawn shop to have all our items identified and sold. We left off in the middle of negotiations with the pawn broker when we stopped for the night. The next step is to meet at our secret location and figure out what to do once we identify the Illusionist.