Tantris - Session 5

Game Date 6/13/09

Characters:
Rolan Daan (Bryan) - Elf Rogue
Rhogar Burnscale (Rick) - Dragonborn Fighter
Nara Cavell (Matt) - Human Cleric of Pelor

Nara's Journal:

Glorious day! The sun shines once again, and I can feel the love of Pelor in the air.

Unfortunatlely this will have to be a quick journal entry, as I am gearing up for war. Nevertheless I must record our success, in case I am killed in the upcoming battle.

Where to begin... I was walking by a house, and felt a strange compulsion to enter. It's not like me to enter random houses, but I felt that I had to. I was greeted by a man named Cyon. He had a... "presence" that I can not describe, only to say that I trusted him much more quickly than I should ever trust a stranger. Cyon requested a favor. He gave me a black coin which I was to deliver to the high priest of Coyn. He told me that the priest would know what it meant. The message would not be well received, but I would come to no harm. I could not have told you why at the time, but I accepted the task.

After the delivery, I found out what it meant - it was a combat challenge. I was to face Coyn's high priest at dawn. Rolan, Rhogar, and I returned to Rolan's dwelling to get some rest, where we once again encountered Cyon. Cyon - whom I believe to be an avatar of Coyn Himself - explained that the high priest was not in Coyn's favor, and that we would have Coyn's blessing in battle. He had already blessed Rolan with an enchanted bastard sword, and he had given Rhogar three magic coins... well, "given" in that Rhogar won them in an arm wrestling contest against someone who didn't even remember the event later... well, we didn't figure any of this out until it was over...

But I digress. The following morning we faced the high priest in battle. Per Cyon's advice, I taunted him until he allowed all three of us to face him. The priest's magic was surprisingly weak, and our attacks seemed enhanced by divine favor. In the end it was Rhogar who delivered the killing blow, cleaving the priest in twain.

As a reward, we were allowed to make one decree that the Temple of Coyn had to follow. And we were required to name the new High Priest of Coyn. We had until the end of the day to make our decision. After much deliberation, and seeking advice from the acting high priest Dupree, we chose Morok (who had announced us at the duel) as the new High Priest. For our decree, we had my temple's High Priest Astor Josel and one of our paladins released from Coyn's prison.

We have dealt a great blow to the corruption in the Temple of Coyn. I hope their new leadership remains virtuous.

I checked in with my own temple, and my companions walked the streets listening for rumors. They discovered that Lord De Rais was looking for us. He wasn't even subtle about it; he had posted reward offers all over the city. After checking in with my temple one more time, we decided to confront De Rais ourselves, in his own home.

De Rais was... repentant? No, I think it's better to say he was just "done". He had finished setting his evil plans in motion, and now he just wanted things to be over. He showed us a goblet made out of a child, which made me quite nauseous. He admitted his crimes, and gave us a signed confession for us to deliver to authorities. He explained some of his motivations, telling us a story of love lost or some such... but nothing in his past could excuse his actions of late. Nevertheless, we didn't attack him even when he drew his rapier.

...until he thrust the rapier into Rhogar. Then we fought back with a vengeance. It was a tough battle, and Rhogar especially took a lot of punishment. When we finally had him defeated, I finished him off with Sacred Flame.

Afterwards, the sun came out again, and all felt right with the world. Rolan's mysterious sword vanished, leaving only a coin in its place.

We took the evidence back to High Priest Josel, and he had me deliver it to the Temple of Coyn. They were very appreciative, and gave us a free round at their gaming tables. None of us won anything. I would have donated my winnings to Pelor anyway.

We decided to celebrate our victory, and I followed my companions to their favorite pub. But we found that the bars were empty. We soon found out that war has been declared, and all citizens are required to report for duty placement.

In other news, my language studies have been coming along nicely. I am now close to fluent in the Giant, Goblin, and Abyssal languages.

OOC:
Climax! And Level! The game had a late start, so we didn't get to play as long as usual. But that didn't matter, because we managed to cram in some important events, and wrap up a lot of the current storyline. The "war" hook for next session is going to be interesting.

XP Rewards:
200 each for general gameplay, and 50-ish each for our individual contributions. We each reached level 2.
Rhogar - 255 XP (200+55) - Total XP now 1014
Rolan - 250 XP (200+50) - Total XP now 1018
Nara - 255 XP (200+55) - Total XP now 1038