Session Summary - 06/20/2003


After much delay and screwing around with trying to save Rusteen's homeworld (again), the party has finally been completely reunited and is ready to once more go to work for Augustus and (hopefully) wander the Outer Planes.

Once the party had arrived at the Civic Fest Hall, Augustus presented his next mission for the party. It seems that the Sensate had gotten into a philosophical debate with another Sensate over what makes a hero. Augustus' opponent in this matter stated that heroes come from thought and intention; the party's sponsor declared that heroes are made by deeds alone. As such, Augustus had compiled a rather lengthy list of heroic deeds that he wished the party to perform, and thus prove his point. Naturally, he would pay the party on a per task completed basis. He also requested that one member of the party be the focus (i.e. the means by which the task is resolved) for each particular task. (Augustus also mentioned that the party was free to add their own tasks to the list for consideration.)

The list of deeds, as originally assigned by Augustus, is:

  • Travel the Paths of Virtue.
  • Work off your debt.
  • Work for the greater good.
  • Restore the balance of nature.
  • Save a town from a rampaging menace.
  • Slay three giants in single combat.
  • Protect a disciple of Zerthimon from the Spawn of Chaos.
  • Rescue an unfortunate from the depths of insanity.
  • Challenge and destroy a demon in its lair.
  • Free an unjustly trapped prisoner.
  • Descend into the Underworld and return the soul of Luddick Widdershins to the Land of the Living.
  • Consult the sage of Nimicri about the origins and weaknesses of the fiends.
  • Nullify the contract of a devil.
  • Give a lost army a cause to fight for.
  • Expunge the taint of Chaos from the home of Law.
  • Assist in the lawful and proper slide of a gatetown.
  • Mediate a dispute/conflict between two or more parties.
  • Return a treasured item that has been lost or stolen.
  • Save a child from danger.
  • Redeem a lost soul.
  • Bring a riot to a peaceful/non-lethal conclusion.
  • Protect those weaker than you from those stronger than you.
  • Rescue a child's pet.

    Over the course of the game session, the party did some research on some of the obvious planar references in the list. Also, several members decided to search around Sigil to see if they could resolved some of these tasks quickly. In the end, the group took care of four of the items on the list.

    WORK OFF YOUR DEBT. This task was solved fairly easily, in the party's viewpoint. It seems that Zin owed Jack some money, so Jack asked the githzerai to help him cheat at cards until such time that Jack had won an amount of money equal to that which Zin owed. (So, Zin was the focus of this task.)

    SAVE A CHILD FROM DANGER. While wandering around the Hive Ward and intimidating people, Rusteen learned of a very recent building collapse that left a child trapped in its basement. The "woodsman" quickly sent word to the rest of the party to help while he rushed to the scene and started the rescue process. Once the rest of the party arrived, the rubble was quickly cleared, allowing Rusteen and Twig access to the basement. After entering, the pair discovered that the "child" was actually a very young white dragon. Rusteen was unable to overcome his hunter's instincts long enough to effect a rescue, so Twig ended up saving the child from both the basement and Rusteen.

    NULLIFY THE CONTRACT OF A DEVIL. In the process of cruising the bars of Sigil for information, Shazarr found a warrior drowning his sorrows as he just realized how bad the contract he signed with a baatezu really was. In the interest of getting paid, Shazarr offered to help the poor unfortunate. As a result, he, Zin, Twig, and Dr. Fever travelled to the gatetown of Ribcage in search of the baatezu in question. The devil was an osyluth and was rather easy to find - he maintained a small office on the Street of Deals. (Prior to entering the office, Twig asked Zin to implant a mental command in her brain to not sign anything while inside the office. Zin happily complied.) Once inside, it fell primary to Shazarr to determine how best to conduct business with the baatezu and then find some kind of loophole via which the contract could be negated. Although the baatezu was a tough and experience negotiator, it eventually fell victim to a bit of fast-talking and slight of hand on the part of Shazarr. As a result, the party left the office with the original contract in hand, which they were then able to simply rip up and thus nullify. (Zin and Dr. Fever did help in this matter by letting Shazarr know that there were three copies of the contract, each with successively less information.)

    MEDIATE A DISPUTE/CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO OR MORE PARTIES. This task was also resolved by Shazarr, but not due to the fact he went looking for it. Rather, the conflict came to him - along with the rest of the party. At the end of the day on which Shazarr and others nullified the contract, the party met for an evening meal at the Eye of the Beholder. There, five githzerai monks were waiting for Zin so that they could take him home. Zin, knowing that he would be taken home and never allowed to leave, wasn't too thrilled by this idea. However, while trying to talk his way out of the situation, Rusteen decided to "help". Knowing that Zin was afraid of yellow flowers, the woodsman walked over with a tray of drinks and a vase of yellow flowers - thinking to scare all of the githzerai away. Unfortunately, only Zin is afflicted with such a phobia. His resulting terror sparked conflict between the 'zerai and the party. Zin ran out the door, closely followed by four of the five monks. Jack dropped a thunderball on them as they left. In response, the fifth monk turned and released a sonic attack of his own. Unfortunately, Jack was at the bar and the attack destroyed all the glassware - which meant most of the alcohol. This, naturally, upset Twig (and Rusteen) very greatly. As a result of the upset, this pair wished to kill the leader of the retrieval party in addition to trying to figure out how to not lose their friend. In the end, Shazarr managed to get the gith to pay a sum of money to replace all the lost property as well as getting Twig and Rusteen to accept it.

    However, shortly thereafter, the party lost Zin. As part of the deal, the party demanded to accompany the monks and Zin back to their monastary to argue their case in person. The gith agreed, as long as the party could keep up. Once the whole group took a portal to the Outlands, this proved to be rather difficult. The monks took off at a run, which meant that only a small portion of the party could keep up. (Rusteen and Jack due to their magic boots, and Dr. Fever due to being able to shift into a faster form. Twig and Greymankle, while fast, fell slowly behind since the githzerai monks had their speed psionically enhanced.) Once the gith had lost most of the party, they quickly joined hands and vanished - making use of their leader's ability to plane shift - taking Zin with them.

    So, the party is now somewhere on the Outlands and have lost their companion, Zin. While they know he's been taken to Limbo, they have no idea exactly where in that chaotic plane he's been taken. So, they have to decide how best to recover their friend - if it's even possible.

    Authored by: Ken Lipka

    E-mail me: krlipka@yahoo.com         		Return to
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