Odd-ball group of villains

[Ed Zachary]

The forum has been a bit dead lately, so I will post on my past weekend's game. As I had said earlier, I had liked games where there were multiple DMs who were capable of running a campaign. On Saturday the regular DM's wife gave it a shot. Four of us are fairly experienced players but new to 3.5 (including the two DMs), and three are noobies (not so much any more). Three of us took existing characters and set them at 55,000 EXP, the three newer players created new characters. We were strongly advised to create characters with character.

My character is a Sorcerer, lawful neutral with evil tendencies. As a follower of Saint Cuthbert, he values the law above all else. In fact his profession is Lawyer. The session started when I was chosen to defend a Goblin Wererat Thief and his Ogre Barbarian henchman from fallacious charges levied by the dishonest and self-righteous followers of Pelor. After proving that no laws were broken (ad nausium legalese), the three of us left town and arrived at the keep of a Kali worshiping Half Fiend Priestess. I made it clear to the three of them that I was not part of their group, but would stay on retainer for them as their legal adviser. Since my fee was based on percentages, I would take a percentage of their income as a group. I proceeded to speak with the fiendish Priestess about her activities, and what she could do to practice as she wished without violating any of the laws of the city-state.

That came in handy as as the king sent an army to destroy the keep. I met the commander of the army (a Fighter player) and his Wizard adviser (a player), and I stated that his orders were illegal. The Goblin Rogue had already left for a rival city-state to stir up some trouble, and the Barbarian rejoined his multi-racial tribe to recruit it for war. The Fighter and Wizard joined me in an inspection of the keep, and an interview (interrogation) with Priestess. So far it's going well, but we will have to finish next week.

My goal is to convince the Fighter to leave with his army because his orders to arrest her (dead or alive) and destroy the keep are not legal, and to convince him that he needs to attack the other city-state because of the activities we are secretly stirring up there. With support from the barbarians, we hope to take the city and perhaps set our group up in positions of authority. None of the characters are good, and I am the only lawful one. It will be a challenge for me to remain lawful and maintain my standing in society without being convicted as a criminal.

[grimwell]

Sounds like an interesting mix! Do keep us updated.

Are the fighters orders really illegal? Or is that your angle? :)

[Ed Zachary]

Sounds like an interesting mix! Do keep us updated.

Are the fighters orders really illegal? Or is that your angle?

Legality is a concept that is shaped by the skill of the lawyer, and decided upon by the judge. A lawyer's job is to manipulate the shape of the law based on his interests. The judge is supposed to hear both sides, and make an impartial decision based on their interpretation of the law. If one side believes their case is lost or wrong, they may stop pursuing it.

The charge against my client is that she has practiced Infernalism, and the penalty for that is Imprisonment (spell) and seizure of assets. My defense is that while she admits to having practiced Infernalism, she has never practiced it inside the domain of the kingdom, and therefore the law does not apply to her. I said that ignoring the "limits of domain" would put unnecessary restraints on what his army (200 people) could do while outside the borders of the city-state. And if local laws are applied universally, then there were multiple legal systems that applied to her. And if that were the case, then he would be at risk of prosecution (if he attacked) if her activities were deemed legal under another system.

We left the situation with the Half Dragon Fighter in deep thought about what to do. His Wizard companion (cloaked, race hidden) is urging him to attack. It may come down to contested Suggestion spell rolls.

[grimwell]

A wonderful response. +2 on the suggestion roll ;)

[starfalconkd]

This has to be one of the more interesting role playing situations I have ever seen. If things go badly are you going to offer your services to the fighter and wizard?

[Ed Zachary]

I owe a week of updates, plus tomorrow's update.

I'll get that soon.

[Ed Zachary]

Second Game Session: It's great when a player pulls a surprise out of their hat, especially one that brings a group together and helps it toward a common goal. The Wizard knew there were spies in the army for Pelor, and he and their Paladin leader led 40 of the 200 soldiers into a secret entrance into the demonic keep. But it was a trap, all 42 of them walked into a large prison cell. The Paladin was killed, and the Wizard teleported his body out. Magical torture techniques not approved of by the Aveneg Conventions were used to learn that a larger multi-state army of followers of Pelor ware about a day away from the keep. I insisted that the Paladin not be possessed (Magic Jar), as impersonation of a government official was illegal even outside a domain.

The 40 soldiers were allowed to rejoin the army, and along with the 100 defenders (totaling 300) prepared to defend the keep from the lawful good inquisitors. A few hundred elite calvary supported by a few hundred more expert bowmen arrived and attacked. The battle was not going well, and they breached our walls. Just then the barbarian horde arrived and turned the tide. In a bloody battle 300 of the 500 Pelorians were killed, 100 escaped, and another 100 were trapped inside the courtyard of the keep as we closed the door, and later surrendered.

The fighter, wizard and myself teleported back into town before the surviving Pelorians returned, to make our case. The Priestess, Barbarian and Rogue remained behind to improve the defenses for the likely next attack. What I liked about this session was the strategic positioning of troops and use of tactics. Since two of us are National Guardsmen (Barbarian and Fighter) who spent time in Iraq, this story was in a way about their experiences. [end]


Third Game Session: When we arrived back in town, we noticed that it was under martial law by a new militia group. We were arrested on sight, but escaped before being turned over to the authorities. We found out that competing Astral factions were fighting for control of the region. We weren't sure why yet, but the present occupiers of the city had a diabolic air about them, as evidenced by the two cornugons circling overhead. The wizard and I tried to get to the city's Arcane Guild, but it seemed to be the headquarters of the occupation. We killed three militia goons and captured their leader (all hobgoblins), and returned to the keep.

The half-fiend priestess had been tormenting the paladin, as could be expected. After the group questioned our hobgoblin prisoner and the paladin again, we were able to figure out that Asmodeus wanted to find an ancient gate buried somewhere in the vicinity, and that Pelor sent a group of celestials to oppose him. The army that we defeated was lead by a deva. We decided to raise from the dead as many killed officers as possible (from last week), just in case we needed them in the future. We weren't sure which side to take yet, we wanted to see which side would give us more for our help. The rogue had returned from the other city-state, and said that it was occupied by the Pelorians.

We were located in a small keep, trapped between mortal armies led by celestials and devils. Next week our goal was to bargain with both sides... to see who would offer us more for our services. And if possible, to find the gate first. [end]


Fourth Game Session: Hopefully I will get that to you later tonight or tomorrow.

[Ed Zachary]

We didn't play this group the past weekend, I'll give an update when we do.

[Dimthar]

Did everybody lived happily ever after?

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