Today is National Szechuan Rat Soufflé Day, so Mike (Kellin) is off celebrating with his loved ones. Chris (Gruul) is watching dogs, so our venue changes to his place. Chuck (Galen), Paul (Marik), Tim (Antok Six-Hearted) and Bruce all adapt to this shocking development fairly well, though Bruce does complain about the incredible infrastructure demands he has placed upon himself for this game. Chris just mocks him, inasmuch as all the information he carts around is on his laptop anyway, and doesn't need to be carried around in paper form, much less in the cuneiform clay tablet Bruce actually uses. Bruce grumps something about having to learn to read cuneiform someday.
Several of the players have actually read the summary for the last game, and have summarily renamed the Steadsman's Champion to "Ten-Licks" Louie. Louie is upset, as he thought his old name was so much more menacing, but there's nothing to do for it now.
The session begins on the 15th day of the 3090th Voyage. Marik conducts a brief prophecy and announces that the Voyage will be 435 days long, and will end at the world of Wing. The other characters immediately ask him what Wing is like, and he is forced to admit that even though he knows he cannot tell them. A ghostly voice suggests that information about Wing will be forthcoming sooner or later.
The characters are in Nircharstal, plotting the removal of the Steadsman of Shochunstal, whom they rather understandably see as an obstacle in their efforts to defend the Garden against the thrux.
The characters' natural inclination is to simply stomp into the Steadsman's Keep and slaughter everyone in sight, from the Steadsman right now to the piss-boy. Sadly, they already know that the Holder Bala Taften, their best ally in Shochunstal, needs them to pursue a more moderate course. He has explained that the Steadsman can be removed from office with a vote of three-quarters of the Holders of Shochunstal (there are a total of thirty Holders; twenty-four must vote for removal). About half of the Holders would vote to remove him if his ability to threaten them were removed, but the others would take more convincing. Some of them are the Steadsman's legitimate allies, but others are simply not convinced that the Faian nationalist camp's policies are correct. The problem is that if the Steadsman is not removed from power in a relatively legitimate manner it will be difficult to mobilize the full military forces of Shochunstal to fight against the thrux.
Marik tells the others, "Ideally, what we need is the big bundle of love letters the thrux have sent to the Steadsman." Antok Six-Hearted asks, "How good are you at forgery?" Marik admits that he doesn't speak the thrux language, but he makes up some hopefully convincing "thrux letters" anyway and passes them around for the others to look at. Antok says, "I'm illiterate, but they good great to me!" Gruul agrees. Galen says, "Gruul, you're holding the letter upside down."
The characters decide that they need to bust up the Steadsman's little racket and bring to light any incriminating documents he might possess. Before they depart for Shochunstal on this task, they set Abbek Choff to the task of transforming the seven alien-looking skeletons found underneath Antok's New Flute into undead monsters. The characters decide that they don't want to upset the locals, so they tell him to avoid the mass graves outside the city (leftover from the last time the thrux came through). The characters also discuss what kind of undead they would like to have in their army. They decide that mummies would be best, if they can find fresh corpses and spare the time for the mummification process. Failing that, skeletons have the advantage of not smelling nearly as bad as zombies.
Seven skeletal monsters seems like a good start, but not nearly enough to blunt a thrux phalanx. Gruul gives the Tyrant Jelgen and the hired mystic the task of finding a justification in Faian culture to use zombie troops against the thrux. He's hoping for something similar to the modern justifications for using nuclear weapons in combat. It would be even better if there were a historical aspect. The Tyrant and the other characters warn Gruul that even the thrux don't use zombie troops, though they do use demons and golem constructs.
The characters also debate the question of where to find the source material for their nascent zombie army. They initially think about using only criminals or the bodies of their enemies. Then Antok suggests, "We could ask for volunteers! They would fill out a card, something like an organ donor card! We could call it the 'Blessing of Eternal Heroism' and sell it as a way to continue fighting for the Faian cause even after death!" Galen tells the others, "I think we've got ourselves a new Minister of Propaganda." Unfortunately, the characters start to think about the ramifications of this plan and decide that they wouldn't get many volunteers for this "Blessing" after the actual effects came known. And the negative morale effects on the Faians just wouldn't be worth the trouble.
The characters have already gathered a fair amount of information on the layout of the Steadsman's Keep and the city of Shochunstal from Holder Taften and his son. They know that the Steadsman's quarters are up on the second floor, along with the Barracks. The Great Hall dominates most of the ground floor. The kitchen and some storerooms sit off to one side. Stairs alongside the kitchen go down to a large cistern underneath the Keep.
Galen asks Marik if he can pinpoint the Steadsman in the building with Seeker. Marik explains that he will need something from the Steadsman's person to be able to cast Seeker on him. Antok offers, "He's related to swine, so could we just butcher up a pig and use it's entrails?" Gruul joins in, "That's funny. I'd heard that he was partial to sheep." Antok finally just makes everyone pork chops for dinner. He complains that he never needs to make Cooking rolls except when he is under stress.
The Holder's son knows that there are no more than two guards on the roof of the Keep, but that there will also be guards on the towers around the walls. The guards are sometimes issued magical artifacts to help them see better, but the Holder's son doesn't know specific distribution or usage schedules. He also doesn't know where the magicians are housed in the Keep, though he suspects that they are up on the second floor.
Gruul's plan is simplicity itself. Use Marik's magic to fly everyone in, kill the two guards on the Keep roof, then head down the stairs to find the Steadsman on the second floor. Search the second floor for incriminating information. And if time allows, make a stop off at the magician's quarters to kill everyone in sight.
Galen suggests adding an air of legitimacy to the plan by showing up the day before and declaring war on the Steadsman. The goal would be to inspire the Steadsman to do something stupid and public that would damage his credibility and provide the characters with some reasonable excuse for stomping him into the ground later on. Nobody else likes this idea, in spite of its many virtues, including the possibility of killing a few of the Steadsman's guys in broad daylight. Then Gruul remembers that Galen actually has skill in Politics and a ready-made constituency in Shochunstal and this idea starts to look ever so much better.
Gruul asks Marik to forge a thrux document saying, "After we roll up everything in the Garden, including Dith Lun and Lin Vu Quo and Nircharstal, and kill all the rushufarr, then we'll take over Shochunstal and set up a puppet government." The characters intend to use the document to challenge the Steadsman. It very carefully does not claim that the thrux are in cahoots with the Steadsman. It only suggests that they intend to attack Shochunstal and depose the Steadsman no matter what promises they have already made to him. The characters' story will be that they took it from a thrux officer. Gruul comments, "We have some idea of thrux ranks by now, right? There's Librarian, Master of Dark Corners, Custodian, Principal, and a few others." Nobody else comments.
The characters approach the city through the wastes, hoping to evade the eyes of the Steadsman's magicians. They follow a course parallel to the Nircharstal Road, but far enough inland that they are below the bluff and out of the settled regions. They make camp a couple of hours away from the city and wait for nightfall to make their actual approach.
At nightfall the characters break camp and slip into Shochunstal. Galen enters the city as silently as he can and meets with several of his enthusiastic young followers. He hands over the forged "thrux documents" to them and then departs, leaving them to round some popular support.
The characters stay in camp for two days, taking typical precautions to avoid being spotted by magical surveillance. They are slightly disappointed to see no smoke rising from the city in the distance. At least, no more smoke than a city of that size would typically create. At nightfall, they ready their gear for an assault on the Steadsman's Keep. Gruul stuffs cloth into his armor to mute the sounds of movement. Marik casts Flight on everyone, then slurps down a Chiron potion to get back the fatigue.
The characters silently flit towards the Keep. They find two guards stationed on the Keep roof, one spearman walking a patrol and one archer in a protected enclosure. Antok flies in swiftly and kills the spearman with a single thrust to the neck. Gruul takes out the archer by charging through the open door of his bunker and chopping through his neck. The whole attack takes less than five seconds.
Antok swiftly conceals the evidence by creating two Simple Illusions to replace the guards. The characters stay out of sight while Marik checks out the two stairways down. He notices that both of them are magical. Galen doesn't have Identify Spells, but he does know Magelock and has pretty good intuition. He guesses that the doors are Magelocked, especially since neither guard is carrying keys. Marik bypasses the problem by hitting the door with the Dispelling Staff.
Galen heads down the stairwell furthest from the barracks. Halfway down, he suddenly finds himself looking like the slaughtered guard thanks to yet another of Antok's illusions. Antok sneaks down right behind him.
Galen pokes his head out of the stairwell to see a single guard. He tries to talk his way past, but the fellow is terribly suspicious. When Marik arrives on the scene and realizes just how badly things are going for Galen, he uses magic to stun the guard. Galen leaps forward and cuts the guard down. Gruul drags the body back into the stairwell.
The characters think that things are going well for them until a tremendous hue and cry sounds out from behind a nearby door. A voice so loud it almost causes pain proclaims, "Call the guard! Call the guard! There are intruders in the Keep!" Marik swiftly realizes that the door now seems to be magical.
The characters prepare for the onslaught. Galen moves forward to block one corridor while Gruul sucks down an Achilles potion and moves to cover the other direction. Antok stands behind Galen and drinks down his own Achilles potion. Marik simply moves over to the sealed door and casts a 4-hex radius Create Fire into the room beyond. He chuckles with inhuman glee as the magicians inside burn to death.
Galen and Antok find themselves faced by a crowd of sword-wielding House Guards, accompanied by a magician and Ten-Licks Louie. Galen cuts down the leading guard while Antok makes a dramatic acrobatic attack to spear the magician in the neck. Antok finds himself surrounded by guards and is hit several times, but takes little actual harm thanks to his Eafan steel cuirass and magical defenses.
In the other direction, Gruul sees an array of spear-bearing rabble stalking towards him. He leaps at the first two in an all-out attack, downing both of them with two mighty blows. The successive ranks stab him with their spears, but are unable to penetrate his armor. He howls at them, "Run away!" The five survivors flee for their lives, disappearing into whatever side chambers they can find.
Marik continues checking doors. He finds one that opens onto the magicians' sleeping chamber. Two of the magicians are waking up inside. One of them tries a rather desperate Sound Jet at him, but misses. Marik responds by killing both of them with Consume Thrux Slave. Gruul arrives just in time to see the last one fall. He feels a strange breeze blow past him.
Marik and Gruul return to the corridor where Antok and Galen are still chopping their way through the House Guards. Ten-Licks Louie takes a couple of substantial hits from Antok, then delivers a ferocious counterattack that would have driven Antok to the floor if he had the stamina of a mere ordinary mortal. Antok shrugs off the damage, then waits as Marik uses magic to stun Ten-Licks. With the Steadsman's Champion unable to defend himself, Antok finishes him off with a coup de grace.
The characters realize that the dust is settling and that nobody hostile is still standing. They take a moment to drink some Chiron potions and heal their injuries. Antok gets rid of all his remaining illusions, reasoning that anyone who doesn't already realize an attack is under way is not going to be much of a threat.
The characters step around the next corner to be confronted by three more House Guards. The men have their blades drawn and their shields ready, but the characters can't help but notice that they are all wearing nothing but underwear. Galen tells them, "Go back to bed and you won't be hurt." They go, clearing the way for the characters to advance. Galen Magelocks the barracks door closed just to keep them honest (though it takes him two tries to get it right).
The characters continue on to force their way into the Steadsman's bedchamber, where they find him standing ready with a broadsword. He very bravely tells them, "You'll have to kill me first!" Antok has no patience for this sort of grandstanding. He disarms him. Gruul hits him four times in the head. The Steadsman loses consciousness. Gruul gathers up the man while Marik gathers up every piece of paper he can find. Galen herds the Steadsman's wife along. She seems very unhappy with recent developments, but doesn't look interested in arguing with a bunch of armed strangers. Galen suggests that she should be tied up to prevent escape attempts and random treachery. Antok simply knocks her out and hands her to Gruul to carry.
Gruul and Antok stand guard over the stairwells while the other characters search the area. They find:
Having counted the bodies, the characters already know that there are more foes waiting for them downstairs. They send Gruul first. He walks straight into a barrage of five arrows, none of which actually does him any harm. He steps over to the hulking gaurman leader of the skirmishers and kills him with a single hit to the neck.
Galen follows Gruul down and engages one of the mercenary spearmen on the left flank. Antok follows him, spearing another of the mercenaries in the vitals.
Marik walks into the Great Hall with a casual insouciance. He spots the aristocratic-looking leader of the Sangorn mercenaries and fells him with a Madness spell. Noting that the other characters are cleaning up the mercenaries with ease, he casts a quick Missile Shield on himself, then fastens all five mercenary archers and the Castellan to the floor with a big Glue spell.
At this point there isn't much fight left in the fight. The characters capture three mercenary spearmen (including one who had the misfortune to break his spear in the midst of the fight), the five archers, and the Castellan. They take a fine broadsword enchanted with +1 Puissance from the mercenary captain. Gruul is disappointed to find that the big axe the gaurman skirmisher leader carried is nothing more than a mundane axe. He complains, "Dammit, I went to all that trouble to cut off his head. He should have a magic item!" Galen corrects the outraged demek, "But he does. He has a skull. We need those." Gruul doesn't seem all that reassured.
The characters simply walk out the front door and head to Holder Taften's residence, their captives in tow.
The session ends with the characters back at Holder Taften's residence in Shochunstal on the evening of the 19th day of the 3090th Voyage. They have the Steadsman Cabo Durgis and his wife as their captives, among others. Each character