So Carson ran Saturday (10/9/10). Garza, Rod, Mat & Ava and I played.
Picking up where we left off, the party decided we were tired of that wet swampy town we just saved that "wasn't even good enough to have it's own real dragon, just some weather dragon out in the ocean making it rain more." or something to that effect. So we headed back to Free Port. Almost immediately upon arrival we were jumped by gnome rebels who were mad at the local drow, and asserted that effectively Willikers' "Family" were the real (crime) bosses of Free Port. To make their point, the gnomes hurled lots of alchemical things at us that hurt. A lot. As it turned out, this was an ineffective and dangerous way of getting our attention, and those who assaulted the party paid the price. Hadji and Willikers struck back with a vengeance, with support from Shamash, Aurora and Jones.
Though some racial tensions continue, the lizardmen are still the majority (about 1500), and the squabbling is mostly between whoever the newest arrivals are (in this case, about 300 gnome refugees arriving in Apperati of Kwalash submersibles), and whoever confronts them (in this case the 200 or so drow). The goblins were the outsiders before but by now about 500 of them have settled in just fine. Anyway, most of the gnomes decided to leave because their "refuge" of Free Port has turned out to be essentially a den of thieves. Not that they're wrong about that...
But nothing unites people like a common enemy. Some Bane clerics among the goblins were talking about a coming military conquest of the biggest, richest dragonborn city, which happens to have lots of drow and dwarven slaves. After a lot of discussion and hand-wringing (and a prayer/astral projection by Aurora) the Uprisers decided to actually join in on the attack. Bane may be evil, the thinking goes -- but not as bad as the five heads of Tiamat. Hadji thinks Aurora knows something else too, that she might be keeping a secret. After gathering some militia and other troops from among our friends and allies, the Uprisers made their way through the desert to the mustering army camp of Bane. We had dinner with him and everything. Impressive guy, basically Attila the Hun only 12' tall and with fangs. He was very happy to have the Uprisers join his forces, in part because of our fame and recruiting power. Most of the troops we are with are monster types, bugbears and the like. "Our" troops that we brought along are really Bane's troops now, no question. The guy oozes leadership, and he's bad - but not all bad. We talked politics, religion and tactics and agreed on several common goals.
So the party's assignment is to rescue a couple of Devas who are very old - they are the original architects of the dragonborn city of Tharagar, as it turns out. Apparently they have been captured by a group of Aboleths.
Treasure: one 18th level magic item, possible boon TBA
Current xp total: 95,517 (level 17)
