The Spectral Persecutor

Motto #

Kill first, Inquisition Dead later.

Background #

For ages, so long that the memory of monster runneth not to the contrary, there has been a Grand Inquisitor of the Starr Chamber. Deriving his power from a secret charter granted by the Dark Lord himself, the Inquisitor (also known as the Spectral Persecutor) is charged with seeking out those who betray the trust of the Dark Lord, even among those whom the Dark One holds dear.

What the chronicles do not say is that, in that dim time, Jandareno, High Priest of Janda, grew tired of pursuing justice, and desired only vengeance. He forsook mercy and a belief in repentance in favor of retribution of the most awful sort. For a time, all was well. His power and position remained unchallenged, and his prayers remained effectual. But at long last, came a day when he felt his power waning as the Goddess withdrew her favor from him. He had to search elsewhere for the power that he needed to prosecute his vision of justice.

Jandareno had gathered a vast library over the years, filled with the foul writings of necromancers and diabolists whom he had brought to justice. Until now, he had regarded those merely as trophies, but now he realized that they could be much more. He delved into the Black Arts with ardor, and became no longer a judge, but an inquisitor feared by all.

For a time, the King and Jandareno's fellow priests refused to believe the changes before them, for the High Priest was loved and respected, and he made his more severe approach seem plausible and necessary. Nevertheless, at last they unmasked him, but he escaped the net of justice and vanished into the night.

In need of a new protector, he came to the Dark Land, and prostrated himself before its Lord, saying, "Oh mighty one! There are many within your court and among your vassals who seek to overthrow you, or to deny you that which is rightfully yours. Let me prove my worth, and bring you three high-ranking traitors, together with veritable proof of their guilt. In return I ask only to be permitted to be your Inquisitor and guardian of your reign." Jandareno found the promised traitors, and produced irrefutable proof of their guilt, which had escaped the vigilence of even the Dark Lord. His request was granted, and the Spectral Persecutor was given power to inquire and examine, without interference even by the Dark Lord himself, provided that he remained constant in his methods.

At the start of the Convention, the Spectral Persecutor was convinced that the recent successes by the "free peoples" were evidence of collusion from within, and was determined to seek out the cause. He was also aware that Lewinsky and the Dark Lady were engaged in some unusual activities, and was eager to learn more about them.

Run 1 #

The Spectral Persecutor, in need of additional investigators, drafted some from the recent influx at Hireling Hole. To one such group, he gave the task of investigating a number of apparent security breaches in and around the city of Bobweston. This was a recently captured city in Sylphania, along the Del-a-were River. By holding the city, the Dark Forces cut off the cities of Elventown and Battleheim, which stuck like a finger into monster-held territory. Soon the inhabitants would be forced to surrender, unless these security breaches presaged an attack, aided by traitors from within.

There was a teleport spot available on Bull Island, so named for the giant cattle that lived on the island, which was about a day's journey south of Bobweston. A party consisting of a Drake, a Sphinx, three Vaikral, a Bughieman and a Lich was teleported to the island, along with their gear, which they quickly donned, and a Spectral Observer, who would record their actions. Suddenly, without warning, two giant oxen attacked, but were quickly dispatched by a well-coordinated defense.

Bull island is separated from the rebel kingdom of Joysea by a canal, and from the monster realm of Sylphania by the river. After a full and frank exchange of views (and almost of blows) the party decided to use the Drake-and-Sphinx Transportation Company to ferry everyone across the river and to head North along the River Road to Bobweston.

The party bravely avoided the Enchanted Forest to their left and travelled only at night, so avoided seeing any barge traffic on the river. Their approach was not unmarked, however, as they were set upon by a search-and-destroy party of fanatical Leos. The Sphinx was quickly killed, and several other party members in serious danger, before the Leos' luck ran out, and the last of them slain. The party found a number of magical items, and a scroll.

Upon examination, the scroll proved to be plans for a coördinated attack on the southern part of the Dark Kingdom, near the capital, scheduled for two weeks hence. The party prepared to depart for home with this valuable material, when they remembered that they had been given a Scarab of Inquisitioning Dead by the Spectral Persecutor (see his motto, above). Limited by their level to two yes or no questions, they decided to ask whether the Scroll was a fake. Compelled to answer truthfully, the party leader had to say, "Yes!" Bonus points all around for thwarting a dastardly Leo plot to divert precious defensive resources!

Run 2 #

The Spectral Persecutor had by now heard of strange goings on in the realm of the Mountain King, formerly the Tutor of the Dark Lord in his youth. Debriefings of recent visitors had determined that the Mountain King was engaged in some vast scheme to accumulate great power -- perhaps too great for the Dark Lord or even the Spectral Persecutor to withstand!

So, a group of dupes volunteers was assigned the task of delivering a magical subpoena that would compel the Mountain King to appear in the Starr Chamber and tell all! Unfortunately, the Mountain King had spies of his own, and knew about the subpoena. Fortunately, the Spectral Persecutor suspected that trouble might be afoot and granted each party member a Haste spell with extra duration (12+level rounds) to be triggered when the person so declared (written as a Magical Trap spell with a non-standard Haste stored in it to be verbally triggered).

Unbeknownst to the party, a second (player) party of monsters had already met with the Mountain King, and had asked, "Oh, great Mountain King, how can we earn your favor?" He answered, (s)quash that subpoena that is coming for me!

Our anti-heroes (a Lich, a Fey, a Cyclops, a Djinn, a Rock Troll a Gargoyle and a Beholder) bearing the subpoena, sneaked through the marshes and woods south of PhilaElfia. . They saw and bypassed as a distraction a treasure-laden party of hunting elves and headed up the Skull-Kill river, towards the home of the Mountain King. After a few minor adventures, the Spectral Observer warned the party that there was trouble within the next five minutes up ahead. The party carefully sneaked forward, changing their formation and casting illusions. Meanwhile a Bughieman had managed to observe them, and had reported back their numbers and approximate disposition to the other party.

GM note: As the two groups of players converged, the frequent GM conferences gave the two sets of players a fair idea that something was up, but everyone played along nicely.

Our party had made the Cyclops invisible and had placed an illusion of a Cyclops in the lead. The djinn went invisible and sneaked off to the flank to find an advantageous surprise attack. The rest of the party went down the gauntlet, ready for the anticipated ambush. As expected, the illusion drew most of the fire, and the party paired off against their antagonists (a Bughieman, a Mind Flayer, a Skull Warrior, a Doppelganger, a Succubus a Rock Troll and a Vampire) triggering their hastes when they felt appropriate. The rock troll, with a flaming sword, faced off against a skull warrior with his power to freeze all who touched him, even with a flaming weapon. The gargoyle, with a stone-skin spell, drew many fruitless attacks, while the real cyclops attacked with surprise from the flank.

For a moment it seemed that the subpoena would be delivered, but then the cyclops was stunned by the lich and was quickly slain by a flurry of concentrated attacks. The fey was paused by the succubus and put out of the fight temporarily. Finally, the Djinn weighed in with some lightning lances, but could not seem to hit to save his comrades' lives. Eventually, the Lich decided that saving the subpoena was the only thing to do, and fled, using his haste as an escape tool. The Rock Troll was quickly put out of the fight, as was the Beholder. They Fey and Djinn fled, and the Gargoyle decided to stay and die fighting, in which wish the opponents happily obliged.

The subpoena was returned to the Spectral Persecutor, who was wonderly wroth.

Run 3 #

This time, the mission was not organized by the Spectral Persecutor, but rather against him. Again, two GMs coöperated, but this time in the formation of the party. A joint mission briefing was held, in which it was explained that the Dark Lady wanted, for reasons best left unexplained, to kill the Succubus Lewinsky and to recover a scroll of incriminating evidence that she had left with the Spectral Persecutor. This scroll was wrapped up in Red Tape, which prevents opening the scroll or examining its contents by magic except under conditions stated when the scroll was sealed or if the sealer dies.

For this reason, it was imperative that both missions succeed. If Lewinsky was killed and the scroll in the hands of the Spectral Persecutor, the situation could be irremediable. If the scroll was destroyed and Lewinsky alive, she would doubtless be alerted and might seek the protection of the Grand Inquisitor in return for all her secrets. To protect the mission, all participants were given Talismans of True Death, which could be worn by anyone, and which would ensure that the wearer could neither be brought back nor questioned if taken to zero or fewer hit points.

The group then divided into those interested in battle, and those interested in investigation. The latter group included a Bughieman, a Vaikral and a Lich (all repeats from the first run) and a Vampire. They insinuated themselves, with the Dark Lady's help, into positions in the Hall of Injustice, and began to snoop after information. The female Vaikral, who had a high charisma, went to work in the commissary, and attracted the attentions of a lonely male Vaikral.

Note: there are those who dispute that the undead retain any semblence of sexuality, and love among the Vaikral is perhaps a subject left undiscussed, lest we all become disgusted. Suffice it so say that their association began with an elf and two straws.

It turned out that this Vaikral was in charge of a section of the Records Department that tracked pieces of evidence that were not in the normal filing system -- presumably this would include Lewinsky's scroll! The party ambushed and killed the Vaikral, took the key that he wore about his neck, and opened the cabinet with the information in it. After a short search, and some comparison with other records they had seen, they concluded that the scroll was being held at the Special Research Facility on the Abaddon Proving Grounds.

The party toured the Museum there, and managed to sneak two of their members off onto the grounds after starting a fight. The other two members were caught and evicted as tresspassers. The Lich used a Disguise Spell and a Ventriloquism to make the Vaikral look and sound like the Spectral Persecutor, and they bluffed their way into the compound where the scroll was held. Here they discovered that an anti-magic field enveloped the compound: all spells on the two of them save the disguise spell were disrupted.

With the Lich "lackey" doing the talking, the Spectral Persecutor asked to be taken to the scroll, which apparently was behind a Wizard Locked door that only the Spectral Persecutor (or certain others) could pass. This confused the guards, who were nevertheless cowed by the disguise, and eventually the whole thing was passed off as a security audit, and the two party members retreated, without the scroll but with their lives.

Fortunately, the other party was not any more successful. They only succeeded in killing a horse. "No! You idiots! I said kill the WHORE not the HORSE!"

Run 4 #

This was an attempt tocomplete what the previous party had attempted. They were also provieded with Talismans (or lenses for the Beholder) of True Death. The party was warned that the previous attempts had probably increased security measures, and to act accordingly.

They entered the Abaddon Proving Grounds by joining a supply train as "Extra security, ordered for the emergency." They then pretended to go about their duties, but actually scouted the situation. After some inquiries, they decided that a frontal assault was not possible, but that a good diversion would be in order. There investigations had shown that a fair number of humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits were being kept on site. Some with specialized skills were slaves, others were experimental animals, and still others were the food supply.

The group decided to release the high-level experimental animals and the medium-level slaves and to tell them that an artifact of great power (the Carrunos Horn of the Hunt) was located in the secret compound. The party stole weapons, including a few low-level magic ones, and blasted holes in the barracks where the humans were being held. In the melee and confusion that followed, few of the humans survived for very long, and even some of the party members were hurt before they could make good their escapes, but the diversion did draw off many forces, including the recently ordered Drake Overflights.

Oh! Perhaps I should have mentioned the Drake Overflights.

The party then assembled at the Secret Research Facility, and unsuccessfully tried to fast-talk their way in. "Sorry, orders say no one other than the duty roster comes in!" When that failed, they simply assaulted. Fortunately, the resident Beholder had taken down part of the anti-magic field to allow him to use some magic and the party surprised him by attacking through the opening. When he put the field back up, he had been blinded by a mini-flash from the Djinn's gem, and was out of the battle for a few rounds, and the first resident Cyclops had been killed by the party's Beholder's Death Spell.

The party closed to melee range, and the battle got bloody. The Djinn stayed outside, vainly attempting to mini-flash someone else now that the anti-magic field was up, while the party vainly attempted to open the door into the building that they believed contained the scroll. They did discover that the walls extended into the Ethereal plane, so were impenetrable to spectres and suchlike. Meanwhile, Lewinsky had been killed, and the scroll was lying open, though no one was paying attention. An automatic alarm had gone off, and the Spectral Persecutor was en route.

Finally, the Djinn raced forward and hurled his Hole in a Bottle over the fence and onto the roof of the building. The Succubus and Gargoyle flew in through hole in the roof, surprising the Ogre Mage and Spectre that were inside waiting to ambush anyone who came through the door, grabbed the scroll and shoved it deep inside their Bag of Devouring, taking massive damage to the arm that went inside, but destroying the scroll.

Soon thereafter, the Spectral Persecutor arrived and assisted in the execution of the survivors, but the scroll was destroyed and the Dark Realm saved!

PrinceCon 23 Summaries & Run Recaps: #

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