Cheshire's Assault on Seglock took place in Dalsk 825 PR as Horatio stole precious and rare resources from the University archives, including all of his own grad-school work which had been confiscated and banned, thanks to its research on forbidden magics.
Background
Horatio Cheshire was a wild-minded alchemist and experimenter who had been operating in secret in northern Isonhound after securing the patronage of a mysterious benefactor (who was himself working for an even more mysterious benefactor). After Horatio Cheshire was captured and imprisoned at Gammelgard,
Meanwhile, the central city of Seglock had just finished preparing a Gala of Protection, a festival celebrating the heroes of the Greedy Green who had made a decision to headquarter themselves in the city, and as a result keep the city protected from any outside draconic forces thanks to their usage of the Crystal Moonwell of Eros.
The festival was meant to be a thank-you to the heroes, but would also draw the ire and attention of Cheshire, who used the city's distraction as a way to penetrate the usually well-guarded city walls and infiltrate with a three-front direct attack on the city.
The Festival
*Welcome to the Gala of Protection! This is the least our city can do to thank the heroes of Isonhound who have flocked to Seglock and protected not just the refugees who have fled here, but ALL of the Seglock population from the ever growing threat of Dragons on the outside. Please join some of our locals, nobles, students, and service members here in the streets. We've set up a number of stalls, booths, tables, and drinks for all to celebrate and enjoy this night.*
Drinks Offered
- - Rum Cider, 5 CP
- - Vulcan Fury Red Wine, 5 CP
- - Brandy 8 CP
- - Honey Mead 4 CP
- - Dragon's Blood (Potion of Speak with Animals) 100 GP
- - Imported Saki 30 GP
- - Utter Moron 1 CP and `/roll 1d12` to avoid instantly passing out on a 1.
- Potion of Greater Healing 150 GP
- Potion of Fire Breath 240 GP
Other Activities
- **Dunking booth**. Use `/roll 1d8` and see if you score an 8! Free to play up to 3 times.
- **Cooking Contest**. Entry fee 10 GP, Describe the meal you make. Use `/roll 1d20`+Wisdom Modifier to create a taste value for your meal. The best tasting meals win prizes after all 3 Seglock games have been played.
- The Winner of the Contest of Nockdus
- Other participants included Balgeiros, Linden Rue, Reylendor, Grandmush, and Percy Giffard
- **Arm Wrestling** Requires two participants. Wager money against another player and use `/roll 1d20`+Athletics to see who gets to take it all.
- **Raffle Tickets** Costs 50 GP., Use `/roll 1d100` and get 5000 GP on a 100. Can only be entered once.
- **Roll higher than Stan**, Try your luck against Stan the Money Man. Tag Stan and then see if you roll higher than him. DM Dave decides if you get a reward, a punishment, or nothing at all. *Roll at your own risk.*
The Attack
After getting forces into the city, Horatio directed them towards Seglock University, splitting the forces up across the Three Gates of Seglock U
Left Gate
* Inside the gates of Seglock Univeristy, this group was the closest to the building that Cheshire/Dracohydra was infiltrating so they got a good show of it, and had to dodge a prismatic breath spray first thing, which already put the team in terrible shape (two went down).
* Now with the team in bad shape, Kyle helped the Dragonflesh Abomination make his debut, crashing out of a nearby building damaged by the siege. It began a chase of the players through the city as they tried to avoid its acid spit and the various obstacles of a city under peril.
* After 5 rounds (~2 hours) they finally escaped him, and in the long, dramatic, and daunting chase, also managed to get him down a bit of health (though he has regeneration so it wasn't as much as they'd have liked)
* Once they caught their breath and could effectively heal from the Tiamat attack and damages incurred in the chase, they witnessed the Cheshire Goblins also heading towards a Firearm warehouse.
* When given the choice to chase the goblins to the warehouse or to head back all healed up to kill the Kaiju, they votied 4-3 in favor of finishing off the Abomination
* They found him in the middle of a battle with city forces, and used their surprise round to knock him down a notch. After 2 rounds of actual battle, they managed to finish him off, with one player taking the acid glands.
* Much discussion over the Moonwell, was it working? Was that Tiamat? Is this abomination considered a dragon? Who knows!
Center Gate
The center gate fought a group of Cheshire Goblins, who had the upper hand and immediately put down Dave before going in for the kill.
Professor Nguyen (N'win) appeared from a building and tested a hypothesis, mysteriously killing Cheshires with one hit. Nguyen also showed the team his bodyguard, an Autom, a machine from Sneerwell that follows the instructions of a Bluestone holder
Seeing that it worked, Nguyen guided the team to his office/lab across campus where he could provide them with more of this mysterious substance, revealed to be Drakkoth Blood
The team ran into some more battles (Glaive Guardians/Master of Chains/Orcs/Goblins) on their way to the back wall, discovering that the blood works on the glaive ones too (Master of Chains TBA)
Arriving at the entry point explosion in the back wall, they called thorns, spikes, and all druidic-esque effects to plug the hole, then Grandmush called Lightning to collapse it all into a big blockade, stopping more from coming in.
Right Gate
* After entering the right gate they saw students and faculty fleeing from the university dorms. They rushed inside to find a professor trying to protect three students as they were fleeing through a small cafe area.
* the first encounter kicked off in the cafe against 4 gobs and a orc. One of the students was killed by a goblin as it was running to snatch the professor’s notes. The other two students escaped. The professor was very injured but survived and was healed a little by Zen.
* After clearing the cafe the party moved in to student housing. There were no students (living) remaining in the dorms. Patches tried to get a sneaky shot off at an orc but missed and alerted the enemy.
* The party made their way to a long hall where they saw orcs going through rooms looking for something. After the party progressed the orcs sprung a trap and began poking out of the rooms and firing at the party.
* After a couple rounds Omen heard a sound from behind them toward the cafe. She investigated and saw a large metal golem-like creature approaching with a professor cowering behind it. But neither engaged.
* I kind of described the creature as a golem so I ended up treating him like a Master of Chains - Glaive Guardian. The party initially thought it was just protecting the professor but found out quickly that it wanted them gone when it smashed Patches, making him incapacitated.
* Now the party was pinned in from both directions. Which looked cooler and more dangerous than it actually was. Once Va’dath moved from the orcs to intercept the “golem” he hit 2 nat 20s in a row, then a third a round or two later. Taking most of its health.
* The Golem did manage to smash the floor while striking Va’dath, caving in the floor. Va’dath made a decision save to catch himself and only hang down in the hole. Though Linden, who was riding on Va’dath’s should, fell into the basement.
* Omen finished off the Golem while those two got back into the fight. Meanwhile Delphi was on a mission to get a kill for Silent. Which she managed to do.
* After the battle Va’dath detained the professor that was with the golem as he was trying to sneak out. They questioned the professor in a zone of truth and he was cagey about some of the questions so Va’dath bound him and brought him, and his research/equipment to the guild place.
Perspectives
Trina
Somehow the locals thought that it was a good idea to have a festival. Had they not heard of what happened last time there was a festival? Dragons attacked the town. Well, this time all hell broke loose. Trina was sipping her free drink when explosions shook the town. Grandmush, the sorcerer and a few others run towards the source of trouble. The university was on fire, which made her assume that it could not have been anything worse than a failed experiment. The heroes had set up the moonwell here, so they were safe. But no, Tiamat(?) themselves broke out from within a building wrecking additional havoc to everything. Trina would have loved to get her hands into his evil essence… if she did not die first. Those Cheshire goblins were everywhere, threatening everyone’s lives. They were as tough as she remembered them and unfortunately Buho was not there to rain poop on them. However, a mad university professor had been making a drakkoth blood poison that could kill those bastards. It was a long and tiring fight against the attacking horde. Trina had never had to use all of her resources before, nor had she felt so tired and battered.
Durian
The people of Seglock had been gifted with an artifact known as the Moonwell, capable of encompassing the city in a magical dome that Dragons could not penetrate. The city threw a festival to celebrate their newfound protection, which I attended. I arrived at the festivities to mingle with other adventurers, as I had heard whispers of another team returning from a job with an item of great personal importance to me: the Selune Splinter. It had been months since a Dragon had raided it from the Court of Quartz, leaving my clan without any means of protection from the outside world. I never expected to see the item again but, to my astonishment, the rumors were true! After some wandering around, I spotted the familiar Selune Splinter in the possession of another adventurer at the festival. To my horror, however, the adventurer was using the item as a mere barstool. Before I had a chance to confront them and explain the item's importance, however, the festival was interrupted by the familiar sounds of chaos in the distance. A horde of strange, mutated-looking monsters had begun assaulting the city. I flew towards the noise emitting from the center gate of Seglock University, helping to fight off the attacking monsters along the way. Upon reaching the gate, I discovered that it had been overtaken by a horde of Cheshire Goblins. I helped to fight them for a while until Professor Nguyen, a staff member of the school, appeared with his Autom bodyguard and began shooting the Cheshire Goblins with a liquid which melted them in one hit. Me and a group of adventurers followed Professor Nguyen deeper into campus, hoping to obtain more of this miracle liquid. As we darted through a courtyard towards one of the campus buildings, however, Horatio Cheshire flew overhead riding what looked like an aspect of Tiamat, raining us with acid. Thankfully, we were able to patch each other up and help everyone into the building. When we questioned the professor about the liquid he had used to melt the Cheshire Goblins, he explained that it was Drakkoth blood and that we would be able to obtain more from his laboratory. We helped Professor Nguyen fight off the monsters through several halls and classrooms until finally reaching his laboratory, where he was able to supply us all with vials of Drakkoth blood. We used the blood to help push back Horatio Cheshire's siege on the city and take down whatever was left of his forces.
